The Miracle of Mind Dynamics (or, Think Right, Live Right)

A few years ago I found a nice book by Dr. Joseph Murphy who seems to be from one of the research universities in India. The book was called "The Miracle of Mind Dynamics", and the mind is exactly the subject of the book. There is indeed a law given in this book too - we might want to call it the second Murphy's law - and looked at in one way, it is similar to the other Murphy's law too, but there's a qualitative difference. It tells you how things can go wrong, but also tells you how to get things right.   

The common Murphy's law suggests that if something can go wrong, it will. This Murphy's law suggests that what you think is of utmost importance - in fact, it determines most of the course of your life! What's more, Dr. Murphy does not put this across as a matter of belief - he says that it is something he has studied over decades and puts it as a researched opinion of his, which he has been publicizing through his books and lectures all over the world. In his opinion, the sub-conscious mind networks with subtle forces across the universe to give power to whatever we deeply believe. A lot of us might believe that a deep-rooted fear of accidents can sub-consciously cause accidents, but many of us would perhaps not be so open to the idea that deeply accepting wealth as one of God's numerous gifts (to be used with responsibility) can make us wealthy or that believing in God's almighty restorative power deeply from within can cure us of diseases. By Dr. Murphy's logic, if the belief was that deep, the sub-conscious would start networking with the subtler forces of nature to make it happen, and so, there is no "mystery" about it. 

The book mentions several examples where the power of belief, when harnessed properly, ultimately generated desired results. In one case, a businessman who had not been walking for over five years due to various medical problems left his crutches within four months and started walking again. In another case, someone who had lost his wealth opened his mind to the idea that wealth too, was a gift of God (like nature's snowflakes) and started mentally opening up to the idea that wealth was "good". Over time, he became very successful and attracted a lot of wealth and happiness too. 

This logic has implications for many things we normally do in our daily lives. While I can't claim to remember all here, I can list some that immediately come to mind. 

1. For people with spiritual aspirations (monks and others), it won't do to simply have the body engaged in holy activities and the mind elsewhere. Dr. Murphy reminds us here of an old story in which a monk whose mind was always full of hatred for a woman who lived nearby and had an occupation which wasn't considered noble ultimately found himself outside of heaven, while the woman who lived nearby found herself in heaven after her worldly life because her mind was always on the monks next door who reminded her, every moment, of God and his greatness. Shankaracharya was another great proponent of the idea that the mind plays an overwhelmingly important role in the attainment of self-realization, and that mere physical prayer - or, outward discipline - would not be enough. Dr. Murphy's logic implies the same - and this is his researched opinion, not just his belief. 

2. Since there is something called a subtler realm, it is better, according to Dr. Murphy, to give loving and warm wishes to our departed loved ones for their journey ahead. The subtle body can feel the pain and suffering of its near and dear ones and it is not a great idea to pull it back to the world by constantly grieving. Rather, good wishes with a calm heart would tend to calm the subtle body of the departed too, and would perhaps leave it in a better "state of mind" for its journeys ahead. 

3. Nothing comes without a price, agrees Dr. Murphy, but what exactly do we mean by this "price"? In the context of healing through faith, Dr. Murphy says that the price one has to pay is simply the cultivation of faith and deep belief in God's complete power over all forces of nature. The price is not suffering taken somewhere else. The feeling that the price of God's miracles is typically to suffer pains elsewhere is incorrect and perhaps a result of ignorance on part of people. This does not mean that Dr. Murphy wants people to get pulled into the nexus of desire and unending want, but it does mean that by themselves, desires are not "wrong" or "right". What is important is that we do not start going against God's laws in trying to get what we want. 

4. What we think is immensely important - not only on the spiritual scale but also on the worldly. Before giving in to weakness, think twice. Before giving up faith, think twice. Think always on the positive side - i.e. think of health rather than of a damaged organ. Your sub-conscious will help you get health, wealth, material desire, success or whatever you deeply keep inside your mind, but if it finds fear of accidents or depressing thoughts of failure in there, then it might network with other forces of nature to bring about exactly those other things - those which you wanted to avoid like a nightmare, but which you strengthened in your heart and mind by dwelling upon too much.

