-thoughts on reading "everything is for the good"
Schopenhauer, a British pessimist philosopher, said in the first sentence of his masterpiece Pessimism, "Life has no purpose except suffering." Although from a Christian's point of view, his views and Christian worldview are rival, at least this famous saying can say something. The suffering in this world is not an illusion of human beings, but is closely related to people. Unlike the Buddhist saying, "Bodhi has no trees, the mirror is not a stage, there is nothing, where is the dust?" Unlike the Taoist view in China, which holds that suffering is a part of life, people can't live forever. There is happiness in suffering, but there is also pain in happiness. "Happiness lies in misfortune, misfortune lies in misfortune, and happiness depends on misfortune." "A blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise." What people have to do is to treat everything around them with the normal heart of "Mount Tai collapses and the color remains the same, and the storm suddenly rises and takes it easy". Suffering is not like the Stoicism in ancient Greece. They think that suffering is just people's different views on things. As long as you put your mind right, there will be no happiness or pain. If you deal with a painful thing with an extremely optimistic attitude, that is a good thing. They think that the so-called happiness is what you are willing to do, that is, happiness, and pain is the opposite.
But Christianity firmly believes that suffering is closely related to people. In the Bible, the most detailed book about suffering is the Book of Job. God said through Eliphaz, a wise man in the book, "Life is bound to encounter difficulties, just like Mars is soaring." However, it is one thing to admit the existence of suffering, and it is another to explain the existence of suffering. Whether this truth can carry our life, not lose faith in the face of suffering, and let people go deeper and deeper on the road of faith, that is another matter. Mrs Simpson, the protagonist in Everything is Fine, not only realizes the significance of suffering to his life, but also practices her knowledge. Although her knowledge is not universally applicable, the knowledge of live high is essential for every Christian. She used to live in a mansion, but now she has been reduced to a workhouse. She once had a husband who loved her. Now her husband has left him and lived a lonely life. Others even misunderstood her, thinking that she had offended God and even suffered a disaster. However, she knows that the Christian faith has never promised the believers that they can eliminate disasters and solve problems, just as the poem sings: "God has never promised that the sky will always be blue and the road of life will always be full of flowers; Long sunny without rain, always happy without pain, always safe ... ". And she has a deeper understanding, which is the reason why he can be calm in the face of suffering. That is, the god that believers believe in is the best and most omnipotent. He loves us and is willing to lay down his life for us, so he has left nothing beneficial to us. In Mrs Simpson's view, the seemingly beautiful things we receive are not the best. It is possible that these are obstacles that prevent her from getting good wishes.
For Christians, our blessings or interests are not outside the Lord, just as the poet prayed: "Who else can I be in heaven but you, and there is nothing on earth but you." However, in our life, everything in the world will attract us, which makes me feel that there are other interests besides God that we can satisfy. Many times, our lips are sweet to the Lord, but our hearts are dragged by worldly things and we are very tired. But the key lies in our interests, so people should regard worldly things as the ultimate satisfaction and can only despair. As Augustine said, "if our hearts don't rest in the Lord, we will never rest ... there is a hole in our hearts that only God can satisfy." Everything in the world is unsatisfactory, and people can only despair from it, but this despair is also necessary. Tillich said, "Only those who have had a shocking experience of the shortness of life and have been anxious to understand their limitations and nothingness can understand the concept of God." Only when people know that people who rely on worldly things and despair can't bring salvation and can't be satisfied can they be true Christians. Only in this way can they "not work for food that will go bad in the world" and understand what is the ultimate reality. Only in this way can they not bow their heads and lose heart in the face of suffering, and they can "gain without pride and lose without depression." Mrs. Simpson has understood this in her words, which makes her see that everything in the world is very open. In the face of "good", all the second best and bad are eclipsed. So I'm not afraid of losing them.
There is a poem called "Bitter Cabbage Flower" with only two sentences: "Why do you want to open it? Because the root is bitter. " I can't forget this little poem at first sight, and I still think of it often. Because of its vivid language, it reveals some kind of philosophy that can only be understood but not expressed. As far as I know, it refers to the positive influence that suffering can have on the growth of a person or a nation.
Now there is a very fashionable saying: attitude determines everything. When people say this, they mostly mean doing things, which is practical. I think it is more suitable for people. For example, a person's attitude towards life and death, fame and fortune, success or failure, honor or disgrace will determine his way of thinking and behavior. In this sense, attitude really determines everything.
The attitude towards suffering is also very important. Because suffering can make or break a person. We have seen and heard many stories about how suffering makes people, but we lack understanding of how suffering destroys people, let alone research. In fact, there are more such examples, which deserve our attention.
Anyone who has experienced suffering in his early years knows that whether you like it or not, whether you value it or not, the brand of suffering will always accompany you. This phenomenon is particularly obvious in people who have experienced the transition from rural life to urban life. Because of the huge difference between urban and rural areas in China, it is easy to distort people's experience of suffering, thus producing an unforgettable effect.
