Today, Examiners, We shall continue to explore the lesson taught to us by Chekov last week.
That lesson shall be continued by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
Hegel was born in 1770 in the territory of the Holy Roman Empire. He died in Berlin in 1831. His most famous achievement is hardly comprehensible… it was his development of a distinctive articulation of idealism–often called absolute idealism. In absolute idealism, the dualisms of mind, nature, subject and object are overcome.
That is some seriously complicated stuff.
So… what does it all mean? And how is that relevant to us?
Well… according to Hegel himself, the most important thing a human can achieve through philosophy is not knowledge, wisdom, power, will, or an unshakeable code of ethics and morals, no… the most valuable thing that one can achieve is… a good mood.
“A good mood?” you may ask “how could that possibly be the best thing to achieve in life?”
Again, Hegel has the answer for us.
He says that the greatest mentality one can have is that of good humour and that such a mentality can only be arrived at through a good mood.
He explains that good humour is important because it enables a person to understand everything. Through good humour, anything and everything can be digested, empathized with, and related to.
Hegel writes:
“True humour is inconceivable without an infinite good mood. Not teasing, not satire, not sarcasm. Only from the heights of an infinite good mood can you observe below you anything, even the eternal stupidity of men, and laugh over it.”
So, according to one of the most famous analytic philosophers in the world, the most important thing to humanity is merely a good mood.
It sounds so simple doesn’t it?
And so the question is begged:
How do we achieve this good mood? That is less simple to answer.
Perhaps this mood can be gained through good company… close friends… spending time with your family… reading a good book… going out into nature…
And what do all of those things have in common?
Freedom.
The freedom to spend your time as you wish.
As most of you reading this are associated with Alta West, you understand one of the ultimate goals of investment: to gain the freedom of time through the power of money. You have made your money through hard work, force of will, and concentration. To put it in Hegel’s terms: through an infinite determined mood.
Alta West’s goal is to allow you, through investment, to turn your determined mood into a good mood.
And how do we achieve this good mood?
The Golden Scribe