Chapter 165: Making up stories and telling the truth
“All operations of human society are carried out by humans. Religious beliefs, traditional culture, laws and ethics, and even social structures are essentially run and set by humans. Yes, so as long as you learn the way of human beings, that is, master the underlying logic and operating rules of human society, you can understand all human social behaviors and nature.
According to the book, although we all appear to be the same human beings on the surface, due to cognitive differences, we are actually very different in nature. .
Human cognition is divided into four levels - the fool, the knower, the cunning and the wise.
It can probably be understood as, 1. Fooling the people. 2. Intellectual, 3. Opportunist, and 4. Great Wise Man.
The logic of how these four look at things is completely different.
The Fool - surface logic.
Intellectual - Real Logic.
Opportunist - realistic logic.
Great wisdom - underlying logic.
For example, take belief in God.
A fool's understanding - if you believe in God, you can go to heaven, if you don't believe in God, you will go to hell, so I have to believe, and I have to donate all my money to the church, so that after I die, I can go to heaven and enjoy it forever. It's so cool. crooked.
Intellectual cognition - Does God really exist? Why are there so many bugs in the teachings? I feel this belief is wrong and I want to expose the truth.
Opportunists’ cognition - of course God does not exist, but since those fools believe it, then I will pretend to believe it. Oh, by the way, how about I sell indulgence scrolls in the name of God, and I can still make a lot of money. Pen, no God will punish me anyway.
What? Someone wants to reveal the truth that God doesn’t exist? Then burn them to death in the name of blaspheming God.
The cognition of a great wise man - I want people to abide by the rules I have set, but no one listens to what I say. It is too hard to reason with these idiots, so I might as well create a god - just call him God. Tell them that these words are said by God, and then make up some stories, such as if you don’t believe in God, you will go to hell, and as long as you follow my rules, you can go to heaven and enjoy eternal happiness..."
Xiao Jie couldn't help but be a little disapproving after hearing this, "Isn't it just a set of feudal superstitions, and it's a complete set of things, and it's a great wisdom? That's it?"
Chen Tianwen shook his head and said: "No, no, you didn't understand what I meant. God is just an example. It can be God, it can be Buddha, it can be universal values, it can be freedom and democracy, it can even be LGBT, everything All humanistic theories and traditional culture that influence our thinking are included.
You don’t believe in God because you haven’t been instilled with such an idea. But if you grew up in the Middle Ages and people around you believed in God and instilled it in you every day, then you would naturally take it for granted.
All countries and all civilizations generally have such things.
The West has belief in God, the East also has Confucian filial piety, and the Indians have a caste system... Every civilization has its own traditional culture. These so-called traditional cultures all have the same characteristic, that is, the people within the structure come It seems to be a matter of course, but to people outside the structure, it seems absurd and unreasonable.
When we look at belief in God and the caste system, we certainly think those things are nonsense, but in the eyes of other civilizations, our Confucian filial piety is also nonsense.
And your knowledge and understanding of these cultures also determines what kind of person you are.
In the eyes of a fool - these traditions are sacred and must be followed.
In the opinion of intellectuals, these traditions are full of errors and loopholes, even unreasonable, and should be broken.
From the perspective of opportunists - maintaining tradition is a tool for profit, and breaking tradition is also a tool for profit. The key to choosing whether to maintain or break tradition lies in how to do it to your own benefit.
And only those with great wisdom can truly understand the meaning of these traditions and whether they need to be maintained or broken. "
Xiao Jie said speechlessly: "But what's wrong with honoring your parents?"
Chen Tianwen shook his head and said: "There is a huge difference between filial piety and filial piety.
The original version of filial piety is to bury a child to serve his mother, to lie on the ice to beg for a carp, to have his ministers die if the king wants them to, and if a father wants his son to die, his son has to die, and to observe filial piety for three years after the death of parents. No one can do it now.
These behaviors of ancient people may seem foolish now, but in ancient times they were truth and social laws that everyone must obey.
What we call filial piety now has been improved, and those contents that are not in line with the times have been eliminated, such as observing filial piety for three years.
Whether there is ignorance or truth depends on what kind of cultural indoctrination you have received and your cognitive level.
If you can understand "Tao" and the underlying logic of human society, you can understand how all of this happened and why there are so many inexplicable traditions. "
Xiao Jie wondered: "Then tell me, why are there so many different traditional cultures? Can you understand the underlying logic of human society?"
"I didn't understand it originally, but thanks to the Taoist scriptures you gave me, I can understand a little bit." Although these words were said modestly, there was a sense of pride in them.
