An Overview of the Marx + Zhuangzi + Psychology Framework
Marx + Zhuangzi + psychology: the winning formula for this era, a framework of social thought, psychology, and inner life for us ordinary people surviving in a cyberpunk age of atomization. A complete, practical, clear framework.
With psychology as its foundation, the two philosophies of inner life—humanism and existentialism—as its pillars, and the two social philosophies of Marx and Zhuangzi as its guiding ideas. It addresses psychology, inner life, enlightenment, and living in the present.
“The Battlefield for Our Generation Is Within: Everyone’s Most Important Friend and Enemy Is Themselves” is the overall outline of Marx-Zhuangzi psychology. The principal contradiction of our time is that atomized individuals must survive in a cyberpunk, Lovecraftian age. For each individual, this means the contradiction between being oneself as a subject and being objectified and alienated; the contradiction of being unable to balance work and life; and the contradiction of being unable either to lie flat in peace or to keep up with the rat race. The shared, urgent enemies of this generation are abstract enemies: capitalism, the system, the big Other. Everyone’s most important friend and enemy is themselves.
The former is the id, innate wholeness, the Buddha-nature, divinity, and spirituality that everyone possesses. Humanism, Zen Buddhism, and approaches to inner life excel at this part. The latter consists of karmic obstructions, such as the ego, a harsh superego, social discipline, the big Other, and misguided views of the world, life, and values. Psychology, Buddhism, and existentialism excel at this part. Marx and Zhuangzi excel at both: systematic and dialectical, theirs are philosophies through which ordinary people can save themselves.
This takes the work of the Marxist psychologist Fromm a substantial step further. Its significance for scholarship and intellectual history is beyond doubt, and I am quite at ease leaving it to history. “The Battlefield for Our Generation Is Within” also identifies, analyzes, and responds to the principal contradiction of our time.
The series on innate wholeness (“How Ordinary People Can Feel Their Innate Wholeness”), lava, connection, karmic obstructions, how to resolve problems, Nora, the realm of the Way, and so on are all highly practical and comprehensive.
I. Psychology
“The Most Fundamental Model of the Psyche”: This breaks things down into the most fundamental model, drawing on my study of psychoanalysis, Zhuangzi, and Zen Buddhism.
The feeling complex; the containment-awareness complex (a. the capacity to contain emotions, b. the system of karmic obstructions, c. karmic obstructions VS entanglement, d. innate wholeness, higher-order feelings, meta-feelings); the cognitive system; the energy complex; and the libido complex.
The two pillars are humanism and existentialism (Irvin Yalom). Humanism has full confidence in the inherent goodness of human nature and everyone’s innate wholeness. This is also borne out by my own path of practice. Why, then, does every seed not develop well? Because the external environment does not provide nourishing feedback and holding.
Overview: Do not seek outside yourself; applying force leads you astray; innate wholeness; inner stillness of the id; living in the present; sublimation of inner strength.
Humanism
Humanism is very simple: it firmly believes in the equality of everyone’s essential nature and in the healing power of innate wholeness, completeness, stillness, and deep wisdom. To deeply feel innate wholeness, the inner stillness of the id, and unconditional existence is enlightenment. “How Ordinary People Can Feel Their Innate Wholeness”: 1. The advanced character of the proletariat; 2. Feel unconditional confidence; 3. Feel unconditional freedom and ease; 4. Feel the unity of humanity and nature; 5. Feel the inner stillness of the id; 6. Feel supreme joy; 7. Feel your own deeper mind.
“A Brief History of the Development of the Concept of Innate Wholeness in Zen Buddhism,” “Humanism VS Marxism: A Key Point About Marxism and the 1844 Manuscripts”
“Master Rogers’s Major Work, On Becoming a Person: The Goodness of Human Nature, Innate Wholeness, Helpful Relationships, Inner Standards, and Organizational Humanism”
Existentialism
- Existential Crises and Symptoms
A lack of connection—the feeling of rupture, estrangement, alienation, loneliness, abandonment, rejection, or invalidation—combined with what Marx called objective “alienation” (people’s alienation from the products of their labor, the labor process, other people, and human essence) gives rise to the existential crises common among people today: loneliness, anxiety, feeling lost, and meaninglessness.
“Petty-Bourgeois Malaise,” “The Malaise of Small-Town Exam Grinders,” “The Inner Crisis of Middle-Aged Programmers at Big Tech Companies,” “The Fundamental Contradictions Facing University Students,” “One Common Form of Feeling Lost Among University Students: Existential Crisis,” “A Dialogue: A Case Study of a Female Sophomore’s Exploration Through Existentialist Reading,” “Some Thoughts on Building a Personal System of Ideas.”
