FYI, nothing has brought me closer to looking deep inside as trading has. It magnifies both my shortcomings and my strong points more than anything else I have worked with. This profession has deepened my belief in God.
I didn't say "happy positive thoughts", I said creative visualizations (which doesn't imply a lack of divine intervention). There is a difference (to understand the difference you need to read Creative Visualization by Shakti Gawain), but that's immaterial. How do you explain me or the 400 other applicants which you beat out? I've been less successful than you, but I had religion for a very long time, I'm sure at least one of the other 400 applicants had religion as well. Was I just not doing it right? Should I have prayed harder, donated more money and converted more followers? BS You can say that your success is a miracle from God, but that doesn't make it true. That just makes it another unsubstantiated statement based on the unexplainable. If you truly have the skeptical mind of a trader, you would search for a better answer. God grants you the things in life which you create, not those that he wishes you to have.
Maybe it's a sign that he has a different path for you that you would be more successful at? Also, I did get the top score but I wasn't the only one chosen. 4 finalists got to go. Trust me, I am skeptical and analytical and I have been searching for the explanations. They all point in the direction I have indicated. If you spend enough time searching this way, there comes a point where it dawns upon you that there is just no other way things could be the way the are in this world. A skeptic could always point to Darwinistic evidence shown on the discovery channel and to some of the fairy-tale like explanations in the Bible. The thing is were are not smart enough to understand some things and at the time those stories occured, that was the best way to deliver the message. It probably still is. You can't explain to your 4 year old child how a computer works, but you can teach them to use it, right? And one day he will understand how it works. Maybe not the best analogy, but I don't have time to come up with smth better. I don't quite agree. I think you can create a lot of thinks he clearly doesn't want you to have. Also, I'd add that you will be a lot more successful in creating the things he wishes you to have. You have to find what your innate God-given talents are and pursue those to the utmost.
You remind me of my wife, she's a nuclear physics PhD and a fan of Constaneda.... Creative visualizations etc etc. I think if we all were much smarter than we are, we'd see that these manifestations point in the same direction.
I think you missed my point Are you implying that those 4 finalists were religious and the other 396 applicants were not? Not a miracle, merely a creation. So does this imply that I did something wrong in my 25 years of being a good Christian boy. Because my "path" was not properly revealed to me then. And magically your "pathetic plight" was quickly remedied by the salvation of God? That doesn't really seem to be fair that I put in 25 years and get nothing but screwed jewed and tattooed, yet you put in six months and the sea divides to make way for your path. Once again, a correlative comparison not a causal comparison. FYI I don't believe God "wants" or has a "willâ as you might put it. The logic of that breaks down very quickly. If God were all-powerful, how could he/she/it possibly "want"? Even if he/she/it could possibly "want", how would you know what that "want" is? (I presume I'm going to get some biblical reference in response, in which case I give up, because I don't have the patience to discuss that point). Furthermore, if success is our litmus test of whether we're doing God's "will", then what does that say about successful Hindu's, Muslim's or Jews? Are they going to the mosque and pretending to pray to Allah in front of all their friends, while at the same sneaking off and doing Godâs will behind their closet door. What does that say about people that are unsuccessful? Are they all pagans? Peeeeeeeeeewwwwww, something stinks, and I think itâs your logic. I don't think God cares if you're the Pope or a porn star, he treats/loves everyone the same and we create our own reality. Maybe some of us are smarter than we are???
hmmmm...... maybe you have something there mattjclark but stymied as to why from where you stand with your logic, you apparently need to assume that it follows there is, or need be a God of any kind.
Hey, don't laugh....but my dad said....God told him to get out of his mutual funds....at the top no less a couple of years ago. I wish God would give me good tips like that! Gee, I might even take them from Satan!
Well stu, clearly I don't have all the answers either, I've just spent an incredibly high percentage of my life on this earth buying into the crap that is spewed out by the Christian churches until I decided to find some better answers. I'm not sure if God exists as a singular being or spirit, or if God is a collective of all beings (what does it really matter anyway). What I have been convinced of is that we create our own realities. Now I'm not saying merely that we take hammers, nails and lumber to create a house (although that is one in the same). I'm saying there is a collective force in the universe from which we develop and create our future (somewhat akin to the idea that you create your own luck). I think Vlad successes in life can be attributed to this force. He was probably and excellent student in school (despite being a heathen), for which he received praise. As anyone would, Vlad moved toward that which gave him praise to become a better and better student. He worked hard and the support he received from others slowly became a self-fulfilling prophecy such that he believed in himself, which caused him to create a brighter future in his imagination, which in turn created a better future in reality. Eventually it can become a snowball effect where greater and greater things are created with remarkable results. The thing is that often the process of creative visualization can get mistaken with becoming religious, going to a certain school or simply ceasing to be a âpathetic plightâ. Typically these other events provide the discipline and support group that cultivates greater and greater visualizations. My story is very different. I was a good Christian boy all my life, doing âGodâs willâ. While I was not a bad student (just average), I was a great athlete. I excelled in every sport, and like my supposition with Vlad, I moved toward sports. I was a better and better athlete, achieving greater and greater results. I was a two sport letterman in College and held several school and conference records at the time I graduated. The problem is my creation was severely stunted from that point on. I couldnât create being in the NFL, because of past injuries. I tried to be a track star, but itâs very hard to be a track star and pay the bills (unless youâre Michael Johnson or Carl Lewis). My life has been a process of redirecting my creative energies toward the things that I like the most. Am I a great trader? Not yet, but I will be.