In the meantime our good ship, with that perfect wind to drive her, fast approached the Sirens’ Isle. But now the breeze dropped, some power lulled the waves, and a breathless calm set in. Rising from their seats my men drew in sail and threw it into the hold, then sat down at the oars and churned the water white with their blades of polished pine. Meanwhile, I took a large round of wax, cut it up small with my sword, and kneaded the species with all the strength of my fingers. The wax soon yielded to my vigorous treatment and grew warm, for I had the rays of my Lord the Sun to help me. I took each of my men in turn and plugged their ears with it. HOMER THE ODYSSEY BOOK XII
The Trophy
- Is the sight of other competitors – a symbol
- It must represent not only your victory but everyone else defeat
- Stir Unhappiness with their circumstances – their life lacks adventure
- They have become boring -strayed from the ideals of their youth
- Create a need – stir anxiety and discontent
- Perfectly satisfied person cannot be seduced
- Instill tension and disharmony in targets
- Pain and anxiety are proper precursors to pleasure
- Create feelings of inadequacy – will give you space to insinuate yourself
- Make them see you as the answer to their problems
- Manufacture a need that you can fill
They then made me a prisoner on my ship by binding me hand and foot, standing me up by the step of the mast and tying the rope’s ends to the mast itself. This done , they sat down once more and struck the grey water with their oars. We made good progress and had just come within call of the shore when the Sirens became aware that a ship was swiftly bearing down upon them, and broke into their liquid song. HOMER THE ODYSSEY BOOK XII
“Draw near” they sang ” illustrious Odysseus, a flower of Achaean chivalry, and bring your ship to rest so that you may hear our voices. No seaman ever sailed his black ship past this spot without listening to the sweet tones that flow from our lips…” The lovely voices came to me across the water, and my heart was filled with such a longing to listen that with nod and frown I signed to my men to set me free. HOMER THE ODYSSEY BOOK XII
Falling In Love
- No one can fall in love if he is partially satisfied with what he has or who he is
- The experience originates in an extreme depression, in an inability to find something that has value in everyday life
- People protect themselves from the harshness of life by succumbing to routines and patterns
- By closing from other people
- Underlying these habits is a tremendous sense of insecurity and defensiveness
- The seducer must pick at this wound and bring these semi-conscious thoughts into full awareness
- Often better to stir thoughts of inadequacy and uncertainty indirectly
- By hinting at comparisons to yourself or to others
- Insinuating somehow that your victims’ lives are less grand than they imagined
- The jolts in the victim’s mind create space for you to insinuate your poison
- Make them feel at war with themselves
- Tear them into two directions and become anxious about it
- Feelings of anxiety – lack and need
- Is the precursor of all desire
- without a sense of lack there can be no seduction
Desire and love have for their object things or qualities which a man does not at present possess but which he lacks – Socrates