An authentic charisma gives life to thoughts, words, and actions. More innate than arising from effort or education, it gives meaningfulness to work, heart to speech, and inspiration to understanding. Without it, even beauty becomes shallow and the most refined manners seem empty. It deflects embarrassment, quickens success, multiplies majesty, fulfills confidence, and increases perfection itself.

Appreciate what you do have more than what you wish you had. Live happily as you can rather than unhappily wishing to live in ways you can't. Though your knowledge and understanding may transcend the temporal, cultural whims; the expression of this insight more skillfully waits for a receptive time. Cultural consensus easily overshadows and disregards deeper truths that best lie hidden until their time arrives. Even when the best direction, swimming against a strong current may only make things worse while waiting for more accommodating times can quickly bring success. Genuine goodness brings an exception to this rule however. It never goes out of style, should never be postponed, subverted, or undervalued.

As all politicians know, manipulating and controlling people becomes easy when you know what motivates them. Everyone idolizes something—most often fame, fortune, pleasure, or power. For many, this prime-moving motivation hides more deeply than the surface persona crafted by dogma and culture. It rules from a dark, hidden, and secret core of egocentric inclinations. When an external force or person understands a person’s dark, ruling passion, they easily appeal to it with words and images, tempt them into motion, checkmate their will, and capture their freedom. Understanding these basic and everyday-used techniques can help immunize us from the nearly constant manipulations of politicians, advertisers, rivals, and everyone else.

Aversion arises easily enough, no need to encourage it. Without reason, many allow an innate distrust and animosity to distort their first impressions. They revel in dislike and let malevolence and revenge take precedence over their own material and psychological well being—they would rather hurt others than benefit themselves. We find esteem and respect from others when we see something to respect and esteem in them.

Awareness floats and drifts
Like an unmoored boat
Making no distinction between
Going this way and going that way.

Everything lives in its grace
And it denies nothing to anyone
Making no claims,
Having no desires.
Because it lacks the dualistic twist,
It’s considered insignificant
Though it gives birth to all things
Like the wind creating movement,
Water creating waves.

Because the wise never try to be great
They accomplish great things.

Be careful and avoid all the various types of one-sided arrogance: vain egocentrism, blind sectarianism and nationalism, habitual and pompous extravagance. These only make you look like a foolish monster blinded by false hopes and an inability to see the actual derision. This psychological defect undermines any kind of openness to development and change.

Be careful when stepping into a new role that replaces someone greatly respected. Because people more easily forget negative experiences, the past to most seems much better than the present. To avoid being completely eclipsed by a highly-thought-of predecessor, you must either achieve twice as much or create something innovative and unprecedented. A certain amount of esteem comes automatically from just being the first. To equal that when we're not the first requires superior talent, performance, and results. This can also secure our place when a successor takes over from you.

Be true to yourself and your own personal integrity rather than just following externally dictated rules. But keep that self-judgement pure with a higher standard than conventional morals and laws. Not because of looking for approval but for the sake of your own self-respect, avoid anything that diminishes this personal evaluation and dedication to goodness.

Become your own universal friend, stop needing to become dependent on anyone else, and achieve the highest happiness. Be like Stilpon who—after he lost all his wealth, his wife, and children in a fire—remarked, 'Now I have all my possessions with me.' Like Cato who represented all of Rome, represent the rest of the world. Those who can happily live alone stop resembling a wild beast in any way and start looking like a sage in every way.

Before acting, take a deep, second look at your decisions exposing them to your inner court of reflection. This lets more information filter in giving more confidence for choices without much clarity. It injects time for more verification and proof. It instills more appreciation for gifts that become more valued because more well-considered. The longer anticipated, the more highly appreciated. When you have to communicate a denial, a rejection, a disapproval; more time allows emotions to dissipate, a better time and place to emerge, and more possibilities for softly saying no and arousing less bitterness. The more pressed for an answer, the more beneficial a delay.

Believing in "good" or "bad" luck projects agency and makes people feel like victims, trapped with no escape. The wise understand the rules of "luck" and don't leave things to chance. Being wise welcomes "lucky", being foolish "unlucky." Only integrity and insight create the true situation of good fortune.

