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November 19th, 2007
Brian Bloom
Some may regard this article as a bit "off-the-wall", but I have decided to write it anyway. In the past couple of weeks, three apparently random occurrences have converged at a single point, and this stretches the "coincidence" argument a bit thin.
First, some background.
The subject of "genius" has always fascinated me. What makes a Da Vinci, or a Galileo or an Einstein different from ordinary mortals like you and me?
After pondering this question for much of my early adulthood I eventually concluded that there are two conditions precedent to genius:
Ability to use both the left and right hemispheres of the brain with equal dexterity, and
Ability to use a higher than average proportion of the brain's data processing capacity
In a sense, these abilities are "electrically driven". A higher voltage of electricity ebbs and flows between the intuitive and the logical hemispheres of the brain. Ideas are conceived with greater ease (in the right hemisphere), and are also processed with greater ease (in the left hemisphere).
Imagine, if you will, that the Universe of all knowledge is stored in a humungous computer database. Pieces of discrete information are stored in "cells" which have unique addresses as referenced by co-ordinates along X and Y axes.
Knowledge growth of an average person typically occurs in a building block fashion as the brain taps into an information cell address at (say) "A1", and then recognises that a relationship exists between the information stored in "A1" and that stored in adjacent cells "A2" and "A3". This requires left brain activity only.
Right brain dominated individuals tend to "reach" intuitively for information in non adjacent cells; and to left brain dominated individuals this behaviour sometimes seems illogical or irrational - because the thought process appears to have no trace of the sequential development process to which they are accustomed.
What happens with geniuses is that they are intuitively able to tap into information in cells that are remote from A1, A2 and A3 at address co-ordinate (say) M5 and then also demonstrate through a sequential and logical thought process how this new piece of information can be linked to the generally accepted body of knowledge - which might also result in some modification of previously held "truths". Initially, the act of conceptualization requires superior right brain activity, but it subsequently also requires a superior left brain processing power to "join the dots".
"What in hell has all this to do with the gold price?" - I can hear you say.
Well, let's try this on for size:
The picture above recently came to my attention as the first of the apparently random occurrences to which I referred above. It appeared in a book that I happened to be reading, entitled "The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness", by Carl Johan Calleman, PhD, Bear & Co, 2004; at page 46, and it got me thinking.
The author of the book was putting forward the argument that the planet Earth is essentially an organism, and it may be thought of in terms of the model of the human brain. I have long held the former view, but this latter argument came as a new thought to me. Calleman was putting forward the view that the Western hemisphere of the planet has evolved - since the emergence of the industrial revolution in around 1755 - to become the overwhelmingly dominant hemisphere. He was also arguing that the logically oriented "West" has acquired such dominance that it has started to stifle the natural thought processes of those who inhabit the intuitively oriented (if you'll excuse the expression) Eastern hemisphere of the planet, and it is essentially this dominance which is causing a backlash that, in turn, has been causing the disharmony that we are now witnessing in the form of terrorism and conflicts that have been emerging with increasing frequency from/with the Middle East and other Islamic countries.
In simplistic terms his argument was that the organism pulsates with a rhythm that causes an ebb and flow of energy from East to West and back again, and that the timing of the rhythm of the pulse is measurable by an exceptionally accurate measuring device known as the Mayan Calendar.
The second co-incidence flowed from the fact that I was recently approached by the Managing Partner of a fairly significant mid range firm of Accountants to facilitate a strategic repositioning and re-branding of their organization. Because this book was so fresh in my mind, it occurred to me that as Accountants are typically left brain oriented, they might benefit from an exercise in right brain stimulation to be held as a diversion within the context of a two day offsite seminar that was being proposed. The passing fantasy was that this temporary stimulation might facilitate an atmosphere of creativity in an environment where creative thought was likely to be both important and in short supply.
Although I rejected the idea as being too "out there", I mentioned it in a half-joking fashion to the Senior partner of the firm - who shocked me with his immediate and strongly positive reaction to the idea.
The third coincidence was facilitated by the fact that I have recently bought a failing retail (healthy) fast food franchise in partnership with a young turnaround Operator, who quickly moved to re-staff the business with energetic "kids" of between 17 and 23. One of these kids happens to be serving a low security jail sentence and is allowed out on a daily basis provided he reports back to spend each night in the jail. As an act of enlightened self interest, my business partner decided to "give this guy a go" on the basis that such people - if given a second opportunity in life - often turn out to be particularly loyal as a quid pro quo. He therefore moved to employ this guy on a trial basis.
Last week (about three weeks into his new employment) the youngster turned to me with a smile as bright as a sun-spot. On that particular day he had just served his first customer and he was feeling GREAT about it and about himself. I could literally see the positive energy radiating from him.
Last night, I happened to mention this experience as a sort of "social grace" story to a group of ten people whom my wife had invited over for an (unusual) social evening and, again, I was taken aback by the extent of the strong reaction the story generated. Admittedly, most of those present were female - and were therefore stronger in the right brain hemisphere (women are from Venus and men are from Mars and all that), but this third co-incidence got me thinking even more deeply:
In the space of a couple of weeks I had been presented with three pieces of evidence that right brain activity is emerging (and being embraced) as a far more important factor in life today. Indeed, Calleman even proposed that it was this re-emergence of right brain activity that had given rise to the strongly supported marches of protest which occurred within the various countries who were part of the "coalition of the willing" that invaded Iraq.
Still no linkage with the gold price?