Xiao Jie said: "You should tell me what Tao is."
"Take these social traditions as an example. Why is China based on Confucian filial piety, the West based on belief in God, and India based on caste system? The answer is actually very simple. It was a choice made because of the needs of ancient rulers.
The ruler of China is the emperor, and of course the emperor wants to be supreme, so he needs an idea to control people.
Qin Shihuang chose Legalist thought and used laws to stipulate the emperor's supremacy. Obviously he failed.
So the Han Dynasty learned from experience and chose Confucianism. The so-called monarch, minister, father, father, son, linked loyalty and filial piety, and morally promoted the emperor to the supreme throne.
The emperor, of course, hopes that his status will not be threatened, so Confucianism is the best. However, the Taoist rule of inaction and the Mohist idea of universal love without attacking are not in line with the requirements of the emperor. Naturally, there is no need for universal love. Non-attack sounds good, but how can a majestic emperor accept being on the same level as the common people?
Why do Confucians link loyalty and filial piety? Because if you promote loyalty, you can win the support of the king, and if you promote filial piety, you can win the support of those in power in the family.
With the support of these two, Confucianism will naturally be respected. It can be said that the success of Confucianism may seem accidental, but in fact it is inevitable.
As long as there is a unified dynasty, Confucianism must become the dominant school, because it is the most in line with the interests of those in power. Confucius may have seen this clearly when he founded Confucianism. He knew very well what Confucianism would become in the future. The ruling school.
But in Europe, the situation has changed. There is no unified dynasty in Europe, and there is no supreme emperor. Instead, there are a large number of kings and princes. These people are probably similar to the warlords of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and they have no legitimacy or sanctity.
Therefore, the early rule of these kings was very unstable, and the kingdom was easily overturned. They urgently needed an idea to endorse their sanctity and legitimacy.
So the Christian church has a place to play. The so-called divine right of kings, God gives the king power, so it adds a certain degree of sanctity to the crowns of these kings. When the king ascends the throne, a coronation ceremony is held, and the coronator is the church. This It is the church’s endorsement of the king’s power in the name of God.
In this way, their rule will naturally be relatively stable.
In return, the king ceded some economic and social rights to the church.
For example, the church’s tithe. Why do you think those kings gave the power of tax collection to the priests? They don't care about God, they care about the stability of their rights.
The king and the church actually cooperated with each other in a transactional relationship, working together to suppress the resistance of the people at the bottom. The priests provided an ideological cage, and the king provided a basis of force, making use of each other.
This situation has changed in Eastern Europe. There is an emperor in Eastern Europe, the Byzantine Empire. Although this emperor is not comparable to the emperor of China, he is still more holy than those kings, so their suppression of the church is also Even greater, in order to adapt to this change in power structure, the Orthodox Church emerged. The biggest difference between Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism is that the secular power of the emperor is greater than the religious power of the church.
To put it bluntly, they are asking each other for a price. The greater the power, the more capital, and naturally the more shares they hold.
When we arrived in India, the situation changed again. The ruler of India was not an emperor or a group of kings, but a nation - the Aryans. Naturally, the ideas they had to adopt would be different.
This culture must benefit the entire nation.
So a group of people wrote a collection of Brahmanical settings in order to maintain the rule of their own nation.
They believe in Brahmanism and the caste system not because they are ignorant, but precisely because they are smart and know how to safeguard the interests of their own race.
So you understand, all the ancient traditional culture and sacred religious inheritance that we observe in the world today are essentially choices and fabrications made by ancient rulers for their own benefit, and are deeply rooted in the national civilization. Set together and passed down from generation to generation.
To put it bluntly, it's just a tool.
But for those who are under the rule, they naturally need to be constantly indoctrinated. Since most of the human beings are ignorant people, if you are asked to believe in God, then believe in God. If you are asked to believe in Buddha, then believe in Buddha. If you are asked to believe in filial piety, then Just believe in filial piety.
Therefore, every civilized person is proud of his own cultural tradition, but to put it bluntly, most of these people are fools, enslaved by the ideas they have been instilled since childhood.
Intellectuals can see the problems, but they do not understand the real purpose of these traditions, and they just fight in vain against these superficial loopholes in culture.
Opportunists, on the other hand, don't care about these traditional cultures at all. They either pretend to believe in them or simply use them to benefit themselves.
Only the truly wise can understand the true meaning of these cultures and guide and drive them..."
Xiao Jie was a little dazed for a moment. Chen Tianwen's words were a bit shocking, but they seemed to make sense. But suddenly, something came to his mind, and he smiled and said: "No, I don't think so. Our Confucian filial piety is Different.”
