In 18th-century France, there was a philosopher named Denis Diderot.
One day, a friend gave him a beautiful dressing gown, which Diderot loved very much.
But when he walked around the study in his dressing gown, he always felt that the furniture was either dilapidated or the style was wrong.
So, in order to match the nightgown, he replaced the old furniture in the house one by one.
When the furniture was brand new, he stared at the old mottled walls of the room, which was not pleasing to the eye.
He spent a lot of money to renovate the house from beginning to end.
After the house was renovated, I thought he would show a satisfied smile, but unexpectedly, he felt that the house was too small and wanted to change to a villa.
In this way, he not only spent all his savings, but also owed a lot of foreign debt.
It didn't take long for creditors to start collecting debts, and his wife quarreled with him every day, and he was in a state of anxiety and his life was completely chaotic.
This is the famous "nightgown trap":
When you have a beautiful dressing gown, you want brand new furniture, and then you want high-end decorations......
The more you want, the more you lack, and eventually you fall into the bottomless abyss in the process of chasing material.
Too much desire is the source of suffering
Everyone faces the "nightgown trap", which could be a new dress, a treat, anything you want.
Once your greed is aroused, you can only be captured by it and at its mercy.
Mo Yan wrote a short story.
There was a poor man with a gun on his back who was hunting wild ducks in a swamp.
At first, he filled the usual amount of gunpowder and killed a mallard duck with one shot.
Seeing that there were so many ducks and so few of his own, he began to pour more gunpowder into the barrel of his gun.
Sure enough, the shotgun became more powerful, killing several mallards at once.
In this way, he became excited, and after each shot, he filled it with more gunpowder.
In the end, because there was too much gunpowder, he blew up the chamber of the gun and blew himself up.
In order to satisfy his growing greed, the poor man eventually lost his life.
Qing Dynasty scholar Shen Juyun once said:
"The pleasure of indulgence is followed by sorrow. "
The desire for external things is human instinct, but blindly indulging and satisfying often brings pain to oneself.
I've seen a fable called "The Lighter".
A soldier was given a lighter from a witch's hand.
With it, it can summon divine dogs and help people fulfill any wish.
However, each time it is used, the flame of the lighter dimmes a little.
At first, he asked the dog to steal the belongings of passers-by, and after getting the money, he immediately stayed in a luxury hotel and ate and drank every day.
After squandering, he continued to let the divine dog steal more things.
Later, he thought that the money was too slow to come in this way, so he directly ordered the divine dog to rob the trading house and the bank.
By plundering, his fortune grew rapidly, and his heart became more and more inflated.
In order to become the richest man in the world, one day, he ordered the divine dog to move the treasury.
In a short time, his house was full of all kinds of treasures.
But at this moment, the lighter box ran out of energy and went out completely.
The next day, the king sent for him, took him into prison, and sentenced him to death.
I remembered Kazuo Inamori and said:
"Desire without restraint is a drug of life. "
When the flood of greed erodes reason, the result is like the soldier in the story, who destroys himself with his own hands.
Human desire is like an inflating balloon.
As you keep chasing more creature comforts, this balloon will get bigger and bigger and will eventually burst.
Desires are insatiable, and if a person is driven by greed, he will eventually be swallowed up by uncontrollable desires.
Only by controlling your desires can you control your life
I have seen the story of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates.
One day, several students encouraged him to visit the bustling market.
They babbled:
"There's a lot of stuff in the bazaar, and you're sure to go home with a full load!"
Socrates agreed with the student's suggestion and decided to take a look.
The next day, as soon as he entered the class, the students immediately gathered around him and asked him to talk about the harvest of the trip to the market.
Socrates looked at everyone and said slowly:
"I did have a big takeaway this time, which is to find that there are so many things in this world that I don't need. "
Despite the complexity of the material world, there are very few necessities for a person's survival.
Only by knowing moderation can we clear the fog of desire and focus on our goals.
