After finishing Shen Golan’s Being and Wuwei in the New Psychological Knowledge course, a thought suddenly crossed my mind: in today’s media, are there any public figures who correspond to the four kinds of wuwei?
Before looking for representative figures of wuwei, we first need to sketch the four kinds of wuwei.
What is the common underlying quality of people who practice wuwei?
Shen Golan says that the carefree, self-possessed state of wuwei is actually a kind of “signal of sincerity” in human interaction.
What does that mean?
Mencius said that whenever he saw those hypocrites, he always felt that something was off, though he couldn’t quite say what was off.
And that is actually the most wonderful thing about wuwei: although you can’t name the specific reason, your intuition lets you unconsciously tell whether someone is genuinely at ease or merely “putting on an act.” The carefree ease of wuwei is very hard to fake.
The biggest problem with cooperation between strangers is that you don’t know whether the other person is sincere—whether they are all smiles on the surface but will turn around and betray you.
But when you see that someone is genuinely carefree and at ease, you know that what they say and do comes from the heart—so you can feel safe interacting and cooperating with them. This is what Shen Golan means by saying that wuwei is a “signal of sincerity.”
The distinctive charm radiating from people who practice wuwei also comes from this sincerity.
So the underlying quality of wuwei is “sincerity.”
On that foundation, the “sincerity” of the four kinds of wuwei—Confucius, Laozi, Mencius, and Zhuangzi—each has its own flavor:
Confucius-style wuwei is the sincere moral exemplar. Character profile: sincere and righteous, sincerely promoting mainstream values.
Laozi-style wuwei is the sincere recluse who withdraws from the world. Character profile: sincerely disdainful of worldly life, sincerely aloof and haughty, sincerely convinced that “the worldly world is a complete mess.”
Mencius-style wuwei is the sincere gardener. Character profile: the sincerely caring older brother or sister, a good teacher and friend who patiently guides you.
Zhuangzi-style wuwei is a person in the ordinary world who is “in the world, yet not enslaved by it.” Character profile: relaxed and at ease, above vulgarity without avoiding the world—“sharing the earthly road with others, carefree and unrestrained.”
So, are there any public figures who are typical representatives of these four kinds of wuwei?
A few days ago, while taking a walk, my wife and I racked our brains trying to search the Chinese music scene. We came up with plenty of names, but none seemed particularly typical. Only two struck us as representative:
The representative of Zhuangzi-style wuwei is Li Jian. Relaxed and at ease, above vulgarity without avoiding the world, “sharing the earthly road with others, carefree and unrestrained”—I actually wrote those lines by modeling them on the state Li Jian displays.
And the representative of Laozi-style wuwei is Pu Shu. Sincerely disdainful of worldly life, sincerely aloof and haughty, sincerely convinced that “the worldly world is a complete mess”—at least when describing Pu Shu before his comeback, those lines fit pretty well.
As for typical representatives of the other kinds of wuwei, I can’t think of anyone particularly suitable for now.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments (and names from all walks of public life are welcome).
References:
1. Shen Golan. (2018). Being and Wuwei.
Note
- The articles in this “New Psychological Knowledge” series were short popular-psychology essays and rambling reflections written back then to accompany related content from Zhichao Wei: New Psychological Knowledge Course. They were published on the now-closed platform Fatuan, and the original link no longer exists.
Leave a Reply