Seeing that his adoptive father and stepmother were silent, Guo Kang had no choice but to continue explaining himself.
"If it's really necessary, I can work for a while and then hand it over to someone better. Or it doesn't matter if I don't work, I really don't care." He said bluntly to Guo Ponu: "The wealth of the Guo family, the Roman Empire Although the status is very attractive, to me, it is actually nothing more than that. The differences between different worlds are too big. After seeing that kind of life, to be honest, it is difficult to indulge in the enjoyment here. "
What he said was indeed true.
Although Rome's material life was relatively advanced in the Mediterranean world of this era, it was indeed difficult for him to really have much "material desire".
"In this life, I probably won't be able to go to that heavenly world. I can only visit it in dreams." He sighed: "With our current capabilities, most of the scenes are probably impossible to realize."
"But even so, since I have seen the things in the sky, I want to bring as many of them to the human world as possible. Otherwise, what is the purpose of my life? Experiencing the heavens and the human world, is it so meaningless? What?"
"I know that some people also like to manage others. But in this regard, different people's nature may be different." He shook his head and tried to organize his words:
"Maybe it's because I've seen the 'heaven' world, so these powers in the world... To be honest, in this environment now, it's hard for me to feel a sense of accomplishment and pride from the process of ordering others. Compared to I asked them to build the workshop, and after the workshop was completed, the lamps that were successfully produced were the things that made me happiest during this period."
In fact, Guo Kang also knows that his way of thinking is somewhat different from that of people in this world and this era.
Moreover, not only this world, his ideas are also very different from the mainstream thinking in the previous world.
His "idea" does not belong to mainstream theology and philosophy, and it is even difficult to classify it into a certain step in the history of development. It can be said that it is not on his "technology tree" at all, it is completely his own private property. Therefore, it is actually normal not to be understood by others.
It stands to reason that in the era before he traveled, the mainstream trend of thought in the world advocated personal enjoyment, rather than the "pride" and "meaning" he emphasized.
According to the world's teachings of that era, these senses of pride and meaning were meaningless in themselves. They are all a kind of "belief", an artificially constructed "divinity", and these artificial consciousnesses, and even human existence itself, are also meaningless.
Therefore, whether human noble feelings or human liberation, they are all constructed concepts that do not exist. People can only confirm their existence through specific material things - such as competing to see who has more money, and seeing who lives a more luxurious life.
In this environment, what he said is that those behaviors that seek to show off strength, wealth, and power are the most respected by everyone.
But Guo Kang's own thoughts were different.
After discovering that divinity is fictitious, abandoning faith and pursuing material things, in his opinion, is an expression of over-reliance on God. He himself didn't care about any of this.
It doesn't matter to him whether concepts like "meaning" and "existence" are meaningful or sacred. After all, he himself is a person who often makes up scriptures for use. If this meaning can be used, it has meaning; if sanctity helps him, then it has sanctity. It's that simple.
Are the rich history, the glorious collective honor, and the belief in unity constructed out of thin air by people themselves? of course. After all, these are indeed purely man-made products produced in human society.
So do they have any meaning? Of course there are. Although it is "made up" by people, it does allow people to organize themselves. But after being organized, the power generated is no longer "virtual".
Back then, the ancestors of Homo sapiens conquered the world by relying on "storytelling" and uniting more people with imaginary communities, and finally defeated all competitors. In the era he lived in, this skill was equally important - there was no way, unorganized people just couldn't beat organized people.
Therefore, fiction is fiction. He doesn't care what the concept itself is. Anyway, as long as the fictional fist can really hit people.
Guo Kang has never been able to understand the feeling of "lack of faith" - because he doesn't care about religious belief at all, and if he doesn't have it, there will be nothing.
This also made him unable to understand the worship of gods and sublime beings; nor could he understand the spirit of pursuing materialism after the lack of divinity. It's like not touching both ends.
As time passed, he even doubted whether he was essentially an extremely indifferent person - he always regarded other people's beliefs, whether positive or negative, as tools that could be analyzed and used. According to the popular science knowledge given to him by little Jeanne, this is called "arrogance", which is the biggest crime in the religious system.
Of course, this also made him incompatible with many people in his previous life. It makes him not like a civilized and advanced modern man, but like a violent maniac with conservative and backward ideas, full of fighting and killing.
