I read an article today about the disappointing behavior of Warren Buffet, who owns lots and lots of shares of Coca Cola stock and whose son is on the board of that corporation. He voted to abstain from a corporate proposal to ridiculously increase already ridiculous salaries of Coke executives. This was of course a very bad decision, but I wish the article had gone a little deeper. Not only are the executives of Coke receiving morally indefensible salaries; they are working for a morally indefensible company. (I am not going to list here all the harm Coke's empty calories are doing to the well being of young and old alike all around the world; if you doubt that this is true, ask a doctor or a nutritionist.)
I am shocked by Buffet's apparent hypocrisy on both counts. Whom are we to trust now regarding investing? Cheer up, said my inner guru, I will now reveal to you my Ten Suggestions for Better Investing, which, if followed, will lead you to much happiness.
RAMANATOM'S TEN SUGGESTIONS FOR BETTER INVESTING
1. Invest in Your Career
For want of space, I will write it only three times: Do what you love doing, do what you love doing, do what you love doing! Keep on writing it on your inner screen, until that wondrous concatenation of nerves a.ka. you is convinced. I am not denying the importance of money, but if that's your primary interest, you're going to be unhappy and those around you are going to be unhappy. And remember the old nostrum: primum non nocere--First of all do no harm. If you love doing something that not only does no harm, but improves the life of those wondrous concatenations of nerves around you a.k.a fellow human beings, you are well on your way to happiness.
2. Invest in Relationships: Family
Do your very best to love or at least respect all members of your family. If you choose to get married, which is a noble thing to do, choose your spouse with your heart and with your mind. If you have children, which is also a noble thing to do, be a great example--Help to direct them where their best inclinations lead, and not where your inclinations need. If you don't have children, keep in touch with siblings who do. A good aunt, a good uncle--what a lucky child who has at least one of these!
All right, you have a sister from hell. It might even be worse than that. Ramanatom gives you his permission to keep your distance until you make yourself strong enough not to let their problems affect you. Once you at least have some awareness of who you really are, making you much more impenetrable to the barbs thrown in your direction, go back to step one: do your very vest to love or at least respect them all.
Remember two wonderful sayings: tout savoir, c'est tout pardonner (To know everything is to forgive everything) and There but for the grace of God go I. (Ramanatom also gives you permission, if so inclined, to interpret the last proverb in a more impersonal way.)
3. Invest in Relationships: Friends
Human beings evolved in groups. If you are almost always isolated, you are living in an unnatural, unhealthy state. Your chances of being unhappy and of having health problems are greatly increased. Feeling isolated does not have a salubrious affect on, say, blood pressure, etc.! Good nutrition and exercise are undeniably important, but the case can be made that friendship is even more important. It's important to stress this, since most advice for good health is about things like pills and peanuts, and neglect what's most important for well-being: relationships. I remember a study long ago about Japanese who emigrated to the United States. Those who traded their healthier diet for American junk food, yet maintained their Japanese emphasis on relationships did better and lived longer.than those who ate Japanese food yet had become more socially isolated--Even when those in the longer-lived group smoked cigarettes and those in the second group didn't! Don't get me wrong--smoking is very very bad for your health, but isolation is apparently worse.
If you don't have many friends, do your best to get some; in the meantime I will give you some very good news. The person you have contact with doesn't have to be a bosom buddy in order for you to receive an emotional, healthy lift. This has been studied!
Even talking to strangers counts. Research has shown that saying a few kind words to a stranger on the subway increases the happiness, at least temporarily of both parties. If you are snubbed, don't allow vanity to discourage you. Keep at it for others' sake as well as for yours!
I was in a very poor area of the Dominican Republic in January 2014--Everyone says hello there with a hug--it really felt good! Everyone knew each other in the town--if you got lost, ask, say, "Where is Pedro's house?" and someone will take you there; the families were large and the relationships rich. I was struck by the fact that I was able to have many conversations with healthy--and very poor--people who were well into their 90s. I saw several people who were very old and didn't want to be fussed over yet were fussed over nevertheless. No nursing homes--it is customary for the elderly to remain in a family home shared with people of all ages until they die. What do you think is the reason for this longevity? (Believe me, it wasn't the food.)
4. Invest in Relationships: Community
A wise friend once told me that you must first shine your light on your family. But it must go beyond that: it must extend to your friends. Your inner photons should not stop there: let them extend into the community, into the world. Otherwise all you have is a sun in a box!
