The Chairman's discussion of the philosophical ideas of life showed us the direction

One

Many people leave messages for you: I feel very confused and don't know what to do.

In the past, when he encountered such news, he would bitterly advise him not to think too much, not to expect to get rich overnight, to be down-to-earth, not to just stare at others, to learn to introspect, not to get by, to learn to set goals...

After a long time, I found that the effect was really average.

Because most people know a lot of truth, but their lives are still terrible.

Then someone asked me: Ran Xu, I like to read your "Mao Zedong". When I am confused, can I read the chairman's story?

I thought, don't go.

It's not that you can't understand it, but you're deeply ashamed!

Compared with when the President was younger, we are in much better condition and face far fewer problems and difficulties than we faced in those days.

In the eyes of their generation, our so-called confusion is more of a petty-bourgeois manoeuvre.

If you really know the President, you will understand that everyone's confusion is due to a lack of purpose.

In recent years, the eight words of "do not forget the original heart, keep in mind the mission" are very popular.

Today, I would like to have an in-depth exchange with you on the topic of life mission.

Kind of like, talking to everyone face-to-face.

Speaking of the word "mission," I guess almost everyone has pondered some philosophical questions about life to a greater or lesser degree:

Why do people live?

What is the value and meaning of life?

When you came into this world, what were you going to do?

Especially when a person has satisfied the basic food and clothing, got rid of poverty, solved the basic problems in life, if he still monotonously repeats the past life, it is easy to fall into a boring cycle and a vacuum of meaning.

This state is not fatal, but it can easily make people crazy, and people are anxious about the passage of time and inexplicably confused about the future.

At this time, people will enter a state of self-exploration, and will instinctively pursue new heights and meanings of life. Until you find your mission, you will find a sense of value in life and no longer be confused about life.

There was once a post about "what will you regret before dying", which was frantically reprinted on domestic and foreign websites, instantly awakening thousands of people. This article counts the 25 things that people regret the most at the end of their lives, of which the highest turnout is "regret not choosing the life they want in the first place."

The ultimate desire of this life is the mission.

Apple founder Steve Jobs read a maxim when he was 17: "Treat every day as the last day of your life, and you feel at ease."

This sentence had a profound effect on him. Every morning he asks himself, "If today were the last day of my life, what would I do today?"

"Your job will take up a large part of your life. The only way to get real satisfaction is to do what you think is great, and the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found these things yet, keep looking and don't stop. Do your best and you know you'll find it. Moreover, things will only get better over time. So, until you find it, keep looking and don't stop. ”

I've always felt that the word "mission" is very sacred, not the kind of thing that shouts slogans, chases hot spots, and makes friends, but it is hot for three minutes, and it is not interesting after a long time.

Finding a mission for life is to find a long-term goal for yourself.

Harvard University once did a famous "Goals and Life" survey. They selected a group of students with similar intelligence, education, environment, and conditions, who are about to enter society. Of these, 26 percent had no goals, 59 percent had vague goals, 9 percent had clear but short-term goals, and 2 percent had clear and long-term goals.

After 26 years, Harvard University once again followed up on this group of students, and the results were as follows:

This survey amply illustrates the importance of long-term goals to life.

It's worth noting that before setting long-term goals for yourself, be sure to ask yourself what your mission is in life. Otherwise, I confirm that this long-term goal is just a "fake goal" and you won't have the passion to cling to it and won't stick to it.

However, for the vast majority of people, the question of "life mission" is really difficult to answer. Some people just have such thoughts in their minds and forget them after a long time. Some people can't find the answer for a while and give up the pursuit. So, what do we do?

Take Chairman Mao's life as an example, look for some key factors, understand his life mission, and explore his own life direction.

2

Key Factor One: Questions about the philosophy of life.

Why can't most people find a sense of purpose and long-term goals in life? This is related to the way of thinking, and there are great differences between people in the starting point of thinking.

Most people set goals based on "interests", that is, to weigh the pros and cons and make a choice. The long-term goal set by a very small number of people is to start from "philosophy", to think about the relationship between people and the world, and to explore the meaning behind it.

Mr. Ji Xianlin, a famous master of traditional Chinese studies, also explored the meaning of life and observed all kinds of people, writing in a collection of essays:

"According to my personal observation, for the vast majority of people in the world, life is meaningless and of no value; they never consider such philosophical questions.

When you are lucky, you have money in your hands, eat two or three gourmet city meals during the day, and go to Kara 0K in the evening. You can play a little politics, play a little clever, or even be arrogant, groggy, not flustered, not busy. When I walked into the urn, I didn't understand why I had to live the rest of my life.

Among them, the unlucky ones are depressed, running around all day to eat and wear, frowning and sighing. Even if life is still passable, I don't worry about food and clothing, but I can get enough food and clothing. However, I was busy all day, trapped in the reins of fame, bound by agility. It is also groggy and confused, and I don't know why I have to live a lifetime.

For such a person, where does the meaning and value of life come from? "

All the hustle and bustle in the world is for profit, and all the hustle and bustle in the world is for profit. Being deeply involved in it really makes this game very enjoyable. From the perspective of the whole of life, it is ridiculous to find that the pursuit is only the existence of being born and human, destroying and being human, and continuing to circle in this strange circle.

