This article is about 2900 words
Reading required
8 min
—
In the new year, focus on the present moment without distraction, and take every step towards the goal.
In 1953, Reader's Digest issued a letter of appointment: Who is the most extraordinary and memorable person you have ever met?
The French writer Jean Gionor, considered the most famous French writer of the 20th century, wrote The Man Who Planted Hope and Happiness. Since then, this article has been translated into more than ten countries, and has been selected as a seventh-grade Chinese textbook compiled by our ministry, renamed "Shepherd Planting Trees".
"The Shepherd Who Planted Trees" tells the story of a farmer who has planted trees for thirty-five years and turned the wasteland into a beautiful home with his own efforts.
Remember the students in the classroom with "generosity and selflessness", "silent dedication", "tenacity"... Too many compliments expressed praise for him. But after class, my mind is not yet at peace. I always felt that these words were not enough to express my feelings for the shepherd. Until the word "quiet" came to mind.
Yes, he is a quiet man. Zhuge Liang's Book of Commandments says, "Quietly cultivate oneself," and the shepherd who planted trees may be such a person.
When the New Year comes and Vientiane is renewed, this moment I want to be a quiet person and create my own miracles.
Quiet people live on minimalism
The shepherd, Elizer Buffy, haunts the wasteland like a ghost. The village on the plateau was in ruins, the well water no longer sang, and there was a dead silence.
He lived alone in that stone house. It's quiet only the wind blowing on the tiles, making the sound of the waves lapping at the beach. Nor does his shepherd seem to have mourned this desolation.
His dog was also as quiet, loyal, and unobtrusive as his owner.
He has his own farm. But he first lost his only son, and then his wife died. Leaving him alone, he and the flock and the puppies depended on each other, calmly watching the days pass by day.
He chose to live minimally. The only things he had at his disposal created the true value of life.
If you think that the shepherd is just helpless and forced to live a minimalist life. Then let's look at a story told by Peng Duanshu, the "Three Talents of Sichuan in the Qing Dynasty", in "To Learn a Son and Nephew" (also selected as a seventh-grade textbook):
There are two monks in Shuzhi: one is poor and the other is rich. The poor speak to the rich: "What is the South Sea of my desire?" The rich man said, "Why does the Son go where he goes?" "A bottle and a bowl are enough." The rich man said, "I have wanted to buy a boat for years, but I have not been able to do so." Son what a bully! "The next year, the poor will return from the South China Sea, in order to warn the rich, the rich have shame."
Sichuan is thousands of miles away from the South China Sea, I don't know how many miles away, rich monks can't reach but poor monks have arrived. The rich monks have been planning to rely on more sufficient material conditions to go to the South China Sea, while the poor monks have realized the unfinished dream of the rich monks for several years with only "one bottle and one bowl".
Minimalism is about removing inconsequentialities from life and allowing us to focus more on what matters most.
Quiet people live in minimalism, are not burdened by material desires, and only do what they have to do, even if it is only one thing.
Quiet people focus on one thing
"There is no ambition without indifference, and there is no distance without tranquility." The shepherd who plants the tree may be such a person who "meditates on self-cultivation": he gets rid of distractions and distractions, is quiet and single-minded, has a quiet heart, and does not seek fame and fortune.
He labored quietly, carefully picking acorns: whole bags of acorns, one by one, counting and picking until he picked out a hundred large, round acorns.
The rare visitors to the wasteland will not disrupt his work and life.
Yes, true quietness is "peace of mind", undistracted, intoxicated with one's own affairs. The man who planted the tree didn't care who the land belonged to. Is it public or private? He just single-mindedly planted a hundred acorns.
It is precisely because of this inner peace that nothing will disturb him. Even if the whole world is plunged into the catastrophe of the First World War. He still insisted on his dream of "afforestation" and began to raise bees to survive.
The smoke cleared, and he dedicated himself to the lush woods of the wasteland. Every birch tree is fresh and tall like a teenager. But this "great miracle" will not overwhelm his mind, even at the age of 87, he still continues to plant trees.
"The former wasteland is now full of life and fertile land." With his own hands and dedication, he turned the "wasteland" into an "oasis".
The visits of others, the fire of war, the loneliness of one person, the praise of everyone, the vital interests... Nothing can interfere with his labor.
Quiet people, indifferent to fame and fortune. This mountain will not look at the mountain high, and it will not waver, so it will walk less or even take a detour, so it can create a miracle. Quiet people, single-minded, so it is easier to succeed.
