B. WHAT I MEAN BY ACTION, OR A PHILOSOPHY OF ACTION (CHIANG K'AI-SHEK)[1]

B. WHAT I MEAN BY ACTION, OR A PHILOSOPHY OF ACTION (CHIANG K'AI-SHEK)[1]

The following essay, delivered as a speech, represents the clearest formulation by Generalissimo Chiang of his own philosophy. To this must be joined his exegesis on the San Min Chu I, quoted in part above, p. 270.

The Truths We Must Endeavor to Grasp Anew

In 1932 I delivered a lecture on the subject "Stages in the Development of Revolutionary Philosophy." In it I dealt with two points of especial importance. Firstly, I tried to explain how the actual grasp of what we know comes only with positive action. I said: "The universe contains spirit in addition to matter. Spirit implies mind, and mind implies conscience. Conscience must find its expression in action, in the practice of what it urges. Otherwise the conscience would be a barren thing, and there would be no way of avoiding a futile idealism on the one hand or determinist materialism on the other." Secondly, I explained the importance of the philosophy of action in regard to the Revolution. I said: "Only the word 'action' covers the meaning of what has brought into being all things in space and time. Our philosophy therefore takes as the one central principle of human life and thought the maxim: 'From true knowledge action naturally proceeds.' In short, any philosophy of ours must be a philosophy of action. The consummation of the Republican revolution and the overthrow of Japanese Imperialist aggression depend upon our putting into practice Dr. Sun's principle of action as the natural product of knowledge."

Since I suggested this term philosophy of action and became the advocate of positive action as the course the revolutionary must follow, a considerable effect has been visible in our ranks. The spirit of positive action has been intensified among us. In the army and in schools, and in political and social life generally, a gradual transformation has taken place in the state of inert frustration, vagueness and depression formerly prevalent. There has been a general tendency to take the initiative, to express ourselves in positive action. Such indeed was my aim in promoting this philosophy of action. When I take note of the results achieved by our action, however, I remain unsatisfied on a number of points. For instance, there is sometimes mere action without clear realization of its why and wherefore, resulting in what the ancients called "unreal action." With others there is initial vigor and great positive effort, followed by impatience of checks and failure to persevere in the face of difficulties, leading some to throw the blame on circumstances and others upon their fellow-men. The irritable then proceed to arguing and quarrels; while the sweeter-tempered lose heart. In this way the real issue is lost to sight and obstacles unnecessarily multiplied; or the individual may be overcome with outright disgust and take on a completely negative attitude, the initial speed of his progress being in the end equalled by the speed of his subsequent retrogression. Another kind of failure comes with a man who impulsively imitates others; who when he sees others on the go feels any move on their part calls for some move on his; who spends all his time in acting on the spur of some transitory stimulus or exigency, forgetful of our broad revolutionary conceptions and far-reaching aims.

In seeking the reasons for such faulty conduct, I have been forced to the conclusion that it is due to imperfect knowledge of the essential meaning of positive action, and to imperfect realization of the significance and nature of action, that there is lack of determination, faith and perseverance among us.

Action Is Life Itself: the Tireless Pertinacity of Nature Our Example

According to my own individual experience, our first step must be to draw a clear distinction between action and motion. The monosyllabic structure of the Chinese language has occasioned the use of substantival phrases consisting of two words. One of these phrases is hsing-tung (action-motion), which in common parlance often has the meaning properly covered only by the word hsing alone, a word of far deeper and wider meaning than the word tung. In fact, we may say that action is human life itself. An antithesis is commonly implied between the words action and thought, and between word and act. In reality, however, thought and word are processes of action, and are properly to be considered as included within the scope of action, rather than as foreign to it. From birth to death, while he is subject to space and time, a man cannot withdraw himself from the sphere of action; he grows up in action and his character is formed and elevated by action. All saintly and heroic men, like the devoted revolutionary, attain their ends and achieve their nobility of character only through their planned and determined actions.

