Ok, here goes my comments to this commencement speech. I know not many people will have the patience to finish reading, and I do feel sorry for those CCER graduates who have to sit there for hours just listening to this speech.
When I first read this, I was so confused. Then I thought, hmm it's CCER you know, it's the most prestigeous economic research institute in China, how can this kind of thing happen in their graduation commencement speech? It must be my problem of not appreciating it.
Then I turned it to my friend who is a double major in philosophy and economics. After reading this (well I have to say that she finished reading pretty fast, thanks to her training in Philo classes), she smiled and asked me what I thought of this.
Haha, to be honest, I do not like this style of speech. The speaker, obviously likes to use bombastic words, and big names, this does not make his speech more credible, rather I think it has made it really shallow. I had the feeling that "He" is not sure of what to talk so "He" keeps mentioning the big names, the big theories that majority do not know--I don't even think his speech is targeted towards economists...
If this speaker is not trying to impress the audience with all the big names, then I have to say, he is just showing off--in a very stupid way. Moonie, who is only a second year philosophy student, who only reads the required text of her classes can detect flaws... Nah so sad to the speaker. (Personally I really have something against those who does nothing, knows nothing but showing off)
And, most importantly, his speech reminded me of Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor and his speech.
This speech is so religious, not saying religious isn't right, but it's definitely not the thing that economists should remember in their life.
Or I should say, this speech really sounds like some really cheap talks which tells people "how to be success". Nah I have enough of that.
I was so disappointed about this speech. Now I still keep my last bits of respect to CCER, and its founder. But who knows when I will lose them? (I lost my last bits of respect to Beida long time ago though... haha)
The Speech goes here:
Commencement Keynote Speech:
In Search of Riches Beyond Belief
By Leo KoGuan
31st May 2008
Peking University – China Center for Economic Research 2008 Graduation Ceremony
In Search of Riches Beyond Belief
Who wants to be poor? Raise your hands! Anyone?
Who wants to be rich? Raise your hands! Anyone?
Who wants to be rich beyond belief?
Today I want to give and share my ideas and wealth secrets with all of you.
Metaphysics
A French philosopher, a mathematician, scientist, lawyer and a writer, Rene' Descartes, known as "Father of Modern Philosophy"(1596-1650) doubted everything and found that his doubts resided in his thoughts; and because he couldn't doubt that his doubts did not exist, therefore his thoughts existed and because he couldn't be separated from his thoughts, and therefore he existed.
Hence he declared: "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am." He doubted the existence of external world, but he assumed that there is a permanent and unchanged reality of mind or God.
On the other hand Parmenides, a Greek philosopher (Elea, 510 BC), believed in oneness of body-mind entity. He made it clear that if we perceive the world around us is changing, it is because we are deceived by our own perceptions.
Actually our world is forever unchanged and has always existed the same way and will continue to exist that way for eternity.
In a way, Kongfuzi (551-479 BC) has this similar metaphysical assumption in his rule of "li" and his concept of "ren" or humanity: unchanging principle and forever true. It is more or less a static view of the world.
In science, Newton offered this mechanical view of the Universe. When there is a known cause, you will know with certainty its effect, like the Moon orbiting around the Earth.
Whereas, Einstein's theory of relativity is not mechanical but there is certainty in space-time in "here" and "there", the space-time may "curve" this way and that way at a precise velocity "here" and "there".
So according to Einstein the world is orderly and mathematically as precise as his famous formula, E=mc2. It works beautifully in the macro world.
Whereas, the Quantum physics rules in particle world, a particle seems to us to behave strangely, and randomly. It sometimes acts like a particle and sometimes like a wave. It seems to have telepathic powers and can be in existence in separate locations at anywhere in the universe simultaneously.
Even though, Einstein was one of the founders of the Quantum theory, he thought it was just plain wrong and detested the uncertainty effect of the theory, in which he wrote to Niels Bohr (1922 Nobel Prize in physics) expressing his view on the Universe: "God does not play dice with the Universe."
Niels Bohr then coolly retorted: "Einstein, stop telling God what to do with his dice." Another physicist, Stephen Hawking further commented: "Not only does God play dice with the Universe, he throws the dice where we cannot see them!"
