Chapter 13 Chapter Eleven From Fulfillment of Responsibilities to Realization of Rights

Right and duty are basic issues in political science and important issues in philosophy of life.Since JJ. Roussean advocated social contract theory, and the French Revolution issued the Declaration of Human Rights (Declaration des droits de Iohomme et du citoyen), the theory of human rights has pervaded Europe and the United States.All kinds of basic laws in the nineteenth century have been greatly influenced by him; the thinking of ordinary people has also been deeply stimulated by him.Since the end of the nineteenth century, this theory has also been popular in China for a while.We remember that Rousseau once said: All people are born with inalienable natural rights.However, we know that human rights are not endowed by nature, but the product of human efforts and social civilization, so this theory was also criticized and criticized by many people at that time and in later generations.My rights, your responsibility (My right and your duty) This sentence has become a portrayal of the psychology of selfish people who are all over the world.In fact, this original thinking did not deny the responsibilities of ordinary people, nor did it submerge the concept of responsibility of Europeans and Americans at that time.At the time of the French Revolution, Britain and France fought at Traflgar, and the British navy wiped out Napoleon's fleet.When the victorious British general Nelson (Nelson) was wounded and dying, he also urged the British people: Britain hopes that everyone can do his duty! ("England expects every man to do hiS duty") This sentence has become a sacred motto of the British nation, affecting the development of the entire country in the 19th century, making everyone think of responsibility when they talk about rights.This is a special case.In fact, why is the concept of responsibility not only in England, but also in other countries, and how has it ever been covered up by the doctrine of rights?

If we want to understand the nature of rights and responsibilities, as well as the relationship between rights and responsibilities, we must first understand what is the purpose of life?what task?I often say that the purpose of the whole life is to seek self-realization (self︱realization).What is self-actualization?Self-realization is the perfection of the self, that is, to fully develop and enrich oneself, in order to achieve perfection and brilliance.It turns out that human beings are endowed with physical senses and the like.If a person wants to realize himself, he must first fully develop his body and senses, so that his body can get the most sound development.This is the gift of developing material.But in addition to material gifts, man has gifts of feeling and emotion.The mutual affection of human beings is also based on this gift.A further level of talent is the mind, which is reason.Aristotle said: Man is an animal ("Man is an animal").This sentence seems to belittle human beings.But he went on to say: But man is a rational animal ("but a rational animal").Because human beings are endowed with minds and rational activities, they have various ideas and ideals, and they often sacrifice everything for the realization of these ideas and ideals.These are all essential aspects of self-actualization.

