Everyone lives in their own perception of the world. But at the same time, everyone's cognition also has various limitations, which are limited to a fixed range.
This is what we often call the cognitive range, and the limit of this range means the upper limit of your life. So since ancient times, many people have been trying to break down the so-called cognitive boundaries. On this point, Zhuangzi in the pre-Qin period was undoubtedly a very successful person.
The topic we want to talk about today is Zhuangzi's Autumn Water. But because this ancient text is too obscure to understand, we will change our thinking mode to understand its connotation.
Then please follow my thinking to complete a journey through the cognitive limits.
Turn on traversal mode
Suppose you have now traveled to the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, and you have just arrived at the border of the Song Dynasty at that time.
At this time, Zhuangzi was sitting by the river fishing with a fishing rod, and you suddenly came out of the time and space tunnel, originally thinking that Zhuangzi would be surprised.
But I didn't expect him to just say lightly: You are coming!
At this time, you also began to look at Zhuangzi carefully, looking at this worldly master who was quite famous thousands of years later. You suddenly feel like an ant, facing a dragon, the temperament of the other party is like the abyss of the sea, making you feel unfathomable.
So you asked Zhuangzi very doubtfully:
Before I actually met you, I felt that I already knew a lot of truths in the world and understood a lot of connotations. But why do you still feel so small and shallow after seeing you?
At this time, Zhuangzi also turned his head to look at you, but instead of answering your question head-on, he told you a story:
The rainy season of that year was particularly fierce, and there were torrential rains everywhere in the Central Plains. The rainwater collects into many rivers on the ground, and eventually all of them flow into the Yellow River. At a glance, the scene is particularly spectacular.
The river god of the Yellow River also feels that he has the most magnificent landscape in the world, and is truly the first river in the world. But when he harnessed the rushing river and went deep into the sea, he was surprised to find it. The vastness of the sea was far beyond his imagination.
Even if a thousand rivers like their own are added together, they are less than one ten-thousandth of the vast sea.
So the river god said with shame:
There is a saying that when you hear a lot of truth, you think that no one can compare with yourself, and it is people like me who are talking.
Moreover, I have heard that some people think that Confucius's knowledge is shallow and That Boyi's morality is insignificant, and at first I did not believe it.
Now that I see your vastness, if I had not come to you, it would have been dangerous, and I would have been ridiculed forever by the learned.
And then the god of the sea told him:
The well frog cannot speak of the sea, the summer worm cannot speak of ice, and the shallow person cannot talk about the road with it.
Because they are not aware of their own smallness and inadequacy, they do not know that there is something broader in this world. And now that you've finally realized this, you can talk to you about it.
Now you know that the sea is the largest body of water under the sky, but you still don't know, compared to the vast world. Even if the waters of the four seas are added up, it is actually just like an ant nest in the sea.
And the Central Plains Land where you were before, compared with the whole heaven and earth, is like a grain of rice in a granary, not even one in ten million.
Then think about it from this point of view, the Three Emperors and Five Emperors in the ancient period, and the later Xia Shang Zhou Tianzi princes, as well as the Sons and Hundred Families of the Spring and Autumn Period.
All they argue about is just what happened on this grain of rice. Is this pattern too trivial?
Listening to Zhuangzi tell the story here, your heart also suddenly came to sigh.
So he said to Zhuangzi:
The well frog cannot speak of the sea because it is limited by space.
Summer worms can't speak because they are limited by time.
And the superficial person cannot argue with it, because he is limited by his thinking.
And all this is actually because people have limited understanding.
Including the river god and the sea god you just mentioned in the story, the gap between them is actually the gap in mutual cognition. And from this point of view, everyone in the world actually has cognitive limitations.
For example, if I tell you now, more than 2,000 years later, people can soar in the air tens of thousands of meters above the ground in a spaceship made of steel, and even rush out of the protective layer of air currents and enter the real space. Downwards can also dive thousands of meters deep into the seabed to explore the unknown.
