84 - investing in urgent reforms
Dear Investor
As you may have noticed, this is my eighty-fourth weekly investment note for your urgent perusal.
Either you will contribute towards the most necessary and urgent reforms appropriately or revolutionary chaos will consume your investments completely.
Please make your choice now. Immediately. There is no time to waste
Either you wish to be part of a non-problematic culture or a problematic one.
I can only assume you are a contributor to problems if you prefer the latter.
For at least a short while each morning, last September, I sat in the sitting room of Frugality Cottage conducting a mainly one-sided discussion with you on many important topics.Perhaps you consider my approach towards your inadequate leadership to be rather blunt. You may also regard my criticisms of you to be rather sharp.
If you feel as though you have no choice but to remain part of problematic cultures, structures and systems, that is not my problem. I cannot help you if that is the case. You are trapped. You are deluded. You are lazy. You may even be evil. As far as I am aware, you have done nothing to reform yourself.
I do not want to cause a revolution. I want to encourage reasonable reforms as urgently as necessary.
Yet when I try to encourage reasonable reforms through peaceful language, you take no notice.
When I develop the structures and systems of quality political organisations, you take no notice.
When I develop the structures and systems of quality news services, you take no notice.
When I develop the structures and systems for quality world leadership, you take no notice.
Perhaps you are a member of one or more of the narcissistic professions or pseudo-professions.
The emergency we must both address with most urgency has not yet passed and the emerging culture to address that emergency has not yet fully emerged.
I have delegated the public responsibility to you. I have also delegated most of the community responsibility to you. And I continue to do my best to supervise your efforts from a digital distance.
Even so, virtually touring your mind and brain has frequently been a challenge for me, with or without the most up-to-date version of the Hubrisometer available for the purpose.
My concern is that you do not adequately comprehend my words, or the urgency of the work ahead of you.
I am urgently seeking your ideas on quaternary possibilities to help dismantle unjust social hierarchies.
Perhaps you are a charlatan. I have received no evidence to the contrary.
Perhaps you regard these notes as nothing more than fiction.
I really have no time to offer people who treat me disrespectfully.
Nor do I have time for people who devote much of their time to superficiality, triviality, hedonism and low forms of entertainment.
Perhaps you regard me as a fictional character rather than as a real person.
How should I regard you, especially as your responses to these investment notes have been less than acceptable?
I have never been able to understand why people take part in excessively dangerous activities voluntarily, whether the dangers are physical or psychological.
One of the complexities I frequently face is that people in positions of power prefer to listen to charlatans rather than well-informed, deeply distressed citizens, such as myself.
I do not want to make a fuss. I just want people to respect the truth and act upon it with the urgency it deserves.
I have encountered much rudeness when I have stated my needs, preferences and values. I do not understand why.
Perhaps you have evidence-based answers in relation to that mystery.
I am often frightened. I feel as though most people think my words, and my life, are unimportant.
Perhaps you are no different.
Perhaps you are entirely indifferent towards me, like most people.
I have spent most of my life attempting to contribute to the improvement of cultural practices. Yet the obstacles to success have been considerable. I have often been forced to confront evil efforts to dismantle the past improvements I have attempted to implement, with or without your assistance.
Perhaps there are no truly good people in the world willing and able to help me invest in urgent reforms. Perhaps there are not enough enlightened beings with the time available to help me.
My husband is too ill to assist.
I am often too ill to act on my own.
I do not usually visit Frugality Cottage as often as I did last year.
Are you sure you understand why I made so much time available then?
Are you sure you understand why I no longer have the time to do so?
The only way I can really help to improve the world, now, is by helping you to improve your leadership.
There are apparently too many evil and indifferent and gullible people actively preventing me from supporting urgent reform processes directly. Perhaps you have been facing similar problems.
Far too many people, of all ages, and from all backgrounds, are bullies. They experience cultures in which bullying is accepted as normal and/or prevalent.
I find all bullying totally unacceptable.
Perhaps you are a bully.
If you are not, do please answer my questions appropriately, and with the urgency they deserve.
In various situations, in various parts of the world, many people, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or race, apparently do not care about the risks to themselves, or to anyone else, perhaps through ignorance and/or arrogance. They do not even care about the concerns of thoughtful people, such as myself.
Perhaps you are seeking to help me improve my leadership.
If so, what evidence do you propose to supply to me that such an improvement is necessary or even possible?
Perhaps you believe the improvement of your own leadership is impossible.
