Chapter 83 on others

on others You have yourself before others, and you have others before you have yourself.Everyone understands this principle, but many people cannot practice it.Originally, there are others besides myself, but some are relevant and some are irrelevant.Those who can be said to be "mine", such as my parents, wife, my friends, etc., are relevant others, and the rest are irrelevant others.Relevant others and oneself form family relatives and friends; irrelevant others form society and country with oneself.He may be willing to only care about himself, but he is a relative existence to others, and he does not care about himself without others, so he has to take care of his family, relatives and friends, and the society and the state require him to take care of those irrelevant others.Therefore, "self-consciousness" is not a good man, "self-care" is not a good word, "selfishness", "disregarding the life and death of others", and "only knowing oneself, but not others" are not good people.So the way of Confucius is just loyalty and forgiveness: loyalty is to do to others what you want, and forgiveness is "do not do to others what you don't want."These are two sides of the same thing, so we say "consistently".The way of Confucius is just to teach people to think about others.

However, if Confucianism has "killing relatives", there is also a level of consideration for others.Family first, relatives second, friends third, and irrelevant others next to each other.For thousands of years, caring for the family has been an obligation, and caring for others is more or less just loyalty; duty is one's duty, and loyalty is extra.But the responsibility seems too heavy, and others suppress themselves.This is the era of the May Fourth Movement.This is an era of self-liberation, in which individuals earn from the oppression of their families and begin to be independent in society.So I put myself first, above all else, and almost have no obligation to others.But they also want to transform society, transform the country, and even transform the world, saying that these are their responsibilities.Although it is a responsibility, it is an unlimited responsibility. Love is endless, and love is as much as it is; anyway, society, country, and the world can be just abstract nouns, not like a family waiting for you with their mouths open.Therefore, taking care of oneself is first in fact, and taking care of society, the country and the world is first in name.It's an obligation.Taking care of others, whether relevant or irrelevant, is just loyalty and politeness.Those who have been liberated, and those who were born too late to catch up with that kind of oppression, since they are above everything else, others should not be in their eyes, and it is considered polite to take care of others.In fact, in the eyes of these proud sons of heaven, others seem to live for themselves, and it makes sense that they all have to support themselves. "I love me" has become a trend, thinking of oneself everywhere, saying it is "true"; thinking of others is "fake" and "hypocrisy".But the "false" here is a little cute, and the "true" is a little scary.

Thinking about others is actually just pushing yourself to others, or treating yourself as someone else, and there is no fundamental difference from thinking about yourself.However, putting yourself in the shoes of others and putting yourself in the shoes of others does require quite a bit of reluctance, not as natural as "I love me".The so-called "false" and "true" probably mean this.This kind of "truth" is not necessarily good, and this kind of "fake" is not necessarily bad.When reading novels and watching plays, I often sweat and shed tears for the people in the books and plays, so-called worrying for the ancients.This is also pushing yourself and others, and putting yourself in the place; but because people and land are only in books and plays, they don’t really exist, there is no interest to care about, and the distinction between relevant and irrelevant is lost, so "push" and "set" feel natural.This is not the case for acting in novels. You have to observe, figure out, and be considerate of other people's tone, identity, and psychology in order to achieve "realism".Especially in acting, if you can't forget yourself, it must be terrible.You have to force yourself and train yourself; the better the training, the more "realistic" and beautiful it is, and the more it can infect readers and audiences.If "true" is "natural", readers of novels and audiences of dramas are so considerate of others, it seems that they cannot be called "false".The authors of novels and the actors of plays seem to be "false" in their observations, speculations, and considerations, but they can achieve "realism" and what they seek is "truth."It is "true" to consider others in literature and art, but it is "false" and "hypocrisy" in real life, which seems to be the result of a calculation of interests; Just a nice facade.Carrying too much on one's own interests is like "shut up in one's own prison" as France said; always shut up like that, you must die.Fortunately, these people can still read novels and watch plays, so they should read carefully and learn how to consider others from there.

Since the May Fourth Movement, the life of the group has developed.This and that group is as concrete as a family, unlike societies and countries, which can sometimes be just abstract nouns.Group life turns irrelevant others into relevant others, requiring you to also train yourself to take care of others, at least the vast number of relevant others.The binding force of the group seems to be increasing all the time, and I have to think about others.The belief that I am the first and that I am above all else seems to have gradually bowed its head.But the great era of the Anti-Japanese War has come.The strength of the Anti-Japanese War undoubtedly stems from the development of group life in the past twenty years.However, since the Anti-Japanese War, group life has developed too fast, and it is inevitable that there are some places where the balance cannot be achieved.Once the individual stands out again, he can be above everything else again; now he doesn't say "true" or "false", and only does those selfish things in the name of the sacred war of resistance, nominally caring for others , really looking out for itself.If you are above everything else, your own group or organization is also above everything else; if you are fat, your organization is fat, others are thin, and others are thin. If you are happy with yourself, you can't control it! — emaciated, starved to death, and deserved it!I believe that when the final victory comes, others will always suppress those rampant despicable selves.These years, I have been too crazy, and I always hope to suppress its head.Of course, it is not necessarily good to keep caring for others.Dedicated to righteousness, forgetting one's body, and being in a hurry, he is indeed a hero, but it is rare to see.The common ones are either perfunctory and compromised wishes, or humble and even flattering poor people. These people just throw themselves into the garbage dump!However, it has been said well that life is a matter of proportion.Right now, I am stretching my teeth and claws, and I have a headache to treat my head, and my feet are treated to treat my feet. Let me think about others first!

Made on August 16, 1942. (Originally published in "Wenju")