Vlad the Mad Theory

The Vlad Mad theory will not change your day, but it may change what your day means. That is not nothing.

Like all theories, it explains most cases and none perfectly. Use it as a lantern, not as a cage. A lantern shows the path; a cage only shows itself.

The idea is simple, and like most simple ideas it is easy to nod at and hard to use. The nod is free. The use costs attention, every day, in small change.

Ask the LIC agent at your door and the trader at his terminal — both will tell you the same thing in different clothes: money listens to discipline and laughs at moods.

Money is a good clerk and a terrible master; the arrangement is entirely up to us. Write it on the wall of the mind, not the wall of the house. The house already has enough instructions.