Tu Jianhua: Developing Advanced Socialist Culture and Resisting Mysticism
Mysticism challenges the authority of Marxism and covets the ideological positions of socialism; this deserves our serious attention. As an ideology, mysticism neither elaborates a worldview based on religious theory nor explains human affairs through secular thinking, exhibiting a multi-faceted nature that is simultaneously anti-religious, anti-scientific, and anti-secular. As a craft, mysticism claims omnipotence—from achieving godhood or sagehood to curing diseases and averting disasters, and from individual redemption to saving the Earth. As an organization, mysticism possesses the dual characteristics of both religious groups and civil society organizations. Mysticism is regarded by established religions as heterodoxy [1] and by the secular world as superstition or sorcery. Recognizing the harm of mysticism, analyzing the reasons for its prevalence, and exploring paths to resist it—thereby educating Party members, cadres, and the masses to consciously resist it—is essential for holding the ideological ground of Marxism, promoting the great development and prosperity of socialist culture, and constructing the socialist core value system.
I. The Harms of Contemporary Mysticism
Mysticism is a set of theories and practices asserting that the ultimate truth of reality can only be obtained through mystical experience or irrational mystical intuition. The English word "mysticism" comes from the Latin mysticismus, derived remotely from the Greek muein, meaning to close the mouth or eyes; it refers to "esoteric, inconceivable, or secret religious practices" [1]. From the perspective of belief, mysticism aims at self-redemption; from the perspective of control, it is not only a means of seeking material benefit but can also become a tool of thought. Irrational concepts most easily evoke irrational impulses; once mysticism "is muddled by apocalyptic fanaticism, concepts become weapons and will bring about extremely terrifying consequences" [2]. Restless mysticism easily evolves into an uncontrollable social force and ultimately leads to cults.
1. Eroding Marxist Ideology
Mysticism and Marxism are fundamentally different in worldview and values; mysticism erodes Marxist ideology through mystical methodology. Mysticism is a natural enemy of Marxism, and its worldview is fundamentally opposed to dialectical materialism. Regarding values, mysticism pursues "union with the divine" and experiences joy through self-realization. In "Eastern mysticism," terms like "Zen," "meditation," and "yoga" all carry the meaning of "self-realization" as pathways to obtaining truth and enjoying happiness. Marxism maintains that the acquisition of truth must occur through social practice—a practice that is material, not "utopian." As a value judgment, happiness and joy come from the satisfaction of the subject's needs by the object; they are a unity of subjectivity, objectivity, and socio-historical character. The conflict between mysticism and the Marxist view of happiness is mainly reflected in mysticism's wanton dissolution of the objective, material basis of happiness, treating happiness as a secret realm achievable solely through self-realization.
Methodologically, mysticism employs one-sided and illusory connections to explain the world. Mysticism makes arbitrary connections and progressively exaggerates the subjective initiative of consciousness. For consciousness to change matter, the mediation of practice is required. In mysticism, this mediation is abolished and replaced by "extrasensory perception" or "psychokinesis," suggesting that "the human body can change the properties of matter without physical contact." This viewpoint has become a consensus within contemporary mysticism and has exerted a relatively widespread influence on the academic community and society at large. The 1981 Second National Symposium on the Science of Human Exceptional Functions included "380 delegates from 106 universities and research institutes across 29 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions," who submitted 147 affirming papers on exceptional functions. Some papers claimed that "exceptional functions" constitute a "revolution in human thought and consciousness" and "bear similarities to communism" [3]. Such views are open to question. Certain philosophy textbooks, such as Principles of Dialectical Materialism, even state: "The manifestation of the subjective initiative of consciousness is only the part that people can currently recognize. The potential of the active role of consciousness is far from exhausted; the discovery of 'exceptional functions' of the human body is a new omen attracting increasing attention from the scientific and philosophical communities. With the development of practice and science, the potential of consciousness's active role will be more and more fully expressed" [4]. These facts illustrate that mysticism can also seep into the mainstream ideology and invade Marxist positions.
