Fooled by Randomness

Those of you who take an interest in financial markets may know that this title is actually a book by investment guru Nassim Taleb who argues that not everything that shines is gold: extraordinary financial performance may have been caused by randomness and you need a lot of time, and even better, an understanding of the underlying investment philosophy to find the best investment manager for your hard-earned money.

I love the "Fooled by Randomness" title because I would use it for a concept that is exactly the opposite of what the author had in mind. We actually have the choice to live in a pretty deterministic world that serves our conscious will. There is just a little randomness sprinkled around to keep the folks confused who haven't (yet) discovered this secret.

As some of you know, I am fascinated by synchronicities because they are the link from our perceived real world to the metaphysical dimension that is so hard to get our arms around. Every scientifically minded person can prove to him or herself that this dimension exists and there is no faith required. Unfortunately, these occurrences only come from time to time in the beginning, but as you grow along your spiritual path they become more and more frequent. One day you have reached the stage that enables you day by day to show scientifically that these meaningful occurances are not random at all.

There is only one way to perceive those occurrences, you have to look. They are out there, but too often we are distracted by the desires we run after. But the more we look out for them, the calmer and relaxed we become. A spiritual path is a virtuous cycle in the making. Enjoy your life without randomness!

The Story of the Typing Monkey

My more quantitatively oriented colleagues are telling me that if you lined up an infinite amount of monkeys on the type writer, one of them would end up writing the bible. The mental idea behind this exercise is to remember that infinity is really a large number.

The regular reader of this blog knows that I see it as my mission to live the Tao to the best of  my abilities and write down my experiences to help others to do the same. One problem though is that no matter how successful I will be at this, the scientific minded reader will never be convinced that my life story is nothing more than wishful thinking or sheer luck. Millions of spiritual travelers might be typing up their story as we speak, and if one of us is successful enough to become a renowned spiritual writer, statistics would say that is what is to be expected even if you haven't anything to say for yourself. Nassim Nicholas Taleb developed this idea nicely in Fooled by Randomness.

While you might never be able to objectively convince others of the Tao's existence and beauty, you can certainly observe it for yourself. To go back to our original example, the monkey might have an idea whether he is spiritually inclined or not. You certainly can be a scientist and run the holy experiment to discover the Tao moment by moment, hour by hour and year by year. Ye shall know them by their fruit, Jesus says and this is right. Your interactions with your brothers and sisters at work and at home will tell you your story, as will material and professional success, health and your feelings of joy moment by moment.

The Tao cannot be fooled. If you are in the flow, you will know about it instantaneously. You can study your actions, your thoughts, your interactions like a physicist studies the universe. Enjoy the grand experiment!