Life is an end, not a means. A person who is pessimistic about life must reflect on his past experiences, know the reasons for being pessimistic about life, and pessimism can be alleviated. However, if some people must feel that life is empty, that is, meaningless, this lifeless way of life is not one of the methods of life, but it is not something that most people can do.
— Feng Youlan
01
Recently, I often hear some young people say that they are pessimistic about life; they feel that life has no meaning. A young man said: "After people fall into pessimism, it seems that they can no longer jump out of it." "He tried to work hard and get motivated a few times, but a few times he felt that everything was not interesting. Reading is also not interesting. As a result, he regretted that he should not think about the meaning of life. He repeatedly envied those who moved and thought less. There are many people who want to know what the meaning of life is, and many people who "think about the meaning of life" problem. When thinking about meaninglessness, many people are pessimistic about life.
What is the meaning of life? This question cannot be answered directly. Before answering the question " What is the meaning of life " , we must first ask whether this question has become a problem?
We ask what the meaning of a word or sentence is. This so-called meaning refers to the interpretation of a word or sentence. For example, we don't know the meaning of a word, we look up the dictionary, and in the dictionary we can get an explanation of a word. We don't know the meaning of a certain sentence in a book, we look at the commentary. In the commentary we can get an explanation of a certain sentence. This is a meaning of the so-called meaning.
We also often ask what the meaning of a certain thing is. This so-called meaning refers to the purpose that may be achieved by this matter.
For example, we ask: What is the significance of this Sino-Japanese war? We can say that the significance of this Sino-Japanese war is that, as far as China is concerned, it is the Chinese nation that seeks liberation and freedom and equality, and in the case of Japan, it is the Japanese nation that seeks to monopolize East Asia. These are all possible goals of this Sino-Japanese war, and they can be said to be meaningful or meaningless. If we speak only of one thing in itself, we cannot say whether it is meaningful or meaningless. The purpose of a thing is the "doing" of this one thing. Some things have "dones" and some things have not "dones."
We can ask: Why did the construction of the Yunnan-Burma Railway come about? You can ask: What is the significance of building the Yunnan-Burma Railway? But we can't ask: Why did you come to the West Mountain? You can ask: What is the meaning of having a west mountain? We can ask why the War between China and Japan came about? We can also ask: Why did the quest for freedom and equality come about? But as the answer goes: For the sake of happiness, we cannot ask, why did happiness come from? No one fights for the sake of fighting, so the act or meaning of fighting a war can be asked. But people seek happiness for the sake of happiness, so the act or meaning of seeking happiness cannot be asked. This is another meaning of the so-called meaning. Every word and every sentence must have meaning.
If there is no meaning, that word is not a word, and that sentence is not a word. But not everything has to make sense. Things that don't make sense aren't necessarily things that aren't worth doing. Seeking happiness can be said to be meaningless. But seeking happiness is not something that is not worth doing.
Here, we must distinguish between the two meanings of "meaninglessness." A man who does one thing wants to achieve a goal in this way, but he cannot achieve it in this way. We say it doesn't make sense. For example, Japan took the "rumor offensive" and wanted to use rumors to achieve a certain purpose, but it was useless. We say that this offensive is meaningless, and this is a meaning that does not make sense. In this sense, meaningless things are not worth doing. But there are some things that are not done, and for these things, we cannot ask them, "Why did they come from?" "You can't ask if it's meaningful or meaningless. These things can also be said to be meaningless, which is another meaning of meaninglessness. In this sense, meaningless is not necessarily something that is not worth doing.
As mentioned above, we can see that "what is the meaning of life" is probably not a problem. Life is one thing, this one thing is not purposeful, to say that it is not purposeful is not to say that it is blind and aimless, but to say that it is purposeless or purposeless. Things in life are so-called purposeful or purposeless. We can ask: What is the purpose of marriage, and what is the purpose of reading? But the whole of life is not a thing in life, but a thing in nature, a thing in nature, it doesn't matter whether it has a purpose or a purpose, we can't ask: there is a life "why did it come", judas we can't ask: there is a West Mountain "why did it come", so "what is the meaning of life" is a non-question, judas "What is the meaning of the West Mountain", is a non-question question.
