-Mao Mu's thoughts on Blade.

In front of the vast universe and vigorous nature, how small and weak human beings are. Only by relying on society can human beings challenge creation and open up more and more relaxed space for their own survival. A person's life, some as sharp as a blade and some as heavy as the back of an axe, complement each other, making human society like a sharp axe forged by different colors of life, thus opening up a road in the wild nature.

It should not be too controversial to say that Larry is such a "blade" figure. This clever and steady former pilot had a unique life experience in the war: the sudden death of his comrade-in-arms made him marvel at the shortness of life and the bad fate, thus cherishing his life more. This kind of treasure made him devote his energy to the love caused by his personality, which made him have a special interest and become the focus of vitality. Therefore, he is as quiet as autumn water, as smart as the wind, the fashionable trend can't control him, and the noise of public opinion can't tame him. He has his own identity, which is not only a mystery woven by thoughts, but also a challenge to the problem by wisdom. Facing the huge objective world, he just wanted to find out what he was interested in, and he worked tirelessly for it, leaving all kinds of surprises, consternation, regrets and sighs to his relatives and friends. His noble head just refused to turn to secular life and was not afraid to bear many difficulties. His life is always a gesture of pursuing perfection. Even if I failed to live up to my lover's expectations and the support of my friends, I kept changing my life scenes, which was a bit frivolous. Isn't this the outstanding feature of the "blade"?

We say that Larry is a "sharp knife", not only because he entered the mysterious yoga along the firm exploration, but also gained a broad and kind heart, not only enjoying a unique life, but also showing the world the possibility of a new life; These are important, but equally important (if not more important) is that his intoxicating dedication can always objectively provide blessings to others and the secular world, and eliminate disasters and solve problems. You see: he can use magical hypnosis to treat headaches for his friends, and he can also use a period of tenderness to create human warmth for stray models; I want to turn a slut driven by bad luck into a prostitute with my care and care, and satisfy the sensual pleasure of a widowed widow in kind hesitation and unbearable. These different practices are different in secular public opinion, but they are also natural in Larry. He took his own interests as the purpose, and with his wisdom and will, even with an intuition that is still difficult to clarify, he integrated dreamy meditation with down-to-earth creation, and integrated the open-mindedness of death with the merits of benefiting others. What a wonderful individual life, what a valuable social member! At the end of the story, Mao Mu has a summary: "Some unspeakable people will be smoked on him like moths to a fire, and gradually agree with his enthusiasm and belief that only through spiritual life can he get the greatest satisfaction in life, and he himself has always held a selfless and self-improving attitude and will make his own contribution." In the rumination of Blade, a strange thought often flashed through my mind: Larry, can this life, which is not secular, applause and inadvertently benefits the world, be regarded as another version of Pavel Colta King (perhaps more reasonable and feasible, and therefore more worthy of emulation)? He forged another kind of "steel" with deep reserves and calm independence instead of deliberate altruism and ruthless struggle, which shone cold and dazzling on the indispensable blade of human society. ...

Calling Isabel and Gray "axe backs" may attract many different opinions, because their lives are too mediocre and trivial, and it seems hard to say that they are achieving a kind of massiness. I believe that even the author himself stood on my opposite side, otherwise he would not have arranged such a mean passage for Isabel: "A year later, Isabel gave birth to a daughter and named her Joan according to the custom at that time;" Two years later, I gave birth to another daughter and named her Priscilla according to the atmosphere at that time. " When I read this book, I couldn't help laughing internally. I think Mao Mu, who became famous after writing a book, is too unfriendly to ordinary people! As for Larry's ex-fiancee, although Mao Mu also portrayed her as beautiful and intelligent, she even said that "the loveliest part of her personality is that she is never bothered by naked facts", but apart from making a statement or praise to Larry, the author's The Merchant's Wife is completely lackluster, and even the books at home are ridiculed by Mao Mu: "The books are protected by gilded lattices and locked to prevent people from reading; Perhaps it is better to do so, because most of these books are obscene books with illustrations in the eighteenth century. " Mao Mu's condescending and dismissive attitude undoubtedly runs through the whole novel, so most readers will think that the appearance of this couple is just a set, or simply a night, at best, a dim dusk, which just sets off Larry's life track as dazzling as Comet. However, whether it is the life of Isabel's husband and godson's housewife, or Gray's investment business for petty bourgeoisie "widows with fixed income, retired military officers, etc.". This is too common in this world. Without the busy work of these people, there would be no effective flow of wealth between social fields, especially without Gray struggling for his own credit and customer's property until bankruptcy. If all people, like Larry, take food as the source of income and "shake their shoulders" everywhere in France, Germany and India as the whole content, his "stable income of 3,000 francs a month" will soon be cut off, and even suddenly be swallowed up by the cracks of disaster. Where can he sit in the library and wander around abroad at will? Millions of Gray and Isabel in Qian Qian follow the rules and rush about in their seemingly ordinary but indispensable daily lives, completing "the world is being changed by wealth, and the United States is ahead of this trend" (Isabel's words), maintaining the stable operation of society, balancing all kinds of twists and turns and disasters, and raising Larry and prospective Larry at that time and later, without them. Some people may say that Larry can earn his living by winning prizes, but don't forget: both Nobel and Rockefeller have spent their whole lives accumulating prize funds for the benefit of future generations!

