Chapter 26 The obsessed realize that everyone is a universe

 one My quirk is that I like philosophers who are generally disdained to be recorded in the history of philosophy. I would rather bypass the decadent palaces of once prominent systems and go to the barren villages and alleys of history to find their footprints.Emerson is one of these philosophers whom I should like to make my acquaintance with. I have long been yearning for Emerson.On my mental travel map, I have already marked the location of the small town of Concord.Nietzsche often refers to him.If a friend I like can't help but tell me about a friend he likes, I know I can like that friend too.

As the leader of the American Renaissance and an outstanding master of prose, Emerson has gone down in history.As a philosopher, he seems unable to enter the "official history" of philosophy.He is a philosopher who is good at inspiration but clumsy at system.His "system", the so-called transcendentalism, is probably not taken seriously in the United States today.It would be too pedantic for me to try to give a detailed account of his system.I just want to be inspired by him and write down my feelings.Transcendentalism is dead, but Emerson's wisdom lives on.  two

Perhaps there is not a philosopher who is not actually trying to establish some kind of system to give general form to his favorite ideas.Philosophers who claim to be against the system are no exception.However, the mysteries of the Great Thousand World will not succumb to any formula, and no system can last forever.Fortunately, the thoughts with real vitality will not be buried by the ruins of the system. Once the pretense of the system is removed, they appear under the sky in a more pure appearance, showing their solid connection with the sun, the earth, and life, and arousing in our hearts. kind echo.

Emerson believed that there is a corresponding relationship between the human heart and the universe, so everyone can know the truth of nature and history based on inner experience.This is his transcendentalism, which is a bit like the Neo-Confucianism of Song and Ming Dynasties, which advocates that "my heart is the universe", "mind is reason", and "reach conscience".Whether there is a corresponding relationship between the human heart and the universe can never be proved or refuted theoretically.A kind of metaphysics is just a kind of belief, and its role is only to support a kind of life attitude and value standpoint.I would rather face this attitude towards life and value standpoint directly rather than pursue the metaphysical beliefs behind it.So I see that what Emerson wants to express is his expectation and confidence in the possibility of the perfect development of human nature, and his philosophy is a hymn of individual liberation brimming with optimism.

 But Emerson's humanism is not a mere echo of the European Renaissance.He lived in the nineteenth century, and like the few great thinkers of his time, he was also a prophet who exposed the alienation of modern capitalist society.Each person is a universe, but in reality it is fragmented. "Society is such a state that every man walks about proudly like a limb sawn off from himself, and many monsters—a good finger, a neck, a stomach, an elbow, but never A man." I was reminded of Marx's analysis of man's alienation in his 1844 manuscript.I also think of Nietzsche's words: "My eyes look from today to the past, and there are everywhere: fragments, broken limbs, and terrible accidents-but there is no one!" Their theoretical fate is of course very different, but they are all equally warm. The ideal of all-round development of human nature.It often happens that the same passion drives people to engage in theoretical exploration, but they find different theories, and even become ideological enemies of each other.But is it really an enemy?

 three Every person is a universe, and every person's nature contains the creativity endowed by nature.Applying this point of view to reading, Emerson advocated a "creative reading".This is: to regard one's own life as the text and books as annotations; to listen to others' speeches so that one can speak; to read books for inspiration with an active soul. Almost all creative thinkers are instinctively wary of books.Montaigne once talked about "literacy", that is, he was cut by the ax of writing due to too much reading, and lost his creativity.Schopenhauer compared reading too much to turning one's own mind into a racetrack for other people's thoughts.Emerson also said: "I would rather never have seen a book than to be twisted by its suction, and pull me completely out of my orbit, and make me a satellite instead of a universe."

Many people enthusiastically ask for advice on how to read, but how to read actually depends on the attitude of the whole life.Unwinding can be beneficial, or it can be detrimental.The geniuses of the past can become stars in their own sky, or they can become idols who suppress themselves.Emerson quipped: "Meek young men are brought up in libraries believing it their duty to take the advice of Cicero, Locke, and Bacon; they forget that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon wrote these When they read books, they were just young people in the library." I would add: fortunately, the library collection was much smaller then than it is now, otherwise they might not have become Cicero, Locke, or Bacon.

Good books are friends, but only friends.Meeting friends is a pleasure, but you have to have something to say to be truly happy.A dull man is useless to his wisest friends, and he sits in the midst of brilliant friends, a puppet, a satire, a torture.Everyone is a god, and then there is a joyous gathering in the Olympus God Realm. When we read a book, when we read the wonderful part, we often can't help shouting out: This is my thought, this is exactly what I want to say, it was stolen by him!Sometimes it is really difficult to distinguish which is the author's original intention and which is his own mixing and addition.Sleeping feelings are awakened, lost memories are retrieved, and hazy thoughts are cleared up.All the rest is just dead "knowledge," that is, nothing but inorganic matter external to the organic process of the soul's growth.

I once calculated that I would read a book every day for the rest of my life, even my own book collection could not be finished.Not to mention the constant purchase of new books, not to mention the countless books in the library.It's kind of hopeless.However, when the urge to write came up, all this was forgotten.Emerson said it beautifully: "When a person can read God directly, that time is too precious to be wasted on the manuscript after reading by others." As long as you have a strong desire to create, you have no time to read books written by others Maybe it's a kind of luck.

 four There are two kinds of self-confidence: one is the independence of personality, despising the world's public opinion and utilitarianism;I admire the former kind of self-confidence, but always treat the latter kind of self-confidence with some distrust. In the world, people must always rely on something, otherwise they will be empty and boring.There are two things that seem to be the accepted pillars of life, called career and family among the practical, and career and love among the spiritual.Food and sex, career and family are socially recognized means of satisfying the two major desires of people, of course they cannot be said to be vulgar.However, the career may be unsatisfactory, the family may not be happy, and the desire is satisfied, but at the price of endless troubles.As for the success of career and the happiness of love, although it is desirable, it is even more uncertain.Moreover, some people who are too spiritually sensitive can't get rid of the feeling of emptiness even if they get these two things.

