Passage of Time
Although I do not fully agree with Zhuangzi's (Chinese philosopher, 369 B.C. – 286 B.C.) thoughts, some of them are very interesting. He believes everything is changing. “All things beneath the sky, now rising, now descending, ever continue the same through this.” The change follows certain regulations, but it is not limited to the old state and the rules, which can be said to be endless. It may be meaningful to investigate the history and the present on this basis.
Someone says that the world is standing at a crossroads. It is still hard to know where the pull of various forces will bring the human history to. The politicians take turns to play and the eye-catching incidents come one after another. The more so, the more worried and fearful people are about the future. However, such a confusing experience is by no means humans have encountered for the first time. Let’s have a close look at the art world. Most of the artists who are now regarded as masters dared to change the art conventions of his/her time. They must be hesitated if should insist on, and maybe they were praised, but they may heard more negation. Anyway, they are be accepted by the history in the end. For ordinary people, history seems to be far away. They are just a drop of water in the trend of the times, and they have to go with the trend. People who have no long-term care must have near-worry. Devoted to praying, I don’t know if people can really make good luck for themselves. Or it can comfort the heart, and let people cope calmly with the changes occurred at the moment, adapting to change with change.
In the eyes of Zhuangzi, “when the perfect man employs his mind, it is a mirror. It conducts nothing and anticipates nothing; it responds to (what is before it), but does not retain it. Thus he is able to deal successfully with all things, and injures none.” The mirror can reflect the image of things, and this is actually a virtual image that can be seen but not be touched. It could be true or false, real or illusory. What comes can’t refuse, what should go can’t retain. “To employ the mind as a mirror” I don’t know if it works?
