In ancient times, when it came to moral conduct, the emphasis was on loyalty and filial piety. Nowadays, we not only talk about loyalty and filial piety, but also about virtue as a natural quality and pursuit. It is not only related to money, but to everything about us, such as our wisdom, status, standards of conduct, and how we act. It is a cultivation of character.
De and Moral Conduct
Today’s lesson is about the relationship between De and wealth, let’s first talk about what De and moral conduct are.
Moral conduct refers to good morals, behavior, and self-cultivation. It comes from the part of “A New Account of Tales of the World” that talks about good virtues.
In “Laozi“, it is said: “The highest good is like water. The goodness of water is that it benefits everything and harms nothing. It is content with the low places that people disdain. Thus it is like the Tao.”
What does it mean? It means that pursuing goodness without striving for it is the highest form of virtue. Some people are afraid that they have no virtue, so they deliberately pursue virtue and do moral things, which is the lowest form of virtue.
The explanation is that people with fame and status must have virtue first before they can obtain it. If one deliberately does moral things, there is often a way to cheat, so this kind of virtue is called lower virtue.
What is higher virtue? He says that doing things with a sincere heart is the highest form of virtue, and there is no need to do things deceitfully.
He also said: “To produce without possessing, to act without expectation, to grow without domination, is called profound virtue.” He means having children but not claiming them for oneself, helping others to succeed without taking credit for oneself, achieving success without dominating others, supporting others without seeking benefits for oneself. This is the highest form of virtue, a kind of state of not seeking returns.
This is called producing without possessing, acting without expectation, growing without domination, which is called profound virtue. The virtue of “the highest good is like water, and the thick virtue carries things” is about how we just help others based on the natural way of life, rather than doing it for rewards. Just like we say, we raise children for their well-being – if you’re happy, I’m happy, including your growth, even if you go abroad, even if you don’t support me, I’m willing to do it as long as you’re happy and well.
I’m not doing it to ask you to repay me, or even to ask you to take care of me when I’m old. Respecting the original form of life and not calculating costs or rewards is a noble virtue.
Eliminate imaginary enemies, respect the original form of life
Laozi also said: “The good soldier is not violent, the good fighter is not angry, and the good conqueror does not compete.”
This is a sentence I really like. It means that a general who is good at warfare never fights personally or loves to quarrel with others. The best warriors in war never get angry because once they get angry, they will lose themselves, which can lead to failure, a bit like a wooden chicken. Normally, they are like wooden chickens, but when they fight, they are the bravest warriors.
So here, it says that people who love to fight are actually doing it for fame, status, and money, and they always think they can defeat all opponents, with many imaginary enemies. But when fighting with others, there are many difficulties, so they end up feeling exhausted.
I have said before that human suffering comes from comparison with others because the more you compare, the more you find yourself far behind.
I used to give an example of a friend of mine who had 1 billion RMB, but still felt particularly frustrated and unhappy. He said that in the US, a billionaire refers to someone with 1 billion USD, and he only had 1 billion RMB, feeling that he was far behind, and he couldn’t hold his head up when he was with his friends because he had too little money.
I think this friend is too foolish. With so much money, he can be completely worry-free. Why still not let go of himself and have to compete in this kind of imaginary enemy? This process of arguing has lost our original self in life and turned into a state of competition or imaginary enemy, unable to follow the original self in life.
What does Laozi’s fourth virtue of “non-competition” say? He said: “The wise leader follows the people and the people follow the leader. The leader is able to preserve his life when he is not competing. When there is a greater virtue, one needs to have more cultivation, which is what is meant by following the people and the people following the leader.”
That is to say, when many people are trying hard to compete for their own fame and fortune, it is actually easier to lose it. This is what is meant by preserving one’s life when not competing.
This is Laozi’s explanation of “virtue,” but what is the core point I see here? It is to respect the original self in life. I am not combative or competitive, and I don’t have that imaginary enemy. I think others are stronger than me, and I say I’m a dumbfounded chicken. I’ve always been in the background, including fame and fortune. I never thought I had to become a leader. When raising children, I never thought of becoming their master and demanding that they repay me.