If we wish to realize the true nature of action we can do no better than take as the point-de-départ for our thinking the words of the I-ching or Book of Changes: "Let the superior man exert himself with the unfailing pertinacity of Nature." For the most obvious thing in the universe, the very principle animating all its phenomena, is the activity of the forces of Nature. The gloss reads: "Day by day the heavens revolve, with a constancy that only a supreme pertinacity could maintain. The superior man models himself upon it in the unceasing exertion of his energies." This pertinacity is something perennially unimpaired and ever changeless, greatest strength united to greatest durability, and moreover an absolute thoroughness and completeness. And we must model ourselves on the activity of nature, on its spontaneous and unremitting flow of energy. If there is this realization of the value and place of human life in the universe, action will appear to us something inevitable, and there will follow as a matter of course single-minded devotion to purpose, a completely natural attitude, and resolute advance with firm strides towards our ends—we shall have achieved, in the words of the Chung-yung, "the highest integrity, unfailing and enduring." Man's existence and progress depend entirely upon his perception of these truths.

Action, therefore, differs from motion. Motion is by no means necessarily action, though action may on occasion include some form of motion. Action is continuous, whereas motion is intermittent; action is essential, whereas motion is accidental; action is spontaneous, whereas motion is usually due to the application of external force. Action is in response to the supreme order of things and in harmony with the nature of man. Motion is impulsive response to some fortuitous external stimulus. Action we may describe as more natural and smoother intrinsically than motion; and extrinsically it is wholly good in its outcome, whereas motion may be good or may be evil. Action unfolds in uninterrupted continuity; motion proceeds by fits and starts. As an illustration, action may be compared to a ceaseless flow of water, in the words of Confucius, "racing on, unpausing day and night." The unremitting and insistent character of positive action may thus be figured forth. Motion on the other hand may be compared to the impact of a stone upon water into which it is thrown. The water is violently agitated and leaps high into the air; its movement is tumultuous while it lasts, but subsides when after a moment or so the extraneous force that caused it is expended. Such motion is, therefore, transitory, simply because its motive force comes from without.

Action Is Not Mere Motion

We cannot of course say that all motion is bad, but we can at least say that the value of motion is never comparable with that of action. What we commonly call impulse is a manifestation of the reflex action of some sense or faculty. When we speak of a man's motions as "blind," "wild," or "furious," it is always a case of response to external stimulus or of the application of external force. Such motions are not spontaneous and they therefore pursue no definite course; they have no basis in the consciousness of the individual and no precise direction or aim; the individual's concern with them is limited to the passing moment of their duration; he envisages nothing as to what may be their result. There may be great initial activity and force, but because there is no basis in reason, consciousness and spontaneity, momentary agitation is succeeded by relapse into quiescence. A man who lives by passion and impulse, who moves rather than acts is like a bell, which when struck vibrates and emits sound but unless struck is silent. All passive and transient activity, arising from mere impulse and sense-stimulation, is in opposition to the positive action required of us by our revolutionary philosophy, for such motion has no lasting effect and is powerless to transform the lives of men.

It is imperative therefore that there should be no confusion of what we mean by action with what is better termed motion. The action of which I have been speaking is the operation of man's innate faculties according to the true natural laws of his being; it is what I have called the expression of conscience in practice, the exercise of conscience. Although we colloquially speak of "violent actions" and "wrong-minded action" in describing men's conduct, such conduct, being that of men acting under the influence of impulse or illusion, should properly be classed as a form of motion. It is not what we mean by action.

Action Is Nature at Work in Man: the Whole Universe Is the Scene of Action

Genuine action is necessarily ordered, rhythmical, systematic and directed towards some aim. It arises from that fullness of consciousness described as the "calm of mature reflection." It is inevitably straightforward and continuous, undeviating and unhesitating. Such motion as that of the revolving globe we ought not to call mere motion; that ceaseless axial and orbital rotation is a phenomenon called in ancient times the activity of nature; and it may serve us as the best possible illustration of the qualities of action. We may proceed to a fuller description of the nature of action by saying it is always marked by a certain regularity and order in the course of its fulfilment. Human life in all its aspects of growth and development, in each transition from stage to stage, in the preparatory and supplementary acquisitions of substance and experience between phase and phase,—all this is action. The normal routine of daily life,—sleeping, resting, eating and working,—is all to be considered within the scope of action. For the meaning of action may apply equally well to what occurs both in states of repose and in states of movement. While work throughout the process of carrying out a given task may clearly be action, recreation may also be action. States of motion and repose are of course to a superficial view opposites. Moreover in the modern world motion is especially set up in opposition to repose, and emphasized almost to the exclusion of the latter. This has caused the importance of stability to be lost to view.

