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I often think that it is the ugly women who create the beautiful ones.
I often think that it is the fools who bring forth the wise.
I often think that it is the cowards who highlight the heroes.
I often think that it is the sentient beings who enlighten the Buddha.

—— Shi Tiesheng, I and the Earth Altar

Geographical Depression#

Depression is a geological concept referring to a landform that is lower than the surrounding area. The character "洼" means "deep pool," as stated in Shuowen Jiezi 说文解字, "it refers to a deep pool, derived from the sound of water." The English word "depression" also refers to a state of low mood, akin to a "depression."

If an area is lower than its surroundings, it is a depression, making it easy for water to accumulate. Therefore, the character "洼" contains the radical "氵" (water). Moreover, a depression is a closed area relative to the surrounding highlands. Thus, the fundamental characteristics of a depression are its low and enclosed terrain, and its function is to gather water. Water is the source of life, making depressions an important resource for living beings.

Political Depression#

A depression, at the first level, is a geographical concept; at the second level, it is a political concept with a negative connotation.

I first encountered the term "depression" when an economic blogger referred to China as a "depression." According to Baidu Baike, a depression utilizes "comparative advantages" to form a "unique competitive advantage." At first glance, a depression seems like a good term, suggesting a competitive advantage, but upon closer examination, it implies that we are in a low-lying area, that we are inferior to other places. In plain terms, it means we are quite poor.

Encountering China's Depression#

While searching for "depression," I found the book China's Depression. The book points out that "compared to Inner Asia, China has always been an area of imported political order and civilization, a depression in terms of technological and civilizational development." The book presents a novel perspective, cutting through from a unique angle. The new-style armies of Qin and Zhao originated from Inner Asian technology, and those who mastered advanced Inner Asian techniques led the transformation of Chinese history. The An Lushan Rebellion, the fragmentation of the fiefdoms, and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period "were all aftershocks of the military brotherhoods in Inner Asia." In other words, China is a depression, Inner Asia is the high ground, and those who mastered Inner Asian cultural techniques became the new rulers of China.

This book appears very reactionary, yet it is filled with love. It gives us an opportunity to re-understand China, a possibility to rebuild civilization. It also tells us to abandon impractical cultural concepts. In plain terms, it means stop pretending to be sophisticated.

Why? Because Chinese society currently lacks the capacity to spontaneously generate a constitutional system that fosters a virtuous cycle. In Marx's words, it is like "a bag of potatoes," where "there are no diverse relationships between them." Moreover, China missed the best period for establishing checks and balances during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. There has been no stable class formation among members of Chinese society, making it unable to resist the rule of Inner Asia with its powerful technology and advanced civilization. If one insists on "putting on a brave face," boasting about the cohesion of the Chinese nation and "cultural confidence" (文化自信), it will ultimately lead to national ruin.

The author's proposed countermeasure is to "stop pretending," and not to emulate Chiang Kai-shek in attempting to stand shoulder to shoulder with Europe and America. Instead, we should "gradually establish our own spontaneous order through imitation and citation."

We need to think about what we can rely on to improve our living conditions. What can we depend on to establish a new social system? Does our national cohesion really have that much strength? Can our communities withstand the oppression of power? People in our country focus too much on the democratic aspects of "systems," neglecting the foundational forces of democracy. My solution is individual power. However, how can we establish stable connections between our individual powers? This remains a question worth pondering. Perhaps we should explore the issue of "grouping."

Attitude Towards Political Depression#

Initially, my thoughts on "depression" were not objective enough. Being in a depression myself, I sympathized with China's plight. I focused on studying how rulers exploit the depression to oppress the people. However, China's Depression analyzes the depression not to sympathize with the tragic experiences of the Chinese people, but to address the issues faced by those in the depression and to offer solutions: "stop pretending." As the saying goes, "Bitter medicine is good for disease; loyal advice is harsh to the ear." Yet, many of us subconsciously block out things that seem incorrect. This reflects the immense danger of blind worship of the concept of the "Central Kingdom."

I feel fortunate to no longer be bound by the ideology of the "Central Kingdom." True cultural confidence is not blind faith in one's own culture, but a resolute lack of confidence in problematic aspects of that culture. We should not let "a piece of rotten meat spoil the whole pot." It is never too late to mend the fold. This is the true meaning of objectivism.

