How to understand the sentence "I don't study art at the age of forty"

The Great Sage Confucius (55 1-479) once said this when teaching students. This sentence is not only his summary of the first half of life, but also his expectation and requirement for the second half of life. He said: I have five out of ten and I am determined to learn. Stand at 30, don't be confused at 40, know your destiny at 50, listen at 60, and walk at 70 without overstepping the bounds.

Later, this sentence was included in the Analects of Confucius and became a famous saying widely circulated by Confucianism.

It can be seen that the ancients expressed their true views entirely based on their own time environment and their own life cognition. In fact, like modern people, the length of life cycle will profoundly affect the size of a person's ideological pattern.

"Life is forty without learning art" is also said from the ancient population, which represents the general view of the ancients. If we look at it now, this sentence will be marked with a big question mark.

"Art" here refers to a kind of "craft" or "skill", which means that people get much older when they live to 40 years old, and learning skills is of little practical use. There are two main reasons why you say that.

First, the ancients basically got married and had children around 15. Many people had children and grandchildren at the age of 40, so they should settle down and enjoy their family life. Moreover, at this age, the ancients are already elderly people and their life expectancy is not long. They basically see through the world and life. It can be said that they have reached the age of wanting nothing. If you spend time and energy learning those crafts, there will be no place for them. Who knows how many days you can live? Therefore, there is no need to tinker around by yourself.

Secondly, when people live to 40 years old, various organs of the body begin to age, memory declines, energy is poor, and often nothing can be done. Compared with those energetic young people in their twenties, their physical hardware conditions are much worse. Don't say that the ancients did this, even modern people will face this problem at this age.

Going to school at this age is often like cramming for the Buddha's feet, which is both painful and unrealistic.

However, judging from the conditions of modern people, we can completely ignore the old adage that "life is forty without learning and skill". It must be the ancient people's ideological understanding in a specific environment, which has great limitations. Modern people should follow the motto of "never too old to learn", because the life span of modern people far exceeds that of the ancients, their living conditions far exceed that of the ancients, they pursue so many things and update their knowledge so quickly. If they don't study actively, they will stay where they are for a long time.

The original words of this sentence are "Don't study after 30, and don't study art after 40".

Because this sentence comes from the ancients, we can't break away from the social background at that time when analyzing it.

First of all, the life span of ancient people was not as long as that of modern people. They stand at 30, are not confused at 40, know their destiny at 50, obey at 60, and are rare at 70.

The ancients demanded that they should get married at the age of 30 and have their own career. At the age of forty, you must be familiar with things and not be confused about life and society. At the age of 50, you probably know what you can achieve in this life. At the age of 60, you should enjoy the happiness of your children and grandchildren around your knees, instead of competing with the world. However, very few people live to be 70 years old.

Therefore, in ancient times, before the age of 30, we must read more and study more, tap our potential, and lay the foundation for being a man or doing things in the future.

Because learning requires energy, it takes energy to get married and start a business after the age of 30. If I came back to study at that time, my energy would not be as strong as when I was young.

As for "forty don't learn art", the "art" here refers to craftsmanship and skills, not today's art. In ancient times, it took three knocks and nine worships to learn from teachers. When you are 40 years old, where will you have the face to knock on nine worships with others? Even if you pull your face down, others will feel embarrassed.

So in the social background at that time, people would have such a view. In modern times, this sentence is completely inapplicable. We advocate lifelong learning and lifelong growth. No matter what age, you can study as long as you want.

In fact, we have a saying here that "people over 30 don't learn art". More than 20 years ago, I wrote an essay "People after 30 Learn Art" and published it in People's Daily. Now he is in his fifties and sixties. I just wrote an article entitled "People don't learn art until they are sixty" and posted it here. I have already answered this question.

People still study art at the age of sixty.

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I remember that more than ten years ago, at the invitation of my friends, I visited Mr. Niu Lingen, a senior calligrapher in the calligraphy field, and everyone asked him for treasures. During the chat, the old man talked about an essay I once published in People's Daily, entitled "People will learn art after 30 years old". Niu Lao said that after reading my article, he was deeply moved and encouraged, and encouraged him to study art at the age of 70. He wants me to continue writing this article. People over 50, 60 and 70 are still studying art. No, he is almost seventy, and he is still learning paper-cutting and cutting hundreds of scarlet letters. Anyone in the village who has a red wedding will come to him to cut the scarlet letter. He is an old man, but he is still a useful person.

Yes, Niu Lao's hundreds of red characters are very famous in the local area, and his paper-cutting skills have also been on CCTV. Unfortunately, Niu Lao died of illness that year, which made me lose a mentor.

However, I have not forgotten Niu Lao's entrustment. People over the age of 60, 70, 80 or even 90 should keep on studying and truly "never too old to learn!" "Be a useful person and serve the people and society forever.

The essay I wrote more than 20 years ago, "People will learn art after 30", is just the opposite of the sentence "People will stop learning art after 30". The content of the article is that I didn't learn to write calligraphy until I was over 30 years old.

At first, I really didn't want to be a calligrapher. The real purpose is to write a beautiful Spring Festival couplets to my father and hometown every Spring Festival. Who wants to practice calligraphy for more than 20 years and nearly 30 years? I really became a calligrapher. Although this calligrapher's title smacks of foreign self-respect, there is an endless stream of people asking me for words, which is a bit smug.