For the truth of the matter is: "stability allows of repose; repose allows of calm; calm allows of reflection, and reflection gives grasp." It should be realized that repose can have a positive function. And what I call the philosophy of action permits of no distinction between motion and repose, a distinction which is superficial. A course of action may involve intervals of both motion and of repose, just as the invisible working of living matter contributes to the visible growth of the body. We need only concern ourselves as to whether what is done is in harmony with the laws of man's innate character.

The natural processes of the universe and of human life go on unceasingly, and in trying to ameliorate human life by positive action we must realize that such action to be effectual must be similar to those processes in its continuity and tenacity. Positive action in its every phase, whether outwardly visible or impalpable, never ceases to be action, never really for a moment comes to a halt. The whole universe is the scene of such action, and man in so far as he truly acts participates in its immense activity. Let us therefore distinguish clearly between mere motion and the true action that works by a steady advance in an undeviating course, with the timeless inexhaustibility of flowing water towards its appointed aim.

And now I have something more to add in definition of the essential meaning of action and its relation to life. The ancients said "Man's innate character is given him at birth together with life itself." I consider action to be the expression of that innate character, and so as inseparable from life as it. Man in his earliest infancy can laugh and cry, eat and drink; as he grows up he learns to gaze and listen, speak and walk; and once grown up, no matter whether he be intelligent or stupid, he strives for existence, progress, and development. Or, in other words, he seeks to conform to the elementary needs of human life. All these phenomena are phenomena of action, the action of the faculties for discerning moral and material good, with which man is naturally endowed.

It is apparent to me that love of ease and dislike of exertion are no part of fundamental human nature, but that on the contrary mankind is naturally disposed to labor and work. If you compel a lively man accustomed to be always on his feet and busy with his hands to be idle and sedentary, depriving him of anything to do, he is certain to feel exceedingly unhappy. In the same way, the least intelligent or experienced of men has felt the satisfaction and content that come with work, the joy of contributing to the accomplishment of some undertaking. There is a colloquialism current in certain coastal districts of China which substitutes the word "life" for the word "work"; thus, you may be asked whether you have "lived your life" for the day, in the sense of "have you done your day's work?" Work is indeed life; unless a man be totally incapable he will inevitably require the means of expression for his abilities, and particularly such expression as will accrue to the benefit of somebody beyond himself. Even a little child is conscious of the intense satisfaction to be derived from doing one's best in the service of others. Though no praise be awarded the child it is aware of an extraordinary complaisance within itself.

The Broadest Sense of Life

All these little illustrations bear witness to the fact that action is the object of man's life; and we should, vice versa, make life the object of our action. We are born with faculties for the discernment of moral and material good; life, from childhood to old age, is the energetic, ceaseless, use of them, at first chiefly for the satisfaction of the needs of one's own existence, to secure one's own footing in life, but next, as one's mental perspective broadens, the family, the village, the community, the nation, and mankind become objects of the desire to express oneself and give of oneself. When we speak of life it should mean for us the life of mankind, the life and existence of people and nation, the livelihood of masses and citizenry. And when we speak of action, we should mean action performed in the service of life in such a broad sense.

The difference between man and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air consists just in this. We read in the classics of "a virtue of surpassing excellence, which is given to the people as a law of their being," and the virtue alluded to is this propensity to look after one's own welfare and at the same time the welfare of one's fellow-men. We are naturally endowed with the disposition to will the good of others and to act in their service. "Action," with the qualities I have sketched, is something primordially bound up with life.

