Look beyond Your Horizon

I have chosen to begin this book by introducing you to Li Zongwu (1880-1943), who wrote a very popular cynical book, Houheixue (The Study of the Thick Face and the Black Heart), in 1912, depicting the historical Chinese heroes as having thick skins and black hearts. Lin Yutang (1895-1976), a Harvard scholar and an authority on China and Chinese culture, commented that scholars who had read Chinese and foreign books widely but had yet to read this book of Li were to regard this lost opportunity as a matter for regret. (Liu Si 2005a) [Chapter 1]……… The First Person You Must Know: Yourself There are two keys to success in setting and planning your goals. The Art of War was written two thousand years ago by Sunzi, the greatest strategist in warfare in ancient China; one of its strategies was to know yourself. You need to know yourself and know yourself thoroughly…. The Second Person You Must Know: Your Enemy Your negativity is your enemy. You must always remember that your negativity can soon dampen your initial enthusiasm and that of others…..Your enemy is your own self. Your enemy, the second person you need to know, can be in the form of lack of self-confidence, selfishness, laziness, procrastination, greediness, pessimism, arrogance, apathy, jealousy, unforgiving, rudeness, unfriendliness, dishonesty, spendthrift, or untidiness. It can also be in the form of the thick face and the black heart. [Chapter 2]……. The Enlightenment from Orwell’s Books At this juncture, I should like to introduce you to two of my favourite books, Animal Farm and 1984. George Orwell had an almost flawless visualisation in writing them. If you read them, you may gain an insight into his critical thinking and vision. …..The common theme in the novels Animal Farm and 1984 was Orwell’s contempt for and fear of dictatorship. He argued that corrupt leaders should be removed from the world through the sanguine satire of the Animal Farm and the poverty and violence of 1984. Orwell did not have a happy childhood because of the social chaos of the 1940s. When these books are revisited today, they become immediately relevant to us…….. Great Vessels Take Time to Build If the recipients of Nobel Prizes are the benchmark, then we know that a great mind takes a long time to mature. Most laureates are of advanced age when they are honoured. They have overcome obstacles and failed experiments to be experts in their respective fields, to be reckoned with. As great oaks from little acorns grow, you must not be disheartened if you have failed or missed the boat at an earlier period of your life. Failures can be the motivating force for you to learn from your mistakes and rectify your weaknesses. Let bygones be bygones and never let an opportunity bypass you again. [Chapter 3]…….. Be as Wise as Water You must be able to adapt yourself to the environment surrounding you so that your goals can be achieved. Water does not have a definite form; it can reshape itself to suit its environment. It can come in the forms of vapour, dew, ice, and rain without changing its characteristics. The rain comes down in drops which form rivers before flowing into the ocean…..When you possess the wisdom of water in your goal setting, you will be able to plan to nurture yourself into someone with integrity and wisdom. [Chapter 4]…... A stratagem is a plan or trick, especially to deceive the enemy. The Greeks used the stratagem of the wooden horse to capture Troy. In ancient China, there are thirty-six stratagems in the art of war; they are especially important when maneuvering an army into a favourable position….Thus, the knowledge of these stratagems will help you tremendously in dealing with people of complex character; it will also prepare you to be on the alert of imminent danger. You have to look beyond your horizon and not to take people at face value; learn to disregard their appearance. Remember that there are people whose faces are thicker than the wall of a fort; they are so thick as to become formless, and their hearts are so black that they become colourless because their wickedness is veneered by their hypocrisy……. Stratagem No. 6: Feint east, strike west (sheng dong ji xi, 声東击西) ………During the Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War (1959-1975), the full deployment of this stratagem was demonstrated by the Vietnamese Communists, who made the American forces playing hide-and-seek with them. The guerrilla fighters disguised themselves among the local populace, could vanish within minutes of an attack, and appeared at any moment in an ambush. The American soldiers were always in the open while the guerrilla fighters were in hiding, so the Americans were under constant psychological pressure of being attacked, be it in towns, villages, jungles, paddy fields, or river deltas. As the Chinese saying goes, “The dragon which crosses the river is no match for the snake in its old haunts”; the Americans finally lost the war to the guerrilla fighters, who had the edge of knowing well the topography of their land. [Chapters 5 and 6]…….. As a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, you need to look beyond your horizon by having a specific goal and a plan to achieve it. You can fly the extra mile when you are confident, have a sustainable effort, and are fearless and upright in your thought, speech, and deeds. When you leave behind a legacy worthy of respect and admiration, you can consider yourself as having been successful in life…Doing the right thing is never a wrong choice but a small and sure step in the right direction. You will have more solutions than problems when you have the human touch to be empathetic, are learned and practical, are realistic and steady, and are a good listener. Life is splendid when you look beyond your horizon and become a high achiever. [Chapter 7] (1,000 words)