My Tao - Words and Action

We are constantly being advised on how to act and behave. This can come in useful. However, in order to gain any benefit from the advice we are constantly given, we must know how to separate the valuable from the useless. An age old technique in this respect is to inquire into the expert's own actions. Experts that do not follow their own advice should not be listened to, nor should we blindly trust experts who stand to profit from anyone following their advice. The advice must also have a clear practical angle to it.

To trust in God or government is not practical advice. Those professing gloom and doom with no further advice than to pay and repent are charlatans, all of them, without exception. However, some doomsayers may have a point. Especially those who can sketch out a plausible scenario for survival. I'm far from convinced that our climate is so stable that we will never have a bad harvest. I'm therefore a committed saver. I've put away some cash and other valuable for a rainy day. When done correctly, this can be done for free, even at a profit.

Another variation on doomsayer prophecies that seems to have merit is the idea that the current financial system is close to collapse. As it happens, my precautions applied to climate preparedness double as a safety net for a financial crisis. They have even tripled as relief during the current pandemic, which goes to show that good advice has practical value even in the event of the unforeseen.

However, most people who talk passionately about an upcoming crisis are merely parroting things they've heard. They haven't taken any practical precautions for themselves. This doesn't mean that they are wrong. It merely means that they aren't the experts that we should listen to. After having noted that they have made no personal preparations for the upcoming disaster, a sensible follow up question would be to ask for the source of the information parroted by the doomsayer.

Conversely, the fact that an expert is invested in something doesn't automatically give the advice credit. If the suggested investment has a short time horizon, the advice is almost certainly worthless. No-one except insiders are in a position to predict imminent success, and even such people are frequently deluded as to the actual state of the investment in question. If the advice is narrow in scope and detached from historic context, it's at best a speculative bet.

Good advise has broad application, fits into a historic context, is made by people with skin in the game, and does not promise immense riches. Only when all of these boxes can be checked off are we faced with truly good advice.

By Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov - http://lj.rossia.org/users/john_petrov/166993.html, Public Domain, Link