The first sentence of the opening sentence of the Analects uses the rhetorical technique of analogy and rhetorical question to emphasize the three major relationships of life, and points out how to deal with these three relationships in order to achieve the state of happiness.
Learn and learn, don't you also say? This sentence is about the relationship between man and heaven. "Heaven" is a wide range of natural and human environments, including climate change, mountains, rivers and plants and other astronomical geography, and family, couples, brothers, friends and other human backgrounds, all of which are realities that people have to face from birth. "Heaven" is changing, and people are different at different ages, in different positions, in different living environments and interpersonal relationships. In the face of these changes, if we can be good at learning and putting them into practice with a realistic and pragmatic attitude, we will be able to keep the normal heart of life in the flow of time and experience the joy of being a human being. This kind of pleasure is not the joy of wine and meat, nor is everything going well, but whether it is good or bad, it grasps people's subjectivity and consciousness, and gives full play to people's ability to transform reality. The ancient knowledge was called "the study of life", and if you learn it, you will know how to settle down and settle yourself in the world.
Have friends come from afar, are you happy? This sentence is about the relationship between people. People are often lonely in the world, and only like-minded friends can bring spiritual resonance and tacit care. Many times, the people around you don't understand you, and the people who understand you are not together, so no one shares their hearts, no one understands their thoughts and emotions, so how can they be happy? All things have spirits, there are benevolence in the world, if there are confidants and friends, people in the same way, across thousands of mountains and rivers, should come together by fate, it is really a happy thing in life. "My way is not lonely, the spark is passed on", such feelings are enough to comfort life.
People don't know and are not ashamed, and they are not gentlemen? This sentence is about the relationship between man and himself. How people face themselves, know themselves, and get along with themselves is a big question involving the inner cultivation of the body and mind. "愠" (yun four sounds) means angry and angry. Others don't know about me, and I don't get angry, isn't this also a gentleman's cultivation? The gentleman is cautious and does not deceive the dark room. When you are alone, you can be honest with your heart, which is the way to be sincere. Only when you understand yourself can you not account for the misunderstanding of others; Only by understanding oneself can one truly understand others. A gentleman has a broad mind, and if he can explore inward and keep the foundation of the supreme good, he will be able to tolerate all kinds of things in the world. Most of the wise people have a self-sufficient mentality and self-deprecating humor, and this happiness is a dialogue of the self.
Happiness is based on good interaction, with oneself, with others, and with heaven and earth. These three sentences at the beginning of the Analects seem to convey the secret of happiness with a smile.