These two sentences contain very rich contents. Today, it is also of great significance to "be kind to yourself" and "be kind to others" from the perspective of "being a man and doing things".
What is "heaven is strong, and gentlemen are constantly striving for self-improvement"? The "sky" here refers to nature, including the movement of the sun, moon and stars and the changes of clouds, rain, wind and thunder; "Jian" means vigorous, promising, endless running and endless life. Through long-term observation and understanding, the ancients realized that spring, summer, autumn and winter in nature change at any time, and the climate changes from cold to summer, alternating day and night. All this is always endless and never-ending, showing an ever-changing vitality. Inspired by this natural phenomenon, the ancients believed that a moral person should learn and imitate this natural spirit in social life. In the process of life, no matter under what circumstances, he must strive for self-improvement, work hard and go forward bravely. That is to say, in the whole process of life, a person can neither be content with the status quo nor do nothing, let alone stick to the old ways and give up on himself. We should advocate maintaining a spirit of "self-improvement" throughout the whole process of life. A person should be able to "win on his own" and "be strong on his own" in the journey of life, no matter what difficulties and hardships he encounters, no matter what adversity and bad luck he encounters, and overcome all kinds of difficulties with strong perseverance and never stop moving forward.
Generally speaking, it is easy to maintain the spirit of "self-improvement" in prosperity, but it is more difficult to maintain this spirit of "endless life" in adversity. Difficulties and setbacks are the biggest tests of people's quality. Temporary courage is easy to do, but persistent perseverance is often difficult; It is easy to work hard for a while, but difficult to persist for a long time. Wang Fuzhi, a famous thinker in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, especially reminded people that "perseverance" is of great significance in one's career. In his poem, he said, "It's not unusual to get up the courage, but after a long period of continuous work, the previous work is dead" ("Kameyama and I will never get it again"). It means that temporary courage is nothing special, and only persistent persistence can achieve long-term results; Once we stop, our previous efforts will be in vain. No matter reading, writing or exercising, no matter what difficulties you encounter, you must persevere. From this point of view, to "strive for self-improvement", we must have a persistent spirit.
"Self-improvement" also means pioneering and innovative spirit. "Self-improvement" means constantly pursuing new things, constantly learning and mastering new knowledge and skills, constantly making new achievements, and never being satisfied with what has been achieved. Only by constantly pursuing new creation and development can we make new progress and achievements in our life. Only in this new pursuit can our life be more meaningful and we can feel the happiness and joy of life. China's ancient classic "Da Xue" said, "If the soup is new, it will be new day after day", which means that ancient Shang Tang wrote on the dish he washed that he would constantly wash away his dirt every day to keep his spirit of "always being new".
"Self-improvement" requires a person to be always modest and prudent, not arrogant and impetuous, and not self-righteous; "Self-improvement" means always being alert to yourself and having a sense of urgency, like "walking on thin ice"; "Self-improvement" means never stopping like a four-hour homework. "Self-improvement" is a positive attitude towards life, a realm of life pursued by life, and a profound understanding and understanding of the meaning of life. Only when one is full of enthusiasm and confidence in life can one consistently adhere to this endless spirit.
What is "the terrain is Kun, and the gentleman carries things with morality"? "Earth" means "Earth" and "Kun" means "Shun". Why is the "terrain" flat? The ancients had different explanations for this. It is generally believed that "earth" and "heaven" coincide, and their trend coincides with "heaven". At the same time, the "body" of the earth is "thick", which can bear everything and has the function of making everything grow and develop. Therefore, a moral person's life should be as thick and broad as the earth, and he can breed and grow everything like the earth. In other words, a moral person should have a generous and broad mind to tolerate and forgive all people and things in the world.
People usually compare the "earth" to the mother of all things. It not only breeds and nurtures everything, but also cares for everything. Therefore, we can also say that "respecting morality and carrying things" refers to people's attitude towards people. A person must be broad-minded, noble-willed, tolerant and generous, and like the earth, so that everything can grow in his arms. In ancient China, there was a famous couplet, which meant "forbearing morality, being selfless and at ease".
"Carrying things by virtue" requires a person to have noble morality, to be able to care for and care for others, to have the idea of "stand up if you want, and to have talent if you want", to have the moral character of saving lives, and to be beautiful as an adult.
In social life, people always hope that they can be satisfied in life, achieve something in their careers, be respected by people in interpersonal relationships, and so on; However, few people think about how to make others equally satisfied in life, succeed in their careers and be respected in interpersonal relationships, which is an important evaluation criterion to judge whether a person has morality and quality. A broad-minded person always thinks of people and comrades around him, especially those who have various difficulties.