Therefore, if we take profit as the most important criterion, we will be disoriented because of short-term gains and losses, it will be difficult to set long-term goals, and it will be more difficult to find a mission in life. Next, Mr. Ji Xianlin also thought deeply, writing in the collection of essays:

"In the long river of human social development, each of our generations has its own tasks, and these tasks are by no means optional. If life is meaningful and valuable, it is here.

However, in human society, only a few people of insight can understand this truth.

If life is really meaningful and valuable, its meaning and value lies in carrying on from top to bottom and in the sense of responsibility. "

According to the "Mao Zedong Chronicle", in 1917, the 24-year-old Mao Zedong seriously studied the "Principles of Ethics" recommended by Yang Changji.

It was a very philosophical book, boring to others, but Mao Zedong forgot to eat and sleep and wrote a commentary of more than 12,000 words.

Under the influence of The Principles of Ethics, Mao Zedong wrote an essay entitled "The Power of the Heart", which is full of philosophical ideas, seeking truth and life mission from the philosophical heights of the universe, the world, evolution, human beings, the world, China, the nation, and culture.

This is a magnificent short article, Yang Jichang of Hunan First Normal University was amazed after reading it, and directly gave 106 points - a full score of 100 points plus 6 points.

On August 23, 1917, Mao Zedong wrote a long letter to Li Jinxi, discussing the "big source" issue of saving the country and saving the people... The so-called source is the "truth of the universe"... The letter emphasizes that "taking the great source as the call" and transforming the national ideology through the transformation and popularization of philosophy and morality is the fundamental way to save the country and the people.

In some other historical materials of Chairman Mao, a large number of philosophical ideas on the world, the universe, and life have been recorded, but due to space limitations, it is impossible to list them all. From this perspective, his way of thinking and decision-making is indeed fundamentally different from most people's.

For a long time, I have resisted the views of some people about Chairman Mao, because these people only evaluate his behavior from the perspective of "interests". Of course, how can a person who takes profit as the criterion say something beyond his own understanding?

In the past, I have cited many historical sources to show that he gave up the opportunity to become an official and made a fortune, and chose a path that ordinary people think is the most difficult and risky. This "profit first" value seems incomprehensible.

In fact, the starting point of many of Chairman Mao's actions is not interests, but the supremacy of the people. The roots behind it lie in his obsessive pursuit of philosophy, values, and meaning.

Of course, Chairman Mao is not an exception. In almost all biographies of celebrities, we can find their in-depth thinking and exploration of the philosophy of life. It can be said that all successful people are people with philosophical thinking.

The calculator calculates the maximization of short-term interests, so it can only get short-term returns; philosophers pursue the truth of life, the world, and even the universe in order to achieve long-term results. Time will tell.

Especially for those of us who do not worry about eating and wearing, we should pay less attention to some trivial things in life and think more deeply about the philosophical questions of life, so that you can enter a deeper dimension of life and be closer to your mission in life.

Three

Key Factor 2: Listen to your own inner voice.

The mission of life cannot be learned directly from books, nor can it be directly spoken out by others. It can only come from within oneself.

Books and noble people are catalysts that accelerate our ability to find and accomplish our life's mission, but they are irreplaceable.

Finally, you should listen and believe in your inner voice, which will tell you the answer. This "sense of mission" is sometimes faint, but it never goes away.

Just like Chairman Mao's metaphor of "the spark of a star can burn the plains", the spark of the stars, although weak at the beginning, will never be extinguished, and one day it will become a fire of fire. This "spark" did not appear in the outside world at the beginning, but appeared in his heart.

The so-called "sense of mission" is a feeling, a sense of the peak of one's own importance, a very meaningful feeling. That feeling is not a little sweetness in the mouth, a warmth in the body, a tenderness in the palm of the hand, but an experience that goes far beyond material feelings.

I'm sure almost everyone has experienced this experience that transcends material sensations, but the difference is:

Most people do it occasionally, and few are in this state for a long time. Most people will be influenced by the secular world and choose a path that conforms to universal values, while a very small number of people will listen to the voice of the heart and walk out of the path that ordinary people cannot understand.

Apple founder Steve Jobs said that "to live is to change the world" and "I want to leave traces in the universe". Amazon founder Bezos took a rocket to complete man's first space trip, and Space X founder Musk plans to colonize Mars by 2050. ......

These words and actions are difficult for ordinary people to understand, or even consider to be deviant, but these people have listened to their inner voices.

The so-called "straight to the simple way" is that those who have achieved great things actually live a simple life, just listening to and following the voice of the heart, which will lead us to find our own mission in life.

In 1936, the 43-year-old Mao Zedong once stood in Yuanjiagou in Qingjian County, Shaanxi Province, admiring the snow scene, and then wrote a popular poem "Qinyuan Spring", which depicted the great rivers and mountains of the motherland from an extremely magnificent perspective and looked back at China's historical figures for thousands of years with an extremely long-term perspective.

