submitted by jwithrow.
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Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Become a Creator
July 8, 2016
Hot Springs, VA
"Let them be creators, not followers. Followers have a certain mentality, and independent creators a quite different mentality. We want creators - people who find solutions by themselves, who have their own conceptions of right and good, and who are capable of independent, righteous action. Followers don't do that. To get the creator mindset, you have to get out of the way and let them rise to the occasion. Make sense? " - Phillip Donson, A Lodging of Wayfaring Men
The S&P closed out Thursday at $2,097. Gold closed at $1,362 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $45.14 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.39%. Bitcoin is trading around $652 per BTC today.
Dear Journal,
Wife Rachel took it upon herself to take me out on a date earlier this week! She had recently discovered a picturesque country inn nestled in the heart of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, and she thought it was just the place for me. So we traveled an hour's worth of winding country roads even deeper into the mountains of Virginia on a misty Tuesday night.
We were amazed at the sheer beauty of the 3,200 acre estate which was originally settled by frontiersmen in the 1750's. The original farm house sits to the left of a long gravel road, surrounded by vegetable gardens, cattle, and horses in several enclosures. As the gravel road winds down towards the Cowpasture river, rustic log cabins come into view on each side of the road and a restored 1850's grain silo juts up into the sky above the gravel parking lot.
On the other side of the silo rests Buck's Bar where Rachel and I ordered a traveler's round of refreshments before following stone path to an elevated clearing immediately overlooking a pond with bare-faced mountains staring down at us in the distance.
On the other side of the pond we saw six deer slowly grazing in an open field. A faint splash drew our attention to the pond where a beaver was swimming with a bundle of sticks in his mouth - presumably carrying building material back to his shelter. With the beaver out of sight, a chorus of bullfrogs began to make their presence known from the abundance of lily pads lining the pond. All the while the bird's sang and danced in the old elm trees overhead.
How serene, we thought. So far removed from all of the noise and nonsense that seems to dominate the modern world.
Fundamentally, the estate looked much like it did two centuries ago before the Industrial Revolution had fully integrated itself into American society - except everything had been upgraded and modernized. Here, all of the comforts of the modern world blended seamlessly with the beautiful complexity of nature.
The dinner bell rang, and we began walking back to Buck's Bar and the main dining hall. As we were seated, I couldn't help but think that this was the type of place where traveler's from a different era would gather out of necessity. Before the Internet, the telephone, the automobile, and even electricity, traveler's would show up at these country inn's hoping for a hot meal, a cold drink, and a vacant room.
Today, Rachel and I show up for dinner and then drive home afterwards. Unlike the frontiersmen and pre-industrial travelers, we observe nature from a climate-controlled room with electrical lighting, cooking, and refrigeration. On the table in front of me lay a smart phone from which I can check my e-mail, my stock portfolio, precious metal prices, Bitcoin trading activity, and I can access virtually the entire sphere of accumulated human knowledge via the World Wide Web. Oh, and I can make phone calls if I choose to... but I rarely do.
The divine creation of the natural world meets the ingenious creation of human civilization.
We have the capacity to be more free and prosperous today than ever before in recorded human history. Given the space-age technology we now have access to, every individual has the power to create his or her own destiny.
How many recognize this?
As best I can tell, everyone in the developed world is handed the same lifestyle plan: go to school, get good grades, go to college, get a job, work hard, take some vacations, retire.
Every step in this plan subjects you to the authority and discretion of a third-party - teachers, professors, bosses, corporations, government... you name it. You are expected to follow the schedules, rules, processes, and systems handed down to you at all times. And of course there is nothing at all wrong with this if you like those third parties and their schedules, rules, processes, and systems.
But what if you want to break out of that world?
What if you don't want to march to the beat of someone elses' drum? What if you don't want to follow a regimented schedule, fight rush hour traffic both ways, and sit under a fluorescent light all day with your telephone conversations monitored and your computer activity recorded?
What if you want to build something that will provide tremendous value to the people around you? What if you want to develop systems and networks capable of revolutionizing human civilization?
What if you want to build a custom-tailored life? What if you want to have time for your children and your spouse? What if you want to enjoy a robust cup of coffee from your front porch at 8:00 am on a crisp Autumn morning while the rest of the world rushes off to work? What if you want to take your dog hiking at 3:00 pm on a Tuesday afternoon while the rest of the world powers through two more hours at the office?
You must become a creator.
The only way out is to create your own reality. There is a universal law of prosperity, and it is as follows: you must produce more than you consume and save the difference if you want to be prosperous. This is true of individuals, and it is true of society in aggregate. If you do not save the difference between production and consumption then you will never get ahead. If you consume more than you produce then you will reduce your future standard of living.
The surplus production in excess of consumption is capital. Learn to create and deploy capital and you will learn to create the life of your choosing. That's your ticket out of the rat-race, and I don't think there are any short-cuts. As much as I love the work of Henry David Thoreau, I don't think a secluded life in the wilderness is sustainable over the long-term.
We discussed a number of different ways to become a creator in the digital age in our Zenconomics Guide to the Information Age.
We also outlined our strategy to build a small fortune in the next 3-5 years by capitalizing on a prominent macroeconomic trend in the June issue of the Zenconomics Report. You can get that issue here: June Dispatch. We will send out a copy of the Zenconomics Guide to the Information Age to all new subscribers as well.
I have come to the conclusion that most of the stress and hardships we experience are self-inflicted, at least in the developed world. Everyone has the ability to create a meaningful and prosperous life for themselves should they choose to do so.
Become a creator and set yourself free.
More to come,
Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher
The June issue of the Zenconomics Report has gone out absolutely free to members of our email list. The Zenconomics Report covers market updates, major events in the financial markets, the evolution of monetary policy, and how to position your finances to benefit from developing macroeconomic trends. We track a small portfolio of stocks according to the Beta Investment Strategy, and the June dispatch details how we think anyone can build a small fortune over the next several years by catching a major financial trend that is just now beginning to play out. To join the Zenconomics Report mailing list, simply subscribe at this link: http://www.zenconomics.com/report.
