What Do We Live for?

Xuefeng

July 1, 2023

Imagine there's a market 10 kilometers away from your home. You have a basket of eggs, and you can exchange them for a small lamb at the market. There are three ways to get to the market: walking, riding a bicycle, or driving a small car. Which option would you choose?

Walking to and from the market takes a whole day, riding a bicycle takes three hours, and driving a car takes only thirty minutes. Are you willing to spend a whole day on the journey, or just thirty minutes? This involves our perspectives on the purpose of our life.

Those who spend a day traveling to the market have a leisurely lifestyle. They only raise 10 chickens, which, in ten days, lay enough eggs to exchange for a small lamb. Those who ride bicycles need to raise 20 chickens—10 chickens' worth of eggs for a bicycle and another 10 chickens' worth for a lamb. Those who drive cars need to raise 100 chickens—90 chickens' worth of eggs for a car and its maintenance, and 10 chickens' worth for a lamb.

Let's start by calculating who has more leisure and who is busier. It takes a whole day for someone to walk to and from the market, while those who drive spend only thirty minutes. Without a doubt, those who drive to the market save a significant amount of time. However, those who walk to the market only spend an hour each day feeding chickens, whereas those who drive spend ten hours a day on this task, as they have ten times the number of chickens as the ones who walk to the market.

Now, let's see what these three kinds of people do each day: those who walk spend most of their time sipping tea, chatting, enjoying flowers, and swimming in the river, sometimes lying on a haystack watching the changing sky and the birds flying by. Those who ride bicycles spend two hours feeding chickens and have some time left for tea, chats, flowers, swimming, and gazing at the sky. Those who drive cars spend ten hours feeding chickens and have very little time for leisure activities.

So, which mode of transport would you choose to go to the market? Walking, riding a bicycle, or driving a car? This leads us to the question of why we exist.

If it's purely to enjoy life, choose to walk to the market. If living is about appearing better off than your neighbors, then ride a bicycle to the market. If living is about being envied by people around you, then drive a car to the market.

The purpose of a watch is to tell the time accurately. So, would you choose a 3-dollar electronic watch or a 30,000-dollar Rolex? The purpose of a bag is to carry things. When it comes to accommodating the same number of items, would you choose the 3-yuan cloth bag? Or would you choose the 3,000-yuan Hermès bag? The purpose of a bowl is to hold food. Would you choose a 3-dollar porcelain bowl or a 30,000-dollar gold bowl?

The simpler, more modest, and less expensive something is, the more it tends towards the primitive, bringing a leisurely and comfortable feeling. On the other hand, the more complex, lavish, and costly something is, the more it tends towards modernity, making life busier and more stressful.

Whatever possessions we have will always occupy our time, energy, and mind. The more we have, the busier and more troubled we become. When one possesses everything, the true meaning of life is lost. When one has nothing, the true meaning of life is found.

Every day, when we do things, we should ask ourselves whether we're doing them willingly and joyfully or under compulsion. With the advent of convenient and efficient devices like smartphones, computers, cars, and airplanes, are we more relaxed or busier? Are we enjoying life more or becoming more anxious for life? The more we use smartphones, the more we might notice ourselves becoming controlled by them. As we accumulate knowledge and wisdom, gather more information daily, and broaden our horizons, do we sometimes feel overwhelmed? Do we find ourselves feeling smaller, lost, and struggling to find the value and meaning of our existence?

Have you noticed that we're becoming increasingly reliant on smartphones? With the development of technology, especially the birth and advancement of artificial intelligence, there might come a day when people suddenly ask: "Where are the people? Where am I?" Are we conversing with ourselves or machines? In the end, it's out of our control, just like we can't part with our smartphones. It's not that we don't want to discard them; it's just that without them, we feel directionless, and even the ability to survive becomes questionable.

Isn't this a colossal crisis?

How can we navigate this human crisis?

The answer is: Only by following the way of Nature.

How do we follow the way of Nature?

The answer is: Some people on this Earth have already seen the crisis facing humanity and have already embarked on the path of the way of Nature. Follow in their footsteps!