Recently I heard someone on TV condemn religion, all religion. One of his guests protested. She was a well educated, practicing Jew. She wasn't interested in dogma and stressed the deep sense of community that the practice of her faith provided. She was absolutely right!
While participating in religious services, (while refusing, at least on the inside, to give up rationality,) can be of great help, you don't have to attend a church, synagogue, temple or mosque--What you need do is to regularly get together with others to help make ours a better world. Contributing money to a good cause is always good, but contributing money and time is much better and much more salutary.
5. Invest in Yourself: Physical
One of Ramanatom's favorite Latin proverbs is mens sana in corpore sana--the ideal of a sound mind in a sound body. Both this and the next suggestion have this as their specific subject, although all ten suggestions, if followed, will contribute to this ideal. No need to elaborate here, you know what you have to do; if you need specifics you can find them easily. Eat nutritional foods in moderation! Drink alcohol in moderation! Exercise a lot, but without obsession! You've heard these before--now follow them. Just a few words on each--Nutrition: Eat a variety of vegetables and nuts; make your own salads--an excellent choice for a meal--and watch out for high calorie dressings. Cut way down on sugar and sweets and vow to never drink a soft drink again. Smoking? You know what the answer to that is. Avoid alcoholic beverages if you have a tendency toward alcoholism. Ramanatom advises you to drink a glass-if you're a woman--and perhaps two if you're a man, of red wine with your evening meal daily--a very pleasant way to get healthy, especially if combined with conversation! Regarding physical activiity: once you check with your doctor, work out a plan of, ideally, an hour's worth of physical activity each day. Taking a walk for an hour counts! Join a gym and you will have the added advantage of socializing with others. Don't take the elevator, walk! Ramanatom is saddened by observing so many people waiting in their cars for a parking space close to their destination, while there are many parking spaces a block or so away--Deliberately park at a distance from your destination and walk! These are only a few suggestions--think of your own!
6. Invest in Yourself: Mental
Regarding the mens sana part of the proverb, one of the best things you can do is to become a lifetime learner. Take courses online or at a community college. Limit entertainment! Shut off the TV! (Or better: limit it to only a few hours per week.) Ramanatam believes that TV, even when good--and there are many excellent programs available--is bad, since it becomes addictive and is burdened with commercials. Ramanatom is saddened when he hears educated people say such things as, "Milton, I read him in college"--thirty years ago! Read! Make a list of classics and read and reread them. Join a book club! Do something that combines Suggestions 4 and 5--Ballroom dancing or basketball, for instance, which have especially good health effects and combine them with suggestions from this list of ten. Learn a foreign language! Get out that guitar and sing! It is not right that active participation in music is much too often delegated to professionals. I recall with amusement the story of a kindly scientist who worked among poor Africans in Lesotho. The people were mistrustful at first, but the man's good deeds eventually won them over. To celebrate, they invited him for a ceremony in which everyone dances and sings--marvelously, in that particular African language "to dance and to sing" always went together, and for which there was a single word. The man panicked and declined. "I can't dance. I can't sing." The Africans were amazed. In their world, every human being dances and sings; it is viewed as an essential part of humanity. Learn from them!
7. Invest in Yourself and Your Family: Save!
What is usually overemphasized is here given somewhat short shrift--one suspects that from the title the main subject would be money, but it isn't. However, attention to material wealth is important, and, if one's wealth is used wisely, it can have very positive results for the saver, her family, and for the world. Doing this is much simpler than financial advisers would make one believe--provided that what should be done is done. In fact, a financial adviser is not even necessary. Read a good book such as Daniel R. Solin's "The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Need"--and put the recommendations of the book into practice.
8. Invest in Everything: Wisdom
Wisdom is the knowledge and experience of the interconnectedness of everything. A characteristic of wisdom is accepting things the way they are while working to make oneself and others happier in the deepest sense of that word. Jealousy, envy, self-pity and contempt are incompatible with wisdom. Wisdom demands that we judge people's actions, both good and bad, but not the people who perform the actions. It is a characteristic of the wise to live below one's means and use much of what's left over for the service of others. Whitman's phrase, "the mania of owning things," is a primary characteristic of ignorance; it will take much effort, especially if you are young, not to let yourself be corrupted by greed.
A wise person knows that he is neither superior or inferior to anyone. It is not easy becoming wise in an ignorant world. In much of society money and egotism rule; be sure not to let these things ruin your life.