Over several decades, I have done my best to help establish and develop well-informed, kind communities, both directly and indirectly.
Most people seeking to be part of such communities have unfortunately been inadequately trustworthy. They have been incapable of assessing themselves accurately. They have therefore been incapable of contributing sufficiently to the quality analysis of events.
The other people seeking to be involved have unfortunately been overly enthusiastic and inadequately realistic. They have usually lacked the motivation to contribute seriously to the quality analysis of events.
I try to put my faith in the possibility of social and political reform, even though that reform process will require a huge transformation in public awareness, all over the world.
I put my faith in real facts, hence real knowledge.
I refuse to co-operate with bullies and all other sorts of manipulators and predators and egomaniacs, hence the importance of the Hubrisometer to my work, along with a thermometer, of course.
I do not think it is possible to be suitably independent without trustworthy relationships, including through trustworthy governments.
I enjoy retreating to Frugality Cottage in order to relax for a while and take my mind off the most stressful aspects of my work, and life in general.
Much of that stress is associated with a sense of urgency. Yet I refuse to rush. I do not want to make dangerous mistakes.
As far as I am aware, all real investments are inevitably investments in peace.
Everything else is either a trivial distraction or a dangerous one.
As you may already be aware, I initially used the Hubrisometer to test the online public profiles of everyone in the world in possession of such a profile. Having retested the profiles over the weekend, some very interesting results accumulated.
The findings, though, mainly remain confidential.
The only new piece of semi-confidential information I am willing to divulge to you, at present, is that there is apparently a large chunk of bigotry stuck in your publicly-presented personality.
Perhaps you require my assistance in helping you remove it.
I am yet to have a chance to examine your most relevant notes, policies and inventiveness.
This is one of the most important investment notes I am ever likely to write to you, and to anyone at all for that matter.
Perhaps you do not usually associate importance with urgency.
I perform most of my philanthropy from the Tower of Truth, as you may be aware.
Where do you perform yours?
Substantial improvements to governments are necessary and urgent. They will not happen. Too few people are willing to make substantial improvements to themselves.
You may wish to prove that assessment wrong. Unfortunately, my assessments of political matters have never been proven wrong.
And I have received no indication whatsoever that you have any interest in improving yourself.
You may have noticed that I have been repeating myself through this series of notes. I have only been doing so, deliberately and philanthropically, for your benefit.
Perhaps you regard me as an opponent, or even as an enemy, or merely as a nuisance.
I am always interested in uncovering ulterior motives and expressions of hypocrisy.
I regularly noticed and noted that you were disappointingly inattentive during last year's discussions in the sitting room here. That is why I am no longer interested in inviting you to join me there.
You have obviously had other things on your mind. That may be why you have still not responded appropriately to the previous investment notes I have provided in this virtual library for your urgent attention.
Perhaps you have been attempting to manage your investments better without my assistance.
As you apparently have no kindness towards me, what am I to do?
I can do no more than hate you now, if that is really the case.
Hating unkindness is perfectly reasonable. Unkindness prevents kindness from being productively expressed to the extent necessarily, and urgently, required in the world.
There is, of course, much superficial kindness in the world. It is usually expressed where it is not really needed.
I am not responsible for any misconceptions you may acquire here or elsewhere.
Nor am I responsible for any misinterpretations you may experience in this virtual library.
You will currently only have access to Enlightenment House if you are one of the volunteers there.
Perhaps you have been seeking improved access to that important, primarily digital research institution.
As you will be well aware, by now, I am not here as a volunteer here. I am here as an investor.
If you are not interested in helping me to invest in urgent reforms, please provide me with an outline of your reasons as soon as possible.
Insight is often associated with accurate foresight.
The Hubrisometer is a foresight tool. It accumulates and regurgitates wisdom.
Perhaps you attempt to do the same.
I have no political influence, even though I have plenty of ideas about what needs to be done to improve governments, and political systems, and economic systems, all around the world.
I am well aware that you have special talents no-one else possesses, even if you are not yet aware of that uniqueness, or the associated responsibility.
When I am distracted, whether by pain or despair or any other unpleasantness, I become exhausted much more quickly than usual. I then cannot concentrate on anything for long.
I sometimes even become quite tearful in such circumstances.
That is one of the reasons why I have recently been unable to enjoy writing to you as much as I did when I began this series of notes. Yet my duty is to continue.
My attempts at contributing towards societal reforms have apparently been unsuccessful.
