Why Are We Afraid of Mao's Selected Works?

Won't the Selected Works be really boring?

What if I can't understand it?

Maybe you want to read the Selected Works, but for one reason or another, you've never gotten around to opening it.

So why are we afraid to open the Selected Works?

I think this fear comes from the sense of sacredness the Selected Works is born with.

Whether it's "Workers of all countries, unite!" on the very first page,

or the name that meets your eye as the author, the great teacher of the Chinese revolution, the Teacher (a nickname for Mao),

it all quietly gives off a sense of the sacred.

When I chat with friends, I often compare the Selected Works to a heaven-grade cultivation manual from a fantasy novel.

A heaven-grade manual naturally comes with its own sacredness and pressure.

And the reason we hesitate and feel afraid must be that we feel its sacredness before we've even opened it.

In other words, deep down everyone thinks the Selected Works is a heaven-grade manual only a novel's hero gets to cultivate.

So how could we, who think of ourselves as ordinary people, not have our knees shake at an encounter like this?

So it's completely normal.

But what I want to tell you is this: if you're still hesitating, for whatever reason, over whether to open the Selected Works, be bold and go ahead and do it.

Because the Selected Works is a heaven-grade manual that ordinary people can pick up and learn.

If you're young, don't think you're not yet seasoned enough to cultivate a heaven-grade manual.

Because the Selected Works is a record of going from weak to strong. You don't need to feel small, because it won't look down on you for being small. Instead, it will only take you in and guide you.

If you're an adult, even middle-aged, don't look down on the Selected Works because you have a lot of life experience either. Few people in a thousand years have surpassed its author. You'll only find things in it that resonate with your own life, and come away inspired.

That's the Selected Works, a special heaven-grade manual.

It doesn't pick you for your bones, doesn't pick you for your talent, and certainly doesn't limit you by age, gender, family, or anything else.

Before it, everything is equal.

As long as you open it, it will take you in.

As long as you cultivate it, it will guide you.

What we're afraid of isn't really opening the Selected Works. It's our own lostness.

So don't be afraid.

Go practice. Go practice. Go practice.