The famous writer Ma Yuan said: "The life of having read a classic in a lifetime and not reading a classic is completely different. "In the jungle of world literature, there are many classics, but those that can influence the historical process of an era are rare.
Among them, Mrs. Stowe's masterpiece "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is a well-deserved standout.
In the book, Mrs. Stowe depicts the tragic situation of black people in the American South through the life of black Tom, a black man, and exposes the darkness and evil of slavery.
When the book came out, it was translated into dozens of Chinese, setting off a wave of abolitionism in the United States.
However, unlike ordinary abolitionist literature**, in the book, Mrs. Stowe not only depicts the tragic situation of black oppression, but also focuses on the ideas and ideas of different estate owners.
Among all beings, some people lose their hearts in the ethereal sense of superiority because of their superior status;
There are also people who win the admiration and love of others with their heartfelt humility and respect.
Liu Cixin said: "Weakness and ignorance are not obstacles to survival, arrogance is. ”
Revisiting "Uncle Tom's Cabin", I understood the survival wisdom hidden under the cloak of "politics".
That is, a person's greatest ability is not how much you can do, but not taking yourself seriously.
The greatest stupidity of a person, the superiority of blindness
The story takes place in the 19th century, on the eve of the American Civil War.
At that time, the American South was mainly ruled by whites.
Cotton cultivation is their main economy**.
The blacks and their descendants brought from Africa were reduced to cheap labor.
The main character, Tom, is a black man living in this harsh environment.
After a long period of displacement, he was eventually traded to Macquarie.
Macquarie is a cruel farmer.
During the cotton harvest season, in order to prevent the blacks from being lazy, he promoted two strong black men, Shanbao and Kunbao, to overseers.
Unexpectedly, Shanbao and Kunbao developed a strong sense of superiority because of this.
Obviously they are all exploited parties, but they rely on the privileges in their hands, showing off their power everywhere, and pretending:
Whenever they see someone who hasn't picked enough cotton, or someone who makes them feel uncomfortable, they will wave their whips and hit them hard
After seeing a new beautiful black woman on the farm, they brutally abducted her by force and wantonly destroyed other people's marriages and families;
After forcibly taking the other party for himself, Shanbao ordered her to work for him with peace of mind.
With a lofty attitude, they suppressed everyone around them who could suppress them, as if they were the real rulers of this farm.
In cognitive psychology, there is a "Duck effect", which refers to the fact that people with insufficient abilities will have an illusory sense of superiority and mistakenly believe that they are better than the real situation.
Just like Shanbao and Kunbao in the book, because of ignorance, they mistakenly regard location as a skill, and they are immersed in the sense of superiority brought by privilege and can't extricate themselves.
As everyone knows, in the eyes of the farmer Macquarie, they are just two pawns in the management of the farm. Once there is a better candidate for the position of overseer, the two will be abandoned at any time.
The French writer Chateaubriand once said:
A man will never be superior simply because he looks at the world with an eye of hatred. ”
In the final analysis, the so-called superiority is just a deformed mentality, and it does not mean that you are really superior to others.
People with a superficial heart will be complacent about seeing a certain master, which big city they have been to, and eating a few high-end restaurants, and then suppress those around them who are not as good as themselves.
But just as in this world, there are no two leaves that are exactly the same, and there will always be asymmetries in everyone's strengths.
Born as a human being, no one is more noble than the other. All superiority is actually only ignorance.
The stronger the sense of superiority, the narrower the path in life
Tom's second owner was Mr. St. Clair.
Unlike most ** farmers, St. Clair does not discriminate against blacks.
He believes that they are also full of emotions and thoughts, and they are kind to everyone in their family.
But his wife, Mrs. Mary, was the polar opposite.
She was born in a wealthy family, had a happy married life, and was served by a special person, and should have been the happiest person in the manor.
But she often sighed and complained that no one around her really cared about her.
And all of this stems from her habitual superiority of "stepping on others and elevating herself".
While enjoying the benefits of "slavery" with peace of mind, she unashamedly presented herself as the "savior" of the black people, believing that once the black people were free from her rule, they would soon perish because of the lazy concept of survival.
In order to get better service for herself after marriage, she forcibly broke up the maid's family and took the maid away.
But one night, when she had a migraine attack, she didn't notice it because the maid slept too deeply, and angrily accused the other party of selfishness, and afterwards, blamed her for being too lenient to her subordinates.
When St. Clair tried to stop her from breaking up the maid's family and made her try to put herself in her shoes, she sneered and said, "Black people can't have as many emotions as I have." ”
However, in the eyes of others, it is Mrs. Mary herself who complains about all this who is really dependent on others, selfish and insensitive.
