Chapter 48 Forty-eight careers

What is a career?On the surface, there is no problem.For example, when Liu and Xiang raised troops against Qin, everyone admitted that they were doing a great cause.But if we ask further, some small soldiers, following the South and North Wars, may die before they win, and thus work without being paid. Whether it counts or not, the problem arises.It is presumed that Liu Bang would agree, because one person becomes a Buddha, and chickens and dogs ascend to heaven; but the little soldier may not agree, because he has not ascended to heaven, and the modern situation is the same. Various opportunities limit a certain person to be a child king for a lifetime, until his temples are gray At that time, the world was really full of peaches and plums. He or she held any conferences and wrote any documents, saying that his or her teaching was a great cause;Presumably not necessarily.It can be seen that the so-called career must meet two conditions, subjective and social: subjectively, it means that one feels that it is really worth doing; socially, it means that one has achieved great or small achievements and fame.Both conditions are too vague and need further analysis.

The important thing is the social conditions, because how you feel is often the result of tradition and fashion, forming popular opinions.There is a question of whether the popular views are right or wrong, or all of them are right or not all of them.In order to simplify the clues and be convincing, the following will focus on the "reasons" that can be applied to many times, that is, in a nutshell, what are the conditions for a so-called career or a big business. There is an immortal saying in "Zuo Zhuan", which says that if you make virtue, meritorious deeds, or words, you can be famous through the ages.Referring to this statement, we can infer that the so-called career or big business usually must meet the following conditions.

One is to have more than general attainments in a certain aspect.Just above average, not above everything.Generally, it can have two meanings: For example, when comparing industries with industries, university professors are not average, but salespersons are average; and it is like a line of business has many people, and some of them have the upper hand in all aspects.In this way, no matter what the line is, as long as you are interested.If you are willing to do it, it can be regarded as a career.Of course, we have to admit that there is a difference between attainments and attainments.High and low are compared by two kinds.One is to compare in the same industry. For example, Mi Fu and Mi Youren's father and son are both good at calligraphy, but the father is taller.The other is to compare different industries, such as writing books, Sima Qian’s "Historical Records" is very high, and storytelling, Liu Jingting is also very high. Comparing the two, we should always admit that Sima Qian’s book writing is higher, because in the end it is more Disaster.This understanding of generality and attainment leaves room for the so-called enterprising people to move forward.

The second is to contribute to society.Achievements beyond the general, may also contribute nothing to society.The most typical example is stealing, both old and new, all have outstanding skills, but it is rare to be counted as a career, because it is not conducive to society.Another example is Li Liweng said in "Idle Love Occasionally" that he designed a new type of toilet, which is more usable than the old one, and dare not spread it to the outside world, for fear that people will call it the Liweng toilet.Here, being used by the society is a condition, and attainment above average is still an indispensable condition, because any legitimate work will contribute to society, and if the contribution is mediocre, or even below the average, it is not suitable to be called a career.In this way, we might as well use mathematical methods to show that the contribution of the so-called career to society is always higher than the per capita contribution.And speaking of this height, there will naturally be a difference in degree.Taking science and technology as an example, the invention of the match is not a small feat, but it is not the same as the invention of electricity.This will lead to a problem, still take inventions and creations as an example, such as the invention of cigarettes, at least it is useless.Even drugs are harmful, so can they be counted as careers?It is best not to regard this kind of activity as a career.

The third is to get the name of floating world.The so-called floating world name means that a certain number of people who don't know each other know it, and it always has a certain degree of approval.A name has a size.Small is popular in a small area, such as Clay Figurine Zhang, Kite Liu, and the Eight Great Monsters of Tianqiao.Big is popular on a large scale.The so-called large scope has two meanings: wide area and long time: for example, Sun Yat-sen, known all over the world, has a wide area; Boyi and Shuqi, people in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, at least those who read the history of their country, know that they have a long time .There are quite a few people whose names have a wide geographical area and a long time, such as Confucius in China and Socrates in Greece.The spread of fame in a large area generally depends on written records, so being able to express oneself has the upper hand, as far as Sima Qian, and as close as Lu Xun.If you don't express your own words, you can also use the words of others to spread them, as is the case with many characters in "Historical Records".Fasten the theory of career, the size of the name is always related to the size of the career achievement, which is manifested as the size of the influence, and there is a causal relationship.From this perspective, those who are active in the political arena tend to gain the upper hand.Take Qin Shizao as an example. He has the right to force ordinary people to build the Great Wall, and even burn books to confuse Confucianism. His influence is great, so his fame can be popular on a large scale.Speaking of this, we will think of a question. In the past, there were sayings of lasting fame through the ages and leaving a bad reputation. Can we also call activities that have left a bad reputation a career?So there is one more condition to add.

