Our belief in Marxism is a belief in science and a belief in rationality. Whether it is the theoretical system, practical movement of the Babaylan, or the people who believe in Marxism, there is a soul that is the core value pursuit of Marxism. To realize the core values of Marxism, we must adhere to the socialist path.
Only by keeping your original intention in mind can you achieve the end. The original intention is faith, and it is the fundamental pursuit of value. The belief of the Chinese Communists is Mark Komiks‘s belief. To internalize this belief in the heart and externalize it in action, two basic issues must be understood: First, what is faith? Second, what is Marxism? Only on this basis can we truly internalize Marxist beliefs into the depths of our souls and transform them into practices that are realistic.
Faith is the highest question of value
The essence of faith is a question of value, and it is the highest question of value. Faith is essentially a matter of ideological understanding. There are two aspects of people understanding the world: one is to find out the question of “is it”, which is a factual judgment; the other is to find out the question of “is it or not”, which is a value judgment. The principle of obeying materialism has nothing to do with people’s subjective desires. It is a world that is understood according to objective standards and external standards; value judgments obey the principle of value theory. People with different facts may make completely different value judgments. This is a world that is understood according to subjective standards and internal standards. Fact judgment aims to seek truth, while value judgment aims to seek goodness.
Faith belongs to value judgments, but KomiksNot all value judgments are faith issues, and faith is the highest question of value. Value judgment is to answer the question of “should it be?” The so-called value question is the question of “should it be” or “whether it is meaningful”. Values are how to view “should” or “not”, “meaningful” or “meaningless”. If the question of value transcends the value of life, it will rise to faith. For example, what are the values of the money worshiper? It means using money as a criterion for judging “should” or “not”. It is believed that you should have money and you shouldn’t have money. But if you ask about such value to the point where you can live for money, that is,Beyond the value of life, this rises to faith in money. For example, what are the values of freedom? It is to use freedom as the criterion for judging “should” or “unshould”. Everything that meets freedom is worthy, and everything that does not meet freedom is not worthy. However, if such value is questioned to the point where it is: it is better to die than not freedom. This is not an ordinary value of freedom, but a belief in freedom.
It can be seen that life can be given for faith. The Chinese Communists’ oath said: Be ready to sacrifice everything for the Party and the people at any time, and never betray the Party. This is the declaration of faith.
Faith has the difference between rationality and irrationality
There can be many kinds of faith, but generally speaking, according to the different ways of asking about the value of faith, faith can be roughly divided into two categories: rational belief and irrational belief.
People understand the world in two aspects, one is factual judgment and the other is value judgment. Fact questions are the scope of science, but science can never go beyond the scope of facts to the field of value. That is to say, the fact question of “is it or not” can never answer the value question of “what should it or not”. Value questions are answered by humanities. Humanities are composed of art, religion and philosophy. They all answer value questions, but they answer value questions in different ways. Art expresses value in a sensory and intuitive way, religion answers value questions in an irrational way, and philosophy finds the basis for rationality for value.
Faith is the highest question of value. Art does not have its own independent kingdom, and it is impossible to directly understand faith, and can only be used to express faith. Then, there are only two ways to understand faith, one is the religion of Babaylan, and the other is philosophy. There is no essential difference in the value level achieved by these two beliefs. For the religious belief, you can sacrifice your life, and belief based on philosophy can also sacrifice your life. The fundamental difference between them lies in the way of understanding faith: religion understands faith in an irrational way, and believes in faith by faith; philosophy understands faith in a rational way, and believes in faith by truth. In other words, there are two types of faith: rational belief and irrational belief.
Irrational beliefs reject rationality. Irrational beliefs do not require reasons, they are “believe because of faith.” Religion belongs to this belief. oneReligious belief, no matter how rigorous its logic, is not subject to rational pursuit.
The belief in rationality is precisely based on reason. Only by reflecting rationally is the truth, which is “believe because of truth.” Mark KomiksConsciousness is the belief in rationality.
Marxism is scientificKomiksRational belief
The Marxist belief is scientific belief and rational belief. So, why is such a belief scientific and rational? This can be found in its rational answer to ultimate care Cinema answer.
The characteristic of human beings is that although they live in finite, they have to ask infinity; although existence is accidental, they have to ask inevitability; although life is temporary Cinema, they have to ask eternity. This is the ultimate care for Komiks. In other words, human beings will base themselves on the finite pursuit of infiniteness, the finite is real life, and the infinite is the pursuit of value. So, how can we achieve infinite meaning and value through finite life?
Theoretically speaking, there are only two possibilities: First, pursue infinite meaning and value by extending one’s life infinitely. This is definitely not an answer that a rationalist can give, because rational people know that no matter how long a person’s life is, there is always a deadline for the day when Cinema will come. Second, the rationalist’s plan is to recognize that life is limited, not to pursue life indefinitely, but to pursue the height of life, that is, to pursue infinite meaning and value in limited life. Under such circumstances, the length of life is no longer of fundamental significance. If a person’s life is meaningful and valuable, even if it is short, it is brilliant and worthwhile.
