I once introduced a concept: “For an ordinary person, merely brushing against the threshold of a C-4 level in this lifetime will feel like gaining a third eye — a moment of profound revelation.”
I stand by that statement without reservation.
Because only by truly living alongside a C-4 level person — working with them up close, breathing the same air — will you finally understand: damn, the reason others outperform you by such a staggering margin, and do so with such effortless ease, comes down to just four words: grasp the big, release the small.
Simply because they know how to distinguish what matters from what doesn’t, the same hours of the same days go toward things that actually count.
Unlike you — burning the midnight oil on trivial details that ultimately contribute nothing to the overall architecture of your life.
And so, at thirty, at forty, at fifty — others have raised a tower from bare ground in a single generation, while you haven’t even worked out the construction plan for a half-built ruin.
Of course, what counts as “the big” varies from person to person.
For a man, the big things in life come down to this: cultivating a sound and wholesome set of values, building an unbreakable will, establishing the principle that honest wealth comes first, and embracing the steady pace of gradual, deliberate progress.
For a woman, the big things are much the same: carrying a mature and clear-eyed understanding of the world, possessing sharp and perceptive empathy, having the discernment not to be swayed by those around you, and summoning the courage to face difficulty head-on.
Don’t let these so-called “big things” fool you with their apparent simplicity — every single phrase rewards careful reflection. If your intuition runs deep enough, you’ll find yourself suddenly struck: “Wait — how is something this straightforward something I never once thought about before?”
What life ultimately measures is whether you’ve mastered these foundational pillars.
Master them, and even if you’re not particularly sharp or clever, you’ll still find your way to a decent life.
It’s like constructing a building according to proper specifications — you may not end up with a landmark skyscraper, but a structure of respectable height? That’s well within reach.
What you should fear is grasping the small and releasing the big.
So what counts as the small?
All manner of unsustainable shortcuts. Behavior that steadily destroys your own reputation. Wasting your breath fighting for a point with fools and schemers. Connections that drain you — yet which you refuse to walk away from.
These are all the “small” things you must cut decisively, severing them on the spot.
That is life: the ability to pick up the big reflects wisdom. The ability to put down the small reflects Buddha-nature (a Buddhist equanimity — the capacity to simply let go).