English thinking vs Chinese thinking (1)

Some people say that if you cannot think in one language, it is difficult to learn the language well. Therefore, to learn English well, you must learn to think in English. What is English thinking?

A single search on the Internet may have many answers, but they are scattered and there is no complete system. I am a curious person and always want to build a complete knowledge system. although many times you may understand deviations or errors, you are constantly correcting your opinions.

The so-called English thinking most of the time reflects a cultural idea held by people who use English as their mother tongue. how do you think about the world and how do you think about it. next I will discuss the differences between English thinking and Chinese thinking based on my own ideas. This is my personal opinion. for the convenience of discussion, the people who use English as their native language are called people from Western countries, and the people who use Chinese are called Chinese. in fact, English thinking and Chinese thinking can only be divided into two types of thinking.

 

Individuals and groups, freedom and dependency

People in Western countries are more concerned with individuals than groups. in life, personal independence, freedom, respect for personal rights and privacy are more important. when we look at American movies, the hero figures in the movies all highlight the individual's abilities. A person can turn the storm and even save the world. in addition, our imagination is more real. The thoughts expressed in the artistic world such as movies and novels are often applied to real life. although China also highlights itself in movies, there are martial arts novels that are still obvious. however, the imagination of the Chinese people is obviously empty, and there are not many real things. In many cases, they just stay at the level of thinking. not applied to reality. in fact, when it comes to imagination, Chinese people have a wealth of imagination. Foreign mythology are far behind China, and Chinese martial arts people will soon catch up with mythical people.

The idea of freedom has been endorsed by most people around the world. freedom is closely related to the individual. if there is no individual independence, there is no respect for the individual. but more concerned with groups, it is difficult for individuals to achieve freedom if they are too dependent on groups. in addition, there are two levels of freedom: one is external and the other is memory. the external focus is on political freedom, such as freedom of choice and freedom of speech. the main memory is the independence and freedom in your mind. In fact, this is more difficult than political freedom. we often say we want to pursue freedom, but our actual actions and practices tend to escape freedom. if you don't have the power of your mind, it's hard for you to enjoy freedom, but it's painful. freedom is sometimes associated with loneliness. if you cannot appreciate loneliness, you cannot enjoy freedom. we know that animals have two ways to survive in a cruel natural environment. One is to group themselves and rely on the power of everyone to fight against natural enemies. In addition, it depends on breeding a large number of offspring to ensure the continuation of the population. like Ant Colony, herd, and monkey group, it is a common group phenomenon. this is mainly for some relatively weak animals. the beasts like tigers are basically living alone.

Most Chinese people adapt to the lives of the group and rely too much on the group. this does not mean that the Chinese are weak. instead, it inherits such a culture, which is psychologically weak. it is actually a manifestation of inner security that relies too much on groups. it seems to be more practical to be with a bunch of friends. once a person is isolated, he feels that he has been abandoned by society, and his heart is gloomy. it's like a weak animal alone facing a strange and unpredictable nature. in fact, insecurity is human nature, because people are too weak compared with nature. only by training and training the day after tomorrow can you feel strong and secure. how can we feel secure?

 

Science and religion

There are two ways to find a sense of security. One is to thoroughly understand the world through scientific means. we are always afraid of unfamiliar transactions. through physical chemistry, we can understand the world of this material and grasp various laws. learn about various biological species and their physical structures through biology. understand the operating mechanism of modern society through politics, economy, sociology, and law. through psychology, we can understand the root cause of various wonderful human thoughts. We can examine our thoughts, feelings, happiness, pain, anxiety, and anxiety. at this time, it seems that I am seeing myself as an outsider. learn about everything in life through philosophy, and organize various messy thoughts into a complete system. of course, these are too serious. We can also appreciate the beauty of the world through our understanding of art and realize our spiritual happiness.

On the other hand, we can seek spiritual comfort through religion. for example, in Christianity, Islam has a unique God that creates everything and dominates everything. God or God. you follow the instructions of God in the Bible, as described in the holy book, to guide every movement. in this way, you will feel very steadfast. I think God will be with you. in Buddhism, it is more interesting to say that this religion can be regarded as an "God-less" religion. it tells you that everything in the world is false. It is an illusion. even yourself is an illusion. You should not stick to the concept of "I" to reach the realm of "no. you feel terrible fear. The pain is because you keep thinking about "I". If you don't stick to "I", you will be relieved from the pain. or it can be said that all pain is no longer important. You can experience everything through the physical body as before, but that is no longer important to your mind, the body is just a capsule containing your soul. the idea of India is even more amazing. it is similar to Buddhism in many places. In fact, many Buddhist thoughts are derived from India. india does not emphasize "no", but thinks that each of us is actually part of the main god, Fan Tian. When you really have an epiphany, you will be able to see us and heaven. return to the source. you are the day, the day is you.

 

Reason and sensibility, human nature and dogma

Westerners thought on Ancient Greece. in ancient Greece, we were more rational. We did not blindly accept things for no reason, but determined by thinking and thinking. in addition, in the face of this magical nature, rational thinking is not only a simple belief that a god dominates everything, it does not matter. for example, although it seems that everything in the universe is made up of soil, gas, water, and fire, it is indeed a great idea and the direction of the universe is right. in fact, ancient Chinese people have tried to use rational ideas to understand the world. For example, they think that gold and wood constitute everything. and there has been a book like Yijing. I think Yijing should have explained and understood the world with speculation at the beginning. but no one will continue to develop this idea later. however, Yijing is regarded as a dogma and a fortune-telling tool.
Therefore, many Chinese people tend to perceive the world and guide their own lives based on experience. for example, although there are four great inventions, they are just based on experience and do not use rational ideas to explore the principles behind them.

Most of the time, China is a State of courtesy, because China does have many formal etiquette. this started from Zhou Chao, and later Confucius integrated it into Confucianism. for thousands of years, formal etiquette has dominated Chinese people's thoughts. at the beginning, it may be just a dogma, a formal etiquette without too much meaning. however, after a long period of time, you will be taken for granted. formal etiquette is not actually true etiquette, because there is not much consideration for human nature, instead of thinking for people, but more to maintain social order and political needs. in fact, although the Confucian theory has ruled China for thousands of years, it is only a matter of theory and form. There are not many practical ideas that can be truly recognized by rational people. what truly makes people recognize from the rationality is the Taoist ideology. Many ideas in Lao Tzu's <moral Sutra> are truly convincing people from the rationality. Its depth is not comparable to that of Confucianism. in reality, many people think that it is a miracle to inherit such a book as Tao Jing, especially the Book of Chuang Tzu. Many of Lao Tzu's statements are more subtle, well, what Chuang Tzu can say is more straightforward. What clearly criticizes Confucianism is not in line with the needs of the feudal political rule, and it is easy to be regarded as banned. I think it may be because many of the ideas in it make the ruling class very useful. The emperor can learn the techniques of the emperor, and the officers can also learn a lot of tactics. in addition, people in the upper-level society may not be as easy as ordinary people to be fooled. Many of them still have their own ideas and opinions. they have to look for books that can broaden their horizons and bring intelligence and thinking help. it's strange to read four books and five classics without reading people silly.