Chapter 26 Graveyard deserted

one I asked many German friends, but none of them knew where Hegel's tomb was.Later, at the hotel, I received a call from a Chinese scholar who had been working here for a long time. He was my reader and knew what my interests were. Listen to what you want.This Chinese scholar is called Yu Xinghua. I have never met him before, so I made an appointment to meet at the gate of the Parliament Building near the Brandenburg Gate. He and his wife drove to pick me up. Going north on Friedrichstrasse, a dirt alley leads to a very inconspicuous cemetery. It is messy, crowded and dirty. It is hard to believe that this is a European cemetery. I dare not come in.

I followed them and walked among the densely packed tomb corridors, waiting for a relatively empty cemetery to appear, but I stopped at the densest place.Yu Xinghua said that this is it. I gave him a suspicious look, then looked at the tombstone, and spelled Hegel’s full name in alphabetical order twice. It was indeed Hegel and his wife who were buried in the tomb.Looking sideways, No. 19 next door is Fichte and his wife.From a piece of paper posted on the roadside of the cemetery, I know that Zweig is also inside, but I can't find it after searching three times. These masters are all indomitable in the field of human culture, but I did not expect that here they are crowded shoulder to shoulder, crowded in such a narrow space.I don't know why Germans who are serious everywhere do this thing so sloppily.There may be a special historical reason, because I have seen some less important cultural cemeteries in other places, and the Germans are very particular about it.I believe there will be a major renovation here soon.

The three of us wandered around the cemetery for so long, and only saw one living person among the long weeds, a young man buried in a book.Ask him about Zweig's grave, he immediately stood up politely shaking his head, then pointed to the east: I only know that Brecht is there. Brecht's tomb is slightly larger, but it is located in a corner.It suddenly occurred to me that there was a small baby carriage in the weeds next to the young man who was studying, and a baby was sleeping soundly inside.Is this the young man's child?Why is he willing to stop his little life in such a remote and gloomy place?It's inconvenient to ask, I just know that the living people we saw here this afternoon were not one, but two.

Cemetery, weeds, babies, books, and a few birdsong; when you look around halfway through the book, earth-shattering names slide from the books to the stone tablet. This is the common destination of many cultural souls.I looked at the young man from a distance again, and I felt a little inexplicable gratitude in my heart.It was him who dispelled the desolation and loneliness of this cemetery. Without these long sleepers in the cemetery, the outside world would be desolate and lonely. In fact, the home of the world's wise men is a good place for future generations to sit and read quietly.Spending half a day next to a great soul, even in silence, will make people's outlook on life and death healthier.It is a pity that our Chinese funeral culture lacks this kind of realm, which often makes the long-sleeping people too lonely or too lively.

two I have studied and taught Hegel's aesthetics for many years, but standing in front of his tomb today, what I think about the most is his national ideals.This is because I am currently traveling in Germany, where honor and disgrace are intertwined, and there are too many signals that induce this topic from both positive and negative aspects every day. Europe has long practiced the unity of religious power, and many people only know that there is religion, but they do not know that there is a country.Starting from the Thirty Years War in the 17th century, they fought each other in full swing, severely damaged the authority of the Pope, and caused people to seek territory and sovereignty with the concept of nation-state again.

The state is important because of the war, and the war is justified by the state.The connotation of the nation-state was first filled by the smoke of gunfire.After the Napoleonic Wars, all these were portrayed more strongly, but in Hegel’s vision at that time, France, Britain, and Russia had all become unified sovereign states, while the Germanic nation, which he was particularly fond of, had not yet.This made him anxious, and he began to call for the country, and injected a series of ultimate ideas into the country.He believed that the state was the actualization of the national spirit, and as such should enjoy the final decision of the will.He even affirms that Prussia is the best country to embody the spirit of the Absolute.

I thought of Hegel's national ideals at the tomb of Hegel, and also because I saw Fichte next to him.For the direct expression of national sentiment, Fichte is stronger than Hegel.Napoleon's invasion of Prussia greatly stimulated him, and thus confirmed that the bounden duty of the Germans is to establish a just and powerful country.The philosopher couldn't hold back his social responsibilities, and often stepped out of his study and classroom to deliver impassioned speeches.Fichte's most typical speech is: friend, do you still have a German heart in your chest?Then let it dance!Do you still have the blood of Germany flowing in you?Then let it gallop!I remember reading in a book in the early years that once Fichte's sick wife showed dangerous symptoms, and he was supposed to stay to wait on her, but an important speech that was originally agreed was too late to be rejected, so he had to reluctantly go.Unexpectedly, when he came back in a hurry, his wife's condition improved, and he hugged and kissed his wife excitedly, crying.It was this embrace and kiss, it was said, that he contracted his wife's disease, and died from it.Now I look at the joint tomb of their husband and wife and think that in the homes of most square speakers in the world, there is always a wife waiting, waiting very eagerly, and never leaving alone without waiting for him to come back; waiting again and again until Sleep in one place forever.

What they could not have expected was that the Hegels who died next door to them were the Hegels who condensed Fichte's passionate speeches into a theory of the state during his lifetime.The emotions and ideas that erupted in these two small cemeteries had a huge negative effect on Germany.In particular, Fichte's affirmation of the desire for national expansion, and Hegel's statement that war is the great purifying agent, added harmful elements to the Prussian spirit.But generally speaking, the owners of the tomb did not take too much responsibility for the subsequent disasters, because they could not imagine the extreme actions that resulted from it.

Fichte's teacher was Kant, but Kant was very different from them.Kant lived in the countryside all his life, but his mind was extremely open.He believed in human rationality, and concluded that human beings will overcome anti-social tendencies to achieve sociality, overcome confrontation and move towards harmony, and each country will regulate its own behavior, gradually establish a good international alliance, and finally establish a civil society with universal legislation in the world .It was this conception that became the theoretical basis for the subsequent European unification movement.

Kant's world blueprint has no national boundaries, and as a result, his place of residence was drawn out of Germany early. In fact, the concept of the nation-state and the concept of European unity seem to be contradictory, but they constitute the paradoxical structure of modern European political philosophy. The two are the foundation and premise of each other.At present, some countries in Eastern Europe tend to focus more on the concept of the nation-state, while other parts of Europe focus more on the concept of Kant. I also like Kant more, I like his great kindness that crosses borders and borders, and I like his vision hidden behind rigorous thinking.National sovereignty has partial rationality, but the bloody history of Europe has long proved that it is a disaster for mankind to overstate it, and the common civilization principle of mankind must be the ultimate direction.

The cultural consciences of Europe, including Goethe and Victor Hugo, whom I especially admire, also hold this position. I pay attention to the concept of antisocial tendency proposed by Kant.This concept is close to what we now call anti-humanity, and Kant's society is an orderly and harmonious combination of human beings.In his mind, using the overall human rationality to overcome the anti-social state is far more important than the national spirit emphasized by Fichte and the state theory emphasized by Hegel.Facts have long proved, and will continue to prove, that many evil deeds often hide behind the flags of nations and countries. We should raise these flags and put those giants that are anti-human, anti-society, anti-life, anti-order, and anti-intellectual Undercurrents are exposed in broad daylight.In this matter, there should be no national and national boundaries. Unfortunately, because Kant's teachings were too peaceful, they never caused social excitement. This time I can't go to Kant's hometown, so I can only look up at Hegel's cemetery and look there.But I have already found out the route to go, and next time I can find it directly even if no one leads the way.