Sadanand Tutakne

The Real Interest Rate

A score and a few more years ago, I had the good fortune of seeing an elderly Pakistani gentlemen (seemed like a seer of some kind) speak about the modern economic scenario on TV. I could not watch the whole talk - there was something else that needed to be done that day - but what few lines I caught stayed in my mind for a very long time.

The speaker was suggesting that we need to think more carefully about the idea that money always grows. He said that this idea originated from agriculture, where it was clear that if we consumed a few less seeds and sowed them back into the farm, then we would get many many more seeds and plants back tomorrow. From there on, he said, expectations have somehow been set in such a way that whenever we put money into a bank, regardless of where the money gets invested, we expect that the money will grow - there is no other possibility. He seemed to be asking the audience to think more carefully before necessarily expecting such outcomes always and everywhere.

All through my university days - and even when I was writing a paper on empirically estimating the impact of interest rate policy shocks on the macroeconomy - I never found the time to discuss or think about this view. Today, I want to open up this discussion with all of you even though I have not done much thinking or research on it - since you are all my friends. So this is very much "small talk" and please take it as such.

There are, of course, academic economists who have written on the topic on why (and under what assumptions) zero interest rates are good but I think we can take that up some other day since it will involve some formal arguments too. Here, I only want to explore what it really means for money to grow - in other words, what this "real interest rate" really is, beyond the agricultural scenario where not eating up all seeds today and sowing them back produces many more seeds and plants tomorrow, and to that extent, the term "real" interest rate has an obvious and clear meaning.

In the case of the services sector, it is now-a-days not uncommon for corporate leaders to emphasize learning and development of capabilities throughout one's career. To some extent, this is required, because as people retire or feel the need to move to different roles, we "need" others to take their place and this would be very difficult without some additional development of capabilities over time. However, it seems that this is not really growth from the point of view of the company (or the world) as a whole, because the resulting output seems to be the same - only the retired or bored worker gets replaced by someone else who is less aged or less bored. Output stays constant.

Similarly, when an increase in our capabilities allows us to compete better against others in the market, we are again speaking more about (a) redistributing the pie than growing it or (b) taking credit for doing things more efficiently, which frees up resources for potential increases in output. However, even (b) is only a "potential" increase in the world's output - not yet a realized gain. Of course, consumers benefit if they get the same thing at a lower cost but the world's output is still the same, so the output-gain is more potential than real. On the other hand, if investment in capabilities led to a situation where additional services could be provided over time - things that were not being provided before - then we are talking about real returns to investment for the world as a whole. I feel sure that the cyber revolution and many other innovations of the past are examples of such true gains. The potential harmful effects of such technologies have probably already been more than adequately overcome and so the world has probably gained unambiguously. However, the ordinary worker in an office seldom knows what the next such revolution is, which could help him contribute to real world-wide growth in a big way. For them, the way to contribute to real growth is a set of small additional services they can provide every year in their offices.

Did your office just buy an upgraded version of a software tool (a word processor or a statistical software)? Do you think the company can or would be investing in comprehensive training of staff on the upgraded version? Did you just write a code which can be used with typical software packages and improve the life of several customers worldwide? Do you think someone else was going to be hired to provide that specific code? If not, then there's a good chance that we can make real additions to the world's output by taking time out to explore the latest version of the software or the latest technique which needed to be coded, and share whatever seems to be useful with everyone around us. Chances are, you would have contributed to improving service quality somewhere, without snatching away's someone else's share.

As the example brings out, real growth can happen without being necessarily accompanied by monetary returns. No one really knows whether these additional quality improvements or services provided will necessarily bring high additional monetary returns to the particular person or company which provides them. However, it seems obvious that such additional services lead to enhanced output or better quality output for the world as a whole, and constitute more than simple "redistributions of the pie." Money can be made to grow even outside of agriculture, and real growth can be ensured, but it is not guaranteed that this variety of real growth will always be accompanied by monetary growth. 

Focus on the real, sadhu, and let monetary theorists worry about the outer veil of money!

Sadanand Tutakne