good to be back lads/lasses
in addition to the previous excellemt post by Socrates - what I think bears striking similarity to Ordinary/Trading Persona is how a "normal" person develops in a war. Think about this - "normal" protective mechanisms developed and refined in human beings make an "ordinary" 25 yrs old (or so) wish (and achieve) simple things - food, drink, good sh*g
etc... - they do take him sometimes to pub brawls - but i do not quite recall meeting "normal" ppl going to South Bronx on a daily basis looking for a good shoot-out
. Now how come same lad after spending a few months on the front line volunteers for and taked pride in going on reconnaisance missions every night for something 100 times worse than all bad neighbourhoods taken together? That "normal" person in him if told about that before the war wud completely freak out and "shut down" the whole system!!!
U c my point? I can foresee a counterargument here. Stop, china white, there is such thing as "indoctrination" of soldiers (brain washing, revenge for dead civilians, dead comrades etc...) in the war but there is no such thing in trading! Now stop for a sec and look back at this counterargument. U sure there is no such thing in trading? Of coz there is no "Fuhrer" telling u u have to fight coz u r "supermenschen" but isn't there part of yourself telling u u have to trade coz deep inside u r a "star trader"?
As far as "self-indoctrination" is concerned, there is actually more of that in trading than in a war IMO
My point is that the development of a Trading Persona (warrior) is a process going well beyond what Ordinary Persona can ever think of. Some ppl cannot do it - and my full respect to them. I'll tell u more - I personally do not have much against deserters from the front line (at least psychologically) - those r the ppl who CANNOT develop a warrior AND IF THEY STAY there, they'll be just cannonfodder.......
But we r here which means WE are not. Do not lollaby yourselves though - even the best traders can go bust, like even the best warriors can get killed. There may be another 1929 (where u will obviously be long), some nut case can come to power and nationalise your dosh on the exchange or there may be a global earthquake all of a sudden - I am giving absurd examples on purpose to show there ARE things best professionals cannot do much about. The best trained samurais died just as quickly as chicken in Hiroshina or Nagasaki. THAT WUD NEVER STOP ME THO FROM FIGHTING AND WINNING - and I am sure everyone here will second that