2. Manufacturing a Culture of Ignorance, Stupefying and Harming Believers
In the infancy of humanity, objective limitations prevented cognition from reaching the essence of things, resulting in a naive and benighted mystery. When we are able to or have already touched the essence but still cling to mystery, this manifests as ignorance (yúmèi). Today's mysticism is a culture of ignorance. Who manufactured this mystical culture? What are their intentions? How is contemporary mystical culture possible? These questions are related to recognizing the essence of mystical culture, severing the dark hands that manufacture mystery, and eliminating mystical culture.
Mysticism is the result of collective creation. Thinkers and politicians representing the interests of the ruling class, along with folk sorcerers and leaders of secret organizations representing their own interests, have together manufactured mystical culture for profit. Nature worship, totem worship, and ancestor worship are the most primitive forms of folk consciousness; by the Yin-Shang period [2], they were accepted as state ideology. From then on, mysticism as state ideology became a tool of governance, providing legitimacy for the state and royal power. This tradition is the "Unity of Heaven and Humanity" (tiānrén héyī) [3] thought that runs through the entire feudal era. The concept of "Unity of Heaven and Humanity" matured in the pre-Qin period; Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, and Zhuangzi all held this view. By the time of Dong Zhongshu in the Han Dynasty, its meaning had evolved from emphasizing the identity and harmony of "Heaven" and "Man" to an organic, holistic cosmic scheme of "resonance between Heaven and Humanity." The "interaction between Heaven and Mankind" (tiānrén gǎnyìng) [4] interpreted by Dong Zhongshu removed human subjective initiative and replaced it with human submission and conformity to "Heaven." Like his view of "canonizing only Confucianism," this was an intellectual tool serving the rule of the sovereign. Even at the height of its exclusive status, Western Han Confucianism already harbored latent crises. The "Heaven-Human resonance" cosmology of Han Confucianism was gradually extrapolated by New Text scholars [5] into Chenwei [6] theology (prognostication and apocrypha). This mystical learning—used to predict the rise and fall of national fortunes and the replacement of personnel—often fabricated Chen prophecies (also known as prophetic rhymes or rumors) to adapt to rebellions or eliminate hidden threats; it was intentional deception.
Eastern mysticism has a complex system. Huang Lunsheng, in The Mystical Gate to the Eastern Kingdom of Heaven, divides sorcery into: (1) Sacrificial Sorcery: sacrifices to Heaven (Sun God, Moon God, stars), Earth (God of the Soil), and ghosts (ancestors, saving the souls of the dead, summoning souls, exorcising demons). (2) Divinatory Sorcery: divination (zhànshù, including celestial, terrestrial, solar/lunar, astral, meteorological, animal, plant, dream divinations, Plum Blossom Plum Divination, drawing lots, and prophetic oracles) and augury (bǔshù, including tortoise shell divination, I Ching yarrow stalks, King Wen's hexagrams, coin divination, character analysis, planchette writing, and chicken bone divination), and physiognomy (xiàngshù, including geomancy/feng shui, face/palm reading, Qimen Dunjia, and astrology). (3) Taboo Sorcery. By analogy, mysticism can be divided into sacrificial, divinatory, and taboo mysticism. Contemporary mysticism, while retaining some sacrificial and divinatory content, has discarded the complex details of traditional mysticism, reflecting the utilitarian character of "fast-food culture." Qigong, exceptional functions, mystical health cultivation, and various cult theories are the primary varieties of contemporary mysticism.
From the perspective of the recipient, "mysticism signifies self-deception or a trance-like confusion of thought" [5]; its believers are a group who have "no self" or have "lost the self again." Self-consciousness should have a material basis; an individual’s physical strength, family wealth, high status, and a smooth career will strengthen the self. Conversely, those who are naturally weak (physically frail or of humble origin) lack or have no self. Life’s vicissitudes cause others to lose the self again; extreme joy or sorrow (such as becoming overnight wealthy or suddenly bankrupt) easily suggests the impermanence of fate. When people cannot find the true path of change in things, or fail to understand the dialectics of abnormal and normal events, or contingency and necessity, they entrust their lives to deities and sink into the mire of mysticism. Emptiness, loneliness, and helplessness are the common plight of those without a self or those who have lost it. When care and education are absent, mysticism inevitably arrives as the "spirit of spiritless situations" and the "opium of the people."
Mystics manipulate the market for mystical beliefs, absorbing those without a self or those who have lost it, and employ every possible means to promote belief for maximum profit. They exploit human weaknesses, using incessant indoctrination, brainwashing, hypnosis, and suggestion that exceed physiological limits—repeating lies a thousand times so that you accept mystical theories and facts in a hallucinatory state. They sever your connection with science and reason, causing you to lose yourself in a closed "field" full of mystery, temptation, and terror, thereby becoming dependent on deities or their incarnations, turning into a "fool." Voltaire said that superstition is when a fool meets a knave and believes him. When a fool meets a knave, mysticism becomes possible.
3. Causing Social Instability and Undermining Social Harmony
Socialism rejects the "Unity of Heaven and Humanity" thought, eliminates reactionary and backward mystical consciousness by breaking with the old and establishing the new, and ended the long-term occupation of the state ideological arena by mysticism, thoroughly changing its history. Residual mysticism has retreated to the grassroots, becoming a hidden, fluid, arbitrary, dispersed, and mercurial folk consciousness, losing its status of legitimacy. Nevertheless, the fundamental attributes and functions of mysticism have not changed; it can still delude believers, gather crowds into associations, and incite disturbances. If the various social problems faced today cannot be fully resolved through proper channels, mysticism will focus on them, easily triggering excessive reactions and causing social instability. We must have a clear understanding of this.
First, this destructiveness is latent. Any group of believers composed of social trends has the potential for social activity; once summoned and incited, this potential becomes a real force; once it opposes society, this real force becomes destructive.
Second, this destructive power has been repeatedly proven by reality. Under the deception of mystical leaders, believers usually undergo a path of no return from skepticism to trust, from passivity to blind action, and from limited contributions to bankruptcy or even the sacrifice of their lives. The Order of the Solar Temple, the Children of God, the Heaven’s Gate, and Aum Shinrikyo are all such examples. Falun Gong followers refuse medicine when ill, harming themselves; they engage in self-mutilation or murder to "eliminate karma," harming society. Even mild mystical practices—such as Qigong experiences using breath-holding and oxygen deprivation to induce dizziness, yoga practiced through abnormal physical contortions, or using sorcery to summon gods to treat illness—can cause bodily harm. During the years when Qigong ran rampant, "practice-induced deviation" and "fire-devil possession" (zǒuhuǒ rùmó) [7] became social problems; individual suffering aggregated into social pain, causing social disharmony.
Third, mysticism causes various ideological conflicts. The friction between mysticism and the mainstream ideology appears not only in academia, rostrums, and classrooms but also in our daily lives: mystical culture spread through mass media, the indulgence of theistic beliefs, the superstitions of public figures, the public sacrifices favored by local officials, mystical tourist attractions, mystical health and beauty regimes, mystical therapies, the "temple economy," and the "ghost and god culture" (guǐshén wénhuà). From the perspective of education alone, the scientific worldview instilled in students by ideological and political teachers during limited class hours is often completely neutralized by the ubiquitous mysticism that is ten or a hundred times more pervasive.
Fourth, the ultimate goal of mysticism is to dissolve the mainstream ideology. Mysticism dreams of restoring its former glory, doing everything possible to provide mystical explanations for nature and human affairs, intending to rule people's thoughts, influence politics, fundamentally shake the foundations of the mainstream ideology, and lead people astray. As the Falun Gong mysticism—which evolved into a cult—proclaimed: "I am actually engaging in ideology."
II. Reasons for the Prevalence of Contemporary Mysticism
Since the beginning of the modern era, China has experienced three peaks of mysticism. The first was the metaphysics formed by the combination of Western mysticism and local sorcery in the early 20th century. The second was the "secret societies and cults" (huìdàomén) [8] in the early period of the Founding of the People's Republic. The third was the "human exceptional functions" period from 1979 to 1999. Although the reasons for these mystical agitations are complex, they can be abstracted as the cumulative result of history and reality, culture and psychology, and systems and politics.
1. Mystical Factors in Traditional Culture
Lu Xun remarked that Chinese culture was originally surnamed "Wu" [9] (shamanic). Historically, China’s religious forces never became powerful enough to dominate imperial authority; instead, a patriarchal morality based primarily on Confucian belief served as the consistent mainstream ideology for over two thousand years. Because there was no single, dominant religious rule, it was inevitable that mysterious beliefs would emerge characterized by a union of the religious and the secular, the coexistence of crudeness and approachability, and a focus on utility over morality. Beginning with the concepts of honoring gods, sacrificing to ancestors, and "respecting Heaven to protect the people" during the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and guided by the Book of Changes (Eight Trigrams), Yin-Yang and the Five Elements, the theory of yuanqi [10], and the view of the relationship between Heaven and humanity, we have continuously engaged in mystical practices such as kan-yu [11] (feng shui) and divination. Everything from the state's security [12] at the court level to the common people's birth, aging, illness, and death has been packed into the giant bag of "mysterious culture." Within this, there was no lack of a strong desire to use mystical revelations to predict human affairs due to limited knowledge, but it consisted more of deception used to dull the minds of subjects and maintain rule. As for the common people, the longing to foresee the future and change their current situation was always linked to a fickle fate; the less they could grasp it, the more they placed hope in deities; the more they were unable to change it, the more they placed hope in miracles. The consciousness of miracles is an eternal theme of traditional Chinese culture.
It was only in modern times, when Marxism was introduced to China and the Communist Party of China (CPC) used the power of class to smash the old world and build a new one, that people gradually abandoned mystical consciousness and established the idea of rationally transforming the world. This created a brand-new situation in New China where the people believed in Marxism and science. From the suppression of "reactionary secret societies" [13] in the early days of liberation to the long period following the end of the Cultural Revolution, mysticism fell silent and the songs of triumph for communism rang out for two reasons: first, the effective control exercised by the mainstream ideology; and second, the people’s enthusiasm for socialism, their yearning for communism, and their trust in the Party. If the cause of socialism had progressed by leaps and bounds as we had envisioned—if we had smoothly entered communism through the stages of elementary cooperatives, advanced cooperatives, and People’s Communes—the process of "breaking the old and establishing the new" would have been carried out to the end. The movement to "Topple the Confucian Family Shop" [14] beginning with the May Fourth Movement and the "Sweeping Away of All Monsters and Demons" [15] during the Cultural Revolution would have advanced to an even newer stage, and Chinese-path mysticism would have had nowhere to cling to and no way to survive.
However, we experienced the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, took detours, and suffered setbacks. This altered the two factors that controlled mysticism, leading to the first cause of contemporary mystical agitation: the resurrection of shamans and swindlers, and the emergence of "heterodox paths" [16]. On the other hand, people’s enthusiasm for changing their situation and building the country did not fade after the Cultural Revolution but actually intensified. When we woke up and realized we had fallen behind, we felt an impulse to catch up, which created the second cause of contemporary mystical agitation: using mystical methods—namely, "extraordinary powers" [17]—to overtake the rest of the world. The third cause is the existence of fertile soil for mysticism: the gullible masses who need to change their fate. Hidden seeds of mysticism with ulterior motives germinated under "extraordinary thinking" and grew in this fertile soil. It cannot be denied that the path of reform after the Cultural Revolution was centered on the theme of "science changing fate," but the "supernatural path" existed from the beginning and persisted until people discovered its threat and absurdity, and until those with ulterior motives could no longer keep the game going. This struggle lasted twenty years. The lesson is painful. If abstract fantasy could fulfill our wishes, why should we practice? If mystical power were boundless, why would we need real weapons? If extraordinary powers could cure diseases and ward off disasters, then why is science and technology necessary? Due to the lack of a real and reliable path, the fantasy of "reaching heaven in a single step" is destined to fail. When promises cannot be fulfilled, if mysticism does not choose to slink away, it will inevitably turn toward evil.