 Therefore, people must have personality independence.It is true that you cannot live out of society and others, but you cannot blindly cling to social buildings and others.You have to root yourself in the soil of life.You have to drop your anchor on the ocean of life.If a person only attaches himself to external things, even if they are extremely beautiful things, he may not be able to see his inner emptiness and lack of foundation when things are going well. , Wait, you will be depressed and even have a mental breakdown.As Emerson said: "However, the fact is: he was already a drifting wreck, and this gust of wind afterward only revealed to himself his wandering state." Emerson wrote long essays passionately extolling the charm of love, but I prefer his poem: Sacrificing everything for love, Obey your heart; friends, relatives, time, fame, property, plan, credit and inspiration,  can give up everything. abandoning everything for love; However, listen to me:  … You need to save today, Tomorrow, your whole future, Let them be absolutely free,  Do not be occupied by your lover.  If the girl you love has another passion, you give her back her freedom. You should know The demigod is gone, God came. The impermanence of the world has made many sages in ancient times advocate retiring and self-preservation, quiet and inaction, and indifferent.I loathe this philosophy.I like to see people vigorously start a business, fall madly in love, and enjoy life to the fullest.But, don't forget the main thing: you still belong to yourself.Everyone is a universe, and everyone should have a self-sufficient spiritual world.This is a safe place where your most precious treasures are treasured, and no disaster can violate it.The mind is a strange account book, with only income and no expenditure, all the pain and joy in life are turned into precious experiences and recorded in its income column.Yes, even pain is a kind of income.People seem to have two selves, one self goes to the world to struggle and pursue, and may triumph or fail, while the other self greets the crying and laughing self covered in sweat and blood with a peaceful smile. Come home and show him the rich spoils, even for the losers. Emerson admired the princely style of children who are not afraid of having nothing to eat, and never follow others in their words and actions.As soon as you reach adulthood, you pay attention to other people's perceptions, and you have more problems with gains and losses.I think that after a person has truly matured spiritually, he will return to his original nature and regain a self-sufficient childlike innocence.He digested the conventions of society and discarded them. 5  There is still a little bit of fun, and I will also write it down.There is an idiom called Great Wisdom Ruoyu.This reversed form of the human spirit is well worth studying.I can also cite great good as evil, great compassion as joy, great faith as doubt, and great seriousness as frivolity.In Emerson's book, I also found some confirmation. Tragedy is profound, and to comprehend tragedy requires a deep mind. "When misfortune strikes a shallow-tempered man, his sentiments are but oratorical affectations." Yet this is no tragedy.The difficult moments of life can best test the depth of a person's soul.Some people have suffered misfortunes one after another in their lives, but they have never experienced real tragic emotions.Conversely, people who appear to be doing well on the surface may also experience great inner tragedies.All noble emotions are ashamed to express, and all profound experiences are awkward to speak.Those who have great sorrow will mock fate with laughter, and cover up their sorrow with joy.Clowns may know the bitterness of life better than heroes.Emerson gave an example: when the comedian Carini made the whole city of Naples laugh out loud, a patient went to a doctor in the city to treat his fatal depression.The doctor advised him to go to the theater to see Carlini's performance, and he replied: "I am Carlini." Similarly, the highest seriousness often looks like cynicism.The ancient Greeks understood this truth.Emerson quotes Plutarch: "It is the highest wisdom to study philosophy without looking like it, to do in laughter what others do seriously." Seriousness is not seriousness, just as dogma is not truth Same.Truth needs no pouting to add to its authority.Among the prudish ones you will hardly find anyone who has thought seriously about life.No, most of what they think about is not life, but power, not truth, but interests.A person who has really thought about life seriously knows the limits of life and reason, he can laugh at himself, he is willing to tolerate, and he is willing to use a joke to relieve an embarrassing opponent and teach a serious opponent a lesson.He spoke of the truth in a humorous tone, as if on purpose to minimize the importance of his discovery, so as to let it reach only the ears of true soulmates. Especially in an age of crumbling faith, the lunatics who pretend to be crazy are the ones who take their faith too seriously.Lu Xun knew the truth of this very well. He said that Ji Kang and Ruan Ji were destroying the Confucianism on the surface, but in fact they believed in Confucianism too much. Because they were dissatisfied with the use and desecration of Confucianism by those in power, they vented their inner anger with radical behavior against Confucianism.In fact, under any belief system, most people don't really have beliefs, they just pretend to believe that's all.Then the overly earnest ones arose to discuss right and wrong, to explain the true meaning of faith, and were regarded as heretics.A history of Christianity is a history in which people without faith burned people with faith as heretics in the name of maintaining their faith.Martyrs are more likely to die at the hands of their comrades than at the hands of their enemies.So, said Emerson, the great man of faith, forever condemned as a heretic, was at last compelled to manifest his convictions by a train of skepticism.Skepticism is really the result of taking belief or knowledge too seriously.In order to find out the essence of wisdom, Socrates visited the so-called wise people in Athens, and found that they were just blindly confident, but actually had no wisdom.In the end, he thought he still didn't know what wisdom was, and uttered the famous words: "I know I know nothing." Doubts abound. 1987.6