Survive & Thrive No Matter What w/ Arnold Van Den Berg (RWH061)

Summary

• Investment Strategy: Arnold Van Den Berg emphasizes the importance of focusing on commodities like gold, silver, and natural gas due to their undervaluation compared to the S&P 500, suggesting a strategic shift towards these assets as a hedge against market volatility.
• Market Outlook: Van Den Berg highlights the overvaluation of the current market, noting that it is 25% more overvalued than ever before, and advises caution and diversification to mitigate risks.
• Mindset and Success: The podcast discusses the power of the subconscious mind and techniques like hypnosis and one-pointedness to enhance focus, performance, and overall life success, drawing on personal anecdotes and historical examples.
• Personal Development: Emphasizing the importance of character and truth, Van Den Berg shares insights on how overcoming selfishness and focusing on love and giving can lead to a more fulfilling life.
• Resilience and Happiness: The conversation underscores the significance of handling adversity well, with Van Den Berg sharing personal stories of overcoming challenges and the role of mental strength in achieving happiness and success.
• Practical Tools: Techniques such as self-hypnosis and affirmations like "I am happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise" are recommended for reprogramming beliefs and achieving a positive mindset.
• Historical Context: Van Den Berg's experiences, including his survival during World War II, illustrate the profound impact of mental resilience and focus in overcoming life's challenges.

Transcript

(00:00) Most people are only as happy as they  make up their minds to be. So what this teaches   me is that whatever happens in your life,  irrespective of unbelievable experiences,   your control of your mind determines how you  end up, how you survive, and how you deal   with it. And that's what people need to learn. (00:29) We think about we have some problems in   this life and we have disappointments, depression  and experience and so forth and so on. And to   think that under these conditions you can still be  happy if you learn how to think and use your mind,   that's pretty amazing. [Music] Before we dive  into the video, if you've been enjoying the show,   be sure to click the subscribe button  below so you never miss an episode.  (00:58) It's a free and easy way to support us and  we'd really appreciate it. Thank you so much. Hi   folks. It's a great pleasure to be back with you  on the Richer Wise Happier podcast. My guest today   is the great Arnold Vandenberg who as many of  you know is a really central figure in the final   chapter the epilogue of Richer Wiser Happier. (01:19) And as I mentioned there for me he's   really in many ways the embodiment of what a  successful happy truly abundant life looks like.   And there's nobody really in the investment  world I admire more than Arnold. And hopefully   in today's episode, you'll see why. He's a  really wonderful human being, a very successful,   very smart, self-taught investor who's had  a great record over 50 years at his firm,   Century Investment Management. (01:43) But at the same time,   he's also done an extraordinary job of building  great relationships with his family, with friends,   being a great philanthropist, helping countless  other people. And he's done all of this despite   incredible odds against him as somebody who  grew up on the same street as Anne Frank in   Amsterdam as a Jewish kid in 1939 at the  start of World War II and spent the first   couple of years of his life in hiding and then  was smuggled into an orphanage while his parents   were in Avitz. So, it's an extraordinary story. (02:14) I've had Arnold on the podcast a couple   of times in the past and I'm thrilled to have  him on again today. This wasn't an episode that   we had planned to do and then we changed course  at the last minute a few days earlier because   um he had been a guest speaking to my richer  wiser happier master class and had been such   an extraordinary guest and had talked about  some things that I think are so important   that he had realized over the last year or so  that I really wanted to bring these insights   to you today on the podcast. So, I hope you'll (02:46) find this as helpful and inspiring and   thoughtprovoking as I've found it. Speaking  of the richer wiser happier masterass,   I wanted just to tell you very quickly about this  venture that I've got planned that's coming up.   As many of you know, last year I had my first  cohort of the richer wiser happier master class   which was a one-year course and it was such  a beautiful experience for me and I hope for   the people in the group that I'm launching my  second ever richer wiser happier master class   which starts in November and this is for a (03:18) group of between 10 and 20 people. So   it's a very small group and it's an opportunity to  study directly with me over the course of a year.   And they're extraordinary people. They were very  extraordinary people last year and this year,   just judging from the first people  who have applied and been accepted   in the group, they're equally remarkable. (03:41) They tend to be fund managers or   asset allocators, wealth adviserss, CEOs. So,  these are very highly accomplished people,   but at the same time, they're soulful and they're  thoughtful and they're looking to figure out how   to build lives that are truly richer, wiser, and  happier. And so, what we do is we go through one   chapter of the book per month in a Zoom call  over two hours typically where I talk about   the themes in the book and really how to  apply them, how to apply these insights,   and these lessons in your own life. (04:13) So, we're going deeper in many   ways than the book. Or maybe it's not so much  deeper, it's more figuring out how you apply   it to yourself. So, how you actually shift  your own life. And I also draw on lessons   from other books that I've read and things  that I've learned from the interviews that   I've done with many other investors. (04:30) Then, we also meet in person   a couple of times. For this last group, we met  in New York. We also met in Omaha. And then the   group liked each other so much that we ended up  also meeting in London recently for a celebration   over a weekend. And that's part of the joy of it  is that you're building relationships with these   remarkable people over the course of a year. (04:52) And so it's not for everyone,   but I think if you're somebody who's a really  committed learner, you're really passionate   about learning and about building a rich life in  multiple dimensions, please have a think about it.   And it's expensive partly because it's so  timeconuming on my part. I mean I put a huge   amount into it and partly because it's just a very  small group of people over the course of a year.  (05:13) And so it's not for everyone. But  if you're somebody who's really curious   and who's really committed to building  this kind of richer wise happier life,   please email Kyle Greavves. So it's Kyle Kyle  at the investorspodcast.com. And Kyle interviews   everyone who gets into the group. And so it's a  very carefully curated group of really first rate   people that we actually want to spend an enormous  amount of time with over the course of a year.  (05:38) So anyway, I sorry I don't mean  to sound like I'm I'm in advertising mode,   but I wanted to let you know that this  is something where we're very close to   finishing the application acceptance part of  this process. So I hope this will be something   that interests you. And in the meantime, as my  friend Stig Bredesen would say, back to the show.  (05:57) Hi everyone. It's a huge pleasure to  welcome Arnold Vandenberg back to the podcast.   As many of you know, Arnold is the star of the  epilogue of my book, Richer, Wiser, Happier.   And I actually end the book with him because to  me, nobody embodies better than he does what it   really means to have a rich and abundant life. (06:15) I've often described Arnold somewhat to   his mystification as the single most successful  person I've ever met in the investment world.   We hadn't actually been planning to have this  conversation today, but then last week Arnold   very kindly appeared as a guest speaker in my  richer wiser happier master class and it became   really clear to me during that conversation that  he's figured out some stuff in the last 6 months   or so that I think has the potential to change  your life and mine just as it's changed Arnold's.  (06:45) specifically, as you'll hear, he's had  this major breakthrough in his 50year or so   quest to figure out how to build a successful  life by gaining control over your mind. So,   the game plan here is that I'm actually  going to let Arnold speak a lot more than   I usually would. And I'm going to try to exercise  self-restraint and not interrupt him too much,   at least for the first chunk of this conversation. (07:07) and then I'm going to pepper him with a   bunch of questions to try to unpack what  he's talking to us about and hopefully to   help you apply these insights in your own  life. And my hope is that this discussion   is actually going to help you not only  in investing and business but actually   in every area of your life. So Arnold, welcome. (07:27) Thanks so much for being here. It's my   pleasure, William. Thank you. It's my honor.  and please take us through what you've been   learning in the last several months about  this array of topics that might sound a   little esoteric to people. Right? It's about  onepointed attention and flow states and breath   work and hypnosis and getting into states  of deep absorption, but I hope it's going   to become really clear that it applies to any of  us who want to build happier and more successful   lives as investors or beyond. So yeah, just (07:55) tell us what you've learned and what   you want to share with our audience. Well, as  you well know, William, I have been studying   the subconscious mind as a hobby for 50 years.  And that desire came about with a conversation   I had with my father who had survived alits  and who was on the death marches that they   had to liquidate the Ared concentration camps  of the evidence of all the atrocities they did.  (08:24) But the thing that really got me is  that I took up yoga for 20 years. And during   that time almost in every class the teacher  would mention some of the extraordinary feats   both physically and mentally that yogis could  do. And it always intrigued me because I was   always interested in the mind. But I could  never really find any physical evidence that   all the things that they talked about over  the couple of thousand years that Pont and   Jali lived and talked about the yoga sutras. (08:57) I didn't have any scientific evidence.   Well, fortunately recently, I would say in the  last six months, I ran across a physical study   by the Meninger Foundation and two scientists,  Elmer and Alice Green. He was a physicist and   under laboratory conditions they studied the  yogis and especially Swami Rama who lived in   the 70s and the extraordinary things that he  was able to do really convinced me that I had   to pursue this even greater and it really opened  up another avenue that I never really understood.  (09:37) And the thing that really got me  interested is first of all what the yogis   were able to do which was unbelievable. We'll  talk about that in a few minutes. But more   importantly what my father had been able to  do when he was on the death march. And that's   the thing that sparked my interest when I was  about 16 17 years old when my dad and I used   to have talks about what happened at Awitz. (10:02) And one of the things was that he was   he weighed only 85 lbs. He was very weak and  barely could walk at that level by the time   that this happened. And he was telling me about  the death march. It was subzero weather. They   got a slice of bread about the thickness  of two slices of our regular bread. and   the snow you scraped off the guy in front of  you and that was to drink the water that you   got by melting the snow in your mouth. (10:37) And the thing that he came to   realize was the most important thing that he  felt he could accomplish on the march was not   to fall down. He said when you fell down  they gave you such a beating that either   you couldn't get up or you didn't want to get  up and if you didn't get up they shoot you.   So he knew the most important thing in his mind. (11:00) He couldn't allow himself to fall down   because once you fell down, you're basically  finished. Very few people were able to get   up after that. Most of them were shot. So  he said he started off concentrating on   just moving his legs. He said it was so  cold. He couldn't think how cold it was.   He couldn't think about how far he had to go. (11:23) He couldn't think about how tired he was.   nothing. He said he just couldn't think about  anything else but just focusing on moving his   leg. And he said, "And that's what I did." And  I said, "Well, P, how did you manage to get you   were so weak?" He said, "You know, Arnold," and  this thing stuck with me for the last 70 years.  (11:46) He said, "There's one thing we don't  understand about the mind, but it has a power   that we don't understand." I said, "What do you  mean?" He said, 'Well, as I was focusing and I was   so weak and I didn't think I could move my leg, I  was so tired. He said, 'When I focused on my legs,   I found out that I gain more energy. I said,  Paul, how could you gain more energy? You   were so weak, you could barely move. (12:12) He said, that's the thing we   don't understand, but something happens when you  focus the mind. It was clear I didn't think about   anything else. But as I went along, I gained this  strength that allowed me to continue on. He said,   "I didn't understand it then. I don't understand  it now. Not a psychologist, but there's something   to this that we do not understand, and  that's something is worthwhile finding out.  (12:42) " Well, that stayed in my mind. And  as I became an athlete, I thought about these   things and started studying the subconscious  mind. And then I went through a divorce many   years ago and I met a psychiatrist there. I went  to therapy and I was telling him all the things,   you know, about my father and all that  and he says, "Oh, if you use that focus,   that's what enlists the subconscious mind. (13:08) " So I started studying about the yogis   and I came up with the idea that the yogis had a  word for it. It's called agrata in the srit. And   what it means it's onepointedness. And what the  yogis were able to do is by using their breath.   They feel that the secret to life everything  connected to life starts with the breath.  (13:31) And they were able to control their  breath. Now just to give you an example, the   average person breathes about 16 times a minute.  You breathe in and out 16 times per minute. They   say that that is a state of anxiety. That's not a  good healthy thing to be doing is to breathe that   much because you're almost in a state of anxiety. (13:55) They feel through their breathing   exercises that they can increase their lung  capacity to where you normally only breathe   five times per minute. So the average person  is breathing way faster than they should   which impairs their energy, their creativity,  their everything, their peace of mind, their   inspiration, everything is related to the breath. (14:19) So they did the work on that.   Now they had it to the point where they  only breathe one breath a minute. That   means only once in 60 seconds that they  take a breath and they would get into a   state what they call onepointedness. When  you were that focused and that relaxed,   you're in a totally different state of mind. (14:44) Now they call it onepointedness,   but modern psychology has changed that. There  was a person I can't pronounce his last name.   His first name is Mihal and he's got Z and 12  or different letters that I'm not even going   to try to pronounce it. Yeah, it's it's Chiken  Cheeks and Mihi. This is the author of flow,   the psychology of optimal experience which  a lot of our listeners will have read.  (15:09) Yes, thank you. So he discovered the  theory of flow. He was a Hungarian American   scientist and he called it the optimal experience.  And when he showed what happens to people in flow,   you can see how they were able to do extraordinary  things. Now I keep talking about all the   extraordinary things that the yogis could do. (15:32) But they are able to do things that   western science never even believed  they could be doing. First of all,   they can control their autonomic nervous  system. That means when you are able to do that,   it's like you have the software to your body.  You can make it do almost anything you want it   to do through the mental control of the breathing. (15:53) So that's what they call onepointedness.   