Four Outlooks will give you Harmony

Xuefeng

December 12, 2020

It is often said that “with three different outlooks, people cannot live harmoniously”, “only with the same three outlooks, can people get along well with each other”. There are also sayings that “with different worldviews, good relationships cannot remain long”, “with different worldviews, you cannot make good friends”, “communicate with people with different worldviews, and every word will be like playing a harp to a cow” etc.

The three outlooks refer to: worldviews, outlooks on life, and values. What I want to say is that if our outlook on LIFE is different, then we cannot live in harmony either. If two people have the same worldviews, outlooks on life, and values, but different outlooks on LIFE, what will the result be? One’s outlook on LIFE is their understanding and perspective of life and death phenomena and on time and space. If two people’s are different, then even if they have the same worldviews, outlooks on life, and values, it will be difficult for them to get along well.

Worldviews are people’s understandings and perspectives on the world, outlooks on life are people’s understandings and perspectives on their purpose, meaning, and value of life, and values are people’s recognitions, judgements, affirmations and denials of the importance of things.

For example, Zhange San and Li Si both wanted to gain wealth, but how did they go about doing that? From the perspective of their world views, they both believed that the existence of the big world is for them to enjoy, from the perspective on life, they both believed that the purpose of life is to be happy and joyous, and from the perspective of values, they both believe that obtaining money is important and a necessary condition for gaining wealth; therefore, they were harmonious in terms of worldviews, outlooks on life, and values. There were no conflicts or contradictions between them. However, disputes and splits occurred on the issue of how to achieve their goal. Zhang San believed that as long as he could gain wealth, he could offer bribes, sell heroin, or rob banks. But Li Si believed that these methods of doing it were absolutely unacceptable, that they were offensive to man and god, and that they would be punished.

Zhang San and Li Si, who had the same worldviews, perspectives on life, and values, could no longer get along with each other on the question of how to gain wealth, and this resulted in splits and disputes, but what was the reason? The reason was that Zhang San and Li Si had different outlooks of LIFE. Zhang San believed that “Everything is gone after death” and that living happily was the kingly way, while Li Si believed that people will reincarnate and that we should live without being offensive to man and God because otherwise, we will go to hell.

Here is the conclusion: with the same three outlooks, it is still impossible to live in harmony; it is only with the same four outlooks that people can do so.