I can write in Chinese calligraphy, but I always feel something is missing. What is missing? Oh, the picture frame!

I can write in Chinese calligraphy, and my friends and relatives come to ask Mo Bao from time to time. After the calligraphy is finished, I will send it to a painting and calligraphy mounting shop for mounting. Why not write and install it yourself? So today last year, I made a decision that surprised my family and strongly opposed it. Bought a mounting machine to learn painting and calligraphy mounting!

I set out to Shijiazhuang as promised to sell a word mounting machine, studied it for two days and bought a fully automatic mounting machine.

After studying for two days, the master only taught the basic procedures. As for the mastery of skills, the proficiency of skills can only be honed through long-term practice.

At first, I only made my own works and framed my own calligraphy works. If it is damaged, I don't have to pay for it. Later, I only framed the paintings and calligraphy works of my friends, and my friends wouldn't blame them for ruining the rewriting.

The so-called practice makes perfect, exactly! Many things happen, yes! A whole year has passed, and I can proudly and responsibly say that I have been promoted to the first-class mounter!

Today last year, I bought a painting and calligraphy mounting machine. I not only learned a new craft, but also provided me with the material for the article "People don't learn art until they are 60 years old".

I will keep writing this article until I am 100 years old!

Ceng Yun, an ancient man, said: People over forty don't study art, but sit and eat until they die for more than a year; Don't change careers at the age of thirty, and don't study art at the age of forty.

But that's the old yellow calendar. Didn't you see the online report about taking the college entrance examination at the age of 60? Nowadays, modernization is changing with each passing day. At this stage of labor surplus, one more skill will lead to one more job opportunity. It's never too late to learn anything, not to mention 40 years old, so learn!

My father also learned other skills when he was learning to drive in his forties. Thanks to learning technology, he was able to improve his family. After forty, the old father-in-law learned to play with strange stones and played some doorways. People of all ages have different interests. Learn to appreciate the fun of life and never get too old!

People often say, "Stand at 30, don't be confused at 40, know your destiny at 50, be obedient at 60, and live hard at 70". In ancient times, when a person reached 30, he should have a family and a career. When he is 40 years old, he should have a correct understanding of life, instead of being ignorant of everything like a three-year-old child ... because it is very rare for a person to live to 70 years old!

Why is this? Because in ancient China, people's life expectancy was generally not very high because of the extremely backward productivity and production level. Therefore, by summing up the experience of working people, we have come to such a conclusion, which can also be said to be a sigh of life.

Moreover, they also come to the conclusion that "people over 30 don't study, and people over 40 don't study art". It is emphasized that we should seize the time, do what we should do ahead of time and finish it ahead of time. This is the positive and correct side of this statement.

However, we should also pay attention to its negative effects, that is, its excessive pessimism. Imagine that if a person is in his thirties and forties, he will still have such a negative attitude. Then, how is the eternal motto of "A thousand aspirations are not long, but a hundred years old without aspirations" established? Therefore, we should dialectically understand, learn and learn from the warnings left by such ancient sages, absorb their essence and discard their dross. This is the attitude we should have towards life!

In ancient times, it was reasonable and well-founded that people were over forty and did not learn arts.

First of all, from the perspective of physiological life, life has been rare since ancient times, and people's memory and learning ability have begun to decline, which is no longer suitable for learning art.

Secondly, from the way of learning arts and learning methods, most of the ancient learning arts were taught by teachers with apprentices. It is not easy for people to enter school over forty, and it is even harder to learn from them.

Third, in ancient times, most people's children and grandchildren were over 40 years old (they got married at the age of 12 or 13). At this time, if they study art again, family life will become a problem, unless it is a big family;

Fourth, it is not absolute that people over 40 don't study art, and there are exceptions, such as Jin Fan's move, Jiang Ziya's visit to the camera, and Yang Luchan's stealing boxing.

Finally, I think people stop learning art after forty, and there is another saying that people stop learning art after thirty. There is also a warning and encouragement here. It is this truth that teaches people to study hard and practice hard when they are young, and to be sad when they are old.

Generally speaking, there are old and young people at this age, and they are in the creative period of their careers. Family business needs considerable energy. How can you learn art? On the other hand, from the acceptance and physical factors, it is not appropriate to study art at the age of 40. This is my humble opinion, thank you!

In ancient times, people had to consider death after 40 years old. They are not confused at the age of 40, know their destiny at the age of 50, listen to their ears at the age of 60, and live and die at the age of 70. Therefore, it is too late to start studying at the age of 40. Although it is said that the old horse has a thousand miles of ambition and the hero is full of courage on his deathbed, life has reached a spent force.

Many people are already a little tired at the age of 30, old and young, and they only want to make money to support their families. And people's overall physical function is also declining. Let alone 40 years old.

Forty years old, it's really hard to have the energy to study art, art is boundless. It takes at least three to five years to learn an art, and you will be about forty-five after you finish it. It will last a few years. This still means that your body hardware can be eaten.

By the age of forty, people's energy and memory are declining year by year, and it is relatively difficult to learn things. Art needs publicity and display. It's too late, it's better not to learn.