Survival or Living?

Xuefeng

April 18, 2011

Is life about merely surviving, or truly living?

Survival and living are two completely different concepts.

Survival means existing just to stay alive, while living means striving to fulfill life’s value and purpose.

Survival involves endless toil for basic needs like food, clothing, shelter, and the inevitabilities of life—birth, aging, sickness, and death; living is about striving and ascending toward ultimate ideals.

Survival is about maximizing the pursuit of wealth and satisfying physiological needs; living is about enjoying life.

What behaviors define survival? Answer: Study, study, and study again! Work, work, and work more! Hustle, hustle, and hustle endlessly! Earn money, earn more, and keep earning! Possess, acquire, and accumulate even more! Get married, start a family, and raise children. For those focused on survival, the sole aim is to amass material wealth and expand their influence.

What behaviors define living? Answer: Enjoy learning! Relish work! Avoid excessive possessions, overexertion, or unnecessary pursuits. Do not fixate on marriage or starting a family. Those who truly live center everything around enjoying life, pursuing happiness, freedom, and fulfillment, and maximizing spiritual and emotional wealth.

All those who exhaust themselves for food, clothing, shelter, transportation, birth, aging, sickness, and death are survivors.

All those who live carefreely to experience life and enjoy its essence are truly living.

All those who toil and labor for their children and future generations are survivors.

All those who seek enlightenment to elevate their character are truly living.

All those who learn, work, and labor to possess more material wealth are survivors.

All those who learn and dedicate themselves to gain greater spiritual and emotional wealth are truly living.

All those who are always frowning and sighing are survivors.

All those who are always smiling, cheerful, and open-minded are truly living.

All those who are negative, pessimistic, and despairing are survivors.

All those who are positive, optimistic, and full of aspirations are truly living.

All those who are endlessly busy and anxious are survivors.

All those who proceed calmly and methodically are truly living.

All those who are greedy and insatiable are survivors.

All those who are leisurely and joyful are truly living.

Survivors concentrate on staying alive and improving their survival; those who truly live focus on how to enrich and enjoy their lives.

Survivors lead lives lacking quality, taste, refinement, and hope.

Those who truly live lead lives full of flavor, elegance, depth, and hope.

The characteristics of survivors are anxiety, worry, busyness, calculation, emptiness, loneliness, pessimism, and fear.

The characteristics of those who truly live are ease, freedom, leisure, open-mindedness, fulfillment, joy, optimism, and carefree living.

When observing humanity, we are astonished to find that the vast majority live for survival as survivors, while only a very small number live for the sake of living.

If you feel you must study, work, strive, compete, and cope, then you are a survivor.

If you feel that studying and working are forms of enjoyment, that diligence is a fulfilling game, and that interacting with others is purely for friendship and love, then you are truly living.

Dear reader, in your lifetime, are you merely surviving, or are you truly living?