In the first virtue, I didn’t think about becoming a person with moral character because it was already in my heart. What I should do is what I should do. I never thought that doing so would make me a person with moral character or a high-quality person.
This is just my original self in life. I respect my original self in life, including raising children, which is my own business, and helping others, which is from my own good heart and kindness.
The “love” I used to talk about: “I love you, but it has nothing to do with you. Love comes from my own feelings, and has nothing to do with you.”
Therefore, what is meant by “virtue” here is actually my original self in life. This is what I want to do, and it has nothing to do with you. There is no connection between high-quality moral character and fame, fortune, and power. This is what I am willing to do, and it means that I love you, but it has nothing to do with you.
Wealth is a transformative force
Now that we have talked about virtue, let’s talk about money. I often say that everyone is actually a businessman, and no one’s life can be separated from money. Even if you are a civil servant or a homemaker and do nothing, you are still a businessman. Why?
If you are a civil servant, what you sell is your past knowledge, your professionalism, including your leadership’s preference for you and your dedication. If you are a homemaker, then what you sell is your loyalty to your family, including your ability, diligence, love, and the stability of your entire state.
That is to say, everyone is actually selling their own image in life, and then exchanging it for energy, then exchanging it for money, and then exchanging it for others’ appreciation, becoming a resource.
What is wealth? Wealth is the only channel that connects energy and material. In fact, many people love and fear money at the same time.
I like money, but I dare not say that I love money or hate money. Who dares to say that they hate money? What if the money doesn’t come!
Here, money is actually created by humans and is a sign of energy that expresses appreciation, joy, love, and gratitude to others. How much money this thing costs is the standard of energy flow that we have agreed upon, and it is not fixed.
For example, the price of bottled mineral water is different in the mountains. If you are on a train, in a place without water, in a particularly high place, or in the desert, it will of course be more expensive. Therefore, its value and price are not entirely fixed. What is it related to? It is related to its scarcity, its contribution to others, and its appreciation in energy exchange.
What is money? It is a transformative force, just like blood. It is digesting the energy between people, that is to say, the essence of money is digestion. It digests your energy, including your anger, happiness, joy, and fear. It comes to digest your emotions and energy. It is more like a connecting pipeline.
So money is closely related to ourselves, not only our lives, but also our breath, including our fear, our fear, our sadness, our longing, our joy, and the struggle for fame and gain. It is actually all in the process of transformation. All your emotions are digested by money.
The ancients said that if virtue is not aligned, disasters will come. It’s not that your moral character is insufficient or that you’re not worthy, but what does it really mean?
In Lao Tzu’s four “virtues,” if my starting point for showing kindness to others is to seek a return, then the result is wrong. For my child, I do indeed have a lot of love and give a lot, but I do it with an expectation of a return. I often tell him how much money he has spent of mine and that he owes me in the future, and when he grows up, how will he respond? Will he give me a sum of money and say he’s paid me off, not to come looking for him anymore? If I say that I love him, he will say that he doesn’t feel it.
This starting point actually determines our endpoint, that is, what we usually refer to as cause and effect. What is the reason behind your intentions?
Like Lao Tzu said: “To be born but not exist, to act but not depend, to grow but not govern, is called profound virtue.” What this means is that if you give, is it always to gain something in return? What is the reason for your giving?
If we talk about work, what is its meaning? For many people, work is about making a living, it’s about earning money. Of course, if you work to earn money, then you will only receive what you deserve. Why is that? When talking about wealth, what is emphasized is that work and career are not the same.
What is work?
It means that I give a lot for it, I give my expertise, my time, my energy, I have to obey, my satisfaction level, and I have to conform to the collective, to the company’s overall arrangement, to the leadership, in exchange for money. So work has always been a process of exchange, and the money received is minimal.
But a career is different, what is a career?
A career is something that I like, something that I love, and something that I want. I don’t calculate the cost of giving, I don’t think about the future, but if I were to imagine it, I would see a beautiful working state.
