Saturday, 31 October 2015

易中天中华史:汉武的帝国

又想念易中天老师了。。。承接上一本【秦并天下】,这回终于到了中国史上第一个最具规模的朝代了。。。

单单第一章,就看的我“目瞪口呆”了。好惊讶!易老师尽然能够运用区区40页就把凌乱的汉朝开端(从汉高祖到汉景帝)解释得清清楚楚。而且,省列的部分还真的恰恰好。最令人拍案叫绝的是。。。对于汉朝开端种种令人起疑的瞎编故事,易老师还真的一一揭破。司马迁如果还在世,他也不得不佩服易老师的能耐。以下几点就是很好的例子:

很清楚,惠帝的不理朝政,其实是无为而治。这既是受曹参启发,也是当时帝国的政治需要和大势所趋,跟戚夫人或者吕后,一毛钱关系都没有。

看来,刘邦早就料定自己死后吕氏一定会作乱,平叛的一定是周勃,助一臂之力的一定是陈平,至于作证白马之盟的一定是王陵。精彩吗?精彩。靠谱吗?不靠谱。事实上,这故事如果属实,就等于说日本偷袭珍珠港,是为了让美国在世界上当老大,不可笑吗?很清楚, 什么临终嘱咐,什么曲线救国,什么陆贾之谋,都不过是西汉宫方事后编出来的谎话。而且,那著作权,可能属于陈平。当然,也可能是集体创作。

宗室主要是刘姓诸侯。但宗室虽然姓刘,却代表地方;吕后虽然姓吕,却代表中央。于是,陈平和周勃选择了吕后。但是,吕后去世,诸吕还能代表中央吗?不能。也就是说,吕后驾崩,平衡就被打破。这才是政变的重要原因。

还没进入汉武帝,易老师的神笔已经那么惊心动魄了。。。这本书怎能不好看呢?

进入汉武帝的时代,易老师的分析更绝!史书惯性的把汉武帝歌颂;易老师选择分析是非功过。这一点,易老师秉着一贯的逻辑和史料分析做的非常的到位。最棒的地方还是,易老师把一般历史学家对于汉武帝独尊儒术的一面给否决了。怎么个否决法呢?易老师沿着秦始皇法家的失败和汉武帝法儒并用的成功来否决这一点。可能我是孤陋寡闻;我还是第一次领悟到汉武帝法儒并用的精神。最后,易老师还分析了这一切对于高度集权的重要性。这也是为什么汉朝理论上是一个成功的朝代,也是延续接下来若干朝代的开源帝国。诚如易老师所说:“靠着汉政治,周文明的血脉延续了下来。在楚文明的基础上将周秦文明融为一体,就是汉文明。这是人类史上最早出现的世界性文明。” 

可惜。。。汉武帝下诏罪己,易老师也开始犹豫了。原本以为一直困扰着众多学者的问题能在这本书找到答案。但是,易老师根据史料也无法断定这一切的真伪。因此,书中还是留下了一团谜底。可敬的是,易老师很坦然的承认这一切。至少,他的坦然不至于误解读者。

书的最后把罗马给扯进来了。。。我的天呀!这怎么能让读者喘息呢?我还真的是迫不及待的想马上阅读下一本【两汉两罗马】。。。

评分方面。。。10分满分,基于汉武帝下诏罪己始终是个谜底,本人给予9分。整体上,这是一本很难得的汉武帝书籍。虽有小瑕疵,但还是上等之作。以下的语录就值得读者细细回味:

独尊儒术与焚书抗儒,只有手段不同,没有本质的区别。其目的,都是要统一思想。只不过,秦始皇威胁,汉武帝利诱;秦始皇不准人民读书,汉武帝要人民只读一种书。结果,始皇失败,武帝成功。然而,汉武帝的成功,却不是儒家的,而是法家的。法家清楚,统一思想靠杀人是不行的,得靠诛心。相反,收买人心是最低而效果最佳的办法。法家主张“两面三刀”。三刀,就是绝对权威,阴谋诡计和严刑峻法;两面,则是赏和罚。始皇用罚故焚书,武帝用赏故尊儒。但,给儒家吃冷猪肉,绝不等于对其他人就不会挥舞狼牙棒。