Heraclitus (Ephesus, 535 BC), who lived around the same area and time as Parmenides, concluded the opposite of Parmenides that we can trust our senses and our senses tell us that everything is in flux in eternity.
Nothing permanently "is". Change is the law of life and of the Universe and we can't escape from its grip.
Interestingly, the Book of Changes attributed to Fuxi (2852- 2737 BC) as the Yi Jing's creator, the first of the mythical Chinese Three Sovereigns whose teachings were similar to those of Heraclitus in that: Change means “endless production and reproduction” and Change is the only constant in the Universe.
The great Zhuangzi (369-286 BC) famously elaborated the concept of Dao: "Heaven, Earth and I come into being together, and all things and I are one." (On the equality of things). In a way, he said that he and Dao were born together and were one.
I am more inclined towards the metaphysics of Yi Jing of Fuxi, Daoism of Lao-Zhuangzi and the philosophy of Yang Zhu (370-319 BC). I think all of them have similar concept of metaphysics and philosophy with that of Heraclitus, and are consistent with the theory of Quantum physics in that "everything is in flux."
I believe in the unity of essence and forms; substance and functions; and the named and the nameless. In other words, everything is only a manifestation of the essence. The manifestation of the "WILL" of that substances in function.
Mao made a brilliant idea following similar concept of Quantum physics that through his dialectical materialism method, one can create unlimited knowledge out of nothingness as prescribed in his article "On Practice" (1937): "To discover truth through practice, and through practice to verify and develop truth... Practice, knowledge, more practice, more knowledge; the cyclical repetition of this pattern to infinity.”
This was also echoed by Deng's dictum: "Free our mind and seek truth from facts." He recognized that the truth can be found only if one is having a state of mind that is free from the baggage of the preconceived outcome. And one has to have an open mind to new ideas and knowledge so that the truth can be discovered and real advancement can be made scientifically.
I believe that everything is becoming of something else. Nothing is permanent. We live in the Universe that follows the principle that thought precedes matter. All particles contain that "thought" information and all particles are interconnected in the web of information network. That is why particles seem to acquire telepathic connection in a web of cosmic dances in everything and everywhere in our Universe.
Who are we?
I believe we came from the irrepressible little thing born out of the Big Bang started about 13.7 billion years ago. Billions years ago, our ancestors gambled and took chance with life!
They overcame the oppressive rule of entropy, which rules that all things and organizations will eventually disintegrate or evolve from order to disorder. To cheat death, they invented the anti-entropy transformer. They invented life! They were inventors.
For a chance of living, they were willing to die! The twin of life was death and they came in pair. They were willing to take chances with life. So they invented sex!
The dice was thrown out and they took the chance! They were risk-takers. And they still live within us in our genes, hence, we are inventors and risk takers.
What is success?
I think success is a process of overcoming difficulty in life, overcoming the power of entropy. I believe you fail only when you die. You also fail when you are physically very sick and can't do much in life.
The law of entropy overwhelms you. Disorder is the order of the day. Chaos reins. The idea that “Failure is the mother of success” is a good concept, but not the best one.
The best one is: “There is no such thing as failure; success is just being alive and healthy and as such you are already rich beyond belief.
Life is magical. Life is a miracle. Life has the ability to overcome the oppressive law of death, or at least temporarily. Our possibility to live in this Universe is close to zero.
We live because as Anthropic Principle postulates that our Universe seems to be designed to fit our existence.
Hence, I think Yang Zhu got it right when he advised us to take care of our body, for our body is our temple, for our life-force can only reside there. (Weiwo). He said a healthy life is too short to waste and we must grab any drop of joy and happiness that comes our way. To act this way is morally good, and a Must. For one has the right to live to the fullest that he is capable of achieving.
He summarized his philosophy by advocating the cultivation of our six senses; to enjoy ourselves and celebrate our life. He said: "Allow the ear to hear what it likes, the eye to see what it likes, the nose to smell what it likes, the mouth to say what it likes, the body to enjoy the comforts it likes to have, and the mind to do what it likes." (Yang Zhu, the art of life)
So in the end, there is only one rule: that is to follow your heart desire and you will never fail. And you just forget all other rules which you have mastered.
When you master Yang Zhu's advice, you will never be poor all of your life and you will be rich beyond belief; you will never fail and you will be happy and be at ease with life. Everything will come to you naturally.
