The Path - Prof. Michael Puett, Christine Gross-Loh
The Path - Prof. Michael Puett, Christine Gross-Loh
A new way to think about everthing
If you want to learn how Chinese people think, what they believe etc then this is a great bookto read.
After reading this book, you will get good summary of
their great thinkers such as Confucius, Mencius, Lazoi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi.
As you explore these thinkers, you may recognise that our assumptions
about a good way to live are just one set among many.
Many of us believe that each of us should be unique
individual who knows himself. We believe we should be authentic, loyal
to truth we tend to locate not in a higher deity but within ourselves.
We aim to live up to the self we were meant to be.
But what if these ideas that we believe enhance our lives are actually limiting us?
We tend to believe that to change our lives we have think big.
But Chinese thinkers would say don't forget the small.
We only begin to really change when we start with small changes in how we live.
Do you tend to placate friends instead of being assertive because you feel unworthy of expressing a strong opinion ?
As you become aware of all the triggers that shape your emotions throughout the day, you can work on refining your responses.
In fact, a lot of what we tend to think of as conscious decision making is just us playing out old patterns.
If we cultivate our emotions, over time and with
experience, we can learn to sense other people 's dispositions more
accurately, assess what's really going on in a particular situation, and
work to shift the outcome accordingly.
We can train ourselves to aware of these complexities and to know what we can do to alter them.
When you approach situations with the broadest perspective and
understand how to alter outcome, it is about refining your emotions so
that better response comes to the fore intuitively.
Fixed definition of who you believe you are.
Who you think you are (what you think is you
when you are making decission) - is just a set of patterns you have
fallen into. You can make decissions that shape who you become, just
because you think they reflect who you are.
Long term life plans are often based on an illusion of stability.
Future self that you imagine based on who you think you are now, even though you, world, and your circumtsnces will change.
Situations, emotions, world and self will never be a clear-cut. So best
way to adapt to accept shifting self, changing world and get used messy
complexity of life is training our mind and believe our ability to grow.
Living this world means accepting that we do not live within a stable cosmos that will always reward people for what they do.
We should understand that tragedies do happen and we should learn to
work with whatever befalls us. The sapling has been bending and shifting
with the winds; pliable and soft, it stands up again when the storm has
passed. Its very weakness is what has allowed it to flourish and
prevail. We often assume (because this is what have been taught) that to
be influential we have to be strong and powerful
Things are teaming and multifarious but each returns to its roots. True
power comes from understanding situations and people. We may hold
strong moral convictions; our certainty that we are absolutely correct
in our views on religion can make us less receptive to other people's
perspectives, putting up insurmountable walls between ourselves and
others.
When you are trying to gain power by imposing your will on others, it is not that you 'll fail. You
may succeed, even for a long time. But it is based only upon the amount
of actual power you have over people to make them cave in. In the end,
they will be deeply resentful and will seek ways to try to break your
power. True power does not rely on strength and domination. Strength and
domination render us incapable of relating to others and thing around
us.
Weakness overcomes strength
Softness overcomes hardness
True influence isn't found in overt strength or will.
It comes from creating a world that feels so natural that no one
questions it.
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