Different Levels of People

2008/2/2 9:13:24

People are divided into different levels, and moreover, distributed in a pyramid shape. This point absolutely need not be taboo. By any metric as the selection criterion, these levels exist. Of course, most people focus on external things like wealth, beauty, and talent. Here, I examine things from the angle of habitual patterns of human thinking.

The vast majority of people have no thoughts of their own, or rather, their thoughts are merely habit, mere custom. They may be called believers, followers, the masses, citizens, the public, and so on — the real-world embodiments of externally imposed, patterned and replicated thought. Of course, each person may have a different personality, but the pattern of thinking is the same.

The greatest characteristic of this type of thinking is formulaic. One input, one result — anything too complex exceeds their brains. The existence of this vast majority of people is the cognitive foundation underlying mass spectacles such as Nazism and the Cultural Revolution. Why could the supposedly most rational nation of Germany unite — over a million people in a single plaza chanting Hitler's name in unison, identical movements, identical colors? Surely one of history's most darkly humorous episodes. Of course, compared to the Cultural Revolution, even that falls one step short — for the Cultural Revolution is the supreme script in the history of humanity's synchronized-thinking farce.

Probably even a billion machines could not synchronously perform identical actions — after all, there's a probability of error. But humans can. What is this? More machine-like than machines — that is the best description of this type of thinking.

The second type: skeptics. Here there is a Chinese-Western distinction. Western skeptics tend to focus on the phenomena themselves, while Chinese skeptics tend to focus on the moral character of the person involved.

For example, Westerners can probably tolerate a thug or a scoundrel inventing a theory. When they discuss this theory, they probably won't care much about the person — they examine the theory itself. But in China, this has obviously never been the case. People who haven't even understood a theory can still comment on it — there are far too many such examples. Why? Because everyone's focus is on the person who invented the theory, and commenting on a person — well, anyone who's a person can do that.

Therefore, Western skepticism ultimately produced science, while Chinese skepticism ultimately produced internal infighting. Why didn't the great tide of science first appear in China? Because everyone was busy with infighting. And from infighting came the prevalence of things like "thick-black" theory.

The third type: fantasists. These people live in their own fantasies. Li Bai, for example, is an excellent representative. Being able to fantasize — especially being able to fantasize oneself to death — is absolutely not something an ordinary person can do. If this type has artistic talent, they become great artists. If not, they may simply be mocked as fools and madmen. Zhuangzi and his ilk also belong to this category.

The fourth type: ideals-meet-reality. If skepticism concerns only the interpretation of the world, and fantasy uses a self-construction of consciousness to accomplish a transformation of reality, then this fourth type is the one that rolls up its sleeves and gets things done. In ancient times, these people might have been rebels, dynasty-changers, reformers, or legislators. In modern times, they might be revolutionaries or utopians. It cannot be denied that Hitler was also this type. People of this type all have powerfully forceful characteristics. Therefore, once the direction of their ideals becomes too extreme, their destructiveness is often enormous. Obviously, Chairman Mao also belongs to this type.

The fifth type: sages. These people thoroughly turn inward to examine themselves, transcend the appearances of good and evil to investigate the root. They change the world through the power of heart and wisdom. Their radiance illuminates all eras. If "ideals meeting reality" means being trapped not only by reality but also by ideals and by the very act of "meeting," then for the fifth type, these three are unified. They themselves are the ideal, are the reality, are the meeting. They are the eternal sun in human history.

The sixth type: these people defy naming. The preceding five types are all pulled by the karmic forces of being human. But this type moves with ease within their karma, seeing through the secrets of the world and the universe. Heaven and earth cannot contain them, past and future cannot measure them. How, then, could one name such people?