This is of course something we should be alert to.
Why?
Because if we mistake the wisdom and experience of the ancients for our own achievements, it means that we have reached the end of the story. Not only can you not experience the process of opening wisdom, but it is also difficult to form your own things. You may even be complacent and arrogant, and mistakenly think that some of your self-righteous deduction can surpass the crystallization of ancient wisdom.
Why do you say that?
Let's take Confucius' statement that "fifty people know destiny" as an example. In order to understand the meaning of this sentence more intuitively, we will copy the original text of The Analects as follows:
"Confucius said:' Be determined to learn five out of ten, stand at thirty, be puzzled at forty, know your destiny at fifty, be obedient at sixty, be obedient at seventy, and not overstep the limit'"
In other words, when Confucius said that he knew his destiny at the age of fifty, he didn't know what his goal and significance were until he was fifty. In other words, he didn't know what his pursuit was before he was fifty. Judging from his tone, he is not completely satisfied with everything he did when he was young, just as we always feel childish or embarrassed when we look back on some words, deeds and ideas when we were young.
Therefore, the phrase "fifty knowing the destiny" is about Confucius himself, not others, not ourselves.
It can even be said that a wise man like Confucius needs to live to be 50 years old before he really knows what he needs in life, instead of saying that all people naturally understand their "destiny" after they are 50 years old.
It is for this reason that we think that when Confucius said "fifty people know destiny", he meant himself, or someone with more life experience or wisdom than him. We can't generalize.
Therefore, we should read the Analects again today, or review some classics of the ancients. We must not take some life performances and feelings of ancient sages as our own and mistake them for the crystallization of our own life wisdom.
On the other hand, Confucius had a magnificent life, not only engaged in education, founded the earliest private school in history, but also worked in many positions in Shandong, such as Sikou, Zhongjun, Xiaoordinary soldier and Dashikou, not to mention traveling around the world to publicize his feat of governing the country. During this period, I also visited many celebrities like Laozi, and I didn't write poems, books and gifts until my later years.
Moreover, it is these rich experiences that let him know his destiny.
And ordinary people like you and me are mostly in a daze all day, drifting around with the turbid water of the world. How can you talk about "knowing your destiny"?
It can even be said that most of us, even if we live to be 80 years old, don't necessarily know what we want to pursue, let alone our destiny.
Therefore, when Confucius talked about "fifty knowing destiny", he emphasized not his age, but his life experience. Only when his life experience reaches a certain level will he understand his destiny.
And this is the true meaning of what Confucius said: "Fifty people know the destiny"!
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The materials of this paper are mainly quoted from The Book of Rites, Mencius and The Analects of Confucius.