Guo Kang himself couldn't even refute. Because he does often think about this kind of society that gives up "meaning", what should we do if it encounters a war?
He never received a satisfactory answer in the past. People just kept telling him that the world would be peaceful and there would be no large-scale war. So those once grand narratives no longer make sense.
But will humans really never fight again?
Fortunately, he doesn't need to worry about this issue now.
The Purple Horde Khanate was surrounded by violent barbarians in the literal sense. Whether a sense of honor and historical responsibility exist in theory, everyone certainly doesn’t understand. But in theory, when people are killed, they will indeed die - this is easy to understand.
After he finished speaking, the adoptive father nodded quickly. Perhaps he is also a relatively simple violent maniac, so it is easy to understand Guo Kang's thoughts...
The adoptive mother looked at Guo Ponu with some worry, then at Guo Kang, and said, "Go on, I probably understand what you mean."
"My idea is that status, power, wealth, these are just tools." Guo Kang hopes to be as clear as possible: "I do need them, but they can be used to help. So it doesn't matter whether it's the head of the family or an advisor. , I really don’t care. As long as it can help me and give me a chance to try something and realize my wish, that’s enough.”
"Anyway, I don't have to be in charge of family affairs before I can serve the country." He thought for a moment and gave an example: "When the time comes, I will work under Tuo Huan, or even go abroad to work hard with little Jeanne and the others. is allowed."
"Of course, I think the church may be the best place. Master Wang has always wanted me to serve in the church a long time ago..."
"You want to become a monk? How can that work!" Before he could finish speaking, Guo Ponu interrupted directly: "You have to get married!"
"Didn't I follow your wishes?" Guo Kang could no longer understand her logic: "Aren't you happy that I won't compete with you for the head of the family? What does it have to do with whether I get married or not?"
"Besides, going to the church is not like going to the temple to be a monk. The church has a lot of administrative and research positions, and those are the ones that suit me. And even for monks, only some orders prohibit marriage. Don’t you even know this?”
In Greek tradition, priests have two kinds of deities: black and white. White-level priests can get married, but their positions can only be below that of bishop. Black priests need to become monks, and theoretically there is no upper limit to their positions. Of course, since the emperor often controlled church affairs and even appointed and dismissed the patriarch according to his own preferences, this system was not very strict.
As for the Purple Horde Khanate's own church, it was close to an administrative staff and had almost no restrictions. None of the three patriarchs had wives when they took office. This was more of a personal act and a compromise made for the Greek believers at the time. Guo Kang doesn't necessarily want to be the Patriarch, he just wants to use the church to do research, and these unspoken rules have nothing to do with him.
Guo Kang suspected that Guo Ponu might not know much about the church at all. I can’t figure out such an important organization, and I don’t know what she is thinking about every day…
Although he didn't say it clearly, looking at Guo Kang's expression, everyone knew what he wanted to express. After being tormented by her so illogically several times, Guo Kang's patience has dropped a lot, and he almost has "Can you be the head of the family like this?" written on his face...
"Okay." The foster mother said quickly to prevent them from arguing again: "Kang'er, your sister likes to say angry words sometimes, so don't take it all seriously."
"Who will succeed your father and manage the affairs of the clan in the future is not up to her. When the time comes, your father, I, and your uncles will discuss it carefully and determine the candidate. Who has the talent? Everyone will see it."
She said so, and Guo Kang could only nod.
"There shouldn't be such a big misunderstanding between our family. Although your sister may sound harsh, she is actually doing it for your own good." The adoptive mother continued to persuade: "Like my parents, she will not harm you. You Is that right, Po slave?”
As she said that, she glared at Guo Ponu, who had not moved yet, wanting her to express her position quickly.
"That's what she said, but how do I know that what she said is true." Guo Kang couldn't help but complained: "Should she swear by the Sea of Marmara?"
"Also... ok." Guo Ponu actually thought about it seriously and answered coyly.
"..."
This time, Guo Kang fell silent.
Next to him, the adoptive father couldn't help laughing.
"I heard this allusion told before, and I still remember it now." He smiled and said: "Po Nu, you really haven't read any books! Hahaha——"
"Why are you laughing!" The adoptive mother couldn't bear it anymore and interrupted him by slamming the table: "Is there anyone who laughs at their daughter like this?"
"Hey..." Guo Kang had a headache and held his forehead.
(End of chapter)
