It is inevitable that people will have some anxiety when they live in the world.
The first thing we need to understand is what anxiety is? How does anxiety come about?
The main reason for this is "desire" and "comparison".
When it comes to desire, there are only two situations:
One is that there is a desire that is not satisfied;
One is to be satisfied and then afraid of losing. This is the standard gain and loss.
When it comes to comparison, the situation is more complicated. If you want to compare, it's endless:
How about comparing to the ancestors from the beginning? What about parents? What about the birth background?
Then, the process of their own struggle develops all the way from studying, examinations, further education, and social achievements;
Finally, compare children.
In this way, isn't life too hard?
A philosopher of Roman times named Seneca said:
"The so-called poor are not those who have very little, but those who have a lot of desire."
In other words, there are too many desires, and no matter how rich you are, you feel that you are not enough, and you will still have anxiety.
If you have few desires, you may be poor, but you will feel satisfied.
It can be seen that what people really need to adjust is their own mentality.
The mentality is not right, let the desire to develop, it is never-ending, and it will also bring disasters to life.
There is a russian novel about a large landowner who admired one of his serfs and wanted to give him some land, saying to him:
"Tomorrow morning when the first rays of sunlight come out, you start running, running until the sun goes down, and all the places you run through belong to you."
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
So, early the next morning the serf began to run desperately.
When he was advised to take a break, to eat something and drink some water, he said:
"No, how can such a good opportunity be rested?" The more I run, the more places I have. ”
Finally when the sun went down, he ran back to his starting point, only to fall down and die.
At the end of the day, all he needed was a cemetery three feet wide and six feet long.
Therefore, people live in the world, sometimes they really want to open up a little, and see a little more completely.
So how do you deal with these "desires" and "comparisons" in life?
My answer is, do subtraction.
Lao Tzu said, "For the sake of learning, for the sake of the Tao." ”
"For the sake of learning more and more", learning can never be finished.
Zhuangzi said, "My life is limited, but the knowledge to be pursued is infinite."
The pursuit of infinite knowledge with a finite life is not only hard but also dangerous."
Therefore, it is necessary not only to understand the "benefit", but also to understand the "loss".
Only know how to do addition, do not know how to do subtraction, such a life is of course more and more tired;
In Zhuangzi's words, it is "hard and dangerous."
So Lao Tzu went on to say, "For the sake of the Tao, the day is lost."
If you want to pursue the Tao, you have to reduce it every day.
Why pursue the Tao? Want to reduce every day?
Because man lives in the world, his source of life is the Tao, and in the end he must return to the Tao.
If you want to realize the Tao and find the source and destination, you have to reduce some of the things you get from the outside every day.
In fact, what do you really get from the outside and eventually lose from the outside?
There was a story in ancient times about a rich man who had a poor friend.
One day, this poor friend asked the rich man to say:
"I heard that there is a warehouse in your house full of gold and silver jewelry, can you let me take a look?"
Rich people say: "There is no problem to see it, you can't take it".
The poor man said, "Of course not."
So the poor man followed him into the rich man's warehouse, which was really full of gold and silver jewelry, and he looked around at it all, and when he came out, he said to the rich man:
"I'm as rich as you now."
The rich man was startled and said, how could it be?
And the poor man said:
"Your wealth is mainly used to see, I have now gone inside and read it again, isn't that as rich as you?"
If you think about it, this makes sense.
A person's wealth is too much, can he use it all on his own?
How much time do you have? How much strength? Are you able to eat?
So, aren't those gold and silver jewels just for the sake of looking?
Money is originally something outside the body, and to be useful to people, it is the real money.
So, do you want to do subtraction at this time? Think for yourself.
Why do people use subtraction?
The purpose is to be able to "enlighten" and find the true source and destination of one's own life.
In terms of body and mind, slowly concentrate your attention and focus your strength on the pursuit of "enlightenment";
It is necessary to develop from the body to the heart and then to the spiritual level.
Then I have to ask, how do I do subtraction?
In my own experience, first of all, I want to cherish time.
Human life is carried out in the process of time, and time is life.
Therefore, we must first know how to cherish it.
Repetitive, boring, unnecessary things, if you can let go, let go.
Put your energy into what really is what you should do.
For example, for nearly thirty years, I have been insisting on spreading Sinology everywhere.
It's something I've decided on myself, so I put most of my energy into it.
As for the frequent invitations of people to socialize, unless they say that others need my help, if they can help, they can just make a phone call; other insignificant socializing is really not necessary.
I also often receive invitations from others, hoping that I will serve as an adviser or a committee member, saying that it is good to have a name, and I do not have to do anything, I can push as much as possible.
Because the name is also an external thing, there is no need to spend energy on it.
On the other hand, it is to manage your own affairs and make your life more autonomous.
If your current life trajectory is already normal, and you feel quite stable about this way of life, then why change it?
A modern Western philosopher named Spinoza has attracted a lot of attention for his publications.
Heidelberg University, Germany, specially invited him to become a professor.
It took spinoza only a short time to reply:
I'm living a good life right now, so why change it?
In fact, Spinoza makes a living by grinding spectacle lenses.
According to the secular view, if you go to a famous school to become a professor, you will have good treatment and a higher reputation.
But Spinoza felt that I already had a way to make a living, and the rest of the time I could devote myself full attention to the study of philosophy;
As for more money and a higher reputation, what is the point of this change?
Because basically living, it's still yourself.
Now people's anxiety is too much, sometimes the desire is very complicated, and it is more caused by various troubles in comparison.
Then, you have to learn to use subtraction, which is the inspiration of Lao Zhuang's wisdom.
Pursue the "Tao" and slowly reduce your dependence on external things;
In this way, we can make ourselves improve from body to heart to spirit, layer by layer.
How do I use subtraction?
To be specific, it is to cherish the time and grasp what should be done.
At the same time, try to trouble others as little as possible and make your life more autonomous.
In this way, there can be some changes to the anxious life.