Of course, self-realization requires the sound development of the body and senses, the full cultivation of emotions and sentiments, and the noble activities of spirituality and rationality, but all of these must be realized in a big society.The so-called big society is the whole big self.Self-realization does not mean being for oneself, excluding others, and violating others.If so, self-realization will never be possible.In life, relying too much on the help of the greater self.For example, students in universities should not think that their ability to study in universities is entirely due to their own struggle.You are able to sit in the classroom and attend lectures because you have enjoyed much of the work of others.Not to mention that your books, paper, etc. are all provided by others, but just the chairs you sit on, there are carpenters who make chairs, blacksmiths who make axes and saws, merchants and workers who transport wood, and tree planters. Shannong.It takes the hard work of many professionals to create these chairs for you to sit and listen to.Another example is a piece of clothing, which must be cut and sewn by a tailor to be successful, but sewing requires cloth, and when it comes to cloth, we must have weavers; cloth is woven, and when it comes to yarn, we must have weavers. Workers; yarn is successfully spun from cotton, so there cannot be no cotton farmers who grow cotton.In the same way, it has to go through the work of many people before it becomes a garment.So apart from the Self, it is impossible to realize the Self.Even Robinson Robinson, who wandered on a deserted island, fortunately took a shotgun and other items with him, otherwise he would have died on the deserted island without anything.Therefore, self-realization must be realized by relying on the whole self.As for the development of the self, the extent to which it can go depends on the extent of the development of the self on the one hand, and on the other hand, it depends on the strength of the self that is immersed in the self and can do for the self.The big self is made up of countless self, the more the power of the self, the greater the realization of the self; the greater the realization of the self, the greater the realization of the natural self.It can be seen that the self must never give up on itself, and must use the greater self to develop one's own talent and reach the state of perfection.There is a word commonly used in Greek philosophy, which is translated as "excellence" in English; according to G. Lowes Dickinson in his book "Greek View of Life", the English translation of this word is also Not enough to do what Greece meant.It is even more difficult to get a proper translation in Chinese.His meaning is that all parts of life, whether physical, emotional, or intellectual, can be harmoniously developed to perfection.The ego must strive to reach this state in order to be doing its duty.But this can only be done if you devote yourself to the greater self and do your best.In popular diplomatic documents, it is often called "Your Excellency" for a person who represents a country or is in charge of a country, which comes from the Greek meaning.This polite title can also be considered to have two meanings: one is a person who is a representative of the country or a person who is in charge of the country. In theory, it should be a person who can develop to perfection in all aspects (although this is not always the case); One can also be said to be a person who bears such a great responsibility and such a great power, and should be able to fully develop his self to a perfect state.Whether he can have such good attainments is another question; but this is how people treat him.Because he has the most opportunities to do his best for everyone, so he also has the most opportunities for himself.If he has such an opportunity but fails to realize it, he will not only be sorry for his position, but also let himself down. The reason why a great person can succeed is precisely because he can seize the opportunity to serve the greater self, and he is not willing to relax in the pursuit of self-realization. Efforts, for example, the law stipulates that each person should work eight hours a day. In the eyes of ordinary people, more than eight hours is not what I should do.Those who have made contributions and achievements work ten, twelve, or even sixteen hours a day without complaining.The former sages sat around day and night and waited for the day, which is an example of this.People think that he suffers from heavy responsibilities, but he enjoys more opportunities for self-realization.Service is not just a duty, but a right.This is not only true of people in politics; it is true of anyone whose mission is to contribute to the public.

Now let me talk about the preliminary distinction between rights and responsibilities.What are rights?Rights can be said to be a kind of enjoyment, a kind of satisfaction (satisfaction).What is responsibility?Responsibility can be said to be a recognition of the rights of others.In English, it is "Duty is the recognition of that which is due to others".But these two meanings need to be fully explained. Firstly, when it comes to the right is one's own satisfaction, or the satisfaction of one's personal life, it is easy to cheat.For example, some people like to gamble and are satisfied with playing cards;Is the existence of human beings just for this kind of satisfaction?And is the enjoyment of human beings only the enjoyment of material desires?So there are people who advocate the quantity of happiness.But can happiness focus on quantity instead of quality?If everyone in a country gambles, does the government use laws to protect gambling in order to satisfy everyone's gambling happiness?If people in a country like to smoke opium, does the government legislate to protect smoking for their satisfaction?If we only seek the satisfaction of quantity, and think that the satisfaction of the majority is the most legitimate and greatest satisfaction, then we have nothing to say.However, the satisfaction of human beings is not only quantitative, but also hierarchical and qualitative.Some people are willing to gamble a lot and die of cerebral hemorrhage, thinking that they are satisfied, but there are also people who are willing to die for their ideals, and do not want to live in peace.Therefore, self-satisfaction cannot be measured in quantity.The reason why we humans are different from ordinary animals is precisely because we not only have material gifts, but also emotions and rationality.Because of our emotions, we feel that our fellow citizens are human beings, and we are willing to work and die for compassion.Because of reason, we are willing to sacrifice for reason, and we have the feat of sacrificing our lives for righteousness, so that the spirit will remain in the world forever.For example, Zhuge Liang, who eats little and has a lot of work, doesn’t know that his life will not be long. Knowing this, he still wants to go out of Qishan, devote himself to his duties, and fulfill his responsibilities. This is the expression of the highest level of human emotion and rational development.So we can go further and say:

