It is unclear what the Tao is, what it looks like, and what use does it have? The purpose of Tao is to summarize the nature of Tao bit by bit and slowly draw an outline. Thus we know that doing this is in line with Tao and doing that is against Tao.
Following the path is the foundation of Chinese civilization. Why did you do this? Doing so follows the high road. It’s not because of which god said it should be done, which sage said it should be done, or how others do it.
As a political figure, what is Tao? Wang Xiaolie couldn't explain it very clearly. But one thing is certain: the Tao of New China is different from the Tao of Old China. The core of old China's political path was destiny, and the core of new China's political path is the people. The politics of old China was a set of political theories derived from destiny, and Wang Xiaolie should have developed a set of political theories from the people.
It is unclear what such a political theory is. It must be practiced and summarized before we can have an outline. People always think that there is truth and absolute correctness in the world, waiting for people to discover it. The world is actually there, that's what it is. When people realize it, they can only say that this world should be like this. In fact, only after realizing it can we realize that the world is like this.
The biggest difference between understanding the world in this way and Europe and America is that it does not require the existence of an omniscient and omnipotent God. The Tao is already there, and the world is also there. It is not created by anyone, but is gradually understood by human beings.
I learned all kinds of knowledge in my previous life, why do I still do this? Isn’t it clear why China is lagging behind and how to catch up?
Since the Opium War, China was opened by the British warships and cannons, and the Chinese people suddenly discovered that we were lagging behind. Then foreign wars failed again and again. Many people discovered that not only were they unable to defeat others in war, but they also lagged behind culturally.
There are many reasons for falling behind. Wang Xiaolie couldn't explain why exactly. But I know clearly that what I learned in the previous life is incomplete. At this time, the Song Dynasty was not lagging behind. What you learned in your previous life cannot actually be used directly.
The biggest problem of the Song Dynasty was its military backwardness. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, it has not had the upper hand militarily compared with the Khitan in the north. More than a hundred years after the founding of the country, the Jin army captured Kaifeng Mansion and captured two emperors and a large number of clan ministers. Such humiliation is rare in history.
Why is the Song army's combat effectiveness not strong? History textbooks don't give the answer. But in the historical circles, there is a very popular saying that it was because the Song Dynasty valued literature over military affairs. Because the generals emphasize culture over military affairs and have no motivation, they will certainly not be able to win the battle. Due to various reasons, this statement not only has an important position in the history circle, but is also widely spread among the people. Many people even think that this is the case.
of course not. If the fatal shortcomings of a dynasty can be summed up so simply, we are kidding history. And not only in the Song Dynasty, but also in the later Ming Dynasty, there were still such problems. One of the Qing Dynasty's summaries of the Song and Ming Dynasties was that they valued culture over military affairs, which led to the collapse of the dynasty. In fact, the performance of the Qing army, which did not value culture over military affairs, was no better than that of the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty.
There is no need to cite domestic and foreign examples to explain why the summary of emphasizing culture over military affairs is wrong. To adopt such a frivolous attitude toward such an important historical issue first shows that historians have no respect for history and have an improper academic attitude.
The military weakness of the Song Dynasty shows that after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the court's positioning of the army underwent adverse changes. What this brings about is the degradation of military mobilization, organizational systems, management systems, training, command and other aspects. There are many reasons for this degradation, and various viewpoints can be put forward, but it is difficult to simply attribute it to a certain policy or system.
People in the Song Dynasty were also aware of military problems. One of the important contents of Wang Anshi's reform was to reform the Forbidden Army, gradually changing from the recruitment system to the Baojia system. However, the old and new parties fought, and the old party abolished the Baojia Law after it came to power. In the words of the Song Dynasty people themselves, after the party struggle, the imperial army was abolished, the protective armor was also abolished, and the national army became a mess.
It cannot be thought that if Baojia is not abolished and the reform is successful, the military strength of the Song Dynasty will become stronger. Due to the limitations of the times, people at that time had an immature understanding of the military. And due to lack of practice, a truly suitable method has not yet been found.
But it must not be thought that the Song Dynasty's military strength was weak because it valued culture over military force. Such a frivolous statement cannot explain any problem except that the attitude of historical researchers is not correct.
This kind of frivolity towards history is not limited to academic summaries such as “emphasis on literature over military affairs”. In fact, after the Opium War, a large number of scholars generally had such a frivolous attitude towards the study of Chinese history, Chinese tradition, and Chinese culture.
For Chinese thought, after a brief introduction, adjectives such as simple materialism and simple dialectics are often added. Some people think it adds glory to traditional Chinese thought, which actually shows that the researcher's attitude is not correct. Adding these adjectives means that these researchers are smarter than the people who proposed, inherited, and developed these ideas, and they just think they know more.
