Morning talk: Enlightenment in life

Author: Liang Shuming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: One must have knowledge and insights before they can act. But this action is still not significant. It is only after gaining profound understanding of the universe and life that one can truly exert great influence in the world. In other words, those who make great contributions to history must be philosophers, whether they are known for philosophy or not. — Liang Shuming
This book is a compilation of notes from Liang Shuming’s speeches to the students of the research department of the Shandong Rural Construction Research Institute during the early years (from 1932 to 1936) during morning meetings. However, it only includes a portion of the notes, not all of them. This book is not a systematic academic lecture but rather a collection of guidance and inspiration for the students’ daily lives, or answers to questions raised by them. Therefore, its content covers various aspects of academic research, self-cultivation, as well as life, society, and culture. Much of it comes from personal experience, earnest and heartfelt, profound and thought-provoking, deeply beneficial to young people. Unable to bear seeing these insights scattered, I have compiled and printed them into this book for fellow enthusiasts.
The titles of the chapters in this book were added later, as the original morning talks did not have titles. The order of the chapters should ideally be based on their original dates, but these are now difficult to verify. Therefore, they are arranged according to their thematic relevance, no longer considering their chronological order.
Part of the content in this book was originally published in the bimonthly journal Rural Construction. The majority of it was compiled and transcribed by Huang Shengmin. As for which notes were recorded by whom, due to the process of mutual copying, it is now impossible to trace.
When this book was published, due to the author’s busy schedule, it was not reviewed. Any discrepancies or minor inaccuracies that may exist between this book and the author’s original intentions will be the responsibility of the note-takers and compilers.