Yang Zhu wisely counseled us: "Enjoy life and take one's ease, for those who know how to enjoy life are not poor, and he that lives at ease requires no riches." (Yang Zhu, the ideal life)
You are worth 1 billion RMB.
I think we are lucky to live in the 21st century. We are eons richer than those people who lived during Yang Zhu's era. You are already rich beyond belief! You don't need to do anything.
The problem is that most people don't know they are rich beyond belief. It is like you have inherited one billion RMB from your unknown parents. It is waiting for you to claim in their secret will. But no claim is made by you.
Not because there is no gift of one billion RMB for you, but rather you don't know the gift existed, simply because you are not told.
Now you have no excuse; I am telling you loud and clear that simply by living and being healthy, you are worth more than one billion RMB. What you need to do is to posit your claim and the gift is yours.
How do I know?
We can apply the opportunity cost theory to find out the value of youth, healthy body and mind.
To find out, we can ask if anybody is willing to give up his hard earned money one billion RMB in exchange for, say 50 years younger. Or from a 68-year old man to become an 18-year old freshman at Beida.
I know many, including myself, would take up this exchange of one billion RMB for 50 years of youth if it is legally offered and is true. From this, I knew beyond reasonable doubts that a healthy young life is worth more than one billion RMB.
If you are greedy for life; and you want more out of it! Ok, in case you want MORE than just rich beyond belief or more than just being young, healthy and beautiful, I will tell you the secret.
You want to be rich both materially and spiritually beyond belief. And you can, and will have it, if you follow my advice below.
To be both healthy and wealthy the secret is to balance between material and spiritual possession. To pursue material rich and forget spiritual rich, life is imbalanced; similarly, to pursue spiritual rich and neglecting material rich, life is also imbalanced.
Either condition is against nature. Body and mind both need to be developed together in harmony. Physical and mental strength are needed to tune in, to be harmonious with nature, and with your creator.
So Rule One, you indeed are rich beyond belief; you are allowed and entitled to this richness;
Two, as sons and daughters of this Universe or your creator; you have the inalienable rights to the riches of this Universe; this Universe is your unknown father.
Three, not only you have the inalienable rights but also a duty to fully materialize your "becoming-actualization" as you see it fit, as permitted by law and as a being manifested in you;
Four, when you have a desire of something, Heaven would graciously also provide you the means to accomplish this desire. Be careful what you wish for, as a saying goes, you may get it. It is really true. I know this is true. It happened to me!
I desire, thus I determine, thus I become!
Desire here means outpouring passion within our souls. Determination is the consistent powerful desire, like a loud cry-out from within, wanting to be heard, to be noticed, and to be manifested in the physical realm.
Everything in this universe is becoming of something else. It is our task to control the outcome of our being.
If you persistently determine to push boundary to its limits, strangely like magic, the boundary then expand automatically. This is what I call a “becoming-actualization” process that “produces and reproduces” new boundary till a new stable equilibrium is reached.
I desire, thus I determine to be rich, thus I become rich. A simple theory. A simple secret. You just need to ask the permission to be rich and no request has ever been refused by the universal mind that controls the universal law.
Your mind is connected to this universal mind. The universal mind wants you all to be rich and successful. It is its nature of goodness and kindness. To be rich is to create wealth. To be rich beyond belief is to create wealth beyond belief.
On the other hand Parmenides, a Greek philosopher (Elea, 510 BC), believed in oneness of body-mind entity. He made it clear that if we perceive the world around us is changing, it is because we are deceived by our own perceptions.
Actually our world is forever unchanged and has always existed the same way and will continue to exist that way for eternity.
In a way, Kongfuzi (551-479 BC) has this similar metaphysical assumption in his rule of "li" and his concept of "ren" or humanity: unchanging principle and forever true. It is more or less a static view of the world.
In science, Newton offered this mechanical view of the Universe. When there is a known cause, you will know with certainty its effect, like the Moon orbiting around the Earth.
Whereas, Einstein's theory of relativity is not mechanical but there is certainty in space-time in "here" and "there", the space-time may "curve" this way and that way at a precise velocity "here" and "there".
