时间：2022-07-18 09:46:31
Abstract: “Sesame of king’s treasuries” is one of the famous lectures given by John Ruskin in his Sesame and Lilies. John Ruskin delivered it in Manchester in 1864 in order to raise fund to a public library in England. The exact theme in it is quite controversial among people, for the lecture contains many brilliant ideas about reading, life, and political views. As to life, people in various trades have different perspectives. John Ruskin also analyzed one perspective of life―the advancement of life, and gave a harsh criticism to people’s twisted longing for a high social rank.
Key Words: advancement of life; knowledge; moral nature
In this lecture, John Ruskin first introduced the topic about the advancement in life. He mentioned that in some letters he received from some parents, the main purpose of education is to get a dignified social status for their children. By further explaining the reasons given by those parents, Ruskin came to the conclusion that study was for “a social status’ sake”. Actually, we cannot deny this real fact today because to get a high rank in society is widely accepted as a common goal of most people. What’s worse, this concept is deeply rooted in our mind ever since we were still boys and girls. For example, some children always heard about such sincere talk of their parents: the result of laziness was to become a sweet potato vendor, who will toil on the land and sell them all year round. It is a typical example to illustrate how parents attach great importance to a high rank in life. A joke as it is, it is also a convincing evidence to show parent’s expectations for their kids. As John Ruskin has put it, the position in life “takes above all other thoughts in parents, and in almost everyone’s mind in a country”. Thus we can explain why education is considered as a means to achieve high social status for most of people.
Education does have its own value for a person’s development. But most people have already ignored its true values―to elevate their moral standards, enrich their souls, and to put it more broadly, to make the world a better place. Indeed, our quality of life has been improved―skyscrapers are everywhere; various tools for communication make it possible for people to freely communicate with one another. However, as people’s living standard improves, they become more indifferent to each other. No neighbor comes to share with other people about their happiness or sorrow; people use cell phones to communicate instead of talking face to face. A multitude of people hold books in their hands, talking about truth, good and beauty, but when they put those books down, they begin to think of attaining a high social status in various ways. The age of information is rather an age of deformation; the pursuit of knowledge becomes a pursuit of position.
It’s necessary for every person to know what real advancement in life means. As emotional human beings, people should bear it in mind that however the world changes, they need to have a small quiet piece of land to rest our souls. Our hearts are like dry lands, which need to absorb dew and rain of wisdom as well as the toil of bright thoughts. Knowledge can take this job. People, no matter how rich they are, if they turn a blind eye to it, their hearts will turn into waste land someday. This is one way to achieve the advancement in life. By experiencing and appreciating the beauty in life, one can also achieve his own advancement of life. Everyone lives on a well-designed planet, and every creature exists as a part of the world; each has its unique way of feeling the world. Have a look at those beautiful creatures, spending a holiday at the seashore, people could find that their moral nature is also elevated, for the beauty of nature calms their hearts in various ways.
We don’t need to be utilitarians nor hermits in order to achieve the advancement of life. The real advancement doesn’t mean to be conspicuous, as Ruskin mentioned in the text. We only need a small quiet piece of land in heart. However the world rages and draws our attention to join the fierce competition. Our hearts would be stronger. In peace, we hold our firm belief that this is assuredly the true advancement of life.
Reference::
[1]John Ruskin, “Sesame of King’s Treasures”, Sesame and Lillies[M], Nabu Press, 2010
[2]罗斯金，王浩译，芝麻与百合[M], 中国友谊出版公司
[3]/xxyd/mwsx/874863.shtml, The Love of Beauty, John Ruskin