Useful, is real. The more you possess, the more abundant your life is, and the more you have a sense of gain and achievement in your heart.
When money is held in the hand, the heart is solid; the beloved person is in the bosom, and life is full; the material available is great and abundant and advanced, and life suddenly appears luxurious.
Throughout our lives, we diligently strive to live with these "useful things". We worship the rich who possess resources and the magnates who allocate them. Because their stuff is very useful.
It is undeniable that these useful things can improve the quality of life and social class.
However, if you are too late and too obsessed with "useful", it is inevitable that you will despise or even ignore "useless things", which will cause the greatest loss in life. Because they are the truly indispensable nutrients in life.
[1] Useless use is the neglected "use"
Sima Qian's "Biography of Cargo Breeding" has clouds: "The world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all are profitable." "What is there to be compared to the real benefits of survival or development?
As the saying goes, people die for money, and birds die for food. Money can be exchanged for everything useful, positions of power, fragrant cars and beautiful women, high-ranking friends, and a luxury that ordinary people can't exchange for half a lifetime of blood and sweat.
The extravagance of poverty and luxury actually brings not inner wealth, but greater vanity and nihilism. Looking back, I found that what was really needed was actually the health and self-sufficiency of life, the steadfastness of the heart, and nothing more.
Sunshine, air, breeze, the gushing springs of mountain streams, and the green fields of grass and trees do not bring bright colors to life, and are regarded as useless things by the world who have been busy working hard.
But it is precisely these that can build an ecosystem of self-life and health. Depart from the useful things that are confirmed by the world's high prices, and you become a mere mortal. And what about losing these "useless things"?
[2] Useless use is the greatest use
The Tao Te Ching has this passage:
Thirty paintings, a total of one hub. When it is not, it is useful for cars. When it is not, it is useful for the instrument. Chiseled to think of it as a room, when it is not, it is used for the room. Therefore, some think that it is profitable, and there is no use for it.
Thirty spokes are connected together to the hub, and it is precisely because of the empty part of the hub that the car rotates and has a function; the pottery made of clay is made of clay, and it is precisely because of the empty part of the middle that the pottery has an effect. The house with the chiseled door and window is also due to the location of the void, so that the house has the value of use.
Hubs, pottery, houses, what really works is their part of nothingness. Useless use is the greatest use.
However, useless things are often ignored. The world is running wildly on the road of sherber, going farther and farther.
The exam is useful, so I study hard and practice hard, day and night, just for "the first time to climb the dragon and tiger list". Learn what you don't take, and don't learn what you don't take, so as to concentrate and make efficient breakthroughs. And the classics that did not participate in the exam were shelved and left unattended.
"Analects", "Lao Tzu", "Dream of the Red Chamber", "A Hundred Years of Solitude", these works of the heart that have been precipitated for thousands of years, although they cannot take the "useless things" of wealth and wealth, they can build personality, purify the soul, and complete life.
Useless. To a large extent, it is of great use.
[3] What is useless is something we will not use
There is such a story in "Zhuangzi":
Keiko said to Zhuangzi, "The monarch gave me a big gourd, the size of fifty buckets." Neither can hold anything nor make a scoop, it is of no use. Zhuangzi smiled slightly and said I'll tell you a story.
There was a village in the Song Dynasty who made a living by rinsing clothes by the river. They have an ancestral special medicine that allows people to work in the cold winter without cracking their hands.
One day a merchant came and he wanted to buy the formula for a hundred gold. The people in the village summed up, and this square could only be used to wipe their hands, and there was no use, so they sold people to merchants.
The merchant came to the Kingdom of Wu with Fangzi to offer sacrifices to King Wu and said that Fangzi was magical. At this time, it was just in time for the Wu-Yue war, because the two countries were located in the south of the river, the lakes and rivers were staggered, and the two armies were fighting on the water. Because Wu Jun used this special medicine, his hands were not cracked, and to a certain extent, his combat effectiveness was enhanced, and he defeated the Vietnamese army. King Wu was overjoyed and gave him the title of Marquis of The Land.
Zhuangzi told Keiko that the same thing had a very different effect in the hands of the villagers of the Song Dynasty and in the hands of the merchant. How can a big gourd be useless? You can tie it around your waist and travel the river and sea.
Some things are not useless, but we will not use them. Raising your level of mind and looking at things from another perspective will give you a glimpse into a new world.
[4] Conclusion
There is nothing wrong with being born in the world and seeking fame and profit within a reasonable and legal framework. But don't ignore the "useless" things around you, they are the real nutrition of life.