Noble and noble spirit

A gentleman who is handsome and rich in appearance, pious in character, ready to help others and dare to speak out, with a prominent family and graceful demeanor, who dares to sacrifice himself in the face of disaster is often the standard of nobility in people's hearts.

People often infer a person's inner self-restraint and spiritual quality according to his behavior, but often the appearance is not necessarily the truth. We can see the essence through phenomena, but sometimes we can't see the correct essence. Expensive looks are not necessarily symbols and labels of nobility. If a person looks charming and well-dressed, but his heart is vulgar and dirty, then such a person is only good at using his appearance to cover up his discomfort or is good at camouflage, and has absolutely nothing to do with the nobility. In the west, he can be called a noble, so he must first have wealth and status; Living at the bottom of society, he has morality, ethics and self-sacrifice, and he is also isolated from the nobility.

The earliest nobles originated in Europe. As a historical and cultural tradition, nobility not only means a status and title, but also means the social code of conduct and value standards, and is also the goal that society follows. The nobility has its own code of conduct and value standards, and has become a model of the nation. Over time, it has formed the aristocratic spirit. What we call "aristocratic spirit" is also a way of life. As far as I know, their life rhythm is orderly and their lifestyle is elegant and calm. Instead of high-profile propaganda, they express a noble atmosphere in a diffuse and penetrating way through many details. This feeling is like spring breeze, which makes people feel that the aristocratic atmosphere naturally reveals is charming.

European aristocrats are almost hereditary, so they also have high requirements for beauty. Generally speaking, nobles are selective in the choice of furniture, utensils and handicrafts, and most of them will choose classic and recognized brands. But almost every brand-name object has its history and background, which makes you feel the exquisiteness of aristocratic life and pays attention to the cultural connotation that reflects the brand value. Nobles are rich, but they know how to use money to make themselves more tasteful, while nouveau riche will only give lily a Phnom Penh.

European aristocrats don't eat, drink and be merry every day as people think. They entertain the public, but they are more knowledgeable. They often devote their time, energy and financial resources to scientific research. For example, the most famous Royal College of England holds lectures regularly, which are attended by all the nobles. They discussed philosophy, politics, literature, art and science together, so various elegant art forms flourished. It can be seen that this European aristocratic cultural life has played a decisive role in promoting the development and progress of human civilization.

People often associate nobility with wealth, but in fact, aristocratic spirit has nothing to do with material conditions, sometimes it can be said that. As Zhang Ailing said, the elevator workers in the old Shanghai apartment must be well dressed and neatly tied before they can come out to drive the elevator for customers, which also reflects a noble demeanor. Therefore, the aristocratic spirit is far away from us and close to us, but each of us can strive to be a spiritual aristocrat. To be a noble man, he has his own extraordinary beliefs and ideals, and he is noble and great in essence. No hardship or pain will detract from this noble man. As Gide said, "I am willing to burn my soul for all good things."

Noble spirit should have three important pillars. One is cultural accomplishment, resisting the temptation of material desires, not taking pleasure as the purpose of life, and cultivating noble moral sentiments and cultural spirit. Second, the social responsibility as a social elite, strict self-discipline, cherish honor, help the disadvantaged groups, and assume the responsibilities of the community and the country. In fact, the main element of social responsibility in aristocratic spirit is civilian consciousness, and "bending over" is not servility, but sympathy and care for the disadvantaged groups. The core of aristocratic spirit is definitely not gentlemanly demeanor and aristocratic etiquette, but the ability to bravely take responsibility when the country and the nation are in danger. This strong sense of social responsibility is the essence of aristocratic spirit. Nobles safeguard their own interests, but pay more attention to the honor and disgrace of the country. When the country or nation is in danger, nobles can often stand up and take responsibility, and even contribute their own property and even their lives. The enlargement of aristocratic sense of responsibility rose from the initial protection of class interests to the protection of the whole society. Third, a free soul has an independent will and dares to say no in front of power and money. Moreover, it has intellectual and moral autonomy, can transcend fashion and trends, and is not enslaved by political power and the opinions of the majority. They refuse to blindly follow fashion, system and trend, but have their own independent experience, perception and judgment, constant reflection, persistent belief, creative thinking and down-to-earth behavior. It is indispensable to judge whether a person has aristocratic spirit, cultural accomplishment, social responsibility and free soul.

One of the most important basic spirits in the aristocratic spirit is the spirit of self-esteem, which fully affirms people's free will and personal dignity. Nobles attach great importance to self-esteem, and they have a basic behavior pattern-duel, such as Pushkin and lermontov, great poets of the nobility, who died in duel, so the thought embodied in the language of duel behavior is self-esteem. Nobles emphasize self-esteem, individual free will and dignity, and they also respect others. They are neither narrow-minded individualists nor selfish egoists. Nobles will understand other people's feelings and will not be supercilious. They should emphasize rules and principles when dealing with their relations with others, which is a very important aristocratic spirit.

