---
title: "How to create a cult in five easy steps"
description: "The steps Greene says the charlatans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries perfected for building a following."
canonical: https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/how-to-create-a-cult-in-five-easy-steps/
updated: 2026-11-03
---

# How to create a cult in five easy steps

> The steps Greene says the charlatans of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries perfected for building a following.

Robert Greene's framework, from 48 Laws of Power, pp. 318 to 337.

Framework 14 of 27 from [48 Laws of Power](https://tomsharman.com/bookshelf/48-laws-of-power/index.md) by Robert Greene. Category: Offers and pricing.

## The steps

1. **Keep It Vague; Keep It Simple.** Attract attention with words that promise something transformative but stay hazy, and offer a simple solution.
2. **Emphasize the Visual and the Sensual over the Intellectual.** Use theatre, luxury, scent, music and gadgets to amuse the bored and ward off skeptics.
3. **Borrow the Forms of Organized Religion to Structure the Group.** Create rituals, ranks, religious titles and sacrifices, and act like a prophet or guru.
4. **Disguise Your Source of Income.** Surround yourself with luxury and let it seem to come from the truth of your methods and hide the followers' pockets that fill it.
5. **Set Up an Us-Versus-Them Dynamic.** Make followers feel part of an exclusive club and invent a devious enemy to keep the group cohesive.

## Where it comes from

From chapter: LAW 27, pp. 318–337

People have an overwhelming need to believe in something, and that need can be turned into a cult-like following. Greene gives a five step method from the sixteenth and seventeenth century charlatans: keep it vague and simple, emphasise the visual and sensual over the intellectual, borrow the forms of organised religion, disguise your source of income, and set up an us-versus-them dynamic. His cases are Borri's Army of the New Pope, the Mountain Doctor Schuppach, and Mesmer, whose group demonstrations in Paris worked because crowds lose the distance to doubt. The reversal is that a group that sees through you becomes an angry crowd, so keep your bags packed or deal with people one by one.

## The animation

24 seconds, 4:5, no sound.

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