9. Invest in Everything: Love
Love and wisdom are integral parts of all ten suggestions, so we need not elaborate here.
Just as wisdom is the transcendence of the limitations of ego by the realization that all is connected, love, through actions, helps overcome feelings of isolation by helping others materially and spiritually.
If all this is getting too abstract, recall a quote from the Talmud which asserts that physical love between a loving husband and a loving wife is the best foretaste of heaven we have. (It also enhances health and happiness.)
Major deeds are most important, but small acts of kindness also contribute very significantly to happiness. We will close this section with suggestions that are easy to do and are still very efficacious. Research shows that spending money on others makes one happier than spending money on oneself. The money spent need not be extravagant--it is the thought that counts. If someone mentions a book she'd like to read, buy it for her; bring a little gift when you visit a friend--the possibilities are endless. (It's a good idea, of course, to let your charity begin at home). Why not budget a weekly amount of time and money on such activities? If one's weekly allotment remains wholly or partially unspent, spend more the next week. What remains unspent in a month can be given to charity, and the monthly cycle can begin again. These little things are not meant to replace major deeds, but they contribute greatly to happiness and should be put into effect by everybody.
Little things do mean a lot!
10. Invest in Transcendence: Faith
Don't be fooled: faith is not based on facts. It is essential to happiness so don't let yourself be deluded by those tiresome debates between scientists and believers. They are usually debates between science and fundamentalism. I stress it again, faith is not based on facts. Just as music exists in the human mind--beyond brains there might well be vibrations, but only consciousness can interpret these vibrations as music--similarly, there is absolutely no evidence that God exists outside of us. Therefore one must look within, not without. There is also no evidence that science exists beyond the human brain either. Just as consciousness plus science equals science, consciousness plus religion equals religion. Consciousness is thus the mystery behind everything! So look inside yourself for the source that leads you away from the false to the true. If you wish to call this source God, fine; if you wish to call this source the Buddha within, that's fine too. Whatever this source is it is more real than you, so stop all this nonsense about whether God exists or not. Ask yourself instead whether you exist as an entity separate from the rest of creation. What is the source of your I?
If you believe in the dogmas of your religion and it makes you and those around you happier, Ramanatom has no objections. But for those of you whose intuition is more subtle; don't let your sense of transcendence be thwarted by doubt. Do you doubt the primacy of love and wisdom? Isn't that what God and Buddha are all about? Awe is for everyone.
Summary
These ten principles form a guide for the perplexed. Think about them. Put them into action. You and everyone else will be much better off if you do.
I am shocked by Buffet's apparent hypocrisy on both counts. Whom are we to trust now regarding investing? Cheer up, said my inner guru, I will now reveal to you my Ten Suggestions for Better Investing, which, if followed, will lead you to much happiness.
RAMANATOM'S TEN SUGGESTIONS FOR BETTER INVESTING
1. Invest in Your Career
For want of space, I will write it only three times: Do what you love doing, do what you love doing, do what you love doing! Keep on writing it on your inner screen, until that wondrous concatenation of nerves a.ka. you is convinced. I am not denying the importance of money, but if that's your primary interest, you're going to be unhappy and those around you are going to be unhappy. And remember the old nostrum: primum non nocere--First of all do no harm. If you love doing something that not only does no harm, but improves the life of those wondrous concatenations of nerves around you a.k.a fellow human beings, you are well on your way to happiness.
2. Invest in Relationships: Family
Do your very best to love or at least respect all members of your family. If you choose to get married, which is a noble thing to do, choose your spouse with your heart and with your mind. If you have children, which is also a noble thing to do, be a great example--Help to direct them where their best inclinations lead, and not where your inclinations need. If you don't have children, keep in touch with siblings who do. A good aunt, a good uncle--what a lucky child who has at least one of these!
All right, you have a sister from hell. It might even be worse than that. Ramanatom gives you his permission to keep your distance until you make yourself strong enough not to let their problems affect you. Once you at least have some awareness of who you really are, making you much more impenetrable to the barbs thrown in your direction, go back to step one: do your very vest to love or at least respect them all.
Remember two wonderful sayings: tout savoir, c'est tout pardonner (To know everything is to forgive everything) and There but for the grace of God go I. (Ramanatom also gives you permission, if so inclined, to interpret the last proverb in a more impersonal way.)
