Home » Opinion » Opinion Columns
Living by principles instead of demands of the clock
By Wan Lixin |
April 7, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THIS is an old book, but still relevant in this age of information overload.
"First Things First: To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy" (1994) by Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill addresses an under-diagnosed modern malaise: mass addition to urgency rather than importance.
Traditional time management principles presume that if you do things more efficiently, you will get control of your life and have a better chance at finding peace and fulfillment.
This is wrong because we cannot control everything, so it is pointless to base our happiness on our ability to control.
In other words, it is advisable to try to live by the compass of principles rather than by focusing on the clock. The compass stands for vision, values, principles and conscience, while the clock symbolizes appointments, schedules and goals that tend to compartmentalize life.
"When we talk about time management, it seems ridiculous to worry about speed before direction, about saving minutes when we may be wasting years," the authors caution.
We can control our choices, but not the results of those choices, hence the illusion of control. The illusion leads to the cult of efficiency, in the assumption that "more" and "faster" are better.
This drive for speed manifests itself in myriad aspects of our individual life: parents are working overtime to turn their children into multi-talented prodigies, officials become addicted to ever higher growth, scholars are busy churning out papers.
In our haste and rush, we lose sight of the larger picture.
"As we connect with the wisdom of the ages and the wisdom of the heart, we become less a function of the social mirror and more a person of character and conscience," the book observes.
When we cease to be so busy and distracted, we may find that true wisdom is not far away.
"Great Learning," the first of the Confucian canon, opens with "What the Great Learning teaches is to illustrate illustrious virtue, to renovate the people, and to rest in the highest excellence."
Achieving this requires the learner to set priorities, as "Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning."
Fang Xiaoru (1357-1402), one of the most respected scholars in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), tried to explain such principles in more pragmatic terms in his "On the Depth of Thought": "The ancient sages, clairvoyant that earthly vicissitudes are beyond human ken, wisdom, guiles and wiles, had come to realize that only the highest earnestness and morality can move heaven to show mercy and compassion to human beings, as a mother to a baby."
According to the authors, understanding what is truly important means accepting that there are four basic human needs: to live, to love, to learn and leave a legacy.
To meet these needs, which are often interrelated, one must stick to principles.
It's very important to bear in mind that there are no short cuts or quick fixes in life.
This truth used to be self-evident in agrarian society, where the Law of the Farm shows how gains are tied up with pains, and how short cuts can be deceptive.
When it is realized that external realities are governed by principles totally beyond us, this fact instills a sort of humility in us. This humility is the wellspring of all virtues.
Increasingly industrialized society has gradually estranged people from these principles.
People today are wont to see the rewards go to the blood-sucking coal mine bosses, the stock or real estate speculators, the sharks, the mealy mouthed, the greedy and the reckless - in short, exactly those who play fast and loose with the Law of the Farm.
In our doubts and dismay, we need badly to be empowered and inspired by the sagacity of the ancients.
In addition to principles, the book also provides plenty of tips on how to do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way. Hopefully these tips can lead us away from mindless, crass material accumulation, in favor of something more spiritually satisfying.
"Only as we focus more on contributing than consuming can we create the context that makes peace in all aspects of life possible," the book concludes.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles."
"First Things First: To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy" (1994) by Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill and Rebecca R. Merrill addresses an under-diagnosed modern malaise: mass addition to urgency rather than importance.
Traditional time management principles presume that if you do things more efficiently, you will get control of your life and have a better chance at finding peace and fulfillment.
This is wrong because we cannot control everything, so it is pointless to base our happiness on our ability to control.
In other words, it is advisable to try to live by the compass of principles rather than by focusing on the clock. The compass stands for vision, values, principles and conscience, while the clock symbolizes appointments, schedules and goals that tend to compartmentalize life.
"When we talk about time management, it seems ridiculous to worry about speed before direction, about saving minutes when we may be wasting years," the authors caution.
We can control our choices, but not the results of those choices, hence the illusion of control. The illusion leads to the cult of efficiency, in the assumption that "more" and "faster" are better.
This drive for speed manifests itself in myriad aspects of our individual life: parents are working overtime to turn their children into multi-talented prodigies, officials become addicted to ever higher growth, scholars are busy churning out papers.
In our haste and rush, we lose sight of the larger picture.
"As we connect with the wisdom of the ages and the wisdom of the heart, we become less a function of the social mirror and more a person of character and conscience," the book observes.
When we cease to be so busy and distracted, we may find that true wisdom is not far away.
"Great Learning," the first of the Confucian canon, opens with "What the Great Learning teaches is to illustrate illustrious virtue, to renovate the people, and to rest in the highest excellence."
Achieving this requires the learner to set priorities, as "Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead near to what is taught in the Great Learning."
Fang Xiaoru (1357-1402), one of the most respected scholars in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), tried to explain such principles in more pragmatic terms in his "On the Depth of Thought": "The ancient sages, clairvoyant that earthly vicissitudes are beyond human ken, wisdom, guiles and wiles, had come to realize that only the highest earnestness and morality can move heaven to show mercy and compassion to human beings, as a mother to a baby."
According to the authors, understanding what is truly important means accepting that there are four basic human needs: to live, to love, to learn and leave a legacy.
To meet these needs, which are often interrelated, one must stick to principles.
It's very important to bear in mind that there are no short cuts or quick fixes in life.
This truth used to be self-evident in agrarian society, where the Law of the Farm shows how gains are tied up with pains, and how short cuts can be deceptive.
When it is realized that external realities are governed by principles totally beyond us, this fact instills a sort of humility in us. This humility is the wellspring of all virtues.
Increasingly industrialized society has gradually estranged people from these principles.
People today are wont to see the rewards go to the blood-sucking coal mine bosses, the stock or real estate speculators, the sharks, the mealy mouthed, the greedy and the reckless - in short, exactly those who play fast and loose with the Law of the Farm.
In our doubts and dismay, we need badly to be empowered and inspired by the sagacity of the ancients.
In addition to principles, the book also provides plenty of tips on how to do the right thing, for the right reason, in the right way. Hopefully these tips can lead us away from mindless, crass material accumulation, in favor of something more spiritually satisfying.
"Only as we focus more on contributing than consuming can we create the context that makes peace in all aspects of life possible," the book concludes.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