Better to never compete. Most competition begins with belittling an opponent and looks for support and ammunition everywhere it can—not only where it should. And this abuse easily escalates into a hatred and revenge that seeks out and reveals old failings, damages reputations, and spotlights old scandals. While good manners and courtesy puts up with and excuses mistakes and misconduct, competition invents and exaggerates them. The competitive seldom find success with their strategies of insult, libel, and slander; normally, it only harms their cause and their reputation—while doing little to stop or slow their aggression. People with goodwill live in peace and people with integrity have goodwill.

Born with humanity's lawless nature formed from millions of years hunting, fighting, and killing; only culture raises us above this lawless barbarism. Aggressive violence and self-serving greed helped humans survive in a hostile environment with ferocious animals and neighbors. And though now the environment has radically changed, those same basic human impulses remain. Civilization only arises when these remain in check and culture inspires the means for that accomplishment. Culture defines the person, polishes conversation, and creates a more refined, better world.

Break to become whole,
Twist to become straight,
Empty to become full,
Wear out to become new,
Have little to gain much,
With much, you gain only confusion.
The wise therefore embrace non-duality
And use that to shepherd the world.

Not showing off, they shine brightly.
Not justifying themselves, they gain respect.
Not defining themselves, they become new.
Not bragging and parading themselves, they lead.
Not flattering themselves, their success endures.

Not competing,
In all the world they have no competition.
As the old masters taught,
Surrender to overcome.
By returning, you become whole.

By always seeking the most lowly position,
Oceans can welcome and receive all rivers and streams.
In this way the wise, by placing themselves lower than others
Gain the most respect and influence.
They teach and guide by listening.
They lead by following behind.

For these reasons,
When the wise are in charge,
The people don’t feel oppressed.
When the wise are in front,
The people don’t feel blocked.

The world never tires of praising
And appreciating this kind of leader.
Because they don’t struggle or compete,
They have no competition.

Carefully avoid all foolish ventures, in particular all those disreputable schemes that may bring an audience and notoriety but also disdain and loss of reputation. Eccentricity has its attractions and rewards but this attention can quickly become ridicule; the spotlight most often only brings laughter and disrespect. And since the path of right livelihood and wisdom often crosses status quo values and norms, the wise carefully cultivate anonymity and avoid public notice.

Carefully going forward with foresighted caution can become a clear expression of wisdom, confer great advantage, and assure success. Caution however commonly appears as cunning which readily arouses distrust, hatred, and a myriad of unexpected problems. For this reason, the more clever the strategy, the more critical to conceal it. Be shrewd, reflect, plan, and distrust but keep your suspicions hidden. Blending this kind of foresighted planning with an inscrutable outward expression develops the most skillful and appropriate action.

Chains of cause and effect multiply from every action set in motion. The foolish see only the first link in this set, quickly commit, and get blindsided by the next-step consequences. The wise realize the distance and difficulty between taking on a new project and it becoming successful, take time to contemplate before acting, and avoid committing themselves unless they see a clear and valuable, multi-step process forward. Sometimes declining obligations requires more strength of character than accepting them. Rather than being led on by herd-instinct conformity, the prudent watch and let the fools rush in.

Clear insight arising from awareness avoids danger and accomplishes even the most difficult of tasks. This kind of confidence transcends reason, quickly finds solutions and the most appropriate response to even complicated and confusing dilemmas. Too much thought however can dissipate intuition and lead to deeds based on theory instead of the immediate experience. Reflection that uses but doesn't depend on thinking takes advantage of momentary uniqueness, acts at the best time, and often succeeds without effort.

Cleverness seduces us with quick rewards and easier successes. But these remain vulnerable and easily reverse. Wisdom takes a slower, more thoughtful, but stronger and more deeply rooted approach. Even a small amount of genuine wisdom goes much further than a deluge of clever but superficial exploits. This understanding extends to all of our words, thoughts, and deeds and—although it doesn't often entice immediate applause—it wins approval from the wise which is the true benchmark of genuine success.