Taking Interest as the Baseline for Life

◎ Liang Qichao

If I was asked，“What -ism do you believe in？”I would reply，“I believe in interest-ism.”If I was asked，“What is the basis of your outlook on life？”I would again give a similar answer，“I take interest as the baseline for life.”

Whatever I do，I do it with zest．Words like pessimism or passivity are never included in the dictionary I use in life.

I often fail in what I have intended to do．Strictly speaking，all my efforts have ended up in failure．However，I always follow up my failure with renewed endeavor，because I find interest not only in achieving success but also in meeting with failure.

I am positively engaged in activities for every minute I am awake，but I have never been visited on by fatigue，much less by illness，because I am interested in whatever I do every day.

The spiritual joy gained more than compensates for the physical effort expended.

The opposite of interest is dullness and insipidity.

Yin Zhongwen，an official and poet in the Jin Dynasty，fell into depression in his late years．One day，pointing at an old Chinese scholar tree in his official mansion，he sighed，“Despite its dense foliage，the tree is running out of life.”A newly planted sapling grows and flourishes with vigor．How lovely it is！Yet when it gets old，its vitality is sapped and it enters the last phase of its life cycle，even though it may still look as leafy as before．

Yin's remarks，with a literary flavor，vividly capture a gloomy and decadent sentiment，which，I think，is extremely detrimental．If such a passive mood is allowed to take hold of a person or permeate in a community，then both are done for：the person or the community can no longer make any progress，and，even worse，all kinds of evils begin to grow and multiply．

In sum，interest is the wellspring of human activity．When the spring dries up，the activity ceases．This can be compared to a steam engine，which，without a supply of fuel，will surely stop working no matter how large it is．And，remaining out of operation for some time，the machine parts will rust up，producing many harmful substances.

Frankly speaking，if men lose their interest in life，they are living a life devoid of any real meaning．Their lives may drag on，but they are no more than walking corpses．If the same thing happens to a community，the community can be diagnosed with an incurable disease and its days are numbered.

梁启超（1873-1929），中国近代著名政治活动家、启蒙思想家、教育家、史学家和文学家。戊戌变法领袖之一。对中国近代历史进程有重要影响。他的一生，不论成败，都是以“趣味做根柢”的。这种人生观，对当代人也不无启示。