Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Interesting Times

There is an old Chinese platitude that says,"May you live in interesting times." It would appear that this wish has been fulfilled today. With all of the developments going on today, this would have to rate as a time when there is more going on than at any other point in history. Information abounds, especially with the advent of the World Wide Web.

In particular, there is a LOT happening in the financial markets, which is a reflection of the general state of affairs. We are witnessing another major financial incident which is marked by a plethora of financial occurrences. I have spoken on these in previous articles and references. Yes, times will become more pressing and stressful for many, if not all.

In the past, I've droned on and on, ad infinitum (some may think ad nauseum!) about how this is the latest iteration of the dreaded, and historic Great Depression of 1933. Even though this present event will be of similar (or even greater) magnitude, I think that it also offers one of the greatest opportunities for growth, wealth and prosperity! The catch is that you are going to have to develop new ways of thinking and perception to prosper from it.

I often feared that my message could be perceived to be very pessimistic. That was not my intent. In my opinion, it is liberating and exciting to find truth. But it is also very easy to get into the details of finding facts and see that they are painting a picture that can appear to be very grim. Images of 1933 ARE grim. But they say that every cloud has a silver lining. Napoleon Hill says it best, "Every adversity brings with it the seed of a greater benefit." So I've already outlined the reasons behind what we're observing in the financial and government arenas.

We already know that Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke will continue the debasement of the US Dollar. We know that him and his other partners-in-crime will continue to tinker with the US economy, exacerbating our financial decline. We know that Washington D.C. will not balance the budget, or help the country in any meaningful way. We know that they will continue to spend away, fight meaningless wars that are impossible to win, work to destroy the Constitution and our rights along with it, seek to gain more control over our lives, orchestrate more faked 'terrorist' attacks upon us and other people of the world, etc. These things, we know (even if we don't want to admit it).

The way that we will surpass and eclipse all of this stuff is to first realize that we know the above truths. Then, we must realize that we can change our reality by changing our beliefs. The things we have believed in the past have created the present conditions in which we find ourselves. In order to change the effect (the conditions we see), we must change the cause (the thoughts that we've thought in the past).

Today is a new day, and we do not have to be enslaved, exploited, used, abused, duped, tricked, controlled, deceived or any other thing that is negative. The people that will succeed and prosper from this point hence will be the people that leave old, stinking thinking in the past. They will disassociate themselves from the old, failed ways of doing things, and will free their minds to embrace new, innovative ways of doing things. This does NOT mean that we will abandon success principles that have stood the test of time. It DOES mean that we will leave pop psychology, politically-correct platitudes, meaningless drivel and failed ways of interacting in the dust. There is more information out there on success and prosperity than there ever was in history. We must use our powers of discernment to find the successful methods, and then have the courage to employ them for our benefit.

This will be an individual journey for those who choose to embark upon it. Those who will not, or can not change with the times and ride the wave will go down with the old edifices of past power that are now failing before our eyes. It is an individual choice. It is just like a spring cleaning, or a fast. It is a purification of society, and a cleansing of all the crap that we've allowed to fester in ourselves, and in our system of civilization. If we would've cleaned up as we had gone down the road, the magnitude of the present cleaning (with its discomfort that will be experienced) would not be as large as it will be. We only have ourselves to blame for that.

So yes, we will all experience some discomfort. That goes along with the territory. But I think that we will benefit greatly from this experience. But we must remember that nothing worthwhile is easy or painless. So we must go forth with confidence, courage, tenacity, persistence, innovation and principle to navigate our way through the coming times. We must pass the test because our children are depending on us to get this right. We can do this.