Chapter 26 why small is beautiful

A few years ago, a colleague in our company recommended a book to me, which was "Small is Beautiful" published by the British economist Michael Schumacher in 1973.After reading this book, I think that this person must be a disciple or admirer of Mahatma Gandhi in India, because I think the ideas in this book are the extension of Gandhi's ideas in economics, and I also think the ideas in the book It is more like asking questions of faith and morality from an economic point of view.I couldn't fully understand this aspect at the time, but I was deeply impressed by the idea of ​​"small is beautiful" in the book, and it became a part of my worldview and thinking framework.

Today, a few years later, Yilin Publishing House is going to republish this book and asked me to write a preface for it.So I read the book again.When I read this book again, I felt that every sentence seemed to be drilled into my heart, and some words even made my scalp tingle. It was completely different from my views and feelings when I read this book for the first time a few years ago. .In fact, every word in this book has not changed. What has changed is my own reflection on the development model and my further understanding of belief and morality.Now I recommend this book to those friends who are willing to think about the future with a very pious heart, and I sincerely hope that more friends can read this book: whether they are powerful or not; People; whether old or young... I believe this book will inspire everyone with wisdom.

Mahatma Gandhi has a famous saying that is widely circulated by everyone: "The material wealth provided to us on the earth is enough to satisfy everyone's needs, but not enough to satisfy everyone's greed." Understanding Mahatma Gandhi's ideal world may be able to Help us understand this book better.Mahatma Gandhi said: "I will fight for an India where the poor regard her as their own country and can effectively voice their opinions on issues concerning her development; where there is no distinction of class status; Here, all social groups will live in harmony; here, women enjoy the same rights as men. This is the India of my dreams." The book "Small is Beautiful" explores education, land, resources, The relationship between technology and development, and reflect on the impact of the development model of Western industrialization on the world.It is impossible to imagine that this is a book written 33 years ago, with such profound and prophetic views.Where did the development model of Western industrialization go wrong?The driving force behind this development model comes from comparison and competition. It is this development model that activates and amplifies the greed and jealousy in human nature, which destroy human wisdom, peace and happiness.No matter how rapidly material wealth increases under such a development model, it is impossible to bring about sustained peace and general happiness to mankind; in this development model, "the measure of development is simply the increase of GDP , but it is only statistical data in statistics, not the real feelings of the people; in this development model, the grassroots people are oppressed by the increasing sense of frustration, alienation and insecurity." The development of society should It is the balanced development of material wealth and spiritual wealth.The development of science provides the foundation and driving force for technology. People continue to discover the laws of the material world, master these laws and create material wealth.In the spiritual world, belief is the driving force and foundation of morality.Just as in the material world, the development of science provides the foundation and driving force for technology, morality without belief is a kite with a broken string, and morality can only become a slogan without power.Faith and morality advance the progress of the human spirit.If we only pay attention to the increase of material wealth, and only carry out the transportation, compounding, decomposition and continuous combination of materials in the material world, or even nothing changes, only the rights of ownership have changed, it is impossible to solve the problems of human spirit and promote human beings. progress of the human spirit.Measuring the degree of happiness of a person by the amount of material wealth he owns is nowhere near the itch, and it is even more impossible to touch human nature itself, because this is completely a problem of two worlds.

At the same time, "sustained peace" is not only the peace between people, but also the harmony and coexistence between human beings and nature.In the process of constantly defeating nature, our victory is only short-lived and self-righteous. In the end, human beings will never defeat nature, because we are part of nature, and our strength and wisdom come from Nature.In the eyes of believers, God is behind nature, which contains many mysteries that people cannot know.Human beings are part of nature, how can a part be greater than the whole?How can the part overcome the whole?I think we should also think more deeply about the relationship between people and the environment.In the past few years, I have often participated in some green and environmental protection activities and conferences, but often because there is no clear guiding ideology, these activities have become technical competitions again and again, and even become promotion meetings of new products and new equipment for businesses.There is no directional guiding ideology on environmental protection issues, and we only use small tricks on the technical level, and we will become penguins who don't care about their tails.And "Small is Beautiful" clearly put forward the future development model and direction 33 years ago.

The catastrophic "September 11 Incident" in the United States was the result of the intersection of the hatred brought about by the development of Western industrialization and the pursuit of tallness and iconicity in urban construction.The guiding ideology of these two paths runs counter to "Small is Beautiful".If our development does not have the correct guiding ideology, tragedies like "9.11" may repeat itself.Looking back, what is the way out for the world's development?I think it should return to people, return to humanity.It is also based on this that Schumacher appealed: the greatest resource in the world is education.