Dynamics of Political Depression#

Laotzu said, "The way of heaven is to diminish the surplus and supplement the deficiency. The way of man, however, is not so; it diminishes the deficient to serve the surplus." As entropy increases, geographical depressions will eventually be filled. However, the opposite is true for human societal depressions; rulers continuously reinforce the depression. Political depression is a means of exploitation where rulers control the people, intentionally maintaining and promoting its existence.

Geographical depressions lack sustaining dynamics, but political depressions have sustaining dynamics. Due to erosion from flowing water, depressions will gradually disappear. If no one intervenes in human societal depressions, they will evolve with the flow of people, leading to the flow of technology and a convergence of the material foundations of society. However, political advantage holders recognize the value of the depression, shifting from passive utilization to active exploitation, thereby creating the depression to maintain their continued benefits.

Thus, the dynamics of political depression lie in the maintenance by political advantage holders, a process that can be unconscious or conscious. The world is always changing, but humans pursue permanence. Political advantage holders, facing rapidly changing power dynamics and challenges to their status from politically disadvantaged individuals, inevitably fear the loss of power. Therefore, they will employ various means to solidify and capitalize on their political advantages. Just as plants engage in photosynthesis, "utilizing light energy to convert inorganic substances like water and carbon dioxide into organic matter that can store chemical energy."

We can say that the maintenance of political depression is driven by the desires of political advantage holders, but the term "desire" is too vague. Moreover, desire highlights too much subjectivity. Everyone has a psychological pursuit of permanence; rather than calling it desire, it is more accurate to describe it as an instinct. It is an instinct for self-maintenance and self-preservation.

Political advantage holders act as the embryonic form of a collective thinking organ, possessing significant individual power, which makes it easier for them to solidify their political advantages. In contrast, politically disadvantaged individuals, due to their weak individual power, have a diminished capacity to solidify political advantages. As the Matthew Effect states, "To those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have not, even what they have will be taken away." Advantages are not eternal, but they can be solidified through certain means, which is to say, capitalized. In the process of solidifying advantages, there will be a relatively fixed energy threshold. Just as the nuclear fusion process requires fuel, sufficient temperature, pressure, and maintenance time to reach the fusion threshold. Therefore, advantage holders are more likely to solidify their advantages, while the limited advantages of the disadvantaged cannot be solidified. This is because the former's advantages are sufficiently large to reach the threshold for solidification. What is the essence of this solidification? What is the essence of the energy threshold? Preliminary thoughts suggest that the essence of solidification lies in the transfer of energy mediums, and the core of medium transfer is the acquisition of transfer methods. For most disadvantaged individuals, the most challenging aspect is obtaining transfer methods. The acquisition of transfer methods will consume a certain amount of advantages. However, the energy of the disadvantaged is fundamentally insufficient to support their acquisition of transfer methods.

Methods of Maintaining Political Depression#

Depressions are not necessarily created by humans, but political depressions rely on the sustained maintenance by political advantage holders. In this process, political advantage holders utilize their political advantages to create various means to maintain their advantages, converting their advantages into long-term political capital. These means are reusable and, as a form of cultural capital for the ruling class, become the foundation of political depression. Throughout history, rulers have adhered to the methods of maintaining political depressions as a guiding principle, determined by their instinct for self-preservation.

Closure and Openness#

What does political depression maintain? It maintains the low-lying nature of the depression. The low-lying nature of the depression requires its closure. Only through closure can the depression continuously accumulate water. However, political depression cannot be too closed, for once the doors to civilizational exchange are opened, they will be instantly dominated by external forces. For example, after the discovery of the New World, the civilizations established by the indigenous peoples were instantly destroyed. Although China is also a closed country, this closure is relative. The reason the West failed to completely colonize China after the Opium War is that China continued to engage in exchanges with Western civilization. Thus, China can be both a closed depression and not be instantly destroyed due to being too low-lying.

Openness and closure are the oscillating politics of China's depression. Openness establishes a new order, while closure maintains the existing order. However, closure is the mainstream of the depression, while openness is a passive reshuffling. As the saying goes, when in poverty, one thinks of change; when "not poor," one cannot "think of change." This is because the existing closed exploitation system allows rulers to enjoy a century of stability. Once they actively open up, they fear the impact on their regime, leading to significant creative destruction that threatens their power.