Even being able to hold a small mirror-like thing called a mobile phone can see people thousands of miles away and talk to each other. Can you believe what I'm saying?
However, Zhuangzi told you very calmly: Why don't I believe it?
Looking at Zhuangzi's meaningful smile, you asked incomprehensibly: Why don't you doubt it?
Zhuangzi said: In your words just now, it is still a matter of cognition.
The reason why you think I won't believe it is simply because you think that the upper limit of my cognition will not exceed the limits of this era.
But you don't know that there is no such thing as a cognitive ceiling in this world. It's just that people set a false boundary for themselves based on their cognitive range.
For example, now I can also ask you, if I told you that one day in the future, human beings can survive normally in what you call the cold cosmic space without any protective measures, then will you believe it?
At this point you shook your head very firmly and said:
Then I certainly don't believe it, because human beings themselves are carbon-based beings.
The special properties of carbon-based life determine that we humans are inseparable from oxygen and water.
So the assumption you just said is absolutely impossible to implement.
Zhuangzi said: You see you still can't get rid of the limitations of cognition.
I thought I knew a lot, but I was trapped in a small space by my own cognition, and I set a seemingly impossible upper limit for myself.
And I can tell you very clearly, if people in this world think according to your way of thinking, if they think about things.
Then all the advanced technologies of your time could not have appeared. Speaking of Zhuangzi, he continued to tell you the story of the river god and the sea god.
Zhuangzi said:
In fact, the river god also asked the sea god a similar question. He said that he could not regard heaven and earth as the biggest mistake in the world, and the end of the world as the smallest thing in the world.
But at this time, before waiting for Zhuangzi's story to continue, you preemptively said:
Of course not, although the millimeter is tiny, it is not the smallest unit of matter. If according to the concept of subdivision, matter can first decompose components, molecules can be divided into atoms, and then there are protons, quanta, and even quarks.
And heaven and earth are not the largest thing in the world, and the heavens and earth that you ancients saw are actually just projections of the Milky Way.
Beyond the Milky Way, there is a much wider space, and it was not until our time that we only detected a distance of 13.7 billion light-years.
Therefore, this world is far more magical and mysterious than you ancient people imagined.
However, after listening to your words, Zhuangzi sighed and said:
You still don't understand what I'm talking about!
Although I don't know what exactly you mean by proton quark?
But in your perception, are those things the smallest things in the world? Is the universe the greatest being?
Do you think that in the era you lived in, your understanding of the world had reached the limits of human beings?
Yes, I also admit that the ancients of our time, although most people do not believe, what you say about steel spaceships can fly into space, nor do they believe that someone can go deep into the bottom of the sea. As for the mobile phone you are talking about, it is even more nonsense for them.
But in addition to these public perceptions, there are always some people who will continue to explore for all kinds of seemingly impossible things.
Because they never set an upper limit on their thinking, nor do they let their cognition form a closed loop. But it has always been actively extending outward, so it can constantly refresh the world's understanding of the world.
This is like the scientist of your time, if he confines his knowledge to the existing field of science and does not try to explore outward. So how did your technology make major breakthroughs step by step?
After listening to Zhuangzi's answer, you finally have a feeling of sudden enlightenment, so you hurriedly said:
According to what you just said, in fact, the so-called upper limit of cognition is the scope of people's cognition of the world. In this world, most people's cognition has formed a closed loop, sealing themselves inside.
And many people no longer take the initiative to break through this range. It's like a person pretending to be asleep, and you can't wake him up no matter how you call.
He simply does not accept anything other than his own cognition, and even vigorously denies existence beyond his own cognition. So for such a phenomenon, how to break it?
How to break through the limitations of cognition
At this point in the conversation between you, Zhuangzi's face finally showed a look of satisfaction.
Laughing at you, he said:
At this moment, you are finally enlightened, and what you call cognitive limitations is actually like a person looking at the world through a bamboo tube.