"Haha, tell me, what's the difference?"
Xiao Jie smiled slightly, "Filial piety is about truth. Let's not say whether this truth is perfect or whether there are bugs, but at least it is a truth.
And other things, whether it is the caste system or belief in God, they are all making up stories. This is the essential difference. "
Chen Tianwen was stunned for a moment, with a thoughtful look on his face.
Xiao Jie became more and more confident as he spoke.
"You are right about one thing. The so-called religion is essentially PUA for fools, just like the stories parents make up for children. Go to bed quickly, or the big horse monkey will come to catch you.
Be a good boy and Santa Claus will give you gifts.
All heaven and hell, all darkness and light, all gods, are essentially a combination of the Great Horse Monkey and Santa Claus.
When children grow up and their cognition gradually improves, the monkey and Santa Claus can no longer fool them.
At this time, something more credible is needed. Heaven and hell are nothing more than monkeys and Santa Claus with more exquisite packaging and more detailed settings.
But the essence has not changed. It is still a story, and as long as it is a story, there will be flaws. People with strong enough thoughts and clear enough logic will see through it.
Only the traditional Chinese thought of filial piety is about truth. This is the most essential difference. Because Chinese civilization is more mature and rational, the story-telling method works in other civilizations, but it does not work in China. , at least most people don’t do this.
It was not until modern times that other civilizations began to learn to reason, that is, things like capitalism, liberal democracy, and LGBT.
There are even some backward civilizations that have not learned to reason until now and are still making up stories to fool the people.
This is the biggest difference between our Chinese civilization and other civilizations. "
Chen Tianwen was a little stunned for a moment when he was told this, and then suddenly burst into laughter.
"What a great storyteller and reasoner. You are right. This is the underlying logic of human civilization. This is the Tao, so it seems you have understood it."
Xiao Jie also laughed. At this moment, he really felt like he was enlightened.
"That's right, I've realized it! The so-called underlying logic, the so-called way of man - so that's it! That's it!" Xiao Jie said excitedly. His mind was filled with thoughts for a moment, including countless puzzles and countless puzzles in human history. The past becomes extremely clear in an instant, like looking at lines on the palm of your hand.
Everything in human society is like this, whether it is doing business, being involved in officialdom, teaching knowledge, or making up stories, if you master this way, you can be omnipotent and omnipotent.
No matter the story or the truth, they are just tools, you can use them. If you really believe them, you will fall into the trap and make yourself trapped.
The reason why Confucius created Confucianism was not because he really believed in it, but because he was sure that it would eventually become the dominant school and the dominant thought. Even if he didn't create it, someone else would. To create, it is better to work out this theory yourself first, and then talk about it. The left and right are just a tool.
Jesus knew very well that there was no God in the world. It was precisely because he knew this that he could call himself the savior without any scruples and act in the name of God. He actually did the same thing as Confucius, but Confucius was reasonable. It's making up a story.
And in a sense, he is indeed the savior of the Jews. If the Jews believe in his identity as the savior, follow him, and promote their reformed beliefs to Europe, then the Jews will become the controllers of the Holy See and the power of Jesus. The basic market has become the same existence as the European Brahmins.
It's a pity that those priests are all opportunists. They know very well that God does not exist at all, so they naturally do not believe in the identity of Jesus as the savior. And if Jesus touches their interests, then they must be killed.
There are countless such people in human history. On the surface, they seem to be doing different things, but in fact they are all doing the same thing.
They are all making up stories to make sense.
The so-called way of being a person lies in how to use and drive others so that they can be used for oneself.
Human beings appear to be similar, but in fact they are completely different.
For those fools, there is no need to reason with them, because the fool's knowledge is too low, and it is difficult to explain the truth. Just make up a story. As long as the story is well written, the fool will believe it and do what you want. Things to do.
For intellectuals, it is necessary to reason and tell them what is right and what is wrong. Only by distinguishing right from wrong can they be driven to act. But truth, to put it bluntly, is just a tool, but it is more important than stories. Excellent, public opinion makes sense, mother-in-law says mother-in-law makes sense, the key lies in the angle from which you interpret it, so just use it and don’t indulge in it.
For opportunists, it is useless to make up stories and reason. Only real interests can convince them.
And a person with great wisdom is a chess player.
Stories, principles, and interests are all just tools.
Fools, intellectuals, and opportunists, as long as they have mastered the method, can use it to become a wise person. They can use these people to act for themselves and achieve their ultimate grand plan. This is the great way for people.
(End of chapter)