The Revolution Demands Action of All Men at All Times

The essential meaning of action being once understood we may proceed to inquire into its spirit and wherein it finds its highest expression. How is it that men for all the apparent unity of their existence sometimes live lives of such devotion to the good of mankind and the world that they earn the admiration of posterity, while others live degenerate lives governed by the lowest desires, to the detriment of themselves and their neighbors? Education and environment are factors that play their part in this, but more important is what the ancient called "material desire"—the tendency to seek possession rather than creation, to enjoy rather than contribute. In the words of Dr. Sun, "making one's aim acquisition and not service" leads to degraded and uncontrolled conduct which is an obstacle to human progress and what we as comrades in Revolution must strive our utmost to avoid and eradicate.

Revolutionary motives are motives of service, of self-sacrifice for the good of others. The task the Revolution sets itself is the "practice of goodwill" in the broadest sense of those words,—action inspired by love for men to the exclusion of all that tends to their harm. In our revolutionary zeal to promote positive action throughout our world we aim to create an all-pervading moral attitude to life such as is rationally conformable to man's true nature; and we moreover seek to bring into full play the deep funds of humanity and benevolence in our own people. We push aside considerations of individual ability, of past education and environment, and of how far bad habits acquired may have become ingrained. We appeal to all as they are to take fresh stock of their lives and realize how from the very fact of their being alive they possess the ability to act,—to act in no less a sense than the great deliverers of mankind in their saintly and heroic deeds. The difference between such deeds and the actions of normal daily life is one of degree, not of kind. We are everyone men born of woman and passing our days between heaven and earth; not for us to vex ourselves with fear of failure; the only failure is in failing to act.

The Meaning of Ease

Let use take the three key-virtues of judgment, goodwill, and courage as our guides in the task of "playing the man." For the rest, let us follow the dictum of Sun Wên to the effect that "the very clever and able should strive to serve ten million fellow-men; a man of lesser ability may aspire to serve ten hundred men; while a man devoid of talent may content himself with doing the best he can for a single fellow-man." The highly talented may perform their duties with ease; the moderately gifted may make smooth progress with theirs; while the poorly gifted may do so with only a narrow margin of competence; but all that matters is our full use of our faculties in positive action for the good of others. If we advance without ever falling away from a pure and concentrated resolve to do our best, we shall certainly be able to realize the ideal of action. In a sense it will prove easy, though this does not of course mean that anything can be got without pains or anything managed in a facile and quiescent fashion. Nor does it mean that all will necessarily be plain sailing, fraught with no obstacles. Our path through life is strewn with dangers, hindrances and obstructions. Revolutionary action is attended by many risks; it requires the will to make great sacrifices. Nevertheless, man's capacity for positive action has achieved many a colossal feat in the course of his history, the prodigious hydraulic engineering of the ancients, ascent into the air and penetration of the earth, and revolutionary deeds that have transformed the face of human affairs. The ultimate consideration is always whether we possess thorough determination and a spirit of unflinching zeal, for with these we may overcome towering obstacles as it were "in our stride," and "face dangers with imperturbable calm." A man worthy of his place in the ranks of the Revolution will regard as nothing extraordinary difficulties and dangers that would daunt others. His revolutionary spirit, which is the very spirit of action, gives him a sublime indifference to whatever may be the magnitude of the demands his duty makes upon him; whatever his principles, faith and responsibility involve is "all in the day's work" for him, though it be ordeal by fire and water or the abnegation of everything dearest to him. He takes no account of difficulty, and fear is a thing still stranger to him. It is in the sense that to a man with such an attitude action is easy that I use the word.

Action born of that innate character given us with life, conceived in absolute sincerity, and aimed at the good of others treats things as "all of a piece." From beginning to end of an appointed task it maintains a uniform consistency and integrity of purpose. The seeds of its final success are inherent in its first beginnings. Difficulty and failure as I understand them can have no part in such action.