And there happened to be a big mountain in front of him, blocking his gaze and making him unable to see the wider space. So what should he do at this time?
You say: Then take off the bamboo tube, and then climb this mountain, won't you be able to see a wider world?
Zhuangzi said:
You're right, to take away the bamboo tube is to get rid of the paranoia in people's hearts, and to climb to the top of the mountain is to make you stand outside the worldly level.
In this world, people are paranoid about nothing more than the world's honor and disgrace, right and wrong, and fame and fortune.
In which area are people concerned, what factors will they be constrained and limited? This leads to the formation of a closed loop of their cognition, no longer actively expanding outward.
So the truly enlightened person doesn't care too much about these worldly concepts. They neither deliberately inflict harm on others nor do they give favors to others with a purpose.
Neither will they fight for their possessions, nor will they humble themselves for fame.
Neither the lowly nor the noble will be looked down upon.
Neither exalts noble character nor accuses human greed and filth.
Because in their hearts, there are no such boundaries for a long time. Therefore, I will not worry about anything because of this, and I will not let my heart be tied up by these worldly ideas. When you listened to this passage of Zhuangzi, you immediately felt a little confused.
So I couldn't help but ask him:
If the people who can speak the truth do not care about the worldly things such as honor and disgrace and wealth and fame, I can understand it.
But if the concepts of shame and shame, high and low, can be discarded, then what kind of standard should he use to measure and judge things in this world? If this is the case, wouldn't it be a matter of right and wrong, good and evil?
However, what you did not expect was that Zhuangzi told you:
You want to measure the world by the level of good and evil, which is a mistake in itself. Because there is no fixed standard in this world, it can be used as the basis for right and wrong, good and evil, high and low.
All the standards of measurement from ancient times to the present are not static.
For example, in ancient times, Yao Shunyu Three Kings Zen Rang, the journey of the great road, the world is just. In the Xia Shang Zhou era, it changed from a public world to a family world. People began to promote the hereditary system, and the sub-feudal system.
So can you say that the three holy kings of antiquity were wrong? Or can you say that the founding son of the Xia Shang Dynasty on Wednesday was wrong?
Therefore, the standards that people pursue often need to conform to the trends and trends of an era. If a person's words and deeds can conform to the values of the times, they will be respected, and even revered as saints.
But if a person's behavior violates the values of this era, then he will be spurned and become a shame in people's eyes. So do you think that in this world, there are fixed right and wrong, good and evil, and high and low? Everything is relative.
If you have to measure something by some standard, then you have to stand in opposition to each other to judge whether it is good or bad.
If you look at the good side, you will find some positive value and effect. But if you look at it with a negative eye, then there is something wrong with this thing everywhere.
For example, although a thousand-mile horse can travel thousands of miles a day, if you use it to catch mice, it is not even as good as a cat.
For example, an owl can have a very sharp eye at night, and can see things smaller than a hair. But in the daytime, it is like an open-eyed blind man, who can only stay in the tree and sleep.
So to understand it according to this concept, don't you think it is ridiculous to use some kind of standard to measure the world? After listening to Zhuangzi's words, you also feel very reasonable.
But at the same time, you also feel a little confused, so you ask Zhuangzi again:
Giving up the measurement and judgment of the world can certainly break the boundaries of people's thinking and make people's thinking move from opposition to unity.
But after truly departing from the worldly standards, didn't the cognitive system that we had previously been inherent in, even the worldview and outlook on life, also collapse?
After all, life is alive, from childhood has been affected by various secular ideas, when we abandon this concept, what kind of concept should we replace?
At this time, I saw Zhuangzi smile slightly at you and say:
Without worldly ideas, isn't there still the Tao?
From the point of view of the Tao, there is actually no high or low in this world, everything is in a reciprocating cycle. And the rise and fall of this world is also a process of development and continuation. Everything in the universe is inherently one, and the Great Path is always independent of all things.
