The Financial Philosopher

WWJD? More Than You Think

"No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house." ~ Jesus Christ

This post speaks universal truths, which is why it certainly falls under this blog's central theme of "meaning before money, purpose before planning." 

Also, at a time of national tragedy, we need to dig deeper within ourselves, to move beyond the superficial lights and gifts, to connect and reconnect to the spirit of others, and to reflect on life's meaning and purpose.  This reflection is more than a question of what to do but one of how to be...

For example, when people ask, "What would Jesus do?", what are they really asking?  More importantly, what is the answer? This question is so famous it has its own acronymn (WWJD?).  But in the opinion and observations of your humble author, most people completely miss the underlying message, which may be the most powerful and life-changing for the individual and for the world, regardless of religious orientation.

In my forthcoming book, to be published early 2013, I address the same question at length. Here's an excerpt from the chapter on life-purpose:

Consider the popular Christian creed, "What Would Jesus Do?" It is too common, that by focusing on the word do in this question, that some may overlook a greater guiding purpose. There is nothing wrong with virtue and morality, what some call good deeds. However, if one is to really do as Jesus did, they will not focus first on life-actions but on life-purpose. To do as Jesus did, one’s life-purpose will be a guiding force for all actions: Purpose leads, actions follow.

If you act virtuous just for the sake of being virtuous—religious for the sake of being religious—you may overlook your purpose for living on earth because you focus too much on how you exist and too little on why you exist. You may find redemption but lose yourself along the way—a paradox.

I humbly submit to you this: To serve God is to fulfill one’s life-purpose, not just to fill one’s life with good deeds. As Jesus said, "No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house." Your purpose is the lamp; and it is only the authentic Self that can produce the light, whereas many act as if the light produces the lamp; the action is placing the lamp well. Again, purpose leads; actions follow. 

Ask the question a different way: What would Jesus not do? He would not tell you to ask another person what they would do and then plan life accordingly; instead Christ, or any other great leader, might tell you today: "Find your purpose and fulfill it; this is what I did; this is why I was successful; and this is what you can also do."

Christ's message is universal; it is spiritual, not just religious.  His example is a shining light that benefits anyone and everyone, regardless of religion or life philosophy.  Define things for yourself and stop leading your life by abstract meanings, social conventions, and financial pursuits. 

Be your own light. Focus first on be; then the do will take care of itself...

Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year and best of anything and everything you celebrate.  2013 will be the year you shine your light brighter on the world.

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image by Shannon

Related Posts:

The Goal is Not the Driving Force

Self-Actualization is Success in Life and Money

The Only Place Where Conflict Exists

"You know, most people around the world believe that there is a great conflict in the universe, a conflict between good and evil.  Well, this is not true.  It's true that there is a conflict, but the conflict only exists in the human mind, not in the universe.  It's not true for the plants or the animals.  It's not true for the stars or the trees, or for the rest of nature.  It's only true for humans.  And the conflict in the human mind is not really between good and evil.  The real conflict in our mind is between the truth and lies." ~ Don Miguel Ruiz,The Voice of Knowledge

I'm trying my best to finish my first book, which will be an extensive annotated book of quotations. (This explains my light posting schedule lately).  The quotes, along with my notes in the book, will cover a wide range of topics and come from some of the greatest human beings that lived over the past 2500 years. 

The featured quote in this blog post from Don Miguel Ruiz is a good representation of a primary theme of the book, which is to bring about awareness that humans tend to complicate things with words and concepts and are thus misled by them.

If asked the question, "Why do you do what you do?" and the answer is, "Because that's the way it's always been done," you may have a problem waiting to happen.  This is where conflict begins.

For example, people follow abstract concepts, such as retirement and financial freedom but never form their own definition.  They spend decades of time and tremendous financial energy on something that is not only impossible to accurately foresee years in advance but is also something defined by social conventions, not the individual.  This behavior is paradoxical--it is contradictory because people desire freedom but they uwittingly enslave themselves by following abstract concepts--things they didn't define for themselves--and thus they are not free and may never be free. 

On a larger and more damaging scale, people argue and fight wars over political ideology and religious dogma. Put simply, these conflicts arise because people do not follow their own path--they accept ideas, concepts and ideology without question and thus the conflicts are preventable and not necessary.

"To be a light to oneself is not to follow the light of another, however reasonable, logical, historical, and however convincing." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

Conflict does not exist in Washington, D.C. or in Syria or in Gaza or in Egypt.  The only place where conflict exists is in the human mind; the conflict is between truth and lies; the Self is truth; and the crowd is untruth.  The prevention of conflict can only begin with you.  If you do not follow your own light, you dim the light of the world.

I'll expand on this theme and many more in my book.  Now I must go back to writing!

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Related:

Dogma Deconstruction and Abstraction Subtraction

The Greatest Deception in the History of Finance

The Anti-Columnist Part 3: The Art of Not Reading

"In the cultivation of the mind, our emphasis should be not on concentration, but on attention. Concentration is a process of forcing the mind to narrow down to a point, whereas attention is without frontiers." ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti

I was pleasantly surprised to learn I made it into the final round of the MarketWatch "World's Next Greatest Investing Columnist" competition. 

The surprise (and what made it pleasant) was that 3 finalists were voted in by receiving the most Facebook "Likes" and another 3 were selected by editors; I was in the latter group, which I believe to be a more respectable distinction. 

With that said, those of you who voted on Facebook certainly helped me get noticed by the editors.  Thank-you!  So please vote again in this final round (see how to vote at the bottom of this post).

The next challenge I faced was thinking of a column topic worthy of a final round submission--something instructive and useful but not distracting--and something in my natural voice.  It only took a few minutes for me to arrive at the idea, which would remain within the anti-columnist frame of the prior two contest submissions...

"The art of not reading is a very important one. It consists in not taking an interest in whatever may be engaging the attention of the general public at any particular time. When some political or ecclesiastical pamphlet, or novel, or poem is making a great commotion, you should remember that he who writes for fools always finds a large public. A precondition for reading good books is not reading bad ones: for life is short." ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

To paraphrase Buddha, "You are what you think."  In different words, there is certainly a "junk in, junk out" result that comes from the information you consume.  Therefore, to think well, it is imperative to read well; and one's information diet needs to be mindfully balanced for it to be healthy.

For the article, I decided to add value by interviewing some prominent bloggers, Barry Ritholtz from The Big Picture and Tadas Viskanta from Abnormal Returns; and there was no surprise that they have observed among investors a high correlation between poor investment returns and poor information diets.

The solution is to allocate the attention so as to minimize the potential for poor judgment that often arises out of an overabundance of information.  To begin this healthy allocation, one simply identifies and eliminates the bad sources of information and attempts a less is more, quality over quantity approach to information consumption.  The art of good reading begins by learning the art of identifying not reading the unhealthy sources.

So please read my MarketWatch article, The Price of Paying Attention, and don't forget to vote by clicking on the "Like" button near top of the article's web page.

Thanks!