Perhaps I should blame you for that outcome.
When successful, urgent reforms alleviate suffering. I am still suffering.
What do your various investments entail in practice?
How do they relate to all the investment themes mentioned in my earlier notes to you?
Perhaps you regard me as an artist of some sort though I mainly regard myself as a scientist. That is why I am so concerned that you are not helping to make the world a much better place than it would be without you.
If your ethics are incompatible with mine, I have no time for you.
I am investing in solving the world's most significant societal problems, particularly the political ones.
One of those problems relates to the tendency of the public to pay substantially more for bad governments than it would for better ones, financially and otherwise.
Perhaps that is the world's most significant problem at present.
The Hubrisometer I have helped to develop is owned by the Council of Enlightenment.
Various prototypes have been rented out to various organisations for various purposes at various times, as long as those purposes have been consistent with world peace.
My investments have long provided me with ways to maintain freedom from persons I regard as unpleasant or otherwise insensitive.
I have always chosen to withdraw from situations, and relationships, when I have been treated with disrespect or otherwise inhumanely, at least when I have had the freedom to be able to do so.
My investment notes, and the associated educational notes, are intended to assist your self-awareness in order to improve your leadership.
Whether you are relatively wealthy or not, my notes to you, here in the library, are indicative of the types of investments I have been suggesting to you for a considerable time now, most of which are directly associated with money.
Yet you apparently have much difficulty answering my questions, on any day of the week or year or decade or century.
I usually prefer to assist you in your experiences as an individual. I obviously do not trust the organisations and groups with which you associate. Nor do I trust any of the individuals with whom you most usually interact.
Most people's ideas of reciprocity, independence, interdependence and compatibility have never been particularly thoughtful towards my preferences.
I utterly detest most politicians, and the organisations with which they are associated.
If you are often or sometimes a bully or a sleaze or obsessed with money, I really cannot do anything for you. You are not a real leader if you are unworthy of my trust.
What should I do next to improve the world?
I have already done everything possible.
I have invested wisely.
I have profited greatly.
I have attempted to share those profits with you.
Yet you obviously have little empathy towards me, even though I have given considerable attention towards improving your investment strategy, and your education.
Do you have more financial freedom than me, or less?
I am exasperated by anyone seeking my assistance in an emergency.
For many years now, most people have been ignoring the assistance I have been attempting to offer to help prevent emergencies from arising.
The questions within these investment notes obviously relate mainly to your practical experiences rather than your theoretical knowledge. I have carefully designed the questions to assess your values, your memory, your reasoning and your emotions.
I refuse to invest my time in superficiality, ignorance and rudeness.
I am particularly interested in the reform of social, political and financial structures.
Perhaps you do not regard my questions as appropriate, especially if you regard yourself as a politician.
My approach to reform begins with the subtle improvement of manners.
Threats to mental health are a central concern of all my practices, especially when attempting to address injustices.
Are you sure you support mental health by addressing injustices with good faith?
You will be well aware, by now, that I am not motivated by money in any way whatsoever. I am motivated by fairness.
I have long been hoping you would be able to assist me. I feel as though my efforts in that regard have been futile.
What is the point of shouting when no-one is listening?
What is the point of protesting when a biased response is inevitable?
What is the point of complaining when only platitudes are offered?
The Spirit of Enlightenment has informed me that I may be overconfident in my expectations of you, and of most other members of humanity.
Yet the Council of Enlightenment continues to expect me to help you make the world a much better place than it would be without you.
What, then, am I to do?
Should I give up? Should I resign?
I actually enjoy working in the laboratory in the Tower of Truth. If I gave up my job there, I would no longer have access to the laboratory.
I cannot afford the time and expense of establishing a laboratory of my own somewhere else and I own none of the intellectual property associated with the technical development of the Hubrisometer. I do, however, own its name.
I owe my loyalty to enlightenment itself.
Throughout my life, I have found that one of my most urgent tasks has been to locate people willing and able to help me save my life from a possibly imminent end.
I would obviously have been unable to help anyone particular well if my demise occurred before providing suitable support for their lifesaving efforts.
I refuse to support unjust social hierarchies of any sort.
Perhaps you enjoy climbing up such hierarchies.
All good relationships are good investments. They depend upon the adequate investment of time. That is why several of my newer notes to you are necessarily long.
You may have noticed that I am invisible here. You may also have noticed that I am even without a name.
That reflects my real societal status. I am no-one to most people, including government authorities, politicians and the public.
