If you were to enter my philosophical universe, the first things you would see as you stepped through its gates would be the two goals of life that I settled on after returning to them in thought again and again:
- A healthy body
- A tranquil mind
One is physical health; the other is the health of the soul. Physical health without a healthy soul is not enough. A person may be strong in body yet often depressed and unable to feel joy. That is not an ideal life. Conversely, a person may possess a tranquil mind and be wholly at peace with themselves, yet lack a healthy body. That is not right either.
What we should pursue, then, is both a healthy body and a tranquil mind. A healthy body gives us the energy to keep exploring the world. A tranquil mind helps us break through the many obstacles life places before us.
For some people, seeing a favorite celebrity in person is the easiest path to inner peace. For others, it is drinking a flask of authentic baijiu. For me, meeting the writers I revere is what brings tranquility to my mind.
What I mean is this: once we understand that our purpose in this world is to possess a healthy body and a tranquil mind, we begin to see that every choice every person makes is, in truth, a means of reaching one of these two ends. Once we recognize this, we learn to respect and understand the things other people do that once seemed incomprehensible to us.
We come to understand the wild pursuit of celebrities, the deepest devotion to baijiu, and the profound reverence for writers.
These means, of course, can be good or bad. But the life we are living is our own, not someone else’s. Each person has to discover for themselves which means are best. Most people never achieve these two goals in the course of a lifetime. Perhaps their genes stand in the way; perhaps it is fate.
Whatever the case, if I were to write a book of philosophy that encompassed my philosophical universe, its opening would set out the two goals of life:
- A healthy body
- A tranquil mind
Everything else we do exists to help us reach these two goals. Some people know how. Others travel farther and farther down the wrong road.
Zhengyang Yao
Beijing, August 11, 2026
Comments
In future introductions, I will proudly add “philosopher” to my list of occupations.
I may never become a qualified novelist, but I believe I can become a philosopher worthy of the name.
Genuine philosophical thought demands originality. Someone interested in philosophy reads works of philosophy; someone who wants to become a philosopher, however, must set aside every external influence and build an empire of philosophical thought that is wholly their own, from the ground up.
Think about it: isn't the whole purpose of building my empire of philosophical thought to achieve the second goal—to possess a tranquil mind?
When human society truly enters an age of abundance—when no one anywhere in the world lives in poverty and everyone has access to nearly limitless resources—the need to cultivate the inner life will reach an unprecedented height.