As mentioned in book one in order for the game to work it needs to be concealed. A mechanism employed to achieve this result is what Plato referred to as a noble lie. Is a settlement which induces everyone in the society to believe that the social order, the laws, the caste system, the customs are all divinely ordained to be so.

Very few of us always tell the truth. We lie about our age, about our weight, about how we liked Aunt Bertha's pastry... but there are some of us who just plain lie. They twist as a sculptor might manipulate clay. These are the Players. They do not just lie some of the time; they lie all the time. For them, lying is as second nature as breathing is to us.

The traditional approach to branding, as far as I can tell, goes something like this: 1. List your key strengths and abilities 2. Define what it is that you are offering 3. Define your market 4. Link steps 1 and 2 to step 3

As a society we have all been indoctrinated into a giant cult. It is the cult of marketing. We experience ourselves and each other as brands, commodities, assets, which are bought and sold at market.

In today's world facts are king. What ever comment you wish to make, even the most banal, self evident observations such as people are stressed these days, someone in the crowd of listeners will invariably ask: what are your supporting facts?

Over the last few months we have been experiencing the after-shock from the 2008 crash. While the vast majority of the middle class is still reeling from the pain of the disaster, and trying to figure out new ways to sustain themselves in retirement, those who were the most culpable for the fiasco- the bankers- have returned to paying themselves outrageously extravagant bonuses.

You need a job. You need to persuade someone to give you a job. As blunt and simplistic as that sounds, the situation is that simple.

Have you ever been in a social situation where you have felt yourself on the outside? And when you looked at who was on the inside, it simply made no sense. They weren't any smarter than you, better looking than you, or superior to you in any discernible way, yet they were on the inside, and you were on the outside, looking in.

When Shakespeare advises us "to thine own self be true," he is not referring to our petty self driven by its narcissistic impulses. He refers to a higher self - the one which transcends the ego and is connected to all that is.

The notion that we are born with some innate qualities that very much determine our course in life seems to go against the grain in North America. When it comes to natural sports ability or talents such as singing, or dancing, or music it is accepted that some of us have more natural ability than others.