Chapter 20: The Loneliness Associated with Persistent Learning

Wu Wei pays attention to summarizing and refining in learning, and summarizes the three elements of learning success: purpose, perseverance, and method. Without purpose, there is no perseverance, and there is no need to seek a way. Perseverance and method, in turn, restrict the realization of the goal. He argues that without a noble purpose, learning itself is an activity that lacks motivation and will sooner or later lead to mediocrity. Noble purposes do not usually arise from ordinary times, but come from a certain understanding. It has been said that the enemy of learning is complacency rather than a lack of purpose. Some people are complacent because they have achieved what they want, they feel that they can stand in that place and live and work well, and they lose the motivation to continue learning this hard work.

Learning has no noble purpose, and learning seems to be a blind activity, lacking a fixed and unbreakable attraction. There are thousands of events in life that can attract people. Only a clear purpose can guarantee the singleness of mental activity. The enjoyment of science is obtained by hard work, and without unremitting hard work, it is impossible to obtain this kind of enjoyment, and we can only get carried away by the enjoyment of other inaction. He particularly liked the famous sentence in the preface to Capital, that in science, there is no smooth road, and only those who are not afraid of hard work and climb along the steep mountain road can hope to reach the peak of glory. He took this as his motto. He felt that relying on learning could also help people resist many temptations of confusion.

To persist in learning is to grasp the basic direction of life.

As for the theory of value and monetary theory, Wu Wei's study and thinking lasted for a long time, and he made some progress. This is simply an encounter for him, a great disadvantage, and in order to avoid this encounter, there is an extremely simple way, which is to give up his efforts to face the difficulties in front of him, especially the efforts made for distant goals. In this encounter, his mind showed great vacillation, showing an attitude of being extremely unscientific, not seeking to understand everything, not seeking to be thoroughly clarified, but a kind of vanity, a kind of thought that could not stand the test dominated him. In terms of the theory of value and the theory of money, people have indeed made a lot of annotations around the structure of Capital, and the explanations are as easy to understand as possible, but they still seem to be an out-and-out stubborn stone. It is precisely this stubborn stone that has unexpectedly become a touchstone for honing and testing people. Marx himself pointed out to those who wanted to read Capital seriously that the form of value was the most difficult part. It is the study of this part of the content that exposes all of Wu Wei's weaknesses, and fortunately becomes a valuable opportunity for Wu Wei to break through and sublimate.

Wu Wei found some discussion articles on the frontiers of monetary theory from Mr. Shi, who taught a currency class, and studied them by himself to form his own unique understanding. In the currency class, Mr. Shi asked a question, what does the RMB represent, and then directly called Wu Wei, you come to talk. In fact, Wu Wei only knew a little about such cutting-edge issues discussed in the academic world, but he stood up and talked clumsily, Mr. Shi stood on the podium and listened attentively motionlessly, and when Wu Wei finished talking and sat down, Mr. Shi affirmed Wu Wei's learning spirit with emotion, praising him for having his own understanding and opinions, learning to be like him, independent thinking, and being able to expound his own ideas in his own language.

At this time, the teachers gradually infiltrated the information of reform in the classroom, saying that the students had caught up with the good time to make great achievements. Wu Wei also learned that there are many theoretical gaps through reading periodicals and magazines in the school reading room, and in order to fill one of the gaps, he must first fill his own gaps, which increases his sense of urgency.

Wu Wei's summary of his own learning experience has formed a set of things that are unique to him. After Mr. Wang, the head teacher, found out and asked him to introduce the learning experience to the whole class, he spoke very successfully. When he was talking to his classmates in front of him with great interest and eloquence, Wang Chenglin looked at him and laughed.

After Wu Wei finished speaking, he asked Wang Chenglin, what do you always laugh at when I talk about it in front of me?

