"The pioneer, creator, and explorer is usually a lonely person who does not belong to any group, often alone in the face of inner conflicts and fears, against arrogance, arrogance, and even paranoia."
Author 丨 Xie Danru
Photography 丨 army
Source 丨 Last Meter of Sunshine
1.
Because of the different ways of reading, books can be both beneficial and harmful. Noncommittal.
We use the book as a carrier, expressed through words, through thoughts and emotions to obtain comfort or discover our own emotions, so that we can know or reflect on or discover our own known or unknown side in the book. Of course, from the perspective of narrowness, utilitarianism, and self-interest, judging from the perspective of emotion, attitude, and cognition, it is easy to conclude that it is beneficial or harmful. But I will say that being beneficial or harmful is not the whole story, just as each person's strengths and weaknesses are not enough to sum up the whole of life.
In the end, language is the medium through which people express their thoughts and emotions, but it is not the same as thoughts and emotions themselves. You know, the text is still full of wordless vacuum!
After understanding this, we will look at the "book" again, and perhaps we will be more tolerant, no longer so easily judged, or clinging to whether it is beneficial or harmful. Putting aside these prejudices, turning the page, enjoying it, understanding it, but also discovering it, discovering itself—more possibilities about thoughts and emotions, about all kinds of life, about the world, and finally through books to reach the self, forming a sound personality, a correct three views, and a more calm and tolerant face of oneself, life, and the same kind.
Romain Rowland said: "No one has ever read a book, only someone reads himself in a book, finds himself or examines himself. ”
If this view is correct, the book can be regarded as a companion of the lonely. Reading yourself is like looking in the mirror and looking at yourself. How lonely!
Regarding loneliness, Nietzsche once said: "The higher philosopher is alone, not because he wants to be lonely, but because he cannot find his kind around him." ”
So, I say, books are companions of the lonely, and philosophy is especially lonely.
To borrow a phrase from the Preface to the Translation of The Consolation of Philosophy (Alain de Botton), it is possible to find a small group of people with slightly similar appearances centuries apart, and their common denominator is to be faithful to the Greek word 'philosophy', philo, if they gather at a great cocktail party, not only not to speculate with each other, but also to fight each other with a few glasses of wine; sophia (love, wisdom). ”
The common hobby of grouping people into groups and bringing this small group together is to say something comforting and practical to us about the source of life's greatest suffering. Their common spirit lies in not bowing to the world and insisting on independent thinking. I would like to travel from sri lanka!
It's very lively, there are many loneliness to accompany me!
2.
In the eyes of many people, philosophy is to ask questions, and then give a variety of different directions of thinking, or fully discuss the different semantics or possibilities of each problem. Its answers are often obscure or wise or difficult, a bit of "a thousand calls to start out, like a pipa half covered" meaning, it seems that there is always a layer of veil, as if to understand non-understanding, ignorant to understand.
A lot of people don't like this feeling because they're not sure, because they don't always see it at a glance and think about it. In the final analysis, with the continuous enrichment of age and experience, our cognition has changed a lot, it seems that we know a lot, know where the problem is, and have a lot of our own judgments and subjective feelings.
"Sensibility and reason" have always been controversial in philosophy, but there is one thing that the pursuit of truth is universal. If we understand the basis behind it, we will have a lot less possibility of misinterpreting, misreading, and slandering others. In the same way, in a way, it is also protecting oneself, protecting the mind itself, thus reaching true communication, soul-like communication, and proximity to truth. This is crucial to life, especially in the current era of information explosion, especially in the need for a sober and strong heart to support action, to examine, face, accept, adapt and change something. Raise your own ideological height, build a lofty position, go deep and simple, and finally fall to the level of improving your life and growing yourself. It is a bit like a pyramid structure, big things are composed of small things, small things can be stacked into big things, and the middle part is the possibility proposed by philosophy, at the same time, it is also the possibility of life, the possibility of choice, the depth and height of social and individual, history and nature, and human relations.
Many people worry about being careful of being "brainwashed" – so what is the premise of "brainwashing"? Can the person who can be brainwashed, does he really have a brain? If so, he should not be brainwashed into thinking itself. If not, what brainwashing to worry about? It is nothing more than remembering some, knowing it, transforming it into your own, and then forgetting the unimportant of them, continuing to remember more, knowing more, and gradually finding your own opinion... The storage of the brain is not infinite, entangled in form or effect, so that it will only make yourself deep into it or stop here, where do you want to go? When you think about where to go, you should concentrate on that direction, get closer in that direction, move forward, and then arrive.
