Aparigraha: Non-possessiveness and Generosity
Our association with the material world has consistently evolved since we were born. Should we not have let go of our favorite teddy bear, our dependence on our parents, our ideas about our sexuality our growth would have been stunted and we would not be functioning adults. The ability to let go of past ways of being has enabled us to adapt to our environment. Aparigraha suggests that we limit our possessions to what is necessary, let go of and, indeed, be generous with objects, thoughts, feelings, emotions, time, and effort.
The more we learn the more connections we have, but these associations are still made as subjective, formative experiences. We should try to detach from our former beliefs and at least allow new experiences to broaden our perception of our world, if not make entirely new impressions of it.
The ability to interpret new information as adults—without responding with preconditioned responses—has decreased with age and severely limits our creativity. Disassociation from an identity embellished with material goods may not be something we would consider. However, we may look at our attachments and reevaluate the necessity of them: food is essential, another designer hand bag is not. The time required obtaining, preserving, and disposing of these material objects could bereserved for friends or family. The same could be said of television, internet, overworking, or over-trading; although, we must remember not to deprive ourselves due to guilt or shame at our ability to acquire them.
Aparigraha and Trading
In New Trading Dimensions (1998), Dr. Bill Williams explains how most of our knowledge is accumulated: “The universally most common and most prejudiced way to handle new information is to fit it into old categories.” He goes on to say, “Attempting to fit new incoming information (Chaos) into old categories distorts both the information and the trading.” In contrast, Williams suggest that allowing the “new information to organize itself” will allow for greater trading efficacy, rather than clinging to the trading parameters that we feel possessive of.
To adhere to fear, anger, or hope as a result of past experiences will debilitate our ability to see a new opportunity. Each day will require the release of yesterday’s state of mind and events to allow the new, yet seemingly similar, set of market conditions to be evaluated and acted upon. The indicators of our trading strategy allow us to identify high probability set-up’s, but we may misperceive the opportunity of a trend if our confidence is shattered by an insecurity from an unprofitable trade the day before. Should we choose to label, distort, or define new experiences into yesterday market action, we will narrow outcomes to only those we are familiar with and further our self-imposed limitations.
Clinging to professional identity is also of concern, especially when our position is threatened. The inherent probability of loss within trading will deeply decompose the moods of market participants who deem their success on the profitability of each trade. As traders, speculators in the marketplace, we need to disassociate from beliefs which do not allow for failure. The law of probabilities is at play and while we may control our losses, we cannot eradicate them. As we know, most trades will be profitable not in degree, but in value: a few highly profitable trades will exceed the smaller losses taken on a greater number of entries. The goal of trading is to identify chart patterns that lead to profitable trades through use of communication tools, which turns the chance of a profitable trade to a higher ratio in our favor, minimizing our losses in capital and maximizing our profit.
Disengaging our discerning mind is not the goal—quite the opposite. Being able to allow, as yet, unrecognizable variables to enter the stream of information, unmitigated, requires an alert, focused, and open mind. Broadening our perception to dispel with values and temperaments we “possess” requires courage, strength, and conviction, all qualities necessary for the prospective trader, yogi, or self-realized being.
