The Foolish Old Man...

[Pto]

There's a story in Chinese mythology known in English as The Foolish Old Man who Removes a Mountain.

In short, the story is that an old man is unhappy because there are mountains in front of his home that separate his home from the rest of civilization. He wants to do something about it so he starts to chip away at the mountain little by little. When people walk past and scold him for his stupidity for believing he can accomplish such a task, he replies that while he cannot hope to remove the mountain in his lifetime, he can pass the task down to his sons, and his sons to his grandson and so on. For him, it is everything to know that one day, the mountain will be gone, and his ancestors will live happily.

I was wondering, would we be able to adopt this philosophy? We live in a society that seeks instant gratification. We care about the current events when they are current and immediate and stop caring soon after. When a great storm devastates a country, we may send donations to feel that we have helped in some way, but in the end we haven't done very much, and we're okay with that. Few of us attempt projects that are "too big" because we would never finish it. If this weren't the case, if we could be happy enough to know that one day the project would be finished, if not in our lifetime, how much more could we accomplish?

 

[Tannhauser]

Great post. Yes, I have thought about this sometimes. Modern western culture is very focused on the individual -- it is all about realising one's personal aspirations, making something of oneself etc. A lot of people think about famous historical figures and want to become as famous as them. What they don't consider is that probably a lot of these people became historical figures exactly because they were not interested in "making something of oneself" but instead focused on some great project exterior to themselves.

 

[emmabobary]

Would we be able?
I´m really prone to say no. Not yet.
I see the current state of the world as a baloon inflating, we obtain satisfaction of seeing how much can we keep blowing till it explodes on our own faces.
There will be a rupture eventually, and this thirst for inmediate satisfaction will stop either to change into some paradigm of a different nature, either to take a rest and revive in a future.


Anyway, I like your idea, I personaly try to live like that.

 

[MosMaiorum]

This isn't a philosophy that needs to be "adopted." We naturally care about future generations; that's why most parents care about their children's well-being, and why most grandparents care about their grandchildren's well-being. And we naturally care about the welfare of humanity; most well-off people donate to charity and non-profit research initiatives.

Indeed, we are naturally equipped with the attitude that this story describes; we need not try to "adopt" or "enhance" such a mindset. Rather, we should keep in mind that we are not equipped to effectively implement this inherently tribal/communitarian attitude in the large-scale neoliberal society that we currently live in. That is what ought to be central to this discussion.