2026.05.25 - The Thinking Method of Applying Both, Preserving the Center to Achieve Harmony

2026.05.25 – A Thinking Method that Holds Both Ends, Guards the Middle, and Achieves Harmony

Dreaming – Allow Some Things to Exist First as Dreams https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/vt4RPBwOmWS6oxbZl01Hdw
The name Dreaming is unusual. In an age where everything is accelerated, broken down, scheduled, and executed, we can still let certain things accumulate weight and retain a hint of possibility. It lets a highly engineered system keep a tiny bit of an intermediate state. Some things are hard to label as memory or noise; they first exist as dreams.

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Scholarship Requires Both Learning and Questioning https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/KqFcTa4VpqMPbJUpm_JLPQ
If “learning” concerns the scope of knowledge, then “questioning” determines the depth and warmth of scholarship. The “question” in scholarship should not remain a lofty abstraction confined to a study, but should be rooted in the soil beneath our feet. Some think that humanities research is merely scholarly work done in a study; that reading widely is enough to exhaust all truths. In fact, every discipline originates from practice, and any theory without a real‑world anchor becomes rootless talk. Truly valuable questions respond to the urgent difficulties of the people, pinpoint the bottlenecks of governance, confront issues that affect a nation’s destiny, and even address the epochal challenges shaping human civilization. Scholars certainly need quiet study, but they must also step out of the study, into the fields, into the depths of society. Only then can scholarship shed its abstract concepts and gain the vitality to explain and transform the world.

New Release! Dr. Lin Jie’s A World Without Illness https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/QQ8qvBlMVDDGRHWCp4bQNA
Studying Chinese medicine helps us better grasp “timing, place, and harmony” – the unity of heaven and humanity that underpins health. In this book I expand on the concepts and practical applications of qi, blood, meridians, and the organs, aiming to benefit both clinical practice and wellness. Qi and blood are not only present within the human body; they also fill the universe. Anything that nourishes our body and mind can be called qi and blood. The greatest feature of Chinese medicine is its human‑centered approach, with qi and blood as the foundation. From the four examinations to the eight principles, qi and blood are central. Seeking and restoring the yin‑yang balance—the “middle way”—is both the starting point and the ultimate goal of diagnosis and treatment.

Understanding the Circular Heaven and Square Earth, Endless Applications https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/e56m4CPu7OvxqE0TCfxQog
All things have distinct forms and functions; they cannot be interchangeable, which is why we speak of “square.” “Square” implies boundaries—not necessarily a literal square or rectangle. A circle, by contrast, has no boundaries; once a boundary is imposed, it can no longer be a true circle. This is the distinction between square and circle.

The Thinking Method of Holding Both Ends, Guarding the Middle, and Achieving Harmony https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/rBL9UK2u-DUycgWEyzXD6w
In the Book of Rites – Doctrine of the Mean, the passages “hold the two ends, apply the middle to the people” and “attain central harmony, where heaven and earth take their places and all things are nurtured” encapsulate this method. Later generations interpreted “the middle” as a state of impartiality and moderation, while “harmony” is the practice and result of embodying that middle. The method of holding both ends, guarding the middle, and attaining harmony is rooted in the fertile soil of Chinese civilization, refined over millennia of practice and philosophical elevation, and has become a richly layered, widely influential way of thinking.

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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.