So according to Einstein the world is orderly and mathematically as precise as his famous formula, E=mc2. It works beautifully in the macro world.
Whereas, the Quantum physics rules in particle world, a particle seems to us to behave strangely, and randomly. It sometimes acts like a particle and sometimes like a wave. It seems to have telepathic powers and can be in existence in separate locations at anywhere in the universe simultaneously.
Even though, Einstein was one of the founders of the Quantum theory, he thought it was just plain wrong and detested the uncertainty effect of the theory, in which he wrote to Niels Bohr (1922 Nobel Prize in physics) expressing his view on the Universe: "God does not play dice with the Universe."
Niels Bohr then coolly retorted: "Einstein, stop telling God what to do with his dice." Another physicist, Stephen Hawking further commented: "Not only does God play dice with the Universe, he throws the dice where we cannot see them!"
Heraclitus (Ephesus, 535 BC), who lived around the same area and time as Parmenides, concluded the opposite of Parmenides that we can trust our senses and our senses tell us that everything is in flux in eternity.
Nothing permanently "is". Change is the law of life and of the Universe and we can't escape from its grip.
Interestingly, the Book of Changes attributed to Fuxi (2852- 2737 BC) as the Yi Jing's creator, the first of the mythical Chinese Three Sovereigns whose teachings were similar to those of Heraclitus in that: Change means “endless production and reproduction” and Change is the only constant in the Universe.
The great Zhuangzi (369-286 BC) famously elaborated the concept of Dao: "Heaven, Earth and I come into being together, and all things and I are one." (On the equality of things). In a way, he said that he and Dao were born together and were one.
I am more inclined towards the metaphysics of Yi Jing of Fuxi, Daoism of Lao-Zhuangzi and the philosophy of Yang Zhu (370-319 BC). I think all of them have similar concept of metaphysics and philosophy with that of Heraclitus, and are consistent with the theory of Quantum physics in that "everything is in flux."
I believe in the unity of essence and forms; substance and functions; and the named and the nameless. In other words, everything is only a manifestation of the essence. The manifestation of the "WILL" of that substances in function.
Mao made a brilliant idea following similar concept of Quantum physics that through his dialectical materialism method, one can create unlimited knowledge out of nothingness as prescribed in his article "On Practice" (1937): "To discover truth through practice, and through practice to verify and develop truth... Practice, knowledge, more practice, more knowledge; the cyclical repetition of this pattern to infinity.”
This was also echoed by Deng's dictum: "Free our mind and seek truth from facts." He recognized that the truth can be found only if one is having a state of mind that is free from the baggage of the preconceived outcome. And one has to have an open mind to new ideas and knowledge so that the truth can be discovered and real advancement can be made scientifically.
I believe that everything is becoming of something else. Nothing is permanent. We live in the Universe that follows the principle that thought precedes matter. All particles contain that "thought" information and all particles are interconnected in the web of information network. That is why particles seem to acquire telepathic connection in a web of cosmic dances in everything and everywhere in our Universe.
Who are we?
I believe we came from the irrepressible little thing born out of the Big Bang started about 13.7 billion years ago. Billions years ago, our ancestors gambled and took chance with life!
They overcame the oppressive rule of entropy, which rules that all things and organizations will eventually disintegrate or evolve from order to disorder. To cheat death, they invented the anti-entropy transformer. They invented life! They were inventors.
For a chance of living, they were willing to die! The twin of life was death and they came in pair. They were willing to take chances with life. So they invented sex!
The dice was thrown out and they took the chance! They were risk-takers. And they still live within us in our genes, hence, we are inventors and risk takers.
What is success?
I think success is a process of overcoming difficulty in life, overcoming the power of entropy. I believe you fail only when you die. You also fail when you are physically very sick and can't do much in life.
The law of entropy overwhelms you. Disorder is the order of the day. Chaos reins. The idea that “Failure is the mother of success” is a good concept, but not the best one.
The best one is: “There is no such thing as failure; success is just being alive and healthy and as such you are already rich beyond belief.
Life is magical. Life is a miracle. Life has the ability to overcome the oppressive law of death, or at least temporarily. Our possibility to live in this Universe is close to zero.
We live because as Anthropic Principle postulates that our Universe seems to be designed to fit our existence.
