Why People Become Obsessed With People Who Reveal Nothing! | Robert Greene

Channel: Bold Fella
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0V6uRVmKkk

A montage of Robert Greene interview clips on seduction, mystery, and self-presentation, overlapping with the channel's other Greene compilations. (Re-titled compiled footage; his framework, not cited research.)

Key points

• Falling in love is "crystallization" (Stendhal): given time, distance, and a little absence, the other person's mind layers ideal qualities onto you like crystals onto a branch. People rush this; let them think and fantasize about you.
• Seduction is making someone fall in love and is the same process in romance, office, marketing, and politics - internalizing your presence so they think about you when you are absent.
• It is distinct from a quick hookup; pickup artists dislike it because it is not fast enough. Real seduction is about vulnerability - opening yourself to another's influence - which insecure, anxious people struggle to do.
• It is "soft power": if people sense you are scheming (that you "read the 48 Laws"), they get defensive and close off; advertising works the same way by hiding that it is advertising. The master's touch is so gentle the target never notices.
• "Act like a king to be treated like one" - much power is your attitude toward yourself, not pushing others around.
• "Always say less than necessary": talking too much reveals insecurity and an inability to control yourself.
• We are all actors playing roles (as children we loved costumes); consciously crafting how others see you is human, not mere manipulation, and Greene calls the "everything is manipulation" view reductionist.
• Keep mystery and reserve even in a long-term relationship: total familiarity kills the fantasy, and the partner may then fantasize elsewhere; separate your private self from the role you play in the work/power world.