However, Isabel and Gray do have some limitations, and even some danger lurks in them, that is, they don't understand Larry's "blade-like" talent and pursuit, are used to throwing a cold shoulder, and even have a slightly indignant attitude of disapproval. In their view, everyone is the whole, and the common pursuit is what we should strive for. The popularization of reality should naturally be the goal of life. Other than that, everything else is inexplicably idle. In any era, people who hold this view and attitude towards life are not a minority that cannot be ignored. Their sense of superiority and criticism, which may be understandable to individuals, will be enough to drown all geniuses and arrest all creation if they converge into a torrent and flaunt it as orbital decision. It's like a pile of iron ingots. If it is not used to forge the axe back, but to hit those "blades", those "blades" will not only be unable to cut through thorns, but also be doomed to be scarred beyond recognition. Fortunately, no one can manage the "consistency of public opinion" well, and no one can regard Larry, who opposes differences and punishes "misconduct", as his sacred cause, whether in the American society where the gray people are the mainstream or "the French social circle representing the true European civilization" (in Eliot's words). At best, they just talk and show disdain in chatting. Thus, Larry was able to maintain his independence with seemingly humble indifference and arrogance. Under the boundary constraint of not hurting others, in the social mechanism that still allows him to go his own way, he was laughed at, took it in stride, accepted all kinds of blows and tempering of fate and reality, completed his pursuit and creation of winning the game independently, and finally became a "sword" with cold light.

The secular world is the world, so extraordinary people should not despise it casually. However, one world after another based on secularism can be so different. Despite many twists and turns, it has always developed in the direction of civilization and progress, but it actually benefits from those human talents who refuse to identify with the secular, always hold doubts, are committed to finding solutions, dare to ask questions, and are willing to be original. They are the cutting-edge of human society and have opened the axe of nature. Without them, our days will be short. If you think this is alarmist, please think about it-Cai Lun, Newton, Deng Jiaxian, Bill Gates, Laozi, Socrates, Wang Fuzhi, Freud-would our world be like this without them?

The "Four Ancient Civilizations" were once brilliant, and now only China has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. The direct cause is the efforts of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong. Let's see whether people from Confucius to Sun Yat-sen have made great contributions behind them, or whether the once-proclaimed "people, only people" is almost the subconscious "motive force to create world history" of the people. As a counter-evidence, India, Egypt and Babylon, three ancient civilizations, are more silent than each other. The latter even disappeared from this world, but the names that can be cited as their representatives are less than each other. Isn't the connection between them worth pondering?

I won't advocate that everyone should work hard towards the "cutting edge" of life. Dazzling and brilliant things are usually hard to meet; I would rather recommend the well-known sentence in Disciples Rules by Ma Yuan in the Eastern Han Dynasty to everyone who can enter my vision and heart: "If you are a diligent person, you are still a diligent person, so-called lettering will not be good." Ji Liang can't work, it's trapped in the world. The so-called painting a tiger does not paint a dog. "Down-to-earth, starting from things that are easy for the public to understand and accept, is always much more solid. However, we must not go one step further from here, mistakenly thinking that all high-spirited actions are empty, even losing our piety and understanding of our Excellence or origin, and we are not far from complacency and stagnation. If a society, while vigorously promoting the routine of "seeking truth from facts and striving for strength", confuses it with maverick ridicule and condemnation of dedication, and even allows people with ulterior motives to take risks for all deviant anomalies, such a society may really be wary of the danger of its decline!

("Blade" is a gift from Qing Xing MM, which gave me an enlightenment period. Thank you! )