In life, there are always some people who don't pretend to know everything. In fact, this is very stupid, and a really smart person would never do it. As early as more than 2,000 years ago, Confucius said: "Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, and knowing is also." Knowing is knowing, and not knowing is not knowing. Only in this way can you be called a wise man. Sooner or later, it will be exposed and you will regret it.

When studying ancient classic culture, we must try our best to understand the truth, and never take it out of context, otherwise it is easy to misinterpret or misunderstand the true meaning of the ancients. Zhuangzi, a philosopher in the Warring States Period, was second only to Laozi, the founder of Taoism. Zhuangzi wrote many works in his life, at least several hundred words. Many famous sayings, such as "My life is limited and my knowledge is limited", also came from Zhuangzi. In fact, the latter sentence is the essence, but few people know it.

The core of Taoist thought is to obey nature and advocate inaction. Zhuangzi has a free and easy temperament, and almost achieved the so-called attitude of "not being happy with things, not being sad for oneself", leaving an anecdote about Zhuang Zhou's dream butterfly's farewell to his wife to promote her long life. When I was studying in the past, I could almost see a very inspirational quotation on the classroom wall, which was Zhuangzi's "My life is limited, but my knowledge is also limited".

The literal meaning is easy to understand. Birth, old age, illness and death are natural laws. Life always has an end, but knowledge has no edge. Whenever I look up and see this, my laziness and fatigue are swept away, as if I had beaten chicken blood and couldn't wait to plunge into the ocean of knowledge. Later, due to the increase, I accidentally read the article "Zhuangzi's Inner Chapter, Master of Health" and found that I misunderstood the true meaning of Zhuangzi's old man. Why do you say that?

Not only myself, it is estimated that many people don't remember Zhuangzi's original words, that is, "My life is limited and my knowledge is limited. The limit is endless and it is coming soon. " Then it dawned on me that Zhuangzi was not exhorting the world to pursue infinite knowledge with limited time. On the contrary, he is telling us that life is only a few decades. If we spend all our time studying, it will be a big mistake, and life will be imperfect or even a failure.

After reading the second sentence, some people think that the whole person is not good. I don't understand why Zhuangzi said that. Is it really a mistake to insist on reading and increase your knowledge reserve? In my opinion, the reason why Zhuangzi said that "there is no limit, and there is no limit" is not to stop people from learning, but to think that there are more important things in life besides reading and studying, such as spending more time with their families, going outdoors to get close to nature, and doing something meaningful with what they have learned to apply what they have learned.

The famous saying that "time is limited, and it is almost over" does not deny the importance of learning, nor does it contradict the so-called "never too old to learn" of modern people. From a deeper level, Zhuangzi is reminding the world that the pursuit of knowledge is true, but don't forget the essence of life and spend all your time on study, otherwise you won't have time to spend with your family, empty yourself and think about the true meaning of life.