epdf.pub_the-importance-of-living (1)

The older my friendshipwith them, the morelikely ismy indebtedness to their ideas to be of the familiar, elusive and invisible type, like parental influence in agood family breeding.It i

Enghshi(gxzgjpt titles, following published

in Shanghai"by the Commercial Press)

LETTLRS OF A CHINESEAMAZON

READINGS IN MODLRN JOURNALISTIC PROSE

THE LIITLECRITIC: FIRSTSHUIS (^30-1932)

THE LITTLE CRITIC: SKCONDSunr.s (i<>33-i93))

CONMTCIUS SAW NANCY (A Dsama) AND K&SAYS ABOUT NOTHING

A NVN oi TAISHANAND OTHER TRANSLATIONS

KAIMING ENGLISH BOOKS

KAIMING ENGUSIZ GRAMMAR KASLD ON NOTIONAL CATEGORIES

A HISTORYopTHEPRESS ANDPUBLICOHKION INCHINA {

of Chicago Ptess)

MY COUNTRY AND MY Prt>!>x,K (John Day)

THE IMPORTANCE OF LIVING (John Day)

In Chinese

PHILOLOGICAL ESSAYS (Yttycnhsiieft Luntf'ung)

SKIRMISHES (Chicnfuchi)

Tmi LONE WAYFARER (Tahuangcht)

ITSEEM*TOME (WotiHuu), 2vols.

REYNAL & HITCHCOCK : NEW YORK

// is not truth that makes man great, but man

that makes truth

the world are busy about can be busy about what

CHANG CH'AO

THISis a personal testimony, atestimonyofmy ownexperienceothought and life It is not intended to be objective and makes noclaim to establish eternal truths In fact I rather

despise claims to

objectivity in philosophy; the point of view is the thing. I should

have liked to call it "A Lyrical Philosophy," using the word cal" in thesense ofbeing a highly personal and individual oudook Butthatwouldbetoo beautifulaname andImustforegoit,forfear

"lyri-of aimingtoo high and leadingthe reader toexpecttoo much, and

because themain ingredient ofmythoughtismatter-of-factprose,a

level easier to maintain because more natural Very much tentedam I tolie low, to cling to thesoil, to beofkin to thesod

con-My soul squirms comfortably in the soil and sand and is happy

Sometimes when oneis drunk withthis earth, one's spirit seems solight thathethinksheisinheaven.Butactuallyhe seldomrisessixfeet abovethe ground

I should have liked also to write the entirebook in the form of

a dialogue like Plato's It is such a convenient form for personal,inadvertent disclosures, for bringing in the significanttrivialities ofourdailylife,aboveallforidlerambling aboutthe pastures of sweet,

silent thought But somehow I have not done so I do not know

why A fear, perhaps, that this form of literaturebeing so little invogue today, no oneprobably would read it, and awriter after allwantstoberead*And when I say dialogue,I do notmeananswersand questions like newspaper interviews, or those leaders chopped

up into short paragraphs; I mean really good, long, leisurely

dis-courses extending several pages at a stretch, with many detours,and coming backto the original point of discussionby a short cut

at themostunexpectedspot,likeamanreturninghome byclimbing

over & hedge, to the surprise ofhis walking companion Oh, how

viii PREFACE

Ilove to reach home byclimbing overthe backfence, and to travel

on bypaths! At leastmy companion will grant that I am familiarwith theway home andwiththe surroundingcountryside , But I

dare not

I am not original. The ideas expressed here have been thought

and expressed by many thinkers of the East and West over and

over again; those I borrow from the East are hackneyed truths

there* They are, nevertheless, my ideas; they have become a part

ofmybeing Iftheyhave takenrootinmy being, it isbecause theyexpress something original in me, and when I first encounteredthem,my heartgavean instinctive assent I like them as ideasandnot because the person who expressed them is of any account. Infact, I have traveled the bypaths in my reading as well as in my

writing Many of the authors quoted are names obscure and may

baffle a Chinese professor of literature If some happen tobe known, I accept their ideas only as they compel my intuitive ap-

well-proval and not because the authors arewell-known It is my habit

tobuy cheap editions ofold,obscurebooks andsee what I can

dis-cover there If the professors of literature knew the sources of my

ideas, they would be astounded at the Philistine But there is agreater pleasure in pickingup a small pearl inan ash-can than inlooking ata largeone in a jeweler'swindow,

I amnot deepand notwell-read Ifoneistoo well-read,thenone

does not know right isright and wrongiswrong. I have not read

Locke or Hume or Berkeley, and have not taken a college course

in philosophy Technically speaking, my method and my trainingare all wrong,because I do not read philosophy,but only read life

atfirsthand Thatisanunconventionalway ofstudying philosophythe incorrectway. Someofmy sourcesarc:Mrs*Huang, an amah

in my family who has all the ideas that go into the breeding of $

good woman in China; a Soochow boat-woman with her profuseuse ofexpletives; a Shanghai street carconductor; my cook's wife;

a lioncub in the zoo; a squirrel in Central Park in New York; adeck stewardwho made one goodremark; that writerof acolumn

on for some ten years now) all news in boxes;

PREFACE ix

and any writer who does not kill our sense of

curiosity in life or

whohas notkilleditinhimself .howcanI enumerate themall?