Over time, her husband saw through her face and stopped listening to her complaintsThe subordinates got used to her vexatious and began to perfunctory things to her.
In this way, Mrs. Mary was trapped by her inner sense of superiority, and slowly lived herself as an island.
On the other hand, in our lives, we will inevitably meet people like Mrs. Mary
In the Western restaurant, some people take advantage of their understanding of Western food etiquette and are angry with unskilled customers
In the social arena, some people take advantage of themselves to go abroad to study, and they always have to deliberately carry English when they speak;
In the workplace, some people take advantage of their seniority and use terms in front of newcomers, pretending to be profound...
Some netizens accurately described the psychological characteristics of this type of person:
Having superior conditions does not satisfy them, because what they seek is not superiority per se, but how to show that they are superior to others.Therefore, stepping on the low and praising the high has become their instinct;Pride has become their habit.
But getting along with people is always a two-way street. Put an extra piece of gold on your face, and others will be dim.
The sense of superiority displayed at all times is like a strong light, which cannot give warmth to others, but only makes people feel dazzling.
Learn to put away condescending arrogance and restrain psychological superiority, in order to gather more people's hearts, and the road of life will be wider and wider.
The greatest ability of a person is not to take himself seriously
In Mrs. Mary's view, the only way to tame all the blacks on the manor was by force.
St. Clair disagreed. To do this, he tells Mary the story of his success in "taming" a black man.
On one occasion, he visited his brother Alfred's estate and came across him chasing an escaped black man.
According to Alfred, the absconding black man was named Scipio, tall, powerful, and had a strong desire for freedom.
Because of his perennial absconding, he has been resold many times. Alfred thought he could subdue Scipio by force and bought him.
Unexpectedly, only a few days later, Sipio knocked the overseer to the ground and fled the farm.
This angered Alfred, but St. Clair decided it was all Alfred's fault and made a bet that he could "tame" Scipio.
Soon, the group of them caught up with Scipio with their hounds.
But Scipio resisted desperately, and no one could come near until someone shot and wounded him.
In order to prevent the crowd from accidentally killing Scipio in the impulse of victory, St. Clair held off the hounds and the pursuers, claiming to be his captive.
Afterwards, he bought Scipio from Alfred, took him back to his room, made him a comfortable bed, bandaged his wounds, and cared for him himself.
After Scipio was fully a**, St. Clair signed a certificate of freedom for him, allowing him to go wherever he wanted.
But what is surprising is that Scipio, who has absconded many times, did not hesitate to tear the certificate in half, saying that he would not leave St. Clair.
Even when St. Clair later fell ill with a serious infectious disease, Scipio remained by his side and served him fearlessly until the end of his life.
In fact, St. Clair was no more noble than his brother or other farmers in terms of wealth, fame, and status, but he was able to make the unruly Scipio follow him with all his heart.
All this stems from his ability to let go of his sense of superiority and treat Cepio who is not as good as him as an equal.
I remembered that someone on Zhihu once asked: "How to judge whether a person is worth dating?"”
One of the high praisers replied, "Just look at how he treats people who are lower than himself." ”
Because it is human instinct to respect and worship the strong, but it is the understanding and compassion of the weak that is the brilliance of the depths of human nature.
When a person has seen the world and experienced the ups and downs of life, he is more aware of his own insignificance and clearly realizes that all achievements and brilliance are only temporary.
Only by lowering one's posture and learning to bend over the world can we accumulate strength and stand up.
As Albert Einstein said, "When you look down on anyone, you're not far from failure."When you look up to anyone, you're not far from success. ”
The highest level of cultivation of a person is to be humble and restrained from superiority even when he is in a high place.
Uncle Tom's Cabin is not only a long anti-slavery story, but also a philosophy of survival that exposes human nature.
In the book, in the face of his wife's accusations against his subordinates, St. Clair once said, "If we are in their position, we may not be as good as them." ”
Many times, due to the superiority of our situation, we will unintentionally breed arrogance and arrogance in our hearts.
But all superiority, it does not come from appearance, wealth, knowledge, and status, but only from a person's lack of insight and compassion.
Chen Daoming said:
Those who go up the mountain should never look down on those who go down, because he has been beautiful, and you are still under the mountain;Life is a process of continuous climbing, and in the end, it is self-cultivation that fights.The people on the mountain should never look down on the people below the mountain, because at any time, the people under the mountain will climb up.
No matter what situation you find yourself in, you can see your position clearly and quit your inner superiority.
Not showing off in front of people, not being arrogant in front of people, is a person's greatest ability.
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