The Taoist Trader: The Perfect Trade

Tao Te Ching (Chapter 29)

Those who look down upon this world

Will surely take hold and try to change things

But this is a plan

I’ve always seen fail

The world is Tao’s own vessel

It is perfection manifest

It cannot be changed

It cannot be improved

For those who go on tampering, it’s ruined

For those who try to grasp, it’s gone

Allow your life to unfold naturally

Know that it too is a vessel of perfection

Just as you breathe in and breathe out

Sometimes you’re ahead and other times behind

Sometimes you’re strong and other times weak

Sometimes you’re with people and other times alone

To the Sage

All of life is a movement toward perfection

So what need has he

For the excessive, the extravagant, or the extreme?

(By Lao Tsu, translated by Jonathan Star)

The Perfect World

If the world is “Tao’s own vessel’ and is “perfection manifest,” then all the strife, friction and conflict in the world are part of the design. And what better way to foment conflict and discontent than to have “markets” available to trade. And since trading intensifies emotional conflicts which are needed for personal transformation, then trading becomes a perfect vehicle for self-development. “All of life is a movement toward perfection.”

Are You Kidding Me?

Look Terry! Do you really believe we live in a perfect world? Back off, buddy. What’s with the trick question? With your perfect-world question you’re trying to force me to change my words, my worldview. “Those who look down upon this world will surely take hold and try to change things.” “It cannot be changed. It cannot be improved.”

Each trade is the Perfect Trade

Are all winning trades good and are all losing trades bad? Not if the world is a cauldron for self-development. Win or lose, each trade is the perfect trade. What did you learn about yourself and life itself from each trade? What Is “Tao’s own vessel” teaching you? If winning and losing aren’t important for the usual reasons (i.e. making money, losing money), you can relax. “Allow your life to unfold naturally. Know that it too is a vessel of perfection.”