Thus deprived of academic training in

philosophy, I am lessscared to write a book about it. Everything seems clearer and

simpler for it, if thatis any compensation in the eyes of orthodoxphilosophy I doubt it I know there will be complaints that my

words are not long enough, that I make things too easy to stand, and finally that I lack cautiousness, that I do not whisper

under-low and trip with mincing steps in the sacred mansions of losophy, looking propeily scared as I ought to do Courage seems

phi-to be the rarest of all virtues in a modern philosopher. But I have

always wanderedoutside theprecincts ofphilosophy andthat gives

mecourage. There isa methodof appealingto one'sown intuitive

judgment,of thinking out one's ownideas and formingone'sown

independentjudgments,andconfessing themin publicwitha

child-ish impudence, and sure enough, some kindred souls in anothercorner of the world will agree with you A person forming hisideas in thismanner will often be astounded to discover how an-other writer said exactly the samethingsandfelt exactly thesame way, but perhaps expressed the ideasmore easily and more grace-fully It isthenthathediscoversthe ancientauthorandtheancientauthor bearshimwitness, andtheybecome forever friendsinspirit.There is thereforethematterof myobligations to these authors,especially my Chinese friends in spirit. I haveformy collaborators

in writingthisbookacompany of genialsouls,whoI hopelikeme

asmuch asI like them Forina very real sense, thesespiritshave

been with me, inthe only form of spiritual communionthat I rec*

ognize asreal when two men separatedbythe ages thinkthesame

thoughts and sense the same feelings and each perfectly stands theother*Inthe preparation ofthisbook,afewofmyfriendshave been especially helpful with their contributions and advice:

under-Po Chiiyi o the eighth century, Su Tungp'oof the eleventh, andthat great company of original spirits of the sixteenth and seven<teenthcenturies theromanticandvolubleTu Ch'ihshui, theplay*

x PREFACE

sensitiveand sophisticated ChangCh'ao, the epicureLi Liweng,the

happy and gay old hedonist Yuan Tsets'ai, and the bubbling,

jok-ing, effervescent Chin Shengt'an unconventional souls all, men

with too much independent judgment and too much feeling for

things to be liked by the orthodox critics, men too good to be

"moral15

and too moral to be "good" for the Confuciamsts The

smallness of the select company has made the enjoyment of their

presenceallthemorevaluedandsincere.Someof thesemay happen

not to be quoted, but they are here with me in thus book all thesame.Theircoming back to their ownin China isonly a matteroftime . There have been others, names less well-known, but no

lesswelcome for their aptremarks, because they express my

senti-ments so well I call them my Chinese Amiels people who don't

talk much,but always talk sensibly, and I respect theirgood sense

There are others again who belong to the illustrious company of

"Anons"ofallcountriesand ages, whoin an inspired moment stud

somethingwiserthen they knew,like theunknownfathersof #reatmen. Finally there are greaterones still, whom I look uj> to more

as masters than as companions of the spirit, whose serenity ofunderstanding is so human and yet so divine, and whose wisdomseems to have come entirely without effort because it has becomecompletelynatural. Suchaoneis Chuangtsc,andsuch aoneisT'ao

Yiianming, whosesimplicity of spiritis the despairof smallermen*

Ihavesometimesletthesesoulsspeakdirectlyto the reader,makingproperacknowledgment, andatothertimes,I have spokenforthemwhile I seem to be speaking for myself The older my friendshipwith them, the morelikely ismy indebtedness to their ideas to be

of the familiar, elusive and invisible type, like parental influence

in agood family breeding.It is impossible toput onc*s fingeron adefinite point of resemblance,Ihave alsochosentospeak asa mod-ern, sharing the modern life, and not only as a Chinese; to giveonly what I have personally absorbed into my modern being, andnot merely to act as a respectful translator of the ancients Such aprocedure hasits drawbacks, but on thewhole, one can <lo amoresincere job ofit. The selections are therefore as as

PREFACE xi

the rejections. No complete presentation of any one poet or

phi-losopher is attempted here, and it is

impossible to judge of them

through theevidences onthese

pages I mustthereforeconcludeby

saying as usual that the merits ofthis book,if

any, are largely due

to the helpful suggestions of my collaborators, while for the

in-accuracies, deficiencies and immaturities of judgment, I alone am

responsible

Again I owe mythanks to Mr andMrs.Richard J. Walsh, first,

for suggesting the idea of the book, and secondly, for their usefuland frank criticism I must also thank Mr Hugh Wade for co-operating on preparing the manuscript for the press and on theproofs, and Miss Lillian Peflfer formaking the Index