3. Invest in Relationships: Friends
Human beings evolved in groups. If you are almost always isolated, you are living in an unnatural, unhealthy state. Your chances of being unhappy and of having health problems are greatly increased. Feeling isolated does not have a salubrious affect on, say, blood pressure, etc.! Good nutrition and exercise are undeniably important, but the case can be made that friendship is even more important. It's important to stress this, since most advice for good health is about things like pills and peanuts, and neglect what's most important for well-being: relationships. I remember a study long ago about Japanese who emigrated to the United States. Those who traded their healthier diet for American junk food, yet maintained their Japanese emphasis on relationships did better and lived longer.than those who ate Japanese food yet had become more socially isolated--Even when those in the longer-lived group smoked cigarettes and those in the second group didn't! Don't get me wrong--smoking is very very bad for your health, but isolation is apparently worse.
If you don't have many friends, do your best to get some; in the meantime I will give you some very good news. The person you have contact with doesn't have to be a bosom buddy in order for you to receive an emotional, healthy lift. This has been studied!
Even talking to strangers counts. Research has shown that saying a few kind words to a stranger on the subway increases the happiness, at least temporarily of both parties. If you are snubbed, don't allow vanity to discourage you. Keep at it for others' sake as well as for yours!
I was in a very poor area of the Dominican Republic in January 2014--Everyone says hello there with a hug--it really felt good! Everyone knew each other in the town--if you got lost, ask, say, "Where is Pedro's house?" and someone will take you there; the families were large and the relationships rich. I was struck by the fact that I was able to have many conversations with healthy--and very poor--people who were well into their 90s. I saw several people who were very old and didn't want to be fussed over yet were fussed over nevertheless. No nursing homes--it is customary for the elderly to remain in a family home shared with people of all ages until they die. What do you think is the reason for this longevity? (Believe me, it wasn't the food.)
4. Invest in Relationships: Community
A wise friend once told me that you must first shine your light on your family. But it must go beyond that: it must extend to your friends. Your inner photons should not stop there: let them extend into the community, into the world. Otherwise all you have is a sun in a box!
Recently I heard someone on TV condemn religion, all religion. One of his guests protested. She was a well educated, practicing Jew. She wasn't interested in dogma and stressed the deep sense of community that the practice of her faith provided. She was absolutely right!
While participating in religious services, (while refusing, at least on the inside, to give up rationality,) can be of great help, you don't have to attend a church, synagogue, temple or mosque--What you need do is to regularly get together with others to help make ours a better world. Contributing money to a good cause is always good, but contributing money and time is much better and much more salutary.
5. Invest in Yourself: Physical
One of Ramanatom's favorite Latin proverbs is mens sana in corpore sana--the ideal of a sound mind in a sound body. Both this and the next suggestion have this as their specific subject, although all ten suggestions, if followed, will contribute to this ideal. No need to elaborate here, you know what you have to do; if you need specifics you can find them easily. Eat nutritional foods in moderation! Drink alcohol in moderation! Exercise a lot, but without obsession! You've heard these before--now follow them. Just a few words on each--Nutrition: Eat a variety of vegetables and nuts; make your own salads--an excellent choice for a meal--and watch out for high calorie dressings. Cut way down on sugar and sweets and vow to never drink a soft drink again. Smoking? You know what the answer to that is. Avoid alcoholic beverages if you have a tendency toward alcoholism. Ramanatom advises you to drink a glass-if you're a woman--and perhaps two if you're a man, of red wine with your evening meal daily--a very pleasant way to get healthy, especially if combined with conversation! Regarding physical activiity: once you check with your doctor, work out a plan of, ideally, an hour's worth of physical activity each day. Taking a walk for an hour counts! Join a gym and you will have the added advantage of socializing with others. Don't take the elevator, walk! Ramanatom is saddened by observing so many people waiting in their cars for a parking space close to their destination, while there are many parking spaces a block or so away--Deliberately park at a distance from your destination and walk! These are only a few suggestions--think of your own!
6. Invest in Yourself: Mental
Regarding the mens sana part of the proverb, one of the best things you can do is to become a lifetime learner. Take courses online or at a community college. Limit entertainment! Shut off the TV! (Or better: limit it to only a few hours per week.) Ramanatam believes that TV, even when good--and there are many excellent programs available--is bad, since it becomes addictive and is burdened with commercials. Ramanatom is saddened when he hears educated people say such things as, "Milton, I read him in college"--thirty years ago! Read! Make a list of classics and read and reread them. Join a book club! Do something that combines Suggestions 4 and 5--Ballroom dancing or basketball, for instance, which have especially good health effects and combine them with suggestions from this list of ten. Learn a foreign language! Get out that guitar and sing! It is not right that active participation in music is much too often delegated to professionals. I recall with amusement the story of a kindly scientist who worked among poor Africans in Lesotho. The people were mistrustful at first, but the man's good deeds eventually won them over. To celebrate, they invited him for a ceremony in which everyone dances and sings--marvelously, in that particular African language "to dance and to sing" always went together, and for which there was a single word. The man panicked and declined. "I can't dance. I can't sing." The Africans were amazed. In their world, every human being dances and sings; it is viewed as an essential part of humanity. Learn from them!
7. Invest in Yourself and Your Family: Save!
What is usually overemphasized is here given somewhat short shrift--one suspects that from the title the main subject would be money, but it isn't. However, attention to material wealth is important, and, if one's wealth is used wisely, it can have very positive results for the saver, her family, and for the world. Doing this is much simpler than financial advisers would make one believe--provided that what should be done is done. In fact, a financial adviser is not even necessary. Read a good book such as Daniel R. Solin's "The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Need"--and put the recommendations of the book into practice.
8. Invest in Everything: Wisdom
Wisdom is the knowledge and experience of the interconnectedness of everything. A characteristic of wisdom is accepting things the way they are while working to make oneself and others happier in the deepest sense of that word. Jealousy, envy, self-pity and contempt are incompatible with wisdom. Wisdom demands that we judge people's actions, both good and bad, but not the people who perform the actions. It is a characteristic of the wise to live below one's means and use much of what's left over for the service of others. Whitman's phrase, "the mania of owning things," is a primary characteristic of ignorance; it will take much effort, especially if you are young, not to let yourself be corrupted by greed.
A wise person knows that he is neither superior or inferior to anyone. It is not easy becoming wise in an ignorant world. In much of society money and egotism rule; be sure not to let these things ruin your life.
9. Invest in Everything: Love
Love and wisdom are integral parts of all ten suggestions, so we need not elaborate here.
Just as wisdom is the transcendence of the limitations of ego by the realization that all is connected, love, through actions, helps overcome feelings of isolation by helping others materially and spiritually.
If all this is getting too abstract, recall a quote from the Talmud which asserts that physical love between a loving husband and a loving wife is the best foretaste of heaven we have. (It also enhances health and happiness.)
Major deeds are most important, but small acts of kindness also contribute very significantly to happiness. We will close this section with suggestions that are easy to do and are still very efficacious. Research shows that spending money on others makes one happier than spending money on oneself. The money spent need not be extravagant--it is the thought that counts. If someone mentions a book she'd like to read, buy it for her; bring a little gift when you visit a friend--the possibilities are endless. (It's a good idea, of course, to let your charity begin at home). Why not budget a weekly amount of time and money on such activities? If one's weekly allotment remains wholly or partially unspent, spend more the next week. What remains unspent in a month can be given to charity, and the monthly cycle can begin again. These little things are not meant to replace major deeds, but they contribute greatly to happiness and should be put into effect by everybody.
Little things do mean a lot!
10. Invest in Transcendence: Faith
Don't be fooled: faith is not based on facts. It is essential to happiness so don't let yourself be deluded by those tiresome debates between scientists and believers. They are usually debates between science and fundamentalism. I stress it again, faith is not based on facts. Just as music exists in the human mind--beyond brains there might well be vibrations, but only consciousness can interpret these vibrations as music--similarly, there is absolutely no evidence that God exists outside of us. Therefore one must look within, not without. There is also no evidence that science exists beyond the human brain either. Just as consciousness plus science equals science, consciousness plus religion equals religion. Consciousness is thus the mystery behind everything! So look inside yourself for the source that leads you away from the false to the true. If you wish to call this source God, fine; if you wish to call this source the Buddha within, that's fine too. Whatever this source is it is more real than you, so stop all this nonsense about whether God exists or not. Ask yourself instead whether you exist as an entity separate from the rest of creation. What is the source of your I?
If you believe in the dogmas of your religion and it makes you and those around you happier, Ramanatom has no objections. But for those of you whose intuition is more subtle; don't let your sense of transcendence be thwarted by doubt. Do you doubt the primacy of love and wisdom? Isn't that what God and Buddha are all about? Awe is for everyone.
Summary
These ten principles form a guide for the perplexed. Think about them. Put them into action. You and everyone else will be much better off if you do.
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