TTC 4

Let's take a look at Chapter 4 of the Tao Teh Ching ... as before, credits to Master Ni, Hua-Ching, for his interpretation and publication of this classic work of Lao Tzu.
(Lao Tzu = "The Old Man")
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The subtle Way of the universe appears to lack strength
yet its power is inexhaustible.
Fathomless, it could be the origin of all things.
It has no sharpness,
yet it rounds off all sharp edges.
It has no form,
yet it unties all tangles.
It has no glare,
yet it merges all lights.
It harmonizes all things and
unites them as one integral whole.
It seems so obscure,
yet it is the Ultimate Clarity.
Whose offspring it is
can never be known.
It is that which existed
before any divinity.

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The remark about it seeming so obscure, reminds me of one of my favorite stories from my t'ai chi days. A young fellow in the town wanted so much to gain knowledge of the truth, and eventually was referred to an old hermit sage who lived far, far away. This young man walked out of the town, and hiked through the woods where he was almost mauled by a tiger. Then he came to a fast flowing rocky creek, which he managed to cross only after losing his footing many times, almost drowning in the cold water and getting bruised against the slippery rocks. After he dragged himself onto shore, he fell asleep for a short time, but a bear woke him up, so he dashed off quickly, forgetting to refill his bottle with any fresh water.
As he continued, the landscape became bare, the sun glared, and he was crossing a blinding desert. After a couple of days, sunburnt and parched with thirst, he finally crawled to a small patch of trees where he found a trickle of water, drank and passed out.
Upon awaking, he resumed his hike, noticing that his skin was now covered in itching, painful bites from bugs that had swarmed in that area. After almost stepping on a poisonous snake, he jumped ahead and found himself approaching the base of a cliff. Realizing he was almost there, he summoned the last of his energy and climbed up the cliff. Inching over the edge, he then rolled some yards until he found himself near the old man, who was sitting with his eyes closed, cross-legged by a small fire.
"Old man!" he exclaimed, "I have come from afar to benefit from your wisdom and learn the truth!" Undisturbed, with his eyes still closed, the old man simply responded, "Oh so."
"Please do tell me, what is the truth? I have endured so much, to learn this," urged the young man. "Hmmm. Well all right then," answered the old sage, "life is like a river."
After some moments passed, and the youth realized that was the only answer he would receive, he grew angry. "What, that's it?!? 'Life is like a river,' what is that, that's nothing! Just to get here to learn the truth, I was almost killed by a tiger; drowned and dashed on the rocks; mauled by a bear; almost died in the desert, pestered by foul insects and bitten by a snake, and finally risked my life climbing this steep cliff. How can you sit there and that's all you have to tell me - 'Life is like a river'?!!"
Then, the sage opened one eye, looked at him, and replied: "You mean ... it isn't?!"

This story's message can reverberate and be expressed in a number of ways. Maybe some people will be interested in commenting on some of the meanings that can be found in it ... or, in commenting on messages from TTC Chapter 4 for the art of trading.