Chapter 91: This is how one's life should be spent
"Why is it different? There is no need to ask this question." Zhu Xinyu frowned: "He and I are completely different. I...I have no idea about those stinky money."
Xiang Shan said: "Yes. Of course you are different from that person. But, why?"
"There's no reason, because I'm not a scumbag." Zhu Xinyu said angrily.
Xiang Shan shook his head: "Not necessarily. I think it's because you are a person who knows what you are thinking."
"So? What's wrong?"
"In addition to 'immediate, physiological euphoria,' there is also a 'long-term sense of happiness.'"
"I'm not saying that 'long-term and stable happiness' is necessarily much stronger than physiological euphoria. After all, people are flesh and blood machines. How the brain works, people will have what kind of thoughts. Substance abuse is a
A behavior that can bring about a strong sense of physiological euphoria. If the meaning of life is 'continuation' and 'pursuit of happiness', then why don't humans drown themselves in euphoria through cheap drugs after completing the inheritance of the family line?"
Zhu Xinyu stared at him: "This is too..."
"Ask yourself. It is possible for human beings to obtain physiological euphoria and at the same time be unhappy with 'loathing themselves'." Xiang Shan said,
Zhu Xinyu thought for a moment and said, "That seems to be the case..."
"This is all a regulatory mechanism of the brain." Xiang Shan said: "Evolution regards euphoria as a reward, encouraging organisms to find food to fill their stomachs, and encouraging organisms to mate to reproduce offspring. However, evolution must also ensure that this euphoria
It must fade away quickly, otherwise, the full creature will continue to eat and forget the great cause of reproduction. Or the creature will be addicted to mating and even forget to find food, and will not be able to carry out the next reproduction behavior."
"So, unless you break your brain and break this mechanism, dissatisfaction and pain will always exist. Even if you use illegal drugs to obtain physiological pleasure, when the effect of the drug wears off, your brain is not completely broken.
When...it always comes with double the pain."
"But in the long run, in a long life, happiness continues to accumulate... In this process, whether looking forward to the future or recalling the past, you can obtain greater and overall happiness. Maybe at a single point in time
On the other hand, this kind of 'satisfaction' may be huge."
Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman conducted a famous study. Volunteers followed Kahneman's instructions to describe their full-day itinerary on a typical working day, and then evaluated how much they liked it segment by segment.
Or hate these moments. He found that most people actually have contradictory views on life. Take "raising the next generation" as an example. Simply based on the estimated "happiness value" or "disgust value" figures, raising children
It can be said to be a very unpleasant thing. Many times, raising children means changing diapers, washing dishes, and dealing with their crying and tempers. These are considered drudgery tasks that no one wants to do. However, most parents say that their children are
The main source of happiness.
This may also be a constraint imposed by the evolutionary mechanism. But it also reveals a little bit about the laws of human spiritual operation.
Happiness is not just as simple as "there are more pleasant moments than painful moments". On the contrary, happiness depends on the entirety of someone's life; happiness can be achieved only when the entirety of life is meaningful and valuable.
Zhu Xinyu asked: "Then what does this have to do with me not liking money?"
"Because you understand this. You know what money can buy. Money can buy a lot of good food and drink, but you think the physical euphoria it brings is not that great. Money can bring respect, but you think
What you do is more worthy of respect from others. In your imagination, when your hair turns white and you look back on the past years, you will not feel regret for wasting your time, nor will you be ashamed of having accomplished nothing."
"This is how a person's life should be spent! The most precious thing for a person is life, and life is only once for each of us. Therefore, a person's life should be spent like this. In this way, when he is dying, he can say
: 'My whole life and all my energy have been dedicated to the most magnificent cause in the world'."
Xiang Shan stood up, his tone a little excited.
"But the person I told you about is having a great time." Zhu Xinyu pouted.
"And the person you hate really hopes to have what money can bring him. He feels that if he has money, he will have 'success'. He should obtain 'happiness'. What he has experienced
The environment gave him such a measure of value - having money means having happiness, so everything other than money is unimportant." Xiang Shan said, "To be honest, 'happiness' is a very difficult numerical value.
It's something that changes. So I don't dare to guarantee that his current 'happiness' will definitely not be able to offset the 'emptiness'. I can't tell you that his happiness must be fake. However, according to the 'Human Happiness'
There is an upper limit to the index' and the theory that 'euphoria will fade quickly', the happiness his brain can give him will definitely not be much higher than that of an average happy family. However, if there is only this scale of value in society
, then his happiness will cause more people to be 'unhappy'."
Although Zhu Xinyu still half understood Xiangshan's words, Zhu Xinyu could still understand his last sentence.
So Zhu Xinyu nodded and agreed.
"So I think it's better to have more diverse value scales in the world. If 'strong labor skills,' high artistic attainments, 'able to entertain the public' and 'able to make money' can be placed in the same position, people will gain about the same amount.
If you receive praise and positive feedback, then the overall happiness of mankind will be greatly improved, right?"
Zhu Xinyu couldn't help but applaud: "Yes, yes...why not."
"But sometimes you have to admit that money is indeed quite important." Xiang Shan sighed.
Zhu Xinyu's smiling face disappeared immediately: "Why are you like this? You said both good and bad things by yourself."
"If you have ever been poor, you should know that in today's era, it is difficult to maintain dignity without money, because there will be people who will exclude you and belittle you because you have no money. Sometimes, having no money means that you cannot survive.
Or they are unable to survive in the face of poverty and illness. Because this is the reality, we can’t blame people for having only this kind of value concept.”
Zhu Xinyu gritted his teeth: "How can a rich kid like you know what a poor person is?"
Xiang Shan said: "You really believed me when I was joking. Judging from the information, your family is richer than mine...ah!"
Zhu Xinyu kicked Xiang Shan, then walked out of the lounge and said, "I'm going back!"