Weltanschaung

The Philosopher’s Stone

zenothestoic@protonmail.ch

Tag: Positivity

  • On Age

    On Age

    Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
    Her infinite variety: other women cloy
    The appetites they feed; but she makes hungry
    Where most she satisfies: for vilest things
    Become themselves in her; that the holy priests
    Bless her when she is riggish.

    Act II, Scene 2 Antony and Cleopatra

    William Shakespeare

    Cleopatra was fortunate indeed, the rest of us may age less well.  But we should embrace age, not resent or fear it.

    Physical and mental decline, beyond what is acceptable to each individual, should be dealt with as each of us sees fit.  I have no fear whatsoever of age, even less so of death. But incapacity is a different  matter. I hope for a more enlightened age, where we will be helped to exercise our right to choose the moment and manner of our end.

    I have no intention of letting the laws of my country decide for me when I may exit and how.  Nembutal is readily available on the darknet and various books provide viable and painless alternatives.

    It is very distressing to see someone in fear of death. My father was what I can only describe as a medieval christian.  In his last few years, I spent many hours trying to comfort him.  He was by nature a fearful man and christian mythology did him no favours. He had a fixation about “limbo” and worse.

    His mind was full of Dante Alighieri‘s 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy.  Unfortunately he tended to concentrate on “inferno” and  “purgatorio”.  For no good reason, “paradiso” seemed something he wondered whether he was fit for.

    As an atheist I find such nonsense laughable and damaging and I pay no heed to Pascal’s Wager.  My father’s outdated belief system was more of a hindrance than a help.

    I have taken age into my own hands. People are dying around me – it happens to us all. I may mourn their passing, but I will not let it destroy my own life. Rather, I will let it fill me with an ever greater determination to rejoice in its beauty and goodness while I still have the opportunity.  Carpe diem. Seize the day.

    I will try and be less of a grumpy old misery. I will determine to be a better father and husband.  I will do my utmost to see the best in everybody and everything. I will change my mind.

    I am 62 and recognize that I can not change the world.  Who can? I am deeply upset by the plight of most of my fellow humans and would wave a wand if I could; but I can’t.

    So I will bury my head in the sand. I will refuse to read the newspapers or watch television. I will refuse to listen to doom-mongers and trouble makers. I will keep out of mischief and try to do no harm. I will refuse to listen to gossips and the vain. I will avoid the negative and embrace only the positive.

    I will expand my mind, change it. I will leave the ruts and well worn channels of my thoughts.

    And when my end comes, I will hope to accept it with good grace and in peace

    .

  • Positivity

    Positivity

    I was going to call this article “Negativity” and then realised my mistake.  I wanted to write about the subjective experience of having one’s well being affected by concentrating on “negativity” and then realised this was precisely the damaging behaviour pattern I was telling myself to avoid.

    Instead of talking (or writing) about “negativity” there are two benefits of instead writing about “positivity”.   The first benefit is that it demonstrates the point I was going to make but in reverse: you life will feel subjectively better if you concentrate only on things which are positive.   The second benefit is that by actually writing about “positivity” I will myself feel subjectively positive and also be taking my own medicine.

    I reviewed some of the recent posts I had written, mostly about the financial markets.  Some of those posts are positive and helpful: in particular 8 Steps to Profitable Investment and Profitable Stock Market Investment is Very Simple .

    After more than 30 years in the financial markets these two posts represent my view as to how stock markets work.

    I then looked at a few other posts and realised they were horribly negative: in particular Fundamental Analysis – Expensive and Futile ,  Where are the Customers’ Yachts? and Technical Analysis – Embarrassing Nonsense .

    In a sense this presents me with quite a difficult problem.  These negative posts represent deeply held views based on long experience. The problem is they trash almost the entire industry.  The fact is also that so many industries can (and probably should) be similarly trashed (at least in part).

    The question is: should you do it? Morally speaking, if you are sure enough of your grounds for criticism, the answer has to be yes. Warn people of the dangers. But on a personal level the answer has to be a resounding no: any sort of negativity seems to create (subjectively speaking) a destructive feedback loop. The negativity may spill over into your life as a whole.

    The common sense answer may therefore  simply be to ignore the negative and instead guide people to what you believe is the positive.

    Instead of telling people what does not work in investment (or any other aspect of life) tell them what does work so that they will be able by default to avoid what does not.