Chapter 16 Chapter 15 Impersonal Interests

In this chapter I do not intend to examine those great interests on which life is built, but those secondary interests which fill up leisure time, and give entertainment after serious business.The main content of the average person's life is his wife and children, his job, and his financial situation.Even if he has an affair, it doesn't make him preoccupied, and once it affects his family life, he will be restless.Also, I don't think hobbies that are closely related to work are leisurely pursuits.For example, a scientist must pay close attention to the progress of his research field.In this field of research, once he encounters something closely related to it, his feelings are warm and clear. However, if he browses scientific research outside his field, his mood is very different: no Expert vision, no more critical, no prejudice.Even if he has to follow the author's thoughts, his reading is still a relaxation, because it has nothing to do with his duties.Even if he is very interested in this book, this interest is idle, because it cannot be transferred to books related to his field.It is precisely this kind of interest that lies outside the main activities of people's lives that I intend to discuss in this book.

One of the causes of depression, fatigue, and nervous tension is the inability to take interest in things that do not concern one's own life.The result is that the waking mind is constantly thinking about certain problems, which may also have an element of anxiety and worry.The waking mind never rests except in sleep, allowing the subconscious mind to slowly develop its wisdom, and the result is excitability, lack of insight, irritability, and loss of balance.All of these are both causes and effects of fatigue.When a man is tired, he gradually loses interest in the outside world, and this expression leads to the loss of comfort already obtained, so that he becomes still more tired.This vicious circle can easily lead to a complete mental breakdown.External interests are easy because they require no actual action.Making decisions and implementing them can be tiresome, especially when done in haste without the help of your subconscious.Anyone who has to "go to sleep" before making a major decision is extremely wise.But subconscious activity is at work not only during sleep, but also when the waking mind is used elsewhere.People who forget about work as soon as it's done and don't think about it when the next day comes do a better job than people who worry about it all the time before and after it.At the same time, if a person has multiple interests besides work, it is not difficult to forget work when he should; but it is not so easy for those who have no other interests.It is worth noting, however, that these interests must never re-exercise the faculties that have been worn out by a long day's work, nor should they require will and determination to participate in them, should not involve economic factors like gambling, and they are generally not acceptable. It makes people overexcited, causes emotional attenuation, and makes both conscious and subconscious restless.

Many recreational activities have the above conditions.Watch the game.Going to the theater and playing golf are all justifiable from this point of view.For a person who loves books like his life, reading some books that have nothing to do with his profession is a good thing.No matter how many worries there are, they shouldn't take up all of your waking hours and brood over them. There are certain differences between men and women in this regard. Generally speaking, men are more likely than women to forget their work.This is, of course, natural for housekeeping women, since their place of work remains unchanged, whereas a man can acquire a new mood when he leaves it.But if I am not mistaken, women who work outside the home are almost as different from men as women who work at home. In their thoughts and actions, they are seldom fascinated by an utterly careless leisure.I do not deny that there are exceptions, since here I am referring to the general.For example, in a girls' school where no men were present, the evening talk of the female teachers was always about their work, whereas in a boys' school the situation was quite different.This trait suggests that women are more sincere than men, but I don't think this sincerity will improve the quality of work in the long run.On the contrary, it tends to narrow one's horizon and lead to mania.

Besides their important relaxation function, all impersonal interests have many other uses.First, it helps people maintain a certain sense of proportion.It is easy for a person to get so absorbed in one's career, one's social circle, or one's job that one forgets that it is only a drop in the ocean in all human activities, and how many things in the world are not due to What we do is affected in the slightest.Why should one remember these?you may ask.The answer is multiple.First, one should have a real picture of the world consistent with one's own necessary activities.The time of the Lord's life is not long, and in the brief years of his life a man needs to know everything he needs to know about this strange planet and its place in the universe.To neglect one's opportunities for knowledge, however scarce, is like going to the theater and not listening to the play.The world is full of tragedies and comedies, heroic deeds emerge in endlessly, and strange things emerge one after another, which is amazing.Those who have no interest in the splendor the world affords undoubtedly forego the privileges and privileges that life confers.A sense of proportion is therefore very valuable, and sometimes it can also play a soothing role.We all tend to become overly excited, overly nervous, overvalued about our little corner of the world in which we live, about the moment between our lives and our deaths.This over-excitement and over-estimation of our own importance does no good.While it does sometimes make us work harder, it doesn't make us better at our jobs.A little work meant for good is far better than a lot of work meant for evil, though the advocates of the fanatical life see it differently.People who get too attached to their work are always in danger of falling into a frenzy.Then people forget all the rest in favor of one or two important things, and think that in pursuing those two great things, the collateral damage to other things is insignificant.There is no better defense against such fanaticism than a broad conception of human life and its place in the universe.It should be a matter of great importance to connect these, which is of great value in itself apart from this special role.

