-Lin Yutang
What is the empty cup mentality? In other words, if you want to learn more knowledge, you should first imagine yourself as an "empty cup" instead of being complacent.
Yin Nan is a Zen master. One day, a scholar came to ask him about Zen, but he kept talking. Nanyin is silent and treats each other with tea. He poured tea into the guest's cup. When the cup was full, he didn't stop. Instead, he continued to pour tea and watched it overflow the cup.
The guest said anxiously, "it's full, don't pour it again!" "
Yin Nan said, "You are like this cup, full of your own opinions and prejudices. How can I tell you Zen if you don't empty the cup first? "
Empty cup mentality is a symbol of studious spirit and broad mind that can accept all rivers. Everyone's heart is like an empty cup. What you pour, your life is what it tastes like.
Life is like tea, an empty cup, there will always be endless good tea, and there will always be endless joy and emotion.
Being a man is like a cup. You keep pouring water into the cup. The capacity of a cup is limited. If you don't pour the water out of the glass, it will overflow. The human mind is like a cup, which is full of knowledge and ideas. If you want to learn more, you must first pour out half a glass of water in your hand and use an empty cup that really belongs to you, then you can really learn what you want.
If you don't abandon the old ideas, you can't accept new things, just be an empty cup.
If everyone wants to cope with the changes of the times and environment, he must adapt to the needs. In order to change the tension, we are required to have an empty cup mentality. The premise of doing things is to have a good attitude. If you want to learn more knowledge and improve your professional ability, you should first imagine yourself as an "empty cup" instead of being complacent.
Study hard and don't wait until you are old to regret it.
According to legend, cicadas could not fly in ancient times. One day, he saw a wild goose flying freely in the air and was very envious. It asked the goose to teach it to fly. Goose agreed happily.
Learning to fly is hard work. Knowing that he is afraid of hardship, he looks around for a while, runs around for a while, and doesn't study hard. The wild goose tells it how to fly. It listened to a few words and said impatiently, cicada! Got it! Goose asked it to try again. It only flew a few times, and then cried proudly, I know! Got it! Autumn is coming, and the geese are going to the south. Cicada really wants to fly high with the geese, but it flaps its wings and can't fly high.
At this time, cicada looked at the geese flying in the sky thousands of miles away and regretted that she was too complacent and didn't practice well. However, it was already late, so it had to sigh: late! Too late!
Around us, there are as many cicadas as there are late.
Faraday, a famous scientist, was prepared to be awarded the title by the state in his later years in recognition of his outstanding contributions in physics and chemistry, but he refused.
After Faraday retired, he still often went to the laboratory to do some chores. One day, a young man came to the laboratory to do an experiment. He said to Faraday, who was sweeping the floor, "They must have given you a lot of money to do this work, right?" The old man smiled and said, "I need a little more." "What's your name? Old man? " "michael faraday" the old man replied lightly. The young man exclaimed, "Oh, dear! You are the great Mr Faraday! " "No," Faraday corrected, "I am an ordinary Faraday."
Faraday is still like this. Who dares to say that our knowledge is enough? Never think that you know enough. In front of the vast treasure house of human knowledge, each of us is ignorant. If you want to make continuous progress, you must keep an empty cup mentality and study hard with an open mind.
Einstein was one of the greatest scientists in the world in the 20th century. His theory of relativity and other achievements in physics have left us inexhaustible wealth. However, like him, he will continue to study and research in his lifetime. It is never too old to learn.
Someone asked Einstein, "You are always unprecedented in the field of physics, so why bother to study tirelessly?" Why don't you rest comfortably? " Einstein didn't answer him this question at once. Instead, he found a pen and a piece of paper, drew a big circle and a small circle on the paper, and said to the young man, "under the present circumstances, maybe I know a little more about physics than you."
As you know this small circle, I know this big circle, but the whole knowledge of physics is boundless. For a small circle, its circumference is small, that is, its contact surface with the unknown field is small, and he feels that he has fewer unknowns; Dayuan grew up in contact with the outside world this week and felt that he had more unknown things and would work harder to explore. "
There is a saying: modesty is the greatest achievement of mankind. Modesty makes you respected. The fuller the ears of wheat are, the more curved they are.
Zhuangzi once said, "My life is limited, but so is my knowledge." Translated into modern Chinese, this sentence means "our life is limited, but our knowledge is infinite."
The ancients said, "You can only know the obstacles if you always keep an empty cup."
An excellent person knows how to keep an empty cup. No matter how much he has achieved, he will always be like a sponge, constantly absorbing different knowledge and improving his cognition and living standard.
In the era of knowledge economy, science and technology are developing rapidly and knowledge updating is accelerated. If you don't learn new knowledge and methods with an open mind, even if your original professional knowledge is solid, it will be eliminated by the progressive trend of society, so it's never too old to learn!
The development of things is achieved through negation. The movement, change and development of things are the result of the synergy of "external negation" and "internal negation", and it is the movement process of self-improvement and self-development of things. The complexity of objective things and the limitation of human cognitive ability determine that human practice can only be a process close to truth.
What was correct yesterday may not be correct today; The last successful path and method may be the reason for this failure. Whether it is an organization or an individual, it is a good wish not to make mistakes, and making mistakes is an objective reality.
Zeng Zi said, "I will save the three provinces". A wise philosophical saying is also popular in life: "Know yourself." Knowing yourself is very important, knowing yourself is difficult, and denying yourself is even more difficult. Denying self requires a mind, frankness, boldness and a real empty cup mentality. Only by denying ourselves can we surpass ourselves.
