Chapter 784: Sages are also seeking kindred spirits

Sages are also seeking kindred spirits.

May 7: Sages are also seeking kindred spirits.

Once, Confucius and his students were chatting idly: "Because I am a bit older than you, people no longer need me. You always say, 'Nobody understands me!' If someone understands you, what are you preparing to do?"

This is both Confucius's self-lament and his warning to his students. Confucius sighed that he was growing old, aged, and looked down upon by others, lamenting his unrecognized talent. He used this to warn his students to make use of their youth, learn more knowledge, store up talent, and in the future do something beneficial for society.

But what Confucius inwardly wanted to express was still: others do not understand me.

Is seeking others' understanding the ultimate purpose of human life? Otherwise, why does the Sage Confucius repeatedly sigh to his students, 'I do not know myself!'

Since humans have existed on Earth, this person, from sages to mortals, from gentlemen to petty people, why do they all demand to have a kindred spirit who understands them?

But in reality, kindred spirits are hard to encounter.

In life, people often sigh: 'Kindred spirits are hard to encounter!'

Did Laozi encounter a kindred spirit? No! From ancient times to the present, who understands Laozi? Laozi once said such words: those in antiquity who were skilled in using the Dao were all subtle and profound, far-reaching and thoroughgoing, so abstruse that people could not understand or approach them.

Why make one's words so incomprehensible and inaccessible—how then could one encounter a kindred spirit? Is this not one of life's greatest pains? To let life dwell in such pain is truly a tragedy of life! However, this tragedy, from ancient times to the present, continues to be endlessly repeated.

"Although the years disturb my path with lazy dust, but I will someday encounter my destined kindred spirit within myself — that is the extra happiness hidden in life." The poet says, encountering a kindred spirit is encountering happiness.

In that case, no kindred spirit means no happiness?

"I have vaguely recognized it; its intermittent breath has already touched my body, filling my thoughts with fragrance for a moment." This is the poet's imagined feeling upon encountering a kindred spirit: fragrance from within the heart! It is merely imagination; in fact, the poet never met a kindred spirit. That 'fragrance' of the kindred spirit lies in one's thoughts, a dream to be obtained.

Of course, being able to obtain a kindred spirit in imagination is also a joy in life. Some people have not even encountered an imagined kindred spirit! For example, Confucius is one.

Otherwise, why would Confucius say, 'I am not known!' Nobody understands me!