LIN YUTANG

New York City

July30, 1937

III. THE SCAMPAS IDEAL II

X L CHRISTIAN, GREEK AND CHINESE 15

II. EARTH-BOUND

-23IIL SPIRIT AND FLESH 25

*H IV. A BIOLOGICALVIEW 27

)C V, HUMANLIFEA POEM 30

t INTHE IMAGEOFTHE MONKEY 36

III. ON BEINGMORTAL <

38

IV. ON HAVING A STOMACH *

42V* ON HAVING STRONG MUSCLES 51

VI. ON HAVING A MIND *

56

L ON HUMAN DIGNITY >

651L ON PLAYFUL CURIOSITY: THE RISE OF HUMAN

CIVILIZATION * 66

xiv CONTENTS

III. ON DREAMS

-73

IV. ON THESENSE OFHUMOR 77

V. ONBEING WAYWARD AND INCALCULABLE 83

VI. THEDOCTRINE OF THEINDIVIDUAL 88

i. FIND THYSELF: CHUANGTSE 95

II. PASSION, WISDOM AND COURAGE! MENCIUS 98

III. CYNICISM, FOLLYAND CAMOUFLAGE; LAOTSE 105

rv. "PHILOSOPHY OF HALF-AND-HALF": TSESSE in

V. A LOVEROF LIFE: T*AO YUANMING 115

I. THEPROBLEM OF HAPPINESS 122

III. CHIN'S THIRTY-THREE HAPPY MOMENTS

-130

IV. MISUNDERSTANDINGS OF MATERIALISM 136

V. HOW ABOUT MENTAL PLEASURES?

-140

VIL THE IMPORTANCE OF LOAFING i*!5

I. MAN THE ONLY WORKING ANIMAL

-145

II. THECHINESE THEORY OF LEISURE 148

III. THE CULTOF THE IDLE LIFE*

152

IV. THIS EARTH THE ONLY HEAVEN 156

V. WHAT IS LUCK?

-l6o

VI. THREE AMERICAN VICES * l6l

I. ONGETTING BIOLOGICAL l66

XX. CELIBACY A, FREAK OF CIVILIZATION *

170ON

CONTENTS xv

IV. THE CHINESE FAMILY IDEAL 182^

V. ON GROWING OLD GRACEFULLY 192

I. ON LYING IN BED 202

II. ON SITTING IN CHAIRS 206

III. ON CONVERSATION 211

IV. ON TEAAND FRIENDSHIP 221

V. ON SMOKE AND INCENSE 23!

VI. ON DRINK AND WINE GAMES 239

VII. ON FOOD AND MEDICINE 248

VIII. SOME CURIOUS WESTERN CUSTOMS 257

IX. THE INHUMANITY OFWESTERN DRESS 26l

X* ON HOUSE ANDINTERIORS 266

I. PARADISELOST?

-277

IL ON BIGNESS 281

III. TWO CHINESELADIES 284

IV, ON ROCKS AND TREES 2p2

V. ON FLOWERS AND FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS

-302

vi. THE"VASE FLOWERS'* OFYUAN CHUNGLANG 310VII. THE EPIGRAMS OF CHANG CH*AO 316

1. ON GOINGABOUT ANDSEEING THINGS

-329n* "THE TRAVELS OF MINGLIAOTSE" 338

a. THE REASONFORTHEFLIGHT 338

b THE WAY OF TRAVELING 34!

C ATAUSTERE HEIGHTS

-xvi CONTENTS

d BACKTOHUMANITY 346

C. PHILOSOPHY OF THE FLIGHT 354

I. GOOD TASTE IN KNOWLEDGE

-362

" ""

IL ARTAS PLAY AND PERSONALITY*

366

III. THE ART OF READING 376

IV. THE ART OF WRITING 385

I. THERESTORATION OF RELIGION 396

II. WHY I AM A PAGAN 400

I. THE NEED FOR HUMANIZED THINKING

-4!!

II. THE RETURN TO COMMON SENSE

-417

III. BEREASONABLE 42!

APPENDIX A: CERTAIN CHINESE NAMES 427

APPENDIX B: A CHINESE CRITICAL VOCABULARY *

430

INDEX OFNAMES AND SUBJECTS

-447

THE IMPORTANCE OF LIVING

be-have seen it and expressed it in their folk wisdom and their

lit-erature It is an idle philosophy born of an idle Me, evolved in adifferent age, I am quiteaware ButI cannot helpfeeling that thisviewoflife isessentially true,and sincewearealikeundertheskin,what touches the human heart in one country touches all. I shall

have to present a view o life as Chinese poets and scholars uated it with their common sense, their realism and their sense ofpoetry I shall attempt to reveal some of the beauty of the pagan

eval-world, a sense of the pathos and beauty andterror and comedy of

life,viewed by apeoplewho haveastrong feeling of the limitations

of our existence, and yet somehow retain a sense of the dignity of

human life,

The Chinese philosopheris one who dreams withone eye open,

who views life with love and sweet irony, who mixes hiscynicism

with a kindly tolerance, and who alternately wakes up from life'sdream and then nods again, feelingmore alivewhen he is dream-

ing than when he isawake, thereby investinghiswaking life with

a dream-world quality* He sees with one eye closed and with one

eye opened the futility of much that goes on around him and of

his own endeavors, but barely retains enough sense of reality todetermine to go through with it. He is seldom disillusioned be-cause he has no illusions, and seldom disappointed because he

never had extravagant hopes* In thisway hisspirit isemancipated.For*aftersurveyingthefieldofChineseliteratureandphilosophy,

I come to the conclusion that the highest ideal of Chinese culturehas always been a man with a sense of detachment (tdkuan) to-ward life based on a sense of wise disenchantment From this de*

2 THE AWAKENING

tachment comeshigh-mindedness (l^uanghuai), a high-mi ndedness

which enables one to go through hie with tolerant irony andescape the temptations of fame and wealth and achievement, andeventuallymakes him take what comes And fromthis detachment

arise also his sense of freedom, his love of vagabondage and his

pride and nonchalance It is only with this sense of freedom and

nonchalance that one eventually arrives at the keen and intensejoy of living

It is uselessfor me to say whether my philosophy is valid or notfor the Westerner To understand Western life, one would have

to look at it as a Westerner born, with his own temperament, hisbodily attitudes and his own set of nerves I have no doubt thatAmerican neivcs can stand a good many things that Chinesenervescannot stand, and vice versa It is good that itshould be sothat we should all be born different And yet it is all a ques-tion of relativity.I am quite sure that amidst the hustle and bustle

of American life, there is a great deal of wistCulness, of the divinedesire to lie on a plot of grass under tallbeautiful trees <> an idleafternoon and just do nothing. The necessity for such common

cries as "Wake up and live" is to me a good sign that a wise tion of American humanity prefer to dream the hours away. The

por-American is after all not as bad as all that It is only a tion whether hewill have more or less of that sort of thing, and

ques-how he will arrange to make it possible Perhaps theAmerican is

merely ashamedof theword "loafing" ina world where everybody

is doing something, butsomehow, as sure as I know heis also an

animal, he likCvS sometimes to have his muscles relaxed-* to stretch

on the sand, or to lie stillwith one leg comfortably curled up and one arm placed below his head as his pillow* If so, he cannot hevery different from Yen Huei, who had exactly that virtue and whom Confucius desperately admired among all his disciples.The

only thingI desire to see is thathe be honest aboutit,and that he

proclaim to theworld that he likes it when he likes it, that it is

notwhen he isworking inthe office butwhen heis lyingidly onthe sandthat his soul "Life

to say that the culture of any nation is the product of its mind.

Consequently, where there is a national mind so racially differentand historically isolated from the Western cultural world,we have

the right to expect newanswers totheproblemsoflife, orwhatis

better, new methods of approach, or, still better, a new posing ofthe problems themselves We know some of the virtues and de-

ficiencies of that mind, at least as revealed to us in the historicalpast It has a glorious art and a contemptible science, a magnifi-cent common senseand aninfantilelogic, a finewomanishchatterabout life and no scholastic philosophy. It is generally known thatthe Chinese mindis an intensely practical, hard-headedone, andit

is also known to someloversof Chineseartthat it isa profoundlysensitive mind; by a still smaller proportion of people, it is ac-cepted as also a profoundlypoetic andphilosophical mind Atleastthe Chinese are noted for taking things philosophically, which is

saying more than the statementthat the Chinesehave a great losophy or have a few great philosophers. For a nation to have afew philosophersisnot so unusual,but for anation to take thingsphilosophically is terrific It is evident anywaythat the Chineseas a

phi-natioftarcmorephilosophicthan efficient,and thatif itwerewise, no nation could have survived thehigh blood pressure ofan

other-efficient life for four thousand years. Four thousand years of

effi-cient living would ruin any nation An important consequence isthat,whileintheWest,the insane are somanythattheyareputin

anasylum,ixiChinathe insane are sounusualthatwe worshipthem,

as anybody whohas a knowledge of Chineseliterature willtestify.