Simply put, it is not to indulge in it, to be able to jump out at any time, to detach itself, without sticking to the problem itself, even if the answer is not asked, or wrapping it with a larger question, so that its limitations become visible, changeable, and even creative and imaginative nutrients.
For example, "only change is unchanged", life is full of such "noise", relativism is rampant, sophistry can be seen everywhere, and it is difficult for people to judge for a while. If we use philosophy to decompose it, it is no longer a difficult problem - "only change is unchanged", and it is still unchanged? You see, just such a problem suddenly jumps out of the original circle, look at it from a higher dimension, and then think and judge, you have the bottom in your heart - it is not so absolute!
Yes, philosophy —
"Philosophy is not to bury itself in epistemological obscurity, but to courageously explore every field of knowledge, to gather all knowledge in order to harmonize and illuminate the character of man and his life.
The problem that philosophy is trying to solve is not the little confusion of the lack of interest and influence in human things hidden in the clouds, but the exploration of this boundless, eternally flowing world, and the meaning, value, and possibilities of human beings in it, which is a grand and comprehensive question. ”
Of course, for some people, philosophy is still difficult. But the so-called victims are not difficult.
3.
"Things have an end, things have an end, and if you know what is in order, you are close to the road."
Study philosophy, how should its order be chosen to get started faster? What books can help us gain a deeper understanding of philosophy?
Below, it may be easier to find the lifeblood of philosophy on how to get started, or in what order, but of course, it is worth mentioning that this is only for me personally (this point still varies from person to person in the final analysis), so just for reference!
According to the Big Picture:
"There are not 100 philosophical systems, but 50 philosophical systems that have been proposed at different stages of world history; a large part of these systems may not be the result of historical evolution, but rather the evolution of brilliant ideas that have occasionally flashed by the creators of the system. Proceed from a meaningful and effective approach, extend it and impose it on all phenomena. ”
Undoubtedly, in the face of a vast sea of philosophical works, if you want to forcibly digest these in a short period of time, you really don't know how to start. In this regard, Will Durant provides us with a novel perspective, he let the ideas of different philosophical schools collide with each other, and his rich philosophical theories and profound ideological backgrounds sort out and interpret the discourses of these different philosophical schools on philosophical problems, and propose practical solutions. He tells us what a "philosopher" is. As well as those common philosophical themes, logic and epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, history, progress, politics, religion, he closely grasps the theme, grasps its major points from the main aspects, and its clear and vivid language is to a large extent escorting the transmission of ideas. There is no shortage of popular introductions to philosophy on the market today, but in terms of unique insights, I personally still admire Will Durant's Philosophy Lessons. After all, he had devoted his life to the study and reflection of the development of human civilization, so he could not have been clearer about many philosophical questions, the problems that might arise in the study of philosophy, and how to open philosophy.
Recommended Book: Will Durant's Philosophy Lesson
As the old saying goes: "Literature can carry the Tao, and it is precious to use it." "In the final analysis, philosophy, thought, and even emotion, if it is only expressed for the sake of expression, or read for the sake of reading, in order to understand and then understand and then nothing has changed, such a learning, such a book, it is difficult to say why it exists for us. What's the difference if knowledge can't be applied and what's not? At the end of the day, it has to be practical! The so-called "gentleman is not good at faking things", "good" is not good at it, but flexible, understanding the relationship between thought and behavior, understanding the relationship between philosophy and humanities, understanding how philosophy helps us make value evaluations and judgments, and to understand these flexibly, Dewey is undoubtedly the right person. - "In the pragmatist family, Dewey was a wine-sacrificing figure. He not only expounded the basic propositions of pragmatic philosophy in the most systematic and comprehensive way, but also put forward many extremely influential views in a series of fields such as political science, ethics, psychology, education, aesthetics, religion, logic, history, law, and sociology from the perspective of pragmatism. Not only that, but it is worth mentioning his special relationship with China, and there are many overlaps between the pragmatic philosophy and traditional Chinese philosophy (such as Confucianism) and Marxist philosophy. The study of Dewey's philosophy will undoubtedly help promote the contemporary development of Chinese philosophy and Marxist philosophy.
