1. Confucius

Choose what is good and follow it

Confucius said: "When three people walk, they must have my teacher. Choose the good one and follow him, and he will follow him." If you are not good, change it." The following sentence has profound meaning and makes people realize a lot.

As we all know, the art of calligraphy in our country has a long history, and the main calligraphy is said to be "the bones of the willows and the bones of the flesh." The face and body are plump and vigorous, while the willow body is straight and strong. It is still a model for learning calligraphy. Liu Gongquan, the founder of Liu Ti, is a descendant of Yan Zhenqing, the originator of the Yan School. He studied under Yan Lugong in his early years. Later, Liu Gongquan discovered that although the Yan body was strong and simple, it also had the disadvantages of being bloated and hypertrophic. So Liu Gongquan kept thinking about it, and chose the advantages of the strong Yan body to change the bloated body. After taking advantage of the shortcomings and incorporating his own specialty of "bones as straight as rugged bones", he finally created the "Liu Ti" that has been regarded as a classic for generations. Isn't this an example of "choosing the good and following the good"?

If Liu Gong blindly followed the example of facial expression, regardless of its disadvantages, then there might not be a comparable "Liu Gu Yan Jin" today. What a pity that would be!

Thinking about the past and present, the trend of reform has spread across the land of China. To reform, we must open up and introduce advanced foreign technologies and management methods. However, although "opening windows" is good, flies and mosquitoes will inevitably fly in. This requires us to have the mind to "select the good ones and follow them, and change the bad ones." However, there are some people who have "lost their nature" and are addicted to Western material enjoyment and cannot extricate themselves. What's worse, they are poisoned by the dregs of corruption and are imprisoned. Because they "follow bad practices", they end up being miserable people who bring their own fault.

It can be seen that when dealing with all things, we must use the yardstick of "choose the good and abandon the bad", and open our eyes to learn and deal with it. Only in this way can we make breakthroughs; on the contrary, we may even experience it ourselves. Stuck in the quagmire, making mistakes again and again!

So how can we "choose the good and follow it"? Let us look at the example of Liu Gongquan again. There were hundreds of disciples of Duke Yan Lu, but none of them was as accomplished and famous as Liu Gongquan. This was because as a minister of the Tang Dynasty, Liu Gongquan was erudite and diligent, and focused on practicing "Kung Fu beyond words". Therefore, he stood tall and could see far. , can discover the advantages and slight flaws of the face and body. Its advantages, from acceptance to tireless practice, become one's own advantages, and its minor flaws are discarded, and on this basis, one's own style is created.

That’s why only those who know what is good, choose what is good, and practice it can achieve results, even surpass those of their predecessors.

(2)

Learning and Thinking

Confucius said: "Learning without thinking is useless; thinking without learning is peril." It means, If you study book knowledge without thinking, you will not be able to distinguish the truth from the false, let alone be able to integrate and apply what you have learned; if you just meditate but do not read seriously, you will be ignorant, have few talents, and have little knowledge, let alone be knowledgeable and unconventional.

Confucius’s two sentences illustrate the dialectical relationship between learning and thinking.

Learning and thinking are two complementary and inseparable thinking activities in the process of people acquiring knowledge. Just studying without thinking won’t work, and just thinking without learning won’t work either. Only by correctly combining the two can we truly understand the dialectical relationship between learning and thinking.

The learning mentioned here mainly refers to gaining indirect experience from books. In ancient and modern times, at home and abroad, all those who have become great scholars have read many books and have read more than ten thousand volumes. People are not born with knowledge. Only by constantly learning from the experiences and achievements of predecessors and enriching one's own mind can we further discover and create. In order to complete the masterpiece Das Kapital, Marx, the revolutionary mentor, devoted himself to research in the British Museum, leaving a profound footprint. It can be seen that serious study is indispensable for success. To be diligent in learning, you must read extensively and memorize it, and persevere. Mr. Lu Xun said: Reading "must be like a bee, picking many flowers before it can make honey. If it stings in one place, the gain will be very limited and boring." In addition, we must persevere in learning, and we must "prevent laziness, immaturity, impatience, and confusion." Only in this way can we achieve success in learning.

However, learning itself is not the purpose. Learning to draw inferences from one instance and applying knowledge flexibly is the real purpose. To this end, we must exert our subjective initiative, think actively and seriously, and understand the ins and outs of knowledge and the organic connections between knowledge. If what you learn is not processed by your brain, it is like eating food that has not been chewed by the mouth and digested by the stomach and intestines. Even delicious food will not be absorbed by the body. Not only is it useless, but it is harmful.

The French writer Voltaire had a very insightful discussion on this. He said: "The more you read without thinking, you will feel that you know a lot. And the more you read and think, you will know a lot." Clearly see how little you know." This shows how important it is to be good at thinking!

To be good at thinking, you need to have the spirit of bees making honey. Every gram of sweet honey contains the hard work of that little life. Thinking also requires us to work hard and delve into it with the exploratory spirit of "breaking the casserole and asking for the truth". We must not pretend to understand and only try superficially.

Learning is the basis of thinking, and thinking is the sublimation of learning. Only by thinking on the basis of learning can you think deeply; only by learning on the premise of thinking can learning be effective. At the same time, the knowledge learned must be combined with actual practice and applied repeatedly, so that knowledge can be consolidated and skills can be proficient. This is the only way for us to master knowledge.

May all of us be diligent in learning, good at thinking, and bravely climb to the top of scientific knowledge.