The highest enjoyment and satisfaction of human beings is not only of quantity, but also of quality: not only material, but also spiritual. The second is to say that responsibility is the recognition of the rights of others, that is to say that one's own responsibility is to others.For example, being loyal to the country is one’s duty to the country; being filial to one’s relatives is one’s duty to one’s superiors; being loyal to one’s friends is one’s duty to one’s friends.A person who has to fulfill many responsibilities to others, doesn't he consider himself a fool?But responsibility is not so simple.It should be known that fulfilling one's due responsibilities to others is to enhance one's own rights, because only by fulfilling one's responsibilities to others can one develop oneself to a perfect state.Only by fulfilling full responsibilities to others can one obtain the highest and greatest satisfaction in the process of fulfilling responsibilities.The more responsibility you take, the more progress you will have; the more responsibility you will have, the more spiritual enjoyment you will have.The previous examples of great people willing to serve others without hesitation are the best proof.So we can go further and say:

From the perspective of the highest moral consciousness, responsibility is right; only through the process of fulfilling responsibility can full realization of rights be achieved. Most of the legal provisions on rights and responsibilities are negative, not positive, and prevent rather than create.Because the stipulations of the law are only the stipulations of the group's own rights, so that people do not violate each other, so that everyone's rights and responsibilities do not violate each other.It's like two bowls are overlapped and easy to touch, and a layer of cotton wool is placed in the middle to prevent them from being broken.There is another layer, the provisions of the law are often intended to prevent those in power from abusing their power and violating the rights of the people.Therefore, the law stipulates that the functions and powers it confers on the person in power, or the public authority, must be subject to the abuse of power.Because history tells us that the government or those in power are often prone to abuse of power to arouse people's resistance, and the result is the same.There are good reasons for this prevention.However, the rules should be carefully considered.Without protection of individual rights, individuals cannot exert their abilities and fulfill their responsibilities.At the same time, if the regulations on the limitation of government power are too strict and inflexible, it will easily turn the government into an incompetent government.In the event of major national turmoil or foreign wars, an incompetent government will never be able to exert its political power to meet the current crisis.As a result, if the people and the government die together, then human rights will have nothing to do with it.In short, the provisions of the law are necessary, and the law is a kind of adjustment (adjustinent) between people and me.But it would be wrong to rely on the law to create and develop rights.For example, the law may stipulate that anyone who invents a broadcasting machine shall be granted a patent right for five or ten years. During this period, if someone imitates it privately, it is an infringement of the inventor's patent right and should be punished by law.This regulation is nothing but a protection of the rights of those who have invented the broadcasting machine, and its expansion is at most an encouragement to future inventors; but the law itself can never invent the broadcasting machine.Any invention is the result of the researcher fulfilling his research responsibilities.Without fulfilling this responsibility, there would be no invention; without invention, the patent right for invention would not exist at all.Therefore, to enjoy rights, the only way to create rights is to fulfill one's responsibilities, that is, one must give full play to one's various talents and fulfill one's responsibilities.This is our positive notion of entitlement.There is another point to be explained. The previous laws only focused on the protection of individual rights. Therefore, the laws of many countries try their best to pay attention to this point. In addition, the laws of many countries stipulate that individual property rights are sacred and inviolable.However, when individual rights are over-developed, social inequality and unrest will arise. Therefore, in recent years, the laws of various countries have changed their attitudes towards rights. They not only focus on the development of individual rights, but also limit individual rights. rights, especially property rights, to match national security.As for the constitutions of modern countries, there are often stipulations that people should perform military service or labor service, and all materials can be requisitioned according to law during general mobilization, which is also based on the requirements of facts.

