The Financial Philosopher

Excerpts From My Book and Thoughts on Mastery of Life

"One authentic action in reality is worth more than one-thousand inspirations that feed the dream." ~ Kent Thune

Some of you know I've been working on a book, which partially explains my light blog posting frequency lately. If I have an Achilles tendon as a writer, it may be that I do not like publishing anything that is not thoughtful or useful to the reader in some way. Therefore, the more thoughtful and useful, the more time and energy it takes to complete!

I suppose I could lock myself in a room and dedicate more time of the day and night to finish the book but that would have a diminishing effect on the quality of the writing and, more importantly, the quality of life, which is a central theme of the book!

I'm not fond of definitions or labels but this project can be considered an "annotated book of quotations." But unlike most books of quotations, this one is not designed to sit on a coffee table and is not intended for the purpose of providing intermittent inspirations that take the reader farther away from life, rather than closer to it.

Here's a brief excerpt from my forthcoming book to help explain my point:

If the contents of most inspirational books were a food diet, they would consist primarily of sugary snacks—rewarding treats that are quickly consumed, providing you with short bursts of energy but offering very little nutritional value to carry you throughout the day and into the next day. Inspiration feels good to you now but it does not often help you later; it feeds the dream but starves the Self; it is the chocolate cake that is only good while you are eating it.

...However, a mindful menu of thoughts that is consciously constructed can enable you to return to life ready to live—to help you form traits that last, not states that dissolve: One authentic action in reality is worth more than one-thousand inspirations that feed the dream.

And thus you are given a few of the book's primary themes--awareness and authenticity. The book's chapters are sequenced in such a way that the reader will evolve in a progression that begins with reflection on life by the most effective means possible--by beginning at the end--with notes and quotes on death. So, in essence, the reader will be enabled to "wake up" and embrace and clarify life through a progression of chapters, such as presence, awareness, self-knowledge, meaning, purpose, self-actualization, and back to reflecting again.

The current sub-title of the book is "mastery of life," which is my aim for the reader to achieve:

Life is not something to be survived; it is to be lived; and this is what I call mastery of life. This mastery does not mean control, nor does it require perfection. Control is an illusion. You gain control when you let go of the desire for control and end your struggle against nature. Life is simple; there is no reason to make it complex or for you to suffer needlessly. Just recognize what is false, remove it, and you will discover that you are already perfect and that life is a beautiful gift.

I plan to publish the book in the Spring. Thanks for being a part of my journey as a writer. I hope that I have helped you in some small way along the path.

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Related: Where I've Been (and What I've Learned) in the Past 2 Months

The Story of Chapman's 'Giving Tree'

This story begins 10 years ago when my wife and I were looking at a house that would become our home. The real estate agent was on vacation so the owners showed us the house. We knew we liked it upon entering but our decision to buy it was sealed by what we saw when we stepped out onto a second level porch with a view of the yard and vacant lot next to it.

The owner pointed out two large trees, one of which was a beautiful, mature Bradford Pear tree. The branches of this kind of tree form a bell shape, which makes for wonderful shade -- an important feature for the hot and humid southern coastal Summers. Also, the leaves go through a brilliant metamorphasis throughout the year, from white flowers in Spring to green leaves in the Summer, to a bright red in Autumn, to leaves on the ground in Winter for our children to play in.

After taking in the scenery from the porch, my wife noticed a cat wandering through the yard and immediately inquired about it. The owner said, "That's Chapman. She is our cat but we can't take her with us. Our neighbor said she would feed her after we leave." My wife turned to me and I immediately recognized the look, which said three things without words: "This person is a fool to abandon such a beautiful creature; we're buying this house; and Chapman will be our cat." All three things were realized.

For 9 years we enjoyed that home, during which time the tree grew even bigger and more beautiful as did our family and our love for Chapman the cat. For a few years, we allowed her to freely go outdoors, where she used the Bradford Pear tree's shade to relax and its trunk to sharpen her claws. When she grew older, we convinced her that she belonged inside the house with us.

Around the time we decided to move from that home to our current one, we noticed construction workers preparing the vacant lot for building. Our longtime suspicion and fear was now realized -- the tree was positioned in such a way that it would need to be removed (destroyed) to make room for a new home to be built on the vacant lot.

Saddened by our discovery, we walked under and around the Bradford Pear to see if there was any way that the home could be built without taking down that tree. The property lines drawn made it appear impossible not to remove the tree. But suddenly and amazingly we discovered a small sprout coming out of the ground nearby. It was a baby tree growing from the root of the Bradford Pear! My two young boys and I carefully dug around the tiny sprout, cut the mother tree's root on each side of the baby tree, and placed it in a pot. The next day, the construction workers tore down the mother Bradford Pear.

Not long after that sad day, we put our home on the market, sold it, and moved to Hilton Head Island with our family, which of course included Chapman, our other cats, our dog... and the baby Bradford Pear.