And that, afterall, iswhatI am drivingat.Yes, theChinesehavealight, an almost gay, philosophy, and the best proof of their phil-osophic temper Is to be found in this wise and merry philosophyof

4 THE AWAKENING

II A PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC FORMULA

Let us begin with anexaminationof the Chinesemental make-up which produced thisphilosophy ofliving: great realism,inadequateidealism, ahigh sense ofhumor, and a highpoetic sensitivity to life

sonal, socialand national, and real progress ismade possibleby theproper mixture of these two ingredients, so that the clay is kept

in the ideal pliable, plastic condition, half moist and half dry, nothardened and unmanageable, nordissolving into mud The sound-est nations, like the English, have realism and idealism mixed inproper proportions, likethe claywhich neither hardens and so getspast the stage for the artist's molding, nor is so wishy-washy that

it cannotretain itsform Some countries are thrown into perpetualrevolutionsbecauseinto their clayhas been injected someliquid offoreign idealswhich is not yet properly assimilated, and the clay isthereforenot abletokeepitsshape

A vague, uncritical idealism always lends itself to ridicule and

toomuchofitmightbe a dangertomankind,leading itroundIn a

futile wild-goose chase for imaginary ideals If there were too

manyof these visionaryidealistsinanysocietyor people, revolutionswould be the order of the day Human society would be like an

idealistic couple forever getting tired of one place and changing

their residence regularly once every three months, for the simplereason that no one place is ideal and the place where one is notseemsalways betterbecauseoneis notthere*Veryfortunately, man

is also gifted with a sense ofhumor, whose function, asI conceive

it, is to exercise criticismofman's dreams,andbringthem intouch

with theworld of It is thatmandreams, but

A PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC FORMULA 5perhaps equally important that he can laugh at his own dreams.That isagreatgift,and the Chinesehaveplenty ofit.

The sense of humor, which I shall discuss at more length in alater chapter,seemsto bevery closely related tothe senseofreality,

or realism If the jokeris often cruel in disillusioning the idealist,

he nevertheless performs a very important function right there by

not letting the idealist bump his head against the stone wall of

reality and receivea ruder shock He also gently eases the tension

of the hot-headed enthusiast and makes him live longer By paring him for disillusion, there is probably less pain in the finalimpact, fora humorist isalways like amancharged with theduty

pre-of breaking a sad news gently to a dying patient Sometimes thegentle warning from a humorist saves the dying patient's life. Ifidealism and disillusion must necessarily gotogetherin this world,

we must say that life is cruel, rather thanthe joker who reminds

us of life'scruelty

I have often thought of formulas by which the mechanism of

human progressand historical changecan beexpressed They seem

tobeas follows:

Reality Dreams = Animal Being

Reality + Dreams = A Heart-Ache (usuallycalled Idealism)

Reality + Humor = Realism (also calledConservatism)

Reality + Dreams + Humor = Wisdom

So then, wisdom, or the highest type of thinking, consists in ingdown our dreamsor idealismwith agoodsenseofhumor, sup-portedby reality itself.

ton-As pure ventures in pseudo-scientific formulations, we may

pro-ceed to analyze national characters in the following manner. I say

"pseudo-scientific" because I distrust all dead and mechanical

for-mulas for expressing anything connected with human affairs or

human personalities.Puttinghumanaffairsin exactformulasshows

in itself a lack o the sense of humor and therefore a lack of dom donotmeanthat these things arenot being done: theyare

wis-6 THE AWAKENING

Thatiswhy weget somuchpseudo-science today.Whenaogist can measure a man's LQ. or P.Q.,1 it isa pretty poor world,

psychol-andspecialistshaverisen tousurp humanizedscholarship. Butifwe

recognizethattheseformulasareno morethan handy, graphicways

of expressingcertainopinions, and so longas wedon't dragin thesacrednameof science to help advertiseourgoods,no harm isdone

Thefollowingaremyformulasfor the charactersof certain nations,

entirely personal and completely incapable of pioof or verification.Anyone is free to dispute them and change them or add his own,

if he does not claim that he can prove his private opinions by amass of statistical facts and figures. Let "R" stand for a sense of

reality (or realism),"D" fordreams (or idealism), *'H" forasense

ofhumor, and addingoneimportant ingredient "S" for ity.

sensitiv-2

Andfurtherlet"4" stand for "abnormallyhigh," "3" stand for

"high," "2" for"fair,"and"i" for "low,"and we havethefollowingpseudo-chemical formulas for the following national characters

Human beings and communities behave then differently according

totheir different compositions, as sulphatesandsulphidesor carbon

monoxide and carbon dioxidebehave differently from one another.For me, theinteresting thing always isto watch how human com-

munitiesornationsbehavedifferently underidenticalconditions.As

we cannotinvent words like "humoride" and "humorate" after thefashion of chemistry, we may put it thus: "3 grains of Realism,grains of Dreams, 2 grains of Humor and i grain of Sensitivitymake anEnglishman."8

x= The English

R2DSH3S^ = The French

R3D3H2S2= The Americans

= The Germans

1 amnotobjectingto the limited utilityof intelligencetests,butto their claims

tomathematicalaccuracy or constant dependabilityas measures ofhumanpersonality.

* In the sense of theFrenchwordsensibiKt6.

