"Start carefully and respect the end, start well and end well, and never be sleepy." This is the advice of the ancients to us, we should not always think about what results we get when we do things, but understand that the results are decided from the beginning.
It's like we want to get grapes, but we plant watermelons, how can this be satisfactory.
There is also a good beginning, there is a good end, when you deceive and hurt others, how can others be good to you?
Life is actually very simple, condensed together is also this fundamental law. The spirit of self-discipline embodied in this sentence is something that everyone who aspires to achieve something must learn. If this is not possible, even if there is a good opening, there will not necessarily be a good development process and results.
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Chairman Mao once said: "The house should be cleaned frequently, and if it is not cleaned, it will be full of dust; The face should be washed frequently, and if you don't wash it, it will be dusty.
The Ming Dynasty Imperial History Zhang Han's "Song Window Dream Language" records such a story: When Zhang Han first took office, he went to meet Wang Tingxiang, the governor of the capital, and Wang Tingxiang told him that once when he entered the city in a sedan and encountered rain, a sedan wore a pair of new shoes, and at first carefully followed the clean road and chose the place. Later, I accidentally stepped into the muddy puddle, and thus "no longer cared". Wang Tingxiang said: "The way of dwelling in the body is like an ear, and if you lose a foot, you will be able to do everything!" ”
It means to be an official, to be a man, to do things, and to be the same as the reason for the behavior of the sedan after accidentally stepping on the new shoe into a muddy puddle. As long as someone accidentally makes a mistake, then you will never have any scruples in the future. Therefore, restraining one's own behavior is a lesson that one often practices. Zhang Han listened and was very touched and said: "Admire the public word, and dare not forget it for the rest of your life." Since then, he has been strictly engaged in politics, honest as an official, an official to the official Shangshu, and his name has remained in the history of Qingqing.
This story tells us that once people "step into the mud puddle", their hearts often relax their guard. Anyway, "the shoes are already dirty", once dirty, twice dirty, so there is inertia, and since then it has "no regrets".
Everyone understands the truth that starts carelessly and ends with misfortune, but it seems difficult to achieve "no loss" all the time. In order to achieve their ulterior motives, some people will set up various traps, including using "sugar-coated shells" to lure you "wet shoes".
In real life, there are too many things to guard against, and the "failure" of corrupt officials Cheng Kejie, Hu Changqing, and Li Jiating can be said to be precisely because they do not know how to check and restrain themselves in ordinary times.
The world is full of temptations, and sometimes it is not enough to resist by man's own will. Because the "virus" is pervasive, it is necessary to give yourself a "preventive shot" on a regular basis, and it should be replaced with the escalation of the "virus". In fact, what most people lack is this spirit of self-examination and restraint.
Dumas said in his famous book The Count of Monte Cristo: "The faults of mankind, before they are committed, always feel that they have a very legitimate reason, which is necessary, and so, in a moment of excitement, confusion or fear, the fault is forged." ”
Those who have lost their feet for the first time have a process of shaking the balance of the soul before crossing the moral bottom line, and always have to find a plausible reason for their actions in order to have an account for their own soul. It is these self-deluded so-called "reasons" that prompt them to take the first step of deviance, again and again, so that they cannot be received at the first time.
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"The Little Wine Barrel" is a short story by the famous French critical realist writer Maupassant, telling the story of how a guest house owner gets a farm for the lowest price:
Boss Shiko had long coveted The Farm of Mrs. Magloval, and had repeatedly offered to buy it, but had been rejected. So he came up with a plan that seemed "extremely beneficial" to the old woman - to "feed" the old woman in the form of "installments" until she was old for a hundred years, when the farm was owned by the boss.
Unexpectedly, after three years, the old woman was still very energetic, and boss Xike had a plan, so that the old woman was infected with the vice of alcoholism, and finally died drunk in the snow, and he was able to successfully inherit the farm. The ancient Chinese often said to "start cautiously", and if you think about it carefully, this is indeed very reasonable.
This story tells us that there are too many "Hicko" and "Magluva" in real life. Don't many corrupt officials become "huge greed" in the face of "full of old wine"? Aren't there also many corrupt officials who, like "Magluva," have been "misled" by the persuasion of the "Hicko"?
It can be said that many corrupt officials and corrupt officials are repeating the mistakes of Maglua's failure to "start cautiously". These corrupt officials did not act boldly at the beginning, they also hesitated, were weak-minded, and blamed themselves, but in the end they failed to overcome themselves. Some even excuse themselves for "just do it this time."
There are also some people, at the beginning, do not think that things are very serious, think that taking a little advantage, fishing for a little extra money, is a small matter, not enough to hang their teeth. As everyone knows, I slowly let down my vigilance and went farther and farther down the wrong path, and once I woke up, I could not extricate myself.
In fact, any "deal" that seems to be "cost-effective" in front of you is actually a big pit a lot of times, unless you have enough strength and ability to carry it yourself, otherwise the end you get is likely to be tragic. Remember: there is no money-losing business in the world, only a pair of diligent hands and a down-to-earth attitude can really give you the happiness and stability you want.
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The Book of Poetry has clouds: "There is no beginning in the jing, but there is an end in the fresh grams." As far as the integrity of a person's life is concerned, it is difficult to start cautiously, and it is even more difficult to end well, and if those who are cautious cannot consistently adhere to it, it is impossible to end well.
In the Tao Te Ching, it is said: "If prudence is the beginning, there is no failure." The meaning is: "The one who walks a hundred miles is half ninety", if he can be consistent, persistent, and in the end he is as strict as he was at the beginning, then his life will be very peaceful, and there will be no failure to speak of.
In his later years, Confucius admonished his disciples: Start with caution and end well. Confucius said this, and did the same, he went through hardships all his life, did not change his mind, insisted on his ideals, and even knew that he could not do it, and also asked his disciples to be "ordained." After the death of Confucius, Zengzi passed on Mencius and Xunzi again, and until Dong Zhongshu "respected Confucianism alone", Confucianism truly became a prominent study.
At the same time as Confucius, the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates demonstrated a very simple action to the students in class: throw your arms as far forward as possible, and then throw them back as much as possible.
"If you want to become a profoundly wise person, from today onwards, everyone will do three hundred times a day, can you do it?"
The students laughed lightly: What can't be done with such a simple thing?
A month later, Socrates asked the students, "Who is still insisting?" "90 percent of the students raised their hands.
A year later, Socrates asked the student again: "Who insists on this simplest hand-waving action?" The students looked at each other, and only one of them raised his hand, and he was plato, who would later become famous.
Later, Plato did the same and taught his student Aristotle in this spirit.
If you want to do things, you must first be a person; if you want to be a person, you must first be right-minded; if you want to be right-minded, you must first be cautious. Those who are careful about the beginning can do the end. If the initial small mistakes, small faults, and small loopholes are not repaired and contained in time, then it is likely to become the culprit that crushed us later.
Only when everyone has some fear in their hearts, some caution in words, and some stops in deeds, really put the first pass, take the first step well, put an end to the first time, have a calm mind when they are impetuous and restless, clean their hands and feet when they face temptations, and have a clear mind when they are tested, they will certainly be able to "fly through the clouds and fly calmly" and "the wind and rain are not moving like mountains", so that their life path will always remain pure, clean, and innocent.
A person who can do this will create a good "soft equipment" for his own life and work, and everything can start and end well.
Reference: Zeng Shiqiang, why should everything be cautious from beginning to end?