Moving Forward with Focus Is the Best Choice We Can Make
Whether as individuals or as a collective, we inevitably encounter all sorts of challenges and problems, and before these challenges we have many choices. But my life experience tells me that, of all the choices, moving forward is the best.
Looking at the whole history of biological evolution, we living things on Earth have been evolving all along. We have encountered all sorts of problems in our living environment, and yet life has continued to reproduce and endure precisely because we have kept striving forward and constantly raising our ability to adapt. Biologists like to say that evolution is the optimal solution; this rings true. Problems are not frightening; what is frightening is not evolving. Evolution can solve many problems.
True, there are many problems we cannot solve; however hard we try, in the end difficulties may overcome us rather than we overcome them. But the tireless efforts of our ancestors across hundreds of millions of years have not been in vain. Today we have far more tools and means for coping with all kinds of difficulty than our ancestors had; our lifespans have lengthened and our quality of life has improved. These were not easily won—they are a great advance achieved through the joint effort of countless people.
Moving forward means we must expend great effort, but that effort also makes us ever stronger and gives us an increasing sense of mastery over our own lives, rather than feeling like a duckweed at the mercy of fate. There are always people among us hacking through thorns to find new ways forward, pushing human civilization onward in every direction. These people have contributed enormously to improving the lives of all of us and our descendants, and their number is very considerable.
Humans have always been evolving together; on the road forward, no one is ever alone. No one who moves forward is solitary—though they may seem lonely, in fact they have many fellow travelers in every corner of the world, but everyone is busy moving forward and no one has much leisure for excessive exchange. So when we decide to strive forward, let us not fear loneliness, nor take pride in our own virtue; we need only walk on patiently, always confident in our perseverance.
We also need the ability not to be disturbed by the outside world, and to keep a proper distance from it. Only by sealing off the noise and restlessness outside can we concentrate our time and energy—as everyone knows, when seeking solutions to hard problems, concentration is what is most needed. If we are people easily swayed by external things, we will find it hard to undertake work that requires deep study.
Maintaining a strong interest in highly difficult problems is a basic requirement for anyone doing scientific research. If a problem is judged easy by everyone, it is not worth studying. If a problem is judged by many to be extremely thorny and thus becomes a dare-not-face-it challenge for most, then it is very worth spending a lifetime of effort on, even though success is not guaranteed.
Failure is no disgrace; on the road of scientific research, failure is far more common than success. The lives of scientists who achieved things were also full of countless failures—to say nothing of the countless researchers who never achieved anything in their lives. Many of the great accomplishments in human scientific history were brought forth by the foundational work of researchers who were unknown and seemed to achieve nothing.
If we love exploring the unknown, we need not care whether the final success belongs to us personally; we need only hold fast to the cause we love. Being immersed in what we love is itself an enjoyment and the greatest reward for a lifetime. Many people go through their whole lives never knowing what they live for, wandering in uncertainty; at least we know, and we have always been immersed in it.
When a person moves forward with focus, he maximizes his own happiness. Moving forward injects into the heart an indestructible spiritual force, one strong enough to help us withstand all kinds of shocks, wherever they come from. In life there will always be things the worldly call "dissatisfactory" (in fact, these "dissatisfactions" are merely the inevitable laws of nature that many people cannot see through); when we focus on our own life's center, these "dissatisfactions" affect us far less, and we can even ignore most of them.
Do not fear any turbulent change; know that the great majority of fears arising in the human heart are overreactions. More than ninety percent of people will not die of cold and hunger, yet they are always worrying that they will suffer cold and hunger—and this worry harms them far more than the suffering they imagine. This worry also sinks most people deep into greed, anger, delusion, pride, and doubt, making it hard for them to enjoy life at ease.
The great majority of human wars have also been triggered by the same cause. Turning through the history of human warfare, we find that not a single war was not started by foolish people under the sway of their foolish emotions. The human brain is still a backward organ; it needs to evolve for many more years before it can accurately assess the real risks we face in life and build a sounder, more accurate defense system. If humanity were free from all manner of amplified worries, most people could settle down, immerse themselves in what they love, and enjoy this infinitely precious life—instead of being restless, chasing fame and gain, and even tormented by emotions for their sake. In all likelihood, humanity would then no longer take up arms.
We do have the ability to improve our cognition, raise our wisdom, and tune our brain to its best state—a state free of doubt, fear, and worry. When we are in such a state, we will find that the thing most worth doing in a lifetime may be nothing other than untiring exploration of the unknown world.