8Some might with good reason suggest the including of an WI/* standing for

iogic or the rational faculty, as an important element Sa shaping human progress.This *X" will then, often function or weigh against sensitivity, a direct perception

ofthings. Such a formula might be attempted. For me personally, the role of the

human

A PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC FORMULA 7

R2D4H1S1==The RussiansRoDsHiSx = The Japanese

R4D1H3S3= The Chinese

I do not knowthe Italians, the Spanish, the Hindus and otherswell enough even to essay aformula on the subject,

realizing thattheaboveare shaky enough asthey are, andin anycaseare enough

to bring down a storm o criticism upon my head Probably theseformulas are more provocative than authoritative I promise to

modify themgraduallyfor my ownuse as newfacts arebrought to

my knowledge, or newimpressionsareformed Thatis all theyare

worth today a record of the progress of my knowledge and thegaps o my ignorance

Some observations may be necessary. It is easy to see that I gard the Chineseas mostclosely allied to theFrench intheirsense

re-of humor and sensitivity, as is quite evident from the way theFrench writetheirbooks andeat theirfood,whilethemorevolatile

character of the French comes from their greater idealism, whichtakes the form of love of abstract ideas (recall the manifestoes oftheir literary, artistic and political movements). "R4" for Chineserealism makes the Chinesethe mostrealistic people; 'TV accountsfor something of a drag in the changesintheir pattern or ideal of

life. The highfigures forChinese humor andsensitivity, as well asfor their realism., are perhaps due tomy tooclose association andthe vividnessofmy impressions.For Chinesesensitivity,little justi-

fication is needed; the whole story of Chinese prose, poetry and

painting proclaims it* The Japanese and Germans are very

much alike in their comparative lack of humor (such is the

gen-eral impression of people), yet it is really impossible to give a

"zero" for any one characteristic in any one nation, not even foridealism in the Chinesepeople. It is alla question of degree; suchstatementsas acompletelack ofthisorthat quality arenot basedon

an intimate knowledge of the peoples For this reason, I give theJapaneseandthe Germans "Hi," instead of "Ho,"and I intuitivelyfeelthat I amright.ButIdobelieve that the Japaneseandthe Gcr\

mans suffer at present, and have sufferedin the for

8 THE AWAKENING

lacking abettersense ofhumor How aPrussian Geheimratlovesto

becalleda Geheimrat,and how heloveshisbuttons andmetal pms!

A certain belief in "logical necessity" (often "holy" or "sacred"),

a tendencytoflytoostraight at a goalinstead of circlingaround it,

oftencarriesonetoofar It isnot somuch what youbelieve in thatmatters, as the way in which you believe it and proceed to trans-late that beliefintoaction.By "D3

"

fortheJapaneseIamreferringtotheir fanatic loyalty to their emperor and to the state, made pos-sible by a low mixture of humor For idealism must stand for

differentthingsin different countries,astheso-calledsense ofhumorreally comprises a very wide variety o things. . There is aninterestingtugbetweenidealismandrealism inAmerica, both givenhigh figures, and that produces the energy characteristic of theAmericans What American idealism is? I hadbetterleave it to theAmericans tofind out; butthey arealwaysenthusiasticaboutsome-

thing or other. A great deal of this idealism is noble, in the sensethat the Americans are easily appealed toby noble ideals or noble

words; but some of it is mere gullibility. The American sense of

humor again means a different thing from the Continental sense

ofhumor, butreally Ithink that,such asit is (the love offun and

an innate, broad common sense), it is the greatest asset of theAmerican nation- In the coming years ofcritical change, they willhave great need of that broad common sense referred toby JamesBryce, whichIhope will tide them overthesecritical times I giveAmericansensitivityalowfigurebecauseofmyimpressionthat theycan stand somanythings.Thereis nouse quarreling about this,be-causewe willbe quarreling about words. . The English seem to

be onthe whole the soundest race: contrast their "RJO-T with theFrench "RJD3 " I am all for"RJV Itbespeaksstability-The idealformula forme would seemtobe RaDsHnS2 ,fortoo much idealism

ortoomuchsensitivityisnotagoodthing,either.Andif Igive "S^*forEnglishsensitivity, andifthatistoolow, whoisto blameforit

exceptthe English themselves? How canI tellwhether theEnglishever feel anything joy, happiness, anger, sati$factioa~when theyare determined to look so glum on alloccasions?

A PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC FORMULA 9

We might apply the same formula towritersand poets. To take

a few well-known types:

Shakespeare4 R4D4H3S4Heine = R3D3H,S3

These are no more than a few impromptu suggestions. But it is

clear thatall poetshavea highsensitivity,or they wouldn't bepoets

at all*.Poe, I feel, is avery soundgenius, inspiteof hisweird,inative gift. Doesn't helove "ratiocination"?

imag-So my formula for the Chinese nationalmind is:

There we start with an "S3 ," standing for high sensitivity, which

guarantees a proper artistic approach to life and answers for theChinese affirmation that this earthly life is beautiful and the con-sequent intense love of this life. But it signifies more than that;actually it stands for the artisticapproach even tophilosophy Itac-counts for the fact that the Chinese philosopher's view of life isessentially the poet'sview of life, andthat, in China, philosophy is

married to poetry ratherthan to science asit isintheWest It willbecome amply clearfrom whatfollowsthat this high sensitivitytothe pleasures and pains andflux and change ofthe colors of life is

the very basis that makes a light philosophy possible Man's sense

o the tragedy of life comes from his sensitive perception of thetragedy of a departing spring, and a delicate tendernesstowardlifecomes fromatendernesstowardthewithered blossomsthatbloomedyesterday- First the sadnessandsense ofdefeat,thentheawakening and the laughter of the old rogue-philosopher

*

I havehesitated a long timebetweengiving Shakespeare "$*"and "S8 " Finally

his"Sonnets"decided itNojchool teacher has experienced greater fearandtrembling

a bird in the hand as better than two in the bush This realism,

therefore, both reinforces and supplements the artist's affirmationthat this life is transiently beautiful, and it all but saves the artistand poet from escaping from life altogether The Dreamer says

