Chapter 69 remember the way home

Living in today's world, peace of mind is not easy to come by.The world is full of opportunities, but also full of pressure.Opportunity tempts people to try, and pressure forces people to struggle, all of which make people restless.I am not advocating that young people reject any opportunity, escape all pressure, and face the world with a closed attitude.A young heart should not be as still as still water, without waves.The world belongs to young people. It is a necessary experience in life to venture into the vast world while young.All we need to prevent is that we give ourselves completely to the opportunities and pressures to dominate, and lose our way home in the rush or muddle through the world.

Whenever I come to a strange city, my habit is to walk casually. My curiosity drives me to explore the lively streets and alleys and remote corners here.On the way, it is inevitable to get lost temporarily, but you must be sure in your heart, confident that you can remember the route back to your residence, otherwise you will feel uneasy.I think the same is true of life.You might as well wander around the world, to make meritorious deeds and start a business, to explore and hunt for novelty, to find love and courtship, but you must not forget the way home.This home is your ego, your own spiritual world.

To seek peace of mind, the premise is to have a mind first.In theory, everyone has a soul, but in practice they don't.There are some people who are always influenced by external forces, live in the noisy external world forever, and have no real inner life.For such a person, peace of mind is out of the question.Only when a person pays attention to the mind, will he feel uneasy because the mind is disturbed, and will have the need to seek the tranquility of the mind.Therefore, it is most important to have the endowment to live an inner life, or to develop such a habit.Those who have this endowment or habit know that inner life and outer life are not mutually exclusive, and that the same person may be rich in both.The difference is that people who pay attention to inner life are good at turning the harvest of outer life into spiritual wealth, while those who lack this kind of endowment or habit tend to get lost in outer life, and the whole person is scattered.The self is a central point. With a solid self, a person has a spiritual coordinate in this world, and no matter how far he goes, he can find his way home.To change an analogy, we might say that a man with a solid ego is like having a spiritual confidant, who takes this confidant with him wherever he goes, who will faithfully share all that has happened to him, and listen to all that has happened to him. heart language.

If a person has his own spiritual pursuit, travels in the world and has considerable life experience, then he will gradually realize his place in the world.The world is infinitely vast, and the temptation is endless. However, the real possibilities belonging to everyone are limited after all.You might as well keep an open mind to all possibilities, because that is the source of the charm of life, but at the same time, you should cast your anchor on the sea of ​​the world earlier and find the field that suits you best.Regardless of whether a person is great or ordinary, as long as he follows his own nature, finds what he really likes to do, and devotes himself to doing what he likes to do to perfection, he will have an unbreakable home in this world.Therefore, he will not only have enough courage to withstand the pressure of the outside world, but also have enough sobriety to face the temptation of all kinds of opportunities.Of course, we have no reason to doubt that such a person will be able to obtain fulfillment of life and peace of mind.

19985 Pleasure is the basic standard After reading books for most of my life, if someone asks me what the criteria for choosing books are, I will definitely answer without hesitation: .No matter how important the experts say it is, or how popular the rankings say it is, if it doesn't make me happy to read it, I'd rather not read it. People do things either out of profit or out of temperament.Of course, you don't have to care too much about whether you are happy or not when you do things for profit.I often see the champions in Vanity Fair complaining about their sufferings while still struggling, and I can fully understand this

.I don't think their complaints are false, because I know that interest is a coercive force, and in the nature of what they do, interest is indeed more important than pleasure.Pleasure, on the other hand, is the basic criterion in everything that is done out of the temper, that is, for the mere satisfaction of the soul.This category includes not only reading, but also writing, artistic creation, artistic appreciation, making friends, falling in love, doing good deeds, etc., in short, all spiritual activities.If we do not feel happy when doing these things, we must wonder whether there is a compulsion of interest at work, making them change from sexual life to utilitarian behavior.

It is a very high state to read only for pleasure.Regarding this state, Tao Yuanming made the best expression: "I like to read books, but I don't seek deep understanding. Whenever I understand, I will happily forget to eat." However, let us not forget that in "The Biography of Mr. Wuliu", the sentence before this sentence The saying is: "Be quiet and talk less, and don't admire glory and profit." It can be seen that to read books out of temperament, the premise is to have true temperament.Those who are restless and want to comment on everything, those who are eager for glory and gain, only want to show off their ability to solve and the attitude of holding the truth, and they are not willing to be content with their own state of understanding.

Taking pleasure as the basic standard is also an honest attitude in reading.No matter what kind of book, you should admit that it is a good book for you only if you feel happy when you read it, resonate with you and enjoy it.On this point, Maugham said it well: "You are the final judge of the value of the books you read for you." Especially literary works, which are not practical in themselves, can only enrich your life, but must Do this if you enjoy reading.No one is obliged to read poetry, novels, or prose.Even if it is a masterpiece praised by experts, if you are not interested, it has nothing to do with you.If you are not interested and read hard, the result can only be pretending to understand and echoing what others say.On the contrary, as far as I can see, those who really enjoy reading are often able to express their opinions directly.For example, Montaigne dared to criticize Plato's dialogues and Cicero's writings for being protracted, and frankly admitted that he could not appreciate them. Herbos even called Milton's "Paradise Restoration" and Goethe's "Faust" To do the most famous way of inducing boredom, to declare the incomprehension of Joyce's work a failure of the author.Both were scholarly writers whose erudition no one could doubt.Of course, we don't have to agree with their opinions on those specific works. I just want to use this to illustrate that people who take reading for pleasure must have their own distinct likes and dislikes, and they are frank in their hearts and don't bother to hide them.

I do not deny that reading is not necessarily just for pleasure, there are also reasons for the existence of reading for profit, such as doing homework for students and learning for scholars.However, at the same time, I also believe that among good students and scholars, pleasant reading must occupy a greater proportion.I also believe that the preservation and cultivation of the pleasure of reading is a more important task of education than the instillation of knowledge.We may therefore safely judge an education as a failure if it prevents the pupil from experiencing and enjoying the pleasures of reading, but sees it as a complete chore.

19986