VIII. Questioning Life
VIII. Questioning Life
When the shadow of Azrael is approaching, anybody，in a sudden retrospect, will find suddenly what he (she) has been striving for in all his life should be worthless, and only the life that can never be recovered is so worth treasuring!
From of old，mankind has repeated the same fate for thousands upon thousands and millions upon millions of times. Fresh lives have turned to bones of the dead one after another. All thinkers, philosophers, statesmen, scientists, entrepreneurs, artists… No matter how great they were，none could escape from such a tragedy. It reminds me of the deploring of Wang Xizhi, the great calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty, in his “Preface of Collection of Writings at the Orchid Pavilion”: “Great indeed is the issue of life and death. Ah! How sad it is!” Whenever I think here，I can find no expression for the grief in my heart.
Nevertheless，as far as the man in the street is concerned, life and death has become a common sense and they take it for granted.
People often turn a blind eye to what is taken for granted, even if it is absolutely important. Just like the air, people have taken the air for granted so they often forget it. People have taken the short life for granted, so they often forget to think about life.
Everything in the world goes around life, and everything in the world originates from life. Mr. Lin Yutang (a famous scholar) said: “Science is nothing more than the curiosity about life, religion is the veneration of life, literature is the praise and deploring of life, art is the appreciation of life… ” If we make a philosophical thinking on life, we will find the triple absoluteness of life：absolutely essential, absolutely once, and absolutely precious.
Absolute Essentiality of Life
Life is the fundamental precondition of existence of all living creatures. “Since it is a living creature, its first important matter is, of course, the life. The reason for being a living creature just lies in the life. Otherwise, it will lose the meaning of the living creature.”(Lu Xun) Human, as a living creature, is no exception, no matter how special he is. A human can be called a human only when his life exists. In the existence of a human in the world, the absolutely principal question is how to maintain his (her) life.
The absolute essentiality of life means，with the life, there is everything; without the life, everything is lost. As the old saying goes: “Where there is life, there is hope.” So long as the life is existent, there is a hope to get anything life can produce. Any need can be met, any loss can be recovered, and even a failure may become a success! On the contrary，death is the greatest misfortune，for it not only destroys all hopes, but also makes anything already gained lose its meaning. With life lost, even if you have money, power, love, friendship or anything, all will be lost together with it.
Although the ancients realized long ago “Wealth and properties are external things besides the body”, yet, among the people today, there are still numerous people who “risk their life” for external things besides the body. When they have obtained the external things besides the body, such as money and power, they have completely lost their capital, their own life! A rich man has become a Chairman of the Board of Directors possessing assets of millions of dollars, from abject poverty, because of “desperate struggle” of more than one decade. But now he is lying on the sickbed, on the verge of leaving this world. When some young adorers came to visit him, he said: “I would rather be a pauper now. If I could exchange, I would use my family property of millions of dollars to exchange for life…”
In this world，some are cudgeling their brains for money, some are bucking bitterly for power, some are shedding tears and blood for position… Money, power, position and life, which is the most important? Once life perishes，anything attached to it, such as wealth, power, status, honor, love and so on，will disappear instantly like foams in water.
All fine things in human life have their meaning only when they are bound to life. Even the greatest statesman, greatest scientist, greatest thinker，for example Einstein: when we talk about him now, he is only a name, or symbol，and it is meaningless to that Einstein alive and kicking.
Human development must be an overall development. An overall development chiefly includes three aspects, namely, morality, intelligence and body; the “body” is the most fundamental. Mao Zedong hit the point by one sentence: “Without the body, there will be no morality and intelligence.” Non-existence of the body equals non-existence of the life, and all things will return to nothingness. However high a person is in morality and intelligence, once he has died, all his morality and intelligence will be lost completely with it. Thus, we can see the absolute essentiality of life.
Judging from the micro aspect, that is, as far as the individual is concerned, life is of absolute essentiality；Judging from the macro aspect, that is, as far as the society is concerned, life is of absolute essentiality, too. Marx put it in this way: “In any human history, the first precondition is undoubtedly the existence of living individuals.” The first precondition is naturally the most essential precondition，being of absolute essentiality. Any human history or any human society must take “the existence of living individuals” as the precondition absolutely. As a matter of fact，any individual is an existence with life; Once the life is lost, the individual will no longer exist. Hence，in the whole society or the whole world，the most fundamental and absolutely essential thing is only life，that is, everyone’s life. Speaking from the most basic point, what makes the human society go on endlessly and go up vigorously, is not power, nor wealth，nor productive force，but life，everyone’s life!
Life’s absolute essentiality is life’s first essential attribute.
Ostrowski (Russian writer) has a widely-spread well-known saying: “For a man, the most precious thing is life. Life belongs to man only once.” As for the “once” character of life，Chinese were aware of it as early as the ancient times.
“Everyone has got one life and it cannot be regenerated” (Taiping Jing). “After death, there is no regeneration” (Ruan Ji, 210-263, thinker and writer of the Three Kingdoms Period).Life’s “non-regeneration” is absolute，and there is no exception for anyone, at all times and in all countries. Life is extremely precious, just because it can never be regenerated.