Li Shufu, the founder of Geely Automobile, is worth hundreds of millions, but he is extremely "picky" in his daily life.
In an interview with CCTV, Li Shufu took off his leather shoes on the spot and showed them to reporters.
He said that these shoes are made in a small business in Zhejiang, and they are of high quality and low price, only 80 yuan, and he has been wearing them for two years.
The price of his shirt is 30 yuan, and the suit is 300 yuan.
Because of the very simple dress, once, he went to inspect a subordinate company, but was blocked from the door.
The security guard who stopped him said that the building "does not allow migrant workers to enter or leave."
A reporter once said to him:
"You dress so 'shabby' that you don't look like a rich man at all. "
Li Shufu smiled:
"If you live a simpler life, you can concentrate on your own business without being disturbed. "
It is the control of material desires that enables him to devote himself wholeheartedly to the development of the enterprise, and finally makes Geely one of the leaders of private automobiles.
Zhuangzi once said:
"Things but not things. "
Man should harness foreign things, not be enslaved by them.
Only by self-restraint, abandoning meaningless desires, and reducing superfluous needs can we get rid of the control of desires.
Leave your time and energy for the things that really matter, and take control of your life in your own hands.
People live to the extreme
The material is low, and the spirit is high
In 1983, the historian Ge Jianxiong published "The Population Theory of the Western Han Dynasty", and received 5,000 yuan for the manuscript that year.
At that time, he had just graduated with a doctorate and worked at the Institute of History of Fudan University with a monthly salary of 500 yuan.
This manuscript fee is a considerable amount of income for him.
Although he became financially well-off, he still had the same food, clothing, shelter and transportation, and did not wear good clothes or watches.
Someone advised him to buy himself some brand-name clothes, but he refused, saying that "wearing a brand-name brand is a burden."
In the decades that followed, he devoted himself to academic research, ignoring external objects, and eventually became a master scholar of historical geography.
reminds me of what Zhou Guoping said:
"As long as a person is willing to restrain his desires and be content to live a simpler life, the territory of life will be broader. "
Material prosperity will only add to life, and what is really important to a person is the pursuit of spiritual growth.
Albert Einstein was a world-famous scientist, but he lived a very simple life.
When he was in Germany, he lived in an ordinary old apartment, and he usually wore two old coats, which he wore back and forth.
In 1921, he was invited to teach at Leiden University in the Netherlands.
The school wanted to give him high-standard treatment, but he politely declined, and his request was:
Milk, biscuits, fruit, a bed, a writing desk and a chair, plus a violin.
Later, to escape fascist persecution, Einstein emigrated to the United States.
Princeton University was going to hire him at the top salary at the time, $16,000 a year, but he said:
"So much?
Can you give a little less, $3,000 is enough. "
A friend asked him why he refused a higher salary, and Einstein replied:
"Excess possessions are a stumbling block in life;
A simple life is the driving force behind my creation. "
For him, money is an external thing, and only inner fullness and fullness are the real wealth.
I like a quote:
"Free men lived in huts, and slaves took refuge under marble and gold. "
Instead of sinking in materialistic desires, it is better to learn to give up desires.
Let go of those thoughts that you can't ask for, and stop the never-ending pursuit.
Only by adding more to the spirit can we see the beauty and truth of life and enjoy the abundance and abundance of the soul.
▽
In an interview, cartoonist Cai Zhizhong mentioned the life principles he pursues:
Live the simplest material life and do the richest spiritual thinking.
For more than 40 years, he only ate one meal a day, often steamed buns with tofu and milk.
The daily outfit is a white shirt and slacks, plus a pair of old but clean cloth shoes.
Friends said that he was living too hard, but he didn't care, he read books and created every day, and lived a full and happy life.
Master architect Ludwig van der Rohe once said that less is more.
The same is true in life, the less you need and the simpler the material, the more comfortable and rich your life can be.
In the future, may you stop your actions, control your desires, get rid of the "nightgown trap", return to your true nature, and live your own life.
Source: One book per night