However, although the brand is indelible, it is hard to say what kind of influence it has brought to people. Because everyone's attitude and performance towards it are different, even the opposite. And personally, there may be a lot of repetition.
People who have experienced hardships in their early years will generally experience a very contradictory, depressed and hesitant process when they enter maturity. This is because people are unfamiliar with the world in their early years and have strong vitality. They are often in pain and don't know the pain. Once you grow up, you will have a clear understanding of suffering after you know that "there are people outside, there are days behind". This kind of understanding will cause a huge "psychological gap" and lead to violent ideological turmoil, which will make it show duality and uncertainty on some major issues and swing between the two extremes. This process is long or short, which varies from person to person. Some people get through the crisis quickly and get a new life. Others can never get rid of the negative effects of pain.
In fact, suffering is a valuable wealth, and the key lies in how you face it. Generally speaking, because people who have experienced hardships in their early years have realized the hardships of life earlier, they know more about the value of kindness, tolerance and friendship, are more simple, treat people more sincerely, do things more persistently and have more resilience. These factors are of great help to both doing things and being a man. From the perspective of talent science, they are the things that constitute a person's "core competitiveness". Unfortunately, many people don't realize this, and of course they don't know how to cherish it.
People who can treat suffering correctly face the hard years in their early years with gratitude. They are infatuated with their hometown, their hometown and their early life. This kind of emotional connection can't be broken, abandoned, dissolved or washed away. Relying on the comfort and nourishment of this feeling, they abide by their duties as human beings, speak confidently and be upright. With this kind of emotional support, they can calmly face all kinds of situations in life, will not make a fuss when encountering setbacks and failures, and will not lose their normality when facing honor, status and wealth.
People who can treat suffering correctly face life with a positive attitude. After self-awakening, they will sublimate their bitter experience into a sense of mission and responsibility, thus maintaining a passion for making progress. They dare not idle away their time, dare not be complacent, dare not covet light and shallow fun, dare not go with the flow and drag out an ignoble existence. They can be kind to others or to themselves; They can accept urban civilization and foreign culture with an open mind, eclectic and make up for their own shortcomings; They know how to carry forward the quality formed in suffering and draw strength beyond themselves from suffering.
Of course, not all the painful effects are positive. Even those who can see suffering correctly are bound by it. For example, suffering will limit people's vision, suppress people's personality and dreams, bind people's hands and feet, and weaken people's self-confidence. Because of this, it is difficult for many people to get rid of the shadow of suffering, and their psychology and emotions are often unbalanced. They are either vain and ashamed of their own life experiences; Either try your best to get ahead; Either bind yourself, feel sorry for yourself, and always feel inferior; Either be content, be cautious and not enterprising; Some people will go astray, go astray.
It can be seen that suffering itself is not terrible, but all kinds of negative and unhealthy psychology in the face of suffering.
A person is like this, so is a nation. The Chinese nation is a troubled nation, and all China people have left a deep imprint of suffering. This brand makes us feel pain and humiliation, but it also keeps us vigilant. It has become the source of continuous self-improvement of the Chinese nation and the adhesive for enhancing cohesion. "Why do you want to blossom? Because the root is bitter. " I believe that the moral expressed in this little poem is understood by all Chinese people.
China people like to praise suffering, and there is a saying that "you can only be a master if you suffer". Nowadays, successful people like to say nothing about their past, and finally succeed with humiliation. Middle school students also like to eulogize their mothers' hard work and efforts, and eventually they will bring up their mothers themselves. But what caused the mother's pain? Who should be responsible for this kind of suffering? What did the children do to improve their mother's situation? Unless you're going to continue.
Let mother enjoy suffering, otherwise, these practical problems cannot be avoided.
In fact, suffering does not always lead to greatness. On the contrary, in many cases, it destroys human dignity, hurts people's hearts and stifles the creativity of genius.
China's bachelor of arts likes to "pan-moralize" all problems. In such a big city, there is no toilet for ten miles, and citizens are ashamed to excrete in the corner. Critics attribute it to "low quality" and completely ignore the inaction of the municipal authorities; In the past 30 years, a rural teacher scrimped and saved, bought bricks at his own expense, and carried a school on his back. The media greatly praised his "master spirit", but did not mention the physical and mental damage of the dereliction of duty of the education department to an old man; A female postman in rural Yunnan, whose salary is not enough to take the bus, walks over mountains and mountains on foot and walks hundreds of kilometers alone. Many places have to be crossed by ropes. After the interview, the reporter just praised her efforts. ...
Close your eyes, bypass real life, turn all practical problems that need to be improved into a selfless moral self-discipline problem, and then replace metaphysical technical improvement with metaphysical empty lyric. Suffering and the maker of suffering disappear together.