If you have ever gained a comfortable salary through an exploitative organisation of any sort, do not expect to be permitted to become a patron here particularly easily.
Causing suffering is unlikely to be regarded favourably by the assessors.
As you are apparently still only regarded an ordinary member of the public by the volunteers here, and not yet an appropriately registered patron of the work conducted in this vicinity, I am only willing to offer my time to you briefly at present, through these notes.
I may not offer my time to you at all in the future.
Is my despair the only reasonable response to your lack of attentiveness and courtesy?
No-one in a senior position in the kindness industry, apart from myself, has attempted to alleviate my despair.
Such alleviation requires considerable motivation on the part of the ordinary public, regardless of the association people have with industries.
Perhaps you are confused about my despair.
Perhaps you are confused by your own.
Most people have failed to distinguish between my own reasonable requests and their assumptions about unreasonable demands.
I have cried in frustration and despair on many occasions, in private.
I am particularly interested in studying experiences of disruption in people's lives though I hope my research methods are never regarded as disruptive or intrusive or otherwise objectionable.
My scientific intention is to be entirely objective, of course.
My political intention is to be entirely fair.
Perhaps you consider me to be a problem to be solved rather than as a person with needs to be met. I really do not enjoy feeling despair or any other form of suffering.
Finding adequately compatible assistants continues to be a challenge for me, even though all my assistants are deeply loyal to enlightenment. They do their best to understand my research requirements yet most require considerable time off work to recover from emotional exhaustion and compassion fatigue. They often lose their faith in humanity very quickly indeed once becoming aware of the true situation facing the world.
None of my assistants possess hubris or gullibility. Most have very little money. They do possess the desire to contribute to urgent reform processes. Yet they require your support.
I have a propensity to experience debilitating physical symptoms when experiencing severe emotional distress, and when cold, thirsty, hungry, tired or in urgent need of a lavatory.
I only offer my patronage towards persons and organisations consistently respectful of my desire to feel less distressed.
I also have a severe reaction to mosquito bites and prefer not to be outside at dawn or dusk for that reason alone.
I cannot use insect repellents. They make me very ill indeed. And I prefer not to use pesticides for any purpose.
How do you attempt to manage pests?
How do you attempt to manage people, their pets, their livestock and their expectations?
What do you regard as parenting obligations, whether you are a parent or not?
If you urgently desire to place your own children in the care of other people, as a consequence of being unable to cope with your parenting obligations, why did you have children?
Perhaps you are mostly interested in the reform of children than the reform of adults.
The role models admired by relatively ignorant young persons are mainly self-centred fools.
The role models admired by relatively ignorant older people are mainly self-centred fools, too.
I hope you do not consider me to be a self-centred fool. I am not admired as a role model by anyone.
Perhaps you regard me as a personification rather than as a person.
The most ignorant people who have claimed to want to help me meet my needs have usually assumed my needs have been the same as their own.
Such persons have often bought me gifts in accordance with their own tastes and values and not my own. They have often given me food and drink in accordance with their own preferences. They have often invited me to participate in activities compatible with their interests and values and not my own. They have often attempted to sell me things I neither need nor want.
I have no need for such people in my life. In fact, I need such people to keep away from me.
My historical associates have experienced pandemics, polemics and unpleasant weather events first hand. Quite a few have even witnessed insurrections, unfair elections and various other disruptions first hand.
If you wish to leave any notes for me, here in the library, please do so. Queen Adelaide has added a few ethereal notes of her own, as you may have noticed.
We both hope your historically-informed performances are politically and musically appropriate.
Please be aware that I do not converse with anyone in Lady Facebookian's strange establishment though I have ensured suitably respectable visitors there receive the editorial and informational updates they most urgently require, particularly in relation to key issues.
I hope you have read and understood all the available investment notes and supplementary educational notes here.
What do you now know about my activities in this location?
For philanthropic
reasons more than scientific ones, I have invited you to read my notes
to you, here in the library, with the urgency I believe my concerns deserve in your
consciousness and conscience.
I urgently wish to know how you intend to reflect upon, and act upon, my notes in future months.
You may, quite possibly, not have access to this virtual library beyond today.
Queen Adelaide does her best to moderate the discussions in the sitting room of Frugality Cottage whenever she has a free moment.
Her Majesty also pops into the library from time to time, much like you. She has arranged for your most elegant, suitably relevant messages to be sent to the laboratory in the Tower of Truth with the urgency they will no doubt deserve.
