Regular news this morning, where the usual financial philosophers are arguing for and against the decisions being made to rescue the world economy. It’s too early to say who is winning or making a difference yet, or even if the economy needs rescuing any more. Maybe we are experiencing a new paradigm in economics, I don’t know.
There does seem to be an attempt to see things differently, albeit still using the templates of the past.
On another note, the world of advertising is improving, someone said on the TV. Businesses will be running high-end ads for the upper incomes and similar but different ads for us more normal folks. I guess it’ll get more sophisticated as computers get more adept at harvesting our personal information……mainly to determine how much money we have to spend? If that’s the case, I should be able to carry on my day and never see any commercials at all! How cool is that!
This new advertising ‘strategy’ is happening as the financial gurus are telling us we’ve spent too much already, and we need to reduce our ‘wants.’ Naturally, we have word wizards that make it all sound like some kind of mystery they are revealing. We didn’t used to have these brilliant folks in my time. We got by, just by quoting what us oldtimers used to say about closing the gate after the horses have escaped.
Is it really an attempt at convincing us that we should be frugal with our ‘wants’ and concentrate on our ‘needs?’ Maybe. Maybe not. They are definitely telling us we need to start spending on ‘something’ in order to rescue our economy. I guess we just ‘need’ to separate those businesses which concentrate on supplying ‘wants’ from those supplying ‘needs.’
I know the new advertising system isn’t in effect yet, because I opened my email this morning and once again, there is input from online book dealers that have ‘recommendations’ for me. A lot of them are the positive thinking type of books they somehow have determined I would ‘need’ to buy. ‘How to think big! Realize all your heart’s (read financial) desires! Visualize it and it’s yours! Fake it ‘til you make it!’
Of course, I really hear them saying, “You can turn your wants into needs if you only believe!” They all appear to have some ‘secret’ that, if discovered, will bring untold riches. So it isn’t about my ‘means’ at all but about improving the status of my needs so I can get more stuff.
So far, I have not bought any of the recommendations. But I’m sure they’ll soon recommend some different kinds of books. Unless their harvesting probes discover that I have a library card and use it regularly!
I used to buy and read positive thinking books. Over time, it turned into a concern that if someone had a negative thought, somehow that would cloud up the sunshine in my own life.
Since that time I’ve had some realizations. First, most of life is fairly neutral. It isn’t about a positive versus negative struggle. Mostly it is about some people thinking I need to be positive, which means they think I’m negative, which is pretty much just negative thinking on their part, yes?
So, buying a positive thinking book is just negative thinking on my part! So now we’re both thinking negatively!
“Life has no other discipline to impose, if we would but realize it, than to accept life unquestioningly. Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate, or despise, serves to defeat us in the end. What seems nasty, painful, evil, can become a source of beauty, joy, and strength, if faced with an open mind. Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.”— Henry Miller
But, you see, you know this thing we call an ego? Well, it isn’t something we outsmart or suppress by attempting to be only positive. It will definitely amuse itself with our willy-nilly ‘wars on the mind’ and when all is said and done, after a lot of ‘self-work’ to strengthen our resolve, there it sits as prominent and strong as ever.
I think we got sidetracked some time ago by thinking that since the gods and goddesses made us out of dust….somehow we are still just that dust.
Nope, we need to realize that as we come from some kind of godhead, we must now recognize that and be a part of it. It ain’t about wanting to or needing to, but saying, “I am that. This means I am okay without any needs or wants. Now I just gotta deal with it!”
That’s what matters.
Rich