One of the flaws of modern higher education is that it has become too focused on the training of certain skills, instead of teaching people to see the world with objective eyes, so as to greatly expand the space of human mind and heart, for example, you are full body.Actively engage in political struggles and work hard to win for their party.This is certainly not a good thing.Yet in the course of the struggle an opportunity may arise that makes you feel like you can win by using some means of increasing hatred, violence, and suspicion in the world.For example, you discover that the best way to win is to bully other nations.You will resort to this dubious approach if your vision is limited to immediate interests, or if you have accepted the doctrine that efficiency is paramount.Relying on these means, you may achieve the planned victory at present, but the future outcome is likely to be a crushing defeat.If, on the other hand, your mind is filled with the past of man, his slow and partial evolution from barbarism, and his brief existence in comparison with astronomical ages—if, I think, these thoughts have become become your habitual feeling, then you will realize that the momentary struggle in which you are engaged is by no means of such importance as to warrant such a great risk that it is possible to return to what we have fought so far to achieve. Slowly poke your head out of the darkness to go.At the same time, you can bear the current failure, because you know that the failure is only temporary, so you don't want to use those dastardly weapons.Above your present activities you should have certain distant, but gradually becoming clear, goals in which you are not a lone individual but a member of the army leading mankind to civilized life member.If you have this view of God, a certain great happiness will always be with you, regardless of your personal fate.Life will become a sacrament shared with the great men of all ages, and personal death will be but a small episode.

If I had the right to conduct higher education as I wished, I would abolish the old orthodox religion - which caters only to a few of the least intelligent, most progress-hating youths - and establish a religion which can hardly be called a religion any longer. stuff because it focuses only on known facts.I will try to give young people a clear understanding of the past, a clear understanding that the future of human beings is likely to outlast her past, a deep awareness of the smallness of the earth we live on, and the smallness of life on this planet. It's just a flash in the pan.While presenting these facts emphasizing the insignificance of individuals, I will also present another set of facts, so that young people can feel the greatness that individuals can achieve from the bottom of their hearts, and realize that in this vast and boundless universe, We have not yet learned of anything else of equal value. Spinoza expounded long ago on human limitation and liberty, but in such a form and in such language that the average person—except the student of philosophy—is His thoughts were difficult to follow.Here, the main idea I am trying to discuss is not different from what he said.

Once a man has learned—however fleetingly, however briefly—what makes the soul great, he will never be mean, narrow-minded, selfish, troubled by little misfortunes, still afraid of fate. will not be happy.Anyone with a great soul has an open mind, allowing the wind from all directions in the universe to blow in freely.Within the limits of human beings, he will know himself as truly as possible.Life and the world; while aware of the ephemerality and insignificance of human life, he realizes that all the value of the known universe is concentrated in the individual heart.And he knows that the man whose heart reflects the whole world is, in a sense, as great as the world.Once freed from the fear of being at the mercy of fate, he can experience a certain deep joy that, after all the vicissitudes of external life, he is still a happy man in his soul.

Leaving aside these wide-ranging topics, let us return to the more immediate subject, which is the question of impersonal value.Another point of view can also make these interests contribute to human happiness.Even in the luckiest of lives, things sometimes go wrong.There are few men, except bachelors, who have not had a quarrel with their wives; few parents who have not worried about their children's illness; few businessmen who have not encountered financial difficulties; and few professionals who have not faced Failed right.At times like this, it is a wonderful quality to be able to turn one's interests to something other than one's worries.At such times, when there is nothing to do but worry, some people play chess, some read detective novels, some are fascinated by general astronomy, and still others read about the excavations in Babylon.All four of these people behave wisely.On the contrary, the man who does not distract his mind with amusement, but allows anxiety to take hold of him, is acting unwisely, so that when the time for action comes, he is no longer able to meet it.A similar point can be made for certain irreparable traumas, such as the death of a loved one.At such times it does no good to wallow oneself in grief.Grief is inevitable and expected, but it should be minimized as much as possible.The practice aimed at extracting the last drop of sorrow from misfortune is nothing more than sentimental sentiment.I certainly do not deny that a man may be overwhelmed by sorrow, but I still believe that every man should do what he can to escape this fate; It does no harm or degrades.In my opinion, the so-called harmful or degrading pastimes include drinking or taking drugs, which have the purpose of destroying (at least temporarily) the mind.The proper thing to do is not to destroy thought, but to introduce it into a new channel, or at least one out of its present misfortunes. However, if a man's life has been occupied with only a few interests, and these few interests are now full of sorrow, it is difficult for him to divert his thoughts.Nothing is wiser than to cultivate a wide range of interests in happy times, so that the mind can find a quiet place where it can call up other associations and thoughts than those that make it difficult for it to do now. Painful associations and thoughts endured.

A man full of vigor and enthusiasm must overcome all misfortunes by taking new interests one after another, by having a worldview which does not see the world in such a small way that it makes it impossible to escape doom.To be knocked down by one or several failures is not to be praised as sentimentality, but to be lamented as lack of vigor.All our emotions are at the mercy of death, who can take the life of those we love at any moment.Therefore, the scope of our life should not become so narrow.So much so that the whole meaning and ideal of our lives are at the mercy of chance. For all the above reasons, it is wise for a person who pursues happiness to have a series of supplementary interests besides the main interest on which life is built.