And Nihal the scientist proved that when you get  into that onepointedness it releases seven neuro   chemicals which just enhance the body. One of them  is called the bliss chemical. That means when you   experience that you experience bliss. Now, just to  give you an example, there was another gentleman   on the same death march as my dad. (16:22) They didn't know each other,   but it was Victor Frankle who wrote the book,  Man's Search for Meaning, and he had the same   experience my dad did. He said he was marching  along and as he was marching along, he said one   of his friends who was next to him said, "I  hope our wives are doing better than we are."   He said that got him to thinking about his wife. (16:47) And he said he got so focused on thinking   about her that he basically forgot where  he was. He just was going along. He was   carrying on conversation. And he said he  didn't even know whether she was alive,   but he literally felt her presence  right there with him. And he said,   "A thought transfixed me." and I'm quoting him. (17:09) For the first time in my life,   I realized that the single most important  thing that a human being can achieve and   aspire to is love. The ability to love, to  give and receive love. And he said, even in a   desolate place like Awitz, a person can receive  bliss in the contemplation of those they love.   So that was the first reference that I ever  heard that somebody is in a concentration   camp and I'll mention a couple of other ones  who actually experience bliss by that state   of mind and that's what the yogis experience. (17:50) Now we had this one swami Ramli yoga   who from the Himalayan Institute and Elmer and  Alice Green interviewed him under scientific   conditions and he did something extraordinary.  There are several states of mind. You have beta   which we're in now and that's about 18  to 30 hertz per second. That means your   brain is cycling 18 to 13 times per second. (18:23) When you get into a slower state of   mind like alpha, which is a very good creative  state to be in, you go to about 8 to 12 hertz.   And when you get into theta, which is the  ultimate state where if you're a writer,   you can write without any writer's block.  If you're an athlete, you perform better   than you've ever done in your life. (18:47) And I've had many experiences   with that. And what was amazing and then  there's the delta state where you're asleep,   which is only a half to three hertz per  second. Now, what Swammy Ramy was able to do,   he was able to go from alpha to delta, which is a  sleep state, but he was fully conscious. So if you   and I were in delta, we would be sound asleep. (19:13) He was in delta because they measured   his brain waves, but he was fully conscious.  He was able to carry on. The other thing he   was able to do is to prove that he could control  the autonomic nervous system. He had to take a   temperature in one arm and in the other arm  he had a completely different temperature,   much lower, sometimes as much as 10° lower. (19:34) So under those conditions they verified   what they were able to do and that's the  theory called onepointedness and flow and   that's the state that I was very interested  in. So just to stop you there for a moment   and to make sure that I'm I'm understanding  this correctly I sort of to keep score for   our listener and myself before I let you go on. (20:00) So one-pointedness is defined in this   document that you gave me summing up a lot of  your studies as this extreme focus of mind on   a single point or object. So for some people  if they're meditating say it might be a the   breath or a mantra or it might be something  you visualize. And so it's a way of getting   your mind stable so it's not dull or wavering. (20:26) And so what we're talking about here is   getting into these deep absorption states. So like  samadi would be one of the words that you reminded   me is often used for this. So you're undistracted  by your emotions, by your sensations. You don't   get entangled in this stuff. So this thing that  we've been talking about so far that sounds like   a little bit esoteric all about breath and  flow states and stuff is really important   because what we're talking about is directing  energy into a state of flow or deep absorption   deep focus which obviously is going to be (20:57) really helpful with performance   whether you're an investor a businessman an  athlete a writer or whatever and so it has kind   of spiritual connotations as well because you  use it in say Buddhist meditation when you're   trying to get into a state of say calm abiding  or insight meditation like vipasna meditation   but so am I right in my explanation so far Arnold  oh absolutely and basically there's three ways to   get into it breath is one of the most important  one and the yogis use that but the other one is   extreme focus like if somebody's meditating on a (21:35) mantra or on a single word or something   like that that ability to concentrate  at the exclusion of everything else.   Now there is a state that they talk about Patagili  talked about it. If you can concentrate on one   thing let's call it one word to make it simple and  you could do it for 12 seconds that's considered   concentration and I have the definition of it here  and basically what it means is by the time you   can get into samati like what you're talking  about you have to be able to focus your mind   without distraction for literally hours at a (22:12) time. So he has degrees of focus as   you go up the ladder and the longer you can  do it the greater you get into those states   and the real pros the real yogis like Ayenar  who wrote the book Pranayana he was able to   go into it for hours now just think about the  focus it takes not to let your mind switch on   anything for just try it for one minute  it's almost impossible to do But through   practice they were obviously able to do it. (22:46) In addition to that when you get into   that state it releases neurotransmitters  chemicals into the brain which creates   different states of mind. In one of them  you can literally block out the pain. In   the other one you have bliss and thenide is  the bliss chemical. And there's seven of them   which I'll read off to you when we get into it. (23:12) But the idea is you're getting into a   completely different state of mind where  whatever it is you're trying to achieve,   whether it's writing a play, writing a book,  or doing a physical contest as a competition,   as an athlete, you are in the perfect state  of mind to be able to concentrate. Time slows   down. Everything becomes clearer. (23:38) You have a state of feeling.   Now I give you an example. Daskki was an author,  a Russian author. And my dad used to tell me that   whenever I was going astray in high school, I  was a pretty angry kid because of my experiences   in the war and many other experiences.  Whenever I went astray, I'd get kicked out   of school for fighting or something like that. (24:05) He would say to me, he never lectured   me. He said, "You need to read. It's time for  you to read The Brother Kaza by Dosski. Well,   in high school, I wasn't into reading novels,  so I never read it. But he'd always tell me,   I said, "Well, what does it say?"  He said, "No, I can't explain it   to you. You need to read it and understand it. (24:25) It's not just me telling you something."   I said, "Okay." Well, 30 or 40 years ago, I was in  a bookstore with my wife and she was seeking out   books for the kids and I said, "I'll look around,  see if I can find the books." I'm looking around,   I see this wall of blue books, and they're all  different titles. I thought, why would they have   all these books with the different titles and they  all look the same cover? Well, it turns out it was   a competitor of Cliffnotes called Spark Notes. (24:58) And I looked through and I saw the   classic and all of a sudden I saw the  brother Carol and I thought, "Oh my god,   I gotta read this thing." It was only 60 70  pages. So I bought the book and I was just   stunned. My knees got weak. I opened it up and the  third page that I turned to it, it said Daskki's   experience was this in the concentration camp. (25:22) He wasn't a gulach, a Russian gulach   like Soldier Nitson, only he was been there for  four years. Zolzen was in there for 8 years. You   can imagine being in a gulard for 8 years. But  what do talked about was the amazing experience   that of the inhumanity that was going on  that he observed and experienced. And he   said a thing really got his attention is the  people who were able to survive the inhumanity   the best were people of the greatest character. (25:57) And he said character was the defining way   the way people dealt with it. And so he promised  himself that once he got out of the gooluck,   if he was ever to get out, he would write  plays and in the play he would depict a   person who thought a certain way and acted  a certain way and how his life would end up.  (26:21) And that's what my dad was trying to tell  me is that the way I was acting, it was not going   to be a great future for me. That's what he was  trying to point out. But the thing that really   got my attention, you turn to one of the pages  and it says, "Above all, do not lie." So one of   his principles that he developed is do not lie  because when you lie, you lose the ability to   discern the truth in yourself and others. (26:49) Now think how profound that is.   And modern neuroscience backs it up that when  you lie, it distorts your mind. you start to   believe something that's not real and you keep on  distorting your life that way and eventually you   lose the consciousness of even telling a lie and  the more you do that the bigger the lie gets and   eventually you get found out you lose credibility. (27:12) So the first thing you fat is above all   do not lie because you lose the ability to discern  the truth in yourself and others. The second thing   that happens is you lose respect for yourself and  others. You don't treat people as well. You don't   treat yourself as well. And the third thing  that happens is you lose the ability to love.  (27:34) And all of my studies in these  situations point out, as Victor Frankle said,   the greatest thing a human being can aspire to  is to experience love. And when you lose that   ability, you lose the ability to love. You  lose the ability to experience the greatest   thing in the world in life, love. Then he  went further and he said, "When you lose   the ability to love, you become an empty gone. (28:02) You never feel fulfilled because you're   lacking something that's so vital to a human  experience. So you pursue the coarse pleasures   of life, gambling, sex, drugs, things of that  nature." And he said, "When you pursue the   course pleasures of life, you become morally  depraved." And it all started off with a lie.   And that sentence stunned me because here I am. (28:30) I heard about it all my life and then   I open up the book and in the third  page it's got this statement. It was   just like my dad was standing there  reading this to me. But I realized   by reading it myself and experiencing it  how profound that was. So just think about   what character does for people. You  hear about in order to be successful,   you have to be honest and credible and so forth. (28:57) Most people don't realize that they lose   the greatest thing in life to experience is  love. And they lose it by lying. A simple   thing like lying. And so that had a real profound  thing. And here's the other thing. Daskkies talks   about experiencing bliss in the same circumstances  because he got so involved in writing his books in   his mind that he experienced onepointedness. (29:27) Now the other example is Sit Solitum.   He was in the camp for eight years and he was  also thinking about writing his experiences   and he talks about one instance and this guy  Mihel who developed this theory of flow. He   talks about this Sultzen experience. He said,  "Souls Nent was standing there with a bunch of   dejected prisoners and they were getting  screamed at with the guards and whipping   their machine guns at them and everything. (30:01) " And he said, "I was in a total   state of bliss. I was both happy and free and  I was completely in transcendence. It wasn't   like I was even there. I was completely  happy and more importantly I felt free."   He said other prisoners felt that the only  way to get out of this prison was to break   through the bottom wire and to try to escape. (30:25) He said I never viewed it that way. I   was able to escape through the mind. So what  we found out through our studies in pursuing   these things about the mind that you get  into different states that can help you   achieve whatever it is you want to achieve. But  think about when we are talking about analyst,   what could be more critical to  an analyst than his ability to   discern the truth in himself and others. (30:55) If you are studying something and   you can't discern the truth, how are you going  to ever make a good decision? It's going to   affect your thinking and it has nothing to do  with intelligence. It's a completely different   state of mind. And that's the thing that I came  to realize. But the most profound thing that   I got from it and it almost blew my mind when  I listened to Soldier Nitson and he ended his   whole dissertation about what happened to him in  the camp and he said, "One of the things that I   learned is that most people are only as happy as (31:29) they make up their minds to be." Now,   think about this, William. being in a  concentration camp for eight years and   talking about happiness. I mean, who would ever  think that you could even think about that? And   he's saying that you're only as happy as  you make up your mind to be. So what this   teaches me is that whatever happens in your life  irrespective of unbelievable experiences your   control of your mind determines how you end  up how you survive and how you deal with it.  (32:05) And that's what people need to learn.  We think about we have some problems in this   life. We live in America free country. We have  all the opportunity and all that and we have   disappointments, depression and experience  and so forth and so on. And to think that   under these conditions you can still be happy if  you learn how to think and use your mind that's   pretty amazing and that's what I got out of it. (32:32) not only what the yogis were able to   do but what these people then there was another  example that he mentions there was a Vietnamese   prisoner who was a pilot he got shot out over  Vietnam and he was in a prison for years so   he lost 80 lbs as a pilot so let's say he  was 180 to 200 lb and he lost 80 lb he was   probably same weight as my dad and 85 to 100 lb. (33:04) He was totally emassiated and he got out   of the Vietnamese prison and he got together  with his fellow officers who greeted him and   were happy to see him and they asked him what  would you like to do today and he says well   I'd like to play a game of golf and they said  golf in your condition you want to play golf he   said I played golf every day in my mind I played  18hole course and I picked my clubs carefully just   like you do in the game and I played it every  day in my mind and that's how I got through   the camp and I had some wonderful games. So (33:42) when he got out they played golf and   the officers were just shocked at his ability  to play even though he hadn't played for years.   He had only played in his mind. And of course  I've read many books about the Russians how they   used their training behind it's called Sheila  Arrandler wrote a book the human experiences   behind the iron curtain and she talked about  how the Russians were practicing all these   techniques kind of like the yogis to were  able to accomplish these kind of things and   so it's just all over whether you go into (34:22) the kab Bala the Jewish ancient   tradition whether you go into the yogis  pont and yala 2,000 years ago and you go   into all the major religion I was just reading  recently about a man a Dutchman by the name of   Schulz and he is a Sufi from the Sufi religion  and he practices the same mental thing and he   demonstrated that he could take a big needle and  run it right through his arm and pull it out and   he wouldn't bleed, he wouldn't get infected. (34:59) He completely withstand pain and do   all kinds of extraordinary things that the  yogis did. So there are many examples of   this kind of behavior that can be induced with  it. The thing that I found the most interesting   is that when you take the top scientist  in studying physical fitness as to what   determines a well-lived life or longevity. (35:27) They say it isn't the diet,   it isn't the exercise, it's the lung breath. It's  the capacity of your lung to exercise your lungs   and that determines the greatest wellness. How  well you live physically, mentally, and how long   you live. And one of the gentlemans that we  study is a man by the name of Stake Seperson.  (35:56) He's a deep diver. What they do is  they go down and they hold their breath.   Now take a look at how he was able to through  the yogi principles and through the breathing   developed his breath to where he could  hold it for 22 minutes. Now if you ask   most doctors how long you could ask your breath  they say five or 6 minutes and that's about it.  (36:22) This guy does it for 22 minutes. And I  understand although it hasn't been validated,   I understand that somebody recently broke his  record and he got it up to 24 minutes. You know,   it just goes on and on. But the point I'm  making is this is something extraordinary. Now,   Stake Sepherson said that the secret to  building up your breath is to do some of   the exercises that I have reviewed in the report. (36:50) Now, we did an extensive study because   I was very interested in how the breath  could really help somebody physically and   especially healing themsel. So, I took the top  10 diseases, heart disease, cancer, diabetes,   you know, on down the line, and I looked up all  the different breathing techniques that you can   use to enhance those kind of diseases. (37:16) And I came up with, I believe,   62 of them. I wrote that in a report. Anybody  who's interested in it, we'd be happy to send   them the report, no charge. But in this report  that I have is 37 pages. I talk about five or   six that are simple to use because most people  don't want to get into figuring out whether   which one of the 60s is the best for them. (37:44) But I've used some basic ones. And   the one that I like is just a simple  technique that anybody can do any time   and I do it whenever I have the chance  to build up my lung capacity. It's Dr.   While. He was a Harvard trained medical  doctor. He was in Arizona. He's well   written many books on the subject of health. (38:10) He's kind of a a off the charts type of   thinker. He doesn't necessarily follow modern  medicine, but he's an arbitrary doctor and he   developed the 478 routine. That means you breathe  in for 4 seconds, then you hold your breath for   7 seconds, and then you blow out the breath  for 8 seconds. If you do that, that's about   19 seconds. So, you call it 20 seconds. (38:37) So, in that basis, you would be   doing three breaths per minute. Still not  as good as the yogis who do one per minute,   but a lot better than 16 that the average  person does. And then there's a spometer   which I sent for and I even got one once when  I was in the hospital. It measures your breath.  (39:00) So you take in and it measures the  milliliters of breath that your lungs can   take. So I started practicing my breath control.  Well, it was really shocking at age I'm 60. I'm   86. I had to think about that. I'm 86 and  under 85 and over. They said if you get up   to 2,200 milliliters, whatever is on the gauge  there, you're doing very well. Well, I started   at that and now I'm up to 4500 milliliters. (39:34) So, I've doubled my capacity based   on my age group. Now, I'm sure a young person  could do better than that, but I'm speaking   per age because what they say is as you get  older, your lungs start to lose elasticity.   They lose cells and they just get weaker just like  a muscle. And if you don't use it the proper way,   then obviously you're going to lose it. (39:59) Now, one of the things that really   got me interested, there's a man by the  name of James Nester, and he wrote a book,   which we have in the report, we mentioned it.  And he had all kinds of medical problems. He had   pneumonia three years in a row. Every time he got  cured, there was something else going wrong. And   the doctors finally told him, "You know what,  James? We've done everything we could for you,   but we don't think we can help you. (40:29) But if you're really desperate   and open-minded, we know of a course that is  taught by the yogis that if you take it, we   send people to it because we don't agree with it.  We don't believe in it, but it works for them. So,   if you want to just take a stab at it, go ahead  and take the course. You have nothing to lose.  (40:51) We don't have anything else to offer you.  So he said, "Okay." So he took the course and he   said he's sitting in a and they're going through  breathing exercise. He's a pretty intelligent   guy. He's a writer and his mind is drifting  all the time. And he said he was so bored he   couldn't stand it. So he was going to quit it. (41:11) And the doctor said, "One thing you have   to do is you have to complete the course before  you can make a judgment on it." Because it may   sound mundane, but that's what you got to do.  So one of the exercises was they put you in a   real cold room. I mean it was almost freezing in  the room and they said he said what are we doing   here? He says we want to demonstrate that  by using the proper breathing technique you   can raise your temperature in cold weather. (41:42) And so we're in a room that's very   cold now and let's do the exercise.  And he thought now this is getting   ridiculous. You know he's freezing there.  He said he started doing the exercise and   pretty soon he was prospiring and he said  that really got his attention. So from   then on in he was sold and he wrote this  book and he traveled all over the world   investigating all the different techniques. (42:08) It's certainly worth reading his book.   He's a very well educated man. Has all kinds of  different theories about life, but he was totally   convinced that this is a method. And he even  studied how we got to the point where we're not   breathing right. And he said one of the reasons  that if you go back to a person's jaws, now I'm   getting out of my league talking about this kind  of stuff, but just to quote him, he said, "If you   study the jaws, you see that even in the last 300  years, people have changed the configuration and   it used to have a greater opening and there was (42:47) more room to breathe in." And he said   that didn't happen over millions of years.  that happened over the last 300 years. So he   investigated how did the jaws change over the  last few hundred years. And it turns out that   when you chew food, you exercise your jaw and  it opens it out more. And when people started   eating food that was processed and they didn't  have to chew on it like you did in the old days,   it started closing their jaws through. (43:20) So anyway, he goes through all   these different reasons why most people are not  breathing properly and it's partially because   of the physical situation like the slowing of  closing of the jaws but he mentions many other   things that points to it. So when you look at the  health conditions of the average person today,   they're not only not eating the right  food, they don't even have the right   breathing techniques because of the last  few hundred years that have changed that.  (43:51) So that was an interesting point  that I thought was very interesting.   So, Arnold, to bring some of this stuff together  that you've explained so far, like when you and I   talked about this the other day, you were saying  the reason you got hugely excited about this is   that you started to realize that there were all  of these techniques to get you into this kind of   deep absorbed state, whether through breathing  techniques or hypnosis or whatever it might be,   that enable you to get into this state of of flow. (44:25) and that you started to look back on your   own life and realize, oh, that's how I became  a champion athlete. Oh, that's how I managed   to launch my business and and become a really  successful investor. And so am I right in thinking   that you're starting in a way with the discoveries  of the last 6 months to put together all of these   pieces to join the dots and say, "Oh, now I get  that there's a way of getting into this of deep   absorption and focus and one-pointedness that  actually turns out to be unbelievably powerful   for your career, for your health, for (44:58) your investment life,   for your athletic performance, whatever  it might be. Is that a fair summary?   It's a very good summary because only in looking  back can I appreciate how this has influenced my   life. For example, as I mentioned, my parents  were both in Osgrids in the concentration   camp. We were born in Amsterdam, Holland. (45:21) You did the study on that. And my   life was saved by a 17-year-old girl who risked  her life to smuggle me through the German lines   with a fake password. And then I was put into an  orphanage because my folks went into hiding. And   I was about 2 and 1/2 years old. And when  I got out of the orphanage, I looked like   the kids that come out of concentration camp. (45:46) And it wasn't that they were trying to   starve us. They were just in a war zone. There  was lack of food and water. And I was so weak   and skinny that I couldn't even walk at age  seven. And my dad said when he picked me up,   he said he was afraid to pick me up  because my bones were sticking out   so much he was afraid he might break one. (46:08) So I was in a very weakened state.   And when we moved to this country, I had a  lot of problem concentrating. I had a lot   of emotional problems. I didn't even know  what they were, but they were obviously   there. I didn't do well in school. My dad  enrolled me into Hebrew school when I first   kind of kindergarten level and I didn't pass it. (46:31) So the rabbi and him were trying to tell   me that they were going to put me into a different  class. I wasn't going with the other kids. Not   because I failed, but because this new class was  better suited for me. Well, even as an eight or   nineyear-old, I could tell that wasn't the truth. (46:50) They were just trying to make me feel   better. But I realized that and my mom hired a  child psychologist to determine what could be done   with me to get my weight up and get my strength  back up and get my mental program going. And the   doctor concluded that I might have had because  of malnutrition, it might have affected my brain   develop. And you know, learning about that as a  kid, that doesn't do much for your self-image.  (47:20) When you go to school and you  don't do well and then the psychologist   tells you that it's because of malnutrition, it  affects your subconscious and it affects your   thinking of your self-image. A matter of fact,  I always viewed myself as not being too smart.   And to show you how other people saw me that  way, in my annual, one of my buddies wrote,   "Arnold, you're about the coolest guy known. (47:45) Hope we'll always be friends. You're   kind of dumb, but you're still cool." So that  was the opinion of a good friend. And I didn't   even get mad. If somebody would have said that  to me today, I'd get upset about that. But it   didn't bother me because I thought that was the  way it was. So I had to overcome these things.  (48:06) Well, one of the things that I overcame  is I got involved into rope climbing because I   walked in the gym with my brother who was a rope  climber and he grew up on a farm. He was a very   strong kid so he didn't suffer like I did on  the malnutrition and the coach had him climb   rope because he was one of the strongest kids  in the gym. So my brother said to me one day,   "Why don't you come in the gym and these guys  are got big builds and they're strong and you   climb the rope and you build up your strength. (48:34) " So he introduced me to the coach who   is this gentleman over here on my wall who ma  changed my life who believed in the fact that   I could be a good rope climber despite the fact  that he had no evidence to the contrary. You   know what I mean? But the bottom line of it is I  really got focused into that. And I used to wake   up at the middle of the night at 3:30 because I  developed a new technique and I was practicing it.  (49:03) I couldn't go to sleep and at 3:30 I'd  wake up every night. I do my routine practicing   it and developed it and I became a championship  road climber. I won the league three years in a   row, set the school record. The school  record was never broken. They discontinued   the event after 15 years and I climbed in  the national AU against all college seniors   in high school and I placed non the nation. (49:31) So I really was able to look back   and see how this fanaticism about wanting  to overcome my physical handicap. I became   one point at this. You couldn't talk to me about  anything else but rope climbing. That was it for   6 years and I used to climb for 2 hours a day and  I became a very good champion. And then I went to   a psychiatrist after I mentioned I went through  a divorce and I went into 5 years of depression   and I didn't understand why I was so depressed. (50:03) But what I learned is I was building my   business at the time and I read an article  that one of my problems was at 3:30 in the   afternoon I would be so tired I couldn't  move. It was like I worked 3:30 in the   morning. And I read this article that if you  hypnotize yourself and you go into a hypnap,   it's the equivalent of 3 hours sleep. (50:27) So I thought, oh my god,   if I could learn to do this. So I bought the  book by Leslie Cron. It's a basic thing. How to   self-hypnote hypnotize yourself. And after 10  days, I went laying down on the ground on the   floor in my office. I'd put myself up for 20 or  30 minutes and it would be 3:30 in the afternoon.   I could work until 10:30, 11:00 at night. (50:50) I wasn't even tired. So that really   excited me. That was the first thing that  realized what my dad used to say. There's   something about the mind we don't understand.  And so I was telling the psychiatrist about it,   how I became a successful rope  climber. He said, you know, Arnold,   that is the power of the subconscious mind. (51:14) You literally programmed yourself   without even realizing it by just being  so focused on this. Now, if you'll do the   same thing with your business, same thing's  going to happen. As soon as he said that,   my right arm lit up. And whenever my right  arm lights up, it's like there's a great   truth. Somebody says something really  profound or something really profound   happens to me and I get chills on my right arm. (51:40) As soon as he said that, I knew it was the   truth. So, I went home. I was living in a studio  apartment. I cleared out everything in the room,   pictures. I lined up with all the books I had to  read to study to become an investment counselor.   And I just made a commitment that right then  and there I was going to build my business.  (52:03) But the problem is I didn't do very  well at high school. Early graduated from   high school. I had no physical training. I  didn't go to college, so there was no courses   I took. I just decided to study it on my own.  And I had the good fortune of running through   Benjamin Graham's work. But that was not an  easy thing because I got into the market at   the top of the market in March of 68. (52:32) the market bottomed out in   uh topped out in December and it was six years of  bare market where the market went straight down   almost straight down for 6 years from 68 to 74 and  by the time I got into 74 I learned something very   interesting. I was selling mutual funds for a  company and that was my business. So I didn't   pretend to know that anything about the market. (52:59) I was just a salesman for the Smitchell   fund company and I was working with a broker  and you can pick any fund you want and I happen   to pick 15 funds and whenever I get a client I  diversify the 15 funds into the portfolio. Well,   what was interesting as I was going through  the bare market I noticed that were seven   or eight of the funds did really well  during a bad bare market and it wasn't   anything that I was any knowledge of mine. (53:27) It was just dumb luck. I picked these   guys sounded great and these guys sounded good  and then there was seven or eight that just got   obliterated. One was the O'Neal fund that went  out of business and there were a few just like   that. So I thought to myself, here's the same  market, six years of bare market and these six   or seven funds have performed admirally well. (53:51) That doesn't mean they didn't go down.   They just didn't get butchered and  the other one just got butchered.   So I thought what is the difference in these  people? So I started calling the mucho fund   manager and I go to their meetings and every one  of them was a disciple of Benjamin Graham. So that   taught me a very important lesson that Benjamin  Graham who was the father of security analysis.  (54:17) He was Warren Buffett's mentor that  that was a science that he developed. And   so I got everything I could get my  hands on. I'd lined all my walls,   took my pictures down. I wouldn't do anything but  study those books. And I had a goal each month.   