So don't be obsessed with one aspect of things, but look at the state of operation of the whole world with a detached mindset and a vision of development and change.
Only by understanding this truth can we talk about the principles of the Dao and comment on the truth of all things. After listening to Zhuangzi's words, you have thought about it for a long time and finally understood the meaning.
So you said with some emotion:
It turns out that the concept of the Tao is to make all natural changes, and the so-called enlightened person is a person who can penetrate all kinds of changes and laws in this world.
Lao Tzu once said that true saints can not be burned in the face of fire, not drowned in the water, even the most ferocious beasts and the most poisonous insects, can not cause harm to them. Now I understand the true meaning of this sentence.
It didn't mean that the saints could withstand fire and floods, or that they could fight poisonous insects and beasts. But it is because the saints saw through the laws of the world and knew the process of the development of all things.
So he doesn't leave anything to hurt himself, and just because the saint knows that humanity can't withstand the flood of flames, he won't go deep into danger.
It is precisely because human desire and paranoia can limit one's thinking and cognition that the saints abandoned worldly concepts and instead used the Tao to treat everything in the world.
And when you said this, Zhuangzi slowly interjected:
The world's entanglement with all kinds of worldly ideas and paranoia is actually like a cow and horse being put on a nose ring, wearing a rein, and being limited by various things in the outside world.
But if we can get rid of these ties and break the limitations of thinking, then man will become a free life. There is nothing in this world that can control and drive you.
Speaking of Zhuangzi, he told you another story and he said:
Not long ago, the King of Chu sent two envoys to me and asked me to be the minister of the Chu State. But I told the two envoys that I heard that the King of Chu had recently obtained a 3,000-year-old spirit turtle.
It was then stripped of its shell, wrapped in brocade, and enshrined on the altar. So do you think this spirit turtle is willing to freely wag its tail in the muddy water, or is it willing to be stripped of its shell by the King of Chu and enshrined? The two envoys immediately replied that, of course, they were willing to wag their tails in the mud.
Speaking of this, Zhuangzi suddenly laughed and asked you:
What do you think I said to them later?
You shake your head and say you can't guess, and then Zhuangzi tells you:
I told them, if that's the case, then go back, and I'd rather keep wagging my tail in the mud.
But then you ask him incomprehensibly:
Since you have abandoned worldly concepts in your own heart and broken all the boundaries of the world, is there any difference for you whether to stay between the mountains and wilderness or to go to the temples of the Chu Kingdom?
If there is no difference, then why do you have to cling to the mountains and rivers instead of going to the Chu kingdom to be a minister?
Is it because you have already prejudged the situation in the world in advance, and know that it will not be the Chu state that will unify the world in the future, but the Qin state?
Hearing your question, Zhuangzi immediately burst out laughing:
Didn't you say that too? All this has no boundaries for me, so why do I have to go to the Chu country?
What's more, who is unified in this world, do you think there is any difference for me?
In fact, from the perspective of the Dao, Zhou Tianzi's system of dividing the seals and ceremonies will inevitably be like the ancient Zen system, which will be replaced by a new system in the past.
And this new system will gradually become obsolete, replaced by another rule thousands of years later.
So you don't have to try to speculate about the future situation with your own cognition, because all you can speculate is limited to your own cognitive range.
But you must not forget that the scope of a person's cognition is limited after all, rather than using limited cognition to deduce infinite time and space, it is better to look at the fish in the water with me, it is more interesting!
At this time, you look at Zhuangzi's calm and relaxed appearance, and all the doubts before suddenly become dissipated.
And the scene in front of you gradually begins to become blurred. When everything has completely dissipated, you slowly come back to your senses and find that you have been looking at the articles on your phone all the time.
In fact, he has never crossed or met Zhuangzi, but his own heart has experienced a breakthrough from limited to infinite.
It is you who cut off the spiritual shackles, stepped out of the closed loop of cognition, and stood on a broader level.
And this level is called the Tao. Even if it is zhuangzi's way, it is your own way.