Hence, I think Yang Zhu got it right when he advised us to take care of our body, for our body is our temple, for our life-force can only reside there. (Weiwo). He said a healthy life is too short to waste and we must grab any drop of joy and happiness that comes our way. To act this way is morally good, and a Must. For one has the right to live to the fullest that he is capable of achieving.
He summarized his philosophy by advocating the cultivation of our six senses; to enjoy ourselves and celebrate our life. He said: "Allow the ear to hear what it likes, the eye to see what it likes, the nose to smell what it likes, the mouth to say what it likes, the body to enjoy the comforts it likes to have, and the mind to do what it likes." (Yang Zhu, the art of life)
So in the end, there is only one rule: that is to follow your heart desire and you will never fail. And you just forget all other rules which you have mastered.
When you master Yang Zhu's advice, you will never be poor all of your life and you will be rich beyond belief; you will never fail and you will be happy and be at ease with life. Everything will come to you naturally.
Yang Zhu wisely counseled us: "Enjoy life and take one's ease, for those who know how to enjoy life are not poor, and he that lives at ease requires no riches." (Yang Zhu, the ideal life)
You are worth 1 billion RMB.
I think we are lucky to live in the 21st century. We are eons richer than those people who lived during Yang Zhu's era. You are already rich beyond belief! You don't need to do anything.
The problem is that most people don't know they are rich beyond belief. It is like you have inherited one billion RMB from your unknown parents. It is waiting for you to claim in their secret will. But no claim is made by you.
Not because there is no gift of one billion RMB for you, but rather you don't know the gift existed, simply because you are not told.
Now you have no excuse; I am telling you loud and clear that simply by living and being healthy, you are worth more than one billion RMB. What you need to do is to posit your claim and the gift is yours.
How do I know?
We can apply the opportunity cost theory to find out the value of youth, healthy body and mind.
To find out, we can ask if anybody is willing to give up his hard earned money one billion RMB in exchange for, say 50 years younger. Or from a 68-year old man to become an 18-year old freshman at Beida.
I know many, including myself, would take up this exchange of one billion RMB for 50 years of youth if it is legally offered and is true. From this, I knew beyond reasonable doubts that a healthy young life is worth more than one billion RMB.
If you are greedy for life; and you want more out of it! Ok, in case you want MORE than just rich beyond belief or more than just being young, healthy and beautiful, I will tell you the secret.
You want to be rich both materially and spiritually beyond belief. And you can, and will have it, if you follow my advice below.
To be both healthy and wealthy the secret is to balance between material and spiritual possession. To pursue material rich and forget spiritual rich, life is imbalanced; similarly, to pursue spiritual rich and neglecting material rich, life is also imbalanced.
Either condition is against nature. Body and mind both need to be developed together in harmony. Physical and mental strength are needed to tune in, to be harmonious with nature, and with your creator.
So Rule One, you indeed are rich beyond belief; you are allowed and entitled to this richness;
Two, as sons and daughters of this Universe or your creator; you have the inalienable rights to the riches of this Universe; this Universe is your unknown father.
Three, not only you have the inalienable rights but also a duty to fully materialize your "becoming-actualization" as you see it fit, as permitted by law and as a being manifested in you;
Four, when you have a desire of something, Heaven would graciously also provide you the means to accomplish this desire. Be careful what you wish for, as a saying goes, you may get it. It is really true. I know this is true. It happened to me!
I desire, thus I determine, thus I become!
Desire here means outpouring passion within our souls. Determination is the consistent powerful desire, like a loud cry-out from within, wanting to be heard, to be noticed, and to be manifested in the physical realm.
Everything in this universe is becoming of something else. It is our task to control the outcome of our being.
If you persistently determine to push boundary to its limits, strangely like magic, the boundary then expand automatically. This is what I call a “becoming-actualization” process that “produces and reproduces” new boundary till a new stable equilibrium is reached.
I desire, thus I determine to be rich, thus I become rich. A simple theory. A simple secret. You just need to ask the permission to be rich and no request has ever been refused by the universal mind that controls the universal law.
Your mind is connected to this universal mind. The universal mind wants you all to be rich and successful. It is its nature of goodness and kindness. To be rich is to create wealth. To be rich beyond belief is to create wealth beyond belief.
