Life Is Never Right or Wrong
We are often blinded by the pursuit of right and wrong. We learn from school that when we see a wrong, we must put it right. And oftentimes, we pursue to a great extent to demonise what was wrong that we didn’t do what was right.
We are no God, so why should we judge?
Life is never right or wrong because it is simply a matter of perspective
In Chinese, right and wrong are written as “Shifei, 是非”, which also yields the meaning of speaking ill of others. In the 5000 years of Chinese history, they have concluded that you are speaking ill of others whenever you are talking about right and wrong.
In the Chinese culture, the word “Shifei, 是非” when used to judge the right or wrong of others, will immediately put the speaker in a negative light as if he/she is speaking ill of others. But when used on self to judge what is best for yourself, it gives the individual a profound sense of wisdom.
“是非在己,毁誉由人”,
“Right or wrong is up to oneself, reputation is up to others”
Being appropriate is far more important than being right
In Chinese wisdom, there is no emphasis on being right because being right often leads to meaningless arguments that don’t lead to any feasible solution. Instead, the Chinese have a culture that places emphasis on being appropriate. Being appropriate is far more important than being right.
Being right won’t necessarily lead you to a solution, but being appropriate will, even though it may not be right.
One such example is the infamous trolley problem in the world of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that western culture finds it hard to answer. But present it to a Chinese, and you will have an answer in a blink.
The situation goes like this: You see a runaway trolley moving toward five people on the tracks. You control a switch. If you pull the lever, the trolley will be redirected onto a side track, and the five people on the main track will be saved. However, on the side track, there is one person just as oblivious as the others. The ethical dilemma arises if you should pull the lever, leading to one death but saving five? Or should you just do nothing and allow the trolley to kill the five people on the main track?
This problem exposes that there is never a right answer in life, only an appropriate one. Push comes to shove, many people will choose to place themselves on a moral high ground taking their time to debate the ethical question. Meanwhile, nothing is done, and five people lost their lives.
For the Chinese, this is a no-brainer; they will do what is appropriate to save the other five. Sure, someone has to take the blame for killing the one, but bottom line is, he saved five.
The trolley problem is only infamous in western cultures because they don’t have an answer, even after decades of debate. Meanwhile, the Chinese have already moved on to tackle other more advanced AI problems.
Who is right and who is wrong, you decide.
What happens when you praise or criticise others
When you praise another person, you give out positivity, and you will notice what comes to surround you are positive people giving you positive energy.
“When kindness meets giving, great energy can be released.”
When you criticise others, even if you are on a moral high ground, you are giving out negative energy, and people who are attracted to such negativity are not positive people, you will end up riding a spiral path down the vicious hole.
“You can be right, but you are going down the wrong path.”
Takeaways
When you try to view things as right or wrong, you attempt to judge. Many a time, there is no right answer. Much like you are trying to explain the concept of grey with only black or white. It is impossible. If you were to live your lives based on the principles of being right, you would be easily stuck, and you would never progress.
But if you could switch your beliefs to follow what is appropriate, you would be able to solve complex problems at lightning speed. Of course, you will make mistakes because what is appropriate may not always be right, but this is a small price to pay for progress compared to the alternative of a stalemate and impasse.
When someone claims he is right, you do what is appropriate. Otherwise, you will have a hard time making progress.
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