What is it that keeps you going?

A friend went to a leading internet company with a lot of enthusiasm to follow his aspirations but found that everyone was in a hurry to move on and hardly anyone was willing to stop and talk about them, or even find out the truth.

Some young people come to ask for advice with a clear attitude: they don't want to spend time discussing, they just want answers as quickly as possible - it doesn't matter whether they have thought it through or whether it stands up to scrutiny.

My friend was amazed: this is arguably the best group of young people in the country's top companies, who are well-versed in various operational processes, and who seek results and efficiency, but who seem to have lost some of their vitality.

A senior HR friend also often lamented that it was becoming increasingly difficult to find real talent: "In fact, there are quite a lot of people applying for jobs, many of whom are graduates of prestigious schools, but there are more and more 'tool people. Everyone just wants a job, very few people will think about what they want to do."

This is about as normal as a society can get.

I think of a short film I saw a while ago called 'Life for Hire'. In the film, everyone turned themselves into tools, emotionless and expressionless, like machine parts, and spent their days in specific positions to keep society running. People are used and used by people, and people are oppressed and oppressed by people.

In an age of utilitarianism and efficiency, have we not inadvertently turned ourselves into tools as well?

Why exactly are we busy? The economist Xue Zhaofeng once said: It's not your boss who makes you work overtime, it's the other people who are willing to do it. Similarly, what makes us tired of running around is often not our own goals, but the pressure from around us. When other students around you are busy working on their credits and performance points to get a good job with a good transcript, you have to give up your hobbies and pursue efficiency first. When everyone acquiesces to "996" as the norm and even promotes it as a blessing, you have to be wrapped up in it, seeking your value recognition by getting busier and busier ...... Thus, our lives are trapped in a kind of "involution". In this way, our lives are caught up in a state of "involution" and consumption, where everyone is so caught up in busyness and speed that they rarely think about what life is worth. What is the purpose of life?

The term "involution" was first coined by the American anthropologist Gilts. He used to live on the island of Java and studied farming life there. He found that people were plowing and harrowing, day after day, year after year, which kept local agriculture in a state of simple repetition and unprogressive rotation.

He referred to this phenomenon as "involution".

"Involution", for one, means meaningless repetition and busyness, seemingly with more and more input, but with no real growth. It is like being "instrumentalized" for life.

I have seen a middle-aged man fired at the age of 35, with a sad face, not knowing where to go. He had been working in a basic position for over ten years, working hard every day and almost never taking any time off, but he still had to be made redundant. He said that if he had it to do over again, he would go after his unique value instead of being a little hamster.

Many people say that the workplace is difficult to accommodate middle-aged people after the age of 35. But who should pay for this dilemma if the work experience at 35 is still not much different from that at 25?

"Anxiety" and "blindness" are not the only symptoms of the workplace.

Xu Kaiwen, an associate professor at Peking University and deputy director of the Centre for Mental Health Education and Counselling, has coined the term "hollow heart disease".

He said, "30.4% of first-year students at Peking University, including undergraduates and postgraduates, are averse to studying or believe that studying is meaningless, while 40.4% of students believe that there is no meaning in living and that I am only living according to other people's logic. "

These young people, who live a privileged life and have excellent abilities, often feel an inner emptiness:

"I feel like I'm on an island in tatters, not knowing what I'm doing, what I'm going to get, feeling fear from time to time. in 19 years I've never lived for myself and I've never lived."

A high school student who attempted suicide once said as follows.

"Studying well and working well is the basic requirement, if I study well and work well enough, I can't live ...... I don't know why I live, I am always unsatisfied with myself, always wanting to do better in every way, but such a life seems to have no head... ..."

Those young people who are diagnosed as "depressed", those who have tried to commit suicide, are not misanthropic, they just don't know what the meaning of life is. They have followed the expectations of their fathers to the so-called "bright path", but they are still struggling inside, questioning the universal, utilitarian values. They want to stop their carnival-like pursuit, but they don't know where they are going, so they fall into endless self-doubt ......

"Who am I?" "Where do I come from?" "Where am I going?" These seemingly useless philosophical propositions are precisely the crux of it all.

How to get out?

Li Xueqin who graduated from Peking University, Li Xueqin who is an internet celebrity, Li Xueqin who talks about stand-up comedy, Li Xueqin who is not "offensive", and Li Xueqin who is hopeless ......

People are fascinated by Li Xueqin's "funereal" temperament, but I think that's exactly what makes her so courageous. After all, not everyone dares to admit: I can't, that's all I am, I don't want to be aggressive ...... Not to mention, she is a proud graduate of Peking University.

Li Xueqin uses "mourning" to silently dissipate people's pursuit of "elite" status, their helplessness, and indulgence in a busy life. The deeper essence behind it is that she has never stopped asking herself what she wants in life: although she is not sure what she wants, she at least knows what she does not want and learns to reject it.

She got a Master in Education from New York University, only to find that what she was learning was how to be an English teacher for people of other races, which she decided was not what she wanted, and took a break midway through her studies.

After returning to China, she started a variety show with a friend, but she didn't want to teach people about values, so she quit after a few episodes.

She didn't want to live in an "elite persona" and became a netizen by mistake; she didn't want to struggle in the "circle of the Beijing underground", so she went back home to Tieling to start her own business ......

Li Xueqin feels that she does not need to live with the success that others expect. "What's wrong with Peking University? I don't think you can be a loser if you study at Peking University? I just happen to do well in the college entrance exams and I'm good at it."

Once a person knows himself and listens to his inner voice, he can find the answer and the place to go in life. Whether it is to fight bravely or retreat or find another way, it is the best choice.

In Hayao Miyazaki's animated film "A Thousand and One", those who don't work hard will become pigs, but those who do will have their names taken away by "Granny Tang" and forget their true heart.

Life requires running, but not just running.

We are used to spinning like a gyroscope every day, to materialistic values, to not reflecting or asking questions, to using ourselves as tools, not as ends ......

Horkheimer argues that the greatest danger that instrumental rationality poses to man is the programming of his thinking and that the programming of man's thinking means the loss of man's self. The instrumental man cannot think for himself, have an independent self, or even decide whether he can continue to live.

Nietzsche said that man needs a goal, and that he would rather pursue nothingness than nothingness. This is the reason why we love life and the pursuit of where life is headed.

When you are busy, you know why you are busy and what kind of growth you will reap, instead of being wrapped up in your surroundings; when you are free, you know how to enjoy the fun of life, instead of looking for false relaxation in games and boredom.

A good life is in harmony with the outside, one that lives as a living, curious, free and sincere human being, one that has its passions and pursuits, one that is free from the bondage of material things and has the right to make its own choices.

In this way, over the long years, what we will gain will no longer be confusion and anxiety, but confidence, self-assurance, and calmness.