EVER wondered how some people have moved us or inspired us to do improbable things their way, or mesmerized us, put blinders on our eyes, then made us do irrational things that we would never have dreamed of doing had we not been under their spell?

If so, then the speakers must have been using chiasmus, a figure of speech that surpasses all the other rhetorical devices in its power to demolish our built-in defenses and arouse our emotions. We could very well call chiasmus the linguistic incarnation of charisma — that rare and inscrutable ability of certain people to inspire fierce loyalty and devotion among their followers.