Christianity has created an illusory Paradise, and designed a world of the other shore, offering people a “check that can never be cashed”；Buddhism has fabricated the theory of “Metempsychosis (transmigration)”，making people believe life is not “this time” or “this generation”，letting them fancy “the great Beyond” or “eternal life after death”. In fact, Socrates could have been exempted from punishment or run away if he had paid the fine, but he was willing to die, because he believed after death he could still discuss things, and could still see those he admired, such as Homer, Thales. The samurais in Japan wielded their broadsword to paunch themselves “heroically”, because they thought they could transmigrate，and be great warriors again…
All those have been proved by today’s science as untrue and ridiculous. China’s ancient thinkers，especially Taoists, got the profound understanding of the “once” nature of life long ago.
The first classic book of Taoism, Taiping Jing, stated clearly：
“The death of anyone under the sun is no small matter. After death, he would no longer see the world again, and his veins and bones would become soil. Death is the greatest loss. Everyone lives between heaven and earth, everyone gets only one life, and no life can be recovered.”
They affirmed the “once” nature of life completely: To everyone, death means the end of all, the total destruction, eternal Finis and eternal ruination! Just because the Chinese nation has a more profound understanding of the absolute “once” character of life, Chinese ancients showed an exceptional thirst for “longevity” and “eternal life”.
Only when you have realized the absolute “once” character of life and realized that death signifies a sinking into the abyss beyond redemption, can you treasure life without comparison；Only when you have known profoundly “All things will vanish after death” can you really understand the core essence of life!
An old saying is well put: “Both Confucius and Robber Zhi have become mote”. Confucius was the greatest mahatma while Robber Zhi was the most notorious robber. Whether a mahatma or a major robber, neither could escape death, and both turned to dust and ashes. Hence，death is mankind’s common enemy. Only by a thorough understanding of death can we have a profound understanding of life. Let everyone of us remember firmly：Life is only once，without return! Our common greatest enemy is none but one：Death!
Life’s absolute essentiality and absolute “once” character determine the absolute preciousness of life.
There is such a story：Someone ran across a successful person, complained about his abject poverty to the latter and asked for advice.
The successful man only smiled, and then asked him： “If I use ten thousand dollars to buy a hand of yours, will you agree?”
“If I lack one hand, how can I work?” He shook his head.
“Now, what if I offer a hundred thousand dollars to buy one foot of yours?”
“A thousand-mile journey starts with the first step of my feet. I can get one hundred thousand dollars all right, but my journey from now on will be a terrible zero!” The successful man nodded the head，then, in a way of bargaining in the marketplace, he said: “Then，I offer one million dollars to buy your head, OK?”
The man said sulkily: “Without the head, there will be no life. Without life, what use will money have? Even if your money can keep my life, I will lose my thinking and lose my creative power!”
“OK,” the successful man said gravely, “You possess sturdy hands and feet，a flexible brain，and a healthy life. That shows you own at least one million dollars of wealth. How can you say you have nothing?!”
Of all things, the most precious is human，and in a human, the most precious is the life. For a nation, the most precious thing is not the great deal of gold or foreign exchange it has reserved, nor its land or other resources，but the health of its people and the life of its people! Americans seek “zero injury and death”，so, for the sake of zero injury and death, they carry out a “luxurious war”，which is not worthwhile in the eyes of some Chinese. A Chinese senior colonel mocked at the seemingly business-minded American army in his Ultralimit War, saying they should put tonnages of dollars for the “zero injury and death”, US soldiers were as precious as jade porcelain vases that were so fragile. He questioned “whether such a practice is worth while”. Just because of the tenet to save the life of an ordinary soldier, we have the film Saving Soldier Ruien directed by the American film director Spielberg. They sent a team of soldiers to return a son to his heartbroken mother. It could be possible only when we have understood the absolute preciousness of a person’s life.
A person’s life is the person’s total most essential interest；The people’s life is the people’s total most essential interest. Treasuring life limitlessly is absolutely necessary. Treasuring life most is the greatest virtue while treasuring life least is the greatest evil.
In education, the most precious is life education; in science, the most precious is life science; in culture, the most precious is life culture.
Those who struggle for mankind’s life, for the prolonging and well-being of mankind’s life, are the most real, most kind and most beautiful people, and their contributions are the greatest contributions, so, they will win the greatest respect for certain.
There is nothing more important than human life, and life is priceless. That is a common sense. The greatest truth is often the most ordinary common sense，the plainest truth. Many people and many nations often neglect it or overlook it unknowingly because this truth is the plainest and commonest. Montaigne (French thinker) said: “Of all the weak points we have, the rudest one is contempt of our survival.” Since human civilization has progressed to the 21st century, we should overcome this rudest weak point resolutely and completely.
Life is priceless, and it is a common sense, a great common sense our society and our world should highlight as much as possible. In the present time characterized by high technology, high risks and high fickleness, if we are still muddleheaded about this most fatal “common sense”, there will be no reason to excuse in any case.
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