[Selected Opinion Articles] Lost in Life: Endless Competition and Ever-present Electronics

(Minghui.org) Many people in China today lead a tiring life as they fight for money, fame, and status. They have forgotten there is more to life than the endless pursuit of material interests.

How to get out of this situation? Let’s first look at an ancient story.

A Virtuous Businessman

Qiao Zhiyong (1818 – 1907) was a businessman in the late Qing Dynasty specialized in tea trade. Once he sent some tea samples to a tea retailer with one jin (half a kilogram) of tea per bag. As the retail shop weighed the bags, it turned out each bag was 1.2 jin (20% extra).

The retail store owner said excitedly, “From now on we will purchase tea from Qiao.”

“No wonder people like to do business with Qiao,” the owner’s advisor commented, “If things go like this, all the tea wholesale will be Qiao’s.”

Just as predicted, Qiao became one of the most successful merchants in the region. By placing integrity and trust ahead of profit, he always delivered more than people expected.

Qiao’s generosity and kindness was also seen during a famine when many people ran out of food. While poor people openly begged for food and received help from Qiao, those with higher social status or intellectuals were hesitant to do the same as that would mean losing face.

To solve this problem, Qiao said he needed to build a house and any helpers – even if just carrying a brick – would receive food. This way, many people survived with dignity. Many people attributed Qiao’s success to blessings from the divine due to his kindness.

Lost in Life

Unlike Qiao, many people in today’s China no longer believe in the divine, having been brainwashed by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) atheist ideology. With no reverence for the divine, they do not understand the karmic relationships that influence life outcomes; that is, good and evil will be rewarded accordingly with more virtue bringing in good fortunes and more karma resulting in misfortunes.

As such, many are fighting to get a foothold in society, sometimes at the expense of others. They pursue quick money and instant gratification at all cost. They think only money, fame, and status is important, nothing else. Because of such a mentality, upper class people try to accumulate more fortune to satisfy their own desire and pass on to their offspring.

A lot of them quickly amassed wealth in China during the privatization of state assets in the economic reform. In contrast, middle-class and people living in poverty work tirelessly but still struggle to make ends meet. They dream of getting rich overnight and changing their fate.

During their pursuit of wealth and status, people across all social classes have also been facing tremendous competition from their peers. They fight to keep their jobs and get pay raises or promotions. Many professionals experience fatigue and are too busy to think about life itself.

Even school children are not spared from the ever-present competition in life. They are often over-scheduled for numerous extracurricular activities, as their parents hope to get them into the best preschool, K-12 schools, or colleges.

We should put effort into work and school of course, but not go to extremes to seek wealth and status. Data shows although the collective wealth is increasing, Chinese citizens now have less satisfaction and sense of security. This is different from a traditional society where people respected each other and enjoyed their work and life.

Although no one truly likes such a stressful life, the intense competition collectively caused this unproductive, tiring life.

In my view, people in today’s China have become lost in life with their endless pursuit of money, fame, and status. They seldom consider the spiritual aspect of life and have forgotten that the divine watch over us.

Drowning in the Sea of Electronics

Besides the intense competition, people in China (and around the world) are drowning in a sea of electronics.

Looking around, we can find endless examples of electronics syndrome ranging from insomnia, inability to concentrate, obesity, poor health, and even death. From morning to evening, from dining table to bathroom, from workplace to home, people are checking phones nearly all the time, even during walking, commuting, and so on.

This situation is even more harmful for the young minds. With little understanding of or experience in the real world, many children bury themselves in the virtual world. Aside from taking time that could have been spent studying or playing, they are immersed in content filled with violence, sex, and all kinds filthy information. As time goes on, they gradually drown in the sea of electronics – physically and mentally.

A Better Life

There is no easy fix to the problems mentioned above. When telling his staff members on how to do business, Qiao said, “I will take what people abandon, make a bit of progress each time, build credibility, and always maintain integrity.” He understood that good fortune would follow when people act in accordance to divine will to be good.

By revering the divine and believing the principles that good and evil will be rewarded accordingly, we can gradually become better people. Like Qiao, we may be blessed with health and prosperity without having to fight for it.

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