I wanted to finish a certain amount of books  so I could get through them all. So one time,   just an interesting story about onepointedness. (54:40) I met this girl who was a friend of a   buddy of mine in the army. And while we're in the  army, he used to tell me, "Arie, you got to meet   my cousin Barbara. She is just a you guys would  get along real great." And I said, "Well, Jerry,   the problem is I'm married, so I can't obviously  date her." Then he found out I got a divorce.  (55:00) He says, "Arnie, you got to come to  Boston, man. You got to meet this girl." And   I said, "Well, coincidentally, the insurance  company's sending me to a training school   in Boston, so I'm going to come there and I  can meet her then." So I said, "Okay." I was   divorced about four or five years at the time. (55:18) So I met him, we got along great,   and then we decided that I wasn't going to be  flying to Boston. I couldn't afford to fly back   and forth and she wasn't going to come to LA.  So it was real nice meeting you, but nothing   was going to ever come out of it. But anyway,  one day I got a call and she says, "Guess what,   Arie? My girlfriend and I are moving to LA. (55:39) " I said, "Oh, that's great." So we   started dating, got along real great,  and I was really attracted to her. very   lovely girl. So anyway, one night she  tells me, "Why don't you come over for   dinner? I'll cook you some dinner and we'll  hang out Wednesday night." And I said, "Oh,   I can't do that because I'm studying that night. (56:00) " She says, "Oh, I didn't know you were   going to school." I said, "No, I'm not going to  school. I've just got a reading program." She   says, "What do you mean?" I said, "Well, I have  the books lined up, and by this month, I want to   have these finished, and this month, I want this."  And I had the goal set. I read so many pages each   day and if I didn't do it, I get behind. (56:19) So I forced myself to read the   pages so I could get through the books. She  says, "Well, what happens if you don't read   it one night?" I said, "Well, then it delays  finishing the book by one day." She says,   "What are you studying to be a monk?" And at  that time, I didn't even get it. I said, "No,   I'm studying to be an investment counselor. (56:43) " She rolled her lines and she said,   "Okay." And just after that, I thought, "Oh my  god, I didn't get it." And I told my buddies   about it. They all laughed about it. But to talk  about onepointedness, I mean, that's how focused I   was in wanting to become an investment counselor.  So that influenced my thinking. I didn't have any   particular knowledge of the subconscious mind. (57:07) It just came to me that this is what   you have to do to be successful. And that's what  my dad left in my mind about the mind. But then   when I got to the a psychiatrist, he was really  into the subconscious mind, but he wasn't into   hypnosis. Well, I went there for 5 years and he  was a tremendous mentor and he explained to me   and told me all the books to read and so forth and  I got really into it and he I said, you know, Dr.  (57:39) Ramlj Jack if the subconscious can do all  these things I should be studying it all my life   why don't people spend their life studying the  subconscious I mean it's like having a computer   program and he said you know what Arnold everybody  would be a lot better off if they understood it   and my job as a psychiatrist is to educate people  to do it but if you're into it I can't encourage   you enough and I said okay so anyway I I ended  up get I left his practice and then I got married   to my wife and we were trying to have a baby. (58:16) I think I told you the story once and   we couldn't have a baby. So, she was checked  out, I was checked out. No reason not to have   a baby except for five or six years we didn't  have one. So I got to thinking about it and I   thought you know I bet you I have a block against  having a baby. So I thought what could have given   me that block? Then I thought of my mom. (58:42) All my life she told me it's   okay to get married but don't ever have  any kids. So I said why not? She says,   "Look, you know what? Your dad and I went  through the war. When we were sending you   to the orphanage with the girl that was with  the fake passport, the orphanage was going   to call us and tell us when you got there. (59:04) " Well, the train trip was about 45   minutes and after an hour, we started wondering we  should be getting the phone call. 2 hours later,   we still didn't get the phone call. I kept  telling your dad, "We got to go to the butcher   shop to make a cult because we got to find  out whether they made it or not." He says,   "Mommy, you can't go on the street. (59:25) We don't have a password. You   get down there, they're going to catch us and  send us to Awitz." And the kids aren't going   to have any parents. So she said, "Okay."  But after 4 hours, she told him, "You go.   If you don't go with me, I can't stand it anymore.  I got to go. If you don't want to go with me,   it's okay. I understand. I'm going by myself. (59:51) So my dad said, "What could I say?"   I couldn't let her go by herself. I knew  she was going to get caught. They said,   "Mana," she said, "No, I'm going to go."  So he said, "Okay, I had to go." I said,   "P how could you let her take you down there?"  He said, "Have you ever argued with your   mother?" And he had a big smile on his face. (1:00:10) She knew what was going to happen.   I said, "Yeah, I I got it." He said, "Once your  mother makes up her mind, that's it. You either   go with it or you don't." And I could not  live with myself if I let her go, knowing   that she was going to get caught. And there she  is all by herself. So I went, we got caught out.  (1:00:31) And my mom said, "Every night when I  went to sleep, I thought, I wonder if my kids   made it." She said, "Arnold, that was a greater  torture than anything they did to me in Awitz,   just to lay there at night and wonder whether  my kids got it and then to think about what   they did to kids when they did catch them. (1:00:51) " So she said it wasn't worth it to me   to have kids. So that's why I didn't. So the proof  of it is I have three brothers. None of them have   biological children and I didn't have a biological  children. So I called him up and I said, "Dr.   Ramblejack, I think I know where the block is. I  think my mom brainwashed me into not having kids.  (1:01:16) " As I got older, I said, "No, I'm  going to have kids, but I'm not going to tell   her because I'll just say it was an accident and  that's what happened." But I felt that probably   subconsciously I had bought into the program  when I was younger. So I said to Dr. Ramljack,   how would you like to do an experiment? I'd like  to roll have you regress me back under hypnosis   and see if we can find that block and remove it. (1:01:43) Well, in three sessions, we found the   block. He removed it. One morning, I woke  up even before my wife and I said, "Boss,   this month you're going to be pregnant." She  goes, "Oh, no. I'm so discouraged." Sure enough,   she was pregnant and now I have a daughter. So  she's in her 50s now and I don't think I would   have had her if it wasn't for the hypnosis. (1:02:06) So that's the kind of thing that   you really get from the different states of  mind. I think you made a you made a really   really compelling case that the course of  our life is really deeply influenced by how   we think by taking charge of our inner  life. It's going to affect everything   from our work to our health whatever it is. (1:02:28) I want to kind of try to make this   now really practical for our listeners  who these are people who are trying to   build businesses, who are trying to get financial  independence, who are trying to get good health,   balance their their work life and their family  life and the like. And you're 86 years old.   You've had an incredibly successful career. (1:02:47) You've had a really happy 50-year   marriage to Eileen. You've had tremendous success  with your business, which is now 50 years old,   Century Management. And so I want to take  you through a series of actual tactics,   techniques, tools that that you've  used and quiz you about them so   that we can give our listeners and  viewers something to hold on to,   something sort of very tangible about what works. (1:03:13) And so I'm going to take you through a   bunch of these things if I may. And the first  we've talked about how to get into these how   important it is to get into these states like  alpha and theta the these states where you're   more likely to be in flow. You're more likely  to think very calmly and be onepointed. You   you started to hypnotize yourself as you said  after your first marriage went wrong and you   were going through this period of depression  and you learned this technique in about 10 days   and you still use much the same technique every (1:03:42) morning. Can you explain it just in a   really practical way as one tool that our  listeners can use? Yes. A matter of fact,   what I would like to do when I explain it,  I have 750 pages. I have three notebooks,   200 pages each, 250, that hand all my notes and  all my articles and pieces of books that I put   in together because I figured one of these days  I want to leave this to people so that they can   benefit from all the things that I benefited from. (1:04:17) And I'm not interested in selling it or   writing a book or publishing or anything  like that. I just want to give it out to   people because it could be lifealtering. And I've  used it to people who like my son who developed a   tremendous successful career in sports where  in in track and field he was a shot putter   but he wasn't built to be a shot putter. (1:04:40) It was just this dream to be a   shot putter and I convinced him he could be  successful even though he was 5'9 200 lb at   the heaviest and he competed against guys  6'4 240 lbs you know typical shot putter   and he beat these guys so we did that through  hypnosis we hypnotized him every meet matter   of fact for 6 years he used to kid I'm the only  18year-old that the dad tucks him in to go to   sleep because I would hypnotize them every night  and put them out for the training of the mind.  (1:05:17) But I also have if somebody was to  ask me and say, "Who do you think wrote the   best few pages on what you can accomplish in  the subconscious mind?" And if you don't mind,   I'd like to read this and just it probably  take maybe a minute or so and I can get them   all in and that'll give you the overview. (1:05:41) This is a guy who studied the   subconscious mind for 50 years. Unlike me, I did  it as a hobby. This guy was a professional. He   was a psychologist. And he spent 50 years of his  life and he summed it up in four statements. Can   I read those? Sure. And then we're going to get to  the the practical nittygritty. Yeah. Yeah. First,   you are the architect of your destiny. (1:06:05) Every experience or condition   in your life, poverty or riches, success or  failure, health or illness, is the result of   action and purpose set in motion by you. Secondly,  within the area of your life, you have creative   power. You can make a mental image or blueprint  of the progress and expansion you want to achieve.  (1:06:25) And by impressing the concept of your  objective upon your subconscious mind, you can   cause the condition you visualize in your mind  to be created. The force behind all progress and   achievement is energy created and applied by the  mind. Third, you are radiating power. By expanding   your consciousness, you can attract what you want. (1:06:50) The universe cannot and does not give   you anything. It does give you however the power  and challenges to achieve to create for yourself   conditions and resources you want. You can have  anything you want provided you're willing to pay   the price. Fourth, you are the building and  directing power of your life. Life develops   only by mental emotional power from within. (1:07:13) Mental and emotional processes   create and control all that comes into  your experience. Nothing has ever been,   is now, or ever will be that is not the  result of man's action. Since this law   is universal and inescapable, it follows  that man has essential freedom of action   in determining the content of his experience. (1:07:37) And that's the bottom line of it.   So basically what he's saying is we are who  we are and we create every circumstances in   our life both mentally and physically by the way  we think and believe and after all my studies in   the 37 pages that I will make available if you  would like me to later this year I'm going to   be launching a richer wiser happier master class  for a very small select group of people who like   to study with me over the course of a year. (1:08:12) We're going to meet once a month   over Zoom, typically for about 2 hours per  session to discuss the themes in my book,   Richer Wiser, Happier. We'll also meet in  person at a couple of really special events.   I'm going to cap the group at a maximum of 20  people. So, this is an unusual opportunity to   study very directly with me in a small group. (1:08:34) What sort of people am I looking for   to join the masterass? Well, really anyone who's  deeply interested in exploring how to live a life   that's truly richer, wiser, and happier. This  is the second time that I've taught a richer,   wiser, happier masterass, and I'm planning to  do this again because it's really been a totally   joyful experience for me over the last year. (1:08:56) The group has included an amazing   array of 20 people from six different countries,  and I can tell you that the current members are   an incredibly interesting, accomplished,  and really delightful array of people.   They include some extremely successful  fund managers, some investment analysts,   wealth advisers, heads of family offices,  CEOs, entrepreneurs, a management consultant,   really renowned physicist turned quant  investor, and a friend of mine who's a   highly successful professional gambler. (1:09:24) The common denominator here,   I think, is that they're all united in this desire  to live a truly abundant life, and they're also   all great learners. One of the most joyful things  for me personally has been to see the friendships   form between these remarkable people as they  learn from each other and support each other.  (1:09:46) In any case, if this sounds  like something that might appeal to you,   please email my friend and fellow podcast host  Kyle Grievy, which is kyle etheinvespodcast.com.   Jim Ran once said that you're the average of  the five people you spend the most time with.   And I really could not agree with him more.  And one of my favorite things about being a   host of this show is having the opportunity  to connect with highquality like-minded   people in the value investing community. (1:10:16) Each year we host live in-person events   in Omaha and New York City for our tip mastermind  community, giving our members that exact   opportunity. Back in May during the Bergkshire  weekend, we gathered for a couple of dinners and   social hours and also hosted a bus tour to  give our members the full Omaha experience.  (1:10:38) And in the second weekend of October  2025, we'll be getting together in New York City   for two dinners and socials, as well as exploring  the city and gathering at the Vanderbilt 1   Observatory. Our mastermind community has around  120 members, and we're capping the group at 150.   And many of these members are entrepreneurs,  private investors, or investment professionals.  (1:11:01) And like myself, they're eager to  connect with kindered spirits. It's an excellent   opportunity to connect with like-minded people  on a deeper level. So, if you'd like to check   out what the community has to offer and meet with  around 30 or 40 of us in New York City in October,   be sure to head to thespodcast. (1:11:20) com/mastermind to   apply to join the community. That's the  investorspodcast.com/mastermind or simply   click the link in the description below. If you  enjoy excellent breakdowns on individual stocks,   then you need to check out the  intrinsic value podcast hosted   by Shaun Ali and Daniel Mona. Each week, Shawn  and Daniel do in-depth analysis on a company's   business model and competitive advantages. (1:11:47) And in real time, they build out the   intrinsic value portfolio for you to follow along  as they search for value in the market. So far,   they've done analysis on great businesses like  John Deere, Ulta Beauty, AutoZone, and Airbnb.   And I recommend starting with the episode on  Nintendo, the global powerhouse in gaming.  (1:12:07) It's rare to find a show that  consistently publishes highquality, comprehensive   deep dives that cover all the aspects of  a business from an investment perspective.   