2026.03.09 - Go into Heaven and Earth, Return to the Body

2026.03.09 – Go Into the Heavens, Return to the Body

Sorry, the “professional competence” you’re so proud of may be worthless in front of AI https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/XaRJVXwNeIAUQbdaOLUf6A
Highly educated, high‑income groups are actually at greater risk from AI. Why? Because the so‑called “high‑level jobs” – coding, analysis, charting, report writing, drafting contracts – are essentially about handling symbolic information. And AI’s greatest strength is exactly that.

• A legal assistant needs three days to research case law; AI does it in three seconds.
• A junior programmer spends a day writing code; AI finishes in a minute.
• A financial analyst spends half a day on Excel; AI completes it in a fraction of a second.

These tasks sound “prestigious,” but they share clear rules, obvious patterns, and abundant data – the very conditions where AI excels.

First principle of the AI era: don’t compare your efficiency to a GPU; compare your scarcity to AI.
What’s scarce? Real, physical connection to the world and genuine emotional interaction with other people. Those are things AI can never truly replicate.

So stop obsessively chasing “skill efficiency.” Learn a hands‑on craft, develop face‑to‑face work abilities, and do things that require real human contact. In the AI age, these won’t depreciate; they’ll become increasingly valuable.

Additional reads:

• Will we be replaced by AI? A report on AI and work I want to share with you
• Anthropic’s latest research: AI hasn’t caused unemployment?
• Not knowing how to code can be an advantage – why the control‑oriented struggle with AI

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The Female Head of Household Sets a Family’s Ceiling https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/qM7I5tojUmrDiu598GpqBw

Every year around March 8th, people repeat the slogan “Women hold up half the sky.” It’s been said for decades, yet often remains a hollow catchphrase. Those who truly understand know: a family’s floor may be propped up by a man’s earning power and sense of responsibility, but its ceiling is determined by the woman who runs the household.

Further reading:

• There are many beautiful people, but few truly beautiful ones
• When the fire of destiny moves, women need not panic; cultivate inner strength
• Good

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Is There a Shortcut to Learning Traditional Chinese Medicine? https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Ul-O0X9IHu8ubi-DG44TQA

Studying TCM is a long, arduous journey with no shortcuts, and one must avoid one‑sided or extreme misconceptions. To learn TCM you should:

1. Approach it with reverence, start from the basics, and progress step by step.
2. Treat the classics rationally – inherit the essence of works like the Huangdi Neijing and Shanghan Lun, while also absorbing later innovators’ contributions.
3. Evaluate the various schools and scholars (e.g., Ni Haixia, the “Fire‑God” school, Li Ke’s lineage) without blind imitation; keep the valuable, discard the junk.
4. Guard the core principle of “pattern differentiation and treatment.” No matter whose viewpoint you encounter, analyze it through the lens of classical theory and real‑world clinical experience. Do not accept everything wholesale; let the truth reveal itself through practice.

In short, true TCM study rests on the classics as a foundation, clinical work as a guide, and a synthesis of multiple traditions. Focusing narrowly on a single master or doctrine leads to “sectarian bias” and prevents genuine understanding.

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Candles and Oil Lamps: Another Kind of Medicine https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Nmv4_IG-PcAzHHnDdVq5Vg

Lighting a flame awakens memory. That’s why, even with brighter electric lights, we instinctively reach for a candle at certain moments. Suddenly, seeing a candle or oil lamp can bring a warm, steady feeling inside.

It isn’t about illumination. It’s about reviving a memory that dates back hundreds of thousands of years, so that amid concrete, steel, and glowing screens, a tiny fire still keeps you company. It tells you: you are safe, you can relax, you don’t have to keep pushing, night has fallen—time to rest. This little fire is humanity’s most primitive calming remedy. When you light it, you are using the oldest method to tell yourself, “It’s okay, come back home.”

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For Life, Occasionally Embrace Enchantment https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/1eWqkETSM0FKfX0lAJQSGQ

In recent years, “disenchantment” has become a buzzword. The quip “the world is a huge traveling troupe” captures today’s pervasive experience of stripping things of mystery. Idols become ordinary people, ideals turn into slogans, love is reduced to hormones, the sublime is labeled performance… After everything is “disenchanted,” what remains is often a barren “just‑so‑so.”

We may feel we’ve won a victory of “wakefulness,” yet we find ourselves standing on a wasteland of meaning. We’re no longer easily deceived, but we’re also rarely moved, inspired, or struck by pure beauty. When the world is “seen through,” how can we continue to love it?

The emergence of the term “entering enchantment” may answer this dilemma. It is a conscious act of re‑infusing the world with charm after clear‑sighted awareness—a wisdom that follows the progression “seeing a mountain as a mountain, then not a mountain, and finally returning to seeing it as a mountain” (a classic Zen metaphor for returning to original perception).

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Go Into the Heavens, Return to the Body https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/rX4lWZJYaa0fZsD1KC3-cQ

For the body to be healthy, it must go out into the heavens and return. Only by being within the cosmos can a person receive proper nourishment. When you re‑enter the world of sky and earth and witness its myriad phenomena, your mind expands and you stop getting tangled in trivialities.

If you converse daily with the heavens, your heart stays uncluttered and your qi (vital energy) flows freely. Watching a tree thrive relaxes body and mind; listening to a bird’s song lets you interact with the sound, and your heart rejoices with the melody.

Students of TCM should also go out and observe: how clouds shift, how mountain trees grow, the relationship between streams and soil. By studying the changes of all things in nature and then bringing those insights back into the body, you practice a true method of learning TCM. Concepts such as “nurturing the earth to generate metal” or “draining the south, supplementing the north” are all inspired by the patterns of heaven and earth.

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Originally written by Ping Xia (平侠) and published in Chinese on 拾一集 (Weekly Reflections). Translated and adapted for DriftSeas with permission.