Is persuasion a light or dark art?
Come on, be honest, if I told you I'm about to try and persuade you you'd fold your arms and stick your fingers in your ears wouldn't you? Well, that's exactly what I'm about to do, persuade you about persuasion. 'Meta-persuasion' if you like.
Why the bad reputation?
Somewhere along the way, persuasion has been reframed as something only manipulators do. But is that frame fair? I think we need to slide it back over to the middle a bit, to its original home. Because in the same way fire and water can cause great destruction, when used wisely they satisfy our needs.
What would Luke Skywalker say?
I'm going to assume you've seen Star Wars. The 'force' in Star Wars is neutral, neither good nor bad. But two opposing forces use it for dramatically different reasons. The Jedi who are aligned with peace, selflessness and compassion use the force to protect others. They use it for 'light' purposes.
The Sith on the other hand are aligned with hatred, anger and selfishness, and use the force to gain power and control over others. Same force, two opposing uses.
Jedi in the real world
It's easy to think of persuaders as the Derren Browns, or car salesmen in flashy suits, but in reality we all persuade every day. Is it a dark art for the parent to try to persuade their child to spend less time on screens, brush their teeth before bed, or get outside more?
Sith in the real world
On the other hand, is it a dark art for gambling companies to try to persuade people to part with their hard earned cash, influencers trying to persuade people to buy things they don't need (that the influencer doesn't actually use), or get people to believe things that aren't true? Probably.
The real question is...
Its the same persuasion force at play no matter how its used. The only difference is the intention behind the persuasion. So maybe the question should be less about persuasion and more about intention. Who's interests are we persuading in?
If you're aiming to persuade another but you have their best interests at heart surely that's Jedi persuasion not Sith. Or if you're aiming for win-win, so you both benefit, that's fine. Its when you're in full Sith mode and trying to persuade so you gain and they lose that you step onto the dark side.
We need more persuasion not less
In a world of increasing darkness where forces are at play trying to get us to think and act in a way that's opposed to our best interests the best response is more persuasion, not less...
Much as we might hate to admit it, we don't always know what's best for us, and sometimes a cheeky bit of Jedi persuasion from someone with more perspective and judgement on the matter might just help us on the path to a better life.
The force be with you my friend...
