Want Little, Keep to Simplicity, Do Not Contend, Speak Little, Learn Much

I have lived for more than forty years, and for the great majority of that time my life satisfaction has been very high—one might say, as satisfied as could be. This is not because I possess much, but because I want little; I have never expected much of life. Without expectation there is no disappointment; without disappointment there is no dejection. I often say I want little and already have enough; what I have received is indeed far more than what I wanted.

The life I want is simple: rice, steamed buns, and vegetables for three meals a day, enough not to go hungry; the cheapest clothes and shoes; a humble room to shelter from wind and rain. If there is a surplus, I buy as many books as possible and pass the time in reading. I seek neither to stand out from others nor to compete or argue over right and wrong. I have no need for fine clothes; I could wear cloth shoes all my life, and clothes can last ten or twenty years until they wear out. I can calmly wait for death to come for me at any time. For me such a life is deeply happy—wanting little, without pressure.

At this time of year, I like to sit in a chair or lie on my desk after lunch, reading and basking in the sun for a short while—about fifteen minutes to half an hour. As I bask, the book falls and I fall asleep; the sleep is even shorter, and I wake naturally after a few to twenty minutes.

This is my noon nap, and it makes my life especially good. I grew up in the countryside; country people would while away the time dozing in the sun at their doorway (in the slack farming season, rural life is very pleasant). I have kept this habit to this day. A midday nap fills the whole afternoon with energy, vitality, and good cheer. Human happiness is actually very simple: freed from toil, comfortable in body, and full of energy, one is happy.

Because I have no work goals that must be completed, my life has no schedule. In over forty years of life—even as a student—I never grew used to having a pile of study or work plans in my world. I have never tolerated being rushed to finish some task, so from middle school onward I chose to learn, live, and work freely, refusing to obey any rules. Among the people around me, no one else has lived as stubbornly free as I have. I must thank my parents, who almost never interfered with me; otherwise I would not have lived so freely. For the same reason, I rarely interfere with my child.

From very early I thought about why people live. My father carefully preserved the diaries I wrote in junior high school; they let me know what I thought at that age. Reading them, I was surprised to find that my thoughts in junior high were much the same as now: a deeply rooted sense of equality made me understand even then that, so long as I felt happy, it did not matter how I lived; I am not better than others, nor is anyone better than me.

When a person looks the world straight in the eye, treating every choice and every state of life equally, he can be at home anywhere. Whatever his circumstances, he remains at ease. At the same time, he is not easily arrogant. The life perspective of both the inferior and the arrogant is tilted: the former looks up to others, the latter looks down on them. When a person can look others in the eye, neither inferiority nor arrogance can arise in him; in adulthood he is also unlikely to worship authority or create gods out of himself.

In educating my child, the point I most emphasize is teaching him to look the world in the eye. I think this is very important for a person. Many people spend their lives toiling, craving fame and gain, unable to let nature take its course, ultimately because they cannot look the world in the eye—and so are perpetually unsatisfied. If we have a deeply rooted sense of equality within, we will not become slaves of the outside world, but will more often follow our own hearts.

I think that deep down, what most people truly want is to live freely, not anything else. Even if some people have pursued other things at a certain stage of life, I believe that one day what they most long for will still be to live freely—because this is determined by human nature itself.

Before humans evolved into our present state, we lived freely on Earth for millions of years. Our remote ancestors, like other animals, had no utilitarian cares and no thoughts of competing with others; when clothed and fed, they lounged freely beneath the trees, basking in the sun and enjoying life.

Thus in our genes there is actually a force that civilization cannot transform—a force that makes us love living in accordance with nature. We praise civilization, but if we think carefully we readily see that while civilization brings us convenience, it also enslaves us. The great edifice of human civilization is like a vast spiritual prison, trying to lock each of us inside.

This deep reflection leads a person to truly desire little, because the great majority of our present desires have been fabricated out of thin air by civilized society. Once we understand this, we will not crave more. This foolish species of humanity has been forever drawing circles around itself and tying itself up: we artificially create many absurd rules, condemning generation after generation to lives that are not happy.

For this reason I like living apart from others. The philosopher Le Bon said that once a person merges into a crowd, he is easily assimilated, loses independent thinking, and suffers a marked decline in judgment. His observation is largely correct, and my own life experience confirms it. So, except before my lover, family, and closest friends, I am no longer willing to talk much; I keep to simplicity, do not contend, and speak as little as possible.

Keeping to simplicity, not contending, and speaking little saves us from many troubles and preserves enormous energy and time. Many people live like this: they love to argue, get into a pile of trouble through contention and debate, then spend time resolving it, then stir up new trouble and resolve that, endlessly, with no end to their cares. A person with basic reason and self-control should avoid this unnecessary drain and trouble.

Civilization has many drawbacks, yet among the knowledge accumulated over humanity's long survival history there is much that is interesting and useful, and the desire to know is one of humanity's innate instincts. Someone as fond of solitude as I must find some pleasure to fill a long life—and seeking knowledge is, so far, the thing that most absorbs me.

I am interested in all knowledge related to life, and so now I increasingly enjoy knowledge related to medicine and biology. This kind of learning lets me more deeply understand what the essence of life is, while also allowing me to use this knowledge to help myself and my relatives and friends solve physical and mental troubles. Over time, I become even less willing to pay attention to the outside world.