Among them, words such as "want to compete with the weather" and "count the popular characters, but also look at the moment", just look at it makes people feel deafening!

Let's give it a taste. What kind of powerful feeling did he have in his heart when he wrote this poem? It seems that I am one with heaven and earth and history. Without experience other than material feelings, I would not have been able to write such a poem!

This synthetic experience is called "flow" and can be fully understood by anyone who has experienced it, and no one who has experienced it can feel how to think, because this is not learned in books, but a process of real experience.

Once one enters this state of "flow", one thinks day and night, focuses on one's dreams, sleeps and forgets to eat, and even forgets the things around oneself until one reaches a wonderful achievement that surprises oneself.

In May 1938, Mao Locked himself in a simple cave in Yan'an and stayed at home for nine days. Write "On the Protracted War" Sleepless Nights. The Biography of Mao Zedong, published by the Chinese University Press, also documents this process:

Mao Zedong sat at his desk in the cave, the faint candlelight shining on his pale face. He hadn't slept for two days and had only eaten a little food. ......

Five days later, letters with Mao's wild grass on it filled the table. However, Mao Zedong lost weight and his eyes were covered with blood. ......

No. 7, Mao Zedong suddenly jumped in pain. The shoe on his right foot was scorched by the charcoal fire in the brazier, and he was meditating. ......

8th he suddenly felt a headache and fainted. After the doctor came to diagnose, he continued to write.

9th I finally finished the 80-page paper. "

Great works come from the focus of sleepless nights, from the inner voice, and the inner voice from the mission of life.

Listen to your inner voice, it will guide you to find your mission, and your life will become extraordinary.

Four

Key Factor Three: Self-Suggestion – I Qualify!

There is a term in psychology called "self-suggestion", and everyone will subtly hint at themselves and think about what kind of person they are. It is worth mentioning that many people unconsciously hint that they have a sense of "disqualification" and then set limits for themselves.

Most people think the word "mission" is high and only the big guys deserve it, and they're just ordinary people who aren't entitled to it.

For example, the example given above: Jobs said "to leave traces in the universe", Bezos wanted to travel to space; to achieve Musk's colonization of Mars, these "bold" plans are beyond the imagination of many people, let alone their own realization.

So, is it "first there and then there" or "first and then"?

We can also understand it in the light of Chairman Mao's experience. There is a record in "Mr. Zhang Jinli's Interpretation of Young Mao Zedong" published by the Central Literature Publishing House:

"People always like to trace their roots and look for genealogies. It seems that there must be an innate factor behind those who have become big things. If we explore Mao Zedong with this kind of thinking, we will find that the Shi spear family is really unremarkable and has nothing to dig into.

From the genealogy, this branch of Mao Zedong was pushed up five generations, and it was neither a Korean official nor a scholar-scholar-scholar-person. For generations, this was a farmer who depended on his fields for food. "

Today, when we mention the word "Chairman Mao," we always think that he has a mission in life, and it is natural to change China. After careful study, it was found that he was not from a famous family. Shaoshan Chong was just an ordinary ravine, he was just the son of an ordinary farmer.

According to secular values, he was "not qualified" to be the man who led the times in any way.

What matters is not what the outside world thinks of him, but what he thinks of himself. Self-suggestion is paramount. In July 1919, the 27-year-old Mao Zedong wrote in the Xiangjiang Review:

The world, our world. The country, our country. Society, our society. We don't say, who said? We don't do it, who does it?

Although we cannot list them all, in many of Chairman Mao's other literary works, we can feel chairman Mao's momentum of "being the first in the world" and "giving up others" everywhere. When most people think that transforming society is "someone else's business", he subconsciously tells himself: This is my business!

There is a phenomenon of "self-validating prophecy" in psychology, in which people unconsciously act according to known prophecies and eventually make the prophecies happen. In other words, no matter how you look at yourself, you're right—

If you think you're unqualified, the ultimate facts will prove you right; if you think you're qualified, the final facts will prove you right.

Eventually you'll find that the only thing that binds you is the limitations in your brain and the position you give yourself. As you remove these limitations and reposition yourself, you will open your eyes and discover a whole new world where there will be the life you really want!

Five

So, see here, you should understand.

In fact, the title of my article is "Say Exactly What You're Saying".

To give you some stinging sensations, it's better if you retort after reading the title.

My real point is: when you're confused, read more biographies of great men. These books will show you a magnificent world and will even find your mission in life.

No one can give you an answer directly, but there is a path to the answer. As long as you persevere along this path, you will find the answer.

When Chairman Mao was young, he had a confused stage in life. When he was confused, his teacher Yang Changji asked him to read Hu Linyi's book. There was a sentence that impressed him extremely:

"What happens in the world can only be done by human resources. When water is at its best, it has its own way, as long as it's done. Determined to explore, to pursue, only after many tribulations, only blood broken, and even exhausted, can we return to the source and know its essence. ”

Later lessons showed that what was said in the book was true and that he had found his mission in life.

Don't think it's "empty", don't think you're not qualified, your heart will tell you the answer.

Because it's worth having!