Chen Jiaying: What is a good life?

In Boss Dai's "I Miss 2019 Incomparably", he mentioned that in 2019, the number of domestic tourists reached 6 billion, and the average Chinese went out to play 4 times in this year, and the industry's revenue also reached a historical peak.

Now, under the impact of the new round of the epidemic, the tourist attractions of this year's May Day holiday may be difficult to have the crowds of previous years. The wanderer, who longs to return home, is also bound in the cement forest of the city. More people choose to stay at home and wait for the raging epidemic to pass.

The flesh cannot travel far, but the spirit can roam. After four months of hard work, we laborers should also take advantage of this holiday to rest well, and even do some futile things, such as dazed, dreaming, and reading.

Today, the guest business school recommends a good book for everyone, Chen Jiaying's "What is a Good Life".

This is a book of ideas that explores the relationship between ethics and life and is suitable for reading by the general public. The author, Chen Jiaying, is a well-known scholar in the field of philosophy in China, and has taught in the philosophy departments of Peking University, East China Normal University and Capital Normal University.

As the title suggests, the central question discussed in this book is what exactly is worth living a good life for us? Or, "How should we live?" ”

It is not a question of choosing the right path, it is not a question of choosing the right or wrong, but a question of walking - knowing what path we are taking, knowing how to take this road: whether we are following our true nature.

We have excerpted Chen Jiaying's thoughts on "happiness, happiness and a good life" from the book, hoping that you will benefit from it.

In festivals where you can't travel far, reading at home is like traveling around the room, "like mountains and rivers, like returning home.". I wish you all a happy May Day and a happy reading.

1) Living happily is not necessarily a good life

"Good life" is not a secluded term, it is a common phrase, and it is quite clear literally.

In the ethical tradition, however, it has some origin, coming from the Greek word eudaimonia. It is often translated into English as happy, Chinese then translated as joy or happiness.

Eudaimonia translates it as happy, and more discerning thinkers prefer to translate it as well-being. Correspondingly, Chinese translated as Good Life.

Happiness seems to be a natural good thing, and during the holidays, we wish relatives and friends a happy holiday, and we do not wish him unhappiness. However, living happily does not necessarily lead to a good life.

Who is the happiest in Journey to the West? It seems that the Eight Precepts of the Pig are the happiest. The Eight Commandments of the Pig are delicious and lustful, good at playing small and clever, and occasionally heroic. Except for sometimes muttering and complaining, he lived happily. We men, we are all a bit of a pig. But we generally do not choose the Eight Precepts of the Pig as a model for a good life.

Who is the happiest in The Stones? Come to think of it, maybe Xue Pan. Who is the happiest in Anna Karenina? Maybe Obronsky. Back to real life, a small bureaucrat, quite cheerful, very popular, can coax the boss, can also deal with colleagues and subordinates, do some official business, and then eat a little drink and play a little greedy. He was happy, but not very good. I heard that Lei Zhengfu was quite happy, of course, he was arrested and unhappy.

On the other hand, Gu Zhun and Yu Luoke fought for the truth and the just cause, but it is difficult to say that he was happy. Was Jesus happy? Nekhlyudov in "Resurrection", who had a very happy life before repenting, followed Maslova into exile and was not so happy. But maybe that's when he's living a good life.

Happiness is sometimes translated as happiness and sometimes as happiness, but the two words have different meanings. Happiness is mostly used on the emotional level, emotions are erratic, one moment you are happy, the next moment you are unhappy, and the next moment you are happy again.

Moreover, when we wish a friend happiness, we really not only wish him a good mood, but also hope that he has a happiness that matches the environment and situation he is in, rather than the simple mood happiness that is isolated.

Compared with happiness, happiness has to be so stable and long-lasting. Some people only want to be happy for a while, but it seems that there is no such thing as only a temporary happiness. The highest state of happiness seems to be to grow old with a white head, which is a long life year after year.

In addition to longevity, or rather, associated with longevity, happiness seems to have some sort of ethical evaluation. Living in peace, having good food and clothing, good health, loving parents, harmony between husband and wife, and children's well-being can be said to be indicators of happiness, or "external happiness".

But happiness also has an intrinsic side: old husbands and wives live a happy life, which is not only in the filial piety of their children, but also in their good nature. Happiness is not just a "subjective experience", nor is it just a collection of various happiness indexes, happiness is nourished by the beauty in human nature. A happy childhood is full of innocence, and a happy old age is connected with kindness and generosity.

We have reason to wonder whether the despicable person can feel happy, or conversely, we do not call it happiness no matter what the despicable person feels. The Lei Zhengfu who were not arrested went happily, but we were reluctant to say that they were happy.

2) A good life has nothing to do with success

The meaning of a good life and a happy life is quite close. However, when you think about it, a good life is more from the internal aspect, and happiness is more from the external aspect.

And, when it comes to the inner aspect, happiness is more associated with innocence and goodness; good life is more connected to the more positive content of character, spirituality, and making a difference.

What age does happiness relate to? Connected with the old man, connected with childhood, the song sings about a happy childhood, I hope our children have a happy childhood, even if their prospects are a little bad.

Eudaimonia is more associated with young men. It sounds a little weird to say that a prime-age person lives a happy life. Yes, once the princess and prince live a happy life, the story is over.

Of course, some adult men have no worries about food and clothing, some lack of food and clothing, some husband and wife are harmonious, some families have tough women, but in the prime of life, the dazzling is always character and awareness, and other deficiencies are not deep.

In contrast, the teenager has not yet formed a stable character, the old man, the character has been submerged, we no longer expect him to show his ambitions, so happiness or unhappiness has become the primary problem.

