Looking up at the stars in the filthy canal

“Even if you could own the whole world, but if you lost your soul because of it, what would you actually gain?” (What gain would you have if you own the whole world but lose your soul) – This is ” There is a sentence in the Bible that is very thought-provoking. But Oscar Wilde’s rhetorical question had a different flavor. Wilde’s rhetorical question was: “But if I cannot own even a small part of this world, how can I own my soul?”

Author: GUDORDI | 2015-06-01

Soul detachment is easier said than done

Of course, material possessions are far less valuable than spiritual detachment, but this does not mean that material possessions are unimportant. After all, how can spiritual detachment be a state that ordinary people like us can achieve? Therefore, although the Bible asks a good question, Oscar Wilde’s rhetorical question has a different flavor. Wilde’s rhetorical question was: “But how can I have my soul, if I do not own a little part of this?” (but how can I have my soul, if I do not own a little part of this world?)

Perhaps, soul transcendence is essentially an extremely luxurious thing. If we can’t even solve basic life problems, how can we talk about these luxurious expectations? After considering this reality, the pursuit of owning a small part of the world is undoubtedly meaningless, but it does not seem to be that meaningless – life is full of helplessness and compromise after all.

However, having said that, one thing worth pondering about the pursuit of material is whether it may unknowingly confuse us and become an obstacle in our pursuit of spiritual transcendence. In “De Profundis,” a moving essay written in prison, Wilde touches on this issue when he suddenly looks back on his tragic life. He recalled that he had been pursuing happiness in the first half of his life, and it seemed that he had had all the good things in the world, such as reputation, status, money, etc. Undoubtedly, this experience had its good side, but after some hard thinking in prison, Wang came to the realization that if he spent his life like this, his life would be somewhat flawed. He was even a little glad that he went to prison and suffered such a tragic experience, because this experience finally allowed him to understand the secret of life – for him, the secret of life is sorrow (For the secret of life is sorrow), because Generally speaking, only those who have experienced extreme grief can discover and touch their own soul.

Lost to find everything

From this perspective, the happiness gained from enjoying the material world may come with a certain price. Oscar Wilde wrote this: “In the world we live in, beautiful things are so beautiful and bitter things are so bitter. Naturally, we will only indulge in the pursuit of pleasure, year after year. When we begin to live, what is sweet is so sweet to us, and what is bitter to bitter, that we in-volubly direct all our desires towards pleasured, and seek not merely for a “month or twain to feed an honeycomb” but for all, our years to taste no other food, ignorant all the while that we may really be starving the soul.) Wilde once wrote: Man can only discover its existence after losing everything. (It is only when one has lost all things that one knows that one poses it). I believe the “it” that Wilde refers to is our own soul, right?

Wilde believed that this realization opened up a new realm for his life, allowing him to be grateful for life even though he had nothing. He said this realization was the last thing left in me, and the best. Regardless of whether Wilde could actually put this insight into practice, it was actually a great thing just to be able to express it. Looking back today, Wilde’s case was an unjust imprisonment, and the sentence imposed on him by the court at that time was really cruel and inhumane. But according to many records, after Wilde was released from prison, although he was poor, sick, and had no relatives (the court ruled that he could not see his son after he was released from prison), he could still at least laugh at his misfortune in front of his friends. (laugh at one’s own misfortune). This is quite an extraordinary achievement.

Yes, maybe the path of life is the process of training one’s human mind; we must be able to understand the mysteries of life before we can achieve spiritual detachment, but if we just wallow in the material world, we may never be able to step into the spiritual world. The door to the world. From this perspective, our pursuit of various materials in the world may actually only be regarded as a process and a means. In the end, we have to give it up in order to reach a higher level in the journey of spiritual training. However, this must be said, but for most people in the world, it may actually be possible to only own a small part of this world. It is already a matter of going through thousands of mountains and rivers, not to mention having enough courage and courage. Do you insist on giving it up? For most mortals, is spiritual liberation too luxurious a pursuit?

Looking up at the stars while standing in a filthy canal

Buddha Sakyamuni was born as a prince. After he was born, almost all the beautiful things in the world were within easy reach. Later, he was able to resolutely give up all glory and wealth and devote himself to the pursuit of spirituality without hesitation. Will he be like him? Is it more relevant that the first stage of this “human heart training process” has been “exceeded”? But for most people in the world, even with a lifetime of energy and the help of luck, they may only reach what Sakyamuni went through in his “first stage of the training process of the human heart” One ten thousandth of the distance, or less than one ten thousandth. When thinking about this, the author couldn’t help but sigh, what can we actually say?

Perhaps, even though we fully understand that the pursuit of money is actually a meaningless thing, for most of us ordinary people, we still cannot get rid of the fate of wallowing and struggling in the material world. This may be another part of life. Another point of helplessness and regret, right? However, although we are both wallowing in the world of money, it is one thing to devote ourselves to hard work, but it may be a slightly different state to participate with a little detachment and humor. Wilde once said: “We’re all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”

The author has always admired this saying and feels that it is worthy of being passed down through the ages. Yes, although we all live in a cesspool, there are actually some of us who know how to look up at the stars, and there are indeed many places in the sky that make people think and be intoxicated. But, having said that, no matter how intoxicating it is to gaze at the stars, it still cannot change the fact that we still have to continue to live in the filth. When we think about this, it seems inevitable that we feel a little sad. However, perhaps the relationship between matter and soul, and between the filth and the stars, is not necessarily clear, direct and mutually opposed. Will their relationship be like our Chinese Bagua, which is said to have been created by Fu Tong, a constantly rotating interactive cycle, with “yang within yin and yin within yang?”