What Can Be Done?

As the world splinters, we must hold ourselves together by embracing the ultimate truth of the universe: Love is the unifying force of the universe, and our imagination is the animating force.

I predict that the world will go to hell, and many of you ask: What can be done?

First, appreciate that as we are in the universe, so is the universe in us (the ancients like to say “as above so below”). Through the intentions of our actions, we can alter the destiny of the universe.

Second, appreciate that each and every one of us is here for a purpose, and we know it because we find delight in moving towards it, distress when we move away from it. The Greeks have a word when we achieve our telos (purpose): eudaimonia (flourishing). We flourish when we love, learn, and create.

Third, start here and now. Commit to your own flourishing at this moment, and this moment becomes eternally yours.

Let us start with love, which Dante believed to be the spark of life, and the essence of God. Identify a person (dead or alive) that you know, and make it your mission to love him or her. How do you know you love that person?

a.) You commit yourself to positive growth. Your smile makes him or her smile, and when you laugh he or she laughs with you. You want to grow because it breaks your heart to disappoint him or her. You can do no evil because you refuse to let evil corrupt him or her. And if you do evil you forgive yourself – because if you do not you cease to love. (This is why Christianity has two billion followers. Jesus revolutionized the world because he forgave all those who could not forgive themselves.)

b.) You equate trust with love. You will be tempted to control. But to possess will be to destroy love. What parent would not want a child to be safe? Love means trusting the child to fall, and to get back up. What lover would not be jealous? Love means trusting the beloved to stray, and to return.

c.) You can let that person go. The greatest pain is to see the beloved die, or to abandon you. But you must find the strength and the courage to let him or her go when the time comes. Have faith that he or she is going to a better place.

When you direct your love properly, it becomes the ultimate power for you to learn the secrets of the universe.

a.) Read the Great Books. When you read Homer or Plato or Dante, you are in communion with the universe. They are still alive and with us, and when you read the Great Books you engage in direct dialogue with them. It is a never-ending conversation, and you will return to them at different points in your life.

b.) Make a habit of saying “I am wrong” every day. These are the three most powerful words you’ll ever speak, and when you speak it out loud you’ll change your destiny as well as those around you. People will be shocked into humility by your capacity for self-reflection.

c.) Listen in the way that monks meditate. Do it with focus and faith. Listen with such intensity and energy that you no longer have to ask questions. Know that when someone speaks he or she is revealing a hidden dimension and universe to you, and appreciate it as such. The more you listen the more all universes will reveal themselves.

Now you can create, and you can become anyone you want to be. Rather than be a product of synaptic connections, you can now be the programmer of your own destiny. You can “de-program” yourself, and hack your own mind.

a.) Confront your fear. Every day, embrace discomfort. Get up on a stage, and tell jokes. Get into a dojo, and come out black and blue, twisted and sore. Put yourself in a strange place, and trust the kindness of strangers. Your fear is a stubborn faith in your limitations. Fight fear as your greatest enemy.

b.) Confront your ego. Make it your mission to help others. Be honest and vulnerable when you speak, and develop empathy. Let others speak first and longest, and let your compassion and empathy speak for you.

c.) Practice “visualization.” Imagine a new “you.” Draw out the details, and write out the story. When you imagine, the universe imagines with you. Do not be stubborn – let the picture reveal itself to you as you paint it. Together, you and the universe will imagine the future, and the future will be yours.

***

Let me offer a concrete personal example of what all this means. From 2008 until 2010, I built and managed one of China’s first international programs at Shenzhen Middle School, which was the best public school in the city of Shenzhen. Today, the international program is considered the best in southern China, and has sent students to Harvard, Stanford, and Yale.

My students and I launched the world’s first high school daily newspaper, China’s first student-run coffeehouse, and an English magazine. I had recruited ten Ivy League graduates to teach liberal arts seminars, and I built a library with five thousand English books.

Because it was using public resources to help wealthy students study overseas, the program was controversial. In a faculty meeting, I explained that the purpose was to demonstrate the value of a liberal arts education in China, and promote education reform. One teacher yelled out “Bullshit!” in response.

I experienced my own Cultural Revolution. Students attacked me online, and put up posters calling for my downfall. They accused me of using public resources to build a private program, and become a millionaire.

The truth was much darker. I had built the program to cope with the trauma of failure and alienation. After Yale, I had stumbled throughout life, and here was an opportunity to prove myself worthy. I didn’t want to become a millionaire because too many of my Yale classmates had become millionaires. I wanted to build an empire, and dominate the entire study abroad space. It was my fear and anxiety that drove me to want to succeed at all costs.

After I was fired for being an asshole, I wandered into the wilderness for many years, alone and depressed. Then I met my wife, who I am convinced is an angel sent from the universe to redeem me, and prepare me for my true purpose in life.

After we had our first child together, I sat down to write down my education theories into a book. I was reluctant to do so because we needed money, but my wife told me to write it for our child. I had tried to write books before, but I floundered because I was writing heal past trauma and to become famous. Now that I was writing the book for our boy I became inspired and focused, and lost my fear and anxiety. My wife read every chapter, and together we wrote the book together.

The book did not make me famous in China, but I no longer cared about that. I cared about building a legacy for my children. When I write, I do so conscious that one day my children will read it. When I teach, I do so conscious that one day my children will learn from me.

This summer, my YouTube lectures made me famous. After decades of struggle and setback, I’ve achieved my goal. How do I feel? I thank my past trauma for leading me to my wife, and I only care about building a better world for my children.

That is the power of love. It heals and redeems all, and it empowers us to re-imagine ourselves and the universe. Yes, I know that the future is dark, but I’ve learned that the future is worth dying for.

Notes and References:

1. Dunning and Kruger are two American psychologists who research optimal learning. They’ve discovered that to “know thyself” is the most difficult task. Everyone thinks they’re above average, and the most incompetent tend to be the most confident (the Dunning-Kruger Effect). That’s why it’s important to maintain “objective feedback loops” in our lives – we must consciously avoid becoming arrogant. Those who practice a sport (especially martial arts) are forced to stay humble. Intellectuals (such as professors, scientists, and doctors) are most prone to hubris because they form a circle jerk.

2. Some of you will understand the idea of eudaimonia as “flow,” an idea developed by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. For him, “flow” is a state of intense focus and creativity – imagine artists so inspired that they forget to eat and sleep. He identifies the three constituent elements necessary to develop a state of “flow” as autonomy, challenge, and mastery. It takes decades of intense training in order to develop into a state of flow. Some of you will appreciate that when I teach I enter into a state of flow (and that’s why I’m good at it).

3. The Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck has discovered that those most likely to succeed are resilient, embracing challenges and learning from mistakes. She calls this the “growth mindset,” as opposed to the “fixed mindset,” which avoids making mistakes.

4. K. Anders Ericsson was famous for coining the phrase “deliberate practice.” Because he is stupid, Malcolm Gladwell presented the idea of “deliberate practice” as the ten-thousand-hour rule. This is dangerously wrong. Mastery requires embracing failure, which is the world’s best teacher.

5. If you’re interested in reading more about my time at Shenzhen Middle School, here’s a link to an article: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1010535

6. In this paywalled 2014 interview with the New York Review of Books, I share my education reform vision: https://www.nybooks.com/online/2014/04/08/china-school-reform-jiang-xueqin/