Any noble, his spiritual essence must be low-key. I have always believed that not everyone is qualified to keep a low profile, and keeping a low profile requires capital. Low profile is a high threshold, and an ordinary person can't keep a low profile. Otherwise, it will be considered mysterious and arrogant. A person with high-profile capital needs high cultivation. Whether born or low-key, low-key is always a virtue, and low-key people deserve admiration. This low-key style is well reflected in nobility. Although the aristocrat owns money and land, he is self-aware, because he has a relatively high education and accomplishment, knows how big the world is, how long the history is, how extensive the knowledge is, knows his own position, knows the position of others, knows his own limitations and knows the strengths of others. They have a clear understanding and accurate measurement of these, so they dare not sing high-profile, nor will they sing high-profile.

Nobles have their own unique pride, but this does not mean arrogance and rudeness. In their eyes, pride is directly proportional to talent, but just like great talent is unpretentious and small talent is flashy, great pride is often humble and peaceful, and only small pride reveals arrogant face.

In China, there have always been aristocrats and people with aristocratic spirit, that is, gentlemen. A gentleman is neither a weapon nor a person; Gentlemen fit in, but don't form a party for personal gain; A gentleman can live in harmony with people with different opinions. They will not agree with each other, nor will they force others to be in tune with themselves, just like a harmonious movement is the score of five notes, and a single tune can't make you happy; There are three criteria for a gentleman: the benevolent is not worried, the wise is not confused and the brave is not afraid. It can be seen that a gentleman is not only a virtue in the sense, but also needs knowledge and practice. Simply put, he is a caring, professional and diligent professional. This is the elite image in Confucius' mind, and such people will certainly benefit the society.

However, many people's understanding of nobility has been distorted, and its connotation is limited to the surface. A typical view is that owning high-end houses, luxury cars, beautiful women like clouds, consuming luxury goods, attending aristocratic schools and studying abroad are symbols of nobility. In fact, this is more of a formalistic aristocratic life. The superficial hedonism is not manifested in people's pursuit of spirit and aesthetics, but in the form of spending money like water, lavishing money on luxuries, and getting drunk. When reading aristocrats, people's eyes are always too focused on "expensive". As long as these conditions are met, they are nobles. The media gives us an illusion that this vain and naive formal atmosphere has nothing to do with the real aristocratic culture. This aristocratic culture is actually a superficial and rough cultural atmosphere, which will stem from childishness and stop at maturity, and from vanity and stop at pragmatism.

Richness is material, while preciousness is spirit. The world-famous aristocratic schools carry out strict and arduous militarization training with the aim of cultivating students' sense of cooperation and self-discipline. A true aristocrat must be full of self-control and strong spiritual strength, which needs to be cultivated from an early age. For example, Eton College has trained many outstanding figures in this way, including General Wellington who defeated Napoleon. Noble spirit first means that this person should have self-control, self-control, dedication and service to the country. Prince William and Prince Harry of England, they are nobles. The British royal family sent them to the Army Academy to study. After graduation, Prince Harry was also sent to the front line of Afghanistan as a gunner. The British royal family knows the nobility of Prince Harry's identity and the danger at the front. However, it is universally acknowledged that it is the duty, or duty, of a nobleman to dedicate himself to the country and take risks.

There is an unwritten rule in the western shipping industry that when a ship is in danger of sinking, the captain must be the last to leave, or some captains simply choose to sink with the ship. This is a spirit of commitment that continues from the aristocratic spirit. In the movie Titanic, there is such a scene. When the ship was about to sink, the captain went into the captain's cabin and chose to live and die with the ship. This is a sense of responsibility. When the ship began to sink, the captain invited the small band on board to play on the deck to calm everyone's mood. After the performance, the chief musician bowed to everyone and the musicians began to leave. The ship was very chaotic, and it was going to sink. When the chief musician saw that everyone had left, he returned to his original position, set up the violin and played a new tune. The musicians who had gone far heard the music and went back to the chief musician. Everyone is playing again. This is the best interpretation of aristocratic spirit, which tells us that there is a kind of death that is greater than ordinary life.

No matter in appellation or substantive confirmation, aristocrats must be consistent with their morality, knowledge and behavior. Otherwise, no matter how powerful and rich he is, he will not enter the ranks of the nobility. The true meaning of a noble family refers to its spirit and noble behavior, as well as the nobleness of noble spirit, that is, to live in a clean, elegant and dignified way. He won't be treacherous and unscrupulous for some immediate practical interests. Based on this awareness, the spiritual nobility should have nothing to do with the so-called rich. Noble spirit is not necessarily rich, and rich people are not necessarily noble, because this noble spirit cannot be bought with money.

"Noble spirit" is not necessarily monopolized by "nobles". As long as civilians continue to study hard and persist in shaping their own personality, they can also become people with "aristocratic spirit", because we emphasize the aristocratic spirit, not the aristocratic identity. Although we are not aristocrats, we can try to be aristocrats.