Subject: Psychology/Philosophy
Branch: Social Dynamics
Purpose: learn to specialise in psychological manipulation, the dark aspects of the human psyche, psychoanalysis and cognitive biases, unconscious human behaviours, success, personal development, how to achieve excellence in your field, military combat, psychological warfare, conflict, adversity, the ability to read people’s hidden intentions and secret motivations, strategic thinking, mastery and how to become fearless.
Why: Become a Master Psychologist
You can’t have a Masters without the Master on the subject of Mastery itself over other people, and of the self.
Whatever your life’s purpose, life’s mission, or life’s task, this is the mentor who will guide you through that process: what it takes, what to expect, helping you to navigate the difficult terrain of life, making you come to terms with what’s ahead, grounding you deeply in reality for the journey.
This is about the study of people, life, understanding the complex dynamics at play each day, inside other people’s minds, inside our lives, how they work and operate the way they do, and why they do what they do, mastering the art of deceitful play, how to play manipulate psychological games, but more importantly, win those games.
It’s still Ancient Rome out there. But instead of gladiatorial arenas, we now have people’s tricky psychologies, master manipulators; players running around disguised as non-players. You will need to know how to read through other people’s actions and behaviours, by studying them, learning to understand what people mean from things they don’t always say when communicating, but are expressing it through other ways unintentionally, becoming an expert in social dynamics, seeing through the dysfunction that plays out inside other people’s minds when they are not aware how they can be read through.
Robert Greene’s books teach you how to be this tactical and strategic. He is also a producer of classics. He doesn’t make anything other than work that goes on to become a classic. If seeking to make timeless art then is your goal, you couldn’t have a better template, or Master, to serve under.
His work will help get you there.
Do not simply read these books once and move on. Study them deeply by reading them once a year, for at least 10-years, and Mastery will arise.
Follow his methods. Follow his process and you will ultimately reach the heights of power and mastery in your chosen field. Trust this process.
That is the only thing you need to do.
Educated in classical literature, Robert is a master of classical work. If learning how to make a classic is your goal, which it should be as there is no point really in making anything else, then this is also a masterclass on how classics are made, not to mention the important life topics you will need experience in from games of power, seduction, war, finding mastery in whichever subject you choose. It’s all here and it will guide you to the top.
This is also the same person who mentored Ryan Holiday, who then went on to become a successful writer himself from following Robert’s lead.
Don’t just limit yourself to his books. Learn also by studying who and what they studied to help them get there. To understand their process, engage with the work they too engaged with to get a better grasp of how it was made.
These are timeless lessons on history and the politics people play each day. Every person who you ever come into contact with is going to expose themselves through their actions and behaviour towards you. But not on purpose. You can only learn how to see through these games once you become a master player of it too.
Being able to get inside people’s minds and use what they repress against them, is the way to survive. Some people will do their best to try and bring you down. Infiltrate their minds, however, and reveal their hidden psychology to them, you will terrify them past the point of wanting to play with you. Part of the game then in mastery over people is how to hold other people in suspended terror.
Once people start to suspect that you may be somewhat of a loose cannon, by deliberately showing traits of lunacy and fearlessness, they’ll think twice before wanting to play with fire.
If people get a feeling that messing with you may come with a high risk, they will decide not to engage at all. Why run the risk of making a fearless lunatic make me the aim of his target? Easier is it to just move onto someone softer. Someone less sporadic, less unpredictable. Messing with you comes with too high a price. People would rather do without an incoming attack on themselves from a fearless lunatic. Show your cards that you are not a force to be messed with, and they will vanish onto the next victim.
When people decide to go to war with you, you need to know how to protect yourself, how to strategise and think your way not only out, but around the situation, in order to be able to come up from behind when the enemy doesn’t even know you’re there.
This is a dark art, and a highly dangerous psychological skill. You might think to yourself, ‘but I don’t like the idea of these things. I would never do that to someone. And they would never do it to me.’ Well, if that’s your belief, you’re going to be like candy in a kids store. In this day and age, your mind is your greatest weapon. Words have the power to scare and make other people scatter. The best thing you could do then, to defend yourself against other players, is to match and mirror their qualities. These skills, however, do not come easily, because for many, they do not come naturally. But they are skills nonetheless taught, which means, they can be learned.
Carve out much time during your apprenticeship to master these skills. For only the strongest psychological players win. Better to be one of them than not. It is a matter of life and death.
These are not just books for reading. Trust me, this is not about amusement. Life is a deadly serious, sometimes vicious game. If you don’t learn the rules and tactics here that other people play in the world, you will someday fall victim to their disguise and cunning. The best way through is to make it seem to others like you are clueless to the game, when in fact you’re the strongest player on the board, who pretends not to be on it.
These are not just books, but books to live your life (and die) by. In fact, since Ryan Holiday has done such a wonderful job apprenticing under Robert Greene and following his path, add every book of his to read also.
Robert Greene has been referred to as the modern Machiavelli. It would be an extremely wise decision to include Greene in your psychological arsenal. The biggest players will never tell you how to play it. But the greatest players? They teach how to play it.
Robert Greene is the Masters teacher.
“It is much safer to be feared than loved.” – Niccolò Machiavelli’s, The Prince.
The 33 Strategies of War (2006)
The Laws of Human Nature (2018)