Wang Jianping: One article per day: "The Theory of Perception." Part 9》(99)
What do the differences among humans bring to us?
What is difference? It is different. The difference between people is not a difference in species category, a difference in physiological structure, a difference in perception methods, or a difference in the purpose and meaning of existence... The difference between people is a matter of different belongings to life and different interests. Different spiritual content means different life content, different behavioral purposes, different ideas, psychological emotions, temperament and character... and many other differences. What causes the huge differences between people? Is it a natural law among individuals of the same species? Is this the same pattern among individuals of other biological species? Is this difference between individuals of the same species beneficial or detrimental to the existence of the species? Does the law of survival of the fittest and survival of the fittest refer to different species or to the same species? What is the purpose of huge differences between the same species?
This is a question that has been ignored by us for a long time. Is the forward development of human society and human civilization eliminating the differences between people or increasing the differences between people? Do we fundamentally need this difference or don't we? What has this difference brought us over the thousands of years since human civilization began? First, the biological meaning of human beings has been changed into a social definition. The life boundaries drawn between people determine the existence of differences and make this difference have reasonable ethical significance. The subsequent social forms and social systems are the result of differentiation. People's lives are all based on differentiation. Differentiation is actually the premise of life's destiny. Human beings are the only species among all biological species that practice differentiated survival among individuals of the same species, which in itself is a major rebellion against the species type. The reason why living things exist as species rather than as individuals is because the coexistence of groups of the same species is in line with the ethical laws of existence and its logical operating rules. If each biological individual is a species, living things cannot exist at all. It is not just a matter of reproducing offspring. The more individuals of the same species, the closer the connection, that is, the stronger the commonality, the more conducive it is to the existence of the species, and the higher the existence of the species. On the contrary, the smaller the number of individuals of the same species, the looser the connection, that is, the lower the commonality, the less conducive to existence, the lower the existence of the species, and it will soon become extinct. This is a rigid law of species existence. However, we humans do the opposite. We not only break down our biological commonality wantonly, but also deliberately create differences among individuals, and rely on this difference to establish a life order and use this difference to guide the human world. The main ethics of the world use this difference to create all contradictions and are happy to live in contradictions.
It is no exaggeration to say that differences have become the unique characteristics of human existence, differences have become the basis for human existence, differences have become the reasons for the establishment of the human world and human society, and differences have become the basis of relationships between people. It has become the motivation and purpose, the starting point and the end point of people's thoughts and actions. The differences between people form an extremely weird logical relationship. We need commonality but yet live together with differences. We strive for commonality yet strive for differences. We use the process of difference to find commonality, but we spare no effort to decompose commonality into various differences. The purpose of our social life is to achieve common ground, but to achieve common purpose is to resolve differences. This seems like a ridiculous game. We don’t know whether we gather together to live together because we need something together, or whether we gather together to live together to distinguish differences? We don’t know whether the essence of life is common or should it be different? We no longer know whether commonality or difference is better? So that we cannot imagine how human beings can live with a high degree of commonality? Living together is no longer imaginable.
The lifestyle and ethical concepts created by differences have fundamentally changed human relationships and human nature, so much so that it is impossible for us to imagine a life without suffering, a world without contradictions due to differences, and a new life. It is impossible for human beings in the midst of commonality to imagine a civilized society without differences, and it is impossible to imagine themselves without differences. Obviously, difference brings us pain that other creatures will never encounter. Difference brings us difficulties that other creatures will never encounter. Difference brings us contradictions that have never existed for hundreds of millions of years. And conflict... We have been looking for the root of human suffering for thousands of years, but we never thought that it is caused by differences. The human nature that we are proud of, which is different from animal nature, is originally the product of difference; the spiritual wisdom we are proud of is originally born to deal with difference; the history of our civilization for five thousand years is the result of difference. Power-driven results. The biggest trouble caused by
difference is that we don't know what difference is. We believe that differences are normal biological universals. We even believe that all the differences we have are suitable for universal biological explanations. The competitive relationship between us can be used to explain other species. The differences and contradictions created by us humans are applicable to other species. It is also common within species. We don’t think there’s anything bad about differences, we’re used to being abused by them. Once human beings enter the world of great unity, we don’t know what is the same? The common meaning has been completely decomposed by differences. When we enter the Datong society with the existing differences in the world, how can anyone imagine the extremely divided scene?
Differences have extremely alienated people. How can we return to our own biological nature? The first thing we need to do is to realize what is the existence of human differences? It is the great blessing of mankind to let people escape from this difference. (continued)
