May a Ray of Warm Sunshine Enter Your Heart Every Day
I deal with a crowd of pessimists—cancer patients, depression patients, Buddhist believers. Yet I am still so optimistic, haha! Thank heaven for letting me use my smile to encourage them!
Long ago, my elder brother evaluated me this way: a blind optimist. My elder brother is a thoroughgoing pessimist. When the two of us discuss something, he says to me: come, little brother, let me tell you why this thing is not feasible. Yet I look at the feasibility of the thing.
One cannot say his argument for infeasibility is wrong; many things, as he says, do fail. But many things, as I hoped, do succeed. If it fails, it fails—what of it? If it succeeds, it succeeds—it is no great thing. If it should be done, just do it; why care about the result?
Both the pessimist and the optimist see the world, and each believes he has grasped the truth. The pessimist is convinced the future is dark, so he is dejected and stands still; the result is as dark as he expected. The optimist believes the future is bright, so he strives forward positively; the result is as bright as he expected.
Everyone predicts events with uncanny accuracy, but the outcome each predicts is quite different. Everyone thinks he is cultivating and realizing the truth, yet what he cultivates and realizes is entirely different, so discussions about truth are always full of contention. In fact, each person is only proving one aspect of the truth.
I am a detached optimist, asking for little and already having enough. I live according to conditions and am content wherever I find myself, neither excitedly chasing fame and gain nor dejectedly misanthropic. If alive, be as splendid as a summer flower; if dead, be as quiet and beautiful as an autumn leaf. Even if growing in a deep valley, even if not counted as an orchid, still, in the sunlight, silently give off my fragrance.
This is my life philosophy. I do not think it is some great philosophy, but it suits my disposition. My life is not a success; in my view of life, there is no such thing as success. To hell with success; I only want to live happily.
To be honest, I do not care at all what the ultimate truth is. I have read many books; when young, reading some books, I would always sigh: what a true saying! When I read more books and flipped through the ones I had read in my youth, I would think: oh, it was only the author's personal opinion, not real knowledge. When I had read even more, I found that in this world there is nothing that can be called ultimate truth; everyone is only exploring within the small field he knows.
Many people tell me: Mr. Zhou, you should do this, or you should do that. I turn a deaf ear. As with drinking water, only I know whether it is cold or warm; how I become happy needs no one to tell me.
What I care about is whether my present mood is happy. Well, I am a humanist. Everything that has become a burden to people should be thrown beyond the nine clouds.
If a thing cannot even make me happy, do I have the face to promote it to others and tell them it is benefiting their body and mind?
From birth, countless people have wanted to enslave us. Our parents try to enslave us, using their authority to demand that we do or not do things. When we fall in love, lovers try to enslave us, in the name of love demanding we do or not do things. At school, teachers try to enslave us, demanding we do or not do things. In society, society tries to enslave us, demanding we do or not do things.
In fact, after growing up, most of us have also learned various means of enslaving people to enslave others. Although one cannot say that one hundred percent of mental suffering comes from various enslavements, a considerable part of suffering does come from the various enslavements that exist in the human world. Because, as Mr. Schopenhauer said, having one's free will interfered with is the most painful thing in this world, bar none! And Sartre said: hell is other people. Aha! So it turns out the world is full of hell—no wonder I dislike making fox-and-dog friends.
I think this is probably why most people are prone to depression? Years of enslavement have left many people unable to escape the haze of depression, forming fixed thought patterns and habits; at the slightest move, they fall into pessimistic moods.
If I later write a book on life wisdom, I hope to call it Washing the Heart and Renewing the Face. Many people, including myself, through life and education, have been constrained and enslaved to a dreadful mess, unconsciously accepting many things useless to body and mind. Only by pouring these things out can a new self arise—what is this if not washing the heart and renewing the face?
May each of you see through the various conspiracies this broken society sets for us, often wash your hearts and renew your faces, destroy that haze-laden self, and become happy.
May you, every day when you wake, have a ray of warm sunshine enter your hearts, letting you feel the joy of life.
Mr. Wang Xiaobo said that in this world, the person most in need of salvation is, first of all, myself. First save ourselves, then talk about influencing others! Personally, I dislike most hearing long-faced people talk about the Way of life; you yourself are long-faced, and you still have the face to play teacher and lecture me?
I have cured many patients and written many articles people praise; I can play the guqin and I can talk of love—none of these makes me proud. What truly makes me proud is that, the vast majority of the time, my heart is sunny. May you be so too!
WeChat Official Account: zhouzhiyuan360 (or search for "周志远") to add
Author's website: www.zhouzhiyuan.com
Author's WeChat: zhouzhiyuan1979 (or 36641)
WeChat Official Account: zhouzhiyuan360 (or search for "周志远") to add
Author's website: www.zhouzhiyuan.com
Author's WeChat: zhouzhiyuan1979 (or 36641)