The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

17
Seize the Historical Moment
The Law of Generational Myopia
ou are born into a generation that defines who you are more than
you can imagine. Your generation wants to separate itself from
the previous one and set a new tone for the world. In the process, it
forms certain tastes, values, and ways of thinking that you as an
individual internalize. As you get older, these generational values and
ideas tend to close you off from other points of view, constraining
your mind. Your task is to understand as deeply as possible this
powerful influence on who you are and how you see the world.
Knowing in depth the spirit of your generation and the times you live
in, you will be better able to exploit the zeitgeist. You will be the one to
anticipate and set the trends that your generation hungers for. You
will free your mind from the mental constraints placed on you by
your generation, and you will become more of the individual you
imagine yourself to be, with all the power that freedom will bring
you.
The Rising Tide
On May 10, 1774, sixty-four-year-old King Louis XV of France died,
and though the country went into the requisite mourning for its king,
many French people felt a sense of relief. He had ruled France for over
fifty years. He left a country that was prosperous, the preeminent
power in Europe, but things were changing—the expanding middle
class craved power, the peasantry was restless, and people in general
yearned for a new direction. And so it was with great hope and
affection that the French people turned to their new ruler, King Louis
XVI, the grandson of the deceased king, who was a mere twenty years

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old at the time. He and his young wife, Marie Antoinette, represented a
new generation that would certainly revitalize the country and the
monarchy itself.
The young king, however, did not share the optimism of his
subjects. In fact, at moments he was on the verge of panic. Ever since
he was a boy, he had dreaded the possibility that he might become
king. Compared with his affable grandfather, Louis was quite shy
around people; he was an awkward young man, always uncertain and
fearful of making mistakes. He felt the august role of French king to be
beyond his capacities. Now, having ascended the throne, he could no
longer disguise his insecurities from the court and from the French
people. But as he prepared for his coronation, to take place in the
spring of 1775, Louis began to feel differently. He had decided to study
the coronation ritual itself so that he could be prepared and not make
mistakes; and what he learned actually filled him with the confidence
that he desperately needed.
According to legend, a dove sent from the Holy Spirit had deposited
some sacred oil that was kept at a church in the town of Reims and was
used to anoint all kings of France from the ninth century on. Once
anointed with this oil, the king was suddenly elevated above the ranks
of mere mortals and imbued with a divine nature, becoming God’s
lieutenant on earth. The ritual represented the marriage of the new
king with the church and the French people. In his body and spirit, the
king would now embody the entire populace, their two fates
intertwined. And, sanctified by God, the king could depend on the
Lord’s guidance and protection.
By the 1770s, many French people and progressive clergymen had
come to see this ritual as a relic of a superstitious past. But Louis felt
the opposite. To him, the ancientness of the rite was comforting.
Believing in its significance would be the means to overcome his fears
and doubts. He would be buoyed by a profound sense of mission, his
divine nature made real by the anointment.
Louis decided to reenact this sacred ritual in its more original form.
And he would go even further. At the palace of Versailles he noticed
that many of the paintings and statues of Louis XIV associated him
with Roman gods, a way to symbolically strengthen the image of the
French monarchy as something ancient and unshakable. The new king
decided he would surround himself with similar imagery for the public

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