Bitcoin Forum

Definition: Zen kōan from Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C5%8Dan)

A kōan (公案) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement, which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and test a student's progress in Zen practice.


OK...I'll take a stab at this...


IF you have a Bitcoin that you have purchased back in the day at $150 USD and

then you watch the Bitcoin price rise to the ATH or $19K and then back down to say $150 USD again...

Was it not 'really' only a $150 Bitcoin all along? Crypto Life is 'but a dream' as it we're?


(probably this is lousy Zen Kōan feel free to toss your attempts on this thread)

enjoy!

Brad



 

what i do is that i think about "what ifs" when price is rising and is at the ATH not after it stopped being there and started dropping and reached the bottom.
for instance i actually bought bitcoin at $150ish back in 2015 and i still don't mind if it drops back to $150 or even $50 for that matter because i have planned ahead. for example i sold something when price reached $700+ in 2016 just to satisfy my head and prevent myself from overthinking stuff. and when bitfinex was hacked and drama hit the market and price tanked i bought a lot more once again at $450-$500 and have been doing the same thing ever since.

in the end is till have more fiat and more bitcoin in my pocket. that's my Zen...

I'm retired and doing that with my alts...if they have to die to let me retire 3 years early...so be it ... (or if it gets soooooo bad my BTC too for that matter)

but for me, I'm keeping the BTC I've accumulated since 2013 and stable amount since 2015...mining seems to be playing out (pow scrypt: ltc) and I've

only the ALT coins to draw on now on my plot of using crypto the next 3 years and keeping BTC hoard intact...



crypto: it allowed me to retire 3 years early....bite me! (not really a Zen Koan)

let's see a  Zen Koan on above from both our perspectives..... hmmmm


"Can you say, have BTC (virtual currency) if it can't be touched or smelled etc? And if it dumps in the future to zero....did it ever 'really' exist or was it just

a futile virtual hope?

But, if it does pump in value and you do 'exchange' some to USD....if it now exists.....was it not just a template of the mind anyway?"

(hurt my head on this Zen Koan Stuff)

anyway, feel free to dive in...its silly....but according to Bill Gates and Warren Buffet ...so are all of us

brad

Retirement on crypto (BTC and altcoins of many flavors) has its issues. As the price of BTC and/or your altcoins drop, you get depressed and spend your crypto cash like a drunken sailor.

On the other hand, the price of your crypto of any flavor goes up and you are happy and also spend money like a drunken sailor

(ah the fear of being unemployed at one time kept my spending in check...no more)

just saying, you spend cash now like every day is a weekend :(

Anger and frustration are nothing but a feeling.Your mind is playing tricks on you,when you are angry and frustrated.In the end,nothing really matters,exept our health and relationships.Money can be made,it doesn't matter if it's bitcoin or fiat.I don't wanna be so focused into the crypto markets and so hard working,because in the end,everything might have been only a waste of time and efforts.

I am very ZEN When iT comes to BTC -crypto.... cause for me it started When the price was 370-ish AND i never heard of crypto in my life .... but playing high stakes poker @ homegame ,one day a Guy comes in and played but if he would lose he wanted to pay in This BTC things ( he didn’t want them away most bullish Guy ever) ;D
And from here my BTC entrance was Born i was the lucky fuck that won a lot of BTC’s and had a very good friend (that knows a lot around crypto etc...) combined with it
Because of iT Where all Just wins a hodl iT on his advice and from there i was in the space Just @ the start of the BULL run ,  cause all my BTC or mostly winnings and only 10% DIP BUYS or So is keeping me also very ZEN full on This ride
But cause of This Guy and crypto i learned So much and became a real believer in BTC
Beeing zen   ;D

That's a good one especially when you realise that 'bitcoin' as a coin, doesn't even exist in a digital form. There's no string of ones and zeroes you could point out and say "there it is! there's my bitcoin". Only entries in a ledger...

Consequently, it's probably more accurate to refer to it as 'imaginary' currency rather than 'digital', although that'd be an awful marketing move...

 

At least you can point out the transaction details on blockchain and you can also point out your wallet the same as showing them how much money you have on paypal.
If it dumps in the future to zero, I guess you can say that it was just a futile virtual money instead. At least you can use it now to buy things online more conveniently without the need of revealing your credit card details to third party websites.

Damn mate you really hit the bullseyes with this statement.  :)

And that's what going on with me currently, I spend cash like its always a Christmas season or even someone commented that I spend too much as if I have 2 families to feed.  ;D

Yeah, I think it is a 'hedge' kinda. I used to spend on 'miner equipment' but the days of the small time miner are done...so now when price drops I buy dubious junk to make

myself happy as a hedge that it will fall further...and if the price goes up ...my confidence goes up and it is 'what the hell, live a little it is gonna moon!' ..thus feel like a

yo/yo.

I'm living now on 'dubious' altcoins I've mined in the past on the retirement so that magnify's  the above greatly

not sure what is gonna happen now that 'hobby miners' and the data hall stuff is sold...was kinda easy to retire when I had self-employed monthly income from mining

alas, those days are gone ....don't want to touch the since 2015 BTC hoard (ack! the horror!)

so I expect my next yo/yo will be to act like an old pensioner....being fussy on whether to sell a bond or two to eat and clothe myself...I will probably be that guy...:(

one extreme or another...

I also notice other signs of age on my retirement....old guy stuff....like suddenly I like horseradish and have the urge to get an old pickup....pile it with junk in the back

(which never is taken out of the pickup) a huge urge to wear a baseball cap at all times and drive the pickup around aimlessly like the other old farts I see with a grim

look on my face..that I'm actually doing something. I dread the day when I pay attention to various 'depend' adult diaper ads. :( (ack! the horror ack!)

later

brad

I think bitcoin teaches us all about the great times and also the turbulent times in life and how important it is to stay humble and true to ourselves. It's just as important to work hard and make the right decisions in life when times are good as when they are bad.

In some cases people have no other option. For them it's all or nothing and I can somewhat understand their position, regardless of the risks they expose themselves to in order to get that better life they always wanted.

Most people have an average (boring) life with next to no escape from it. Crypto currencies give people that bit of hope of an escape they desperately were waiting for, and they're dedicated to squeeze out the most of it.

Seriously, what else beside crypto has the potential to be that life changing event? Hard working doesn't pay off. Investing in stocks doesn't pay off. Investing in real estate doesn't pay off. Crypto is it and it's literally all or nothing.

The term digital currency or crypto currency isn't helping crypto either with how little currency/money use crypto actually enjoys.  :D

I'm glad that the name of Bitcoin doesn't really matter in the end. Bitcoin is pretty much everything people want it to be as long as it is useful in a way that benefits the user. In my case that's the money and store of value aspect. Even if governments classify Bitcoin as Kangaroo, it doesn't change one single thing in how I use Bitcoin. Don't like the way I use Bitcoin as government? Try stop me. ;)

My ZEN moment is that I no longer see Bitcoin as an investment, and this is the best thing that happened to me in all the years that I have been here.