Subjectivity

Why?

Ling Xiao had never thought about this question.

But she had no clue what to do and couldn't follow that line of thought, so she continued to press, "So... what conclusion did you reach, senior?"

She didn't care what the answer was; she only wanted to know Li Qi's thoughts and to understand Li Qi essence through the combination of his thoughts and actions.

Li Qi replied, "You say that the distrust and oppression among people stems from a fundamental incomprehension between them?"

"Hmm?" Ling Xiao asked in surprise.

Wait a minute, thinking about it carefully, it does seem to make sense.

Humans are inherently distrustful of each other. You don't know if the other person is well-intentioned or malicious, or what their intentions are towards you, so naturally you will be on guard.

The reason for this distrust is that no one can perceive the other's thoughts or understand their ideas.

"It is indeed... a very simple idea, but easily overlooked. But it's not very useful, is it? After all, you can't read minds, and even if you could, you couldn't be sure if what you read was true or false. This inference seems pointless," Ling Xiao said after thinking for a while.

Li Qi said, "No, how could it be meaningless? In fact, it is the basis of all reasoning."

"On the one hand, there is inhuman indifference and heartless egoism, and on the other hand, there is indescribable poverty. All of this is caused by this distrust."

"A few days ago, we went to observe the residences next to the city's mining area together. Did you see them?" Li Qi asked.

"I've been watching you, senior. It's so hard to draw you... so you're all I see," Ling Xiao said.

The implication is that she hadn't paid attention to what was happening over there.

"Those are unranked residences. I counted them; there are 14,000 houses in total, housing at least 28,000 families, about 1.2 million people." Li Qi reported the data clearly.

This greatly surprised Ling Xiao.

She thought of painting, which she was good at.

If Ling Xiao is focused on Li Qi and wants to capture his essence in Li Qi painting, then Li Qi is focused on everyone in this world and wants to capture the essence of this world in his painting.

This alone made Ling Xiao happy.

The more she understood this senior, the closer she got to grasping his essence.

Li Qi continued, "So many people were settled, but the total area of that region was less than eighty zhang square. This level of overcrowding meant that many families often squeezed into one room. Several couples, with all their children, sometimes numbered five, six, or even ten, and sometimes even the grandfather's generation, all lived in a single room, while next to them were large tracts of open land."

"Is it because there's no place? Or is it because there's no building material? No, neither. There's plenty of place, and building materials are readily available. Even those immortals who are called laborers can easily provide a decent life for these mortals. The reason they do this is simply because they are afraid."

"The longevity laborers are afraid that mortals will seize their already precarious positions, while you are afraid that the laborers will climb up, and the Heaven-Piercing Realm are afraid that you will climb up."

"But is worrying about competition from others really a valid reason? Is this world... really lacking in resources?" Li Qi asked.

This made Ling Xiao think for a while. After careful consideration, she chose to shake her head.

Yes, she herself knows that it doesn't actually require many resources to make these people live well; resources are never lacking.

She didn't know how many resources the world had, but this was certainly a lot.

Li Qi knew that this was a First Rank World, and a bunch of ninth-grade or even lower-grade people would consume less energy than the natural breathing of heaven and earth.

"You see, the cause of all this is your mutual fear, and this fear isn't caused by issues of living space or resources," Li Qi said. "Then, where does this fear originate? Is it from a lack of mutual understanding? Have you considered the nature of this mutual suspicion?"

This left Ling Xiao completely bewildered.

Mutual suspicion... and what is the essence behind it?

Others may harm you, so it's only natural to be wary of others.

"That might be a bit obscure, so let me put it another way." Li Qi smiled, "Do you think 'you' is a term you define yourself, or one defined by someone else?"

"Of course it's myself!" Ling Xiao replied immediately.

Just kidding, of course she defines herself; why would she let others define her?

"Really?" Li Qi immediately retorted, "Don't be so sure."

Then he continued, "Is it that other people are watching you and interacting with you, which is how you became who you are today, or... no matter how the world changes, you will always be you?"

This question elevates the depth of the conversation.

Indeed, is it possible for a person to grow up without being influenced by others?

That's obviously impossible.

If that's the case, then wouldn't people not be the subject?

From the very beginning, we are all connected with others. Simply put, I am a part of the world, and the world is a part of me. Moreover, there are other people in this world. I have been with others from the very beginning. Every person is born with this social nature.

No one is a separate individual; the essence of all people is a group of people, an undifferentiated, abstract, anonymous, and vague group.

This possibility sent a chill down Ling Xiao's spine.

If that's the case, doesn't it mean... she doesn't possess a true self? Because she's constantly influenced by others, and ultimately, countless influences have shaped her into who she is now.

She never possessed true free will; she was constantly influenced. The self is a social product, constructed by others.

Li Qi spoke as if instructing someone, yet also as if talking to himself. "So, tell me, isn't this resistance actually a form of struggle? You're afraid of them not because you're afraid they'll take away your living space, because you all know that they're fighting for your own agency."

"Each of you, as part of this ambiguous group of people, wants to expand your influence as much as possible, to let your 'self' overwhelm your 'others', and ultimately to take over the 'others' self and become the absolute leader in this group of people. Only in this way can you present your true self; otherwise, what you present is the self of others."

"Do you think that this struggle for subjectivity among individuals within a group is the root cause of all this?" Li Qi asked.