A writer once said, "Convince yourself is the victory of reason; I was moved by myself, which is a sublimation of my soul; Conquering yourself is a maturity of life. " He who convinces himself, touches himself and conquers himself can conquer all setbacks, pains and misfortunes.
Empty cup mentality is to reorganize your knowledge and ability at any time, empty out the outdated ones, leave room for the entry of new knowledge and ability, and ensure that your knowledge and ability are always up to date; Is never complacent, always learn, always make progress, and always keep the vitality of body and mind.
The premise of doing things is to have a good attitude first. If you want to learn more knowledge and improve your professional ability, imagine yourself as an empty cup, so you won't stand still.
It is already difficult for human beings to know themselves, and it is even more difficult to constantly deny themselves. Self-denial requires an open mind, frankness, boldness and a real empty cup mentality. Only with an insatiable spirit of challenging yourself can we really have an empty cup mentality. Never be complacent, always learn, always make progress, and always keep the vitality of body and mind.
In the eyes of climbers, the next peak is the most attractive. The process of climbing the mountain is the most intoxicating, because it is full of novelty and challenges, and an empty cup mentality will gradually make your life better. It allows you to reorganize your knowledge and ability at any time, get rid of obsolescence, leave room for the entry of new knowledge and ability, and ensure that your knowledge and ability are always up-to-date and of the highest quality.
Bruce Lee, a martial arts master and kung fu superstar, spoke highly of this sentence. He said, "Empty your glass first, and then fill it. Nothing is perfect. " Since ancient times, people have divided the learning experience into three processes to motivate themselves or others. Among them, Wang Guowei cited three ancient sayings in Qing Dynasty to describe the three realms of scholars.
The first realm is "last night, the west wind withered the green trees, and I went to the tall building alone to look at the horizon"; The second realm is "clothes are getting wider and wider without regret, and people are haggard for Iraq"; The third realm is "looking for him in the crowd, suddenly looking back, that person is in the dim light." The three realms summarized by Wang Guowei, the first realm is the realm of learning and being an official, which is the realm of "knowledge". The second realm is the realm of "doing", that is, persistently realizing lofty ideals. The third realm is the realm of "getting", and success comes naturally.
Later, some people imitated the division of "three realms" and summed up many "three realms", which are listed as follows: some people studied Confucius' exposition on learning and found three realms of learning: the first realm is "knowledge"; The second realm is "goodness"; The third realm is "joy".
Others summarize the three realms of reading as "for knowledge", "for oneself" and "for people". Some people use Zen language to explain: the first realm is "seeing mountains is mountains and seeing water is water"; The second realm is "seeing mountains is not mountains, and seeing water is not water"; The third realm is "see mountains or mountains, see water or water".
Some scholars have also summarized three realms of reading, such as "the beginning is extremely narrow, only people can pass", "more lines and ten steps" and "suddenly enlightened".
Today, people who read Chairman Mao's poems can be summarized into three realms: the first realm is "Where to visit, the Ganjiang River is full of snow, and yesterday ordered that 100,000 workers and peasants go to Ji 'an"; The second realm is "the four seas are turbulent and angry, and the five continents are thundering." "To sweep away all pests and be in an invincible position"; The third realm is "the past more than 1000 years, Wei Wu brandished a whip, and Jieshi was left in the east. The bleak autumn wind has come again, and it has changed the world. "
The three realms tell people: first, we must have determination, have an empty cup mentality, and establish a goal in life; Second, we must work tirelessly to achieve our goals; The third one is that many things happen, and he will eventually succeed.
After developing the "empty cup mentality", your learning effect will be very different. You won't be prejudiced any more, and you won't always use your newly learned knowledge to prove your past experience. You will accept the same and stick to your point of view if you are different. You will accept all the knowledge and choose according to your own needs.
Francis Bacon said in On Learning: "Reading makes a full person, conversation makes a quick person, and writing and taking notes make a precise person. Historical lessons make people wise; Poetry makes people wise; Mathematics makes people fine; Natural history is profound; The study of ethics makes people solemn; Logic and rhetoric are eloquent. "
People who really grow up through learning are empty cups. When you go to class or listen to others to share, try to empty yourself and accept it with an empty cup mentality, and you will have unexpected gains. Learning wisdom with an empty cup mentality can get richer nutrients.
Many people spend hundreds of dollars on a high-end dress, which is not expensive at all, but it is really unbearable to take out dozens of dollars from their wallets to buy a good book.
Romain rolland said a long time ago: "The biggest reason why adults are slowly eliminated by the times is not the growth of age, but the decline of learning enthusiasm." If you can't keep your enthusiasm for learning, you can't continue your study and lifelong study after leaving school. This will not only fail, but will be eliminated by the times.
People's greatest sorrow is that they always live in the past, and those who live in memories can only choose endless complaints and grievances in the face of the status quo. If a person wants to learn and never forget the past, then he can't create the future. We have only one best choice-let go of the past and face reality, challenges and opportunities with an empty cup mentality.
In fact, everyone's heart is a container. When this container is full, there is no room for anything else. Everyone knows this truth, but who really bravely hollowed out his heart?
Nietzsche once said, "Every day without dancing is a waste of life." Only by letting go of the past and clearing the past can we be truly brave.
An empty heart will not let life be wasted, but can accommodate more new lives and achieve a better life.
The empty cup mentality makes us understand that modesty is the greatest achievement of mankind. People with empty cups will be very humble, so let's try to forget the past and leave an "empty cup" for tomorrow.