From ancient times to the present, emperors will emphasize making contributions, and "being active and promising" has been the natural "right path" in social values since ancient times. Here, the "inaction" of Taoism and the overall "light cloud and light wind" temperament of Taoist thought make Taoism seem to run counter to the positive mainstream values.
Therefore, in the context of "making contributions", Taoist thought was once misunderstood. For example, many people misunderstand the Taoist thought of "doing nothing" as avoiding the world, and what's more, they think that the classical "doing nothing without doing anything" is a kind of self-abandonment and self-indulgence, which is contradictory and rebellious.
But this is not the case.
In Yan Xiaoer's view, the Taoist thought of "inaction" is not only not contradictory, but also very subtle. "inaction" is not advocating self-abandonment, nor is it laziness. The "inaction" here is a kind of "law" that keeps the truth, emphasizes the abandonment of redundant, excessive and unnecessary "meaningless actions" that hurt people and harm themselves, and then reveals the real positive and promising. It is never just the "light" in the eyes, but after seeing the darkness, it is necessary to know how to deal with it moderately, and under moderate circumstances, it is necessary to have a pure "initial heart".
Admittedly, this kind of "gentle behavior" is really too light compared with those who have both fame and fortune. But what makes Yan Xiaoer feel a little sad is that in his short life of more than 20 years, no matter when he was a student or when he entered the work, he saw too many faces and didn't jump up. He opened his eyes to whitewash his greedy behavior of turning black and white and showing off his cleverness, and advocated his insatiable so-called "positive progress." Perhaps this is the reason why countless "just youths" spurn the "involution".
Here, in order to avoid the excessive growth of involution, Yan Xiaoer suggested that people with strong personality should carefully taste the philosophical connotation of "inaction" in Taoism and not let their enthusiasm turn into "greed". Sometimes, what limits us is not that we don't do enough and are not serious enough, but that we do too much.
1. The loudest voice of Taoist "infinite heaven and earth" questioning Taoist "inaction" is probably a superficial understanding of the connotation of "inaction", which is roughly interpreted as cowardice and evasion of "self-abandonment", "self-indulgence" and "blind concession".
That was not the case.
What Taoist inaction dispels is not our actions, but the framework that restricts our actions.
In other words, Yan Xiaoer's understanding of "inaction" is direct: when we have a vision without a framework, we have an infinite world.
Lao Tzu once mentioned in the eleventh chapter of the book that a wheel can become a "wheel" because there is space between "axes", that is, it has the characteristics of "nothing"; Because of the hollowness of the vessel, it has the "value" of the vessel; Open the window to make a house, because of its "nothing" characteristics, the house has a purpose of living.
That is to say, cars, electrical appliances and rooms have the "value" of being called cars, electrical appliances and rooms because of their "nothing" characteristics. Here, "nothing" precedes "you", and "you" comes from "nothing", which is also one of the manifestations of "uselessness".
From this, it is not difficult for us to draw a conclusion that we need to know "nothing" before we want to "have something".
In other words, Taoism reveals that "inaction" can do whatever you want, "no desire" can prevail, "reactive power" can achieve the world, and "namelessness" is a "natural law" contrary to "utilitarian common sense cognition".
To put it more popularly, the "nothing" here is to weaken something for people who are "materialistic". Weaken what? Weaken the "nothing" that will expand, and crowd out the "nothing" that will enable you to play the greatest value you deserve. This weakened superfluous thing is manifested in people, sometimes it is greed, sometimes it is egoism, and sometimes it is vanity. In the ever-changing situation, the essence is actually the excessive "desire" of people.
In a word, Taoism's "inaction" emphasizes the "great use" of "nothing", which shows that any "existence" stems from its previous "nothing"
At this point, we should understand that our limitations and narrowness are not our own lack, but our desire to have nowhere to put them, which erodes "nothingness", further obscures our vision, limits our development and hinders us from giving full play to our greatest value.
2. Seeing "light" is nothing, but seeing "darkness" is "great wisdom". Taoism's "inaction" also has a very important significance, which is to know "awe", that is, "Zhi Zhi" under "contentment".
The inflated desire makes people tend to pursue "more" and "enrichment". In the long run, people will not only "feed" themselves, but also be dragged down by the kind of "grease" called greed, and may eventually "indigestion" or even lose everything.
Throughout the ages, generations of people have studied the books of sages for the sake of the "light" in front of them, but too many people have been wise all their lives and even died after being successful and exposed to the light. Finally, I lamented the beauty of "picking chrysanthemums under the east fence", but unfortunately I could only sigh on my deathbed.
For example, Li Si, who once helped Qin Shihuang unify the world with the trend of world unification, fell into a power struggle and was beheaded after achieving his goal and occupying a high position, and Li Shen, a poet who wrote that "every grain is hard" but was greedy after success, left him with eternal infamy.
Seeing "light" is a good thing, and it also needs "accumulation" and "wisdom".
However, where there is light, there is darkness.
If there is only "light" in your eyes, it is easy to get lost.
When a person can see "light", he can also see "darkness". Here, the road and direction of life are clear. Because you can see darkness, you can know which road ends in darkness and which road ends in light.
Taoism's "inaction" thought is to teach people to put away their "greed" for the light, put away their rampant utilitarian heart, and broaden their horizons at an appropriate time. When you see the light, you should also see the darkness, and then "let nature take its course" and "follow the trend" here. Compared with the reckless behavior of "utilitarian excess", isn't it just "doing nothing"?
3. Wisdom of life: What wins is that people "live up to expectations" and what wins is that they are "really clever". The more enslaved by desire, the less people's spiritual construction. Here, people often feel "hungry" and superficially take "taking" as a way to fill the spiritual emptiness. Here, people "eat" between gestures becomes more and more ugly.
Desire erodes the original heart, but people who are eager to enrich feed their desires with "taking", which is the sorrow of those who are too eager to win.
The starting point of "trying to win over others" is nothing more than "strength", but the real "strength" has been misunderstood.
A truly powerful person has no time to stare at others "thinking" and "racking their brains", because a person's growth is not better than others, but better than yesterday's own.
That is to say, in Yan Xiaoer's mind, truly powerful and talented people will not pay too much attention to others, but pay attention to "self-cultivation", self-examination, objective self-cognition, remove unnecessary desires and distractions from their hearts, and retain their "initial heart" that gives them "meaning of existence". In many cases, this kind of original heart is the natural "nothingness" that makes all things produce and give full play to the value of "being" in Taoist "inaction" view.
References:
Integrating Chinese and Western Wisdom —— Ye Xiushan's Collection of China's Philosophy and Culture, Introduction to Taoist Philosophy, etc.
Note: This article is the original and exclusive release of Yan Xiaoer's philosophical works. If there is any infringement such as handling or plagiarism, the responsibility will be investigated once found. The pictures in this paper come from the Internet, and some materials come from the Internet. They were hacked and deleted (within two weeks). Please enjoy this series.