The enemy within

I have written about the epic Mahabharata a few times in the last couple of months. In the interest of fairness and justice, I cannot leave it at just that. I have to mention the other two epics viz Ramayana and Homer's Iliad.

Iliad describes the war between Agamemnon and other Greek states including Sparta against Troy. Paris, the price of Troy, abducts Helen the queen of Sparta and destroys a well earned peace. Menelaus, the King of Sparta goes to his brother Agamemnon for help to defeat Troy and exact revenge. This is the start of the 10 year war.

The fact that the war waged for 10 years shows that the two sides were well matched. The fort of Troy was impregnable in those days of swords, spears, axes and bows and arrows. After ten years of on and off warfare, this war was beginning to tax the Greeks will to continue and they were on the verge of giving up. It was then that Odysseus builds the wooden horse which has since become famous as the Trojan horse. Thinking that the Greeks have accepted defeat and left their lands offering this horse as a gift to their Gods, the Trojans celebrate and take the large wooden horse, filled with the Greeks back into their fort. We all know what happens next. In the night, when the city is asleep after the wild celebrations, the Greeks emerge and massacre, loot and pillage Troy. What could not be done in 10 years was accomplished in hours.

Consider the other epic Ramayana where the War starts because Ravana abducts Sita, Rama's wife. Lanka was described as impregnable and it could indeed have been the case but for the fact that Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana, defects and joins forces with the armies of Rama. This inside information was invaluable in the ultimate defeat of Lanka.

In both the epics, the war wouldn't have started but for Paris and Ravana succumbing to their desire for Helen and Sita. Troy wouldn't have lost the war if they had not believed in their own greatness so much that they actually believed that the Greeks, who were fighting them so hard till then had made them an offering and left their lands. Lanka would not have fallen but for Vibhishana's help. In both cases it was the enemy within that caused the downfall of Troy and Lanka.

The moral for the trader is not that he should start looking for problems within his methodology or the enemy within his family and relatives in order to improve his results. The moral of the story is that the genesis of the trader's problems lies not outside that is with the market, his method, the world in general or his luck for that matter but most often within himself. It lies in his mental framework, his worldview or his behavioral issues. The trading results would be much better if the trader can conquer himself first.

This unfortunately, as we all know is the hardest battle to win and easier said than done.

This note is my last one in my series of notes which used stories from epics or films to highlight problems faced by investors or traders. I have to go back to discovering Laws of Trading or some such stuff in the coming days. For the moment let me say that I have cut my long positions and gone short below 5263 (I have been mentioning this for the last couple of days)