Somewhere outside of time, in an alternate dimension made up purely of destiny, growth, and power, the eternal essence of Robert Collier is shrugging its shoulders and saying, “Didn’t I tell you so?”
A few days ago, I read a fascinating article on the pop science site Quanta Magazine.
It was a summary of recent physics research that’s threatening to break down how we’ve thought about science for, oh, the past 500 years or so.
The situation in a nut is that particle physicists are find value in a radical idea, anti-reductionism.
The standard view of science, the one we’ve had for those 500 years, is reductionist. The trees explain the forest. If you want to know more about the forest, learn more about each tree. And if you want to learn more about each tree, learn about its cells. And so on, down and down.
Well, once you get all the way down, where these physicists are looking… it turns out influence might go the other way too.
In other words, you can’t tell the whole story by looking at the trees. The forest as a whole contributes some fundamental part of the picture, and explains the trees also. At least that’s the latest theory.
So what does this mean?
Does it mean that mystery merchant, Robert Collier, was right when he wrote the Secret of the Ages? Will anything your mind imagines trickle down to the subatomic level? Will your intent change the very fabric of the universe?
I have no idea. I imagine the physicists would say absolutely no, and that it’s a huge and unwarranted leap.
It’s all a deep mystery, if you ask me.
But you didn’t ask me. In fact, you might be reminding me impatiently that this is a newsletter about marketing.
So let me map this to the matter of influence in writing.
I have long tried to look at successful copy — and influential writing more generally — and break down why it works. After all, it’s got to be all there on the page.
By looking closer and closer, at each sentence and even each word, I’ve found out the answers to many influence and persuasion mysteries, some of which I’ve shared with you in this newsletter.
And yet, it’s never the whole story. Like Dan Kennedy once said about Gary Halbert’s copy, there is some magic in there. Even somebody as deliberate and trained as Dan himself can’t see where the magic lies… but it’s there, because of how customers responded.
“You’re really killing me here, John,” I hear you say. “What exactly is your point? Can you just tell me what to do and let me be on my way?”
Well, I’m telling you to spend time looking at the small scale of copy. The arguments, words, and structure.
But there’s something else that makes up the total effect of what you write. Something on a much bigger scale. The overall feel, intent, or — shudder — even vibration of what you are writing.
You might be looking for practical advice. The best I can do is leave you with these words of another mystery merchant, Matt Furey:
Truth is, everything you write – whether a simple note to a friend or an advertisement for your business or a chapter going into a book – carries a vibration of some sort, and the stronger your personal vibration while writing the greater the likelihood that those who are somewhat sensitive will feel it.
If you’re in a bad mood when you write, don’t be surprised if the reader doesn’t like what you wrote. Conversely, if you’re in an incredibly positive and vibrant state, the reader may feel such a strong current coming from your words that you lift him from the doldrums of depression into an exalted state of mind.
Then again, if you’re somewhere near neutral when you write, don’t be alarmed if no one bothers to read anything you put out. Make no mistake about it, if you want your writing to get read, it better have some ZAP.”
Last point:
For more anti-reductionist writing and influence advice, you might like to join the destiny and power movement, also known as my email newsletter. You can sign up for it here.