"Life is but a dream," and the Realist replies, "Quite correct And

letus live this dream as beautifully as we can." But the realismof

one awakened is the poet's realism and not that of the businessman, andthe laughter of the old rogueis nolongerthelaughter oftheyounggo-getter singinghis-wayto successwithhishead up andhischinout,butthat of an oldman running his fingerthroughhisflowing bcard> and speaking in a soothingly low voice Such adreamerlovespeace,for noonecan fighthardfor adream- Hewill

be more intentto livereasonably andwell withhisfellowdreamers.Thus is the high tensionof he lowered

But the chief function o this sense of realism is the elimination

ofall non-essentialsin thephilosophy oflife, holdinglife down by

the neck, as it were, for fear that the wings of imagination may

carry it away to an imaginary and possibly beautiful, but unreal,world And afterall, thewisdom oflife consistsin the elimination

of non-essentials, in reducing the problemsof philosophy to just afew theenjoymentof thehome (the relationshipbetween man and

woman and child), of living, of Nature and of culture and inshowingalltheotherirrelevantscientificdisciplinesandfutilechases

after knowledge to the door The problems of life for the Chinesephilosopher thenbecome amazingly few and simple It means also

animpatience with metaphysicsand with the pursuit ofknowledgethatdoes notlead toanypractical bearingon life itself.Andit alsomeansthat every human activity, whether the acquiring ofknowl- edgeor the acquiring ofthings,hastobe submitted immediatelytothe test of life itself and of its subserviency to the end of living*Again, andhereisa significant result,theendoflivingisnotsomemetaphysical entity- tutjustlivingitself.

THE SCAMP AS IDEAL n

and of the intellect itself, philosophy for the Chinese becomes amatter of direct and intimate

feeling of life itself, and refuses to

be encased in any system For there is a robust sense of reality, asheer animal sense, a spirit of reasonableness which crushes reason

itself and makes the rise of any hard and fast philosophic systemimpossible There are the three religions of China, Confucianism,Taoism and Buddhism, all magnificent systems in themselves, andyet robust common sensedilutes themallandreducesthem allintothe common problem of the pursuit of a happy human life. The

mature Chinese is always a person who refuses to think too hard

or to believe in any single idea or faith or school of philosophywhole-heartedly When a friend of Confucius told him that he al-ways thought three timesbefore heacted, Confuciuswittily replied,

"Tothink twiceisquiteenough."Afollower of a school ofphyisbutastudent of philosophy,but amanisa student,or perhaps

philoso-amaster, oflife.

Thefinalproductofthiscultureandphilosophyis this: in China,

as compared with the West, man lives a life closer to nature andcloser to childhood,alifeinwhichtheinstinctsandtheemotionsaregivenfreeplayand emphasizedagainst thelifeof theintellect,with

a strangecombination of devotiontotheflesh andarrogance of thespirit,ofprofound wisdom andfoolishgaiety, ofhighsophistication

and childish nalvet& I would say, therefore, that this philosophy is

characterized by: first, a giftfor seeing lifewhole in art; secondly,

a conscious return tosimplicityin philosophy; and thirdly,anideal

of reasonableness in living. The end product is, strange to say, a

worshipofthepoet,the peasantandthe^vagabond.

HI THE SCAMPAS IDEAL

To me,spiritually a child of theEastand theWest, man'sdignity

consistsin thefollowingfacts whichdistinguish man fromanimals

First, that he has a playful curiosity and a natural genius forexploringknowledge; second, thathehas dreams anda lofty ideal-

ism or confused, or cocky, it is true, but

neverthe-12 THE AWAKENING

less worthwhile); third, and still more important, that he is able

to correct his dreams by a sense of humor, and thus restrain hisidealism by a more robust and healthy realism; and finally, that

he does not react to surroundings mechanically and uniformly asanimals do, but possessesthe ability and the freedom to determinehis ownreactions and tochange surroundings at his will. Thislast

isthe sameas saying thathuman personality isthe last thing tobe

reduced to mechanical laws; somehow the human mind is forever

elusive, uncatchable and unpicdictable,and managestowriggleout,

of mechanistic laws or a materialistic dialectic that crazy gists and unmarried economists arc trying to impose upon him. Man, therefore, is a curious, dreamy, humorous and wayward,

psycholo-creature

Inshort,myfaith inhumandignityconsistsin thebeliefthatman

is the greatest scamp on earth. Human dignity must be associatedwith the idea of a scamp and not with that of an obedient, disci-plined and regimented soldier The scamp is probably the mostglorious type of humanbeing, as the soldieris the lowesttype, ac-cording to this conception It seems in mylast book, My Country

and MyPeople, the netimpression ofreaders wasthat Iwas tryingto

glorify the "old rogue.'* It is my hopethatthe net impressionofthe presentonewillbethatIamdoingmybest toglorifythe scamp

orvagabond.IhopeI shallsucceed.Forthings are not so simpleasthey sometimes seem In this present age of threats to democracy and individualliberty,probably only thescamp andthespiritofthescamp alonewill save us from becoming lost as serially numberedunits in the masses of

disciplined, obedient, regimented and formed coolies The scamp will be the last and most formidableenemyof dictatorships. Hewill bethechampionofhuman dignity

uni-and individual freedom, and will be thelast to be conquered Allmoderncivilization dependsentirely uponhim*

Probablythe Creatorknewwell that,when Hecreated man upon

this earth, He was producing a scamp,a brilliant scamp, it is true,buta scampnonetheless.Thescamp-likequalitiesofman are, afterhis most This scamp that the Creator has

THE SCAMP AS IDEAL 13

produced is undoubtedly a brilliant chap He is still avery unrulyand awkward adolescent, thinking himself greater and wiser than

he really is, still full of mischief and naughtiness and love of afree-for-all. Nevertheless, there is so much good in him that theCreator mightstill bewilling to pin on him His hopes, as a fathersometimes pins his hopes on a brilliant but somewhat erratic son

of twenty Would Hebe willing some day to retireand turn overthe management of this universe to this erratic son of His? I

think-living,and I call no manwiseuntil hehas madethe

prog-ressfrom the wisdom of knowledge to thewisdom offoolishness,'and become a laughing philosopher, feelingfirst life's tragedy and

then life's

comedy For we must weep before we can laugh. Out

of sadness comes theawakening and out ofthe awakening comesthe laughter of the philosopher, with kindliness and tolerance toboot

Theworld, I believe,is fartooserious, andbeingfartooserious,

ithasneed of a wise and merryphilosophy Thephilosophy of theChineseartof livingcancertainlybecalledthe"gayscience,"ifany-thing caa be called by that phrase used by Nietzsche. After all,only a gay philosophy is profound philosophy; the serious phi-losophiesof-theWesthaven'tevenbeguntounderstandwhatlife is.