Yes you can. You desire, thus you determine, thus you become. You desire to be the creator; thus you determine to be one; thus you shall be the creator of new wealth.
However, the rule is that you don't take away wealth from others, but rather you create new wealth to make others richer and you will automatically become rich beyond belief.
The more you create wealth for others, the more wealth you make. This is the universal law! Remember the golden rule.
You create wealth for others and they will create wealth for you. It must be based on a win-win outcome. You must always refuse a win-lose result; you win and other lose. The wealth created in this way will not last.
A lasting outcome is only when the riches are derived from win-win outcomes, from your honest labor of love. For you must love what you do to be a creator of wealth, culture, arts, and anything.
What do we have to do?
You must be prepared, be ready and be willing to accept this gift when this gift is offered to you. When you receive this gift, you must feel genuinely grateful.
You must be grateful to life, your friends, your teachers, your parents, your political leaders, to humanity, to nature, to your creator, and even to your shit. Yes, your shit. Zhuangzi thinks Dao is everywhere and in everything.
Without being crude and disrespectful to anyone and to anyone's belief, I wanted to use Zhuangzi's allegory to illustrate his concept of Dao. So if it were his shit that dreamed it were Zhuangzi and the dreamed Zhuangzi then dreamed he were the butterfly, and the dreamed butterfly in turn dreamed it were Zhuangzi’s shit. So it comes to a full circle. In other words, dream and reality are intertwined in different realities and dimensions.
This is an important principle to illustrate my idea clearly that, no matter who you are, if you can dream and desire of something, the universal mind shall grant you your wish.
It is left to you to follow up, to be prepared, to be ready, to be willing, and to be able to receive this gift. Without notice, it could suddenly be thrown into your garbage can in the middle of moonless, dark night.
Hence you must always be on the look-out, for this specific opportunity that you seek. When it comes, because you are well prepared and well practiced, you shall be able to see it coming, and grab it in mid-air.
You must follow it up to its successful conclusion and to its full potential till you and your life-force gives out. You turn the light off and meet your creator and smilingly and contently say: "God, I am here. I am back!”
Be grateful
So much has been given to you, the least you can do is to feel extremely grateful. And for whatever reason, you feel no longer grateful and you become arrogant with your own ability and power, then the gift will eventually stop flowing.
On the other hand, if you are grateful continually to your newly found riches, you will feel so sweet! You will feel you are so blessed, which you are. You will feel happy for who you are, to be in harmony with others in a win-win world that you help create. Others are happy; you are happy. Others will make sure you are happy; so you continue to be joyful harmoniously with everyone.
Meaning of life
The question is after you have become rich beyond belief then what? What is the meaning of your life?
As I said in my speech "In search of a meaning of life" here last year: "Life has meaning when you give and share your ideas and your wealth to the ones you love and to humanity. The more you give and share within your own means, the more fulfillment and satisfaction you shall receive."
To determine to become who you want to be, you must act now. Dui ma? You must start your creative engine right now; act now, and now means now, this moment, not later, not tomorrow.
Go and create wealth and get all the riches you want and I guarantee you all, with no exception! All riches beyond belief shall be yours and don't forget you must have fun along that "river bank" of life!
In summary, you are all so special hence I wrote a poem just for you and I hope you will like it. It reads like this:
Butterfly dream!
Startled I awaken!
Relieved, the longing for riches is no longer pressing;
Sweet dream, sweet flower and sweet lemon that I desire resides in me all along;
Day and night I dream of thee ...puff... the nightmare gone blown away by the fierce cold winter wind;
In its place... a sweet dream appears, fanned by the warm breeze of mid- summer night sent by the Heaven;
The selfless sun shines brightly, giving life to all... I search for thee no more;
The riches I longed for since childhood has been in my possession all along.
Awaken!
Sweet berries and honey are for me to enjoy. 、
Yang Zhu's six senses are flowering in my essence;
Worry free
I share the abundance to all;
Smile I give thee what I have;
For riches are not in wealth but in our mind.
Zhuangzi's dreamed butterfly flying up and down in and out, along and among the fragrant colorful flowers at the river bank.
Born free,
Care free,
Fly fly away my beautiful butterfly;
I give thee my sweet berries and honey to enjoy;
Go go to where your heart’s desire leads you;
Sweet dream!
