When we come to university, there is a precious time in our life called college career. Compared to the long journey of life, these four years will soon pass. How do we view these four years of college career?

When we come to university, there is a precious time in our life called college career. Compared to the long journey of life, these four years will soon pass. How do we view these four years of college career? This was not a problem, we all cherished this time, but today, it has become a problem. Because today, people seem to regard four years of college life as a way and means to find a good career, and the university has become a vocational training institute. Such a utilitarian tendency for university teaching spread everywhere, so that the original intention of university education was lost.

If we come to university to receive higher education, then what is higher education? If higher education only provides skills training to deal with future work, and is just a rehearsal and training before people become professional talents, then universities do not need it, and all we need is a vocational training institute. In my opinion, "University" is a nation's scientific community, a nation's spiritual center. There is a group of people here who protect the nation's spiritual home and shoulder the mission of promoting scientific progress. In a word, this is the place to pursue the truth.

From this perspective, it should be very lucky that we can have four years to come to such a place where we pursue the truth in our youth stages. In four years of college life, we can have a peaceful time temporarily separated from the interests of the real society. This is particularly valuable in today's era.

What should we do with this peaceful time that is "disconnected" from the real society? Come to study, learn, seek truth, and pursue truth.

If all human activities in the field of knowledge are just for the pursuit of practical interests, then there will be no knowledge or truth in the world. Truth has nothing to do with justice. Truth is never a means or tool to achieve interests. Truth is an essential need of the human soul.

Life ideals and career ideals

Let’s take a look at today’s Chinese society.

Young people will see many successful people, and they may leave their names on the rich list. And I think that according to the success standards of today's society, many successful people may not necessarily have a sense of happiness in life. Therefore, when we discuss the issues of knowledge and life, it actually affects every young person's life ideals.

I really want to know how young people today view their ideals in life. You may make a mistake, and unknowingly confuse two concepts: is a career ideal and the other is a life ideal, and mistakenly regard career ideals as life ideals.

In the classical era, these two concepts often overlap: while a person realizes his career ideal, he also realizes his life ideal. For example, a doctor is his profession for a lifetime, and in this profession, he also realizes his personal value and the meaning of his personal life. It is a blessing that a person's career ideal can coincide with his life ideals, and he will also lead to a spirit of dedication in the future.

But today, the probability of such overlap occurs is very small.

The reason why we cannot establish a professional spirit is because the profession we engage in has nothing to do with our life ideals.

When we compare our current career with better careers in the future, what is the standard of "better"? Is it an external success, a certain social status or a salary increase?

Some people keep changing jobs or being "fired", and they will never stop. Every time they take a step, they think they are moving forward and spend their whole life like this. I can't imagine how glorious the meaning of life will be in such a life journey.

I once met a fresh graduate of a key high school in Shanghai . When I asked him what he expected for his future, his answer was to become a successful entrepreneur. When I asked if this was his life ideal, he answered exactly. I was silent.

Einstein's 's wisdom made him understand this truth when he was very young: When we come to the world, we do not hope to get what we can get, but what we hope to do. I heard Einstein's words when I was a teenager and have always used it to inspire myself.

Only by starting from what we hope we can do can we establish our life ideals. Life ideals have nothing to do with what we can get, but with what we can do.

Take Einstein himself as an example. A person like him may not be a hero or a model of success according to today's standards. He is not the richest man in the world, and what gives him a heroic status is not the amount of capital he owns.

After graduating from university, Einstein went to the Patent Office and worked as an ordinary staff member. This is his profession. Of course, this profession is not his life ideal. Continuing to think about the crisis facing physics and realizing a revolution in physics to overcome the crisis of physics is his life ideal. He adhered to this ideal, so he was able to continue his scientific exploration during this time in the Patent Office.

I believe that no matter how different today's era is from the past, the basic truth of life is eternal. Since you have come to university and have gained the opportunity to pursue the truth and promote the progress of your academic career, you should at least pursue the life ideals in the sense I just mentioned in your four years of college. means truly discovering what you can do.

We often have to temporarily obey a certain profession after graduating from college; it is correct to obey this profession, because this is the need for making a living, and making a living is always the first priority. Mr. Lu Xun said one thing well: Although freedom cannot be bought by money, it is often sold because of money.

The problem is that when we finally can sell our freedom without having to make a living, can we still have ideals and redeem freedom because of that ideal. If there is no life ideal at all, then it will never be possible to redeem the sold freedom.

Academic spirit is the soul of higher education

Everyone must know the famous "Qian Xuesen's Question" - Why has China failed to cultivate outstanding talents for so many years? Mr. Qian asked not why China cannot cultivate the heroes on the market economy stage.

What exactly is missing in higher education today? I think it's the lack of soul. What is the soul of higher education? I think it is the academic spirit. If academia cannot maintain a sufficient distance from society and instead becomes a game tool for part of the interest classes and interest systems in society, academia will not be able to develop and may even deteriorate.

