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Some people say that the highest state of being a human being is to pretend to be stupid. Some people feel that great wisdom and foolishness are a kind of height of being human. From the perspective of psychology, the analysis of these two statements shows that they have the same mentality: self-righteousness.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="26" > the essence of "pretending to be stupid" in the context of Chinese society</h1>
In Chinese social environment and context, people have always been encouraged to pretend to be stupid, and this is the highest state of being a human being.
As for why it does not recognize seeking truth from facts and not seeking truth from facts, on the one hand, it is related to social and cultural traditions, on the other hand, because it contains a philosophy of life and life, which is very grand and cannot be attached to one side.
Although the social environment always encourages people to "see through and not to say broken", they have not abandoned the truth, but have dealt with reality in a different way. In the contextual meaning of Chinese, "pretending to be stupid" has an implicit premise, that is, to understand things and know the overall situation.
Pretending to be stupid is not really stupid, but under the premise of understanding things and knowing the overall situation, according to their actual situation and real purpose, they expose themselves to themselves, and have words and deeds. This has always been recognized by everyone as the practice of smart people.
Looking back, we have this mode of thinking and mentality, mostly derived from the Confucian implicit, moderate, and introverted cultural upbringing.
In Confucian doctrine, gentlemen are generous, polite, gentle and frugal. Although it is also respectful and lonely and cautious, in general, Chinese in any social situation, they want to see the calm atmosphere of the well-behaved, elegant and wise, and calculating people, rather than the superficiality, recklessness and self-righteousness of the brazen.
From the perspective of cultural infiltration and customs and traditions, knowing but not revealing, sensitive to deeds and cautious words, is the way of life and image that makes everyone feel comfortable and admire.
Because of this introverted and implicit, it is very much in line with the tradition of dunhou and gentleness in oriental culture; just like Chinese taiji gossip, yin and yang are different and reflect each other, making people wake up to its agility and feel unfathomable at the same time.
Therefore, under the restrained and implicit influence of Confucianism, we have developed the habit of thinking of giving in to everything in behavior, and have learned the survival strategy of deliberately "pretending to be stupid" even if we understand the truth; we have great admiration for the "great wisdom and foolishness" similar to it, thinking that it is the height of wisdom that is difficult to reach in our lifetime.
Obviously, the strategy of pretending to be stupid is very beneficial. The advantage is that in the face of the facts, everyone knows what I know, tacitly; they are polite to each other, each completely detached from the actual false etiquette, humble and orderly.
At the same time, the disadvantages of pretending to be stupid are also very obvious: pretending to be stupid, you really form a fool's style. That is, to conform to the situation, and to make stupid behavior against IQ.
William James, an American behavioral psychologist, discovered a "performance" principle when observing the connection between people's emotions and behaviors. He believes that when people behave accordingly, they will get corresponding emotional feelings.
For example, practicing smiling with a pencil, the practitioner obviously feels more pleasure than when he is not smiling. Obviously, in James's view, behavior affects cognition and changes people's original cognition, which in turn changes people's thinking.
Coincidentally, looking back at traditional wisdom, we have also expressed a similar view: when team building, team building coaches tell everyone that if we smile, our hearts will be easier to feel happy. On the contrary, if you often frown, the mood is not very pleasant.
In addition, a recent study published in Experimental Psychology revealed the fact that expression movements can affect people's emotions and cognition.
The study's lead author, Dr Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos, is an expert on human and artificial cognition at the University of South Australia. He argues that:
"When your muscles say they're happy, you're more likely to see the world in a positive way. In the study, we found that when a person forcibly performs the smile exercise, it stimulates the amygdala ----- the emotional center of the brain and releases neurotransmitters, which in turn promotes emotional positive states. This finding has very important implications for maintaining people's mental health. That is, if people can trick their brains into thinking of external stimuli as "happy," then we will be able to use this mechanism to promote our own mental health. ”
The significance of quoting psychological research theories here is that for a long time, we have all been self-righteous and confused, thinking that this is the best strategy to deal with reality, and it is a manifestation of our own cleverness.
