More than two thousand years ago, Mencius, a master of Confucianism, put forward that human nature is good, and later another master of Confucianism, Xunzi, said that human nature is evil. Who is right and who is wrong has been arguing until now without a result. I think both views are completely wrong. Why? It's very simple. If human nature is good, it should be that the good and the good are intertwined, and the good and the good are inherited from each other. There should be no evil deeds in this world, but in fact, the evil deeds in our world have been endless and everywhere; If human nature is evil, it should be evil, and evil comes down from the same source. There should be no good deeds in this world, but in fact, good deeds in our world have always been endless and everywhere. It can be seen that the saying that human nature is good and human nature is evil cannot be established.
so, what is human nature? Answer: selfish. Selfishness is the starting point and end point or fundamental point of human behavior, subjectively for oneself. That is to say, any normal person does everything for himself. Of course, while being subjective for oneself, objectively it often appears for others.
People are selfish. There is a very popular saying in China, which is well expressed: "Every man for himself, the devil takes the hindmost." Selfishness is the objective need of everyone based on this world. If a person fundamentally gives up his own desires or needs, the result can only be eliminated mentally and physically in the competition between people and the struggle between people and the environment, which is called "the devil takes the hindmost".
The first time a baby cries, it shows its selfish nature: Please pay attention, I'm coming! Is there anything to eat? Feed me! Bring me up!
A child who has not been influenced by etiquette will never give up a big pear like Kong Rong, as long as he likes to eat it. Kong Rong let pears, because he has learned that people's needs are diverse, in addition to material needs, there are more spiritual needs, and he has learned to beat around the bush to calculate for himself-eat less to win the praise and love of adults, which is more refreshing!
From the case of Kong Rong Rangli, we have seen two points: First, people's needs are diverse, which can be summed up in two categories: material and spiritual; The second is that the ways for people to make profits for themselves are diverse, and they can also be classified into two categories: direct and indirect. People sometimes focus on material needs, sometimes on spiritual needs, sometimes on naked needs (direct way), and sometimes on indirect ways (indirect way).
It is precisely because people's needs and ways of making profits for themselves are diverse that people's selfish nature is often covered up. Many times, it seems that many people can't be explained by selfishness. For example, Kong Rong Jean Pear, as mentioned above, is wrongly taken as a typical unselfish human nature. Let's give some more examples:
I believe most mothers can do it: they would rather not have enough to eat, but also let their children have enough to eat, and they would rather suffer more, so that their children can grow up smoothly and live a happy life. The mother's heart for her children is really great. But that doesn't mean she didn't think of herself. It is actually a mother's greatest spiritual satisfaction that her children can eat enough, grow up smoothly and live a happy life. Whether she realizes it or not, her spiritual needs are instinctive. In the final analysis, she suffers hardships for her children in order to obtain her spiritual needs. In addition, the child can grow up smoothly and live a happy life, which is also a prerequisite for her to live a happy life to a great extent. Therefore, there is no contradiction between mother's greatness and selfishness.
Lei Feng has already become the embodiment of helping others to do good deeds. In our reality, there are indeed many such people. There are indeed those who are eager to solve problems for others, who risk their lives to save people from fire and disaster, and who find huge sums of money and try to return them to their original owners. Are people who have these behaviors selfish? Just analyze it. There are several subjective possibilities for this kind of behavior: one is the belief of helping others. Due to the influence of education or environment, there are people who hold various beliefs, and of course there are people who hold the belief of helping others. Since we find pleasure in helping others, we can't say that there is no selfishness. The second is "if you want to take it, you must first follow it." I help others because I want others to help me. The third is to take a long line to catch a big fish and get some capital to achieve greater goals in life.
Wen Tianxiang, who has always been called a hero, is determined not to give in to the Mongols, knowing that he will lose his life. Is he also for himself? The answer is yes, of course, he did it for himself. Mencius, an old man, said, "Fish is what I want, and bear's paw is what I want.": You can't have both, and you can take the bear's paw instead of the fish. Life is what I want, and righteousness is what I want; You can't have both, and those who give up their lives for righteousness are also. Life is what I want, and I want more than the living, so I don't want to get it; Death is also what I hate, and it is more evil than the dead, so I have nothing to lose. " As a disciple of Confucius and Mencius, loyalty is his highest creed and the greatest spiritual need. Since it has already been shown to the world that "keeping the heart of the heart is as good as history", it is worse for him to surrender than to die. Giving up one's life for righteousness is spiritual self-satisfaction for him. In his mind, "keeping one's heart in the past" is more cost-effective than surrendering.
Many heroic examples of "sacrificing one's life for righteousness" at all times and in all countries are either out of faith and considering one's spiritual needs like Wen Tianxiang; Either it is forced by the situation, such as some war heroes, advancing is also dead, and retreating is also dead, so they become heroes in progress; Either it's made by high processing. For example, it's revealed that Liu Wenxue, a little hero decades ago, was made. I don't know whether it's true or not, but there will definitely be heroes made.
The history of mankind is actually a selfish history. The change of dynasties and the evolution of history are all driven by the selfishness of human nature. Only those who want to be the king (emperor) can change the dynasty, and only a large number of people who are unwilling to be enslaved and lonely and want to make contributions can make some people become the king (emperor). For the need of ruling and anti-ruling, all kinds of ideas have come into being. The pursuit of selfish desires has promoted social productivity and science.