Jia Pingwa sighed: "When people reach middle age, you will understand that people can't do a few things in their lives." ”
On November 3, 2020, China announced that the double-cropping yield of hybrid rice exceeded 3,000 catties per mu. Behind the world's remarkable achievements is a 90-year-old man - Yuan Longping. The old man, who is loved by netizens as "post-90s", still adheres to the front line of research on better rice varieties, he said that now the body is still OK, the brain is not confused, you can continue to work, to continue to do meaningful work for the people, society, and the country, from the post-90s to the post-100s.
The world is very big, but Yuan Longping has only done one thing in his life.
There are many more such people. Quietly doing your own thing, but changing the world.
Brandeis described their lives this way:
They engage in labor and exploration that dig deeper into their minds, forgetting the events of the present. They are busy with the quiet profession of their choice, enduring the losses and sorrows of the years, and the joys that the years have quietly taken away. When Death approached, they would make the same request as Archimedes had done before his death: "Don't mess with the circle I drew." ”
Quiet people focus on the present moment
The shepherd said that there were no trees in this place. Without trees, there would be no life. He decided to plant trees.
There seems to be no grand goal, only to do what can be done in the moment. It is the realization of the state of "only asking about cultivation, not asking about harvest".
"The room was neatly tidy, the dishes were washed clean, there was not a speck of dust on the floor..." Even the stitches of the patch were so fine that they could hardly be seen. I have no doubt in the slightest that there are men in this world who are good at sewing. But I must have believed that the tree planter must have been quiet while patching, and he only paid attention to the work at hand. Because we have seen countless times that even the most dexterous hand will mess up the stitches and break the fingers because of the slightest deviation in the heart.
Whether it is life or work, quiet people only focus on the present moment. Therefore, quiet people will not be ape-hearted, so high and far, and their eyes are high and low. So they can do a good job in the present and pave the way for a better tomorrow.
In January 1945, a pilot was ordered to fly a Mosquito twin-engine aircraft without any weaponry or protection to conduct reconnaissance missions deep into the German homeland.
Unable to complete the mission! Everyone thinks so.
The next day, the plane taxied on the runway, ascended to an altitude of 25,000 meters, flew over the Netherlands, and finally flew to Germany, completing the mission. The lone hero was named Morton Hunter and later became an American writer.
When he accepted the Allied reward, he said that he had completed such a difficult task only because of the revelation of an experience as a child.
That experience was written into the text when the author was 65 years old, which is "Step by Step" in the seventh grade book of our department's textbook.
In the story, when an eight-year-old child is trapped on a cliff and in a dilemma, how can he get out of danger?
"Listen to me." My father said, "Don't think about how far away it is. You just have to think that you are taking a small step. You can do it. Looking at the light of my flashlight, can you see the rock under the stone shelf?"
I slowly moved my body over and "saw," I said.
"Well," he said to me, "now you put your left foot on that rock. Don't worry about the next step. Listen to me. "Just take the first step, and confidence is greatly enhanced. Just walk one step at a time until you get to where you're going.
So as an adult Morton Hunter, he warned himself as well when he was on a mission.
Piloting the plane gliding down the runway, he told himself, now, just take off and fly. As he ascended to an altitude of twenty-five thousand meters, he warned himself, take it easy, and now keep this course for 20 minutes to reach Holland, which is not difficult, and then, flying to Germany, there is no need to think about more. And, there is also radio support in the rear.
Don't think too far, focus on the present, do a good job in the present, and take the next step to take the next step.
Someone asked: Why is the journey 108,000 miles?
Answer: Because the path to the scriptures is exactly 108,000 miles. Sun Wukong is a heart ape, and the heart moves, and you can reach the Spirit Mountain in one thought. It turns out that what you want to do is always easy, and in order to get the True Scriptures, you have to take every step well, how far you can go, and this step is the most critical at the moment.
In the new year, may we all be a quiet person, a "shepherd who plants trees", and harvest our own miracles.
-END-
Text | Xia Zhiyong
Editor-in-charge | Ink language
Intern Editor | Goshu
Copyright Notice
This article is the exclusive manuscript of "Reader New Language", and the copyright and interpretation rights belong to "Reader New Language".
Individuals or platforms shall not be reproduced without authorization, otherwise they will be investigated for legal responsibility.
This license is only for the original text content of "Reader New Language". For authorizations involving the legal rights of third parties such as non-original content, pictures, audio and video, please contact the relevant rights holders for separate authorization.
The content of the article is purely the author's personal opinion and does not represent the platform view.