But in fact, in the long run, knowing that the truth is not so, but to pretend to be stupid into the public perception of the behavior and disguise, there is no substantial benefit to themselves, but will make themselves really stupid.
For when you do things and express yourself in a state contrary to the facts themselves, you will truly fall into falsehood; over time, man will be abolished. That is to say, at first people can still understand the real situation, but because your inner decision makes you pretend to be stupid, you start to act and start doing stupid things, so that you really fall into the falsehood and become a part of the false.
In other words, you're caught up in the herd effect. Everyone did this, and although I saw the truth, I was forced to do it, and as a result, everyone fell into the trap of the counterfeiters.
In the end, it can only be the small group that knows the truth but deceives the public with false traps.
The recent collective plunge in funds is a very notable example.
Therefore, looking back at the "pretending to be stupid" that the Chinese people have long admired, and the "great wisdom is like foolishness" that they think is highly intelligent, what benefits have we brought to ourselves and this society? Does it bring the habitual truth-seeking thinking of facing the truth?
Has it brought about a social atmosphere that dares to explore the truth of facts, and a pragmatic spirit of bold exploration of science, nature, and facts? There seems to be none, almost none.
The greatest value of the strategy and realm of pretending to be stupid and foolish in the world, which has prevailed in the Chinese society for nearly a thousand years, is that most people have learned to be vain, learn to habitually avoid the truth, and get used to going to hypocrisy and going through everything.
When we look at the strategy of "pretending to be stupid" from a broader perspective, we will find that those who say that the highest state of being a human being is the realm of people who pretend to be stupid are indeed too small. The starting point for such a determination is nothing more than to maintain oneself and one's own interests.
It is to avoid the power and key points that they cannot resist, and then put themselves in the most appropriate position and timing to maximize their personal interests.
If the small people want to survive, folk wisdom will come out. Pretending to be stupid is a kind of survival wisdom, and at the same time, it is also very sad. Because in the soil where it grows, there is no nutrition of "seeking truth from facts", "seeking truth from facts", and "pioneering and innovating".
If the small people want to survive, they must live well, and there is nothing wrong with doing so. However, if a large company, a large enterprise, or even a country also pretends to be stupid in such an unrealistic way, then the future is worrying and the future of the nation is worrying.
If you look at some of the countries in the world that have been brought down by the self-interest of those in power, you will know how tragic it is not to proceed from reality and only to look at the false prosperity in front of you.
Compared with pretending to be stupid, people who think that great wisdom and foolishness are the highest wisdom in life, there is still a difference in mind. Because after all, we must first pay attention to great wisdom, and then we must live humbly and low-key like stupid people. This is the embodiment of the character and moral realm of being a human being, and it is also a choice in the attitude and way of dealing with the world.
Lao Tzu once said that the road is simple; Socrates also said: Man, you must know yourself, you must realize your ignorance.
Lao Su's meaning is very clear, that is, only when people's knowledge is rich to a certain extent, they will know that the mysteries of the natural universe are endless, and there is no end to learning the sea, and what they have learned and know is only a drop in the ocean, a feather, not humble and low-key, not enough to become a great instrument.
Obviously, thinking that the highest state of being a human being is to pretend to be stupid, which is a typical Chinese-style bourgeois thinking; why not position the goal as a great wisdom and foolishness?
First let yourself be wise and erudite on the basis of seeking truth and pragmatism; then, lose your hands to the world, laugh and say nothing.
- The End -
Author | Tang Jingda
Edit | A grain of rice
The First Psychological Writer Group | A group of young people who like to look up at the stars
参考资料：[1]Tartakovsky, M. (2018). 6 Ways to Become More Independent, Less Codependent.
[2] Vogel, D. L., & Wester, S. R. (2003). To seek help or not to seek help: The risks of self-disclosure. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50(3), 351.
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