Minerva
Some folks out there are wondering, why Minerva? Way back in the intro post I explained that Achieving Minerva is a nod to “Achieving Nirvana”, the ultimate goal of the Buddha. Minerva was the Roman goddess of wisdom (Greek counterpart is Athena). She had other jurisdictions that stemmed from her primary role as the keeper of wisdom like justice, law, etc.
Minerva
Minerva is often associated with the owl as her pet which is in many depictions of the goddess. Minerva is the daughter of Metis and Jupiter. Jupiter raped Metis who got pregnant. Metis, a shapeshifter then turned into a fly and convinced Jupiter to eat that fly whole. Then while inside Jupiter’s body she forged weapons and armor and then gave birth to Minerva. Minerva then sprung out of Jupiter’s head clad in the armor and weapons forged by her mother. Makes you wonder what Jonah was doing inside that whale.
The concept of wisdom has always fascinated me. One of my favorite stories is that of King Solomon God had given Solomon the classic genie deal - make any wish you desire and God would grant it. Solomon, newly made King of Israel, asked for a “discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong”. God then replies how pleased he was with this request, and because Solomon was not so egotistical to ask for riches, wealth, and women, God provides all the above. Solomon to this day is argued among the most wealthy individuals to ever have lived, his temple is regarded as one of the lost architectural wonders, and from his discerning heart we have a whole book of Proverbs.
Wisdom is a bit of a complex construct. It isn’t simply knowledge, I know plenty of well educated, high credentialled people that I wouldn’t classify as wise. Although some knowledge is certainly a component, factual knowledge is not sufficient on its own. The ability to discern a good choice from a bad choice is the crux of what being “wise” is. Or, rather, discerning a better choice from a worse choice.
Now, full disclosure before we go any further: I do not consider myself “wise”. Do I consider early-30s me wiser than early-20s me? Absolutely, that guy was a dumbass. But I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself “wise”. I think it’s a constant journey where hopefully every 5 years I become wiser as I go. And for another disclosure, this is not some religious, kum-by-ah, hippy dippy journey. I am not particularly religious or spiritual, but I think this is a subject of value to explore within yourself for a multitude of reasons. The Romans found it important enough to make an entire deity devoted to the construct of Wisdom. (The Greeks, Egyptians, Norse, Celtics, and Canaanites all have similar deities).
Back to the financial aspect. Consider a person who has decided to climb aboard the FI train. You’ve got your Emergency Fund in a High-Yield Savings Account (HYSA), your budget is squared away, you’ve opened your IRA with Fidelity or Vanguard or Schwab and put the maximum $6000 for the year in it. Now, within that IRA you now need to decide how best to make that money grow. You have to decide stocks vs bonds; index funds vs individual stocks; asset allocation ratios; the list goes on. Even if you do some research and whittle it down to just doing index funds and bonds. It takes some degree of discernment for yourself to decide how risk averse you are, how much you need to be FI, whether the CPA you may have hired is full of shit or the real deal, and so on.
Knowledge is a weapon, Jon Snow, be sure you are armed well before you go to battle. - Maester Aemon, A Clash of Kings
Knowledge is the weapon, but it takes wisdom to know how to use it skillfully. And that’s what this is all about. Not just the numbers of finance (although we will do some of that from time to time). Achieving Minerva is about finding the life where you are content and at peace. Finances being only one part of the whole.
