My Life Ideal—The Abstract and the Concrete, the Passive and the Active

6,980 characters2006.06.24

Recently someone happened to mention the topic of life ideals (seehttp://www.gotopku.cn/forum/viewthread.php?tid=39888&fpage=1), and I realized that I have never written out my own “life ideals” here in full, so I’ll jot down a few lines offhand.

My “whole set” of life ideals was already determined long ago. To put it grandly for once (this article is just a bit of casual chatter): this is truly rare. Things like life ideals have no distinction of high or low, deep or shallow, but there is a distinction between being definite and being vague. When asked what one’s ideals in life are, answers like “hard to say,” “I haven’t thought it through,” “probably something like…” and so on are obviously no match for a well-ordered account like the one I can string together. Of course, some people may insist that life does not need any set ideals at all; that is another matter. But if so, their reasons for why life does not need ideals can themselves be distinguished as definite or vague. In addition, whether one’s view of ideals and one’s view of life, and one’s worldview and values and other viewpoints, are harmoniously connected, whether they are entangled with one another, whether they can mutually illuminate one another, and so on, can also be discerned. So although it is impossible to judge whether one view is better, truer, or more brilliant than another, it is still possible to tell whose is more definite or more mature. My confidence in my own so-called “three views” rests precisely on this.

On different occasions I have given apparently quite different formulations of my “life ideals,” because for me, so-called life ideals actually have two distinctions: abstract versus concrete, and negative/passive versus positive/active. Correspondingly, my life ideals can take four formulations: abstract + passive, abstract + active, concrete + passive, and concrete + active.

First, “to have a clear conscience” — this is my “abstract + passive” life ideal; correspondingly, “self-realization” is my “abstract + active” life ideal. Having a clear conscience is the most fundamental thing. All concrete actions and pursuits should take having a clear conscience as their foundation. In being a person, one should not first think of being responsible for this person or that matter; there are too many people and things worthy of attention, and looking left and right in the end will only leave one at a loss. On this point my view has a certain flavor of the Wang Yangming school of mind, but a better way to understand it is to connect it with Kant’s “moral law within.” As long as, in one’s old age, one looks back on the past with no shame, no guilt, no resentment, and no regrets, that is life’s most basic satisfaction. However, I say that “having a clear conscience” is a “negative/passive” ideal because this ideal does not really require “pursuit” at all, or rather, does not require “active” pursuit. Similarly, serenity of mind is not something that can be obtained through active striving. A more ordinary example would be: sleeping is not something one can obtain through active pursuit. If one keeps thinking, “I must fall asleep, I absolutely must fall asleep, if I can’t sleep it will be terrible, hurry up and sleep…” then that will obviously backfire. It is precisely when one asks for nothing and thinks of nothing that one falls asleep before one knows it. Following one’s true nature, one naturally has a clear conscience; this is not something to be forced.

The so-called “self-realization” can be understood in many ways: Hegel and Maslow have both said something along these lines, but deep ecology is a better association. My own understanding may differ somewhat as well; I mentioned some of this earlier in the article “My View of Life.” In short, to put it simply, it means allowing my special strengths and talents to be realized as fully as possible. However, this is subordinate to the “negative/passive” ideal. I just mentioned that “having a clear conscience” is “negative”; on the other hand, it is also expressed in a passive form, that is to say, I never need to actively pursue it, but once something would damage it, I should avoid it. If some active pursuit of mine would result in a guilty conscience, then I must not pursue it. If I have already done something that leaves me feeling guilty, then I must actively make amends. On the condition that my “clear conscience” is not harmed, I will expand my pursuit of “self-realization” as much as possible; this is what the “ideal of active initiative” means.

The two points above are both “abstract,” merely speaking in general terms. Of course, so-called “life ideals,” unlike “this month’s ideal,” “next year’s ideal,” and so on, are naturally bound to be rather abstract. Any concrete and definite pursuit is not suitable as a lifetime ideal. For example, making “winning the Nobel Prize” one’s life ideal is certainly quite lofty, but once one actually achieves it, then what? Stop living? Or no longer need any further pursuit, simply eat and laze about until death? That doesn’t seem good… Therefore, a life ideal should at least be “abstract” to the point that it is almost impossible to complete. For instance, “I want to become a billionaire!” is not a very suitable life ideal, whereas “make money, make more money!” can serve as a suitable life ideal! Because the latter never stops. By the way, according to my pluralism: my life ideal is more mature than “becoming a billionaire,” but it is not necessarily higher or lower than “make money, make money” (see the article “A Brief Discussion of Money Worship”).

My concrete + passive life ideal sounds rather lacking in ambition—I only wish to live an ordinary family life: for example, to marry a wife, have some children, have a job during the day that pays the bills, sleep with my wife at night, occasionally go out for outings with family or friends, be peaceful and quiet at home, safe and sound outside… Of course, I know that I myself am extremely fortunate, so much so that the ideal above can be classified as “negative/passive.” I know there are indeed many people who struggle hard in pursuit of even such a stable life and still fail to obtain it. But for me, my family circumstances, social environment, and historical context are all fortunate, so the ideals above are basically things that will come as long as I quietly wait; there is no need to deliberately struggle and fight for them.

A negative/passive life ideal is the most basic, but it absolutely does not mean that my aspirations stop there; otherwise I would really have become an old man. The significance of a negative/passive life ideal lies in this: it is the highest priority. No other pursuits must harm it. Once I have some pursuit or behavior that will damage the peace and quiet of my family life, that will be intolerable. But on the condition that my “passive” ideal is not violated, I must exert all my effort to develop my “active” ideal.

My concrete positive/active life ideal was only finally settled on recently; it is the one that took the longest to take shape—“having a clear conscience” was proposed in middle school, “an ordinary family” was basically determined in high school, “self-realization” was settled in my freshman year of college—this is also very logical: the concrete follows the abstract, the active submits to the passive, and thus the concrete + active ideal is precisely the one that has been most constrained. But then again, since I have already sorted out the constraints it is subject to, designing this ideal is also going to be quite free. I won’t elaborate much on the concrete here. Let me put it more briefly: “to love wisdom,” “to pursue wisdom.”

By the way, let me add one more thing: above I mainly discussed the corresponding relationship in which the “positive/active” is subordinate to the “negative/passive.” At the same time, the vertical connections among the four ideals are also clear, namely the correspondence between the abstract and the concrete—between “having a clear conscience” and “an ordinary family”; between “self-realization” and “loving wisdom.” There is even some direct connection in the crosswise pairings, but I won’t elaborate further on that in this article.

June 23, 2006

Niu Jiao