Go follow the intrinsic value podcast on  your favorite podcasting app and discover   the next stock to add to your portfolio or  watch list. I mentioned the fact that I came   to the conclusion after going through all  these different experiences by these people,   the yogis and dusk duskski and soul shaiten and  Frankle and all these other people is that it   is what you put into your mind you receive. (1:12:49) Now, by going into these different   stages, I'd like to read some of the chemicals  that happen to you that change you into the   person that you're not when you're before you  go into it. First of all, when you go into flow,   and this is by Mihal, whatever you call him.  Yeah, she smell something. Yep. flow creates   releases a potent cocktail of neurochemicals  and endamine known as the bliss formula.  (1:13:20) This formula creates a state of bliss  just like marijuana does. He calls it cannabis,   he said, but it's much more powerful than  marijuana. And it doesn't hurt your body.   It actually helps your body. So you  literally could put give yourself a   marijuana high by getting into that state. (1:13:44) Number two, it releases dopamine.   That is the brain's reward and motivation  chemical release when we anticipate or   achieve something meaningful. In one point of  this, dopamine helps lock attention to a goal,   fuels persistence, and makes the pursuit  itself feel rewarding. So you're not working   when you're working on something you want to do. (1:14:07) I never feel when I was at the office   that I was working. I was working and achieving  something I wanted to achieve. That's not work.   Work is doing something you don't want to  do because you get paid for it. That's work.   Dopamine. Oxytocin. Other called the bonding  hormone. This is what bounds you to people.  (1:14:26) This is what happened to Victor  Frankle on the death march. It bounded him   to his wife. Oxytocin. Perine. This  brain's alertness and focuses amplify   sharpening attention and increase this res  readiness for an action. In one pointedness,   it helps maintain intense concentration  while balancing arousal. So the mind stays   in the sweet spot between calm and energized. (1:14:53) Endorphins. These natural opiates   reduce pain and enhance pleasure, often  released during sustained physical effort   or deep emotional engagement. Serotonin,  the stabilizer of mood and well-being. So,   it it lifts all these neurochemicals that get  you into that state of mind, that's perfect.   Now I believe if you want the direct answer that  if I had to choose the single best method to get   into that state I think that breathing and focus  could do it but it's a longer pro process takes   much longer to do. I think the easiest thing (1:15:31) and this was my exciting breakthrough   what I learned which I did by accident. I learned  how to hypnotize myself to get my energy going so   I wouldn't be too tired to finish the work.  But then when I started hypnotizing my son,   I started doing it to help him with his  focus and his concentration and so forth.  (1:15:58) And when I was studying the brain waves,  the hurts, I realized it shocked me. I I was so   excited. I don't think I slept for three days. I  thought, my god, all of this is coming together.   And what I've learned, and I wrote this here, in  beta, you're 13 to 30 hertz per second. In alpha,   you're 8 to 12. In theta, you're 4 to 7 hertz. (1:16:24) Now, here is the breakthrough. If you   subscribe, alpha is relaxed, alertness, calm,  focus, creativity, common in light, hypnosis,   and meditative states. So you can get into  alpha in a very simple relaxed way even light   hypnosis. But if you get into theta that's  four to seven hertz deep relaxation vivid   imagery creativity early sleep dominant  and deeper hypnosis and deep meditation.  (1:16:58) And it says in these stages you  literally have the ability to change your   views and your belief. And both of these states  are in hypnosis. Now I called a bunch of people   that I know are athletes and I have a client of  mine who's a star tennis player, worldclass tennis   player. I asked him, I said, "Mo, how many times  when you were playing tennis did you happen to   get into flow?" He said, "Oh, it was great when I  got into it, but I never knew when I was going to   get into it, and it all happened by accident. (1:17:35) " But he said, "I was only to get   into it two or 3% of the 600 times that I  played tennis." So, I said, "Well, here's   the good news. That state of 4 to 7 hertz can  be induced in hypnosis in 7 to 11 minutes." Now,   think about that. something that athletes have to  do hundreds of times before they hit it. You can   literally guarantee when I was doing my son, I had  him competing against odds that were unbelievable.  (1:18:08) And my favorite story, which I mentioned  in this report, he was shot putting one time and   he fell out of the ring and his foot got  caught so it sprained it and he had a big   knot on his foot. and we had a championship, the  Southern California Junior College Championship,   which he worked on for 3 years, was 9 days away. (1:18:34) So I took him to the doctor and I said,   "Doctor, we have a meet in 9 days. What can  you do to get him ready for the meet?" And the   doctor looks at him and he said, "Arnold, you  got to be kidding. He's not going to be able   to shot put for the rest of the season.  He's out. There's no way you're going to   put that ankle back together in nine days. (1:18:58) I mean, he's throwing a 16lb ball   lifting with that leg. How in the hell is he going  to do that? I said, "Well, why can't he do it?" He   said, "Well, first of all, I got to put him into  a cast because I can't let him ruin the ligaments,   right?" Said, "Well, I didn't know that, but  okay." I said, "Well, why can't he shot put   with the cast on?" He said, "From what you  showed me, he's spinning around the ring.  (1:19:22) He's going to spin around the ring in  a cast. I mean, doesn't that throw his momentum   off?" I said, "Oh, the subconscious can adjust for  that. There's not that's not a problem." He said,   "Okay, there's one more problem. He's going to be  under extreme pain. The reason he can't step on   that foot right now is because it hurts like hell. (1:19:43) And even in the cast, it's going to hurt   just the same." I said, 'Well, I'll anasticize him  under hypnosis.' And he goes, "Hey, I'm not into   that. I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll put him  in the cast and you take him from there." I said,   "Okay." So, we prepared. I developed a special  program. I rented a hotel room next to the meat.  (1:20:09) I put him under hypnosis. And then I  said when he went on the field, he walked on the   field, everybody thought, "Who's this guy with the  cast on? He's going to be competing." So anyway, I   said, "Here's what I want you to do, Scott. I want  you to just take a few spins and just get the feel   of it and the flow of it, and then when everything  is working right, then you go for the win.  (1:20:35) " He said, "Dad, how am I going to  win with with the cast?" I said, "You're the   best guy out there." He had the best shot put in  the nation and junior college that year. I said,   "You're the best out there. If nothing is a  problem, you're going to win hands down. There's   no question about that." He said, "You're right. (1:20:53) " So, he took a couple of spins and then   he had that classical look on his face.  He went like this, both eyes blazing,   his just totally focused. So, I standing next to  the coach and I said, "We're going to win today."   He said, "You guys drive me nuts." He couldn't  believe what was going on. Anyway, the long   story short, he won the meet and he threw 6 in  off the best he'd ever thrown in his life under   hypnosis with a cast on and a sprained ankle. (1:21:24) Now, that's what happens when you   get into onepointedness. But we had many times  when he got into onepointedness because I didn't   realize the state of one pointedness or the flow.  I was just hypnotizing him because it worked for   me and it worked for a lot of his friends and  he got to be pretty good on the team and he had   me hypnotize some of his friends and they all  broke their records when I started hypnotizing   and working with him. So I know that it works. (1:21:53) So totally practical. I'm reigning   you in Arnold. Um yeah, I I love all  these stories, but I want to leave our   our listeners with some practical tools. Okay,  so first tool in terms of hypnotizing oneself,   I mean when you wake up, what do you  physically do to get yourself in a   conducive state to have a successful day? Okay. (1:22:21) What my theory now is since I and I   do it more now than I've ever done it is because I  realize how effective it is. I didn't even realize   I did it with Scott and he did great in the team  and I did it with myself. Uh I didn't even use   hypnosis when I was in as a rope climber. I  just used the focusing part and I did that   by accident just because that's the way I was. (1:22:43) And when I was studying for the market,   I did the same thing. But I knew that by giving  myself positive suggestions. So what I would say   to your audience is first of all you have  to come to the conclusion that anything is   possible even I mean I can show you physicists  I've got books on here physicists who say I'll   quote you the the top astrophysicist in  the world who was a peer with Einstein.  (1:23:12) He said, "I believe that the mind has  the power to affect atoms and that even the laws   of the universe are not governed by physical  laws but can be altered by the volition of   human beings." That's not me talking. That's  a guy like Einstein talking. Arthur Edington,   right? Arthur Edington. Yes. Eddington wrote that. (1:23:37) Now, here's another one by the top   psychologist Young. He said, "Not only does  the subconscious have all the knowledge that   you've learned through the lifetime of an  individual, but it has all the knowledge   that has ever been exposed in the universe."  And that by tapping into the subconscious,   a human being can attach that information. (1:24:00) That's where all the great inventions   come from, all the great place, all of these  things. And there's a guy called Edgar Casey   who through hypnosis became a great prophet  by being able to go into an alpha state and   literally he all he needed was your name and  birth date and he would tell you all about   you and what to do with your physical problems  and he healed people. He has 20,000 readings.  (1:24:27) Matter of fact, the reason I'm in  Austin, Texas is because I read about what he said   about the earthquake. So I believed in what he was  doing and I studied the earthquakes and so my wife   and I packed up and moved 30 years ago to Austin.  But this is when you left LA, right? But so wait,   Arnold, I'm determined to pin you down. Okay. (1:24:48) So go ahead and pin me down. I'm   not objecting. So if you want  to get into this kind of state,   you're doing something where you wake up and and  what do you do? You're counting backwards. You're   What are you actually doing? Here's what  I would do. The ideal state is easy to get   into and you could do that by a simple exercise. (1:25:09) I don't know whether your audience has   ever heard of a gentleman by the name of uh Joseé  Silva. I don't know what you heard about him,   but Joseé Silver was a Mexican immigrant who never  went to school and he got jobs in different places   and he was in a barber shop one time and it  told about how you can use your subconscious   mind to achieve success and he was very excited. (1:25:34) He asked the barber if he could buy the   magazine. The guy says, "No, you can have it." And  he started experimenting with hypnosis. And this   is a guy that has no education. never even went  to grammar school. So then his siblings taught him   how to read and write and do arithmetic. And so  he started hypnotizing his kids and he said that   an experience he had with his kids stunned him. (1:26:01) He was reading a little poem to her   and she said, "Dad, I know that poem." And  she started reciting it. She was reading his   brain. So he said he knew that she had never  heard of that poem. So he hypnotized her and   he was doing so good that all of his kids and  he built a worldwide organization called Joseé   Silva Institute that is being taught at  50 to 60 languages and is all over the   United States to even set my niece to his course. (1:26:32) He's not alive anymore but the people   carry on his kids are carrying on the work and I  sent her to the course because it's a great way.   So the easiest thing to do is I have a book uh Mr.  Carpenter the genie within. He was a gentleman who   was dying from a heart disease at age 8. I think  it was age nine and this was 80 years ago. He just   recently passed away in the last few months. (1:27:01) But I was in touch with him for many   times. We had some wonderful discussions and  he said that his grandmother belonged to the   Christian Science Church and the Christian  Science Church doesn't believe in doctors.   They don't use medicine, no operation. They  just heal through the mind. And the church   has been around for 150 years. And I studied  Mary Baker Eddie because I was fascinated   with her insights on the subconscious mind. (1:27:28) And what I found out is that there   was a man by the name of Mr. Quimby. I don't  know what his first name was, but his name is   Quimby. I found a 700page manuscript and he had  an accident one time and he learned to use his   mind to heal himself and then he started healing  people just through the mind and she was one of   his first students. So she learned it from him. (1:27:52) Anyway, she taught about how to do   that. So anyway, they brought in a guy from  the church. He healed Mr. Carpenter and Mr.   Carpenter told me that the thing that excited  him is that he didn't know how the guy did it.   So he spent his all his adult life he became an  aerological engineer but he spent his whole life.  (1:28:14) So he wrote this book called the genie  within and on page 22 to 24 all you have to do   is read a simple exercise that he's got to just  relax yourself and get into alpha state. Now you   don't need that book. You don't need anything.  All you have to do is just relax yourself. But   if you use Jose Silva's technique, he like to  have somebody count backwards from 100 to one.  (1:28:39) And I like that because it's almost  impossible to count backwards from 100 to one   and not find yourself just drifting down. And  I'd be willing to bet you that if you did that,   you'd probably be in alpha. I have no way  of proving it because there's no way I could   measure your mind, but I can tell by the way  I feel. So what I do is I lay down on the bed.  (1:29:02) I put my arms over the bench so I can  feel how heavy they are. And then I put it on the   bedspread and I start counting backwards.  100 99 98 97. By the time you get to 60,   you can feel your arms already getting heavier.  And when you feel your arms getting heavier,   you're getting into alpha state. And during  that stage, so what Joseé Silva said is   count backwards from 100 to one for a week. (1:29:32) Next do count backwards to one from   50 to one. And the third week go from 25 to one.  And then at the last week go from 5 to one. And   you'll be able to sit down, relax your mind, and  count backwards 5 to one and snap your fingers   and you'll be an alpha. It's just that simple. And  it takes practice. when I was reading about how to   hypnotize myself, I didn't really get anywhere. (1:30:01) And but the 10th day I felt I had   achieved a hypnotic state. So I don't think it  would take you more than a week or two at the   most. I'm a slow learner and I learned it in 10  days. So that ought you most people would do it in   two or three turns. So what I do every morning now  as a matter of practice is I count backwards 100   to one and then I say to myself okay I am now in a  hypnotic state which I assume is 4 to 7 hertz but   I don't know and now I'm going to relax my body. (1:30:37) So I start with my induction is usually   7 to 11. When I hypnotize you I did it in  about 11 minutes. So, I put you on the ground,   remember? And I had you relax and left  leg and then your right leg. And then the   relaxation is moving over your body and it's  going up your spine. And now your shoulders   are getting relaxed. All the muscles in your  face and scalp are relaxing and you're getting   totally relaxed. And then you can test one arm. (1:31:05) What I do is I lift up my arm and I   said when it falls to the mattress as soon as  it falls down boom you're in a deep hypnotic   state. So once I do the induction now I say what  do I want to accomplish today. If it's something   specific I'm working on I name what I'm going to  do. But as a general bromat, I say I use Emil Coup   who is my favorite person on auto suggestion. (1:31:35) He developed the signs of auto   suggestion. He was healing people by 30 times  a day saying every day in every way I'm getting   better and better. And what I do is I get into  the shower or get a cold shower. I learned the   technique from Wimhof the other yogurt who I've  mentioned in the past. and I take a cold shower   and then I say 30 times every day in every way  I'm getting better and better and Emil Cool I'm   pronouncing his name wrong but that's okay you get  the idea yeah Emil Ku yeah Kuay so what he did is   he was a French pharmacist and he noticed in (1:32:18) those days at the turn of the   century the pharmacist was kind of like the  country doctor if your arm hurt or you had   problem. You go to the doctor. He say, "Mr.  