Disclaimer: This post was originally written in Chinese and translated into English by GPT-5.2.
Note: This article is a piece of satire.
When I saw the essay topic “Pass on positive energy on the internet; strive to be a good netizen on campus,” I, like many classmates in the School of Liberal Arts, suddenly felt a wave of discomfort inside—if not for the college’s mandatory requirement, the vast majority of us would not take part in this essay activity. This non-participation, to put it bluntly, is an inside-out unwillingness to participate; that is to say, even if this essay activity offered enticing honors and generous prizes as rewards for winners, it would still have little effect and be unable to rally a hundred responses with a single call. Nor is it that the political-ideological cultivation of Liberal Arts students is uniquely behind others, because if you told people about “all students in the School of Liberal Arts being required to write socialist-themed essays,” other people’s reactions would be no more than two kinds: either they sympathize with Liberal Arts students, or they respond to the essay topic with a wry smile. The psychology on which such reactions are based is, just like the sudden wave of discomfort many Liberal Arts students feel, one that contains helplessness—black-humor-style helplessness—and perhaps also boredom, the boredom of nihilists.
If incessantly promoting “positive energy” is beautiful, then when this beauty shifts from being unceasing in our ears to being unceasing on our lips, we can hardly avoid a cultural-psychological backlash and feel discomfort, helplessness, and boredom—we are almost suffering from “aesthetic fatigue.”
If, because of this, we are blamed for our energy not being “positive,” and ordered to write self-criticisms, then we—at least I—can only hand in this answer: after strict “self-reflection,” we have no affected expression of self-reproach toward this “aesthetic fatigue” as psychological feedback; on the contrary, we “turn inward and find ourselves upright,” and we are clear in conscience.
We cannot help but lament that the term “positive energy” has been used too casually, too excessively, to the point that it is suspected of becoming labelized and irrationalized. Perhaps this is, instead, strong counterevidence that society lacks positive energy, or that negative energy is in excess. But once positive energy has fallen to this state—liable to be hurled at the unfortunate at any time, making them readily incur blame and not dare to move without being “positive energy”—then what initiative do we still have to “pass on positive energy”? What need do we still have to repent for ourselves for having, in a thousand ways we shouldn’t and ten thousand ways we shouldn’t, forgotten to “pass on positive energy”? Should we not conduct a meaningful discussion of positive energy itself, even set things right at the source?
The broad popularity of “positive energy” owes most to the book of the same name, Positive Energy. This book, written by British psychologist Richard Wiseman, upon publication immediately received a public response and topped the bestseller list. In this book, the author borrows the physics term “positive energy” to refer to “all the drive and feelings that give people uplift and hope, spur people to keep striving, and make life complete and happy.” (“Introduction”) Starting from American psychologist William James’s creative and revolutionary discoveries, the author unhurriedly introduces many concrete scientific practices in the history of psychology and, combined with life examples, demonstrates the importance—indeed the decisive role—of the “act as if” principle in obtaining positive energy. William James has a famous saying; the author regards it as a “simple yet powerful proposition” and names it the “act as if” principle, which is the source of this principle. James said: “If you want a quality, act as if you already have it.” Through this principle, we discover that behavior can “quickly, simply, and effectively” change or even determine many aspects of a person’s emotions, thinking, ideas, willpower, physical state, and so on; and in contrast, traditional understandings such as “character determines destiny” and “emotion determines behavior” must here concede defeat. From this we can see that behavior has a guiding function; that is to say, under the guidance of behavior, people can of course obtain positive energy, but straying onto a misguided path of negative energy is by no means impossible. However, since the book is titled Positive Energy, the author’s intent can be seen to be guiding readers to embrace positive energy, as the “Introduction” says: “This book… explains the ‘intimate’ relationship between the ‘act as if’ principle and positive energy, revealing what kinds of behavioral patterns can influence a person’s beliefs, emotions, and willpower. Through a series of training methods, it elevates the positive energy within us—trust, openness, joy, enterprising spirit, and so on; and avoids the negative energy of selfishness, suspicion, depression, and despondency.” This process of revelation, like the imperative title Rip It Up (i.e., Positive Energy), is provocative. According to the “act as if” principle, if the book is to be full of positive energy, then it must act as if it is full of positive energy. So, that Wiseman wrote a successful book—isn’t that fitting? Yet his failure lies here as well. While overly emphasizing the main theme and “comprehensively introducing James’s revolutionary theory,” he almost drowns out the reasonableness of emotions influencing behavior and the established view that consciousness directly commands behavior, thereby tinting the whole book with one-sidedness.