- Answers
“Presence and Being at Ease Are Existentialism’s Answer,” “Zhuangzi and Nature Heal Existential Crises”
“Accepting Mediocrity”: Mediocrity was once something I found difficult to face. After turning 35, the thought of how mediocre I am puts me at ease. I am an ordinary thing in nature. I owe nothing to Heaven, to anyone else, or to myself. 3. I bear no guilt. I have done nothing wrong. 4. I have no tasks to fulfill. I do not need to deliberately do anything. I am simply a very mediocre person, always being carried along by fate. Only when I settle down and stop struggling aimlessly can I enjoy the river of fate.
“Zhuangzi: On Cockroaches”: Cockroaches have existed on Earth for hundreds of millions of years. They do not need a meaning to live, and neither do human beings. Every cockroach is complete, at one with the Great Way. All the more so a flower, a blade of grass, a bird, or a butterfly, whose beauty and ease are captivating—and how much more so a living human being. Human beings are children of the universe, one of the myriad things it has brought forth. All things are siblings, and all exist unconditionally.
- The Psychology of Connection
The psychology of connection is the practical grounding and distinctive feature of my framework.
“Connection Is at the Heart of Healing Through Zhuangzi”: Connection with oneself, other people, society, history, the world, nature, and the universe. Of these, connection with oneself is the most important, but probably the most difficult. A lack of connection is rupture; connection is oneness: realizing that you have always been one, that you have always been one with others, history, the world, and nature. Connection and resonance at the same frequency bring high-frequency energy, like a flame passed from one torch to another. Ultimately, one feels innate wholeness and the unity of humanity and nature.
I have written more than a dozen articles in the connection series, analyzing from various angles how connection happens naturally, how it breaks, and how we become caught in the entanglements of karmic obstructions.
For example: “Why Striving Is Already a Mistake and Applying Force Leads You Astray: A Perspective from Connection,” “Be Grateful to Your Past Self and Your Present Self,” “How People Change Others: Through Resonance Between Their Essential Natures, Rather Than Giving or Forcing,” “How to Connect with the Simple, Genuine Goodness and Beauty of Working People at the Bottom of Society,” “Why Is It Difficult to Connect with and Feel Nature?”
II. Enlightenment and Living in the Present
- Enlightenment
To deeply experience innate wholeness, the inner stillness of the id, and unconditional confidence, freedom, and ease is enlightenment. It is also the ultimate answer of humanism and existentialism, and a way to understand Zen Buddhism and Zhuangzi. This milestone is not mysterious; its demands are neither low nor high. “My Second Year After Enlightenment,” “The Process of Enlightenment,” “How Ordinary People Can Feel Their Innate Wholeness”
“Levels of Human Development”: the Marxist level, the unpretentious level, the petty-bourgeois humanist level, the mediocre level, and the toxic level.
- Living in the Present
People ultimately face only one challenge: discomfort in the present. This is why the endpoint of philosophies of inner life is living in the present. It is also why Tolle became known around the world for The Power of Now.
“On ‘Living in the Present’”: 1. Completeness in the present, completeness at every step. 2. Where should healing and practice direct their effort? Applying force leads you astray; stop thinking and striving, and let things happen naturally. 3. What are we often doing before moving toward awareness or high energy? 4. Living in the present: a. See and record the present; allow pain, allow yourself to be unable to rest in the present, and allow yourself to be unable to live in the present. We always accept, and ultimately accept, so let things take their natural course. b. Do the small things of the present: i. gentle, small acts of healing, ii. gathering your energy. c. Connection. 5. Resting in the present. 6. Seeing things as they are, responding to them, and seeking truth from facts. (This is the endpoint of Zen Buddhism, Zhuangzi, and Marxism: in fact, there is nothing there, no fixation; let the mind arise without abiding anywhere.)
III. Zhuangzi
“Zhuangzi’s ‘Discussion on Making All Things Equal’ and Marx: Returning from Surface-Level Language and Thought to the Deeper Mind,” “The Similarities and Connections Between Zhuangzi and Marxism”: What human beings seek psychologically is a profound, tranquil existential experience in which the self, others, and the world exist in harmony. The absence of this experience is an existential crisis. Much of Zhuangzi uses existential philosophy to analyze social issues, such as alienation, freedom and responsibility, death, meaning, ethics, and objectification (dragging one’s tail in the mud, possessing insight without putting it to use, possessing wisdom without applying it to skilled work).
Another large part of Zhuangzi describes the state of a healthy self: one’s capacities are whole, but virtue takes no outward form; sitting in forgetfulness; the empty room gives rise to light. “The empty room gives rise to light” is simple: there is a warm light in the tranquil fasting of the mind—the chamber of the heart. Its opposite is an empty room—the self—that is itself fragile, filled with bad objects, a false self, and defense mechanisms, while reaching outward for cheap, malignant selfobject experiences (narcissistic overgrown infants, NPD, vampires).
“An Overview of Zhuangzi’s Seven Inner Chapters,” “Zhuangzi’s Eight Absences”: no ego and no attachment, no capability and no contrived action, no desire and no seeking, no worry and no anxiety.
“Zhuangzi: Benefiting Others Through Stillness,” “Zhuangzi: Letting Things Take Their Natural Course,” “Zhuangzi’s Supreme Joy: Watching Clouds at Dusk, Returning Home with My Child in My Arms,” “I Have Attained Supreme Joy and Seek Nothing Else”
For more, see the “Zhuangzi and Psychology” collection on my Xiaohongshu profile.
VI. Marxism
Marx and Zhuangzi can bring together the entire system of inner life, feelings, emotions, intuition, psychology, cognition, and the brain, making the whole person integrated, clear, and natural.
Why does Marxism need to be paired with Zhuangzi? Because although humanism and the philosophy of life are important parts of Marxism, historical circumstances prevented them from developing fully. Fromm is precisely a positive example in this regard. Studying the history of Marxism, especially Leninism, can readily activate some young people’s narcissistic issues, messiah complexes, and fantasies of being philosopher-kings, mentors, leaders, or heroes. Zhuangzi’s lying flat, non-action, abandonment of cleverness, and rejection of sagehood can counteract these tendencies.
- The Marxist Framework Itself: Reshaping One’s Views of the World, Life, and Values
Break free of seeking outside yourself; make a modest demonstration of great ability; a heavy sword needs no sharp edge. I will not elaborate here. See “Marxism-Leninism: A Reading List from Beginner to Advanced,” “Facing the Midlife Crisis with Marx and Zhuangzi: Refactoring the Mountain of Spaghetti Code That Makes Up Your Views of the World, Life, and Values,” the “Marxism” collection on Xiaohongshu, and the WeChat public account “Su Huo Yi.”
Healing Through Historical Materialism: Historical materialism helps people recognize the limits of individual effort and the boundaries set by the patterns and opportunities of their era. It provides direction on existential questions such as freedom and responsibility, an area in which Daoism and Zhuangzi also excel.
“Individual Problems Are All Social Problems,” “What Opportunities Does the Present Era Offer?,” “It Is Not Hard to Calmly Face Your Own Failures; Calmly Face a Historical Low Tide”
- Marxist Psychology
“The Guiding Role of Marxism in Psychology,” “The Barefoot Doctor Era of Mental Illness,” “Marx and Zhuangzi: A Philosophy for People Lying Flat and for Ordinary People,” “An Answer: What Comes After Lying Flat, and How Do You Find Direction in Life?,” “A New Model of Psychological Growth Levels and Needs—A Revision of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,” “Levels of Human Development”
- Analyzing Psychological Roots Through Historical Materialism and Class Analysis
“The Fundamental Contradictions Facing University Students” and “Petty-Bourgeois Malaise” are two articles that present relatively complete frameworks. “Small-Town East Asian Boys: From Omnipotent Domineering CEOs to Powerless Ordinary People,” “Demons and Monsters in Everyday Life”
- Understanding and Overcoming Petty-Bourgeois Malaise
“Petty-Bourgeois Malaise,” “The Malaise of Small-Town Exam Grinders,” “On the Petty Bourgeoisie and Luxury Goods,” “You Cannot Be an Elitist and Social Darwinist Only When Luck and Power Are on Your Side,” “The Cult of Genius and Meritocracy Among East Asian Mathematics and Physics Students Is a Form of Immaturity and Ignorance”
- Healing Through the Advanced Character of the Proletariat
“How Ordinary People Can Feel Their Innate Wholeness,” “How to Connect with the Simple, Genuine Goodness and Beauty of Working People at the Bottom of Society,” “Literature in Pinduoduo’s Review Sections and Healing at the Produce Market,” “Levels of Human Development,” “Healing in County-Town Public Squares”
- Healing Through Good People in Marxism
“Stories of Good People, Social Thought, and Marxism-Leninism”; stories of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army; the spirit with which China’s Communist Party, soldiers, and peasants struggled through extraordinary hardship; the sacrifices and support of ordinary people during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression; “The Historical Figure Whose Fate I Find Hardest to Make Peace with Is Commander Peng”
- Awareness
“Voice and Class: Why Do Workers Often Speak with a Raised, Tight Voice Rather Than from the Diaphragm?,” “On Breathing: My Journey from Shallow Breathing, Chest Breathing, and Stomach Breathing to Abdominal Breathing”