Cultivate Your Angles: Strive to Exist Positively in the World
Throw away bad habits and become a ‘manager’ person.
01
As a person goes from youth to maturity, he will experience a process, which is that he discovers that the angles of his inner nature are not suitable for the external environment, and he needs to restrain his brilliance. This is a process of polishing one’s angles.
This is the process of polishing one’s angles. Many people go through this process, and they often complain that life has made them numb. In fact, it is not that life has made them numb, but that life has erased those that should not have been angles, making them mature.
After experiencing time, we know how to live and how to adapt to the external environment. This is the power that time brings to a person.
Because in this human life process, many people initially young were always with ‘thorns’ to live, they still had some bad habits in their hearts, when they suffered losses, they knew how to restrain their hearts and become'manager' people.'manager' refers to being able to handle affairs, understand the situation, and act in accordance with the environment.
When we were young, we wanted to change the world, but when we grew up, we realized that the best state is to adapt to the world. This is a wise wisdom of a person.
In ‘The Analects of Mencius’, there is a wise saying: ‘When officials are in office, they cannot indiscriminately accept all recommendations. They should make it difficult for people to see them, in order to prevent opportunistic people from taking advantage of the situation.’ When retired to live in the countryside, they should not be too arrogant and aloof, make people easy to approach, in order to maintain the friendly feelings between families and neighbors.
When you are in a high position, you need to restrain your bad habits and not accept the influence of others. When you retreat to a lower position, you also need to restrain your arrogant attitude, so that you can communicate with people in a relaxed and friendly manner, maintaining a harmonious atmosphere between neighbors.
This wisdom is singled out for emphasis because it’s about restraining bad habits and ‘thorns’.
02In life, we have seen too many people who, when they were in high positions, were harmed by opportunistic people because they hadn’t distanced themselves from some people; and many people came down from high positions and still maintained a clear-minded attitude, making it difficult to approach people and maintain a deliberate distance, which were all brought about by bad habits.
Instead, if we remove the ‘thorns’ that shouldn’t be there, and deal with people in a relaxed manner, this is a necessary wisdom in dealing with people.
Gou Ziqiu’s mansion in Fuyang was open every day, allowing people to come in, but he would never inquire about people’s affairs.
A general came to visit Gou Ziqiu, and saw Gou Ziqiu’s wife and daughter grooming themselves, and Gou Ziqiu was next to them, holding a towel to serve water, like a servant.
This matter spread, and many people came to advise Gou Ziqiu: ‘Although the official is prominent, if he does not respect himself, no matter what position he holds, someone can wander around in your room, which is not a good example.’
Gou Ziqiu smiled and said: ‘This is not what you think. I have 500 horses eating public fodder, and 1000 people eating public grain. My position is high, but it cannot be higher. Even if I want to retire, I can’t return to my previous state. If I build a high wall and close the door, and don’t communicate with people, they will definitely design traps and betray me, and I will be accused of not being a loyal official. So, I keep my doors open and don’t have any obstacles. They can’t find a reason to slander me.’
Everyone was amazed.
Gou Ziqiu, while holding a high position, deeply understood the dangers of high position, so he had a unique method of avoiding trouble—to be open and honest, so that others could not harm him, and he could not be criticized.
He even spent decades as an official, always keeping his doors open, indicating that he had nothing to hide.
This is the wisdom of restraining bad habits and being in a high position, so as to prevent others from taking advantage of opportunities to harm him. Being open, relaxed and friendly is the key to avoiding trouble and maintaining a complete state.
Using a seemingly low-profile wisdom to ‘positively’ exist in the world is the wisdom of avoiding trouble and achieving completeness.
Written by: National Studies Bookstore
Reading national studies, feeling the culture of ancient scholars, comprehending a different world, seeing a different life.
|
