What is Consciousness?
Consciousness is an awareness and ability to perceive a level of truth that allows life to be lived with higher quality, lower risk and less empty noise. People with heightened levels of awareness seem to contribute more, whereas people who live at lower levels of consciousness seem to take more. They exploit or drain positive energy from their environments. The latter unknowingly believes in a limited material reality. That consciousness translates into actions that take from others. Higher consciousness lives from a boundless wellspring of God given energy expressing itself as talent and service through the individual into the world. Nothing is taken from anyone else and everything is given.
The One Power supporting all life filters through human belief causing variables in what can produced by each personality. Observing the material reality created by a specific person or group of people can lead to prudent evaluation of consciousness.
It’s impossible to separate belief from material form created by those beliefs. More important nothing can ever change outside unless the consciousness driving the action is altered.
For example: Before Walgreens, we used to have two large drug store chains in New York City; Duane Reade and Rite Aid. The store brand of tissues from Duane Reade is equivalent to the Kleenex brand. I can feel and touch the high quality. The Rite Aid brand falls apart and is rough.
From a simple tissue we can perceive a level of consciousness that operates through the people who own and operate both drug chains. Duane Reade Stores are also opening all over Manhattan and Rite Aide’s closed several that I am aware of.
If I purchased stocks I would commence my evaluation of any company with the tissue example then move into financials. I want consciousness and financials on my side. Good financials without the quality of tissues supporting the data increases risk because the high quality is missing from their services. So on one hand money is good, but it’s earned by cheating people. Cheating people works against universal principles that support all of life eternally – so risk is increased.
Why Quantify Consciousness?
When evaluating managed futures and option traders we can evaluate a quality of consciousness using SafeMoneyMetrics® before we meet the trader. Article # 29 reviewed a simple measure of consciousness expressed as the difference between a SafeMoneyMetrics® net ratio and a traditional rate of return.
|
Advisor One |
Advisor Two |
||
|
Net Ratio |
ROR |
Net Ratio |
ROR |
Average |
18.27% |
3.94% |
8.55% |
1.18% |
Minimum |
-23.84% |
-5.31% |
-130.37% |
-19.33% |
Maximum |
200.96% |
44.11% |
225.03% |
32.82% |
Look at Advisor ONE in the data table above. The average, minimum and maximum values of the Net Ratio represent real volatility on capital at risk. The maximum loss on actual capital at risk was –24%. Remember that is not account value but only what was used for trading. Advisor Two’s maximum loss on capital at risk was –130%. The ROR values represent appearances of account volatility on the total account size, which has no relevance to capital at risk.
Not only are we compensating Advisor Two management fees on a $2M required account size, we are paying more money for a lower quality investment. Read Article #29 for graphic details
An ability to quantify and translate consciousness that created a trading strategy can dramatically increase potential returns and peace of mind. Excess cost and inherent risk is dramatically reduced.
Consciousness and Costs
An accurate consideration of cost can only be determined relative to:
- account size,
- capital at risk used to produce a return expressed as a percent of the account size and finally
- the rate of return expressed as a percent of capital at risk and account size.
Costs should not be judged as high or low when evaluated in isolation. Remember Einstein and relativity! Nothing in the universe exists in isolation. For example:
Acct Size |
Capital at Risk |
Cost as a % of Account size |
Net Return # 1 |
Net Return # 2 |
$100K |
15% |
10% |
20% |
40% |
$25K |
10% |
5% |
20% |
40% |
$500K |
4% |
5% |
20% |
30% |
Traders can more accurately be evaluated and compared with each other when we glimpse at the difference between
- a required account size,
- capital at risk relative to volatility
- return and costs used to produce the rate of return.
Several traders can have a similar rate of return, however if we consider all variables involved with producing that return, the quality of our decision is increased.
An Invisible Force Driving Investment Returns
I’d like to quote a few paragraphs from a Joel Goldsmith book called The Altitude of Prayer. It’s describes how nature really works relative to what we currently perceive. We are not separate from nature!
“If you could look down into the ground, using the most powerful magnifying glasses and time-photography, you would observe the seed breaking open, but you could not see what made it break open. You might see it take root, but you have no way of seeing what causes it to take root. You could observe it growing up through the ground, but could you see what is forcing it up? Whatever that force is, it is invisible to human sight. No one has ever seen what causes the seed to become a full-grown tree or what brings forth the fruit. That is an invisible process. Scripture tells us that all things are formed of things that are not seen, and that which is not seen is the invisible something, the invisible Presence, the invisible Power.
The only Power that supports all life.
Consider the sun, moon, stars, planets and their movements. No one has ever seen what causes these movements and perpetuates them. Why because the force or power is invisible. It is invisible, and yet it is Power. It is present. Whether down in the ground, up in the sky or flowing through people it supports all of life and is the only Power that really exists. It is an intelligent Presence and Power that precedes and supports every breath we take. When it operates through a banana tree, it produces bananas. When it acts upon the tides, it moves them in and out. Thus far and no further! It maintains the sun, moon and stars in their orbits generation after generation. It is a very loving Presence and Power because it can always be depended upon to continue its activity through rain, storm sleet or in periods of peace and war.
Then why is there such chaos in the world and why are people so disturbed? The reason is found by looking at so simple a thing as a seed. Just as you could keep seeds in your hands forever without their bearing fruit, because they have been kept out of their native element, the ground, so you can keep yourself in sin, disease, lack, limitation, warfare or even in death, just be keeping yourself out of your native element…the Invisible Substance.”
The invisible Force is the only and ONE Power that exists. It operates impersonally through all people and other forms of life. The material world created by man is an illusion built on thought and belief. It has no substance to rely on beyond what is necessary for the current generation. It will all someday pass away and be replaced by something more appropriate. Yet the energy supporting every time is eternal and it is that energy that we must bring ourselves closer to. People with heightened awareness or consciousness live more in tune with this life force increasing the quality of every endeavor wherever their energy is expressed. Managed Futures and Options is only one area of expression.
Fundamentals, Power People and Returns
Talented traders trade because they love to trade. They express themselves well in the environment exactly as a banana grows from its own tree. Nothing more or less is capable of producing your investment return other than the driving invisible force running through a really good trader. The only thing we offer is a risk management model that can perceive, quantify and support the consciousness or invisible force flowing through the trader who is producing the return.