Positive action with a complete integrity of purpose produces that honesty and trustworthiness which are distinctive marks of all true action. It penetrates to the core of matters, and deals only in realities. It is free from superficial trappings and fuss; permits of no slack approximation and evasion of the point, all of which comes from that shrinking from effort and hardship that is so incompatible with the spirit of positive action. Whereas I have called all true action easy, those who go about things without its spirit find themselves confronted with seemingly insurmountable difficulties everywhere. When the ancients said: "There is nothing either difficult or easy in the world," they had in mind this way of thinking, as I had too when I said that wartime and peacetime were one and the same.

Sincerity the Root of Action and Goodwill

The next thing to consider is what is to be the central aim of our action. I would answer if asked this with a single word: "Goodwill." Action is the practice of goodwill in its deepest sense.

Goodwill is grounded in the sense of justice and issues from complete sincerity. The sincere man is necessarily conscious of goodwill and he is necessarily possessed of the moral courage required to practice it. The ancients said "there is completeness in sincerity," and again, "where there is not sincerity there is a void." The place of sincerity in human life is indeed like that of energy in the atom, the structure of which would collapse without it. If a man's life lacks "ardent sincerity," he will likewise be powerless to form and manifest the three key-virtues of judgment, goodwill, and courage. And without the strength to be derived from those virtues, the Three Principles of the People can make no headway. Only by action inspired with perfect sincerity can the splendid truths of those Principles be asserted and translated into fact.

Sincerity is dependent upon the sense of justice. The keynote of our Republican Revolution has been the smashing of selfish individualism and the rescue of our people from their sufferings and of our nation from its peril. To achieve what yet remains to be done, to acquit ourselves well as a section of humanity, and to explore the full scope of possible human well-being, all we do and enact must be grounded in perfect sincerity. Then the pains we take and the plans we devise will prove creative, progressive, and constructive; we shall put flesh on the bones of the egalitarian philosophy of social justice; we shall be clear as to what we think and are aiming at; we shall be able to give full expression to our true nature and faculties, proceeding in all we do resolutely, frankly, and boldly.

Action attains its highest point of intensity in the giving of one's life in the cause of justice, when death in that cause is accepted as sweet and shorn of all its terrors. "One may die in the course of willing men good, but life is not to be purchased at the price of willing them ill" is a classical teaching we may take as a supreme ideal of positive action. Action that lives up to that ideal will inevitably be revolutionary, while, vice versa, it is only genuinely revolutionary conduct that possesses the true qualities of positive action. Sincerity is the primal motive force of action. With it, a man is aware only of the interests he has in common with his fellow-men, and of none that conflicts with those of his fellow-men. With sincerity, a man acts his will to good in perfect self-possession, pushing steadily onwards through difficulty and danger to success. This is the bearing of Dr. Sun's teaching on the revolutionary movement.

The Laws of Action

In what I have said so far I have sketched the outlines of our conception of action. Men differ in profession, rank and work; but there is not a single one of us but must be a man of action if our revolutionary aims are to be completely realized. Action, however, is subject to certain laws, which I now wish to go into. It must, firstly, have its point-de-départ, secondly its regular order of procedure (that is, a methodical and scientific plan), thirdly, its definite goal, and lastly it must possess the qualities of constancy and continuity.

One: The Starting Point

Firstly, by point-de-départ we mean the careful selection of whatever way of approach may be most appropriate, direct, and efficacious for the carrying out of our projects. The same is true of study, affairs, and revolutionary action. The ancients said: "Ascent must start from places low; remote objectives are attained from near beginnings." This was their way of expressing the nature of the point-de-départ. If any mistake is made about it we are bound to miss our objective and destination however sure we may be of the direction in which we want to go. Again, if we try to run before we can walk, or skip preliminaries, or gain the heights by some ill-considered short-cut, our work will inevitably prove abortive.