Perhaps you are uncomfortable about interacting with royalty, particularly if you happen to be a republican.
You may or may not have attended one or more of the dignified digital workshops in this virtual cottage over the past two years.
- Intelligent Frugality and Liminality - Part One
- Intelligent Frugality and Liminality - Part Two
- Intelligent Frugality and Liminality - Part Three
- Intelligent Frugality and Liminality - Part Four
You may have noticed that my patronage activities and my philanthropic activities are often intertwined through the harmonious interplay of beauty, understanding and magnificence.
Yet your philanthropic intentions for the future are still unclear to me. I do not wish to devote my attention towards anything inevitably futile, hence my despair at your evident lack of attentiveness.
While the Really Quite Pleasant Australian Politics Club has a focus on affability more than urgency, the Australian Political Reform Club has more serious priorities.
I have consulted the Revolutionary Climatological Needlepoint Committee on many occasions.
The committee is of the unanimous view that my despair is perfectly reasonable.
I have also consulted the ethereal fellows of the International Political Reform School on many occasions.
They
regard my despair as perfectly normal. They have told me that there
are far too few adequately successful quaternary students of political
reform in the world.
What have you been learning about urgent reforms during storytime here?
I have no evidence that you have developed your talents adequately.
I can only assume that you are ashamed of your past activities as a bully. Perhaps that is why you have not responded to my previous notes satisfactorily.
I view bullying as a personality trait.
I have long been offering you the truth.
You have apparently dismissed it as worthless.
I am in despair as a consequence.
I have long been investing in the delights of adequately ethical compatibility, in good faith, even though few people are, in fact, adequately compatible with me.
I know that most politicians do not care about me.
I know that most so-called professionals do not care about me.
I really believe you do not care either, whether you consider yourself to be a politician and/or a professional, or anything else.
I know the truth about political practices and why it is so difficult to improve them.
That is why I am so often in distress.You have done nothing to alleviate my despair.
If I died tomorrow, I doubt you would care.
You probably think I am inferior to you. My assessments frequently suggest you are a narcissist.Even though I frequently experience despair, I gain a great deal of pleasure from writing words of my own choosing, just as I do from reading words of my own choosing.
Yet I am very disappointed in you. I have checked all the facts and you continue to fail on all the criteria of good leadership.
You apparently do not even choose your own words particularly well.
I am currently powerless and in despair. In fact, I have been feeling this way for many years now, regardless of my success as an investor, philanthropist and scientist.
I mainly seek to improve the maturity and credibility of apparently grown up persons, including those with responsibilities for young humans and/or domesticated animals and/or complicated societies and/or various environments.
What do you know about my ongoing, mostly secretive, highly sensitive and understandably confidential work in relation to veracity, improving cultures and contributing to better political and interpersonal practices?
Hubris arises with power. I know I am powerless. Therefore, I know I do not express hubris.
I expect all reasonable people to attend free and/or low-cost virtual workshops to improve their understanding democracy and sustainability, especially when all else has failed to inform and educate them appropriately.
I do not know why I have received so little public support for my work, or even for my philanthropy.
You seem to have failed me.
My intention is to help you improve cultural practices.
I am not at all interested in your enthusiasms. I am interested in your reasoning.
I am an introvert. The enthusiasms of people annoy and exhaust me.
Why should I invest my time in you if I am unable to ascertain your honesty, your beliefs about freedom, your contributions to reasonable security, your attitudes towards certainty, and your exploratory preferences in relation to understanding and implementing urgent reforms?How can you prove to me that you are a good person, and when do you intend to do so?
The Industrial Revolution began in an oceanic climate. That was the climate most usually experienced by my ancestors.
I would not want to live in a continental climate, with very hot summers and very cold winters.
Nor would I really want to spend winters in an oceanic climate. I know I suffer from seasonal affective disorder when surrounded by leafless deciduous trees, even if the sun is shining.
For as long as I can remember, nothing substantial has been done to improve the world at all, regardless of how much time and money has been spent on the marketing of platitudes.
Perhaps you regard civility as a platitude. I regard it as a necessity.
You are already aware that I have no time for aimless chatter. There is much important work still to do.
Perhaps you do not regard me as tolerable.
You have obviously not been investing time in reading these notes as attentively as I anticipated.
Perhaps you wish to provide evidence to the contrary.
Next Monday afternoon, I intend to provide you with a note about investing in the very best mental health.
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