Tao Te Ching (Chapter 42)
Tao gives life to the one
The one gives life to the two
The two give life to the three
The three give life to ten thousand things
All beings support yin and embrace yang
and the interplay of these two forces
fills the universe
Yet only at the still-point.
between the breathing in and the breathing out,
can one capture these two in perfect harmony
People suffer at the thought of being
without parents, without food, or without worth
Yet this is the very way that
kings and lords once described themselves
Who knows what fate may bring—
one day your loss may be your fortune
one day your fortune may be your loss
The age-old lesson that others teach, I also teach—
“As you plant, so you reap”
“As you live so you die”
Know this to be the foundation of my teachings
(By Lao Tsu, translated by Jonathan Star)
The Still-Point
“The one gives life to the two” is the essence of the formation of a creation myth. The unity is split into a duality: night and day; the masculine and the feminine; good and evil; etc. Duality implies friction, conflict. In trading, markets move up and down. Traders win or lose. Certainly, this process could cycle into infinity. However, “The two give life to the three.” If an individual holds the tension between good and evil in his or her psyche, over time a higher order synthesis (unity, oneness) is created. The individual is transformed. The still-point is created. “Yet only at the still-point between the breathing in and the breathing out, can one capture these two in perfect harmony.”
The Transformed Trader
If a trader holds the tension between winning and losing in his or her psyche, over time a higher order synthesis is created. The trader is transformed. “One day your loss may be your fortune.” By not succumbing to despair from trading losses or narcissistic elation from wins, the transformed trader learns that trading has a lot more to it than making money. Being transformed, a trader can apply his or her hard-won worldview to many worthwhile aspects of life. Like poetry.
mountain mist rises
melting into the sun
–Terry
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