The Power of Intention

I finished this book by Wayne Dyer today. WOW! Drop everything and read it NOW!

Surely, I cannot do this book justice in a few lines, but there are a few points I'd like to make here that will hopefully encourage you to give it a read.

The book is about the "power of intention", but not the way that is usually understood. Dyer uses this phrase to describe the power available to anyone who connects up with the creative power in the universe.

Perhaps the most important thing I got out of the book was a realization of how negative my inner thoughts truly were. I was very unpleasantly surprised as to how extreme they were, but I was immediately in better shape after having this realization. And there are benefits that follow this awareness too. Imagine, I asked myself, if I really worked at this a little.

I also want to mention how connected I feel when I put the suggestions in the book into practice. Makes me feel like I can really get were I should go - and helps me know where that is.

Things in the book might seem a little hookey at first, but give it an honest try and see if you don't agree that Dyer is right.

Hurry up and start reading. You'll be glad you did.

Big Firms - Follies and Fallacies

I am normally considered a capitalist, but on one point, I am beginning to wonder. Is big always better?

Mergers are supposed to be good for business, with economies of scale and all that, but are we finding only diminishing returns from them now, or worse, negative returns? I'm not talking about for the "insiders"; I am talking about everyone overall, including society at large.

I see evidence all around me that mergers are producing some really negative results. It seems that prices go up or at least do not go down as touted and service certainly does not improve and usually gets worse.

Take an example that maybe not everyone would think about on first blush - law firms. Do clients really benefit when a firm goes from 40 to 4000 lawyers? If you think so, please explain that to the rest of us. The results I have seen are higher hourly rates/uncontrolled overhead and an alarming trend to poorer quality work and less accountability.

Some firms appear to be responding to these charges by employing "contract" lawyers - too many parallels to the tenant farming system to make this justifiable if you ask me. Of course, firm associates live in a tenant farmer-like world too, albeit a better paid one. The work is suffering in both cases as the tenants are not happy campers.

Even if the tenant farmer analogy does not fairly fit a particular firm, I don't think you will find the lawyers there saying they are so much happier than they were 5 years ago. And we all wonder why the legal system is such a mess.

Is an avaricious legal oligarcy to blame? Maybe the profession needs to rethink where it is going. Smaller firms would probably result in the average lawyer making more money, do a better job and be a lot happier. The legal system and society is a winner in such a case too. Does anyone feel sorry for the few "kingpins" who would make less money under this plan?

Think about it.

Nicomachaen Ethics and the Golden Mean/Ratio

I recently read that Aristotle taught the golden mean (moderation in all things) in the Nicomachaen Ethics. Interestingly, the golden mean is another name for the golden ratio, the number phi (about 0.618), which turns out to be quite important in nature and other areas.

As to phi, I believe such things as the ratio of the length of the lower arm to that of the whole arm is about 0.618 (phi). There are lots of other similar statistics.

This got me to thinking. I don' think that Aristotle meant that one should necessarily aim to always take the path at the exact midpoint, but rather something somewhere in the middle area. Maybe considering a postion just off the midpoint, say based on phi would be about right. Taking the exact average all the time seems like a mere cop out and a function of how extreme the endpoints are relative to each other.

OK, I'll admit that there are still some bugs to work out on this concept, but there seems to be something here. I will keep you posted.

An Interesting Lady from Botswana

I just finished the first in the series of the Alexander McCall Smith books featuring a lady detective in Botswana, Precious Ramotswe, and several other interesting supporting characters like Happy Bapetsi - the names are great all by themselves.

Precious has lots of adventures in this book and at the same time introduces us to life in Botswana. It seems to be quite an interesting culture, especially in its viewpoints on life.

Here is one example of the latter. While Precious is daydreaming about her retirement to come one day in the future, she thinks how sorry she is for white people, because they worry themselves about things that are going to happen anyway. What good does all their money do them if the can't sit still and take in the view? She thought that the rare white people who understood the truth were regarded with suspicion by the other whites. I must say that Precious may have a point here.

The book is worth a look for the Botswana philosophy alone. Give it a try.

Anne Rice Replies

Mrs. Rice has replied to several of my recent emails to her. I thought that was very nice of her - she's a very famous person who doesn't know me.

She told me that she is very committed to her religious study and that she does not plan to return to her old writing series - those before Christ the Lord I think she meant.

I wonder if she will write something on her religious research. It would probably be good reading. Time will tell.