Why should we read this paragraph first, instead of the whole article?

This is because we have been misreading this paragraph badly, so it is difficult to understand the main content of this whole article without understanding the meaning of this paragraph-"Confucius said that people are not far from the Tao." The true meaning of "man is far from Tao, not Tao"

The key to this passage lies in "failure".

The "failure" here has always been interpreted by us as Confucius' modesty: there are four aspects of a gentleman's way, and I have failed in all of them. Subtext, as if Confucius was ashamed.

In fact, what Confucius wanted to express was not what he meant at all.

If we can understand the meaning of "failure", we will certainly realize that Confucius said this sentence with pride!

In order to understand the meaning of "failure", we must go back and review the previous explanation of "the golden mean is impossible".

The word "neng" is not a good word in the golden mean. From the perspective of psychological system, the word "energy" refers to the action under the leading role of thinking about God and knowing God. "Countries around the world, too. Juelu, you can resign. White blade, also can dance "These are actions under the leading role of thinking about God and knowing God. "

"The Doctrine of the Mean" is an action led by the consciousness of the Yuan God, which is not "energy". Therefore, Confucius said that "the doctrine of the mean is impossible".

"Impossible in the mean" is the premise of interpreting "failure".

On this premise, when Confucius said "the Four Ways of Gentleman", he said that he "failed", not that he didn't do it, but that he faced "the Four Ways of Gentleman" in a state of moderation.

This is the true meaning of "failure"

If we can have a deeper understanding, this "failure" and Laozi's "inaction" have exactly the same meaning, and both refer to the actions in the second mental system.

"Do what you want from the heart, do nothing, do your best, respond with your heart, and your heart will move randomly." These are all actions of the second mental system.

After understanding the meaning of "failure", the meaning behind it is easy to understand.

"Yongde trip, beyond words, insufficient, dare not encourage, more than, dare not do. Say what you want to say and do what you want. A gentleman is not stubborn. In this passage, Confucius is saying that we should always adjust our "golden mean" state, that is, enter the second mental system. You can "fail" after adjustment.

Perhaps, we haven't learned the transformation of the mental system, so what does this passage mean to us?

Even if we haven't begun to learn the transformation of mental system, we can get some very useful enlightenment from this passage: "the state of doing things" is more important than "how to do it" and "what to do".

A great artist once said that "the artist's state is more important than TA's art". When we do things, we should not do things with a "can" mentality, but with a "failure" inaction mentality.

In the state of inaction of "failure", a person can relax physically and mentally even in a stressful working environment, and it is easier to feel the essence of things objectively, which is in line with the actual situation at that time and takes into account all kinds of relationships at the moment. Only in this way can we do the right thing and do good things.

If a person has such a mentality to do things, no matter what unit or enterprise you are in, your boss and superiors will rest assured and trust you and think that you are a person who can take care of things and do things.