Are You an Imbecile, a Pointer, or Neither?

"When a finger points to the moon, the imbecile looks at the finger." ~ Chinese Proverb

How many imbeciles come to mind after reading this ancient Chinese proverb?  If you are wise, you will count yourself among them.

We all spend too much time looking at the pointers (e.g. "the news," mass media, social conventions, and other people).  The crowd is not the truth, the map is not the territory, the word is not the thing.

I'll stop being a pointer now and step out of the way of your thought by leaving you with one more bit of ancient Chinese wisdom:

"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought." ~ Basho

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Related:

The Greatest Source of 'News You Can Use'

How Ego Hurts You (And How to Overcome It)

Comments

[Kent @ The Financial Philosopher]

Hopefully you are neither the imbecile, nor the pointer (or at least not too often)!

[Kenton Russell]

love your blog; keep up the good work and look forward to your other thoughts; I think this notion also applies to everyone looking at hedge fund positions instead of figuring out why the position is there in the first place.

[Kent @ The Financial Philosopher]

Kenton,

Thanks for the generous compliment and I agree with you. People are also looking at (or listening to) what others have to say about fund positions.

[reend]

Here is an example, David Cameron last week said 'What's more, we have exempted what are called 'intra-company transfers' from the limit