The Future Is In Our Past -
Yesterday a young man from Gander sent me an email that is making its way around the Internet. Usually mass emails are pretty much the same; they are sweet but not thought provoking. This one was different; it had an immediately eureka effect! Thanks Craig!
Basically, the email told the story of an experiment in a subway station in New York. The Washington Post engaged Joshua Bell, one of the world's greatest musicians, to play in the metro station as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities.
Mr. Bell played one of the most intricate pieces ever written (by Bach) on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Mr. Bell sold out a theatre in Boston where the seats averaged $100.
In the 45 minutes that Mr. Bell played in the subway, 2,000 people passed through the station. They were mostly oblivious to Mr. Bell. Only six people stopped to listen, for a few minutes. Twenty people didn't stop but gave him a total of $32.
The most notable thing was that it was the children who seemed to understand that something good was happening. Still, even though they tried, they couldn't convince their parents to stop and were promptly dragged away.
Why is it that people won't hesitate to pay big money for tickets to see a great musician but not even realize that he is "aussi grand" when he is playing in a subway station? It is said this story is true and, if so, it is remarkable in its expose of perception, taste and priorities.
The lives we live are all about perception and what we perceive has been created to control what we believe. That means we are virtually unable to see things for what they are; we simply accept, without question, what other people advocate. Sometimes there is truth, but sometimes there is not much truth in what we believe.
For instance in music groups, it often follows that the one made famous (including the Beatles, a mania which was never understood by me) often have no more talent than the unknown person/group in a rural community. The difference being one got the benefit of marketing and the other person/group was not so lucky.
So we are sold everything and we're happy about it. The email story comes very close, in my mind, to what is happening in the trade markets, which is the story of the moment. People buy and sell by following the herd, even if what they buy and sell bears no resemblance to reality.
At any rate a connection to reality isn't necessary; advice based on some supposed reality is just a figure of speech. Only last week, for the first time on the Canadian news, an analyst said, what has been stated here before, that the Stock Market has no connection to the reality of the main street economy.
What is important is that people believe and follow the herd to buy or sell. Those actions will make the price change quickly, which is what it's all about; quick changes make quick money. Even when the Stock Market is going down people can make a lot of money, because they can bet on the fact that it will go down, and hit big when it happens.
That would be fun if it didn't have a real impact on real lives. When money goes quickly into the pockets of a few individuals, the others left with worthless paper are essentially ruined. When companies are left with no money they actually lay off workers. In the end, we all pay the bill.
One false idea is that money is created or vanishes in the market. That would be true if no one was buying or selling. Then it would be only potential gain or potential loss. But in fact people are constantly buying and selling. [Real] money is simply being exchanged, with no creation or loss of it. This is why Stock Market cannot increase quicker than the real economy.
If it looks like the stock market is increasing it's simply a bubble that must burst at some point creating havoc for the ordinary investor. All the agitation and bubbles in the market are just good for concentrating money in a few pockets.
Isn't the story of the Violinist in the subway the same, telling us that we just follow the herd, the players in an unreal game? This wouldn't matter if it weren't dangerous, with a real impact on reality.
What is the impact in this case? Not being able to see the intrinsic beauty that is all around us; not being able to notice when something pleasant is happening; not being able to see the people around us. All this is lost to our sensibilities, as we run like lemming over the cliff. We are loosing our way of life for nothing; we are destroying everything around us.
Time to wake up wouldn't you say? Time to be like children again and to refuse to be dragged along with the others. It's time to look and listen and see.
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