Comments on: To Be (Sneaky) or Not to Be (Sneaky)

By: Kenrick E. Cleveland

Kenrick E. Cleveland — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:43:05 +0000

Wow, what a powerful quote: “You are free to do what you will, but you are not free in willing.”

It has stuck in my mind for daze after reading it. Those really are powerful words – whether a person agrees or not.

By: Kenrick E. Cleveland

Kenrick E. Cleveland — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:40:07 +0000

Spot on, Paul.

By: Payotrose

Payotrose — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 23:50:35 +0000

[quote comment=""]There are many things in life that can be used for good or bad. The choice is in the hands of the holder. I appreciate what Kenrick is doing and don’t believe he has any “ulterior” motives.[/quote]

Excuse my niavete: What does this mean, “You’re not free in willing?”

By: Mindy

Mindy — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:14:31 +0000

There are many things in life that can be used for good or bad. The choice is in the hands of the holder. I appreciate what Kenrick is doing and don’t believe he has any “ulterior” motives.

By: Paul Endress

Paul Endress — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:05:20 +0000

It seems to me that intention is one of the strongest factors in persuasion. Someone with stong intention and little or no “skills” is likely to out persuade someone with a large collection of skills and weak intention.

By: John P Morgan

John P Morgan — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:01:53 +0000

Kenrick,

Thanks for posting this. I think it is a VERY important point of a consideration and one any serious student of persuasion, who also values integrity and authenticity like yourself, consistently deals with.

It can certainly be a frustrating experience to have people mistrust you based on a persuasion skillset. I know the feeling.

I’ve also found that a fear of negative intentions is not the only reason a person might be weary of a “master persuader”.

On a deeper level, I think people are simply uncomfortable with the idea that they can be persuaded outside of their awareness.

I often quote Arthur Schopenhauer:

“You are free to do what you will, but you are not free in willing.”

This statement shatters the foundation of reality for many people. I actually had it printed on the back of my business card for some years and have watched many people trance out and go through sudden state shift after simply reading it! (It wasn’t necessarily a good state, hence why I have taken it off my business card!)

One’s “will” is often their identity and in one swoop of a statement, this identity is taken away from them. With the loss of identity, a sort of existential angst arises.

People don’t want to be persuaded because they don’t want to be out of control, but the truth is they never really had control.

In the end, I believe that fully accepting we don’t really have control and that we are constantly being influenced is an empowering idea.

For example, a wonderful truth resulting from the idea that we are constantly being influenced outside of our awareness is that whether we intend to be or not, “WE ARE ALL CONNECTED”.

Quite a nice thing, I think.

I try to take situations in which someone fears being persuaded as an opportunity to enlighten them to the source of their fears.

When they are willing to take the journey and meet me on the other side, then I find we are both in much a better place.

Keep it real my friend.