Questions that are not problematic cannot be answered. Some people ask this question without seeing that they can't have an answer, so they think that life is meaningless. I don't know that "meaningless" has a different meaning. Some people think that everything that has no meaning is not worth doing, so they think that life is not worth living. According to our argument, life is meaningless, but its meaninglessness is another meaning of the "meaninglessness" mentioned above, according to which life is meaningless, because it is an end in itself, not a means, and life itself is not necessarily unworthy of life.
However, this piece of theory, for some pessimistic people, I am afraid it can not have any impact. Because some people who hold pessimism are not pessimistic because they seek the meaning of life, they are pessimistic, but because they are pessimistic about life, they ask the meaning of life. Zhuangzi said to you: "Forget your feet, and do what you want." "If a man wears very suitable shoes on his feet, he cannot think of his feet, and if he often thinks of his feet, there is probably something wrong with his feet. Under normal circumstances, a person is neither dead, but only born, if he often thinks of his life, often thinks of the so-called meaning of life, probably there is always something wrong with his "life".
We asked the librarian to go to the library and look for the book, and if he couldn't find the book we were looking for, he came out and said," "No." The so-called non-existent is that there is no book that we are looking for, and not all books are not available. But we often feel, or think, that there is nothing because what we pay attention to is nothing. For example, when we talk about the poverty of a place, we say "ten rooms and nine emptiness." In fact, in a house, even if there are only four walls left, it cannot be said to be empty, at least there is always air filling it. In a person's life, there are always some things that disappoint him, the so-called disappointed person, that is, he wants to achieve a certain goal with this matter, but in fact he cannot achieve it. If you want this to achieve a certain purpose, but in fact you can't achieve it, the matter becomes meaningless. If this disappointment is very profound, he can feel, or think, that everything in life is meaningless, so he is pessimistic about life.
For this part of the people, it is not possible to break his pessimism solely from theory. The pessimistic person must reflect on his past experiences to see if there has ever been something in it that has deeply disappointed him. In his past experience, perhaps the most profound disappointment to him was the reason for his pessimism about life. Knowing the reason why he is pessimistic about life, his pessimism can be alleviated. If life wears a pair of gray eyes, everything he sees is gray. But if he had known that he was wearing gray glasses, he could at least know that what he saw was not necessarily gray.
A person who is pessimistic about life can use this effort to know "what is the meaning of life" is a non-problem, probably his pessimism can always break a large part.
Text excerpt from "Nandu Collection"
02
What is the truth of life? I have personally met many people who have asked me this question. This big problem of "like a matter of trouble", I think is not a problem. Whenever we see something and ask it the truth, it must be because we are outsiders and do not know the inside story.
The authorities of life are us. Life is the facility of our human initiative. "Eating" is life; "having children" is life; "greeting friends" is also life. The artist's "penchant for the clear wind and bright moon" is life; the maker's "creation of divine craftsmanship" is life; and the religious person's "earth-shattering benevolence" is also life (for these terms, see Mr. Wu Zhihui's "Cosmology and Outlook on Life of a New Faith").
Asking whether life is life, talking about life or life, this is the truth of life. In addition, there is no need to find the truth of life, and there is no way to find the truth of life. If in addition to this specific life, it is necessary to find another truth of life, that is really what Song Ru said, "riding a donkey to find a donkey". I said, "The truth of life is concrete life." ”
Excerpt from "Feng Youlan Zhesi"
03
However, as the average person must not be satisfied with this answer. They will say, "Suppose that the truth of life is a concrete life, but we must also know why there is such a life." In fact, when ordinary people ask "what is the truth of life, what is the truth?", what they want to know in their hearts is actually "Why is there such a life?" "They don't know the truth of life, they want to explain the truth of life." The big philosophical question is not the "how" of the truth of life, but the "why" of the truth of life.
