How to Break Free from Mental Fallacies (Part 2)

Xuefeng

March 3, 2022

Life shines in attachment, while life perishes in attachment.

Merging life and LIFE into one is a mental fallacy in life.

Life is merely a brief moment in the journey of LIFE, but the unfolding of this fleeting moment determines the scenery of the next journey. Due to the lack of understanding about the mysteries of LIFE and time, people mistakenly take life as the entirety and ultimate meaning of LIFE. Consequently, they perform tragic dramas on the stage of LIFE.

The material world is the manifestation of the nonmaterial world, and life is but a manifestation of LIFE. When people are captivated by the appearance of the material world and become attached to the pursuit of material wealth, status, and fame, they miss the opportunity to uplift LIFE and, in turn, sow the seeds of negative consequences.

When a fish freely roams in rivers, lakes, and seas and discovers delicious bait, it rushes up and swallows it in one gulp, losing its freedom and becoming a meal on the angler's chopping board. Similarly, when people relentlessly strive for material wealth, power, status, and honor, and eventually satisfy their desires, they are like fish that have swallowed the bait without realizing it, indulging in self-satisfaction. However, they have already become the meat on the devil's chopping board.

Not to mention historical and foreign figures, let's take a look at the individuals in modern and contemporary China who have gained fame in the fields of wealth, power, and honor. Aren't they all fish that have swallowed the bait? Now, look at ordinary people. How many of them have been or are still madly devouring the bait like fish?

To make one's life brilliant, one must be attached—attached to making money, gaining power, achieving status, acquiring fame. One can also be attached to one's marriage and family, nation and country, political parties and religions, ideologies, truths, and ideals. As long as there is attachment, life can move towards brilliance. However, when one is attached to something or a certain belief, the flower of LIFE withers, heading towards exhaustion and decline.

Consider a couple deeply in love. When they cannot bear to be apart, feeling like the world would collapse without each other, and believing that life has no meaning without their partner. He wants only to marry her, and she wants only to marry him. This is called attachment. This kind of attachment brings about a deeply romantic and sweet period in their lives, reaching the pinnacle of a passionate love affair. However, as time passes and the erosion of daily life begins, they gradually realize that their attachment has become a binding rope. The longer this feeling persists, the stronger it becomes. Because of excessive attachment, they neglect all the other scenery along the way. By the time they grow old, they realize that they have missed countless opportunities to appreciate breathtaking scenery. Beneath their smiling faces lies a sense of helplessness and endless lamentation.

An old man descending from a mountain tells young people who are excitedly climbing up, "There is nothing worth seeing at the mountaintop; the view is even better down below." Of course, the young people do not believe him and think, "This old man just doesn't know how to appreciate the scenery." So, they keep climbing, eventually reaching the mountaintop, but also growing old. And what do they find? The old man was right all along, "There really isn't anything worth seeing at the mountaintop." Consequently, one by one, these people who were once young and climbed mountains start descending. As they see the younger generation climbing with excitement, they tell them, "There is nothing worth seeing at the mountaintop; the view is even better down below." However, how could the young people believe the words of the old folks? Thus, this story of climbing the mountain continues to unfold from the distant past to the present and will continue into the distant future.

In the end, we will discover that especially serious people will die due to their seriousness, and especially attached individuals will die due to their attachments. Nutritionists will die due to nutrition, excessively clean people will die due to cleanliness, those desperately seeking longevity will die prematurely in pursuit of longevity, those who aspire for political power will die due to political power, those pursuing wealth will die due to wealth, and those scheming to attain power will die due to power. The list goes on.

So, where is the best path in life?

Take things as they are, associate with others by following naturally come-and-go relations, act in accordance with one’s intrinsic nature, and take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Let go of attachment. This is the best path in life, and it also aligns with the path of the sublimation of LIFE.