On the other hand, the prosperity brought by openness is also immense. During the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty, merely opening the port of Fujian had a tremendous historical impact. Opening the port not only resolved the banditry problem caused by Fujian merchants colluding with Japanese pirates but also brought a large amount of silver to the Ming Dynasty. More importantly, the introduction of crops like sweet potatoes allowed the Chinese to further fill their stomachs, raising the population to four hundred million. However, openness has never been proactive; it has always been influenced by the banditry problems along the southeastern coast, forcing the Ming to open a port. Whether during the Opium War or the reform and opening-up, openness has always been compelled by circumstances.

Therefore, closure is the main theme of the depression, while openness is a temporary measure forced upon the political advantage holders to maintain the political depression.

Means of Closure#

The essence of closure is a form of isolation. Political advantage holders utilize their political advantages to isolate the politically disadvantaged from the outside world, establishing a closed internal circulation exploitation system. Of course, closure is also a form of protection, but the people in the depression lack the power to choose, so even if there is protection, it ultimately transforms into imprisonment. The purpose of protection is not isolation but to help people better adapt to the environment and gain individual power for survival.

To achieve the effect of isolation, the simplest method is to prohibit population movement. Therefore, it is necessary to establish border and household registration systems. Guan Zhong may have established the earliest household registration system in China, where scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants must reside according to their professions and identities, unable to migrate or change occupations. From the transition from the feudal system of the Western Zhou to the system of registered households, and then to the household registration system that restricts migration... from the Great Wall to the Great Firewall, from eliminating the five pests to promoting "Confucianism," countless tangible and intangible "walls" curse this land. Chinese society has been shaped by political advantage holders into a depression more suitable for ruling. These methods will become an irreversible political cultural capital, difficult to erase along with the depression.

Future of Political Depression#

Will political depressions be filled? What are the causes of political depressions? The instinct for self-preservation of political advantage holders. Will political advantage holders disappear? The best scenario would be a return to a primitive state, but there will still be differences in intelligence. Individual differences are a special evolutionary method of the group. Life instinct is fundamentally about the infinite exploration of survival.

However, having differences does not mean that political depressions will always exist. A group that has not evolved a self-restraint mechanism is unsuitable for existence in the objective world. When the ratio of political advantage holders to political disadvantaged individuals is extremely imbalanced, it will generate tremendous destructive power. Because the power of the group is controlled by a very small number of political advantage holders, it is inevitable that individual willfulness will disregard the collective will over time.

Thus, political depression is not to be feared; what is to be feared is the inability of the group to differentiate into a stable structure, either dying from internal strife due to closure or perishing from forced openness.

The reason justice holds the highest value is that justice is synonymous with the existence of the group.

Justice is the principle of group existence. In fact, the form of the group conceals the source of justice. Since it is a group, it must want to maintain its form and continuously approach the highest form of the group, which is justice. — What is Justice

Therefore, exploitation is not to be feared by the group; what is to be feared is imbalance. Balance is not a coincidental equilibrium but the stability of social structure and the formation of a self-restraint mechanism within the group. How to construct a self-restraint mechanism for the group? This is another interesting topic to discuss later.

Broad Sense of Depression#

The Ontology of Broad Sense Depression#

The Concept of Broad Sense Depression#

This world needs depressions because people are thirsty, and depressions have water. "China's depression" or "political depression" is a very small concept, limited to political, cultural, and historical aspects. A broader concept is the broad sense of depression. Geographical depressions must be low-lying and enclosed. Political depressions are group situations that control people through closure for the purpose of exploitation. The broad sense of depression is a relatively closed and concealed potential difference.

The Relativity of Broad Sense Depression#

"Energy" and "value" share similarities; they only exist in relation to one another. If there are no "sentient beings," what value does the "Buddha" have? If there is no "low energy," what value does "high energy" have? Thus, power, strength, and energy are all relative, determined by the weaker side. Broad sense depression is a widely existing and omnipresent energy difference in the objective world. For individuals, one side of this energy difference is the world, and the other side is the individual. Therefore, our state determines the world's value for us.

Broad Sense Depression and Life Instinct#

Energy tends to flow from high energy to low energy, and human desires tend to spread from the known to the unknown. The essence of the world is radiating from high energy to low energy. Is there a reflection of this law in human thinking? I believe there is, so I hypothesize the existence of a high-energy thought core. The thought core is like the sun of the thinking world, continuously radiating its own light and heat. Why is the thought core so powerful? Because of the life instinct. The life instinct is the most fundamental logic of life, allowing life to explore infinite possibilities for survival. Therefore, the true energy of depression lies in the energy of life.