Furthermore, even if rights are established, they must not be maintained with a conservative attitude, but can only be maintained permanently through continuous creation.It is true that rights cannot be created without creation, but once created, it is by no means a list of various rights that can be permanently preserved after being stipulated in law.It must be known that the more rights are conserved, the narrower the scope of rights will be;This is an unchanging principle.For example, the ancestor of a family left a piece of property. According to the law, it should belong to someone, and that person made a separate list of these properties to show that they belonged to him; , do you think he can keep it?If someone else misappropriates his property, of course he can go to court; it's just that going to court takes time and costs, so part of the property is lost.Even if no one came to encroach, he only knew how to keep it, so he sat and ate the mountain, just like peeling a plantain, when the core of the plantain is peeled, the plantain is gone.Therefore, people of insight must re-evaluate the value and continuously create new value, which is also the right to create new.How many heroes and philosophers in the world have racked their brains and donated their limbs to create these new values.Therefore, they also enjoy the greatest rights and obtain satisfaction that ordinary people cannot obtain.Therefore, if a person wants to protect the right to invent a broadcasting machine, he must first invent the broadcasting machine, otherwise, what protection is there?Moreover, he has to constantly seek to improve the radio, otherwise someone will have a newer invention, and his old-fashioned things will definitely be ignored. Even if there is legal protection, what is the use?Therefore, only by constantly creating new value and fulfilling new responsibilities is the only way to self-realization and the only guarantee of one's own rights.If the more responsibilities are fulfilled and the more new values ​​are created, the scope of rights will be expanded; and others will definitely recognize his rights and let him enjoy them willingly, because he deserves them.

From this point of view, rights and responsibilities are actually relative.If you don't fulfill your responsibilities, you won't enjoy your rights properly.As with individuals, so with nations.For example, at the end of the First World War, only the countries that had fulfilled their responsibilities during the war had the right to speak at the international conference.Although Belgium lost all its land, it resisted the German army from crossing the neutral zone during the war, preventing the German army from quickly achieving its attempt to attack the Allied Powers. Therefore, once the war ended, Belgium not only won the right to fight against the great powers at the Paris Peace Conference. It is glorious, and all major countries respect him and sponsor him, because he has fulfilled his country's responsibilities, so he can get the rights he deserved after the war.At that time, China was also a country participating in the war, but why didn't it get this right?It is because although China participated in the war in name, it actually participated but did not fight, and did not fulfill its real responsibility to participate in the war. So it is entitled to enjoy the rights?This was a mistake of the era of the Beiyang warlord government.In the future after the World War and the meeting, the situation should be very different.This is because China was the first to raise the banner of anti-aggression in the world.In this regard, we not only made an international foresight, but also with our boundless flesh and blood, we held back the endless flames of Japan for the democracies.Our strong speaking position in the future is what we have bought with sacrifice and pain.If we want to improve the right to speak, we have to intensify our hard work. (According to the above statement was written in 31 years, according to theory and facts, it is not wrong at all. Unexpectedly, on September 8, 1949, our country was refused to attend the San Francisco Peace Treaty Conference with Japan and participate in the signing. This is not only a The biggest breach of trust and conscience against China, and the biggest damage and insult to human justice and international morality. This is naturally the scandal of power politics. But if we can reflect on ourselves, it is not the beginning or the end of the war of resistance. Just now In the three years since the victory, the whole country has greatly relaxed, thinking that the good life will be endless from now on, and they can get something for nothing: so everyone has no scruples about plundering rights, including illicit rights, and giving up what they should have without any doubt. Responsibility for creating such an unprecedented and tragic situation! When adding this supplementary note, the heart is full of sadness! Supplementary note on September 9, 1940.) As for the status of a nation among other nations in terms of construction, the same reasoning applies. Arranging everything.The reason why a nation can survive.He cannot rely on the strength of other nations to help him. He must be able to stand up on his own, and more importantly, he must be able to make a considerable contribution to the total amount of human culture and happiness in the world. The results created are also worthy of the heart.Our past contributions to world culture are very honorable.Although our war of resistance suffered some military setbacks at the initial stage, foreigners not only did not despise us and did not dare to say that our nation was not good enough, but on the contrary respected us and sympathized with us.Before they knew our military power, the inspiration of our civilization power was very important.Mr. Jiang Baili said that the exhibition of Chinese antiquities in London in the past few years had left a deep impression on Europeans, so he believed that the attitudes expressed by many friendly countries to us this time had a lot to do with the exhibition of antiquities in the previous year.However, this is still an industry left by our ancestors, not an achievement created by our generation of culture.Of course, we absolutely respect our great ancestors, but if we are promising descendants, we should never use the history of our ancestors to cover up our shortcomings. This is called eating from our ancestors.What about our generation?Where is our invention?Where is our creation?Where is our contribution?Therefore, I hope that everyone will not only be proud of the glory of their ancestors, but also strive to make great contributions to themselves, not only to achieve their own self-realization, but also to contribute to the great self of the nation, so as to gain the respect of other nations, and establish their own entire nation. the basis of survival.