A good life begins with a view of life from the point of view of character, perception, and behavior. Of course, to be a meritorious person includes meritorious service, but virtue cultivation is also an act, and according to the ancient saying of meritorious service, moral cultivation and progress are the most outstanding in excellent deeds. All of this has little to do with success.

Nowadays, people collectively refer to accomplished people as "successful people", but in fact, successful people, like unsuccessful people, some live a good life, and some have low character and dry souls.

Success has made the outstanding people more determined, calm, and generous, and those who have gained money by relying on the official position in the turbid diamond camp have become arrogant and more shallow and vulgar. There are more such successful people, and it almost brings success into a vulgar thing.

But in our filthy society, who can achieve something by virtue of character and not by drilling? The ancients said: There are people who die in the world, although the wise and the wise do good. Our society today is smoky and miasma, and we can't complain that everyone should criticize and accuse.

But don't blindly criticize and accuse, let alone complain, especially be vigilant because you are used to relaxing yourself and indulging yourself. Who promised to give you a good social environment? If someone has promised and you believe it in ignorance at a young age, and you continue to believe when you are so old, it is your own.

I dare not quote Dickens's famous saying that our time is the worst era and the best era, I only dare to say that whether it is good or bad, the society you live in is like this, if you have the heart to live well, you have to find your own good life in this social reality.

I know a lot of people who do things sincerely, and most of them have made achievements and received some rewards. Even, even if what you do is a power envy, you will encounter many hardships, but most of them will get a different kind of reward.

I certainly don't mean that accumulating virtue and doing good deeds will earn all kinds of happiness indexes. In Sumati there may be unshakable results, but in our world of vajrayers there are accidents everywhere, and obvious injustices and paradoxes are inevitable.

But it is only in a world of chance, injustice and paradox that character can be spoken of. If a piece of character can certainly be exchanged for a blessing in this world, then it is all too good to have character - you have both character and worldly benefits, and you have a double share.

3, a good life exists in daily life

Jesus preached a new doctrine, the Pharisees crucified him by the hand of Pilate, Wen Tianxiang was awe-inspiring and generous to death, and Yu Luoke only objected to the red couplet, that is, he was brutally poisoned. Jesus, Wen Tianxiang, Yu Luoke, did they live a good life?

The formulation of a good life focuses on less extreme characters, less extreme situations. In Auschwitz, the character of man was still divided into three, six, and nine grades, but there was no possibility of a good life.

Wen Tianxiang killed herself, Mother Teresa's love is boundless, Mandela's merits are in the annals of history, Van Gogh is completely self-indulgent in artistic impulses, these great virtues and brave talents, we can not reach the blunt roots outside the boundary. But we still strive to live a good life.

We are not Yan Hui, he does not change his pleasure, we may feel miserable. We are not Jesus, who atone for the sins of mankind with all our bodies. We have a little bit of character, a little bit of spirituality, but we are far from strong enough to be happy by character and spirituality alone, and we want to live a good life in the most popular sense.

If we take the age theory, young people should cultivate more character and cultivate spirituality, and the elderly should live a little more comfortably, it seems logical, the so-called less learning, strong and promising, old age has peace.

Confucius's portrayal of a gentleman can lead to a picture of a good life, and that life is indeed desirable. Later, the Confucian tradition of benevolence and righteousness and wisdom had a long and profound influence on the Chinese scholars for more than two thousand years, but it was not the only picture, Mozi had other ideas about what a good life was, and Zhuangzi had other ideas.

In the Western tradition, the good life envisioned by Aristotle is not exactly the same as the good life envisioned by Confucius, and the picture of Epicurus is different from that of Aristotle, not to mention what later Christians wanted.

So, what criteria should we choose to determine a good life? Maybe it's not good enough, but a calm and liberated mind like stopping water is the highest state? If "the heart is like stopping water" is a good word, the heart is like stopping water.

But Faust and Van Gogh, who are not willing to live in peace for a day, are not bad. Isn't being vibrant an essential ingredient for a good life? The highest realm of this, whether it is said or not, the nine-nine-to-one also depends on the person and the situation.

The ancients' ideas about a good life have been diverse, not to mention, the stars have changed, today's society and concepts have undergone tremendous changes, and the good life of today's people cannot be the same as that of the ancients.

Let's just say that the ancients talked about a good life, about gentlemen, about character and insight, and they all talked about men. Women can be happy, they can be happy, but it has little to do with a good life. This is clearly no longer the reality of today, nor should it be the concept of today's people.

According to my personal opinion, the good life of today's people has more to do with daily life, family life, and the love between men and women, and correspondingly, the question of what is a good life is not only related to men; who knows, on the character and fullness of life, women may surpass men.

4, a good life to pursue

Philosophical thinking is based on facts according to theoretical reasoning, and in this sense, strives to be objective. But philosophical truths, in the final analysis, are connected to ourselves. We can determine what a good conductor is and what a good insulator is based on certain criteria, and these standards have little to do with how I should live.

The "philosophical questions" of what is reality, what is knowledge, and what is history are different, and the question of contemplation is always related to ourselves, to each of us. At this point, the question of "what is a good life" is the most obvious – but when confronted with this question, we inevitably wonder: Am I living a good life? Look at the people around you and think: Who lives a good life and which life is not so good? How should I and we live? It may be said that only for those who are asking this question themselves, "what is a good life" is the question.

So, if I don't dare claim to be living a good life, what qualifications do I have to answer the question of what is a good life? Who is eligible? Maybe Mandela and Teresa have.

But I don't think there's a question here, because the question here is basically that everyone is asking questions for themselves, not about providing standard answers for others.

Even Mandela and Teresa cannot provide us with standard answers, and their survival provides light so that each of us can pursue our own answers in our own character and circumstances.

Author | Chen Jiaying

Source | "What is a Good Life", published by Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House

Edit | Han Zhe