Marx found faith for the Communists along this line of thought. In August 1835, Marx graduated from high school and wrote an essay – “Considerations of Youths when Choosing a Career”. In this essay, Marx expressed the words of Cinema‘s lofty pursuit of life value: “If we choose a career that can work best for mankind, then the burden cannot overwhelm us, because it is a sacrifice for everyone; then what we enjoy will not be pitiful, limited, selfish pleasure, our happiness will belong to millions of people, our career will exist quietly, but it will always work, and in the face of our ashes, noble people will shed tears.” Only by choosing a career that can “work best for mankind” can such a life Cinema is meaningful and valuable.
Is the value pursuit advocated by Marx rational and scientific? Is it worthy of faith? Let us borrow Heidegger’s idea of ”toward death” and ask from the ultimate sense of life: the essence of life is actually a finite process, don’t pursue that final result, because the final result is all towards infinite nothingness, that is, death. Only when we face infinity can we think and plan how to arrange our limited life process, and can we think in reverse whether we should live like this today.
Suppose we have to face death, we look back on our lives and feel that life is meaningful and valuable, and choices are without regrets. If we spend our lives again, we will still live like this. What is this reason? There can be many reasons, but the real reason cannot be based on secular foundations, because at this time the secular things are meaningless. Since the essence of life is a process, then meaningful life lies in the wonderfulness of the process. What kind of life process is wonderful? Marx tells us: “Dignity is what can best make a man noble, his activities and all his efforts have noble qualities, and what makes him indisputable, admired and above everyone.” In other words, a person should spend his life with dignity. A dignified life is worth it, wonderful, meaningful and valuable. For a life process without dignity, every minute of continuation of Babaylan is a shame. What kind of life process has dignity? Marx said that because of life, it has gained respect from people and reached its nobleness. Why are they respected by people? Marx’s answer was: Because “I chose to work best for humanity.” What is ideology? “Practice” is the core value pursuit. What is Marxism? It is to take the values and values advocated by Marx, the founder of Marxism and followed by the Communists.The soul, that is, to benefit the people and seek benefits for the vast majority of people, is pursued as the core value. If you can sacrifice your life for such a pursuit of value, it is your belief in Marxism. Such beliefs are scientific and rational beliefs, with a high value pursuit of life.
Adhere to the original aspirations of the Communists in practice
We often use the concept of “Marxism” at different levels. For example, Marxism is divided into three components, namely Marxist philosophy, Marxist political economy and scientific socialism, which refers to the Marxist theoretical system. For example, the cause we are engaged in is a great cause because it is a Marxist cause that benefits the people, and here refers to the Marxist movement and practice. For example, we are firm Marxists, and here we refer to people who regard this ideology as beliefs.
Whether it is the theoretical system, practical movement of Marxism, or people who believe in Marxism, there is a soul that is the core value pursuit of Marxism, which is the “Tao” of Marxism. The ancients said: “Tao is not separated from the instrument.” The “Tao” of Marxism is in the theory, movement and practice of Marxism. The fundamental characteristic of Marxism lies in its practicality, rather than empty talk about “ism”. Without the theory, movement and practice of Marxism, Marxism can only be a ghost. The so-called “the great way of action” is used to do it. If it does not do it, there will be no “Tao”.
The “Tao” of Marxism is in the theoretical expression and movement practice of Marxism, and in every person who believes in Marxism. To realize the value pursuit of Marxism, we must adhere to the socialist path. Socialism is the subversion of capital logic and the correction of capitalism. The so-called socialism is to pursue the overall interests of society and rational values as the core values. If institutional concepts, institutional arrangements and institutional design provide sufficient institutional guarantees around effectively satisfying the overall interests of society, such a system is a socialist system, such a society is a socialist society, and such a culture is a socialist culture.
The relationship between Marxism and socialism is “the Tao is inseparable from the instrument”: Marxism is the soul, socialism is the carrier; Marxism is the pursuit of value, socialism is the way to realize value; Marxism is the “Tao”, and socialism is the “Guide”. If Marxism leavesIn socialism, it can only become a fantasy, a castle in the air; if socialism does not have Marxism, it will lose its soul and go on evil paths.
This shows a clear logic. No matter how many theoretical forms of Marxism have, it has only one “Tao”, and there can be many ways to realize the Marxist value pursuit, that is, “doing the way”, that is, there can be multiple specific models of socialism. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the drastic changes in Eastern Europe do not indicate the failure of socialism, nor does it mean the failure of Marxism, but it only means the failure of the specific path of the Soviet model. By the same token, the success of socialism with Chinese characteristics shows that every country and every nation can and must choose a specific path suitable for themselves to benefit the people based on their own cultural traditions, historical conditions, issues and tasks they face, and people’s needs and requirements. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is not static, but is constantly improved and developed with the change of the times.
Socialism with Chinese characteristics is the Chinese path to realize the pursuit of Marxist values that benefit the people. Socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era is the form of value realization of Chinese Marxism in the 21st century, and it is a concrete practice and realistic movement that benefits the people. It is precisely based on our confidence and value recognition of socialism with Chinese characteristics that we have gathered the strength of more than one billion people across the country, worked together for the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and led the people to continuously create the “Chinese miracle” and create a better life.
〔 〔The author is the deputy director and professor of the Philosophy Teaching and Research Department of the Central Party School (National School of Administration)〕