After sorting out his thoughts, Wang Xiaolie said: "Many people don't understand that the army should be based among the people and share their fate with the people. What does the national affairs have to do with the ordinary people? I have been saying this for many years, and until now, Many people are still living in isolation."
Wang Ruohai said: "Confucius said, the king is a boat; the common man is water. Water carries the boat, and water overturns the boat. In the Tang Dynasty, Taizong believed that this statement was reasonable and used it to warn his officials many times. . What Commander Jie said is roughly similar to this."
Wang Xiaolie shook his head: "Counsellor, there is nothing similar between these two statements. You say they are similar, but you still do not have a deep understanding of why I say we should share our fate with the people. We who are in power must understand that power comes from Where does it come from? It was said in the past that the power of the emperor comes from the destiny, and the power of the officials comes from the emperor. Now that the world is like this, I no longer believe in the destiny of the past, but I want to look for the real destiny. What is the real destiny? I Think it’s the people.”
"What are the people? Are the officials the people? Are the scholars the people? Are the farmers the people? Are the businessmen the people? Are the workers the people? Are the rich the people? Are the poor the people? It is wrong to ask this question . We live in the world, generally speaking, we have at least two identities. One is an individual, I hope to be happy. The other is a member of a group. This group consists of one person, and it can be a family, or a group. It is a nation, of course, it can also be a country, or it can be the world. In the Han and Wei dynasties, filial piety was emphasized, so at that time people thought that the most important thing should be the family, and the country and individuals are derived from the family. At our time, we also talk about filial piety. Filial piety, but filial piety is not that important anymore. What is the most important? It is the country. Then the people are the people under the country."
"Do the people under the country have to ask one by one? Or, if we have done well enough and everyone is satisfied, then we have received the people's destiny? No. When you ask, you are asking for your personal opinion. . And the people under the destiny include both individuals and the whole composed of individuals. The two are mixed together, and the combination is the people. Sometimes it is the whole that is important, and sometimes it is the individual that is important. It is not static. . Accurately finding out the ever-changing will of the people is what those in power have to do."
Wang Ruohai smiled bitterly: "If it keeps changing and you can't tell clearly, how can you do it accurately?"
Wang Xiaolie said: "Because the world is like this, what can we do? We can't just stop doing it because it is too difficult and find a simple way to get over it. This world cannot be solved by a lake."
Wang Ruohai remained silent. If you take everything seriously, will it still be accomplished?
Wang Xiaolie asked: "What is the world like? In fact, anything is possible in this world. You may be born into a wealthy family, or you may be impoverished. You may work in the countryside all your life, or you may go to school. , you may also do business or be a craftsman. No matter how talented you are, have a photographic memory, and know ten things if you ask one question, if you don't learn, you will be nothing more than a pile of loess in a hundred years. For individuals, there is no way, some people It’s down to his own bad fate.”
"Treading on the Stars"
"Some people say that this is contingency and inevitability. There is necessity in chance, and there is chance in necessity. In fact, the world is like this, we just can't explain it clearly. In previous studies, we always wanted to ask what people are like. What is the world like? They feel that knowing these two issues, things in the world will be simple. For example, a gentleman must be benevolent, righteous, propriety, wise, and trustworthy, as a child must be filial, as a minister must be loyal, and in dealing with others must be trustworthy. No matter what you do, There is a corresponding etiquette for everything. I think that if everyone does this, the world will be peaceful. In fact, how could it be? Things in this world are not continuous. If they were continuous, there would be no development and there would be no strange things. . However, discontinuous things are related to each other. Just like people in the world, how can they be exactly the same? They are all different. But if you think that people who are different should have no connection, then what? Wrong. For example, people in a country always have some things in common. People in a family are even more so. If there are too many people, whether they are people or things, they will statistically show a certain characteristic. I said Many times, we officials must learn some knowledge of statistics. If you know the knowledge of statistics, you should understand that this distribution is called a normal distribution."
Wang Ruohai nodded, looking a little helpless. What Wang Xiaolie said is not difficult, but it is really not easy to understand.
Wang Xiaolie said: "In other words, as an individual, you can only look at your own destiny helplessly. Even if you are a once-in-a-lifetime genius, without external conditions and no one to appreciate it, you may be nothing. But as a whole, There will be no order in the world just because individuals are disorganized. Officials must understand not only individual needs, but also the overall trend. Without the individual, the overall trend is meaningless. But under the whole, the overall trend is meaningless. For many people, the individual meaning is not great. How to combine the two to find destiny."
At this point, Wang Xiaolie sighed: "I can't explain what this world is like. I can't explain what people should be like either. The original appearance of the world is what we call Tao. The original nature of human beings The appearance is called the destiny. The two together are called the way of heaven. When we are officials, we are looking for the destiny in the rolling world, complying with the destiny, and looking for our way. Therefore, our officials are not seeking wealth, but us. The way of heaven. We are seekers, looking for the way of heaven in the world of mortals."
Wang Ruohai said: "Confucius said that if you hear the Tao in the morning, you will die in the evening! I am ashamed. I can't understand what Commander-in-Chief said for a while."
Wang Xiaolie said: "I can't explain it either, so why should I be ashamed? I just know that things in the world are not that simple. When faced with things you don't know, don't be greedy for convenience and try to simplify the complex, but Just keep doing it firmly and seriously.”
After saying that, Wang Xiaolie said nothing and looked into the distance quietly.
At this time, I suddenly remembered that one of my elementary school classmates who was a teacher once asked myself why TV and newspapers were talking about the Eight Honors and Eight Disgraces, a harmonious society, and the scientific outlook on development, but what I saw in reality were all nonsense. You must flatter your horse and please your superiors. At that time, Wang Xiaolie just said that he was confused because he had not read the book thoroughly. In fact, it's not just that you haven't read the book thoroughly, but you also haven't realized that the world is like this. It’s not that the people around him say one thing and do another, but that human society inherently has two faces: the whole and the individual. What is said on TV and in newspapers is the whole; but what he sees and feels is each individual.
Don't place the overall demands on individuals, otherwise no one will be able to bear it. For example, when Confucianism talks about a gentleman, he originally meant the ruling class, rather than fighting against the common people. When society changes and becomes a civilian society, and these demands are placed on civilians, who can bear it? Just like in the Qing Dynasty, it was said that officials were full of benevolence, justice and morality, but they were full of male thieves and female prostitutes. That's it.
If many Confucian theories are separated from personal cultivation and placed on a political power, many things will become reasonable.
After a long time, Wang Xiaolie said: "We must truly realize that everything in a society has two aspects, the overall and the individual. It is wrong to be divorced from either aspect. It does not mean that I am a small citizen. We should look at the problem from the perspective of the people; as an official, I have to look at the problem from the perspective of the political power. This understanding is not correct. Officials must understand the people, otherwise they will not be able to do their job well. The people do not necessarily understand the officials, it is their fault freedom. We often call the people children, and children are not restrained. Of course, children are not so restrained. As a political power, it is composed of the people, so it must be based on the people. Because we don’t know whether there is the so-called destiny, but we also see I don’t understand, why should we believe in illusory things? Without the destiny from the outside, we can only rely on ourselves. If we rely on ourselves, the political power can only rely on the people."
At this point, the other party said: "After you arrive in Hedong, you have to explain my promise to Jiang Min. If you don't understand, it's best if Jiang Min understands. Only when he understands does he know what to do to get things done. good."
It’s okay if no one understands it. Over time, some people will understand. Even if no one understands it in the end, what does it matter? Wang Xiaolie can at least tell himself that I have been in this world before. However, what Wang Xiaolie hopes most is that Jiang Min understands.