Wang Chenglin said, I see that the way you sit in front of you and talk endlessly is especially suitable for being a teacher. Later, Mr. Wang recommended him to introduce him to the whole school. Teacher Wang asked him to prepare a manuscript to read, but Teacher Wang didn't say anything after reading it, Song Guang read it and said, this won't work, you have to pull things apart and open them. He used a Sunday to change it for him, Wu Wei saw that it was much smoother, and the exchange of off-script at the meeting became a reading of the manuscript, and the homeroom teacher said after the meeting that it was not as good as the effect of off-script. He was also recommended by the school to participate in the commendation meeting of the Provincial Youth League Committee, and his learning spirit was further stimulated and encouraged.

Teacher Wen and Wu Wei discussed how to pass the learning level. Teacher Wen said with emotion, ordinary people, including myself, have been working for three or five months, how can there be someone like you, who has been persevering for many years. I'm hard enough, but not as hard as you, you're hardworking.

Wu Wei summed up how to pass the study level, and felt that the most important thing was perseverance. Establish a correct outlook on learning, don't come up and talk about it as an ideal, respond to the call of the motherland, liberate all mankind, listen very loudly, but many people are not able to reach that height, even if there is that height, it is gradually established and gradually reached, or very outstanding people have such a concept, ordinary people usually improve themselves on the existing basis, and regard learning as a way and means to improve themselves, so that although it sounds not high, it is very effective. The purpose of learning returns to simplicity and self. People naturally want to ask, why do you learn like this, and what do you learn when you are already like this? Purify and improve yourself.

Wu Wei also began to think about work and dealing with interpersonal problems. To do a good job is to drive everyone to do a good job together. Proactive, mainly manifested in the face of difficulties, in the absence of conditions, there is proactive action. Only such actions can be called proactive. Why can we motivate everyone in times of difficulty? Some people want to overcome difficulties and lose confidence due to lack of conditions, so they need to find ways to come up with ideas to see and take advantage of favorable conditions, and take the lead in creating favorable conditions; Some people are completely negative when they encounter difficulties, and this kind of person is not easy to do, as long as they can follow along.

Wu Wei is especially aware that when his pursuit is more consistent with the actual work requirements, it can greatly reduce friction, help to fully concentrate, and be consistent with the requirements of the environment, and promote each other. After all, the supremacy of learning in school is highly consistent with the main business of students, so it is generally consistent with the requirements of the environment, there is no such sharp contradiction, and the behavior of concentrating on learning is easy to be understood and accepted by people. This experience was invaluable to Wu Wei and led him to pay attention to the importance of avoiding conflict with his environment while maintaining his individuality.

It is normal for classmates to have arguments because of different understandings of learning, but in the process of arguing with his classmates, Wu Wei found that some people regard arguments as a means to subdue others, and determine their attitude towards arguments. Not only does it render the debate fruitless, but it also divides it. They should seek truth from facts, dare to admit their own wrong opinions, sincerely accept the correct opinions of others, and regard arguments as a means to enrich their own knowledge, improve their ability to analyze and solve problems, and regard it as a way to promote learning and strengthen friendship among classmates. Fierce debates are consolidating existing knowledge, correcting previous misunderstandings, and accepting new knowledge every day.

After a long time, Wu Wei felt that school life was not to his taste, and even a place like school was not to his taste, which showed that Wu Wei was tricky, his only interest was studying, and he was tired of other political studies, discussions, and participating in various meetings. The only purpose of going to school is to study, and replacing everything else with learning, so it is natural that there will be conflicts, and the surroundings will recognize your spirit but not accept your attitude towards the world, and your classmates and teachers will gradually not understand and accept you as a person, and it is your own practice that isolates you. The artificial separation of man and spirit causes pain to those who are separated. He was aware of this pain, but he couldn't find a way out, and he didn't know where there would be such a way out, so he could only go further and further on the only path of learning, and this separation deepened more and more.

Man is a living being that cannot be abstracted into learning, for people to admire, worship, and he will always be reduced to a real existence. Wu Wei hates many existences in reality, and many existences in reality will naturally hate him, he does not want to enter the vulgar stream, and the vulgar stream will stay away from him, isolate him, and reject him. The classmates often walked around in groups of two, talking and laughing in and out of the classroom and dormitory, saying that they didn't want to disturb him, but in fact they didn't want to see him out of place. He felt the chill of loneliness come over him, and he fell into a kind of loneliness and distress.