汉武帝的政治是混合性的。在他那里,有儒家的德治,法家的刑治,也有墨家的人治。是的,大汉王朝并没有唯儒术而独尊。当时没有,以后没有。武帝想要的的是中央集权。

法家提醒统治者要防范两种人,一是文士,二是武侠。在汉武帝的黑名单上,还有巨商和豪强。对付的方法则不一样。对巨商,是断其财路;对豪强,是断其根基;对文士,是另给出路,让他们追逐功名;对武侠,则是血腥镇压。重要的,自己坐稳江山。

文史的法家倾向,技术特征和职业习惯,都是儒家不喜欢的。儒家认为,忠于君主不等于唯命是从。这是儒家的可贵之处。不过,儒家往往有一个毛病,那就是高谈阔论,不切实际。相反,文史却是操作能力极强的。所以,文史是行善还是作恶,全看遇到什么样的皇帝。儒生务忠良,文史趋理事。一个有理想,一个有能力;一个讲原则,一个办实事;帝国该选谁?汉武帝的首选,是文史。

武帝并不当真热衷儒术。他喜欢的不是纯儒,而是杂儒,以及像张汤那样能够用儒术装点门面的文史。儒术与法术杂糅,王道与霸道并用,才是他的真面目。

儒学在官化。官方思想其实是不要思想的。官方的儒学只要教化和灌输。没有思考,没有质疑,没有批判,没有争鸣,那才真的“毁人不倦”。把儒学变成官学,应该由汉武帝来负责。

Monday, 26 October 2015

Steve Jobs and Philosophy

Steve Jobs... an idol for everyone... myself included!!! But, this is not only a biography. It is also a book on Job's philosophy. Philosophy again? LOL...

Ended up... this is really not my cup of tea. Reason... I found it hard to combine philosophy with great entrepreneurship by Steve Jobs. Well, the author may sound it right throughout the book. However, I personally view philosophy as something unique. After all, the philosophy is from the Greek for "love of wisdom". Steve Jobs did great stuff during his glorious times. But, I think he did that out of his amazing imagination and creativity. As such, to tie it up with philosophy... it seems too hard on my side.

Furthermore, this book although focus on the so called "philosophy"; I tend to treat it like a biography. Well, the author used a lot of references throughout the book. The "philosophy" parts are then inserted throughout the "biography" part. The author may have his own opinion. However, it certainly does not represent everybody's minds. If I was Steve Job, I think I prefer "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson or "The Steve Jobs Way". At least, I do not think Steve Jobs prefers to be a philosopher too, LOL.

Well, some readers may enjoy reading this book. But, I am definitely not the one. Perhaps... "Steve Jobs" by Walter Isaacson are too excellent to compares with this book. Relatively, I am hundred percent with the former. As such, for a full rating of 10, I am rating this book at 2/10. This might not be a bad book. But, I just do not really like it... 

Monday, 19 October 2015

Nothingness in Asian Philosophy

After the disappointing fear philosophy, I started to get my moods back on philosophy stuff. So, here I am with the "Nothingness in Asian Philosophy".

Similar to investment books... it is rather hard to find excellent philosophy books too. Is this book an exceptional case? Frankly, it is not. The last "A Philosophy of Fear" although no good, at least it is not so boring. This book is a real dull book. So, if last book was rated at 1/10, I have no hesitation to rate this book at 0/10! No offence... but, what a lousy stuff it is...

First of all, this book is a bit mess although the author (editor?) tries his best to make it like a “book”. This happen probably because it is never easy to edit a collection of essays by twenty of the top scholars in Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, Neo-Confusion, Japanese and Korean thoughts.

Secondly, I think it is hard to digest the hard works by this group of scholars. The so called "nothingness" was studied and presented in a scientific way along with philosophy theory. But, the end result is miserable at my side. At the end, I really found nothing inspiring me.

Lastly, religious stuff is never my cup of tea. Certain parts of this book did involve religion facts. The topic of this book misleads me in the first place. OK, I admit that I did not even bother to flip through initially. So, I cannot blame the editors. But, the more I read, the more I cannot accept it. As a conclusion, this may be a jewel for some readers. But, I am definitely not the one. 

Monday, 12 October 2015

A Philosophy of Fear

I love philosophy stuff. But, this book of "fear" is really not my cup of tea. It is actually a simple book. A total of 192 pages tell the whole story. But, to explain philosophy in such a thin book required excellent writing skill. In this case, I humbly think the author failed big time...

