To be a man is to be a man of high ideal standards. This must be learned and done from a young age; even at the end of one’s life, one should continue to learn and work hard. As the saying goes, “Learn and achieve”, there is no end to the work of being a human being. When a student studies in school, there is a graduation period; but a person never graduates – when he is still alive at the end of his life, he is still a person, that is, he should still do; so a person must be a person until he dies.
It is true from ancient times to the present that one cannot live without a profession. But to have a profession is not the whole of being a human being, but only a part of it. Students study in school in order to prepare for their future career. However, apart from the classroom, in the dormitory or in the sports field, one is also a human being and should learn. Studying in the classroom is only a part of learning to be a human being; in the future, when he leaves school and has a career, he still has to be a human being. The circle of being a person is big, but the circle of career is small. To be a human being, one should have an ideal and a will. This ideal and voluntary, hidden in the heart of each person, others can not see, only he knows himself. Therefore, to study, one must first have aspirations; secondly, one should be able to develop the habit of reading on one’s own, so that one can continue to read after leaving school. Reading is also a part of being a human being, because from reading one can understand the truth of being a human being and can make one’s personality improve.
You should know that studying in school is only a preparation for leaving school to pursue a career. This kind of study is not real study. If one wants to be a professional scholar, one wants to study as a profession; and one knows that such study is also a small circle of being a human being. We do not want, and are not likely to want, everyone to become a scholar. What I mean by this is that after we leave school, we study regardless of our profession or circumstances.
To live an enjoyable and interesting life, this requires work to cultivate. There are many people in our society who are afraid of being a human being, who find life boring, who are bored with life, and who even feel miserable. For example, when we are teachers, some people feel that they have no choice but to be teachers, just to make a living, just boring and dreary, to live their lives. But we know that it is not that teachers cannot do it, but that they have lost the joy of life. The question is: How can we reverse this mentality and make him feel that life is still meaningful and worthwhile? The first thing to do is to cultivate his interest in life, and the best way to do this is to read well.
The so-called realm, for example, this lecture hall, in the village of Tiaojingling, is located in a high and spacious terrain, backed by mountains and facing the sea; if the sky is clear at the moment, the sea is sailing far away, or three or five seagulls are flying above the blue waves; if you open the window and look far away, you will feel that what is presented in front of you is a beautiful realm, which is relaxing and refreshing. Even if the sun has been hidden, cloudy and rainy, foggy and misty, there is still a good view. If you say that the scenery is good, you know that also from the realm; if you change a realm, such scenery will not be available. There is a realm of living, and there is also a realm of life; these two realms are not the same. It does not mean that those who live in high buildings and beautiful houses must have a high and good state of life, while those who live in humble houses and hovels do not. Maybe he lives in a high building and a beautiful house, but his life is not good. Maybe he lives in a humble house, his living environment is not good, but his life is as good as it can be. To know the realm of life has other existence. This layer, perhaps to young people, will not be understood for a while, but only when they are older, have more experience, and have read more can they appreciate this. Don’t we always like to live a comfortable and happy life? When we know that we have a good and high state of life, we will have more fun and feel happy and comfortable. If we want to reach this state, we should learn to be a human being, and to learn to be a human being, we must study.
We should know that being a human being has its own importance. If we sincerely want to be a person, “cultivate our interest and improve our realm”, we can use these eight words for the rest of our lives; if we are willing to read and can follow these eight words, we can get a new interest and enter a new realm. If you can keep reading every day in your spare time and be persistent, you will be able to cultivate your interest in life and improve your realm of life in 10 to 20 years, or in 3 to 5 years. That is the greatest happiness and the highest enjoyment of life.
Now we live a different life from the ancients; but each person must have a lot of fragmented time, such as: early in the morning before breakfast, in the evening before dark, and before going to bed; there are three fragmented time a day. Just like a piece of cloth, after cutting a set of clothes, the remaining bits can be used for other purposes. In addition, there are weekends and Sundays, as well as holidays and vacations; especially for teachers, there are summer and winter vacations. These can be fully utilized as spare reading time.
If you can save one hour a day, you will have 3,600 hours in ten years. If a person is employed at the age of thirty and reaches the age of seventy, he can save 14,400 hours. Now we are not asking you to do hard work and study, but to read for entertainment and recreation, just like playing mahjong or watching movies, which will say that there is no time! If we read with the same interest and habit as playing mahjong or watching movies, we can read in any environment and under any circumstances. In this way, we will have high enjoyment and good entertainment, which is a great thing in life! As long as you have persistence in reading, you can develop interest and habit, and from then on you can improve the realm of life. This is something that no amount of money can buy.
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