Two: Ordered Unfolding of Plans

Secondly, the necessity for what I have called "a regular order of procedure" means the uselessness of reliance upon mere verve and enthusiasm, and the futility of action taken on the spur of some transitory turn of thought, action which is bound to encounter unforeseen obstacles in its course, be disconcerted by them, and lose its character as action by becoming some irrational form of motion. Action must be preceded by the laying down of plans and choice of a mode of procedure whereby all possible contingencies may be allowed for and prepared for. The plans, moreover, must be precise in matters of time and space, and in quantitative and numerical considerations. They must, when decided upon, be carried out with due attention to detail, and with periodical stock-taking of the ground covered. A steady rate of advance will thus be maintained. When it is possible to make plans it is obviously also possible to foresee to a great extent the circumstances of time and place under which the plans will be carried out and the quantitative and numerical requirements that will have to be met. In scientific accordance with these foreseen circumstances and requirements the execution of the whole project should be apportioned among the persons involved so that each has work in all respects congenial to his qualities, while provision is also made for cooperation between all concerned. With order and method in procedure there will be no putting of the cart before the horse, no abrupt intrusion of irrelevancies, no slackening at moments of urgency, or precipitate speed where none is needed; day by day and step by step substantial progress will be made. In this way we shall have no abortive enterprises, nor the disappointment they engender.

Three: Unswerving Aim at the Target

Coming, thirdly, to the matter of goal, it should be like a conspicuous target at which one takes steady, unfaltering, aim. No matter whether the work we are engaged in be of vast or slight dimensions, its aim should be seen, as it were, through sights trained on the main target of an ideal goal. To every piece of work there must be a beginning and an end, a clearly-defined destination. Before the destination be reached there can be no pause in our concentrated effort.

Four: The Even Texture of a Life of Action

Lastly, with regard to the fourth and especially important point: perseverance and continuity, the very qualities that, as I said at the beginning, distinguish action from motion. I spoke of action as essentially regular, orderly, and purposeful, and said that such action would necessarily be revolutionary action and its influence revolutionary influence. In other words, revolutionary action unfolds in an unbroken uniformity of effort; it draws on the funds of moral vigor in our national genius, and provides a new channel for the expression of the great moral qualities of which that genius is composed, whereby it may rehabilitate the status to which it is properly entitled. It must be realized that our Revolutionary and the reconstructive activities pursue a broad and enlightened policy free from all manner of trickery and opportunism. We are actuated by a spirit of extraordinary power, but what we are doing is nothing abnormal as the word should be understood, and our methods are wholly realistic.

All unnatural and inhuman conduct, and illogical and unscientific methods, result in frustration and can have no place in revolutionary activity. The ancients spoke of "acts of routine virtue" in their emphasis upon the almost humdrum, stolid, qualities of true virtue. Our Revolution is likewise dependent upon the capacity to maintain a course of persevering and continuous effort; the behavior required is in no way peculiar or foreign to everyday life. For out of continuity comes perseverance and what we may call ease. Tsêng Kuo-fan said: "things should be done soundlessly and as it were 'odorlessly,' with both precision and economy of effort." By this he meant not wooden impassivity or dry-as-dust pedantry but directness, simplicity, and an absence of fuss, a straightforward and unassuming way of going about things. In working for the success of the Revolution we should cultivate the attitude of the nameless hero who braves dangers and endures hardships as matters of course. We shall thus keep in touch with the people and render the influence of what we do in the service of mankind broad and lasting.

Formation and Constancy of Purpose

Unremitting perseverance to the very end of our task, every day we live a day of positive action, and full employment of our powers in harmony with the laws of Nature and Man, are the conditions for our successful accomplishment of our revolutionary mission. Among Tsêng Kuo-fan's self-admonitory words on "Formation of Purpose" there are the following phrases: "To cast away the gifts of Heaven and live in sloth will bring upon me some evil catastrophe.... This I swear never to forget as long as I can still draw breath." That is to say, the formation of our purpose in life requires of us diligent and courageous devotion and the full exercise of our talents. The great writer and statesman also admonished himself on the subject of steadfastness of purpose, reproaching himself: "Again and again have you been delinquent in your duties and endeavors, and been swayed by material temptations; but no one has ever heard of your being unpunctual at mealtimes!" How is it, he meant, that if we can be regular in attending to our material wants we cannot be equally unfailing in the performance of our duties? The full accomplishment of any aim requires strong-minded formation and steadfastness of purpose. The true meaning of the words "let the superior man exert himself with the unfailing pertinacity of Nature" embraces this.