The fourth is to meet the requirements of virtue.What is virtue?To save trouble, we can borrow the words of Confucius, saying that virtue is benevolence.Confucius said that a benevolent person "don't do to others what you don't want to be done to you", "to build up others if you want to be established, and to achieve others if you want to be achieved by yourself".In the current words, what is it for? It is not only beneficial to oneself, but also beneficial to others, or it can be enlarged.To benefit society.in history.There are quite a few people who are famous for their bad deeds, such as Zhou Xing and Lai Junchen in the Tang Dynasty, Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian in the Ming Dynasty, and so on.They do all kinds of bad things because the supreme ruler has given them the power to do whatever they want; without power, doing bad things will not have too much influence.From this point of view, we can even say that, dating back thousands of years, celebrities with the power to rule people, most of them got their names because they did many bad things, and it is the same in modern times, like Hitler, everyone knows No one knows, but also because of doing all the bad things.The question here is, if you do bad deeds, you can also get a reputation in the world, can it be counted as a career?Two ways to deal with it.One is to divide causes into two categories, good causes and bad causes, saying that what Wei Zhongxian, Hitler, etc. did was bad causes.Another way is to say that all careers are good, and any activities that are not conducive to society cannot be counted as careers.In order to encourage goodness and curb evil, I think the latter method is better; there is also a convenience, it can be said in general terms that as long as one does not die young in life, one should have a sense of enterprise, so as to Seek to be successful in terms of oneself, and to contribute to the society, and finally be able to gain a large or small name in the floating world.

Philosophical people will ask, is there any value worth cherishing?Everyone has their own views; their attitude towards life is also different.There are a few people who hold a negative attitude.There is also a difference in degree.One level is shallow, which is the so-called recluse and escape from fame.Early in the era, there are legendary Chaofu, Xu You and others.When it comes to Zhuangzi, there is a systematic theory, rather than going to the temple, it is better to hang your tail on the way.Buddhism is broad, and the advantage is that it is more tolerant, but it also brings difficulties, and it is difficult to grasp; but such as Hanshan and Shide, even if they are rich and dry, they still escape.If you don't want a name like this, you will have no ambition, at least very little, right?There is also a deeper level, which is represented by a passage in "Liezi? Yang Zhu", which is: "However, all things live and die together, the virtuous and the foolish, the noble and the humble. Ten years will die, and a hundred years will die. Benevolent saints also die, fierce and foolish ones also die. In life, Yao and Shun die; in death, rotten bones; in life, Jie and Zhou rot; Of course it's not worth worrying about.How should we deal with such a negative attitude?Again, at least in theory, it is quite difficult to say right or wrong about attitudes to life, especially those that make sense.Therefore, even from the standpoint of ordinary people, it is appropriate for us to adopt a tolerant attitude, that is, even if it is difficult to believe, it is absolutely unacceptable not to say that.But the other side of tolerance is unbelievable, we should also insist, and make sense.This principle can be superficial, but we are ordinary people. For those extraordinary ideals and behaviors, even if we look up at the mountains, it is difficult to achieve them; world.The reasoning can be deep, just take Zhuangzi as an example, that is, when he was on the way, he said the systematic theory about the way of life that "rather tail on the way". When it comes to career, what could be better than this? big?Viewed from this point of view, people like Duan Ganmu and Lao Laizi who avoid politics and live in seclusion, clean up their lives, and don't get along with others, can be said to have done great things.

In this way, when we descend to ordinary people, we can ask less about the ultimate value and deal with normal life according to the usual way.Changdao is also very complicated, manifested in various attitudes and forms of life.Still speaking in common sense, different life attitudes and lifestyles can be classified as superior or inferior. Focusing on the topic, if you have achievements in your career, you are superior, and if you have no achievements, you are inferior.Of course, we should strive to achieve success in our careers.If you want to achieve it, you need to do it; if you do it, you should pay attention to the following points.

One is to have ambition.This is to put career in a very important position in one's own way of life. Some people in history, such as Ban Chao who threw a pen into the army, and Zu Ti danced when he heard the chicken.Many people are on the contrary, or don’t want to do such things at all, or are too discouraged, thinking that they can’t accomplish anything, have no ambitions, and have few opportunities to succeed in their careers.Of course, ambition may not be successful, but there will always be more chances of success than no ambition, so as the first step, don't relax. The second is career, which often may not be consistent with career, so you should choose your goals in your spare time and persevere.If it happens to be consistent with the profession, such as Xuanzang's translation of Buddhist scriptures in the old days, there are so-called professional writers in modern times, and their career and livelihood are combined, of course it is better. If they cannot be combined, it will take more effort. Feeling burdened and troubled.

Third, there are different levels of success in career, which can be manifested in many ways, one of which is that the light ones are hot for a while, and the heavy ones are truly immortal.However, those who are hot for a while are the most attractive, and people with thin eyelids are easily fascinated by superficial phenomena, so they flock to them.This may take a lot of effort, and it usually rots with the vegetation as time goes by.Therefore, to be ambitious, you must also be able to weigh the importance of your career, and resolutely choose the important and give up the light. Fourth, we must also know that there are many people in the world, and those who have achieved success in their careers are only a minority.There are social reasons for this. Many people do not have the opportunity to receive education and are illiterate. It is obviously difficult to achieve success in career.But even if the opportunities and conditions are met, it is only possible, not inevitable, to achieve more than the average.In this way, what should you do if you have ambitions but cannot achieve them?I think the feasible way should be: do your best, success is good, but if you fail, you will follow the law at the top and only get in the middle, and you can still be with ordinary people and just settle down.