In Calvino's novel The Knight Who Doesn't Exist, the hero is a body-less will whole composed of scattered fragments of the world will, wearing knight's armor and fighting as a king's soldier on the battlefield. He has no body, but he maintains strict discipline and style, keeps a clear head and can't sleep, because once he doesn't do this, his will will will get out of control and drift with the wind. He, the nonexistent knight, disappeared.

Knights are always looking for the meaning and way of their existence. And his entourage, an ordinary person, is a "fool" with a body but no self-awareness.

When we all live in this society, live and think according to established rules and live in a popular way, everyone gradually blurs into a symbolic life without specific characteristics. Calvino mentioned later that human beings evolved from primitive people and became unnatural human beings in modern times. Non-natural humans like us no longer need to worry about food, clothing, housing and transportation and wild animal attacks. The development of socialization has put forward higher and higher requirements for a high degree of division of labor, and at the same time, in order to meet the various desires of modern people, entertainment methods have emerged one after another. In the end, we become a "symbolic life" without personality and thoughts. From a higher dimension, we are only of some use to society.

I couldn't help worrying at that time. Such a bold and pessimistic guess seems to prove the situation of most of us. Life at two o'clock and one o'clock in the morning, group travel like fresh air on holidays, enjoy the relaxation brought by various variety entertainment, and return to the day in return.

I don't reject this working lifestyle, I'm not world-weary, and I don't know what to do to get rid of the symbolic life. Its ultimate answer may be beyond my life, but what makes me feel a sense of crisis is that I didn't realize this problem until now.

The existence and meaning of life, perhaps the process of pursuing it itself is the meaning of our life.