The Unseen

My oldest brother is very dangerous over short distances. Like Gimli in the Lord of the Rings. My middle brother is more like Legolas, preferring long distances and floating seemingly effortlessly over obstacles surviving on leaf-wrapped Lembas bread. Thousands of years of thoughts hidden in a head we don’t have access to. People have different approaches to life, and we must be aware of that. 

Some knowledge is conspicuous and conscious. Some knowledge is embodied and relational. Our decisions are constructed by contrasts, what is present, and what is absent. What you see is not all there is. 

Debt is the best example of that. There is good debt and bad debt. If you don’t know the difference, you should probably avoid debt altogether. Bad debt is the opposite of capital. Once spent, it produces nothing but still needs to be fed. It takes on a life of its own and sucks on the life of those who are still living. You can pay back significantly more than initially borrowed as you start paying interest on interest. Strangled by debt traps. Even those living conspicuously “successful” lives may be digging deeper holes with each breath. 

The process of stilling the waves of money anxiety, through building a buffer, then building capital (an engine), often starts with dealing with the unseen.