(Minghui.org) My lovely young friends, not sure if you have ever wondered about the following questions, “Who am I? Where do I come from? Where am I going?” I hope to discuss these eternal questions about life with you and I hope it will inspire you with a new perspective about life and the world.

“Who Am I?”

Throughout history, we Chinese always called ourselves “descendants of the Fiery Emperor and Yellow Emperor.” In the 5,000 years of civilization, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism have been the major thought systems that shaped our society. But after decades of communist rule, most of the traditional values have been lost and younger generations have become ever more shallow and violent.

From elementary school to college, we are taught the Marxism-Leninism philosophy of struggle, which believes that social development is the result of class struggle. Those who are “backward” or “weak” will be bullied. Therefore, everyone should strive to be strong. Human society is just an example of the law of the jungle; and life is merely some chemical reactions. Therefore, the meaning of life is to survive, and living a good life means to have great power and wealth. Morality is just a set of spiritual shackles to restrain the weak, and it is an illusory joke.

What one believes determines who he or she is. Being “descendants of the Fiery Emperor and Yellow Emperor” isn’t about our skin color or the language we speak, but it’s our cultural identity. If we lose such roots, can we still call ourselves the “descendants of the Fiery Emperor and Yellow Emperor”?

While the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) claims that it’s reviving traditional Chinese culture and the Chinese nation, it’s merely doing lip service. What’s restored is only the formality, as the essence inside has been destroyed. In the temples and monasteries with the CCP flags, monks and Taoists must worship the CCP leaders first before paying reverence to the divine. Under the banner of traditional Chinese culture, the CCP, the “Ghost from the West,” promotes its struggle philosophy and poisons innocent young minds.

In the west, it’s widely acknowledged that Marxism-Leninism is an evil heresy and it brings only poverty, killing and disaster to human beings. Since the CCP stole the power in China, it has had so many political campaigns, including the “Land Reform,” the “Three-anti and Five-anti,” the “Anti-Rightist,” the “Cultural Revolution,” the “Tiananmen Massacre” and the persecution of Falun Gong. During the pandemic, it covered up death cases and suddenly lifted the strict lockdown policy, leading to massive infection and death across the country.

If the CCP says the pandemic doesn’t exist, then the doctor can’t list COVID-19 as the cause of death after a patient passes away. If the CCP says the country has got rid of poverty, then everyone must live a good life, even if 600 million Chinese’ monthly income was less than 1,000 yuan.

Exactly because the CCP always labels itself as being “great, glorious and correct” and that all the Chinese must follow it, praise it and obey it, many young people mistaken the “love” for the CCP as patriotism. Anywhere in the world, patriotism is a very noble virtue. But the CCP takes advantage of people’s passion for the country and turn that into blind obedience under its rule. A truly patriotic person is someone who sees the problem and has the courage to raise criticism. Yet under the CCP’s rule, anyone who criticizes it is considered “not loving the country.”

To give an example, if one is a homeowner, yet the Homeowners Association doesn’t allow anyone to raise questions about their management and labels anyone who criticizes them as “not loving the community,” what’s the logic behind that? If that's unacceptable to you, then why is it fine with you when the CCP does the same?

“Where Do I Come From?”

According to Darwin’s theory of evolution, men evolved from monkeys. It’s like life came into being and evolved into more advanced forms as a result of random combination of various molecules. Suppose there are random parts of a car in a parking lot, after the wind blows, the parts assembled into a car on its own. Then after stronger winds or other natural disasters, the car evolved and became ever more advanced. To me, the chance that such things happen is zero.

If we look at the ancient civilizations, we would find amazing similarities which talked about God, or the divine, creating mankind with mud. There were also stories about the big flood before history, the final judgment of mankind and the return of the divine. If it’s purely imagination, then why did our ancestors around the world have the same imagination, when transportation and communication between different regions was non-existent?

Science and spirituality are not enemies. Many scientists believe in the existence of God. For example,  Copernicus, Newton, Einstein and other famous scientists believed in the divine.

Traditional Chinese culture is centered on spirituality. The culture of cultivation guides people to elevated morality and advanced levels. It’s believed that man is the soul of the universe. God created man according to his own image, so divinity lies deeply in everyone and it’s natural for people to develop the wish to become good and return to one’s original self. No matter what one’s belief is, as long as one wants to be a good person, one will discipline oneself and follow the law of the universe.

When the CCP replaces traditional culture with evolution and atheism, one only believes in immediate benefits, fame and power, and that their happiness in life depends on struggle. If one follows the CCP, his connection with the divine will be cut off. One will lose the divine’s blessing and eventually become a servant of the CCP. When that happens on a large scale, humanity is facing grave danger.

I believe the COVID-19 pandemic is a reminder for mankind of what future we want to choose. As far as I know, many of the people who died from the disease in China are CCP members. Since the second half of 2023, at least forty senior CCP generals have died. Just in the four days between March 30 an April 2, 2024, four more senior generals died, including rear admiral Zhang Lixiong, lieutenant general and former Nanjing Air Force deputy commander Han Decai, lieutenant general and former Guangzhou military deputy commander Song Wenhan, and rear admiral Huo Ling.

“Where Am I Going?”

From the perspective of materialism, the final destination of man is the grave. However, when a person’s body dies, his soul does not really perish and he will reincarnate. In a place on the border of Hunan and Guangxi, where the Kam ethnic group lives, 110 out of the 7,800 people there have memories of their past lives. Jim B. Tucker, a psychiatrist at the University of Virginia, has saw many cases when people remembered their past lives.

In Western religion, it’s commonly believed that one’s soul will go to heaven after one dies. In traditional Chinese culture, it talks about cultivating one’s character to reach unity between man and heaven.

So death isn’t the end of one’s lives, but a new start. It’s important that one does good deeds and avoids doing evil. We should all cherish ourselves and don’t indulge ourselves in the pursuit of material gain and uphold kindness. When disaster strikes, good people will be blessed.

(Selected submission in celebration of World Falun Dafa Day on Minghui.org)