Distinguishing the Truth from the False

Xuefeng

When I was young, I followed my parents to the fields to weed. The wheat was less than three inches tall, the field a lush green, seemingly without any weeds growing amidst it. Yet, my parents bent over, carefully pulling out the weeds one by one, while my task was to move the uprooted weeds away from the wheat field and pile them together.

Once, while observing the neatly stacked weeds, I thought I discovered a mistake made by my parents. With a proud yet reproachful tone, I called out to my mother, "Mom, you've mistaken the wheat for weeds!" "Bring it here, let me see," my mother responded.

Excitedly, I brought the uprooted "wheat" to show my mother, aiming to prove her wrong. However, without even looking at it, my mother said to me, "Compare it to the wheat growing in the field, see if it truly is wheat."

I compared it repeatedly, but I was still convinced that what she had uprooted wasn't grass but indeed wheat. "Mom, I am sure what you've pulled out is wheat."

My mother then, with a gentle smile, had me squat down and said, “Look, this grass is called barnyard grass. It looks almost like wheat, but upon careful observation, there are differences. The color of barnyard grass is slightly darker than wheat, its leaves are a bit wider, and when you touch it, its leaves are not as soft as wheat. This barnyard grass has a stronger vitality than wheat. If we do not pull it out now, it will absorb all the nutrients nearby, hindering the wheat around it from growing well”.

I earnestly compared it again and found my mother's point to be completely accurate. I mimicked her actions, searching the field, and discovered many barnyard grasses that looked like wheat among the seemingly wheat-filled field. I uprooted one barnyard grass and asked my father to identify it. He glanced at it, his dirty hand touching my head, and praised, “My child is so clever.”

At that moment, the pride I felt was no less than Columbus discovering a new continent. "Now, I can also tell the difference between barnyard grass and wheat."

But as an adult, I've been deceived time and again. Why cannot I distinguish between the wheat and barnyard grass among people?

"Bole can distinguish between horses, identifying the outstanding ones among the many—discerning which are inferior, which are good runners, and which are exceptional. This ability, akin to my parents’ differentiation between wheat and barnyard grass, requires considerable effort and stems from long-term observation and analysis. It's a skill that's challenging for an amateur to master.

Thus, I admire all those who possess such skills, and I realize that in every matter, it requires experts to make judgments. The flamboyant words of novices not only create confusion but also distort the truth, making it difficult to distinguish between true and false, right and wrong.

I imagine how wonderful it would be if in this world, all novices refrained from interfering in matters of experts, refraining from meddling in what they do not understand, refraining from casually writing articles to critique.

What I cannot comprehend is why those with shallow understanding and superficial skills are so fond of criticizing and commenting on philosophy, thoughts, politics, arts, and spiritual studies. Without deep expertise or unique talent, how do they comprehend the deeper truths? Why not be a bit humble?

Displaying one's limited knowledge only shows shallowness and immaturity; boasting shamelessly only signifies arrogance and conceit; unconditionally affirming or denying only reflects ignorance and foolishness.

Denying the Greatest Creator is due to dull spiritual perception; negating deities is because of worldly eyes; not acknowledging other spaces is due to ignorance about nonmaterial and negative universes. Human understanding of the mysteries of the universe and LIFE is quite limited, so why deny it?

Our vision, our hearing, are confined to a relatively narrow and limited area, but through perception, we have the capability to transcend these limitations and enter an infinitely vast space. With such a beautiful future, why not explore, why not pursue?

I see that human society is filled with isolated lakes that do not connect to rivers and oceans. Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Taoism, science – they're like individual lakes. Evolution, the Big Bang theory, genetic studies, socialist theories, capitalist theories, democratic theories, human rights theories, and more, they're like drying-up small ponds. Why not connect them to understand and contemplate?

In his book "Morals—Naked Ape," physicist Mr. Jam Ke Ming vividly likened this situation to studying the elephant's toenails, legs, tail, ivory, ears, without anyone truly studying the entire elephant.

If there were someone studying the entire elephant, those studying just the toenails or tail would sneer, "What? I cannot even figure out the elephant's toenails thoroughly, and you claim to understand the entire elephant?"

The fable of the blind men and the elephant tells us that if we confine our thinking to what we've touched and cling to our biases, we'll never understand the complete picture of the elephant. We'll forever remain in endless debates of "The elephant is a pillar," "The elephant is a wall," "The elephant is a rope," "The elephant is a fan," but will never unravel the eternal question of which came first, the chicken or the egg.

In the past twenty years, many knowledgeable, aspiring, and idealistic people have been exploring ways to end authoritarianism. However, very few have explored from the perspective of studying the entire elephant. Most have confined their vision to the narrow field of elephant toenails studies, leg studies - focusing solely on emperors, political parties, and systems - as if you could both nurture fish and grow crops in water equally.

I lack profound moral virtues, but I've learned from my parents how to distinguish wheat from barnyard grass and understand the method of integrating human culture. But how many are interested?

Continue with your debates!