Evangelism and Charismatic Leadership: A Discordian Manual.

[Cain]

Evangelism:  A Discordian Manual.

How to be a charismatic leader, in 3 easy steps and several monstrously hard ones.[/u]

Charismatics all have the following attributes and qualities:

1)   A sense of purpose
2)   Mystery/contradiction
3)   Saintliness/Matching values to personal lives
4)   Use of rhetoric and eloquence with the spoken word.
5)   Self-assurance and theatricality
6)   Uninhibitedness
7)   Fervency in your cause
8)Vulnerability/depth of emotion
9)   Adventurousness/Courage
10) Magnetism.  The ability to treat and seduce a crowd like an individual person.

1)This is pretty easy.  Always radiate that you know what you are doing.  Be it going to the bar for another drink or speaking at a rally, act like you are totally in charge.  This applies to ideologies too.  Don't sway from your goal and people will be heartened by your confidence, which will in turn raise yours.

2)Contradictions in character and values add mystery, make you hard to comprehend and so all the more interesting and complex.  Given the nature of Discordianism, this shouldn't be too hard to project.

3)Appearing to live out your ideals in your own life.  Goes beyond religion and politics, for example Washington and Lenin.  Very hard and dangerous to fake.

4)Words are the easiest method to stir emotions which can be manipulated and controlled.  The slow, authoritarian, hypnotic style (e.g. Roosevelt) works better than the highly impassioned oratory.

5)Draw attention through self-confidence and calmness.

6)Being uninhibited can allow for many opportunities, as it makes you seem larger than life and fearless.  Others project their fantasies onto you because of it and your apparent power is magnified.

7)You can act as a focus point for peoples discontent.  People will rally around you in the hope of communal experience that society fails to give today.  Your beliefs should be like an inner fire, powering your every word, gesture and action.

8)Opening up to your audience again uses their emotions to build rapport with you and increase your status.  You should desire your audience, as nothing plays to their vanity more.

9)Your unconventionality and air of adventure should attract the bored.  Your heroism and willingness to stand up for your beliefs will reflect other qualities.  However, any signs of cowardice after establishing this will ruin your charisma.

10)The use of your eyes are vital.  They should show detached zeal and excitement.  Never let them show fear or nerves.  Always hold peoples gazes.

How to use language

Contradictory nature

Show yourself as having one attribute while showing a subtle underplay of another (devilish humour mixed with sadness for example).  The secondary characteristic should be only hinted at, never overplayed lest you appear schizophrenic or threatening.

Noise vs Sound

A guide to speaking.  Remember that we are surrounded by the noises of talk all day.  Stand out, use rhythm and pace to make your words more like relaxing music that seeps in under someones defences.

Sow Discontent.

Make people question the future, depressed, question their personalities and purpose.  Paint a bleak picture, then show your alternative.  Do not be that obvious, they must feel the wound and let it fester a short while before you can cure it.  Remember to use the quality of excitement, of breaking routines and daily boredom!  Also use historical tools, ,Äúgolden age,Äù vs present.  

Always insinuate.

Insinuation works under the natural resistance and mental walls of individuals.  Learn how to hint, direct and be subtle.  A banal remark or encounter that addresses an emotional issue briefly will yield more than a thousand facts.  Use imagination and desire to plant these seeds.  ,ÄúAccidental,Äù or ,Äúsleep on it,Äù remarks work well too.

Use barriers and tension to create desire and temptation.  

If there are none of these in the environment, invent them.  Drawing them into taboos and the darker sides of their personalities often works well.  Use suspense and temporary withdrawals from public life too, to aid the process.

Think before you speak!

Every word should be delivered to achieve maximum effect.  Flattery is best, arguments are the worst.  Use humour and lightheartedness to lower peoples defences.  Use absolutes, to maximize emotional effect.  The confusion you should sow will let you control the situation.

Prove Yourself.

Show you have courage in your convictions.  Without actions, your words are merely hot air.  Even if you fail or make a fool of yourself, so long as you went in unflinchingly and tried your hardest, you will have proved yourself.

Attack modern conventions.

Ties back to taboos.  The younger your audience, the more easily they are made to rebel against the current status quo.  The more illicit and dangerous you appear, the stronger the bonds that are made.

Everyone's a masochist.

Use these leanings to your advantage.  A small amount of introduced pain will again solidify the bonds you have crafted.

Become the pursued.

Withdraw for a while, let your audience do the chasing and hard work.  By denying the climax they expect, their dependency increases.