# a few facts that I find interesting By [cola](https://paragraph.com/@cola-4) ยท 2023-03-24 --- Ordinary people, forced by the needs of real life, recognize their interests too well and cannot stand at a proper distance to see the world of life. Therefore, this rich and strict world has no other meaning except to serve the demands of men and women. I wonder if you agree with a few facts that I find interesting. Behind my flat there is a small river that leads to the Rhine. I walked there once in the evening, and it became my habit to walk along the east bank and back across the bridge along the west bank. When I walked along the east coast, I thought the scenery on the west coast was more beautiful than that on the east coast. The west coast is counterproductive, and the scenery on the east coast is more beautiful than that on the west coast. The grass houses on the other side are more beautiful than those on this side, but they are not as beautiful as the reflection in the river. The same is a tree, see its body is very ordinary, see its reflection has a bit of the color of the other world. At other times, I enjoy seeing distant trees misty with smoke, a world covered with snow and a deep and still moon. It is customary to see things that are not strange, let the fog, snow, moon covered with a layer of white gauze, it will be very beautiful. People from the north saw West Lake for the first time, and people from the plain saw Emei for the first time. Even villagers who had a weak sense of aesthetics were surprised that they were wonders. But for those who grew up in West Lake or Emei, apart from being proud of being near scenic spots, they often feel that West Lake and Emei are nothing more than that. The strange place is more beautiful than the familiar place, the Oriental new to the west, or the Westerner new to the East, are often found in front of the scenery worth pondering. The clothes and behaviors that locals think are not fashionable often have a sense of beauty in the eyes of foreigners. Farmers often envy scholars, scholars often envy farmers. The delicious wine of Huangliang beside the bamboo fence and the delicious seafood in the Zhumen Mansion taste better to the onlookers than to the authorities themselves. Reading Tao Yuanming's poems, we often feel that the farmer's life is really an ideal life, but the farmer's own taste of farming in the hot sun and cold wind is not as idle as Tao Yuanming described. People are often dissatisfied with their own circumstances and envy others, so as the saying goes: "Home flowers are not more fragrant than wildflowers." There is a similar difference between people's attitudes towards the present and the past. Originally is very bitter encounter to later often become very sweet memories. When I lived in the country as a child, I saw those cottages and fields and rows of green hills in the morning, and those cottages and fields and rows of green hills in the evening. I thought they were boring and dull, but when I recall them now, I feel a little nostalgic. I'm sure you've noticed that too. What are they for? It's all a matter of opinion and attitude. Looking at the reflection, at the past, at the situation of others, at the strange scenery, is like standing on the land at a distance to see the sea fog, not being hampered by the actual personal interests, can quietly contemplate the present beautiful scenery. To look at oneself, to look at the present, to look at one's situation, to look at the scenery we have seen, is like a ship encountering sea fog, only knowing that it impedes one's breathing, only thinking that it delays one's journey, only thinking that it portends danger, and has no intention to enjoy its beauty. Looking at things with a practical attitude, they are only tools or obstacles to real life, all can only cause desire or aversion. To see things as they are, we must move away from the practical world and appreciate them for what they are in the spirit of doing nothing. In a word, there is a distance between beauty and real life. To see beauty in things itself, it must be seen at a proper distance. --- *Originally published on [cola](https://paragraph.com/@cola-4/a-few-facts-that-i-find-interesting)*