2. The Wavering of the Materialist Worldview and the Weakening of Marxist Ideology
The mystical community is composed of several groups: a few "masters" and researchers with ulterior motives, a large number of believers, and an even larger number of blind followers. Among them, there is no shortage of self-righteous "pseudo-Marxists" and half-baked, inconsistent Marxists who endorse and annotate mysticism. During the agitation of mysticism, the basic principles of materialist dialectics were mechanically and metaphysically distorted, and the initiative of consciousness [18] was infinitely expanded. They promoted "reading with ears" and extrasensory perception to disrupt the material basis of sensation. They exaggerated the initiative of consciousness into the determinism of consciousness; they misinterpreted "seeing is believing" to mean that whatever the visual organs sense is an objective reality; they took the infinity of knowledge as the theoretical basis for wild fantasies; and they treated "possible existence" as "actual existence." These people committed the errors of mechanical materialism and idealistic dialectics, causing Marxist ideology to be weakened in their specific epistemology and methodology, only to be replaced by mysticism. In this mystical agitation, some individuals lost their scientific rationality and their belief in materialism wavered. Their attitude toward mysticism shifted from negation to doubt, and then to being "half-believing and half-doubting." This is a manifestation of a wavering materialist worldview. Even more serious is that mysticism was mixed into Marxist ideology and entered people's minds through textbooks, lectures, and classrooms; Marxism was thus diluted and weakened.
3. The Relative Lag in Policy and Scholarship
Contemporary mysticism entered academic and political discourse from the very beginning. However, because we lacked sufficient academic preparation, this movement managed to evade regulation through policy loopholes. First, our understanding of qigong was insufficient. qigong has complex origins in Daoist arts or Yoga and has undergone a process of continuous evolution. For Daoists, it was a shortcut to attaining the Way (dao); for Yogis, a path to communion with the divine; for folk organizations (like the Boxers), a means of resisting enemies; and for ordinary people, a method for physical fitness. However, qigong as distorted by mysticism is not as simple as the "stretching and exercising" we imagined; it involves a set of mystical experiences and techniques. To achieve longevity, Daoists not only poisoned themselves with "external elixirs" like the "Great Return Elixir" (mercury oxide, lead oxide) and the "Small Return Elixir" (mercury sulfide) created in furnaces, but also viewed their own bodies as furnaces, attempting to forge an "internal elixir" by "sinking qi to the dantian." [19] When long-suppressed stale air sought to escape, they hallucinated that they had cleared a "meridian path," unaware that the dizzy state reached through breath-holding was actually caused by oxygen deprivation. In the early years of the People’s Republic, to solve the problem of fitness among the masses during a period of scarce medicine, China's health departments promoted Liu Guizhen’s "expelling and inhaling" techniques, which is what contemporary qigong is—a gymnastic method for fitness. However, in the hands of mystics, corresponding to the Daoist concept of the "external elixir," there emerged the claim of "external qi." This non-existent "external qi," combined with "mental intent," was boasted to have the power to extinguish fires, remove tumors, increase crop yields, and perform various predictions.
The lag in scholarship led to a lack of direction in policy. Contemporary mysticism has always faced skepticism and resistance from science. However, because everything was under debate and authoritative conclusions required the test of time and confirmation by practice, we could only adopt an ambivalent attitude. It was stated that "the extraordinary powers of the human body are not our research priority; until they are fully confirmed by science, they should no longer be introduced or publicized in newspapers, nor should they be criticized or subjected to organized debate." Although this "Policy of Three Nos" [20] took a cautious stance to reduce conflict, it also created a vacuum of criticism against "extraordinary human body powers," allowing mystical research and performances to continue.