However, the word "for" has two meanings: one is "because" and the other is "to do", the former refers to the cause, and the latter refers to the purpose. If you ask, "Because of what has this life?" For this question, we can only say: "Man is a thing in the natural world, and life is a matter in the natural world." "If we want to explain the reason, we must first explain the whole of the natural world. Now our knowledge is not enough to this extent; my little article in particular does not have that length. Therefore, this problem can only exist. What ordinary people are anxious to know now is not this problem, but what life does - the purpose of life.
Many people think that if we cannot find the purpose of life, life is worthless, and it is not worth living. What I mean now is that although life is composed of man's actions and facilities, the whole of life is a thing in the natural world. Judas's acting, although the actors in it are all fake, but the whole acting is really -- it is really a thing in life. Since the wholeness of life is a thing in the natural world, we cannot say that he has any purpose; just as we cannot say that the mountain has a purpose and the rain has a purpose. Ends and means are our artificial terms for the world, and cannot be used in the natural world, the other world. In the natural world and the things in it, we can only say what he is, not what he does. There are many teleological philosophers who say that natural things have a purpose. Aristotle said, "The grass of heaven and earth prepares food for the animals, and the animals are the food or utensils for men." (See Political Science) But we are a little skeptical about this. Some people ridicule the teleological philosopher and say, "If everything has a purpose, and man is angry, can't it also be said that he is a pair of glasses?" "The teleological argument, I think, has yet to be proven.
Moreover, even if we were to adopt teleological terms, we would not be able to get his help, even if we follow Fichte as we say "self-actualization" and Bergson as Bergson said "create", but we do not yet know what the "great will" is to be realized, to be created. We must ask further questions, and we can only say: "The purpose of realization is to achieve; the purpose of creation is to create." "So why should we go around that bend more?" We simply say that the purpose of life is to be born, isn't it over?
But the purpose of his life is to be born, so those who can usually be born do not ask what they are doing—what they are going to be born. Zhuangzi said, "I say, 'I walk with one foot, and I give nothing.'" The messenger of the present son is full of feet, so why not? "Otherwise, the son will not see the husband and spit on him?" Spray is big like beads, small is like fog, miscellaneous down, innumerable also. Now I have the opportunity to move, and I don't know why. The serpent said, "I walk with all my feet, but not with the feet of the Son, so why not?" The serpent said, "How can it be easy to be moved by the heavenly machine?" I'm using my feet? ("Autumn Water") "Moving my heavenly opportunity, without knowing why it is", is the way ordinary people live. They do not ask what the purpose of life is, but naturally they are born; and therefore they are so because the purpose of their life has been attained. If you are not born, you must find another purpose of life, that is, Zhuangzi said: "The spring is dry; the fish are on the land, kissing each other with wetness, and foaming with each other, it is better to forget each other in the rivers and lakes." (Fortune of Heaven)
However, if someone must feel that if he can't find out what life does, life is empty, that is, meaningless, it is not worth living, I think that in theory alone can not say that he is wrong.
The Buddhist lifeless method of life, in theory alone, we cannot prove it wrong. If there are some people who are disappointed in life, such as the frustrated lover of love, who are empty of people and use them as a place to take a place in their lives, or if there are people who are pure and lonely, who really regard life as vain and filthy, and find another place to live in Buddhism, I can only express sympathy and respect for them. Even if the people of the future world, as Mr. Liang Shuming predicted, will all convert to Indian culture, I don't think we can say that they are wrong. However, in my current opinion, this lifeless way of life is not something that most people can do.
Therefore, there are many people in the world who say that life is meaningless all the time, and eventually go on to live as usual. There are many monks and laymen who study Buddhism, all of whom are "learning Buddhism without wine, and there are wine immortals." India, the birthplace of Indian culture, is still a large population and is still endless.
Therefore, I think that this lifeless method of life is not one of the methods of life, but in general, most people cannot do it, and there is nothing to do.