A Very Short List of New Stories (December 2024)
Read about the fall of Europe, why elections don't really matter, how to control the universe like the most powerful man on this planet, and more.
December was a weird month. My girls were sick and at home, which meant zero peace and tranquility for thinking and writing. I was also busy with end-of-year financial matters, which was reflected in my writing. Long story short, I published only a handful of stories.
Happy New Year, and let’s make 2025 the best year of our lives despite how it looks right now. It can only get better from here. Right?! Please say yes! :)
The list of December 2024 stories
From the archive
Tragedy Strikes and You Lose Everything - How to Focus and Handle the Situation?
You Believe in the Power of Democracy and Your Vote? - How Cute
Have Social Media Hacked Your Simulation, and Madness Ensued?
Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite drink and get to reading.
The Fall of Europe - How to Screw up a Continent
Europe has fallen behind the US, and it's getting worse, not better, in almost everything.
I live in a small European country that is part of the European Union and NATO. I’ve seen Europe go from a reasonably decentralized mix of socialism and capitalism into a relatively coherent unity representing the best of both worlds.
I consider myself privileged to experience Europe, in all its diversity, as an open-border union with a free flow of people exploring opportunities for work and play. I would call this era the era of reason, cooperation, and common good.
Unfortunately, what was once a beneficial force of good has rotted from the inside and has turned Europe from once a thriving pinnacle of civilization into an incoherent mess ruled by incompetent, ideologically driven politics.
The initial idea may have been good, as most are, but it has turned into a suicidal monster that is consuming economies, fertility, security, and prosperity and sapping the will to live out of its own citizens.
I fail to find a better way of describing what is happening to Europe than the old:
"Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times." - attributed to Michael Hopf
Values and Morals in a Simulation, Law of Attraction
Does practicing the Law of Attraction or taking control of the simulation make you selfish?
Does absolute power necessarily corrupt?
What about morals and ethics?
How do we define good and evil?
What would you do with it if you were given ultimate, limitless power over everything and everyone?
Would you be a benevolent God or an evil, selfish, omnipotent bastard?
There's been a lot debate lately about how the New Age movement, mind-over-matter ideas, and simulation theory encourage selfish behavior. People tend to think only of themselves, especially since they believe they are essentially a form of God in this Universe.
Is there any truth to it, and what does morality look like in a mind-made reality?
Does the New Age movement and anything related to mind over matter guide people toward a more hedonistic, selfish mindset?
I think so. How could it not? When you first venture into this part of the world, you are told you can be, do, and have anything you want. You are essentially a God, or at the very least, you can make him give you what you want.
Who wouldn't want to play with this possibility upon realizing such a profound idea? But here's my question. Is it not the same with praying in religion?
Aren't most prayers selfish?
"Oh God, please save me, give me this or that, make them love me, forgive me my sins, let me win just this time, bring back what I lost…"
As far as I can tell, the only difference is that you are directly addressing a judgmental, all-powerful being, hoping he will hear you and grant you your wishes, while in LOA and similar, you're not asking anyone for permission, you're demanding a new reality be made manifest because it is being manifested all the time anyway, and you're just hacking the mechanism of creation to boost your life.
This is an essay on morality, personal perspectives, and the rules of the game we call life.
While there may be no rules, such as with religion, there are repercussions.
The rest of my December stories reflected where my head was - in the financial markets. Links are in the list of articles above if you are interested. The titles are self-explanatory.
I’ve decided to pull a few articles from my archives relevant to our current times.
Tragedy struck again
There is no ignoring the fire that is consuming California. If I were religious, I might be tempted to recognize the Old Testament God of vengeance, burning the wicked and perverse from the face of the Earth.
I am not, so I will say it’s a horrible tragedy, combined with irresponsible neglect and incompetence, that luckily mainly took property and very few lives, given the extent of the fires: silver linings and whatnot.
If you ever find yourself at the sharp end of such tragic events, it’s important to keep a clear head and focus on what matters most - your loved ones and health, as I explain in the article Tragedy Strikes and You Lose Everything - How to Focus and Handle the Situation?
Are the people alive? Are they okay? Be grateful! The rest is trivial in comparison.
I’m an optimist regarding the future
This is mainly because there’s no benefit to being grumpy or frightened, but also because we are still the governing factor in how our lives play out in the micro if not the macro. This means that whether we live in a simulation or have the mind of God, we have the power to determine our reality in a way that outside circumstances mean nothing. The mind is all, and you should take that literally.
This brings us to the importance of guarding what we consume with our minds. Since our minds are the printers of our reality, not just observers and commentators, as we might believe, it would be wise to feed them only what we want to experience.
In the article Why Are You Consuming Darkness Through Your Screens? I talk about why we don’t want to indulge in fear or death porn, which is what most news channels and social media feeds like to feed us.
It’s not innocent in the least, and it is only “reality we should not ignore” if we want to create more of it in our lives. Allowing darkness into your mind has dire consequences. It's infectious, multiplying first in your thoughts and then in your life.
We all like to think about how important the things we consume with our body out, poisons, drinks, and food, but neglect something much more important - what we feed our minds!
Do not allow anything you don’t want to see manifested in your life to enter your mind or, worse yet, your heart! This is a choice you make every time you watch the news, a horror movie, or open up this death cultish social media of today. Don’t even think about the things that scare you. Delete all of that stuff from your mind.
The elections craze is making people go crazy
Speaking of being terrified, I think most people from the left side of the political aisle have calmed down after losing the election to the Bad Orange Man with mean Tweets. I was inspired to write a few articles on elections when I saw how morbidly afraid some people were.
In Terrified of the Election Result? - Give Me 10 Minutes! I talk about how irrational this fear of political opposition really is. You’ve lived through many political transitions and survived them all rather unscathed.
I would argue the other side suffered more and that the pendulum swinging right is a good thing, but if you still don’t see this, you never will, which is fine.
The wiser you get, the more you realize the fundamental truth about life: You know nothing. You never have all the information. You can't predict the future. Your thoughts and emotions don't mean anything. You don't even see the world objectively. Everything is just an opinion, a perspective, not some absolute truth. Make peace with it, allow others to have different opinions, and you will feel instantly better.
While I admit he’s rather difficult to watch and the furthest from a dignified politician, Donald Trump is the master of his Universe! There can be no doubt about this.
Why not learn from the man? In a fun little article titled "How To Beat The Simulation Like a King—Donald Trump Style," I dissect his mindset and explain how he effortlessly commands the Universe to do his bidding.
"The mind can overcome any obstacle. I never think of the negative." Donald Trump
(The New York Times interview, 1983)
On a more serious note, this experiment we call Democracy has proven to be more a farse, a play for the naive, making us think we wield power over who rules us while nothing ever changes behind the scenes.
In the article "You Believe in the Power of Democracy and Your Vote?" How Cute, I explain why the system is designed to make how you vote almost irrelevant and why that’s a good thing.
It’s also meant to help you take a step back, cool your heels, and realize that arguing politics is a waste of time and energy. We’re all going to be okay. Why not have a little faith?
That was it for this month. I hope you enjoyed some of these stories and that they made your day just a bit more interesting.
Thanks for reading. Like, share, recommend, link to, and subscribe. You know the deal with online publishing. Every little thing helps. I appreciate you!