First of all, the author keeps on providing us with tons of references. As an amateur in this field, it is rather hard for me to digest. Secondly, the author did try his best in explaining every possible points in the books. However, I personally think that the contents are too general. At the end, nothing inspired me; and I am still the guy with lots of fear (LOL). Basically, the whole book only delivers one simple fact: We are living in a much better world these days. Hence, fear should not exist at all. Well, that is the only thing I get from this book.

For a full rating of 10, I am going to rate this book at 1/10. I hate books with tons of references. It just shows that the author got zero ideas on what he or she want to presents. In fact, this book failed to impress me except the last chapter. The last chapter at least tells me what the intention of this book is... But, to categorize it as "philosophy", I seriously doubt it. Time to move on... Ding, ding, ding... 

Thursday, 8 October 2015

如何殺死心中的怪物──擺脫不安和恐懼的心理技巧

虽然太喜欢易老师的书籍;但是基于最近忙透了,因此,还是暂时割爱,读一读轻松一点的读物。

听说这本书是韩国一本挺著名的书籍。一般上,我挺抗拒翻译书籍的。但,没办法;我不懂韩文呀!所以,勉为其难的接受了这本翻译书。

结果,翻译的还真不赖。至少,整本书是读懂了。阅读这本书蛮有趣的。理由是,作者尝试用体育项目来解读各种心理问题。对于我这个体育痴狂者,这本书恰恰迎合了我要的那杯茶。体育项目本来就是靠很多心理学的角度去支撑的。作者本身因不断接触体育选手,因此,能在这本书提供给读者更多真实的例子。

除此,作者也举例了很多现实中的实际状况。因此,阅读这本书很容易产生共鸣。一些看似弱小的心理问题想不到影响的层面还挺大的。人类始终只是人类,总会有弱不禁风的一面。虽说作者常以体育项目来做例子,但,我觉得里头的论点在每一行每一业都有它的作用。

这本书唯一的缺点应该是太简化了。有些精彩论点,作者都选择轻描淡写。读者在读的过瘾时,作者会突然来个大煞车。因此,有些部分是稍微凌乱的。但,从另一面来说,这可能也使整本书更容易让读者消化。所以,这个小缺点,还真的是见仁见智。

满分10分,个人给予7分。这本书除了少许的不到位,其他方面还真的是一本不错的读物。以下是我总结了一些值得反思的论点。这些论点可能一直在无意中干扰着你我他噢!

治疗完美主义者需要花费很长的时间。我会先要求他们放下心里的负担。只有放下心里的负担,才能降低不必要的能量消耗。如果不能放下羞耻心,承认自己的不足,人就会纠结于“说还是不说”,“我说这些对方会怎么想我”,“要不还是说谎吧”这样的矛盾之中。

面对紧张时刻,要接受眼前的情况,就能减轻负担,获得更好的结果。接受紧张或是回避紧张,会带来截然不同的结果。

经常自我贬低的人不懂得认真倾听自己内心的声音,反而会放大别人的意见,然后助长心中的怪物。

自我信赖可以分为两种:一种是对正面结果的无条件信赖;另一种是想要按照自己的意念完成动作的觉悟。但是,前一种自我信赖形成的概率比较低。相反,后一种概率不较高。

强迫症的人为了达成目标而选择了令人疲惫的生活方式,这是因为他们将满足视为人生停顿的象征。但是,真正明智的人会将满足视为为了走向终点而必须经历的过程。

细分成功后,尝到了小成功的甜头,就能享受到“补偿”或者“满足”这样的奖励,这个奖励会强化“肯定”。就像上学时做习题,做完一个单元后检查,比做完整本试题后再检查更让人有满足感。

对于体育选手来说,“羡慕你就输了”这句话更不实际。他们之所以能在比赛上奋力奔跑,就是因为有良性妒忌,即羡慕。妒忌对手的能力和努力,借此来提高自己的能力,这种羡慕是一种有益的刺激剂。

自认为在享受工作,事实上却因为结果不理想而产生压力,或者是需要花费很长的时间才能恢复之前的状态,那么你享受的就不是工作,而是通过成果换来的他人的关心。

过分的在乎外部对象就会迷失自己,只渴望获得他人的认可。相反,过于关注自己就不会对自己的想法和行为负责,智慧将这种责任转嫁给他人。

通常我们希望控制结果。无论过程怎样,我们只希望获得自己满意的结果。但是,许多年后回想起来,那些有过欢笑和泪水的过程更然人记忆深刻。

父母如果能合理的利用沉默,孩子就会看着父母的脸色,自然的反省自己的行为。所以,不是只有用言语对话才能解决问题的。