Chapter 52 52 rich and poor

With money as a bargaining chip, being poor means having less money, and being rich means having more money.Or from the perspective of the supply of living materials, poverty means not having what one should have, and being rich means having everything one should have, and there is still room to spare.Poverty varies from big to small. Small poverty refers to the necessary means of subsistence, and there is not much shortage; severe poverty refers to the lack of a lot, and even the most basic food, clothing and housing cannot be maintained.There is also a difference in the size of the rich. The small rich can enjoy more than ordinary people in terms of food, clothing, housing, etc., and still have a little more energy; Needless to say, those who make money and enjoy it, money is always difficult to count.Man is a creature, and his life depends on many material conditions, and he has to be aggressive, that is, to satisfy his desire for enjoyment. , Even life and death, formed an indissoluble bond.That's why, throughout the ages, almost all people hate the poor and love the rich, and because of love, they don't use all means to seek money and become rich from poverty.

There are two ways to change from poor to rich, just to be well-behaved.One is to rely on self-reliance, such as a person, or a family, relying on hard work, the more you work, the more you will get.The most typical is a simple farmer, a family of three or five, who grow vegetables, raise chickens, study new technologies, increase production, and gradually become rich from poverty.The other way is to rely on the economic structure and economic measures of the society. For example, in the old days, pawnshops were opened and loan sharks were granted. Now, if one’s private housing happens to be in a downtown area, one or two rooms can be rented out, and one can earn tens of thousands a year.You can become rich without working.

Whether it is difficult or not to turn poverty into wealth is mainly determined by social conditions.For example, production is backward and society is in turmoil. According to ordinary people, it is very difficult to change from poor to rich.There is also the opposite situation, such as selling food or fashion in a big city, the sales volume is large, the profit is huge, and it is not difficult to even become rich.Another condition is the ability of the individual.Ability can be used positively or crookedly. Let’s not mention the crooked use for the time being. We only talk about the positive use. No matter in the old days or now, it is not easy to turn poverty into wealth, because the amount of labor for money is always limited.

It is better to talk about the right and not the wrong. Of course, anyone will admit that it is better to be rich than poor.I remember that even Daxian Zilu said: "It's painful to be poor. There is nothing to support in life, and there is nothing to be polite in death." .In fact, at least as far as the world is concerned, the life of one's own generation and the next generation's life is more closely related to the rich and the poor.The most basic food, clothing, and housing are deficient and unbearable, not to mention; simply being unable to afford them does not affect survival. For example, if an adult wants a certain book or a child wants a certain toy, if he likes it but cannot get it, the mood will obviously change. It's hard.In addition, there will be expenses outside the routine, such as natural disasters and illnesses, as well as compassion and love for relatives and friends. If you are poor, you can't do it, and you can't feel at ease.In short, if we think about it broadly, we say that it is good to be rich and bad to be poor, and there seems to be no problem.

In fact, it is not always the case.The reason is that life is complicated, and what we want is not all enjoyment, or should not be all enjoyment.The problems are almost all caused by wealth. To be specific, the way to seek wealth may be wrong; As early as more than 2,000 years ago, there was such a saying: "Injustice and wealth and honor are like floating clouds to me." It can be seen that when wealth comes, there is also the question of righteousness and injustice.How is righteousness?It is difficult to distinguish specifically. It can be said that the principle of generalization comes from the exchange of mutual consent.There are many examples. In ancient times, for example, Fan Li went to Shandong and made a fortune in business. It was mutual wishful thinking; in modern times, he made inventions in science and technology, sold patent rights, and got a lot of money. There are infinite ways, but as far as its nature is concerned, it can be summed up in a word. It depends on the inequality of social status, the superior suppresses the inferior, and the powerful suppresses the weak.For example, Qin Shihuang was not rich in the world, but rich in the world. He could build the Afang Palace during his lifetime and build his terracotta warriors and horses after his death.The same is true for county magistrates as young as "Han Feizi? Five Stupids": "The county magistrate today dies in one day, and his descendants will drive for generations." In modern terms, you can still ride a small sleeping car. Where does the money come from?Obviously it was scraped from the people, so it is ill-gotten wealth.There are also things that are not prominent, such as renting out land and lending usury. On the surface, they have nothing to do with the right to rule, but in fact, the society allows this method to get rich, and the right to rule is also guaranteed.There are more tricks to this kind of way of gaining ill-gotten wealth. To mention just one, it is to fake goods and pass them off as real ones, and the result is really big money.In short, no matter the ancient decrees, rich, especially very rich, if you trace the source of money, you will find that almost most of them are unrighteous.In this way, regarding the situation of the rich and the poor, we say that it is better to be rich than poor, so we have to impose some restrictions.

The above is considered from the source of wealth, and it is not always desirable to say that wealth is desirable.After getting rich, there is still the problem of where to go, that is, how to spend money and what to exchange money for, which will attract more filth.Just say the obvious.One of the most serious, because it affects others, is the old so-called rich and unkind.Everyone knows that money can be turned into power.This power can be put to good use.But what is also common is the crooked angle, that is, in order to satisfy one's own lust, one does not hesitate to harm others.This can be light, such as hoarding for odds, buying cheap and selling dear, etc., or it can be serious, such as taking everything that others love for oneself.It can also be more serious, such as bribe the government or hire killers, put people to death and so on.The second is that it is easy to go to extravagance and waste.It is also because of the "mandate of heaven is called nature". According to ordinary people, self-restraint and ritual restoration are like sailing against the current, which is very difficult; letting one's desires be satisfied is like going downstream. It is simply asking to stop, or even just slowing down.As the saying goes, if a farmer receives five buckets of grain more, he wants to change his wife, not to mention that he has become rich or very rich, with countless money.As a result, all aspects of life have changed from improvement to refinement, and even more refinement, even if you want to surpass everyone, maybe you really surpass, and because of this, you get a comfortable and envious look. What's wrong?Using only the old evaluation standards, simplicity and restraint are virtues, and spending money like water for wealth is exactly the opposite.On the other hand, it will lead to more serious symptoms. This is the third. If the energy and interest are put on enjoyment, it will be difficult to study morality.This situation is also the result of lazy work.People who want to achieve success in their careers have to work hard and endure some hardships. Naturally, this does not make slaves and maidservants comfortable. Therefore, as we often see, rich people tend to live a mediocre life. Fourth, bad people The impact will continue, causing the next generation to become playboys, cockfighting and running dogs, and not doing their job properly.This situation was common in the old days, and it seems that it is not uncommon in modern times.People, when they have children, always hope that they will come from behind, and if they use their wealth improperly, things will backfire. This is worth thinking twice, right?