Coup, what do you recommend? I got a sore   shoulder." And he said if he really knew the  stuff worked and he believed in it, he would   give him a big pitch. Oh boy, you got to use this. (1:32:39) This stuff works every time. But if he   wasn't sure, it didn't work so well. So  he realized that the people were getting   healed not because of the medicine, but  because of the suggestion. So he realized   he didn't have to use medicine. and he sold  the pharmacy. He started having a beautiful   rose garden. He'd bring people in with all  different ailments and he'd interview him.  (1:33:04) He'd say, "William,  what's your problem?" "Well,   I've got migraine headaches and so forth." "Well,  here's what I want you to do." He would relax him,   kind of get him into alpha state, and then he'd  say, "You know, there's no reason why you should   have headaches. There's nothing wrong with you. (1:33:21) All you have to do is every day in every   way and get better and better." and he created  the Nancy School of Suggestion and he was curing   people all over the place. Now, you've heard of  the placebo where the doctor can give you a sugar   pill and painted red and say this is the this will  cure your headaches and 30% of the time it works.  (1:33:45) Now, why is that? That's because  you believe it works. It's not because of   the medicine. Well, what Dr. Benson did. Herbert  Benson, he felt that if he could convince people   to believe more, like the medicine men of old,  he could get them to be cured quicker. So,   he got the placebo effect up to 70 to  80%. Just by increasing your belief.  (1:34:09) And what he did is he even had fake  surgeries where they'd shave you. You'd go into   a surgery and that was the placebo one. And then  the other one they wouldn't do anything with it.   And he said it worked just as well. There were  people who were getting knee operation which   you know are very painful and very intensive and  the people who had the fake surgeries did just   as well as the people who had the real surgeries. (1:34:34) So there are a couple of things I want   to unpack there that that you've mentioned.  So the first you talked a little bit about   Harry Carpenter and the genie within because  you and I have discussed this whole topic of   self hypnosis a lot over the years. One of one of  the resources that I've used a lot, thanks to you,   that's been very helpful that I would just draw  our listeners attention to is Carpenter had this   website, the Genie Within website where there  are a few audio recordings that he made that   come from the book and there's one called track (1:35:04) two which is on progressive relaxation   which gets you into the alpha state and I've  used that many many times. I think that's a   very helpful tool. The other there's one track  three which is to get you into a theta state   which I've only used a few times actually  in the last three days I've used every day   and it puts me to sleep after a few minutes. (1:35:25) So I I have no idea whether I'm in a   deep hypnotic state or not cuz I might just be  asleep. But I think that's a those are really   helpful practical tools. And then of as you and  I have discussed before, there's also this Revery   app reve which was created by this psychiatrist  David Spiegel who's an associate chair of   psychiatry and behavioral sciences I think at at  Stanford and director of the Stamford Center on   Stress and Health and all of that sort of thing. (1:35:53) and he's he's an expert on the clinical   uses of hypnosis and how you can use hypnosis to  heighten the brain's ability to deal with things   like stress and chronic anxiety and pain  and even things like cancer outcomes. So,   I just want to make sure as we're closing the  loop on that that people have a sense that there   are various tools for self-hypnosis that are  really helpful, including the one that you've   mentioned that's all to do with the silver method. (1:36:19) I think it's silba sila if I remember.   I l um silver. Yeah. And we'll have some  resources in the notes and resources section   of this episode. William, I would like to make  this study, it's 37 pages. I'd like to make it   available to anybody who's interested it  free of charge. We don't sell anything.  (1:36:42) I just want to get that information  out to people because that'd be great. I'll   I'll figure out a way, Arnold, at the end of  the episode to get people to be able to write   into your office so that they can request  this. That would be great if that's okay.   But I wanted also to unpack this whole thing  of affirmations that you mentioned because I   think one of the things when I look at what's  happened in your life is it's this idea that   you're able to reprogram your beliefs and get  into this state that really changes how you view   your life. And it it sounds kind of kooky to (1:37:14) a lot lot of cynical, skeptical,   you know, academically oriented people, but  your life is a really good proof that it's   worked. And when you were talking  to my master class the other day,   you were explaining that actually you  had changed one of the most important   affirmations that you use over many years. (1:37:34) And so you had I had never heard   this before. You had told me years ago that you  would often say, "I am happy, healthy, wealthy,   and wise." But can you tell us how you updated  that affirmation? Because I think in the same way   as the affirmation that you use from Emil Ku,  the every day in every way I'm getting better   and better. This other affirmation that you use  constantly is a hugely helpful practical tool for   imprinting pounding in this mindset in our brains. (1:38:06) So tell us about this other affirmation.   Okay. So what happened is when I really  started seeing what you could do with the   subconscious mind, I feel like when you can  control your subconscious mind, it's like   programming your computer. Okay? Whatever you  put in, that's what it's going to get back. A   matter of fact, I have this thing here. (1:38:28) Let me just show you how the   subconscious works and we'll get into it.  Here's the best thing I've ever read on how   the subconscious works. I'm very accommodating. I  ask no questions. I accept whatever you give me. I   do whatever I'm told to do. I do not presume  to change anything you think, say, or do.  (1:38:50) I file it away in perfect order and  quickly and efficiently, and then I return it   to you exactly as you gave it to me. Sometimes you  call me your memory. I'm the reservoir into which   you toss anything your heart or mind chooses  to deposit there. I work night and day and I   never sleep and nothing impedes my activity.  The thoughts you send me are categorized and   filed and into my filing system that never fails. (1:39:20) I'm truly your servant who does your   bidding without hesitation or criticism.  I cooperate when you tell me that you're   this or that and I play it back as you gave  it. I'm most agreeable since I do not think,   argue, judge, analyze, question, or make  decisions. I accept impressions easily. I'm   going to ask you to sort out what you send me. (1:39:41) However, my files are getting a little   cluttered. I'm confused. Please disregard  those things that you do not want returned   to you. What is my name? Oh, I thought you knew.  I'm your subconscious. So, basically, what your   subconscious is, it's your servant. It's your  computer. Whatever you type into it, whether it's   true or false, it doesn't think, it doesn't judge,  it doesn't analyze, it doesn't argue, it does it.  (1:40:12) So, if you say yourself, you're a  genius, and you keep repeating it to yourself,   you're going to start getting that effect.  So what I decided once I realized that I had   the ability to program anything I wanted in my  life irrespective of physical disabilities or   anything else that would stand in my way in the  firm of the material world. I could influence   it by visual visualizing by repeating it. (1:40:41) And let me tell you something,   the secret to advertising, which you  all probably know when you watch TV,   is they got these ridiculous ads that are just I  mean, you almost have to be stupid to listen and   believe those things, but people do. And they  work and all they do is they repeat it. And   the more ridiculous it is, the better it works. (1:41:05) And why do they make it ridiculous? So   you kind of dismiss and you say, "Oh, that's BS."  then your mind goes out of the way and they get   directly into your subconscious. So advertising  is the fine science of impressing the subconscious   mind. And just think about what a 30 minute or  30 second spot in the Super Bowl with hundreds   of millions of people what that's worth. (1:41:31) They pay hundreds of thousands   of dollars for 30 seconds to a minute. And why?  Because it works. So repetition is the key to   everything in the subconscious. If you keep  on believing it and repeating it, it's going   to happen. Now, so what I decided to do many  years ago when I first came to the realization,   I said, okay, what do I really want in my life?  So I sat down and I came up with four things.  (1:42:00) I want to be happy. Even  Aristotle said in this optimal book,   he said most people in life start out they just  want to be happy. And the reason they choose   money and fame and power and prestige and all  that because they think it's going to make them   happy. But that isn't what makes you happy. (1:42:19) What makes you happy is the way you   think. So he said, so I said to myself, okay,  I want to be happy and I want to be healthy.   If I had to do it all over again, I'd start with I  want to be healthy and happy because health to me,   as I turn to be 86 and as I turn to friends and  clients of mine, I don't have too many people I   know who don't have any physical problems. (1:42:44) So, as you get older, what could   be greater than to be financially successful  and be in a wheelchair? But anyway, I'm happy,   healthy, and I wanted to be wealthy. Not  that I realize that it makes you happy,   but as my dad says, money doesn't  make you happy, but it soothes the   nerves. So, it helps with that. (1:43:05) So, I want to be happy,   healthy, wealthy, and I want to have wisdom  because I realize that I've met some very   intelligent people who've done some pretty stupid  things. So, I realize if you don't have wisdom,   you might make some bad choices. So, I said, I'm  happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise. And then as I   got to learn more about the philosophers and the  Victor Frankles of the world, I realized that you   could have all those things and not have love. (1:43:36) And so I realized that love was a very   important part of that equation. And so now I've  altered it and I say I am a loving, kind person   and I'm happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise. And  I do this if I'm standing in a supermarket line   or I'm doing my exercise where I stand on one  leg. By the way, this is an interesting thing   for everybody that's interested in health. (1:44:06) I found out that the single most   determined thing that determines how healthy  you are is your ability to stand on one leg.   And I had four strokes, by the way, just  about a year and a half ago. And to show   you how hypnosis works, I was reading one  of my great hypnotist, a guy by the name   of Ted, and he was a student of Gilbborne. (1:44:30) He was probably the best hypnotist   in the world at one time and he was a student of  this. So he really believed in Gil Boen and Gil   Boone was just amazing. He was just a miracle man.  He really perfected this technique. So anyway, he   woke up one morning and he had a stroke and half  of his body was paralyzed and he couldn't speak.  (1:44:55) He could barely he just scribbled. He  couldn't speak. So he said this is a great time   for me to test the value of hypnosis. So he  made it a goal when he went into the hospital   and he put himself under hypnosis and he said  under hypnosis that in 7 days he was going to   walk out and be 85% cured. The doctors came  to him in 3 days and said he was 85% cured.  (1:45:24) He could talk and he could his  side was back to normal and everything.   And three days at the end of a week he was  completely cured and when he wrote the book   it was 20 years after that experience and  he still never had a problem. So when I had   my first my strokes I had four strokes at once. (1:45:50) So I go into the hospital and I thought   about Tibet and I thought I didn't think there was  anything wrong but the doctor come back after he   did the MRI and he said Mr. Vandenberg. He said,  "Oh," he asked me, "What brings you here?" And   I said, "I'm not sure, but my eyes are not  working that right." And something was kind   of fuzzy. And I went to an opthalmologist and  he said, "Your vision is perfect, but there's   something behind the he was trying to be kind. (1:46:15) " And what he was saying is behind   my vision on my is my brain. And something  happened there. So anyway, I went to the MRI   and my wife took me to the MRI. So I'm sitting  there, the doctor said, I said, 'You know, doc,   it's something fuzzy with my eyes, but the doctor  felt I should see a neurologist. He says, 'Well,   that's me. Let me take an MRI. So he comes back. (1:46:38) He said, well, I think I know the   problem. Said, yeah, what is it? He said, you  just had four strokes. I was just shocked.   As soon as I recovered, I thought, okay, this  will be a great test for my hypnosis program.   So they bring me in and this girl uh she's a  therapist, physical therapist. So she says to me,   "I want you to squeeze my hand as hard as  you can to see what my physical strength was.  (1:47:09) " And I said, "I don't think you  want me to do this because I compete with   my grandsons that they're weightlifters and they  do martial arts and we always have a contest to   squeeze each other's hand and they've never been  able to break me." And I do fingertip push-ups.   They didn't know it, but I was doing fingertip  push-up because when you lift weights, you're only   strengthening your arm, your from the palm up, but  you don't do anything to strengthen your fingers.  (1:47:36) So, I learned from the rope climb that  I to strengthen my fingers. I did push-ups on my   fingertips. So, that's how I used to beat  him. I finally let him in on my secret. So,   I told her all this and she said, "That's okay.  You just had four strokes. I'm not too concerned."   So I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. (1:47:52) She just dumped up like this.   So then the physical therapist comes  in and gives me a test and she said,   "I want to see how long you can stand on one  leg. Just lift up your leg. Just stand on one   leg." So I did it for 40 seconds. She says, "Boy,  that's very good." I said, "Well, what?" She says,   "Well, usually at 85, the longest most people  can stand on one leg is 5 to 10 seconds.  (1:48:19) Yeah, you had strokes and you're doing  it for 40 seconds on each leg. And then I went   to every damn doctor you could think of. I did  the electroc cardium with my heart and I did   the stress test. The only thing that shows up  that I didn't fully recover was my peripheral   vision. And I went to the regular doctor and he  said, "Well, your peripheral vision isn't 100%,   but you could still pass a driving test. (1:48:50) " So, I don't think it's not   like it's maybe as good as it was, but it's  not 100%. But it's good enough. Well, I went   back to the if because my wife was concerned  about it. So, I promised her I would not drive   unless the opthalmologist said that I passed the  peripheral. And I personally I think that I didn't   probably lose my peripheral vision at this time. (1:49:13) Probably hadn't before. didn't even   know it because everybody felt I was a terrible  driver. But the bottom line of it is I don't feel   any diminition due to my strokes and every other  test that I've taken has come out to be very good.   Now maybe it did hurt my peripheral vision, but  I believe that I'm going to restore that anyway.  (1:49:38) So it doesn't really matter. It's  kind of an academic thing. The point I'm making   is there's a good example of just getting in the  right frame of mind and not letting anything get   in your way. How did you remain so optimistic?  