Following the inspiration of the “act as if” principle, then, in order to meet and make real the requirement of “Pass on positive energy on the internet; strive to be a good netizen on campus,” to let the breeze of positive energy permeate society and linger for a long time, the best method is none other than to pass on positive energy in the online world and strive to be good netizens in the campus environment, rather than simply writing an article to get it over with. If it is merely writing an article to get it over with, then positive energy in the online world and good netizens in the campus environment may not gain an absolute advantage in comparison with the forces of “negative energy” and “bad netizens”; even if they gain a relative advantage, it will not be sustainable for long, nor go far. Why have the profound expositions proposed by Chairman Xi Jinping—the Chinese Dream, the “Four Comprehensives,” and so on—been able to be passed on for so long? Relying solely on the state’s propaganda machine running at full power is not enough. Examples of cranking the state propaganda machine to the maximum yet ultimately still losing the country, or deceiving those above and those below, are not uncommon in history. The most crucial thing is action—namely, to manifest through action the connotations of the Chinese Dream, the “Four Comprehensives,” and other profound expositions. For anti-corruption, do anti-corruption solidly, unhurriedly; swat flies and tigers alike; arrest both at home and abroad; treat both symptoms and root causes; take a two-pronged approach. Big Xi has done it to this extent, and so the book Excerpts from Xi Jinping’s Expositions on Improving Party Conduct, Upholding Integrity, and Combating Corruption could “be carried out without being ordered,” and spread far and wide, becoming a bestseller at home and abroad. For transformation, do transformation solidly, unhurriedly; build gold and silver mountains together, protect green mountains and clear waters together; renew the normal, refresh the outlook. Big Xi has done it to this extent, and so the book Xi Jinping: The Governance of China could also “be carried out without being ordered,” and spread far and wide, becoming a bestseller at home and abroad.
When I say “simply writing an article to get it over with,” I am pointing at something, and we also have to admit that this perfunctory phenomenon is not rare. Why? Very simple. Taking this essay solicitation as an example, I should repeat what I said above: it is because we have not carried out and made real the requirement of “Pass on positive energy on the internet; strive to be a good netizen on campus.” Broadening the view, it is that many of our meaningful activities are overly reduced to formality; after the formality, there is no actual answer sheet. If we pull the thread farther, this is the inevitable product of our high-intensity exam-oriented education. High-intensity exam-oriented education is, in fact, a disguised form of cope-oriented education. Exams in themselves are neither good nor bad, but once it becomes coping, many problems emerge. For us students, who carry deep coping-oriented thinking, coping with the various tasks handed over by school and society has almost become a conditioned reflex—let alone that these tasks sometimes are, openly or covertly, calling people to cope! In Chapter 4, Section 1 of Positive Energy, a new viewpoint is proposed based on the “act as if” principle: “Rewards are a kind of negative energy.” For people habituated to coping, tasks are in fact also a kind of negative energy, because tasks and rewards both imply that what he is doing is something others are unwilling to do. The process is basically as follows: receive task → conditioned reflex: act out discomfort, helplessness, boredom → cope with the task.
If the relevant essay activities only make people feel discomfort, helplessness, and boredom; if the relevant essay activities often run counter in purpose and result, then what we ought to reflect on is, in the end, the participants in the essay activities, or the essay activities themselves?
We who are habituated to coping are not people lacking a sense of positive energy. Therefore, when we see “hardworking” cadres, we will “like” them; when we see formalism and bureaucratism, we cannot help but criticize. When we see positive energy online, we will pass it on; when we see pornographic ads beside articles promoting positive energy online, we will feel disgust and negative energy—but this is precisely the embodiment of having positive energy in one’s heart.
Positive energy is universal; it can move everyone, and it is a positive factor that everyone needs from birth. Positive energy is manifested through behavior; it can be done and made real; therefore, positive energy itself is “real energy.” Once embellished chicken-soup-for-the-soul is exposed, no matter how positive-energy it seemed at the start, it can only plunge, causing people even deeper negative energy. The rumor during the Nepal earthquake that “holding a Chinese passport allows you to take flights for free” once moved countless netizens; the internet was full of positive energy everywhere. But before long, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that this claim had no basis. This confirmation made the direction of online public opinion swing to the other extreme, and in an instant the internet was full of negative energy everywhere. What made people even more indignant was that scalpers seized the opportunity to profiteer from the national disaster by selling high-priced tickets to return home! The government recognized this and increased efforts to debunk rumors online. On the one hand this was to prevent the proliferation of negative energy; on the other hand, how was it not also to ensure that positive energy is “real energy,” that positive energy does not tip into negative energy?
And all this cannot be achieved by “simply writing an article to get it over with.” We only need to genuinely “pass on positive energy on the internet; strive to be a good netizen on campus.” Foucault believes that improving writing ability can and only can be done through writing itself; there are no other specific suggestions. “Pass on positive energy on the internet; strive to be a good netizen on campus” is the same.
Although these words seem simple, many people do not realize them. If you asked me to write this article once more, I could only write it like this. I believe only when we act out what we ought to act out will there naturally be realistic positive-energy articles that “are carried out without being ordered,” spreading far and wide.