Everything Changes But You, Monk
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So sang Take That back in the mid-90s. But the sad fact is Take That were wrong (on a number of levels, depending on your view of boy bands). You've got to go with George Harrison instead when it comes to making sense of the credit crunch. All things must pass.
Last week was quite a week for all of us in the City, including monks. Tens of thousands of us got the shock of our lives, as it seemed like the world was collapsing around us. Lehman, an absolute powerhouse of an investment bank, disappeared off the radar, joining Bear Sterns. I spoke to a friend on the Sunday night and he was astounded - they'd all thought on the previous Friday a buyout would happen. Of course there is sadness in its passing, the end of something, of literally millions of hours of human endeavour, hard work, striving, seemingly gone in the blink of an eye, or at least as long as it takes to file a Chapter 11.
Who would have believed 'The Thundering Herd' would have succumbed too, although John Thain's Zen-like mastery of acting in the moment cannot be underestimated. The CEO's move to sell when realising what the market would do to the firm come Monday morning has to rank as one of the bravest moves in financial history. No attachment to the name, the past glories, even to the future of the brand, just the realisation that to sell was the to do the right thing, the only option in order to continue albeit in a slightly different guise.
All things are constantly in a state of flux and movement, of coming and going. The pavements we walk on, our shoe leather, the companies we work for, the people we work with, even the bodies we inhabit. When we accept this, we are seeing life as it really is, with wisdom, with true consciousness, and from this place even in times of great upheaval, of great difficulty, a sense of power can be felt, along with a sense of peace in the chaos.
From this position we can see that all things will pass, and we can accept whatever comes our way. The credit crunch, like some of our institutions, will pass into history, no longer a reality. The markets will go up again (as they did on Friday) as well as down again. All we can do is be in the moment, taking comfort in our understanding, and do the right thing, whatever that is - look for a new job, sell the car, sell the house, change career, reinvent ourselves.
Every moment is new and fresh, and however difficult and uncomfortable, it's only when we cling to the old moments that we really start to suffer.
Who would have believed 'The Thundering Herd' would have succumbed too, although John Thain's Zen-like mastery of acting in the moment cannot be underestimated. The CEO's move to sell when realising what the market would do to the firm come Monday morning has to rank as one of the bravest moves in financial history. No attachment to the name, the past glories, even to the future of the brand, just the realisation that to sell was the to do the right thing, the only option in order to continue albeit in a slightly different guise.
All things are constantly in a state of flux and movement, of coming and going. The pavements we walk on, our shoe leather, the companies we work for, the people we work with, even the bodies we inhabit. When we accept this, we are seeing life as it really is, with wisdom, with true consciousness, and from this place even in times of great upheaval, of great difficulty, a sense of power can be felt, along with a sense of peace in the chaos.
From this position we can see that all things will pass, and we can accept whatever comes our way. The credit crunch, like some of our institutions, will pass into history, no longer a reality. The markets will go up again (as they did on Friday) as well as down again. All we can do is be in the moment, taking comfort in our understanding, and do the right thing, whatever that is - look for a new job, sell the car, sell the house, change career, reinvent ourselves.
Every moment is new and fresh, and however difficult and uncomfortable, it's only when we cling to the old moments that we really start to suffer.
Here Is The Writer : MonkintheCity
Monk in the City works for a large investment bank. He went to Asia in his 20's for a bit of jaunt, realised he knew very little about anything useful, stayed a lot longer than expected, and returned with sore knees from meditation and a head full of quirky ideas. He has a soft spot for dance music and a pint, and suffers from karaoke flashbacks. You can read more from him here.
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