How to Discover the Value of Broad Sense Depression#

Hidden Depressions#

Broad sense depressions can be divided into two types: hidden depressions and non-hidden depressions. Everyone wants to be the sheep that goes to the high ground to drink water, rather than being the water in the depression. However, the classes, hierarchies, cultures, nationalities, and lifestyles we are in inherently fix us into a certain depression or low ground. There are many things in this world that we cannot control, so we do not need to consider them. Most of these uncontrollable depressions are non-hidden depressions, already occupied by others.

However, there are many things we can change; changing these can enhance our energy. These belong to hidden depressions, which are unexploited virgin lands.

Discovering Hidden Depressions with Personal Standards#

The ugly woman is the beautiful one, the coward is the hero, the fool is the wise one, and the sentient beings are the Buddha. Anything that can be compared is actually on the same level, with differences only in quality and quantity. Beauty and ugliness, courage and cowardice, foolishness and wisdom, sentient beings and the Buddha are all relative concepts. If you judge using the general standards of society, then you stand in a cognitive depression. In a cognitive depression, you cannot discover the value of the world because there is no energy difference. Conversely, if you view things through your own standards, then your world becomes brand new.

Differing from the world's cognition is just the first step; it does not mean we can discover beauty. Confucius said, "Choose the good and follow it; correct the bad." This is about discovering depressions. The so-called hidden depressions are actually values that ordinary people cannot discover. Please remember, the existence of hidden depressions depends on the individual, on the observer themselves. Our standards are, in themselves, a depression.

Discovering Hidden Depressions with Wisdom#

Since we must "choose the good and follow it, and correct the bad," then what is "good" and what is "bad"? To discover value, one must be able to distinguish between things and provide objective evaluations. For intelligent individuals, they can see the world more clearly, and then they will make choices that benefit themselves. Therefore, if one can see clearly, it becomes easier to make good choices.

But what is "good"?

Creating Hidden Depressions with Nihilism#

"Good" means "finished," while "not finished" means "not good." This line from Dream of the Red Chamber aims to illustrate that the standards of good and bad are very nihilistic. This nihilism means we can transform our thinking to discover more "hidden depressions." For wise individuals with feelings, other depressions hold no value for them. Because of the world's nihilism, they can self-root, thereby creating more value. Because depressions themselves are composed of low-energy and high-energy individuals. Changing oneself is changing the world.

In a contrary manner, the most nihilistic can create more reality.

Creating Hidden Depressions with Good and Evil#

Both good and evil can provide immense energy to individuals. In the current economic downturn, many people struggle to survive, even losing hope for life. Thus, the flower of evil begins to bloom wildly.

In "Why do some people not wish for the betterment of their fellow Chinese?," there is a passage:

Faced with such a large group, if they cannot cooperate and coexist, they will fall into a predatory relationship, leading to the disintegration of the group. Many people do not wish for the betterment of their fellow Chinese because they cannot gain the benefits of cooperation and coexistence from the current predatory relationship. They believe that this situation cannot be changed by a single reform; faced with an uncertain future and the dark political black forest, they choose to utilize the scaffolding left by the group to deconstruct in reverse. Regardless of the outcome, they gain inner peace and the power of destruction. Just like Fan Wencheng, since they cannot settle in the Ming Dynasty, they might as well actively seek refuge with the Qing.

Good and evil are essentially personal standards; this deviation from mainstream values allows individuals to discover hidden depressions.

Similarly, kindness can also be used to create hidden depressions, as not everyone is kind; kind individuals are the minority. Giving is itself a form of reward; when we pass our goodwill to others, they will also reciprocate our kindness. However, kindness carries risks; unwise kindness can also lead to self-destruction.

Summary of Depressions#

Energy analysis is a way of thinking that I particularly enjoy; the formation of depressions is closely related to energy.

We find ourselves within a political depression, often passively accepting our identities. However, this world has countless hidden depressions; as long as we shift our cognition, we can see them. Each depression has a desire to return to the objective world; each depression hopes we change its state of existence. Depressions cannot exist forever; they need to return, to that existence that allows them to return to the objective world.