I mean, I've seen you go through all sorts of   things, whether it's Eileen having a fall  the other day or you um having the strokes   or family members getting ill or difficult  times with your business several years ago   before you had this fantastic bet on oil stocks  and the like. How do you stay so upbeat through  (1:50:14) all adversity? You know what,  William? I think it comes through experience.   I don't think I started out life that way. I  started off as I learned things that work by   concentrating on them mentally. It's like  a muscle. I really believe and we're going   through some very difficult economic times. (1:50:39) The market is more overvalued than   it's ever been. And I just met with some clients  who were client of mine for 39 years. They were   over this weekend. And I was explaining to  them about the portfolio and I said, you know,   the market is 25% more overvalued than it's ever  been. You pick the metric and I can show it to   you. And I had all of the metrics run up. (1:51:02) I said, "No, on the other hand,   there are some positive things going on that  could change it." And there are times there   is a time like the nifty 50 30 40 years 50 years  ago when I started that the stocks went up to 40   50 times earnings and then of course it went  into a decline. So my view is that if you're   living the right way and you're following the  principles and you're doing all the right thing,   it's all going to work out because  that's the way it's done over 50 years.  (1:51:35) I'd had my ups and down and I had  some terrible times in the market, but there   was no question in my mind that I was going to  make it through because I programmed myself to   do it. How could you have a better ally than  your subconscious mind? Let me just give you an   example. In this report, I included two articles. (1:52:01) One of them is they're developing   a quantum computer. The quantum computer  is made by IBM. We own IBM. Wait, Arnold,   I I can't let you talk about quantum computers  when you just told me the market is 25%   overvalued. You've got to talk to me about how  you're positioning yourself for I'm getting to   I'm getting to that. Okay, just be patient. (1:52:22) Okay, so the point I'm making is   the article says that we're coming up  with a quantum computer in five years.   It's going to be 158 million times faster than  the fastest computer in the market. There's an art   equation that they ran that the quantum computer  did it in 200 seconds or something like that.  (1:52:44) It would have taken thousands of years  by the normal computer. Now, here's the most   important thing in that article. Matthew Fiser,  one of the renowned physicists of all time, has   come up with the theory that the mind is a quantum  computer. And that's what his statement is. Not   every physicist agrees with him, but he's trying  to tell you that you have the ability, your mind   between those headphones, you have the ability of  a computer that's 158 million times fast and the   fastest computer and hasn't even been built yet. (1:53:22) And you got it. So, how can you be   pessimistic if you have this capacity to do  whatever you want to do in life? And I can   tell you there is not one goal that I have not  been able to beat except a minor goal which I'm   going to beat. No question about it. And that's  it. Other than that, all of them are realized.  (1:53:49) So that's how could you not be  optimistic? I don't care what happens to   the world. I know I'm going to be good. So in  practical terms, Arnold, you've gone through a lot   over 50 years with this investment firm, right?  You started in a six-year bare market. Then you   did it fantastically for many years by being very  contrarian and buying a few years ago when oil   stocks were massively out of favor in commodities. (1:54:16) You made a big bet that was very   contrarian. That's worked out very well. When  you look now, how are you positioning yourself   so that you and your clients and everyone will  will survive a pretty um certainly a period of   tremendous uncertainty. Okay, I'll tell you  how we're going to survive. We are going to   survive. And it's not just a business to me. (1:54:40) these people like these people that   visited me. This friend of ours is a a neurologist  happens we had some interesting talk about the   mind. He happens to be a neurologist but he's  been a client of mine for 39 him and his wife   39.38 years and I was laying out the thing. So  here's what I see. The world is in total deadness.  (1:55:03) We have $ 38 trillion due to uh both  parties doing absolutely ridiculous things   financially. Okay. So, you look through history  and you know what's going to happen? They're going   to have to print money and they're printing money  and they're going to have to continue to print   money. And if you look at throughout history,  you'll see all the organizations that have had   to do this, their currency starts to depreciate. (1:55:33) And it is no coincidence that   commodities, gold, silver, copper, agriculture,  all of these commodities relative to the S&P.   If I was to show you the commodity index divided  by the S&P, the S&P is up here and the commodity   index are here. and they normally could be up  here. So there's an tremendous opportunity to   invest not in commodity futures but in  the actual commodities whatever it is.  (1:56:04) We are 8% in gold. We are involved in  silver. We are for my part we are involved in   uranium. My group didn't particularly think that  was a good idea. we bought natural gas instead,   which I agree, but I think uranium is still  going to be a good thing. It's the fuel of   the future along with natural gas. So, we're  heavy into oils. We're heavy in natural gas.  (1:56:30) We're in gold and silver. We are in  other commodities and we have different funds   that have a diversification of these things. But  I don't buy the futures. I only buy the companies   that produce the items. And so we have 25 to  well at least I'd say 15% in most portfolios   we have at least 15 to 20% in cash because when  the market declines you get an opportunity to   buy bargains like you never did before. (1:57:01) So there is ways depends on the   individual you g yourself up depending  on the kind of risk you want to take.   In my own personal portfolio, I'm 35% in Treasury  bonds. Now, that's not the way most clients want   to do because it's a little too conservative, but  I don't need to make any more money. I've made   all the money I need and so why do I have  to take any big risks? So, you can design   the program exactly based on what you expect. (1:57:34) Now I expect the dollar just example   the central banks have bought more gold this last  time than they've ever done in the history of the   world and they have the least amount of treasury  bombs that they have ever. So the point is you're   getting the message by the people who have a lot  of money, the central banks, they're no longer   buying the treasury bonds, they're buying gold. (1:58:03) And why? because the dollar declined   12 to 15% this year. And that's what happens  when a currency loses favor just like it a   second mortgage pays you more interest because  it's a greater risk. Well, the US dollar used   to be the top premarid AAA rated. They're no  longer AAA rated people. And so what's going   to happen is as people lose faith in the dollar,  the interest rates will go up instead of down.  (1:58:31) the inflation could go up and so  we are positioned in the case that whatever   happens we benefit for example natural gas is  about as cheap as it comes the history has been   there's a BTU equivalent between natural gas  that means 6,000 cubic feet of gas is worth   one barrel of oil so it's about 6:1 so if  you look at oil today it's at the 62 $63 $3.  (1:59:02) You divide it by six, that means natural  gas should be at $10. It's at three. Now, in the   history of the world, it's sold at 50% cheap on  average. So that means on average it would go to   50 to $5, 50% of tick. But the cheapest it ever  got was 25%, which is 2.5 to $3. So, it's selling   the cheapest it's been in 50 years at $2.5 to $3. (1:59:33) Average price would be $5 and a normal   price would be 10. So, I don't care what  happens to the world. There's always going   to be a need for power. When you look at AI,  they're going to have a huge demand for power,   for electricity, and anything that produces.  What could be the greatest thing in the world   is natural gas and uranium or nuclear energy. (1:59:55) So there's ways to take advantage of   them and they happen to be dirt cheap. If  you're a regular investor, Arnold, and you   wanted to have you don't want to buy individual  stocks and you wanted a really easy way to get   exposure to these things like oil, natural  gas, gold, silver, uranium, whatever it is.  (2:00:15) Can you just buy like a sector  fund or something like what's You can buy   a sector fund. You could buy an ETF. Uh there's  many different funds on the market that will   diversify you and and will invest in those kind  of things. What would you want to get in there?   Like if you were to do this in a really easy  way, if you were advising your idiot friend   like me who just wanted to get exposure to that  sort of thing, what's a really simple way to do   it? Well, there's a fund called the Guring Fund. (2:00:47) It's selling at about 14 to 15 dollars a   share and it's a mutual fund. It's run by Guring  and his partner. They've been in the commodity   business for 30 years. They don't buy futures.  They buy stocks and natural gas and oil and gold   and silver and these kind of things. And you buy  into the diversified portfolio and you could put   $1,000 or $100,000 in it. That's just one fund. (2:01:13) But there's many others like it. And so   it's just a matter of deciding what you want and  looking through the portfolio and saying, "Okay,   they have 5% of this, they have 3% of this, they  have two, they have a broad diversification." And   you could put some money into it. And then you  could put money into Treasury bonds shortterm.  (2:01:36) We don't buy a Treasury bond over  three years because we know that theoretically   if the interest rates go up, the interest the  bonds will go down if interest rates go up. So,   we don't want to have a 30-year bond. The  last thing I buy today is a 30-year bond,   a US Treasury bond. There's nobody in their  right mind believes the US government can   sustain this kind of deficit for 30 years. (2:02:03) So something's got to give in the   future and it will and we will benefit by it  and that's no magic and it's just a matter   of patience and diversifying and all of that.  And so any good investment counselor who has an   open mind to what's going on in the world, not  just to buy the S&P 500. I think the S&P 500 is   probably one of the worst things you could buy. (2:02:31) Not that it couldn't go up another 25%.   I mean, I've seen crazier things than this,  but it's certainly not going to be a good   investment over the next five years. So, anybody  who has investments in the typical major indices,   I think, could do better by looking elsewhere.  Where do you think people should be most careful   when you look with your kind of wary skeptical  eye as someone who's been in this business for   50 years and has been through bubbles and  busts and the like before? What should our   listeners and viewers be most careful of? A (2:03:04) particular area of the market,   particular types of stocks that seem most  risky to you? I think that anything that   has leverage on it is not a good idea. In  other words, people leverage themselves in   real estate and that's good as long as real  estate goes up, but real estate can go down   too in major recessions or depression. (2:03:29) So you you don't gamble with   anything that you can't afford to lose. So  you buy like I paid off my home many years   ago just because I don't need the leverage. The  interest rates were low, but I still paid it off   because I don't want any debt. So the first  thing I do is get rid of my debt and that's   credit card and all kinds. Pay off your loans. (2:03:51) This way you control your destiny.   And then you invest in things that you think  I I think gold is still a great opportunity.   I think silver is a more speculative but it's  still good. I think natural gas. You can buy   EQT. It's a major natural gas company that is  a wonderful company with a great future. So   there are a lot of good solid companies that  are in the right spot that haven't done very   well recently but they have a great opportunity. (2:04:27) Are there things Arnold that remind   you of say the late 1960s or 1999 2000 when you  look at the market today? How reminiscent does   it feel? Well, I think that there is a lot  of speculation in AI and there's good reason   for it. It's a wonderful thing. Just to give  you an example, I hired a friend of mine to   teach our staff AI because as it was coming  out, I knew it was going to be a big thing.  (2:04:59) This is Matthew Peterson, right? Yeah.  Matthew Peterson. Yeah. Yeah. He's a lovely guy.   He uh taught our staff and everybody's using it  and he showed how where it normally takes a month   to get the real feel of a company to understand  the company the competitors the management what a   good analyst does is a real good work starting  from scratch it would take about a month.  (2:05:26) He got it down to through AI to be  able to get us everything we needed in an hour.   In one hour we can get all the documentation of  the SEC. We get all the research reports on the   market. We can get a ton of information  that might have taken a month before and   now we can do it in an hour just on using AI. (2:05:50) Now that doesn't mean that you going   to make a good decision on that. I'm talking  about gathering the information so you can make   that decision. I'm not saying that AI makes a  decision, but the gathering of information is   incredible. I've been using AI to research  all the different things in neuroscience.   I can type somebody's name in there and  they'll give you the whole history of it.  (2:06:15) So, AI is a wonderful thing, but  it's getting overhyped. However, we own IBM,   which is going to be one of the leaders  in quantum computer. The stock's doubled,   but it's still got a huge potential. We own  Google. That is the company that's going to   be there with AI and and the quantum computers.  So, there are fields that are not overly invested   in which you can still make investments in. (2:06:46) And then you could just buy the   gold or the silver or the uranium or  if you're knowledgeable in agriculture,   which I'm not. So I don't mess in things that I'm  not knowledgeable on. I believe they will have   a future. But you'd have to go to somebody that  understands agriculture like a farmer. When you   look back on your success over the last 50 years  as an investor, which was clearly built on Ben   Graham's principles, obviously the markets and the  economy have changed massively since those days,   but are there still absolutely core principles (2:07:24) that if you were starting now or if you   were teaching one of your grandchildren,  say, to start now as an investor,   that you would really want them to internalize.  Like what what are What's the core principle   that remains as relevant as ever? Well,  I'll tell you what. DSKI said it all.  (2:07:47) He said that the people who could  survive the goolog, the Russian gulog were the   people of the highest character. If I was  teaching and I do teach my grandchildren,   I have one of them is an intern now and  one of them is a gentleman that wrote to   me because of your book from Israel. Oh yeah.  He's an intern with our company. Yeah. And   he's working with one of our analysts. (2:08:15) And the thing that I was so   impressed with Schmoo was he said he'd like  to be an intern for us and said we said we   don't have a formal intern program but if  you send me your background I will consider   it. And so he sent me his background that  his mother taught him as a Jew he's got to   be mentally strong and physically strong. So she  got him involved in chess and judo and he became   internationally accomplished in both areas. (2:08:44) And when I read that, I said,   "You're hired. What else do I need to know?"  When a guy that has this kind of commitment to   judo and also to chess, he's got everything you  need to be successful because he had to use his   mind. That's what you learn in chess and that's  what you learn in judo. It's all about the mind.   