The Art of Manipulation

Manipulation: a strange, emotionally intense dance between one or more individuals.

Its primary skills: listening, and sincerity.

The successfully manipulative person is consistently sincere. When they are confided in, they listen sincerely. (It is common sense to do so, because your target will frequently give up pieces of information that ought to be filed away). When they raise their “concerns”, those concerns are sincere.

For the Sith that would practice manipulation: Listening needs to become an artform. It needs to be perfect, thoughtful, attentive, distanced. Intuition needs to be sharp; you must know your partners’ emotional selves better than they do. Your intuition must allow you to pit two people against one another and step back at the crucial moment in the music to let them dance together… leaving you forgotten.

For the Sith who wishes to remain discreetly manipulative, image is key. There must be as little as possible about them that raises suspicion – including too much perfection. Manipulation begins with manipulation of the Self, the creation of a trustworthy, sincere, compassionate confidante, flawed in her own ways. Subsequently the best manipulators of all are those who are genuinely trustworthy, sincere, and compassionate people – flawed in their own ways. The way of the Sith is inherently paradoxical, and this serves as another example of it. To be genuine in your sincerity and then genuine in your betrayal is the art of manipulation. The emotions involved are what give it its intensity.

It is best not to “wing” such powerful emotions, when possible. Begin with certainty as to where you will fall into place in this matter. Take advantage of small opportunities to place yourself already in that place in the minds of those you are engaging. For example, playing “the victim”, a common card, involves preparation in which you might carefully choose to divulge small, tragic details to your chosen target, implanting them early with the “poor you” mentality – defensive on your behalf already. This preparation later repays you, as the target will then feel an unconscious obligation to return the confidence. Playing the, “I have no clue what’s going on” card likewise requires time spent ensuring your targets think you oblivious – perhaps involved in your work and oblivious to the “politics” of the office, or even setting your pride aside and letting them think you unintelligent – provided that will not hinder progress later.

But foresight by design can be a lot of hard work, and the Sith who insists on attempting to manipulate her entire environment all the time will find herself comparatively clumsy alongside those who simply practice the arts of listening, intelligence, attention, and intuition as daily practice. Designed manipulation is useful when there is a specific opportunity in mind; however, the daily practice of these arts will culminate in an awareness of opportunities about to be presented, greater amounts of choice, and vast amounts of knowledge as to the chinks in the armor of others within the environment. Like a tree, the manipulation that is flexible is the manipulation that will survive the storm – whether you knew it was coming or not.