Finally, regarding responsibilities, I still have two points to explain: The first point is the conflict of responsibilities.There are too many aspects of a person in society, so there are too many places to be responsible for, and sometimes there are often conflicts between responsibilities.For example, when a person gets married and has a family, he has the responsibility to his wife.This kind of responsibility is undeniable, and the more responsible you can be in normal times, the better.But when the country is in danger and we need to fight to defend the country, we can't say that because we have the responsibility to support our wives, we will be nostalgic and shrink back, and we will not move forward.When these responsibilities conflict with each other, we can only abandon the lighter responsibilities and shoulder the heavy responsibilities.Not so, there is no way to realize the self, and there is no way to develop the self, so the ancients said that loyalty and filial piety cannot be both.Just like Yue Fei's mother, she didn't want her son to live at home and die, but she thought it was her responsibility to teach her son to serve the country faithfully, so she would rather her son die loyally for the country than die for her.Because she realized that she and her son are more responsible for the survival of the nation than her son for her own death.If the nation-state is destroyed, what is the point of her personal death?Therefore, when encountering conflicts of responsibilities, we can only judge the severity and choose the greater responsibility we should fulfill.

The second point is that individuals should fulfill their responsibilities first, and then discuss their rights.Because the rights we enjoy are the result of others fulfilling their responsibilities: it is inappropriate to reciprocate courtesy, reciprocate or reciprocate, or reciprocate lightly.I often blame the young people of today, not because I am demanding of them, but because I want them the most.Nowadays, young people are often proud of being the masters of the country in the future, as if they think that the masters have all kinds of rights to follow them. They don’t necessarily study hard, but they always like to say that they have the right to study. Anything that can be demanded from the public, they must ask as much as possible, thinking that the country should. Give me the right.In fact, if we think about it carefully, what exactly does the country deserve from us?The state is not a debtor, but a collection of individuals; each person entrusts the responsibility of each individual to the state, and the state has responsibility; everyone entrusts everyone's rights to the state, and the state has rights.We have no debts to claim from the state.It is also important to understand that what the country can give us now is all paid to the country by everyone. For example, the country now pays an average of several thousand yuan per year for the education of each college student, which is the tax revenue of 30.50 cents for ordinary people. put together.Those who fulfill their tax responsibilities, of course, most of them have not enjoyed any kind of education in the state, and even their children may not have all received the modern education facilities of the state.In good conscience, how can we have the heart to ask the country for this right?Even if the country has given us these rights, how can we feel at ease, let alone waste, abuse or expand these rights?It is good to say that the state should educate the youth: but this can only be said by the state itself, and it is not convenient for the educated to say it themselves.So some people claim that the country has educated us, and we can serve the country in the future.This is the concept of investment, and it is a concept of profit.Of course, we hope that this young man will be able to learn from the world in the future, do a great job, and fulfill great responsibilities for the country, but whether this hope can be realized depends on future facts. An excuse to claim rights.We stand up and act, we should do our best for the country and people.We don't say that people have no rights in this world: but rights are the product of responsibility, not to be demanded by one's own desires, let alone something that can be obtained by sitting on the ground.The rights we enjoy now are the result of the responsibilities of others; we must fulfill our due responsibilities before we can enjoy the rights we deserve, not to mention that many rights can only be obtained in the process of fulfilling our responsibilities?

In short, only when a person fulfills the responsibility for the greater self can he realize himself.Only by being able to create new value can we enjoy and expand new rights.The enjoyment of rights is only the result of fulfilling one's responsibility; if one is irresponsible and sticks to one's rights, the longer one keeps one's rights, the smaller the scope of one's rights will be.Therefore, we only have the real right to devote ourselves to the greater self, fulfill our responsibilities in life, and enrich ourselves to expand the greater self.Otherwise, if you only talk about human rights and don't fulfill your responsibilities, the country will perish, the nation will perish, and you will perish yourself!