He seemed to be asking Ling Xiao, but also seemed to be asking himself.

In the scenario hypothesized by Li Qi, others are both necessary to exist and necessary to suppress.

The saying "Hell is other people" is not because others harbor malice, but because the existence of others is an oppression of one's own subjectivity. Therefore, in order to maintain their own subjectivity, they need to reaffirm their own subjectivity and suppress the subjectivity of others.

Others are everywhere. Even if you don't actually encounter them in person, even when you are alone, you are engaged in a struggle for subjectivity with them.

As a result, oppressing and suppressing others has become the norm. This is not to compete for living space and resources, but to ensure one's independence in this abstract and chaotic society.

Ling Xiao was intimidated by Li Qi's explanation.

She even forgot that she had come to observe Li Qi's spirit and was awestruck by Li Qi's attempt to analyze the essence of society.

But Li Qi didn't wait for her to react. After asking these questions, he lowered his head again and fell into deep thought.

Clearly, Li Qi himself did not have the answers to these questions.

He needs more clues, he needs to observe more of the actual situation in the Celestial Realm, and obtain more specific information before he can continue to deduce the truth.

After a long while, Ling Xiao finally raised her head.

The Li Qi before her was still the same.

Silence, indifference, ignoring everything around him, carefully observing everything around him, with a pretentious air of profundity.

Previously, Ling Xiao also thought that this person was pretending to be profound.

But now, after listening to the other person's remarks, she realized that this person was genuinely contemplating some kind of societal root that she could not comprehend at all.

Thus, Li Qi's spirit seemed to become even more profound.

She quickly took out paper and pen and sketched a quick sketch.

It's a very rough sketch, and even the facial features don't quite resemble Li Qi.

But that contemplative air carried a hint of True Intention.

Ling Xiao glanced at her sketch and promptly tore up the paper.

Not enough, far from enough.

This three-tenths of her True Intention was far from enough to describe the man before her. She needed to observe him more deeply and understand his actions and thoughts more carefully.

Thinking about it this way, she even began to look forward to her next step with Li Qi.

Li Qi was just saying it casually and didn't expect the other party to actually give an answer. In any case, for him, keeping Ling Xiao around was just to avoid some trouble.

Yes, if Ling Xiao is driven away, those local sixth-rank officials will probably be very uneasy. When people are uneasy, they will do some irrational things. At that time, Li Qi's safety is not a concern, but the social structure he wants to observe may be destroyed as a result.

Is this surveillance actually a competition for agency? After all, if Li Qi were to take the lead, they would probably lose their authority in the city.

Yes, in the scenario constructed by Li Qi, authority and prestige are the main forms of subjectivity. When your words and will are carried out by others, this subjectivity is fully displayed. The subjectivity of others is erased, their individuality is suppressed, and everyone is forced to carry out the subjectivity of the authority and to implement his will.

When you need others to define you, you have already lost your subjectivity.

You need other people's opinions to define yourself, otherwise you won't know what you are like.

This is very simple and common. For example, a typical self-perception is: I am a man and my job is an engineer.

So, for this "I", being a man and being an engineer are both self-definitions, self-descriptions, and labels he puts on himself.

But aren't these labels formed by ourselves in our interactions with others, based on their feedback?

If a person is left to live alone, without any contact with the outside world, can he still develop this kind of self-awareness?

So, doesn't this prove that all self-evaluation is actually derived from how others view, judge, and describe "me"?

Therefore, there is no true 'self', only the 'self-subjectivity' that exists as everyone constantly influences each other and fights with others.

Others will engage in a struggle with 'me' for subjectivity; others will objectify 'me' and label 'me'.

For 'me', this is unacceptable. I am the subject, why should I be personified by others?

However, when faced with authority, 'I' may concede defeat in this struggle for subjectivity.

I think his label for me... is pretty accurate?

I feel like I really am a man, I feel like I am indeed an Alchemist. Everyone says I am an alchemist, so what's wrong with me being Alchemist? Then I just lie in the labels that others have woven for me, and I feel very comfortable doing what men should do, what Alchemist should do, and I can be a man and an Alchemist with a clear conscience.

This is the outcome of the failed struggle for subjectivity: 'the self is defined by others,' 'the self seeks its place by following the evaluations and definitions of others.'

The outcome of a victory in a struggle is, naturally, the ability to define others and occupy a dominant position within a group, saying things like, "These people are just lazy," or "Some groups have such and such characteristics."

The characteristic of victory is that the qualities he describes are accepted by others, and even become the self-perception of a certain group; the loser, of course, accepts these perceptions.

Some people may not have won, but they can still make such assessments because it allows them to pretend that they have won the war of subjectivity, giving them a sense of triumph and satisfaction, even though no one listens to them.

This authority that can define others is the victory of the individual within the group.

To maintain such authority, one needs power, reputation, wealth, and so on.

The purpose of these things is to make it convenient and easy to define others.

Thus, the vague 'group of people' within the crowd differentiated at this moment, and the individuals within the group were defined at this moment.

Therefore, maintaining the existence of the lower class is to maintain the existence of its own subjectivity, that is, to maintain its absolute position.

Li Qi observed the miners' work and pondered these thoughts.

Several more days passed, and he stood up.

Then, he said to Ling Xiao, "Alright, we've finished looking at the lower levels. Now it's time to see your place. I'd like to host a banquet. Would you mind sending out the invitations?"