Mr. Cai Yuanpei was the president of Peking University , and once proposed the concept of "academic for academic purposes". Many people don’t understand and think this is a statement that only in the ivory tower. In fact, this sentence is completely correct. Academics do not need to strive for the progress of mankind, but academics can contribute to the progress of mankind or to the Chinese nation, as long as they maintain a sufficient distance from the social interest system. Academic independence is the meaning of "academic for academic purposes" that Mr. Cai Yuanpei said.

We must develop this academic spirit in four years of college. No matter how close or not everyone is to their future career, it doesn't matter. Studying in college is not just about training the ability to find a job, but a kind of exploration.

Even if everyone is disgusted with their major and never expected to like it, and even cannot be transferred to this major, we still have to spend four years studying it.Because when studying this science and discussing the most basic and difficult problems in the field with teachers and classmates, we can gain academic experience that we may not be able to obtain in this lifetime - experience academic adventures, solve problems that no one has solved yet, and maybe it will fail in the end, but we can get much more from it than the result itself.

I have always emphasized that college life is rich and colorful, with campus culture and club activities, you can fall in love, you may be stolen from bicycles, you will complain that the food in the canteen is not good, and you will gradually feel cash-strapped and can't afford any luxury product in the high-end store of Huaihai Road ... All this is OK, the key is what the theme of these four years is?

I remembered when I was admitted to Fudan University to study for a master's degree, Xie Xide, the former president of , said a total of three sentences. The first sentence is to welcome graduate students from all over the country and congratulate you on your admission to Fudan ; the second sentence is from now on, every science student must take the laboratory as his home, and every liberal arts student must take the library as his home, cherish this rare three years of time; the third sentence is to thank everyone. I remember such a brief speech at the opening ceremony for my whole life.

Fudan's tradition and the spirit of Fudan are accumulated by more than a hundred years of history and so many teachers who devoted their lives to Fudan's academic research. Everyone gathered together. In the words of Hegel , this is the "sanctuary of intellectuals." Everyone comes here not just to get a halo diploma. If we can look at the problem in this way, we must adopt a resistance and rejection attitude towards the various utilitarianisms of the current era.

We should be glad that we finally got an opportunity, as Feng Youlan said: to observe the universe with your heart and observe the true world, you can have a rational and sympathetic understanding of the true world. The truth is the realm of truth. You must observe with your heart, which can be used as a way to the realm of sages.

The relationship between academic spirit and life

Knowledge is not only the growth of intelligence and the improvement of ability, but also the basis of life realm and life belief. In my opinion, the relationship between knowledge and life is divided into seven different aspects.

First, the academic spirit allows us to truly form a humble and humble attitude. As long as you invest a period of time to explore the truth of life and study the truth, you will definitely know how ignorant you are. The more you know, the more you will notice.

So the academic spirit formed from academic experience allows us to maintain a humble and humble attitude throughout our lives. It is not polite, not polite, but real. I will never be self-righteous, as if the truth is in my grasp; I may have known a lot and made a little contribution to a certain field of academics, but I don't know more. This will affect all aspects of life. Even when we are not doing research, we can think about problems in this way. This is an important aspect of scholarly temperament, which must be developed in four years of college.

Second, the academic spirit gives us an open mind and a habit of listening to different opinions. Everyone came to the university and studied important issues in this subject with their teachers and classmates. There will definitely be a lot of discussions. In such a discussion, we should not only express our own opinions, but also listen to other people's opinions. Especially when our opinions are opposed, can we continue to listen carefully? Can you open your heart and accept different opinions?

Don’t think that what you get is the only correct thing. Many times it may just be because we don’t think about the problem from another perspective. Therefore, after four years of academic exploration and academic experience, we should form an open mind who is good at listening to different opinions.

3, academic spirit gives us the courage to criticize ourselves. It is difficult for a person to criticize himself, especially after he matures and experiences many people and things, he will slowly lose the ability to criticize himself.

From this point of view, I admire Liang Qichao . He always "because today's me is not yesterday's me" and always moves forward in self-criticism. When he followed Mr. Kang Youwei, he praised the constitutional monarchy of , and later he accepted the concept of "republic".

"Criticize the me of yesterday with today's me" requires courage, and this is the courage to criticize yourself. In academic research, this spirit of self-criticism will benefit us. Even if you no longer engage in academic research in the future and instead enter a social practice position, after achieving some achievements, don’t forget to maintain this courage to criticize yourself. This is an important gain from four years of college life.