To me personally,the only function of philosophyisto teachusto

jtake lifemorelightlyandgayly thanthe average businessmandoes,

forno businessman whodoesriotretireatfifty, ifhecan,isinmy

eyes aphilosopher*Thisisnot merelyacasualthought,butisa'damental point of view with me The world can be madea morepeaceful and morereasonable place tolivein onlywhen menhaveimbued themselves in the light gayety of this spirit. The modem

fun-man takes life far too seriously, and becausehe is too serious, theworld is full o troubles We ought, therefore, to take time to ex-aminethe origin ofthatattitudewhich willmake a whole-

in the flesh, visible, palpable and understandable by the common

man. Surveying Chinese literature, art and philosophy as a whole,

ithasbecomequitecleartome that thephilosophy ofa wise

disen-chantment and a hearty enjoyment of life is their common

mes-sageand teaching the most constant, most characteristicand most

persistent refrainofChinese thought.

Chapter Two

VIEWS OF MANKIND

I. CHRISTIAN, GREEK AND CHINESE

THERE are several views of mankind, the traditional Christiantheological view, the Greek pagan view, and the Chinese Taoist-Confucianist view (I do not include the Buddhist view becauseit

is too sad.) Deeper down in their allegorical sense, these viewsafter all do not differ so much from one another, especially when

the modern man with better biological and anthropological edge gives them a broader

knowl-interpretation But these differences in

their original forms exist.

The traditional, orthodox Christian view was that man wascreated perfect, innocent, foolish and happy, living naked in theGardenof Eden Then came knowledge and wisdom andthe Fall

of Man, towhich the sufferings ofmanare due, notably (i) work

by the sweat of one's brow for man, and (2) the pangs of laborfor women. In contrast with man's original innocence and per-fection, a new element was introduced to explain his present im-perfection, andthatis of course the Devil,workingchiefly throughthe body, while his higher nature works through the soul When

the "soul" was invented in the history of Christian theology I am

not aware, but this"soul" becamea somethingrather than a

func-tion, an entity rather than a condition, and it sharply separated

man fromthe animals,which have no soulsworthsaving. Herethelogic halts, for the origin of the Devil had to be explained, and

when the medieval theologians proceeded with theirusual

scholas-tic logic to deal withthe problem, they gotintoa quandary Theycould not have very well admitted that the Devil, who was Not*

God, came from God himself, nor could they quite agree that inthe original universe, the Devil, a Not-God, was co-eternal with

God, So in desperation they agreedthat the Devil must havebeen

a fallen angel, whichrather begs thequestion of the origin ofevil

(for there still must have been another Devil totempt this fallen

x6 VIEWS OF MANKIND

angel),and whichisthereforeunsatisfactory, butthey had to leave

itat that.Neverthelessfrom allthisfollowed thecuriousdichotomy

ofthe spiritand theflesh,a mythical conceptionwhichis stillquiteprevalent and powerful today in affecting our philosophy of lifeand happiness.1

Then came the Redemption, still borrowing from the currentconception of the sacrificial lamb, which went still fartherback to

the ideaof a God Who desired the smell ofroast meal and couldnot forgive for nothing. From this Redemption, at one stroke ameans was found by which all sins could be forgiven, and a way

was foundfor perfection again.The mostcurious aspect of Christianthoughtis the idea ofperfection.Asthishappenedduring the decay

of the ancient worlds, a tendency grew up to emphasize the life,and the questionof salvationsupplanted thequestion of happi-nessor simple living itself. Thenotionwas howto get away from

after-this world alive, a world which was apparently sinking into ruption and chaos and doomed Hence the overwhelming impor-tance attached to immortality This represents a contradiction ofthe

cor-original Genesisstory that God did not want man to live ever The Genesis story of the reason why Adam and Eve were

for-driven out of the Garden of Eden wasnot that they had tasted otheTree o Knowledge, asispopularly conceived, but the fear lestthey should disobey a second timeand eato theTree o Life and

liveforever:

And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one

. of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his

*It is a happy fact thatwith the progress of modern thought, the Devil is the

first to bethrownoverboard I believe that ofahundredliberalChnstunttcxtaywho

still believe inGcdinsomeformor other, not morethanfive believe in a real Devil, except in a figurative sense.Alsothe belief inarealHell is disappearing before the

CHRISTIAN, GREEK AND CHINESE 17

So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of thegarden ofEden cherubims, and a flaming sword which turnedevery way, to feepthewayof thetreeoflife.

The Tree of Knowledge seemed to be somewhere in the center

of the garden, but the Tree of Life was near the eastern entrance,where for all we know, cherubims are still stationed to guard theapproach by men.

Allin all, thereis still a belief intotal depravity, that enjoyment

of this life is sin andwickedness, that to be uncomfortableis to bevirtuous, and that on the whole man cannot save himself except

by a greater power outside The doctrine of sin is still the basic

assumption of Christianity asgenerally practiced today, and dan missionaries trying to make converts generally start out by

Chris-impressing upon the party to be converted a consciousness of sinand of the wickedness of human nature (which is, of course, thesinequa non fortheneed of theready-maderemedy whichthemis-sionary has up his sleeve). All in all, you can't make a man aChristian unlessyoufirstmake him believeheisasinner Some one

has said rather cruelly, "Religion in our country has so narrowed

down to the contemplation of sin that a respectable man does not

anylonger daretoshowhisfacein the church."