Recommended Books: John Dewey's Dewey Anthology
There is a saying that has been quite popular in recent times, "The humanities without science are often ignorant, and sciences without the humanities must be dangerous." (Source: "Round Table School"), as a professional physicist, Sean Carroll, with his research achievements in field theory, gravity, cosmology, quantum mechanics and other research combined with astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and philosophy to compile a large picture of the universe, dedicated to finding meaning "in line with the deepest nature of reality". By exploring the history of the universe, including the way it works and becomes, and trying to interpret the world in the ways that make up the systems that make us perceive and think, understand the matter that makes us up, lead us to think about the nature of the world, and ultimately give solutions on how to construct meaning and value. To put it simply, he not only understands the world from the perspective of thought or humanity, but also uses a scientific way to analyze the humanities, that is, the main core of philosophy, especially his exploration of "how the pursuit of meaning should conform to the nature of the deepest aspect of reality", which coincides with the current values of people's pursuit of happiness, pursuit of meaning, and value supremacy. It is undoubtedly a challenge to accept the world as it is, face reality with a smile, and then live a valuable life. But when we are able to do that, it is worth believing that it is all worth it. Even if you can't, it would be a great gain to master another way of thinking and thinking about the world, life, and meaning, and to look at philosophy more closely in a scientific way, wouldn't it?
"Whenever I'm upset about a human thing or thing, I look up at the stars and tell myself that this is just a trivial, trivial thing compared to the universe."
Recommended book: Sean Carroll's The Big Picture: On the Origin, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
"The greatest function of philosophy is to comfort the pain of life with wisdom." Some of them are changeable, some are immutable, and for those that are immutable, philosophy is undoubtedly a good tool, which provides us with a perspective that helps us face and accept the reality and life more calmly. Philosophy is undoubtedly a consolation. What about philosophers? By looking into the lives of philosophers and the turmoil between them and their own beliefs and truths, and by looking at how the slightest wisp of truth acts on man himself and how it affects the times, the consolation it brings will only be more vivid and vital than scholarship. Author Alain de Botton from Socrates, Epicurus, Senega. The wisdom learned in the spiritual world of schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Montaigne and other masters leads us to discover that the sorrows, hardships, and troubles caused by desires in life can find solace in their wisdom. The answer to comforting life is subjective and self-seeking, such as the lock of fame and fortune, which is difficult to fill; there are imposed by the outside world, such as natural and man-made disasters, and various unfair encounters. To know them, to discover them, to face them, to accept them, to change them, to find the way to liberation from philosophers. It is worth mentioning that the author in the introduction of several philosophers and extremely thoughts and did not write in an academic way, it is more like writing their own reading experience of the essay, and like the popularization of knowledge of the "popular science" works, from the character selection, the angle of entry and the interpretation of ideas are based on the author's personal interests and understanding, which is undoubtedly eager to understand philosophy, learning philosophy is "entertaining", is easy to read and easy to read, and at the same time to a large extent makes it easier for everyone to accept and understand philosophy, is a good stepping stone.
Recommended book: Alain De Botton's The Solace of Philosophy
4.
In the eyes of ordinary people, philosophical language is always weird, like a hodgepodge of crazy words, nonsense, and dream words, large and inappropriate, mysterious and mysterious, and not marginal. This is why most people reject philosophy. Just as philosophy seems to have the privilege of gibberish, the audience has the power to not understand it. Philosophy rejects those who are in a hurry, and the same people who are eager to make quick profits reject philosophy. Shallow snobbery is a fever that is easy to commit in any era. Ideological things are finally arranged in a no-man's land. That's good, there's always someone who hopes it is. Just like putting a band-aid on a wound, you don't have to worry about seeing it festering, you don't have to worry too much about it will continue to fester, you can also put on a lot of band-aids, as long as you want, you can even wear a mask to live. There is no desire to be really good, and for many people, the real good does not exist at all. They only know how to compare, envy, envy, and choose from it. Most of their lives are like this—just because they see or hear about a life, they have an impulse, an desire, he wants to live like this, he wants to live like this—in fact, they know nothing about this kind of life, they don't know what the price to pay, and they don't know whether it is suitable for them. —— They often say that eating food and cooking are two different things, but no one delays anyone, as long as they eat good food, it is enough to really cook? No one wants to be disgraced, no one wants to deal with food, fumes, pots and pans, this is not decent. So, they only see the results, they only need the results. But even if you see through this, what about it? Human desires are endless, but needs can be few. In an age when everyone wants more, they tend to desire and ignore what is really needed. You can't blame them, you can't even blame anyone, can you? Philosophy does not solve any problem, it only teaches us to recognize problems, to understand and discover problems, and to find real problems from problems.
In the final analysis, what really works and can play a role has to be specific to the individual, and it varies from person to person. And how shallow and superficial is this in the absence of what philosophy can bring? You know, "There's more to life than philosophy. ”