120 philosophical essays you must read in your life

Chapter 42

Chapter 2, Section 20 Life has no name

Zhou Guoping

This is a letter from a reader, transferred from a magazine.Every writer has a readership, and it's common to hear from readers.I accidentally opened the envelope.However, after reading the letter, my heart trembled in a warm touch.

Permit me to transcribe this short letter here—

"I don't know what to call you, every attempt made me frustrated, so I took the liberty to speak, it is really a heartfelt respect for life's kindness and warmth.

"Remember your name was about seven years ago, when I read a copy of "Must Read for Parents", there was an article written about children or for children, it was printed but had a soft feeling, I think you have a different face as a man.

"Later, when I grew up, I read your articles more often. I often recommend them to people around me. I never make too much noise. I feel that your articles and people seem to need us to be quiet. I won't go into it any further.

"Reading your "The Past in the Time Village" this time, it feels like walking through the countryside and bathing in the cleanest and warmest sunshine. I am a humble life, but I believe you will be willing to listen quietly to this life saying: 'I would like to listen quietly to you...' You won't be offended that I never wanted to imagine you as a thinker or an essayist.

"Maybe after many years, I will be old. At that time, I believe that for those words I read when I was young, I want to say from my heart: Thank you!"

There is no signature at the end of the letter, only this line: "Life has no name, I am, you are." Then I thought of checking the envelope, and found that there was no sender's address on it. Instead, there were four names from "Time Village". Character.I noticed the postmark, it was sent from Hebei.

Judging from the tone of the letter, I believe that the writer is a very young girl who has just grown up, a girl who lives in a poor town.I have never sent a manuscript to "Must Read for Parents". The article that made her and I meet for the first time may have been reproduced by this magazine, or she may have misremembered the place where it was published, but it doesn't matter.What moved me was the way she read my articles, not looking for ideas from them, nor appreciating them as prose, but a life quietly listening to another life.Therefore, what I get is not the satisfaction of a writer's vanity, but the warmth of a life being understood by another life, a deep touch that warms the roots of human nature.

"Life has no name" - how well said!When we were born into the world, who came with a name?And who came with a title, position, status, property, etc.?But as we grow up and sink deeper and deeper into mundane chores, few of us remember this simplest truth.We meet each other by names, and names are linked to titles, identities, possessions, and so on. As a result, life itself is hidden and even shrunk under the entanglement of these parasites.Whether for oneself or others, the sense of life is becoming increasingly paralyzed.Most of the time, we just live in the world as a title.Even for couples who get along day and night, it is rare to treat each other in the natural state of life, and it is more of a kind of ethics and habit.In the vast universe, perhaps only our planet has blossomed the flowers of life. However, on this lucky planet, exchanges of interests, contests of status, and competitions for property abound. The rarest thing is the encounter between life and life. .Think about it carefully, how we put the cart before the horse, betrayed the favor of nature because of small losses.

Yes - I am, you are, everyone is such an ordinary and unique life, originally nameless, but in the end it is full of songs and tears.I, you, and every life came to this world by accident. It is entirely possible that they will not be born, but they will be born after all, and then they will inevitably leave.Thinking about the infinite time and space of the world, and the accidental birth of every life, how can one not feel that it is a miracle that one life meets another life?Sometimes I even think that two beings have existed in this world at the same time, even if they never meet, there is still a touching karma.I believe that this kind of cherishing and understanding of life is the deepest source of all human love.You say you love your wife, but if you don't love her as a unique life, then your love is still relatively limited.You are right to love her for her beauty, tenderness, virtuousness, and intelligence, but these qualities can be found in other women as well.Only her life, as a living body, cannot be reorganized or regenerated by women in the world. Once lost, it is irreparably lost.Everything in the world can be repeated, love can be rediscussed, spouses can be chosen, identities can be concocted, money can be earned again, and even history can repeat itself, but life cannot.The more subtle things are, the less repeatable they are. Therefore, compared with every ordinary and unique life, all kinds of external encounters including fame, status and property are really superficial.

That being the case, when another life, a life so strange that you don't even know its name, discovers your life from a distance but so close, and sends out a desire to your life through the appearance of worldly utilitarianism and culture. The echo of return, isn't this a touching and fortunate encounter in life?

So, I would like to thank this unknown girl for enlightening my soul with her quiet listening and comprehension.She made me believe even more that it really doesn't matter in this life whether I'm a thinker or an essayist, or whether I can write beautifully.I only want to keep the true nature of life, the innocence that can quietly listen to other lives and make other lives willing to listen quietly. The happiness in this is far beyond the vanity and fame.

Would love to let her know my thanks and hope she reads this.

【Together with you】

Life has no name, and the original nameless life can let the carrier of life play freely; life has no name, and the short life is walking in the background of the infinite universe, wandering on the path of life, looking at the sun in the sky Rising, but not in a hurry.Life has no name, so you might as well take a deep breath of the fresh air around you, chew the grass on the side of the road carefully, and let the nameless life be calm and content.We keep working hard, struggling, and pursuing, and everything is just for our unique life experience.

(End of this chapter)