David Bohm explored how thought shapes what we see—and what we miss. His work offers a useful question for investors: are we examining the evidence, or defending a familiar view?
The problem is rarely a lack of intelligence. It is the mind’s tendency to mistake its own model for reality.
01 · The Thinker
David Bohm was a theoretical physicist whose work extended into questions about thought, perception, and dialogue.
He asked us to pay attention to the process of thinking, including assumptions that can shape our conclusions without our noticing.
His answer, developed over decades and published in Thought as a System, was that thought is not a neutral observer of reality. It is an active participant that quietly shapes what we perceive, what we ignore, and what we believe is even worth questioning.
“Thought is participating and then saying it’s not participating.”
David Bohm · reproduced by the David Bohm Society
02 · The Core Idea
My takeaway from Bohm is simple: the explanations we use can shape what we notice. When a familiar explanation goes unquestioned, evidence can be made to fit the story.
The sequence below is my illustration of that risk. It is not a model Bohm designed for financial markets.
01
Experience
Facts and outcomes enter the mind.
02
Model
Thought organizes them into a working explanation.
03
Certainty
The explanation begins to feel like reality itself.
04
Blind Spot
The model stops being visible — and stops being questioned.
03 · Why It Matters to You
An investment decision combines evidence with interpretation. These examples apply Bohm’s invitation to examine thought to the everyday choices an investor faces.
They are my investment interpretation, not a three-part investment framework proposed by Bohm.
Example 1
When knowledge stops yielding to evidence
Bohm’s idea: Established knowledge must remain open to fresh perception. Otherwise, unwelcome facts can be distorted to preserve a familiar framework. Market application: An investor convinced that AI will transform the economy might overlook the price paid for that growth. An investor expecting a crash might dismiss improving earnings. Both can become more committed to the explanation than to examining it. Ask yourself: Which recent evidence have I explained away?
Example 2
When a response becomes a reflex
Bohm’s idea: Much of thought operates through learned reflexes—responses that arise before we recognize how they formed. Market application: “Buy every dip” can become automatic after repeated recoveries. So can “sell before it gets worse” after a painful loss. Either response may arrive before we examine our present circumstances. Ask yourself: Am I responding to this situation—or reliving an earlier one?
Example 3
When familiarity feels like evidence
Bohm’s idea: Knowledge actively influences perception, often without our awareness. Market application: Decades with a respected utility can make its shares feel safe. Knowing the company well does not, by itself, establish that its valuation or its weight in a retirement portfolio is appropriate. Ask yourself: If I did not already own it, would I choose this much today?
04 · Applying the lesson to myself
My concerns about valuations, inflation, and debt do not exempt me from this problem. Expecting a market reset can become a familiar story too. A view deserves scrutiny precisely when I feel most certain of it.
Evidence of more sustainable valuations, stronger underlying earnings, or easing inflation and fiscal pressures would deserve a fresh assessment of my concerns. So would evidence that the costs of defensive positioning outweigh its benefits for a particular household. The purpose is to keep the reasoning open to revision.
05 · A practical discipline
Bohm encouraged attention to how thought operates, not just to the conclusions it produces. For an investor, that suggests pausing to notice what assumptions are doing the work.
Write down your view, the evidence supporting it, and the evidence that would challenge it. Revisit those notes when conditions change. Reconsidering a view does not automatically require a trade.
One question worth writing down
What evidence would make me reconsider this position—or this market outlook?
If the answer is unclear, that is a useful place to begin a conversation. The same question belongs on both sides of the table.
The quotation above is reproduced on the David Bohm Society’s dialogue website. The investing examples, visual sequence, and practical questions on this page are Wilder Bailey’s interpretation of Bohm’s ideas; they are not an investment method developed or endorsed by Bohm.
Read Bohm’s words in context ↗A Second Set of Eyes
A thoughtful review makes room for questions about what you own, what you expect, and what would change your mind. My assumptions belong in that conversation too.
This page is educational in nature and does not constitute investment advice. All investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal.