Text | Xiao Le Ai Shuo History

Human desires are endless. Our ancestors have long been aware of this, so many related famous sayings and aphorisms were born. But not everyone was literate in ancient times, so the role of proverbs was reflected. Although the structure is simple, it is catchy and easy to remember.

As the saying goes, "when you are full and warm, you will think about lust." This proverb is the best explanation of human desire, especially for many young people who have no self-control. After having enough food and clothing, another thought arose. Instead of cherishing a good life, I pursued sensory stimulation. This proverb is used to warn everyone to cherish a good life, but the second half is the real classic.

It is worth noting that the "lust" mentioned by our ancestors generally refers to hedonism. After all, there were no other forms of entertainment in ancient times. After people have enough food and clothing, they will have many other thoughts. This is not my own nonsense. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, as long as the desires of the previous level are satisfied, the desires of the next level will appear.

From an objective point of view, this is not a bad thing. This is like the development of a country. When New China was first founded, what we pursued was "upstairs and downstairs, electric lights and telephones." Now naturally we are not satisfied with just this. To a certain extent, this is not a shortcoming, because isn’t human desire one of the root driving forces that promotes the progress of human society?

People longed to go up to the sky to catch the moon, so they invented airplanes and rockets; people longed to go down to the nine oceans to catch turtles, so they invented submarines.

But the second half of the sentence is a classic, but it is too realistic and few people know it. The second half of this sentence is "hunger and cold steal the heart." Nowadays, many people complain about the unfairness of today's society, and many people hope to return to the previous era. In my opinion, this is really synonymous with ignorance.

Because according to these people’s point of view, does it mean that the poorer, the better? But history tells us that the best era for public security is by no means the poorest era. Often the poorer you are, the closer the social order is to collapse. "A man with enough food knows integrity." How many people will go back to pursue propriety, justice and integrity if they don't even have enough to eat?

If you don’t give in to five pecks of rice, it’s because you have rice at home. Everyone only knows that Tao Yuanming “picked chrysanthemums and traveled southeast to see the Nanshan Mountain leisurely.” But how many people know that Tao Yuanming was a local wealthy family, although he declined in the later period. , but a skinny camel is bigger than a horse. Therefore, no matter how "the grass is full of beans and the bean sprouts are sparse", Tao Yuanming will not be hungry. But if it were an ordinary person, he would probably starve to death long ago.

It is probably the norm to feel hungry and cold without enough food. If you don't have to worry about money, I believe many people would be willing to pursue their ideals. What our ancestors said about being full and warm and thinking about lust may be a sentence of encouragement, but the second half of this classic sentence is too realistic and few people know it.