The Greek pagan world was a different world by itself andtherefore their conception of man was also quite different What

strikesme mostis that theGreeks madetheir godslikemen,whilethe Christians desired tomake men likethe gods That Olympian

company is certainly a jovial, amorous, loving, lying, quarrelingandvow-breaking,petulantlot;hunt-loving, chariot-ridingandjave-

lin-throwing like the Greeksthemselves a marrying lot, too, and havingunbelievablymanyillegitimatechildren.Sofarasthe differ-

encebetween gods and menis concerned, the gods merely had

di-vine powers of hurling thunderbolts in heaven and raising

vegetation on earth, were immortal, and drank nectar instead of

\vine thefruits werepretty much thesame Onefeels one can be

intimatewiththiscrowd, can gohunting with a knapsack on one'sback with orAthene, or stop Mercury onthe way and chat

mes-gods were human. How different from the perfect Chiistian God!

And so the godsweremerely another race ofmen, a raceofgiants,gifted with immortality, while men on earthwere not Out of this

background came some of the most inexpressibly beautiful stories

of Demeter and Proserpina and Orpheus. The belief in the gods

was taken for granted, for even Socrates, when he was about todrink hemlock, proposed a libationto thegods to speed him on hisjourney from this worldto the next This wasvery much like the

attitude of Confucius It was necessarily so in that period; whatattitude toward man and God the Greek spirit would take in themodern world there is unfortunately no chance of knowing The

Greek pagan world was not modern, and the modern Christianworldis notGrecL That'sthe pityof it,

On the whole, it was accepted by the Greeks that man's was amortal lot, subject sometimes to a cruel Fate That once accepted,

man wasquitehappy as he was,for the Greeksloved thislifeandthis universe, and were interested in understanding the good, thetrueand the beautiful in life, besidesbeingfully occupied inscien-

tifically understanding thephysical world There was no mythical

"Golden Period" in the sense of the Garden of Eden, and no

alle-gory oftheFallofMan; the Hellenes themselveswere but human

creatures transformed from pebbles picked up and thrown overtheir shoulders by Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, as they were

coming downto the plainaftertheGreat Flood.Diseasesandcareswere explained comically; they came through the uncontrollable

desire of a young woman to open and sec a box of jewels Pan*dora's Box, The Greek fancy was beautiful They took human

nature largely as it was: the Christians might say they were

"re-signed" to the mortal lot. But it was so beautiful to be mortal:therewasfree roomforthe exercise ofunderstandingandthefree,

Someofthe Sophists man'snature good

CHRISTIAN, GREEK AND CHINESE 19

and some thought man's nature bad, but there wasn't the

sharpcontradiction ofHobbes and Rousseau.Finally, in Plato, man wasseen to be a compound of desires, emotions, and thought, and

idealhuman lifewas theliving together inharmony of these threeparts of his being under the guidance of wisdom or true under-standing Plato thought "ideas" were immortal, but individualsouls were either base or noble, according as they loved justice,learning, temperance and beauty ornot The soul also acquired anindependent and immortalexistence in Socrates; as weare told in

"Phaedo," "When the soul exists in herself, and is released fromthe body, and thebody is released fromthe soul, what is this butdeath?" Evidently the belief in immortality of the human soul issomething which the Christian, Greek, Taoist and Confucianistviews havein common Of course this is nothing tobe jumped at

by modern believersin the immortalityof the soul Socrates' belief

in immortality would probably mean nothing to a modern man,because many of his premises in support of it, like re-incarnation,cannot beacceptedbythemodern man.

The Chinese view of man also arrived at the idea that man is

'the Lord ofthe Creation ("Spirit of theTen Thousand Things"),

and in the Confucianist view, man ranks as the equal of heaven

and earth in the "Trio of Geniuses." The background was

ani-mistic: everything was alive or inhabited by a spirit mountains,rivers,and everything thatreachedagrandold age.The winds and thunder were spirits themselves; each of the great mountains and

each river was ruled by a spirit who practically owned it; each

kind of flower had a fairy in heaven attending to its seasons andits welfare, and therewas a Queen of All Flowerswhosebirthday

came on the twelfth day of the second moon; every willow treepine tree, cypress, fox or turtle that reached a grand old age, sayover a few hundred years, acquired by that very fact immortalityand became a "genius."

With this animistic background, it is natural that man is alsoconsidered a manifestation of the spirit.This spirit, like all life in

20 VIEWS OF MANKIND

positive or yang principle, and the female, passive, negative or yinprinciple which is really no more than a lucky, shrewd guess atpositive and negative electricity. When this spirit becomes incar-nated inahumanbody, it is calledp'o; when unattached toabody and floating about as spirit it is called hwen (A man of forcefulpersonalityor "spirits"is spoken of as having a lot of foil, or p

f

o-energy.) After death, this hwen continues to wander about

Nor-mally it does not bother people, but if no one buries and offerssacrifices to the deceased, the spirit becomes a "wandering ghost,"for which reason an All Souls' Day is set apart on the fifteenth

day of the seventh moon for a general sacrifice to those drowned

in water or dead and unburied m a strange land Also, if the ceased was murdered or died suffering a wrong, the sense of

de-injustice in the ghost compels it to hang about and cause troubleuntil the wrong is avenged and the spirit is satisfied* Then alltrouble is stopped

While living, man, who is spirit taking shape in a body, sarily has certainpassions, desires, and a flow of "vital energy," or

neces-in more easily understood English, just "nervous energy." In andfor themselves, these are neither good nor bad, but just something

given and inseparable from the characteristically human life. All

men and women have

passions, natural desires and noble bitions, and also a conscience; they have sex, hunger, fear, anger,and are subject to sickness, pain, sufferingand death Culture con-

am-sists in bringing about the expression, of these passions and desires

in harmony Thatis the Confucianist view, which believes thatbyliving inharmonywiththishumannature given us,we can becomethe equals ofheavenand earth,asquoted attheend of ChapterVL

The Buddhists, however, regard the mortal desires of the fleshessentially as the medieval Christians did they arc a nuisance to

be done away with Men and women who are too intelligent, orinclined tothinktoomuch, sometimesacceptthis view and become

monks andnuns; but onthe whole, Confucian good sense forbids

it. Then also, with a Taoistic touch, beautiful and talented girls