Tangible and Invisible —— Interpretation of Laozi's Wisdom

We live in a tangible world, in which all kinds of substances interact with our senses, making us aware of not only the existence of substances, but also our own existence. Our feelings record the process of interaction between the senses and the material world, whether it is sour, salty, bitter, spicy and sweet, or joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, evil and desire. Perhaps, this tangible world itself is not colorful, but it is colorful in our senses; Perhaps, this tangible world is not changing rapidly, but changing rapidly in our senses; Perhaps, the changes in this world are not worthy of our happiness or sadness, but we are inadvertently moved by the environment, or happy or sad!

Tangible is what our senses can grasp; Tangibility is also indispensable for our survival. Tangible matter is the foundation of our existence. For example, clothes can cover the body, and there is a danger of catching a cold without clothes; Eating will make you hungry, but without food, you will be hungry. We are in the world of mortals, and we eat poorly, which is regarded as poverty; He is in rags and looks down and out. Looking up at the world, all kinds of prosperity and luxury are the result of countless tangible things. Luxury not only makes you live healthily in this world, but also makes you live like a person! From then on, you will no longer feel lonely, because there will always be a group of people gathered around you. However, don't feel too attractive. If one day you have nothing, your "friends" will be scattered, and there will be no birds in front of your door. In the end, you will find that you are actually broke!

However, there is a saying that "people die for money and birds die for food". The world will always be addicted to the feeling of being held, even if this feeling is illusory, it will be like the recklessness of a moth putting out the fire and the impulse to hit its head against the south wall and never look back. As Zheng Zhihua sang in the song "Middle Class":

I have a heavy burden and my shoulders hurt.

I wandered in the crowd with my face upturned.

I have high vision and low strength.

I slipped when no one was looking.

My bed is very big, but I never sleep well.

I'm afraid of being forgotten by the world after one night.

If you want to win the feeling of the stars holding the moon, you must constantly get, grab and possess. Money is a sign that we have tangible things in this world, and it has also become a sign of our position in this society. In the end, we will indulge in the tangible world. The result is that we are too easy to pay attention to what money can bring us, but we can't see what money will cost us!

Once upon a time, there was a businessman in Shanxi who was well-run and smart, and his business was very prosperous. He runs his shop in the dark every morning, which makes him dizzy, his eyes dim and his back hurts. However, every day when he saw the glistening money coming in, he was happy to spend money. The happiness of counting silver can always overwhelm the pain of hard work, so he would rather be busy with physical discomfort. In this way, there is little leisure rest during the day, and at night I think about how to make more money, tossing and turning, and I can't sleep. It didn't take long for the businessman to lose sleep, and even with more money, he couldn't buy a good night's sleep!

Next door to the businessman, there lived a young couple in grinding bean curd. This couple, talking and laughing all day, are very sweet. The merchant observed for a long time, and the tofu shop of the young couple's family looked very old and didn't make money. He was jealous and envious, thinking, "What's the use of having so much money? I might as well be poor and happy. " One night, the businessman couldn't stand the pain of insomnia and suddenly wanted to play a prank. He took out his savings, wrapped them in cloth and threw them into the next yard. He wants to see if the happy couple can be happy after they get the money.

The next day, the young couple hummed while grinding bean curd. The eagle-eyed man stumbled upon the luggage in the corner. When he got closer, he found it was shiny silver. He called his wife and they were stunned by what they saw. They have never seen so much money! They don't want to return the money to the owner, nor do they want to give it to the government. Because they understand that even if they don't rest all their lives, they can't earn that much money. They stopped grinding bean curd and selling tofu, thinking about how to hide this windfall. Hide in the room, no, not in the yard, I don't know what to do!

Since then, in this yard where laughter can often be heard, there is no laughter, let alone the sound of ditty. They no longer have to get up early to be busy with grinding bean curd, but the gloom of life comes with the arrival of money. Soon, the man in this family learned to eat, drink, go whoring and gamble, and the couple quarreled almost every day and even started fighting. Once, a woman was so angry that she hanged herself! After a few years of profligacy, people returned to the poverty of the past.

In this world, we hope to confirm our existence through tangible things, and the attitude of others towards us seems to prove our existence. Inadvertently, we have more dependence on tangible things. In fact, in our world, besides tangible things, there are many intangible things worth cherishing and paying attention to. Those are the signs that constitute the depth and quality of our life, such as thought, soul, spirit, virtue and so on. A castrated person may be regarded as a "eunuch", but if a person is "cut" to the organs of thought, it is not another kind of "eunuch"; A short person may be ridiculed as a "dwarf", but if a person's soul shrinks, it is not another kind of "dwarf"; A broken figure may become what people call "disability", but a broken virtue is not another kind of "disability"; A blind person is regarded as "blind", but if you are "arrogant", isn't it another kind of "blind"? Living in this tangible world, don't forget many intangible things!

Money can certainly determine our social status, but money can't confirm our existence. Because, more money and less money, there is too much contingency in having money and not having money. "Life and death have a life, wealth is in the sky", it is not rich, you are tall, maybe the source of this money is your ancestors, or windfall, or ill-gotten gains. Money is only the tool of our existence, and tangible matter is only the foundation of our existence, while the height, realm and thickness of our life must go beyond the tangible and move towards the intangible. Soul reflects the height of our life, virtue shows the realm of our life, thought reflects the thickness of our life, and "someone in the eye" reflects the width of our life, because the world we live in cannot be isolated from others. In the tangible world, we exist; The invisible world makes our existence exist!