So he can be a great investor. (2:09:09) There's no doubt in my   mind he's going to be. I think what I would do if  I was a young person, I wouldn't worry about any   of these things. I would just develop character  and the belief and the faith. Matter of fact,   I wouldn't tell many people this. I probably  shouldn't even say it on your podcast, but I feel   that looking back on my life, I probably could  have gained a lot if I'd have gone to college   because I might have learned things the easy way  where I had to learn about the market the hard way   suffering for six years in a bear market, right? (2:09:46) So, I think I could have avoided some   things if I learned Benjamin Gra. But the  bottom line of it is any young person can   learn anything they want to learn if they just  let the subconscious guide them. Matter of fact,   the subconscious gives you insights that you  couldn't have any other way. So your education   is dependent on how you you have this. (2:10:13) I have this computer here,   right? It has to be programmed. Well,  I got this other computer which is way   better than this. I just need to know  how to program it. And in my 700 pages,   I have one page that I wished that I would  have saved for this interview. I don't want   to take the time to find it right now. It  wouldn't take me long to find it, but what   I did is I was going to give a talk to people. (2:10:42) There was a lady that knew me very well   and she knew what I was able to do with hypnosis  and she wanted me to give a talk to some college   students in a marketing department. And what they  did is they bring in a speaker of the each year   they bring in 10 guys from industry and then at  the end of the year they vote I didn't know they   voted on it but they vote who was the best speech. (2:11:04) Well, mine speech one or two out of   three times and what I did is I was struggling  how to tell people how to use the subconscious.   And I went into flow one night. I woke up at  3:30 in the morning and my mind was just going   a mile a minute and I grabbed the yellow pen and  I wrote it out and I looked at it and I thought,   "Wow, I only changed two words and it was  exactly the way you use the subconscious mind.  (2:11:41) " And I'd been struggling for  three weeks to get the closing to the speech,   but I didn't have it. And I kept thinking about  it and thinking and then one day in the morning   I woke up at 3:30 in the morning and I wrote  it out and I didn't even have to change the   two words. I probably goodbye with just changing  one word and the whole thing was the speech to   closing deal. So that's how you use your mind. (2:12:06) Arnold, I wanted to end by asking you   a couple of things about happiness that  you've mentioned to me recently when you   spoke to the Rich Wise Happier Masterass  the other day. You said something really   interesting when one of the people in the group  asked you a question about your definition of   happiness and you said the thing that has made  me happiest is when I can share things that have   brought me happiness such as understanding. (2:12:33) And you said what brings me the   greatest happiness is knowing that I can share  whatever I've struggled to learn and it changes   somebody's life. There's no greater satisfaction  to me. And and you said irrespective of how much   money you can make that's just not going to  do it. Can you talk a little bit about that?   Because it seems to me early on you really  thought that money was going to do it and   gradually you realized you your your view of  what would actually make us happy shifted.  (2:13:03) Well, I'll tell you  how that breakthrough came. So,   what happened is I grew up in a Jewish home,  you know, where the emphasis is in money,   success and achievement and so forth. And my  dad, my mom and dad were very successful before   the war. Not because of my dad, more because of  my mom. She was the businesswoman of the family.  (2:13:24) But they had a business. My dad was very  good at designing ladies coats and suits. That was   his passion. And she was a businesswoman, a good  salesperson and a promoter and so forth. So it was   a great combination. He had a great product and  she was able to sell it and they did real well.   Then when they came over to this country after  Awitz, he came over as a just a regular tailor.  (2:13:48) He didn't want to start a business. He  just wanted to make a living and feed the family.   And he had a lot of different philosophy.  He didn't get along very well with people   because he had very little patience for  people. And one time I remember we had   a member of the the synagogue over a very very  successful man and we sat around the table and   I noticed my dad didn't say very much. (2:14:14) So I said, "Pop, you know,   I noticed that you you didn't say very much  when this gentleman was talking." And my mom   was all ears cuz she was telling her how to be  successful and where the real estate market was   going and so forth. And my dad says, 'You  know, Arnold, I've come to the conclusion   with what I've been through life that if you  think the guy's an idiot, there's no point in   arguing with him because you're not going to  convince him and it's kind of a waste of time.  (2:14:47) And I said, "Well, P, you mean to  tell me that you think Dr. Soandso was an   idiot?" He said, "Yes, I think he was." And  I said, "How can you say he's an idiot? The   guy went to medical school at 10 years. I mean  that's not an you can't be an idiot going to   he said oh yes you can he said the guy just  doesn't know what life's all about but if he   spent a few weeks in Awitz I guarantee you he  would have a different viewpoint of the world   so what you learn through suffering is you learn  what's truth and he just said and this man has   a lot of knowledge and a lot of skills I don't (2:15:24) doubt that but he doesn't have truth   so I'm not interested in what he has to say  and I'm not interested in telling him what I   think cuz he probably thinks I'm an idiot. So  that's it. I said, "Okay, fair enough." But   the point about it is that you can formulate  your own ideas, but the most important thing   is you got to start off with the truth. (2:15:51) And I had an experience. I   think I shared that with you one time when I was  struggling with trying to understand religion and   I was struggling with it back and forth and one  day I was sitting there with the Bible reading   Bible prophecies and all these type of things  and I even studied with a Bible scholar who knew   everything about Jewish affairs and Aramaic and  Hebrew and Greek and and I said to myself trying   to figure this out and a thought came to me and  it said if you want to follow the truth you have   to go wherever it leads you and I had to think (2:16:31) about that and I thought that's right   it's not important who's what is who's who's right  or wrong it's what is the truth and that's what   my dad was into I think that's what he got out  of concentration camp and his suffering what is   life really all about but anyway My thinking  was that I figured out the most important   thing that I'm going to accomplish. (2:16:59) But what I have experienced,   which is your question, is what is it that makes  you the most happiest? Well, one time when my   after struggling for many years financially, my  son came up to me and I was driving this car and   it was 10 years old and he says, "Ph, with all  the money you're making, why don't you go out   and buy yourself a Mercedes?" And I said, "You  know, that probably would have appealed to me   10 or 15 years ago, but right now I feel very  good just having the financial independence.  (2:17:32) I don't have to." I said, I'm like a  guy that beat his head against the wall for 10   years and finally I don't have to beat my head  against the wall anymore. And somebody says,   Arie, how you feeling? Oh, I'm feeling great.  Why are you feeling great? Cuz I don't need   to beat my head against the wall. So what I  realized what at first when you didn't have   any money, money was a very important point. (2:17:56) But as you go along and you become   successful in different things, then all of  a sudden it doesn't make you as much happy.   It it contributes to like my dad says it soothes  the nerves but it doesn't really make you happy.   What made me happy is which was a dream I had  which you helped develop through your book is I   had a dream one time about 40 years ago. (2:18:19) I wrote it in my notebook.   What I would like to do with what I've learned  through all the struggles, the physical struggles,   the mental struggles, the money struggles, the  going through a divorce and all that, what I   realized is the thing that made me the happiest  and brought me the greatest thrill. And even   psychologists will tell you, unconditional love. (2:18:45) when you can give to people without   having any interest or skin in the game.  You're just doing it to be helpful. And   that's why all the things I've learned, I'm  going to share them without taking any kind   of a participation or money into it because I  don't want people to think I'm doing this for   the money. I wouldn't do this for the money. (2:19:07) I don't need to do it for the money.   I want to do it because that's my way of sharing  and that's what brings me the most happiness. When   I can tell when somebody tells me what you told  me really made a difference in my life and it's   not because I'm getting anything for it. It's just  because you have the ability to give. And I think   that's what Victor Frankle, Mary Baker Eddie,  uh the Apostle Paul talks about love being the   greatest thing that a human being can aspire. (2:19:41) And when you have the ability to be   in a position to help people either through your  knowledge or your finances or some methodology,   that's the lasting value. That's what to me  life is all about and it's what gives me the   greatest pleasure. It may not be that way for  everybody, but I have to think that when you   look at all the neurotransmitters, you know,  there's a hormone called the helping hormone   that when you do good to people, you feel good. (2:20:12) You know, there's actually a chemical   that's released in the body. So, you know,  it's like the people who have runners high,   that's a natural thing that comes through  the way you work your body. Well, when you   give to people unconditionally,  not I told one uh a friend of   mine that's having marital problems. (2:20:32) Uh he was telling me that,   you know, he did this for his wife and she  did this for him. And I said to him, you know,   love is not transactional. You give it because  you want to give it, not because you're going   to get something back. If you give it because  you want something back, you've already been   paid something you're going to get back. (2:20:52) But you don't get the feeling of   truly giving. Giving has to be unconditional. No  questions asked, no reward for it. You just do   it because you love to do it because you love  the person or you love the people or you love   the cause or whatever it is. To me, that's the  ultimate in life. And I don't think it wouldn't   matter to me how much more money I made. (2:21:18) That wouldn't change anything   in the way I feel. It just allows me to do  be more generous with what I'm doing. The   other day before we spoke, before you  talked to the the masterclass group,   I I just dipped in randomly to your favorite book,  which is from Poverty to Power by James Allen,   which we've talked about before on the podcast. (2:21:41) And I I like always opening things   randomly. I sort of feel like in some way the  universe is talking to you. And I open to this   page. It's in the mind is the master volume. So  this was on page 55 I think and he starts talk   he starts saying reader do you seek to realize  the birth into truth and then he says there is   only one way let self die and so then he keeps  explaining how it's all about giving up this   obsession with the self he says give up the spirit  of vanity abstain from the lust of self-indulgence   give up all hatred strife condemnation (2:22:13) and self-seeking and become   gentle and pure at heart and he says by  doing these things is the truth found.   And it's really interesting to me that he he  equates this kind of clinging to self and love   of self with a kind of delusion. And he says,  you know, you can't understand truth basically   until you let go of that clinging to self. (2:22:35) And given that it's your favorite book,   I just thought I just thought I'd run  that by you before we finish. Well,   I was going to get you. Hold on one second. Let  me raise your one thing. I have it right here.   So he says there's an inward enemy. He said he  said yeah. So then I guess this is very biblical,   right? He says to be in the world and yet  not of the world is the highest perfection.  (2:22:57) The most blessed peace is to achieve the  greatest victory. Well, I would say that anybody   who reads, I tell people, I went to the publisher  one time and I wanted to give the book out to all   my clients and friends and relatives. So, I called  him up. I said, "Skip, I'd like to buy a couple of   thousand copies of your book, Poverty to Power. (2:23:23) " And he said, "Oh my god, I only sell   about 15 a year." I said, "15 a year? A book  that great? That's all you sell? He said, 'Yeah,   I can't even afford to print it. I Xerox it. And I  said, "Well, I'm glad you mentioned that because I   want to give it out as a gift and I don't want  somebody to think I Xerox the copy of the book   and it doesn't have a very good cover and I  would like to pay for having the type set and   get nice paper and a nice cover and I'll tell  you what, I'll pay for it all and then you can   give me a discount on buying the book, you know, (2:23:58) and this way it pays for everything."   So I thought that was terrific. And then I wrote  in the book to the reader to person. I said   uh you know when I was going through my life  I had all kinds of struggles and I found a lot   of answers in this book and I was hoping  that one of these days I'd put all these   things together in the book and shared with  people so they'd learn from it like I did.  (2:24:26) But since I read James Allen's book,  I don't think I could improve on the book.   So I just reprinted it and sent it out with  the hopes that it'll touch your life as it   did mine. And his whole goal was in the book. I  was looking for it right now. Is that he wrote   in the forward the reason he wrote the book is  it was his dream that one day he could write a   book that would help people rich or poor uh  you know healthy or sick to be able to gain   a philosophy of life that would change their life. (2:24:59) And that's certainly what this book did.   I always tell people, I give it to young people.  I said, "There's not a problem that you could have   in your life that you can't find the answer to  any problem you've ever had in this book." And   I don't think you could go through this book,  no matter what your problem is, and not find   not only the reason, but the solution. (2:25:26) And his main conclusion was   that the main reason that people suffer is  because of selfishness. So the real secret   to life is overcoming that selfishness  that we are geared for. We are not   programmed to be happy. We are programmed  to survive. And that doesn't necessarily   make you happy. It's your own survival. (2:25:50) So that he felt that the secret to life,   which I agree, is to overcome your selfishness and  to be able to give. That's love. I think on that   note, Arnold, especially since I have to pack and  fly to England in about 3 hours. I I better No,   no. I'm really thrilled to to chat to  you and I it was a measure of how much   I wanted to chat to you that I was like  I got to do this on the same day that I'm   going to pack and leave for two weeks. (2:26:18) So I better run. But this has   been such a delight chatting with you as always.  Right. Thank you so much uh for the opportunity   to share these views and I hope people will  benefit from it as much as I have. It's always   a great joy chatting to you and you've helped me  a lot in in my own life, Arnold. So thank you.  (2:26:35) I I really appreciate it. and you  still got your work cut out. You're going   to have to uh you know get get me to the next  level over the next few years. All right. Well,   thanks so much for your time and input and  thank everybody else for the same thing. Take   care. Thanks a lot. All right. Lots of love. (2:26:51) Give my best wishes to your wife   as well. I know she fell the other day and I  I wish her very speedy recovery. Thank you.   I will be sure to share that with her. Thank  you so much. Take care. Talk soon. Thank you,   Arnold. One of the things that's been very  striking to me that became very clear when   I was working on the epilogue of the book  when I was kind of pulling back and trying   to look at what actually makes for a happy and  successful life was that I got this sense that   nothing is more important than the ability  to handle adversity. And in fact, there's a  (2:27:20) sentence in that epilogue  where I I wrote, "We cannot hope to   lead happy and successful lives unless  we learn to cope well with adversity.