I have now completed my explanation of the fundamental principles involved in positive action. I wish to conclude by once again exhorting you all to firm faith in the Tsung-li's teaching: "From true knowledge action naturally proceeds." The meaning of the Revolution is as bright and spacious as the skies; and the clearer our comprehension of it the more vigor we shall put into the practice of it. Moreover, the methods we are to adopt and the mode of procedure we are to follow have been laid down for us in detail by Dr. Sun Wên. We have only to obey his directions, each of us playing a part for which his temperament, calling and knowledge fits him, relying upon his faculties for the discernment of moral and material good at every step in his bold and resolute execution of his duty to nation and people.

Action Engenders Knowledge

I wish to say another word on the subject of the knowledge from which as we have seen action proceeds; and what I have to say is: that just as action proceeds from knowledge, action in its turn engenders knowledge. Dr. Sun said: "The ability to know implies the ability to act." I would add the words: "without action one cannot attain to knowledge." For knowledge comes with experience, and apart from the broad and fundamental truths of revolutionary thought our knowledge need not necessarily be in the first place very rich. Though, therefore, we must of course do all we can to acquire knowledge for its own sake, we must at the same time seek it as one of the fruits of positive action. Any knowledge acquired in the course of study, research, or experience which we do not proceed to put to the test of practice in the field of actuality is not to be considered with certainty as worthy of being called true knowledge. So it is that in all our undertakings practice will yield us true knowledge, and action alone will give us the ability to extend and enrich our knowledge. Chu Hsi in his commentary on the Great Learning wrote: "By long application of our powers we one day reach a point whence we see the whole scheme of things spread out before us, we perceive the realities underlying phenomena, the relation of accident to essence, and the structure and workings of the human mind." This attainment can come only as the fruit of positive action. If in the course of practice and experience knowledge we have acquired and methods we have based on it prove inefficacious we may take it that what we valued as knowledge was not true knowledge. In this way we shall be constantly broadening the scope and sifting the quality of our knowledge, which is the genuine process of gaining knowledge. "To be aware of ignorance brings knowledge" and "the open mind invites the entrance of information," are maxims than which none are better as guides in the search for knowledge.

Comrades in Revolution! Resolve Anew!

I am well aware of the magnitude of our revolutionary task of Resistance and Reconstruction, and I have been no less impressed with recent manifestations of my comrades' will to action. I have felt impelled by the one and encouraged by the other to present you today this exposition of positive action and of what is requisite for its success, in the hope that you will all keep in mind these indispensable principles, gathering fresh knowledge with experience, acting with deliberation, perspicacity, and conscientiousness, spurning all things that tend to distract you from your fixed purpose and involve you in the wild and motiveless conduct of those who possess no such fixed purpose. In the Chung-Yung, or Doctrine of the Mean, there is a passage emphasizing the importance of "conscientiousness" in action, by which it means the refusal to be satisfied with half-measures, the pursuit of ends to their logical conclusion. If you give earnest thought to what I have said you will realize that very much of what has long passed with us for action has not been true action, that is, not positive action, and that therefore we have failed in much that we have undertaken. It is only because our action has not been really positive that we have allowed our minds to enlarge on the difficulties and dangers of the Revolution. In fact, these difficulties exist only for those whose minds lack resolution, enthusiasm and faith. The ancient adage says: "There's nothing difficult in the world if there's a man of spirit to be found" (where there's a will there's a way). This is a piece of the age-old proverbial wisdom of the people, and it may well serve us as a salutary warning against the slack thinking and evil habits concealed beneath the airy phrase: "It's easy enough to know what should be done; it's acting accordingly that's hard."

We need, therefore, in the revolutionary nation-building we have before us only to assert our wills, inflame our hearts with a fresh sincerity and faith, and give ourselves up to positive action. If everyone of us does so, I have no hesitation in pronouncing it will mean the certainty of our success.

FOOTNOTE: