Master Chi recognized a universal iron law quite early in life — one that few ever speak aloud: weakness, incompetence, and poverty. These three appear to be entirely different qualities, but in truth they are trinity brothers, inseparable. The reason most people in this world remain poor and unfulfilled comes down not to bad timing or unrecognized talent, but to the twin qualities of weakness and incompetence they carry within them. And by weakness and incompetence, I don’t mean a lack of marketable skills, nor a shortage of patience to endure hardship. I mean the absence of the courage and resolve to raise a middle finger at a fate you despise — and to flip the table and start over without hesitation. It also means lacking the awareness and mindset to deliberately sacrifice many things in your life in exchange for greater achievement and success.
Yes, you read that right. Sacrifice and awakening (觉醒) — these two words are what determine whether a person can rise above the rest.
If I may be blunt: don’t believe in so-called equality among all beings. Ten tiers of human existence (十阶众生) exist, each with their own path — and the vast majority are destined to remain part of the herd.
They don’t dare to willingly let go of anything in their lives, so naturally they have no free hands to reach for a richer harvest.
They don’t dare to willingly take on any of the world’s challenges, so timidity and retreat become the very marrow of their character.
Such people are destined to become society’s foot soldiers, pawns, the driven — and it is exceedingly difficult for them to reverse their fate.
Don’t for a moment think that someone is deliberately oppressing or making life hard for them. They are the ones who have calmly, squarely squatted down on the ground. This is the path they chose for themselves.
Here, let me share a dark little secret that every weak person carries inside but dares not reveal: they all harbor an irresponsible, almost greedy fantasy about fate.
They endlessly hope that a noble benefactor (Gui Ren) will appear in their lives — someone who simultaneously plays the roles of powerful patron, talent scout, backer, and pillar of support.
This benefactor will patiently regard them like a child, carefully guiding them and pouring into them the refined wisdom of how to live and act.
This benefactor will appear from nowhere, pull them — convinced of their own unrecognized talent — out of the mud, and hand them significant responsibility to help them rise.
This benefactor will exhaust every effort to provide them with endless support and assistance, so they can make it through their difficulties.
This benefactor seems like their personal savior — a presence capable of defying heaven and rewriting their destiny, even rebooting their entire life.
Does any of this sound familiar?
Don’t be embarrassed. This quiet hope lives in the hearts of 95% of the people you’ll pass on the street today. But I’m sorry to say — this is something you only need to think about for a moment to know is absolutely impossible.
The reason is simple: they are not worthy of it, and they have not earned the right.
Understand this: a noble benefactor will not be cheaply used. Put yourself in their shoes — if you were a person who could turn stone into gold, how much time and effort would you actually spend elevating an unremarkable junior?
So when you find yourself in a lowly or mediocre position, never count on divine troops descending from heaven to rescue you from the fire — unless you encounter a truly exceptional stroke of fate.
Every self-made powerhouse Master Chi has ever known — those who started with nothing and ultimately built something extraordinary — all had a moment of profound awakening, often through some unexpected turn of events, where they grasped a truth like this:
That’s enough. I cannot count on anyone or any opportunity anymore. The only one who can pull me out of this is myself.
The sea of suffering has no shore — only self-transcendence will carry you across. So I must become intimate friends with awakening and sacrifice. Only through them will I understand what I need to steel myself to cut away — and in return receive the achievements and standing I deserve.
And then they entered an entirely new state of living — decisively and ruthlessly casting aside and temporarily surrendering everything that might slow them down: family bonds, friendships, comfort, hobbies, ease, and sleep. They channeled every bit of saved energy entirely into the goal and mission for which they burned — and from that, they achieved great things.
This is why Master Chi has titled this article The Savior in the Mirror.
Because when you have not yet risen above the crowd, everything and everyone around you is operating at a lower level of understanding and wisdom. Everything they offer is a lower-order extension of themselves, and most of their so-called wisdom is not worth following.
So you have no one to trust, no one to lean on. The only one you can rely on and believe in is yourself.
Now, for the first half of today’s piece, let’s talk about “sacrifice.”
Look around, and you’ll notice that people who are doing well in today’s society share a very strong sense of “catching up on missed lessons.”
For example, a tycoon who has amassed enormous wealth will, at a very high rate, seek out a young, respectable woman who admires him after achieving success — catching up on the lesson of love and relationships he once skipped.
Likewise, a woman who married into wealth will, once she has secured her position, fight fiercely to leverage existing resources to develop her own wealth — catching up on the lesson of career she once set aside.
At their core, both understood that during the fierce early years of building their wealth and status, there were too many things they knew they could not afford to be distracted by — things that had to be abandoned. Once they reached their goals, going back to fill in those gaps was the easy, efficient move.
And the evidence shows, time and again, that their thinking and strategy were correct.
When I explain it this way, many people immediately find it hard to accept. The most classic pushback goes something like: “What about family? Are you saying I should abandon my spouse and children for the sake of my career? Master Chi, are you even human?”
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. My honest answer is: Yes — you truly must sacrifice the companionship of family, and you must do it without hesitation, even if no one around you understands.
Let me give a very real example. This happened just two or three months ago in Master Chi’s knowledge community, where a young woman posed this question:
“Hello, Master Chi. I’m a single mother raising two children. Fortunately, my ex-husband left us with a decent sum of money when we divorced, so we’re managing comfortably for now. But I’m troubled — I don’t know where my future leads. Taking care of my two children’s schooling and daily life already consumes so much of my energy that I don’t have enough time to develop my own career. I’d really like to ask you to look at my life pattern (格局). Thank you.”
My reply was simple:
“Young lady, let’s set the destiny chart aside for a moment. I just have one question for you. Which of these two would you prefer?
Option one: your children, looking back on their childhood, can say warmly: ‘My mom took care of us like the best nanny imaginable.’
Option two: your children, grown and stepping into the world, can say with pride: ‘My mother is an exceptional woman. She is my hero and my role model.’
If it’s the first, put all your energy into their daily lives — pour it into choosing cost-effective study materials, selecting more nutritious organic food, hunting down discounts on everyday goods and clothing.
If it’s the second, discuss with your ex-husband and both sets of grandparents, and try to distribute the burden of childcare as widely as possible. Then throw yourself into building your career with everything you have.
Between the two paths, the difference is this: constant daily presence with your children versus having others help raise them. That is the price you pay. But what you get in return is your independence, your strength, and more than a decade’s worth of social resources and hard-won understanding.
In Master Chi’s personal view, the latter is the true wealth that determines the happiness of the next generation.”
Master Chi once pondered a question: “In this life, what is the thing we hate most?”
The answer was two words: losing things.
Human beings are born with an immense attachment to and protectiveness of what they already possess. We pour vast amounts of energy simply into maintaining everything we have — let alone the idea of burning all of it to the ground in exchange for something greater.
But life is a paradox. Its strange truth is this: the more you possess, the less energy that truly belongs to you. A happy, complete family is simultaneously a black hole that devours your time. A pair of adorable children is the ultimate drain on your heart and mind.
This is why people always sense that those who achieve great things have a certain cold, inhuman edge to them. The logic is simple: you only have so much energy and dedication. They made their tradeoffs. Others made different ones. That’s all there is to it.
Now let’s talk about awakening.
People simply cannot be compared to one another — whether horizontally or vertically. The reason Master Chi misses the China of the eighties and nineties so deeply is precisely this: looking at today’s young people, most can’t even manage “awakening,” let alone sacrifice.
In Master Chi’s knowledge community, I once said this to a young man:
“If you are a general, you are destined to live every day with victory and defeat, with casualties. You won’t fight a tailwind battle every day, and you won’t always win without bloodshed. The position you sit in determines that you must choose between ‘bad’ and ‘worse’ — and hold steady amid mountains of the fallen.
Likewise, if you are a player in the capital arena, your very reason for existing is to absorb the pressure of risk, to face the crisis of being pushed back to zero. Your position determines that you must choose between ‘small gains and small losses’ and ‘sudden windfall or total wipeout.’
And if you are a white-collar worker in your prime years of struggle, your value lies in cleaning up messes for those above you, getting things done — and trading your energy and stamina as capital for one higher position after another.
So tell me: where does your daily frustration, suffering, and hesitation actually come from?
Why does covering for your superior feel like something to resent? That is your job.
Why does burning your mental energy at work feel suffocating? That is your value.
You’ve already stepped in — so what’s there to hesitate and waver about?
Not going all in is the truly stupid decision.
(Pay close attention to these words: ‘you’ve already stepped in.’)
Once you choose, don’t look back. This is simple logic. Once you think it through clearly, awakening becomes transparent.
And when you’re clear, you’ll understand: covering for those above you is your sacred duty, your natural responsibility. As long as it doesn’t cross a legal line, no matter how unpleasant — you get it done. Not for any other reason, simply because you are sitting in the position you are in.”
Don’t think Master Chi is speaking in vague generalities. Sometimes you can genuinely look at the lives of ordinary, mediocre people and see — at a very high rate — a fundamental lack of awakening and spirituality (灵性).
The vast majority of them hold a hand of cards that isn’t great, but isn’t catastrophically bad either. If they genuinely spent energy playing that hand well, they might not grow enormously wealthy — but living with dignity would pose absolutely no problem.
But what do they do? They actually throw their hands up and say: “Forget it. I’m done playing.”
Done playing? Fine. But remember — that is a choice they made for themselves. If they end up living like a fool later on, they have no right to complain.
Can they manage not to complain? Not a chance. Every one of them eyes what others have, resents what they lack, and the moment they set down their chopsticks, they curse their fate.
But they never once realize a simple thing: “Who the hell stopped you from going out and conquering the world?”
This also explains why Master Chi’s words always carry a note of frustrated, burning disappointment. The truth is, I have never looked down on any white-collar worker, blue-collar worker, or anyone else.
What I cannot respect are those who hold a hand of cards and yet stubbornly refuse to play — letting opportunity after opportunity pass them by, then turning around to blame heaven and earth.
Among them are women in the prime of their youth who have retreated into the home, using housework and children as an excuse to declare they cannot enter the family business or build a career.
Among them are men who once burned bright, but after one or two small setbacks, grew cold and despairing toward the world — declaring themselves too principled to wade through its murky waters.
None of them realize that the tide of time is slowly rising past their ankles — and will eventually reach their waists, their chests, their necks, and finally drown their lives entirely.
Where do you think society’s defeated and broken come from? They are, every last one of them, the result of being dragged down and worn out by the passage of time.
The best part is, in their final chapter they’ll say: “I’m old now. I’m no use anymore.”
Please — uncle, auntie — when were you ever useful?
The peers who were just as “useful” as you are now leading the way in their respective fields, each one thriving in their own domain.
On the contrary, it is precisely those who kept fighting the world, who never gave up, who tempered real ability and skill through failure and pain over and over again.
This is the strange joke of fate: it loves the “bad kids” — the ones full of rebellious spirit, constantly striving to break through every established framework.
Closing Thoughts
After reading this entire article, you may notice something strange: these thousands of words seem to say a great deal, but in another sense, say nothing at all.
Because for those whose natural understanding is already high enough, sacrifice and awakening are simply innate abilities — they require no prompting.
Everything is self-evident.
They have always known that life cannot have it all. To climb to great heights, you must give up things of great value. Once you stand atop that peak in the future, you can go back and pick up what you once cast aside — and even if it proves too hard to recover, there is no need for regret. Because that is what is known as the “price.”
They have also always known that all things in this world operate by their own rules. Once you have entered the game, you should play it well and win it. Only the weak and incompetent waste the most precious years of their lives in empty drifting.
This may also be the last article of this kind — a “mental principles” piece — for a while. They demand too much of the reader’s insight and understanding.
Going forward, I’ll be writing more straightforward and practical guides. For example, a deep dive into how a woman who starts with absolutely nothing can position herself to attract and win a chairman of a top publicly listed company.
Or, how a man — in his full masculine capacity — can rebuild after everything has fallen apart, rise again, find his footing, and reclaim his career and wealth.
The working titles, for now, will be The Elegant Predator and The Comeback Written in the Stars.