A beam of sunlight
touches the
falling raindrop
turning it into
mist:
a thousand raindrops.
–Terry Chitwood
In alchemy, once the Philosopher’s Stone is developed in an individual, one of its operations is multiplicatio (multiplication). An example from Zen literature is the tenth Zen Ox-Herding picture where the sage walks joyfully into the village with flowers blooming spontaneously on both sides of the path behind him.
Spiritual Development
Like the flowers in the Zen story, spiritual development flows into the world like “a thousand raindrops,” nourishing the earth, bringing living water to its inhabitants. Drinking water touched by the sun rejuvenates everyone.
Head Trips
For traders, spiritual development may not seem important. After all, trading is all about results. Even computers can trade; many times they trade better than humans (e.g. computer algorithms). But computers can’t develop spiritually – nor can traders that emulate computers.
Chaos
Since the market is so tumultuous, it is the perfect arena for spiritual development. Trading literature encourages eccentricity, greed, intellectualization, false promises of success and collecting other baubles. The American culture’s worshiping of money and success plays its part.
Opportunity
Traders have an opportunity to develop their character through the pressures of trading. Discovering how to stay centered when facing fear, when gyrating between anger and sadness, and when experiencing consistent losses. Hardship can give birth to courage, faith, and purpose. Choose to develop spiritually.
Photo Credit: Photo by jangeltun