Patience, we're getting there. Grab a brandy or a whisky or a bourbon (or whatever mellows you most) and settle back. You are going to need to be mellow to handle what follows.
As everyone knows, the "cycles" of life are influenced by Circadian and Gregorian rhythms that are, in turn, a function of the way our solar system is put together. The earth turns on its axis once every twenty four hours, the moon waxes and wanes in a lunar cycle of 30 days or so, and the seasons emerge like clockwork in a manner that is predictable in terms of the Gregorian calendar of roughly 365 days a year.
It is this "observability" that is so compelling, and using these observable facts as a point of departure, Economists and Sociologists have tried to "fit" behavioural cycles into models that are defined in terms of our solar system model. For example, the Kodrat'eff Long Wave repeats every 55-60 years.
But, asked Calleman, what if? What if the "real" ryhthm is not a function of the way the solar system is constructed but rather of some other Universal energy pulse?
The Mayan Calendar is predicated on a pulse rate that is a function of a "month" (not a term used by Calleman) that is roughly 20 days long, and a "year" (again not a term that he uses) that is exactly13 months in duration giving rise to a total of 260 days. Indeed the numbers 20 and 13 act like cogs in a gigantic wheel, and - like the Cosmos and the Atom - there are wheels within wheels within wheels.
The number 13 flow from a conceptualization of 7 periods of light (days) and six period of darkness (nights).
You will have to read the book to appreciate the nuances of the argument and also to get the facts straight. I am oversimplifying the argument here in order to get its main thrust across within a short time frame.
In its own codification, the Mayan Calendar has articulated two very important dates:
A "start" date which may be expressed in Gregorian Calendar terms as August 11th, 3114 BCE (which roughly coincides with the time when the Sumerians - now Iraq - built the first higher civilization)
An "end" date which may be expressed in Gregorian calendar terms as October 28th, 2011 - which represents the day on which "creation" is completed at the culmination of the seventh "long period".
The argument put forward by Calleman is that virtually all the religions of the world have a similar end of days Messianic story which can be reconciled by the conceptual argument that a "new era" of timelessness will commence at the point where the act of creation culminates - which is why the Mayan calendar does not go beyond that "end" date.
Sounds incredible?
Well, have a look at a representation of the "last" long period; which is the "last" day of creation that stretches from 1755 to 2011.
This wave is, in turn, also broken down into 7 days and six nights and it shows that from an economic perspective (the book shows several perspectives) "Precious Metals have waxed and waned in importance:
as the nights turn to day gold waxes in importance, and
as the days turn to night, gold wanes in importance and fiat currencies wax in importance
Source: The Mayan Calendar, ibid, at page 230
Whoops! What happened in 1992 - when gold was supposed to start waxing?
Well, let's have a look at the gold price chart. (Courtesy Gold-Eagle.com)
Note how the gold price in fact did bottom at the turn of 1992/3 and started to rise in January 1993. But note also how in 1995 something odd happened and gold headed south in earnest.
If Calleman's interpretation is correct then it would not have been possible for "man" to over-ride "nature" (the price manipulation argument would be pure garbage in this context) - but he points to the fact that "In 1992 the European Union devised a plan to launch the Euro currency .." He goes on to say that "In a sense, this is an even further step away from a link to gold; unlike the United States, the European Union does not hold a common reserve of gold, and the value of the euro is based only on the confidence people have in the combined assets of the member countries. The financial system of today's world has to an extreme degree been disconnected from the value of anything real."
Does this statement support or negate his underlying premise? Why was gold not fully embraced at the time?
Calleman does not explain, but what the hell, I'm mellow from the Chivas so let's have a go at it. And, when you read the following, keep bearing the following words in mind:
"Irrational Exuberance"
"Stubborn Optimism"
Calleman offers the argument that the ultimate reason why a form of gold standard is embraced at the beginning of the "days" in the cycle is that economic activity starts to accelerate, and inflation starts to go out of control. For this reason, at the commencement of the up cycle, gold acts as an anchor. Presumably, this time around there really was something different.
In casting around for what was different, it comes into focus that "this time around" countries in the East had begun to embrace Western thought processes. The Asian Tigers had started to show their teeth, and China was getting its act together. An outbreak of Inflation was therefore avoidable because of the huge production capacity that was being added to the existing base.
So where does this leave us?
Well, first off, it leaves us with around seven years of daytime with a "timelessness" at the end of it as the entire planet reaches a state of Enlightenment.
Unfortunately, precisely on November 19th 2007 (according to the Mayan Calendar) forces will kick in which will cause the economic infrastructure to start unravelling. It is on that day (according to Calleman's interpretation) that the collapse of the financial infrastructure will manifest.
So there you have it. The reason gold did not perform on cue was that in the 1980s there emerged the beginning of a process of Enlightenment as some countries in the East began to willingly embrace Western thought processes. This process of Enlightenment is being resisted by some entrenched interests - the Establishment Elite in the West, and the Religious fanatics of the East - and it is this meeting of the irresistible force and the immovable object that is causing a rise in world tensions.
At some point between now and November 19th 2007, there will be a "breakthrough" - which, in turn will cause the current "physical infrastructure" to unravel as the world moves to embrace a unity of mind, body and spirit.
What else can I say now except "Have another Scotch"? I guess I'll hold my gold shares given that at some point the "fear" of the collapse will cause precious metals to start rising.
But the above would explain why the Dow is rising even though there is no underlying value. Our brains are turning into scrambled eggs.
Brian Bloom
Australia, June 10 th 2004.
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