We who choose to surround ourselves with lives even more temporary than our own, live within a fragile circle, easily and often breached.  Unable to accept its awful gaps, we still would live no other way. ~ Irving Townsend

One week ago, as of this writing, our dear old cat and treasured family member, Chapman, died. Fortunately my wife and I were with Chapman, comforting her, the moment she took her last breath. Meanwhile, out in the yard of our new home was our young Bradford Pear, which had outgrown its pot.

It must have been less than a few minutes after Chapman died we decided that she should be buried that day -- on the same day the young tree would find its new home in the earth... directly above Chapman. 

The photograph of the young Bradford Pear (right) was taken the day it was placed into the ground, along with our beloved cat.

The mother Bradford Pear tree and Chapman both gave us many years of life and love that can continue growing for many more years with the young tree, which will no doubt grow just as big and beautiful as her mother, thanks in part to Chapman's nourishing body laying in the earth just beneath the tree.

To end this story, I should mention one of our family's favorite books, The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein. It's a story of a tree that loves a boy who used the tree as shade, a place to play, to eat the tree's apples, and eventually to use as wood to build a home when the boy becomes a man. After he loses his livelihood and family to his selfish ways, he returns as an old man to the Giving Tree, which happily offers all that it has remaining to give, a stump, for the old man to sit and be comfortable. The tree had never stopped giving, never expecting anything in return.

Our story is a bit different. Our young tree will undoubtedly give to us like its mother did but we will also give back to it, as will Chapman.

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Related:

Ode to a Friend: On Life, Death and Perspective

To Embrace Death is to Embrace Life

The 'Four F's': Pressing Your Buttons

"Memes involving danger, food, and sex spread faster than other memes because we are wired to pay more attention to them--we have buttons around those subjects." ~ Richard Brodie

In his best-selling book,Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme, Richard Brodie provides an interesting and insightful look into the impact of memes--what he calls the DNA of human society. 

A meme is a basic unit of imitation.  All trends, social conventions and religions are built on memes.  Like DNA, a meme's purpose is to copy itself.  Genetic evolution can take decades, centuries or millennia.  However, a meme--an idea, a catchy phrase, a trendy behavior--can evolve almost instantaneously, especially in the incredibly interconnected world in which we live today.   

The most effective memes are the ones that spread the easiest.  Think of a photograph or video that gets spread quickly on the Internet.  It is said to have gone "viral."  Memes can also survive beyond the short-term trend and spread across vast regions of space and time. 

But what makes the most effective memes successful?  How do some ideas, images and messages catch our attention more than others?  According to Brodie, memes are like a computer software that builds on basic brain functions or "hardware design."  The hardware (brain) is driven by the most basic human drives, such as hunger, fear and sex.  The software (memes) enhance the functionality of the hardware.  This hardware/software design has been fundamentally the same since primitive man.

"In other words, our brains made us better at pursuing the four basic drives animals have, fondly referred to by zooligists as the "four F's": fighting, fleeing, feeding, and--er--finding a mate." ~ Richard Brodie Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

The marketing adage, "sex sells and we're buying," is true.  This can be extended to fear, food and fighting.  From these basic brain functions our figurative buttons are formed.  Mass media and marketing messages use these buttons to get your attention.  The buttons are commonly pressed by asking questions with one of the four F's imbedded:

• Are your children safe riding the bus?
• Got milk?
• Hungry for Pizza?
• Will the European Debt Crisis Tip the World into Recession?

One of the key lessons I took away from this book is that there are few human beings who are conscious of their surroundings and are therefore rarely acting authentically -- they live in a kind of dream state -- by eating, buying and socializing without knowing why they do what they do -- they imitate and replicate -- memes and DNA go on surviving long after we are gone.

"The word pay in 'pay attention' is quite apt.  As we are conscious beings, attention is our most precious commodity.  Attention is a piece of our consciousness, a slice of our human life.  When we direct our attention at something, we are spending a piece of conscious life." ~ Richard Brodie,Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

Imitation is human but it may be best used as a tool for learning, especially when young.  Once we learn how to function in our environment, we may then move on to learning about ourselves.  The challenge, however, is that self-knowledge and self-awareness take a conscious mind, which is not part of our hard-wiring.

It is not necessary for a computer to understand how it is programmed--it just runs the program.  Similarly, our brains naturally and automatically perform very simple and specific tasks.  Therefore the natural tendency for humans is to go on through life without consciousness and our buttons are easily pressed.

Try finding the memes that have become your programming:  Where did your attitudes about money come from?  Why do you tend to vote for the same political party?  What made you buy the food item that wasn't on your list?  Begin by recognizing how you are programmed to think and act in a certain way.  You are then enabled to "de-program" yourself and act consciously and authentically. 

Now, if we can only spread this meme to others we may build a better world!

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Source: Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme

Related Post: The Paradox of Habit Part II: Antonyms of Creative Thought