Chapter 63 Reading notes students - read "Faust"

In Faust's study, a student came to ask Faust for advice, but Faust refused to see him.So Mephisto, disguised as Faust, had a wonderful and enlightening conversation with the student, which changed his life.The pure student came from afar with passion, determined to explore the mysteries of the universe, but did not know where to start.With his profound knowledge and thorough insight into the human spirit, Mephisto pointed out the direction of his efforts for this talented student in a humorous and self-deprecating way of the human situation, so that he may be able to make a living in the future. Overcome the fetters of ideas on oneself in daily life, and follow the traction of feeling to achieve freedom.

Mephisto begins by praising students for taking the science and nature program because it is a path to rational understanding.He then eloquently explained to his students the nature of logic, metaphysics, law, theology, and medicine.It can be seen from his exposition that he studies science as "anthropology", because all sciences should start from people and put people first, and they are all wonderful products of the human spirit. Without this foundation, science will be lost. significance.Therefore, this difficult exposition can also be regarded as a performance of his visualization of the spiritual realm.First of all, he told the students that logic is used to train his spirit, so that he can "climb up the track of thinking prudently, so as not to rush and wander around like a will-o'-the-wisp". "Goethe Collected Works Volume One" translated by Lu Yuan, p. 55, People's Literature Publishing House, 1999.What logic teaches are universal laws, as common as eating and drinking water, but once the "thinking factory" is started, it "touches countless threads" and "connects countless threads."It is a pity that no one can fully master such skills and become a weaver.Why? Just because the spirit itself cannot be "mastered", and the so-called laws cannot be directly used to solve the problems encountered in understanding.Faced with the elusive spirit deeply embedded in things, man has no choice but to drive the spirit out of its activities in order to achieve mechanical cognition, and then to know the separate parts.What Mephisto is talking about here is the difficult problem of philosophy and the helpless situation of human beings.He hopes that students learn to restore and classify, so that they can get to the essence.Then he asked the students to study metaphysics so that they can acquire abstract thinking ability; he implied that the students' sense of form is cultivated through training, but the real acquisition depends on each person's creativity, that is, activates the inner life mechanism of the individual, otherwise Knowledge is just dry dogma.Then he advised students not to delve into law, because this subject had nothing to do with human nature at that time.When it comes to theology, he taught his students that to study theology, one must be a pious person and hold on to a belief throughout his life; don't go to the secular world to find the meaning of words, but build the system of words on the other side.To students’ questions about medicine, Mephistopheles hinted him with tactful and humorous examples, that medicine is the science of life, and it’s the first and most complicated thing to understand the needs of the body.Finally, Mephisto concluded: "All theories are gray, and the golden tree of life is evergreen." "Goethe Collection Volume One", page 57.In other words, all knowledge must be created by individuals to become true knowledge and meaningful.He also signed on the student's yearbook: "You will be like gods, knowing good and evil." "Goethe Collection Volume One", page 58.He asked students to trust their intuition and impulse, and to see themselves as gods who could know good and evil.Finally, he jokingly predicted to the students:

"Follow the old saying, follow my aunt snake, and one day you will surely be afraid of being like God!" Goethe, Vol. 1, p. 58. Of course, people will never reach the omniscience and omnipotence of God. If they really achieve "similarity", it will be the time of death.But only by firmly grasping life (Aunt Snake) can people continue to improve.After many years, this bright and ambitious student really grew up according to the direction Mephisto pointed out to him. Their reunion happens in part two.In the same study, the young man who became a bachelor said of the purely spiritual life:

"(Rushing from the corridor) The door is open! Good things finally come / The living are no longer like corpses / Lying in stinking mold / Haggard and corroded / Died to live." "Goethe, Vol. 1", 275 Page. Spiritual life is meditation in the face of death, but this meditation is for life.The young man has grasped the heart of Mephisto's former teachings and has become a fearless seeker.Then he speaks of truth: "Which teacher has spoken the truth directly to our faces?"He also said that experience is "foam and dust" and "incomparable with spirituality", that is, "learning" alone cannot achieve true "knowledge", only "doing" can achieve true knowledge. Make an invention.The maester's aggressive and energetic negative spirit made Mephisto nowhere to hide, and he asked May without hesitation:

"Human life lives in the blood, but where does the blood flow like it does in the youth? It is the blood that is full of vigor, and new life must be produced from life. Since all things strive to achieve something, the weak fall down, Those who can go ahead. Let me ask you what you did when we won half the world..." "Goethe Collection Volume One", p. 278. He wants to deny the existing world, hold high the sharp ax of criticism, and strike at all outmoded theories. Mephisto rejoiced secretly and said: "Here too the devil is at a loss for words." Goethe, Vol. 1, p. 278.

The bachelor replied frankly: "The Devil wouldn't exist if I didn't want to." Goethe, Vol. 1, p. 278. Finally he confessed: "The world does not exist, I must create it! I lead the sun up out of the sea; the moon waxes and wanes with me. The day shines on my path... I am free, according to My heart bids me, follow the light within me with joy, and with the most singular ecstasy move swiftly, leaving the darkness behind, and let the light lead me." Goethe, Vol. 1, p. 278. This is the realm of creation, the realm of art, and a rebellious "little god" stands out. Mephistopheles called him "a maverick." Ridiculous, but obviously he has great confidence in this young man.He had passed on to him the best part of his own nature—the restless restlessness of life, which has now become the driving force of youth's creativity.