However, the rule is that you don't take away wealth from others, but rather you create new wealth to make others richer and you will automatically become rich beyond belief.
The more you create wealth for others, the more wealth you make. This is the universal law! Remember the golden rule.
You create wealth for others and they will create wealth for you. It must be based on a win-win outcome. You must always refuse a win-lose result; you win and other lose. The wealth created in this way will not last.
A lasting outcome is only when the riches are derived from win-win outcomes, from your honest labor of love. For you must love what you do to be a creator of wealth, culture, arts, and anything.
What do we have to do?
You must be prepared, be ready and be willing to accept this gift when this gift is offered to you. When you receive this gift, you must feel genuinely grateful.
You must be grateful to life, your friends, your teachers, your parents, your political leaders, to humanity, to nature, to your creator, and even to your shit. Yes, your shit. Zhuangzi thinks Dao is everywhere and in everything.
Without being crude and disrespectful to anyone and to anyone's belief, I wanted to use Zhuangzi's allegory to illustrate his concept of Dao. So if it were his shit that dreamed it were Zhuangzi and the dreamed Zhuangzi then dreamed he were the butterfly, and the dreamed butterfly in turn dreamed it were Zhuangzi’s shit. So it comes to a full circle. In other words, dream and reality are intertwined in different realities and dimensions.
This is an important principle to illustrate my idea clearly that, no matter who you are, if you can dream and desire of something, the universal mind shall grant you your wish.
It is left to you to follow up, to be prepared, to be ready, to be willing, and to be able to receive this gift. Without notice, it could suddenly be thrown into your garbage can in the middle of moonless, dark night.
Hence you must always be on the look-out, for this specific opportunity that you seek. When it comes, because you are well prepared and well practiced, you shall be able to see it coming, and grab it in mid-air.
You must follow it up to its successful conclusion and to its full potential till you and your life-force gives out. You turn the light off and meet your creator and smilingly and contently say: "God, I am here. I am back!”
Be grateful
So much has been given to you, the least you can do is to feel extremely grateful. And for whatever reason, you feel no longer grateful and you become arrogant with your own ability and power, then the gift will eventually stop flowing.
On the other hand, if you are grateful continually to your newly found riches, you will feel so sweet! You will feel you are so blessed, which you are. You will feel happy for who you are, to be in harmony with others in a win-win world that you help create. Others are happy; you are happy. Others will make sure you are happy; so you continue to be joyful harmoniously with everyone.
Meaning of life
The question is after you have become rich beyond belief then what? What is the meaning of your life?
As I said in my speech "In search of a meaning of life" here last year: "Life has meaning when you give and share your ideas and your wealth to the ones you love and to humanity. The more you give and share within your own means, the more fulfillment and satisfaction you shall receive."
To determine to become who you want to be, you must act now. Dui ma? You must start your creative engine right now; act now, and now means now, this moment, not later, not tomorrow.
Go and create wealth and get all the riches you want and I guarantee you all, with no exception! All riches beyond belief shall be yours and don't forget you must have fun along that "river bank" of life!
In summary, you are all so special hence I wrote a poem just for you and I hope you will like it. It reads like this:
Butterfly dream!
Startled I awaken!
Relieved, the longing for riches is no longer pressing;
Sweet dream, sweet flower and sweet lemon that I desire resides in me all along;
Day and night I dream of thee ...puff... the nightmare gone blown away by the fierce cold winter wind;
In its place... a sweet dream appears, fanned by the warm breeze of mid- summer night sent by the Heaven;
The selfless sun shines brightly, giving life to all... I search for thee no more;
The riches I longed for since childhood has been in my possession all along.
Awaken!
Sweet berries and honey are for me to enjoy. 、
Yang Zhu's six senses are flowering in my essence;
Worry free
I share the abundance to all;
Smile I give thee what I have;
For riches are not in wealth but in our mind.
Zhuangzi's dreamed butterfly flying up and down in and out, along and among the fragrant colorful flowers at the river bank.
Born free,
Care free,
Fly fly away my beautiful butterfly;
I give thee my sweet berries and honey to enjoy;
Go go to where your heart’s desire leads you;
Sweet dream!
posted by panda xuan @ 11:53 PM
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