Fourth, the experience of academic exploration allows us to always put a specific problem to be dealt with in the meaning system of the knowledge, and re-understand and evaluate it. Sometimes ordinary people will also encounter problems we study, but they will not think academically and often just ask from the perspective of instrumental rationality: What methods should be used to get rid of the predicament? Of course everyone has this goal, but to understand the nature and ins and outs of the problem, you need to put it into the meaning system of knowledge to think about it. Therefore, it is very meaningful to complete a dissertation before graduating from university, because it requires us to reconsider academic issues in a meaningful context.

has a knowledge system as the basis, and it is a good habit to put the problem into a larger problem dimension to think about it.

Fifth, we will never discuss a problem on a matter-of-fact basis. This is an academic experience and an important significance of academic spirit to our future life: talking about something systematically and putting it into a meaning and thinking rigorously should become our habit. The same is true at work, even if what you do in the future has nothing to do with the major you study in college. When facing the real things we have to deal with, we still maintain this kind of thinking habit, which is an important reason why we may become leaders in any field in the future.

In my opinion, there is no fundamental difference between businessmen and intellectuals. Ming Dynasty Li Mengyang has a saying that goes, "Poetry and business are different techniques but one mind", which means that what they do is different - "different techniques", but one mind; entrepreneurs also regard running a business as completing a large paper and refining and improving it with knowledge.

Sixth, four years of college life have allowed us to win the academic spirit in the process of academic experience, which makes us always feel spiritually hungry throughout our lives.

What are the standards for physical health? The stomach is always hungry and has an irresistible desire for food, which is a sign of physical health. So, what are the standards of mental health? It's also a feeling of hunger. Whether you are about this world or the major you are studying, you always feel that what you know is far from enough, you are always full of curiosity, and you always feel that there are many things you want to know more. This is the feeling of spiritual hunger.

Newton In his later years, I said: I am just a child. I picked up shells by the beach and picked up all my life. Every time I picked up a shell, I was very happy. The insatiable mental hunger is the fundamental sign of mental health.

So, a person who is too mature will be scary because he is too mature and will be sophisticated and will think that he knows everything. This is basically the manifestation of adult ape . The most similar stage for apes to humans is childhood, full of curiosity, constantly imitating and learning, and as they grow up, they feel that they understand everything and begin to teach young apes a lesson.

We can't be like adult apes.Four years of college life should allow us to form spiritual resources that will not be removed for life in the process of acquiring academic spirit. No matter how busy we are in the work, we always want to learn more, better and higher-level things when we have free time.

Seventh, academic spirit can always connect our limited lives with immortal things. Everyone’s life is limited, so where should the meaning of life be placed? I don't think it should be placed on this or that thing that you face in a limited life, because nothing lasts for a long time.

We cannot rely on any of these things that we think are particularly important, and by grasping them, so that life can be meaningful.

So there is a saying in Zen: "There is no law to obtain in the nature of oneself." "The nature of oneself" means "the nature of oneself", also called "Buddha nature". When Buddha nature appears, everything presents its meaning to people. And in all things, there is nothing that allows you to gain the meaning of life.

"There is no law to obtain in the nature of oneself", "Dharma" is something. For example, after years of hard work, a person finally bought the luxurious villa he had always dreamed of. He believes that from today on, he will be very happy. From the beginning of owning a luxurious villa, a beautiful life begins. This is impossible. At least, it is impossible for this person to know who will live in the future. He is just a temporary resident. In this sense, the villa is at best a hotel.

Everyone’s life is so limited and insignificant. So where does the vain life gain meaning? I think it will only make sense if it is connected to immortal things.

On the road of pursuing knowledge and truth, we finally won and understood a kind of immortal and transcendent existence, which is higher than every "ego", making the life of every "ego" meaningless.

For example, a musician has achieved some success in the field of music and won flowers and applause. He will feel that music creates the meaning of his life. If there is no music in the world, his life will have no place to rely on. So when the musician's ability to create performance or performance begins to decline, his greatest wish is to cultivate students and take good care of his disciples than his own children. This is his gratitude and repaid for his immortal music career.

And on the road of pursuing knowledge, we will also understand this transcendent thing.

Where does a person’s belief come from? It does not come from some specific thing, the importance of things, or even something that creates this importance. The belief in life should be based on our understanding of something immortal and transcendent, and we know it is extremely important. Understanding this immortality in the process of pursuing knowledge is the meaning of the academic spirit to our lives.

Universities should not only pursue the cultivation of social elites, but should also be committed to cultivating the backbone that can take on the nation and the world.

Zhu Kezhen Mr. Zhu said it well, don’t think that coming to university is to be an engineer or a doctor in the future. People come to university to do research should be to be able to take on great responsibilities and transfer national destiny in the future.

These words may sound heavy, but in order for our lives to make sense, we must grasp this heavyness.

So, in his first lecture after being invited to University Berlin as the chair of the Department of Philosophy, Hegel said, what should young people do in college? There is only one thing that is the most important thing - the pursuit of truth.

Source: "Study and Life - Source of Professor Wang Defeng's Lecture at Fudan University" Originally published in 2012 "Wenhui Po"