Chapter 115 Dissatisfaction with the status quo

Dissatisfaction with the status quo In fact, there were always many people who were dissatisfied with the status quo in that era.How did these people deal with their “discontent” before modern times?Among ordinary people, it is resentment for fate, the way of the world, and the year.The year is the age, and the world is mechanically inevitable because of the fate; the most important thing is fate. My own life is not good, so I was born in this world. In this year, who is to blame!Life is also a mechanical necessity.This can be said to be "reproaching the sky" and a kind of determinism.It is destined to suffer, so I have to suffer, and I have to eat if I don’t eat.Scholars also resent fate, but they emphasize the lament that "the world is changing day by day" and "people's hearts are not old", as if "the people's hearts are not old" is why "the world is changing day by day".This can be said to be "reproaching the heavens" but also "specializing people", the main thing is "specializing people".Why is the human heart not ancient?The reason is that there is no benevolent government and no moral education, that is, the sage is not in place, and the ruler is not good.This is a kind of idealistic anthropomorphism.But why is the sage not present?People will just say "It's just what it is!" It's back to determinism.But scholars are better than ordinary people. They can be hermits, proud of the mountains and forests, and let the common people support them;Being a hermit can be said to not cooperate with the ruler, or it can be said to leave it alone.The so-called "poor is good for oneself" generally means this.Since "being alone", one naturally has no control over the life and death of others and the rise and fall of the world.So the common people are dissatisfied with the status quo and endure it, and the scholars are dissatisfied with the status quo and avoid it. The end result is to maintain the status quo and let the ruler sit firmly in the country.

But scholars should also "be good at the same time as the world".In the past, this kind of "reach" was "obtaining the monarch and practicing the way"; if one can really obtain the monarch and practice the way, of course, the status quo of being dissatisfied and dissatisfied with others must be changed to some extent.But the so-called others are still scholars; changing the status quo should mainly focus on increasing their interests, and ordinary people can only get some credit, or even just bear a name.If too much care is given to the common people and the interests of the scholars are divided, the scholars will become more dissatisfied and rise up to obstruct the change of the status quo; they would rather maintain the status quo at this time.Wang Anshi's reform in the Song Dynasty, which caused a great revolution, is a clear example.Although some scholars can't achieve the king's way, they have been looking forward to such a day all their lives.When they are poor and old, it seems that there will be no such day, and they will also write books and say that they hope that future generations can still have such a day, follow their way, and change the unsatisfactory status quo.But future generations are too uncertain, so it is better to do it by yourself, even if you only change a little bit, or even change your own status, it is also good.Besides, there are not many people who can write books and talk about it; it is true that writing a book and talking about it is slim, but it is still a way out, even if this is not possible, where can I vent my dissatisfaction!So there are people who lose their ambitions or people who are frustrated.This kind of scholar often does whatever it takes to achieve his goal.When the government doesn’t use them, they will cling to wealthy families, local governments, and separatist regimes, and even cooperate with people who rebel against the government; in extreme cases, they are even willing to become traitors, like Liu Yu and Zhang Bangchang.Such frustrated people often only see the wealth and splendor of themselves or a group of them. They have no principles and only want to change, or even destroy them so that they can fish in troubled waters.Such people often have little talent, sow discord, and are full of tricks, but they have to rely on some kind of power to be effective; they can only be what is called a "military adviser."The rulers hate and fear such people, they are troublemakers!But it seems that there are more and more people who may become this kind of people, and they can't be killed, so I have to give some errands and some dry salaries to appease them and hang on to their tastes.This is called "supporting scholars", and the purpose is to maintain the status quo and sit firmly in the country.

However, the patience of ordinary people, which includes resilience and inertia, although great, has a limit. "The dog jumps over the wall in a hurry", let alone a human being!When the status quo is so bad that you can't survive no matter how hard you suffer, people's hearts fluctuate, that is, their emotions are high, and the common people are instinctively desperate, and they want to break the status quo.They don't know how to change the status quo, but they have to break it first with a single effort, thinking that there is always hope if it is broken.The small scale of this situation is called "civilian uprising", while the large scale is called "rebellion".Farmers are the main force and they have their own leaders.There were not many such "civil upheavals" or "rebellions" in history, but most of them were temporarily suppressed. The historians of the ruling class often only wrote a few words in an understatement, or even cut them out of the book, so it seems It seems that the world is always peaceful.However, the Han and Ming dynasties were dominated by farmers, and the power of the common people should not be underestimated.However, although the Han and Ming dynasties were created by the common people themselves, the ending is still that one family and one surname are stable in the country; and this family has long since lost the face of the peasants, and turned to the scholars to vent their anger.The common people have put in a lot of effort, but they don't seem to get much.It broke the status quo, but it restored the status quo, and the changes were very few.As for powerful ministers usurping power and warlords seizing power by force and changing dynasties, the changes are probably even less.

In the past era, private people were the center and self-centered, scholars were like this, and so were ordinary people.Therefore, the world created by ordinary people still belongs to one family and one surname, falling into the stereotype of scholars.In the past, although it was often said that "it is easy to lift up the crowd", "it is difficult to offend the anger of the crowd", and it was often said that "love the crowd" and "win the crowd", but the main thing is "one person has celebration, and all people depend on it", "heaven and man In the political situation of "return", the "public" is actually "a mess of sand".Times can change now.Whether it is called the "mass", "the public", "the people", or "the masses", this "crowd" has indeed manifested a kind of power; this power was also latent in the past, but it was very weak, but now it is strong enough to gradually rival the The ruling class has resisted and is getting stronger every day.Everyone has increased their knowledge and experience amidst internal and external troubles. Knowing that "unity is strength", they are gradually abandoning the mechanical determinism and the idealistic theory of man-rule.On the one hand, scholars have gradually broken up with the ruling class and transformed into an intellectual class.They have been unable to find a corner to live in seclusion without listening to the chaos, and they disdain to do it. Fortunately, they have no place to be "military advisers".They are not willing to be "scholars" who are "raised" by others, and there are already too many intellectuals, and in fact they cannot "raise" such a large number of "scholars".They can only "support" themselves with their skills and jobs.In the early years, they could temporarily hide in so-called ivory towers.In these years, the ivory tower has become a cross street, and the tower has begun to be dismantled.So they probably had no choice but to come out and walk into the crowd.We are all depressed in this unbearable status quo.If this unsatisfactory status quo does not change, I am afraid that everyone can't help but join forces to break it.The important thing is what will change after breaking?This is really an unprecedented dangerous and shocking situation, and we have to heighten our vigilance to deal with it.

Created on November 3-5, 1947 (Originally published in Issue 18, Volume 3, "Observation" in 1947)