1932, China is at a critical moment of national survival. The earth is on fire and people's livelihood is devastated. The three northeastern provinces fell under the iron heel of the Japanese invaders. The Battle of Shanghai and Song Dynasties was a fiasco, and China's army was constantly defeated. The Kuomintang began its fourth encirclement and suppression campaign against the Red Army.
At this time, a 35-year-old young scholar studying abroad is absorbed in his study and writing. He "thought about it and decided to talk to you about beauty." Because this young man thinks that China's society is so poor, it is not entirely a system problem, but mostly a poor public opinion.
Therefore, he wanted to wash people's hearts and seek the beautification of life, so he began to write articles about beauty, expounding his views on beauty, life, ideals and youth growth, thus establishing his position as a master of aesthetics in China.
This young man is Zhu Guangqian. At this time, he may not have realized that when he returns to the motherland two years later, he will experience not only the life-and-death struggle of the country and the nation, but also the fierce confrontation between western aesthetics and China tradition in the ideological circle, which also opened a magnificent revolutionary course in his works.
The greatest achievement brought by this struggle is the birth of China's modern aesthetics.
Everything is the best arrangement of fate. Mr Zhu Guangqian's contribution to China's modern aesthetics is like the brightest star in the dark sky.
Eighty-six years ago, the young man prophetically wrote in the preface to Talking about Beauty:
The long past is just a dark sky, and we can still recognize this dark sky because of the scattered stars of thinkers and artists. Friends, let's cherish these stars! Let's also try to sprinkle some starlight to light up the future as dark as the past.
After a lapse of 86 years, rereading Zhu Guangqian's four works (Talking about Cultivation, Twelve Letters to Youth, Talking about Beauty and Talking about Beautiful Letters) gives us an opportunity to brush away the dust of history and revisit this aesthetic classic again.
( 1)
Only when there is beauty in the heart can we see the beauty of the world.
Mr. Zhu Guangqian said in his book that beauty does not fall from the sky; Half in the object, half in you, half in your hand.
In reality, many people don't feel beauty, but their hearts are covered with too many sundries. Now watch some social news. The driver drove the bus into the river in anger and a car was drowned. Instead, the dog walker accused him of being beaten. We can feel that although people are angry because of trivial matters, their hearts are full of trivial matters, and tragedies continue to occur between flies and dogs.
The benevolent sees mountains and the wise sees water. Facing the sea of Wang Yang, Cao Cao casually recited the famous poem "Watching the Sea". Because he has the ambition to unify the world in his heart and the culture has the cultivation of understanding the past and the present, he can not only see the sea and stones, but also see the trip of the sun and the moon, the brilliance of the stars and the beauty of the whole world.
In fact, it is everyone's nature to love beauty. However, the flower of nature also needs constant care, timely watering and irrigation, and constant maintenance and cultivation, so that this flower of nature can thrive, bloom its own brilliance and illuminate the beauty of the world.
No matter what occupation we are engaged in or what career we are busy with, we should not forget to listen to music, read famous works, appreciate paintings and sculptures, impress beautiful images in our hearts, and often feel the influence of beauty, so that we will naturally have less confused thoughts.
Perhaps, beauty has been deposited in your heart between your eyebrows and eyes.
(2)
The art of life lies in poetic dwelling.
Mr. Zhu Guangqian once said that the life of a poem can not be maintained by the author alone, but also needs the help of readers. The reader's imagination and emotion are infinite, and the life of a poem is infinite.
We may not be poets, but we should learn to appreciate the beauty of poetry. In fact, there is poetry everywhere in life. When birds fly in the sky, flowers bloom on the earth, people smile on their faces, and poetry begins to flow in life.
Life is one poem after another with different styles. But just like poetry, there are good and bad, and the poems of life are beautiful and not beautiful enough. In daily life, many people also feel that day-to-day life is boring, and the people and things they meet every day are very boring and boring. The reason is that they lack aesthetic cultivation, are obsessed with fame and fortune, and are ups and downs in the world. They don't have "sky and clouds" in their hearts and can't read the poems of life.
The so-called artistic life is the real life. With our pursuit of poetry, our vision will gradually enlarge, we will feel that life is more meaningful, and the world we live in will become more and more rich and rigorous.
Live life as a poem, which is the best way to live.
(3)
The uselessness of beauty is its greatest value.
Mr. Zhu Guangqian experienced the ups and downs of the times, the test of blood and fire, and deeply felt: after thousands of years and tens of thousands of years, what is the significance of "imperialism", "anti-imperialism", "chairman", "representative" and "movie star" that disturb the people today?
Many magnificent heroes and beautiful women have passed, and there are also many magnificent successes and failures. Only beauty is truly immortal.
In the fast-paced modern life, we are busy every day, catching up with the bus to work, completing the performance appraisal indicators, grabbing discounted clothes online, but always forgetting to look for beauty.
On the surface, beauty may be the most useless. Beautiful things, such as a poem, a painting, a sculpture and a piece of music, can't help us make money, can't fill our stomachs, and even waste our time and energy.
But there are always some people who are still pursuing beauty and constantly creating beauty.
Because human beings are not much different from animals in matter, they are always limited by nature and are slaves of nature; However, on the spiritual level, human beings can completely break away from the shackles of nature, create and appreciate the beauty of art, and become the masters of nature.
To receive more aesthetic education is to learn how to liberate from the limitation of nature, become a god from slavery and fully feel human dignity.
So beauty is the most valuable aspect of things, and aesthetic feeling is the most valuable feeling in life.
In today's impetuous society, the so-called intellectual elites and life instructors are selling anxiety and urging you to run quickly, but few wise and upright masters can tell us what is true, good and beautiful. Thank you for meeting Mr. Zhu Guangqian, and this book "Beauty lies in a leisurely life".
Finally, I can't help but share the story of this mountain street sign that Mr. Zhu Guangqian told us at the end of his article on beauty in 1932.
On the road to the most beautiful Alps scenic spot in Europe, there stands a placard that reads: Walk slowly and enjoy yourself!
Many people live in Ma Rulong, a world where cars are flowing like water, just like taking a ride in the Alps valley, rushing by and having no time to look back at the scenery, so this rich and gorgeous world has become a lifeless prison.
What a pity! Friend, before I say goodbye, I use the slogan on the Alps road to add three words to the farewell idioms of China people:
"Take your time and enjoy it!"