As for other things, there are many opinions on why the essence and blood of the barbarians were taken during that period to enhance the strength of the Han people, and why Dayu was a worm. In fact, it shows that at a certain period of time, historical researchers generally had contempt for and disrespect for Chinese history.
After the Opium War, Chinese intellectuals discovered that China was falling behind and launched a vigorous study-from-abroad movement. Learn the West, learn the East, whatever is foreign, learn it. After studying for more than a hundred years and achieving great results, it cannot be denied. But there are always some people who go too far in the learning process and forget why they set out.
Some people feel that they have learned foreign knowledge and seen the world of foreign countries, and they do not need to understand China before they can come back and teach Chinese people what to do. Many people even think that the so-called development means that China is slowly becoming like a foreign country. Because of their backwardness, they first became what they were in the past, and then slowly became what they are now. What about the future? Of course, we will still lag behind foreign countries in the future.
With the advancement of science and technology and economic development, the concept of global village has emerged, ushering in the vigorous globalization movement. In the eyes of many people, national borders will no longer be important in the future. People are not from any country, but from the earth. Many people have a consensus that the development of various countries should be the same and the future should be convergent.
Is that so? Wang Xiaolie could only say, God knows. Only God knows things, people should not make random guesses. At least the world we live in is not like this yet. It is still divided into various countries, ethnic groups, and civilizations. The development process of other civilizations can only be learned from, not copied. Copying is not possible and no one can succeed.
If you fall behind, you have to learn. Don't think too highly of yourself even though you are clearly lagging behind, and refuse to learn and change. Learning is learning the good things from others and discarding the bad things. Learn what is useful to you and develop what suits you. So as to no longer fall behind. Just because you are lagging behind, you cannot think that a smattering of knowledge copied from scholars is better than what you already have. It’s not just about learning well, but also using it well. If you want to use it well, you must not only learn the excellent things of others, but also have a clear understanding of yourself.
According to normal rules, this process should involve discovering that you are lagging behind, criticizing your own old practices and learning new ones from others. After you have learned useful things from others and criticized your own old things, you should understand why you are lagging behind. At this time, we should carry forward our original excellence to form a new culture and a new society. We are no longer lagging behind. We should learn from and learn from other civilizations.
However, there are always some people who feel that if they have learned a little bit from foreigners, they should be invincible and admired by thousands of people when they return to their motherland. Those who have never been to a foreign country should listen to themselves in everything.
There are always people who think that if you have studied foreign things before, you will definitely have to learn foreign things in the future. What you will become in the future is nothing more than becoming what you once were in a foreign country. The foreign past is your future. The present in foreign countries is what you should become in the future.
There are also smart people who feel that they don’t need to understand history to analyze your civilization. Why are we lagging behind? Because you are a Confucian civilization, Confucianism is backward. If you want to save the country, you must eliminate Confucianism. Not only must they be eliminated now, but all Confucian figures in history must be knocked to the ground and put on one foot, and they will never be able to stand up again. Chinese civilization naturally lacks the gene for scientific research. It only has technology but no science. There are also Confucians who believe that science and technology are miraculous tricks and suppress them.
There are even smarter people looking for reasons from the roots of civilization. It must be said that Greece and Rome, Socrates, Aristotle, Democritus, and Pythagoras, are such powerful ideas and how advanced from the root.
We should also mention deduction and induction, and especially the rational world of Greek philosophy. How could this rational world...
Where is this? It sounds like it's true.
China began to show signs of falling behind the West in the late Ming Dynasty, and completely fell behind the West in the Qing Dynasty. Without carefully studying the history of this period, it makes people feel magical to deal with all these things.
There is no problem with the existence of these people. A normal civilization must have all kinds of people and all kinds of ideas. Not only must they be allowed to exist, but they must also be allowed to develop normally. The only problem is that these people have been in the mainstream for too long, and this kind of thinking has been in the mainstream. By occupying the mainstream, they have guided the mainstream ideological tendencies of society and caused too many people to take detours.
What is the rational world? In the real world, people cannot fully understand it, only part of it. This part of knowledge, coupled with the need for mutual communication and inheritance, forms systematic knowledge. This system knowledge is inconsistent with the actual reality from the beginning. The world deduced and deduced from this knowledge is naturally inconsistent with the real world. Some people believe that this derived world also exists and is a rational world.
Under China's civilization system with Tao as its core, there is no room for a rational world.
The knowledge Wang Xiaolie learned from his past life was history told in a non-serious manner under this situation. This kind of history cannot be regarded as real history. Especially the conclusions contained therein cannot be taken seriously.