The scourge of improper use of wealth will continue to expand and become a trend, which will inevitably cause endless harm.The so-called fashion is that in the minds of most people, wealth, or simply money, is the best, unconditional good, and of supreme value.This supreme value is not only reflected in the high enjoyment.It can also be honored now.We all know that to guide a person to do something, or to urge a person to do something, honor is often more powerful than knocking.How many times in history have changed dynasties, and each time, many subjects of the previous dynasties committed suicide, because loyalty is honor.Especially since the Song Dynasty, women believed that death from starvation was a small matter, while infidelity was a serious matter. Many of them had husbands who died early, and died with them, because festivals are honor.Honor can make people willing to sacrifice their lives, which shows its great power; and because it may not be genuine, it is also terrible.I'm afraid to leave it for later, let's see if money can be counted as honor.We say it cannot be counted, because it is not equal to the value of life itself, although it can often be used to exchange or help exchange for the value of life.What is the value of life?Basically, you can live, and live well.This includes many aspects, such as clothing, food and clothing, literary and artistic creation, compassion, joy and giving, and reducing the suffering of people other than oneself, of course, it is even more important.Finding the value of life is often inseparable from money, but it is a means rather than an end after all.The current trend of money worship is not the same, but regards money as the purpose, thinking that it is unconditionally good, and if there is it, there will be honor, and if it is lacking, there will be no honor.And as always, honor is more powerful than anything else, and it turns out that not a few people will do anything to get money.Those who have the right to use power, those who do not have the right to use violence or fraud, as long as they can really make money, they will be considered a victory.There are differences in the size of victory, small, dissatisfied, and want to be big, so, just take corruption as an example, it is not uncommon to see big households with more than one million yuan.The influence of money worship is still peaceful, but it has a wider scope, such as comparison and enjoyment, or competition for wealth.A’s TV is 18 inches, and B wants to buy a 21-inch TV; the carpet in B’s house is made of chemical fiber, and C wants to buy pure wool;etc.Naturally, all these things have to be exchanged for money. If you want more enjoyment and more, you will never have enough money. What should you do?The rules are worrying, and the irregular ones are thinking.Then it is conceivable that the world is going downhill and the chaos will not stop.Novel about big events is only for personal consideration. The result of improper use of wealth must be that people are worldly and sad, and it is too uneconomical to compare gains and losses.

Therefore, when talking about the way of life, the treatment of the rich and the poor should not be simplified, one size fits all, and unconditionally say that the rich is better than the poor.According to the above discussion, it is possible to dislike the poor and love the rich, but there are two additional conditions: one is the source of the money, that is, the money should be in line with righteousness; the other is the use of the conditions, that is, the If used properly, at least it will not have bad effects.Both conditions are too general, and sometimes it is difficult to deal with the real situation.This is also because the real situation is ever-changing, and it is difficult to respond to all changes with the same.As a last resort, we can only rely on common sense.Let's talk about the source first, relying on power to get bribes, fakes and fakes, everyone regards it as unjust, there is no problem.To give an ambiguous example, open a small shop to sell snacks, such as a kind of food, a bowl costs four cents, and sells nine cents, regardless of the law.If the business management department does not ask, can it be counted as righteousness?I think there is a problem, because the diners will frown because they think it is expensive, and the seller will think about it at night and admit that he is asking for a bargain.To get rich, an important requirement is that people who spend money are calm.Measured by this standard, if you look at the streets and alleys, there are too many rich people who come from unrighteousness.If a scholar is poor, he will take good care of himself alone. It doesn't matter if we seek wealth, but.Urgently encourage yourself, don't go with the flow.The same is true when you are rich. You can use common sense as a guideline. The general principle is.Altruistic is good, upward is good, simplicity is good.In practice, if some people donate money to run schools, and some people donate money to set up scholarships, this is altruistic, good.Between books and gold jewelry, buy more books and less gold jewelry, which is positive and good.As for the enjoyment of daily life, such as sleeping on a wooden bed without stepping on a carpet, and living well, it is best to be frugal.This has many advantages, one of which, I think, cannot be ignored, is that the mental state can be closer to the characters in the hermit biography of the history books.

The poor may have more opportunities than the rich. Fortunately or unfortunately, they are ranked in the ranks of the poor. How to deal with it is best not to be extremely poor.In fact, there are very few great poverty, so we only talk about small poverty.There are different degrees of poverty. One level is deep enough for food and clothing, and the other level is not short for food and clothing, but cannot afford carpets and gold jewelry.No matter what the situation is, it should be as the ancients said, live in peace and happiness.Dao is taken in a broad sense, not only the way of life of "hearing the Tao in the morning", but also the various spiritual civilizations below it, such as ruthless like mathematics, sentimental like literature and art, etc., are also counted.Obviously, if you can sleep in it, poverty will become the avenue to a high-level life, and you can see the rich without envy.