III. Solving Contemporary Problems of Belief on a Materialist Foundation
1. Strengthen Education in Materialism and Atheism to Resist Idealism
No matter how mysticism flaunts its epistemological basis or what cultural disguise it adopts, its epistemological foundation is inevitably idealistic. Following classical philosophy, various schools of philosophical thought emerged while Marxist philosophy was neglected, which led to the contemporary mystical agitation. While today’s phenomenal, linguistic, or symbolic analyses provide us with new perspectives for understanding the world, some postmodern philosophers—obsessed with a particular novel cognitive method—have gone too far. They dare to blur the boundary between materialism and idealism, claiming "anything goes" or "nothing works," and asserting that "idealism is bad, but materialism is worse," thereby pushing ontology into a context of skepticism or relativism. Under such a cognitive view, materialism can only be mechanical materialism or vulgar egoism, while on issues concerning absolute or ultimate truth, it becomes either explicit apriorism or subjective idealism that claims issues can be solved through spiritual experience alone.
Setting aside the Sufist tradition in the aesthetic sense, our daily lives today are surrounded by various idealistic arguments and methods, such as the emphasis on mystical qigong, Yoga that claims to achieve union with God through certain postures, views on illness like "If I want to be sick, I’ll be sick; if I don’t want to be sick, who can make me sick?", and mystical medical techniques including chicken blood therapy, arm-swinging therapy, and urine therapy. Real and concrete necessary connections are replaced by fictional and abstract possible connections; materialist dialectics is challenged. These facts are sufficient to show that the promotion of and education in scientific epistemology remains an unfinished task that requires our effort. "Some comrades sometimes view peasants as materialist philosophers, thinking that a single lecture on natural science is enough to convince them that God does not exist." In fact, peasants are troubled; they worry "what if there really is a God," so they "worship both the Communist Party and God" to "make the crops more reliable." [21] "First impressions" [22] represent a cognitive inertia; this requires us to stay ahead of mysticism in the dissemination of scientific epistemology. "The journal of a militant materialist publication must tirelessly carry out atheist propaganda," "telling them the facts of various aspects of actual life," and "using various methods to rouse them from all sides." [23]
2. Improve the Social System to Eliminate the Soil of Mysticism
We must improve the distribution system at the material level and the honors system at the ideological level, using systems to eliminate mysticism. Regarding the distribution system, we must pursue fairness. If people can obtain what they need in the real world, they will not turn to deities. Social fairness can eliminate the realistic basis of mysticism. So-called fairness is not about "making all people equal to one another," but about "abolishing classes," including the "class differences" "between workers and peasants." For a long time, the gap between urban and rural areas and between workers and peasants has existed in reality; we are currently using systems to narrow these gaps. The measures in the Government Work Report of the Fourth Session of the 11th National People's Congress regarding "rationally adjusting the income distribution relationship"—such as the "minimum wage system," the regulation of "excessively high income," and "standardizing the order of income distribution"—all touch upon the systemic level of distributional fairness. In the past, facing the contradiction between fairness and efficiency, we adopted a series of policies to encourage "getting rich first" to accelerate economic development, doing what Engels called things that "do not directly correspond to our interests" but which we were "forced" to do. This led to social stratification and a wide gap between the rich and the poor. Now that some people have become rich first and the economic foundation is basically solid, the time is ripe to systemically promote common prosperity and let all people share the fruits of reform and opening up. Regarding the honors system, we must pursue justice, establishing and improving the honors system of the Party and the state from the perspective of identity, so that people value noble honors and recognize, in terms of social status and value, that building immortal achievements for the people is the greatest common interest and personal honor.
3. Adhere to the Leadership of the Party and Build a Political Great Wall Against Mysticism
The issue of belief in contemporary China possesses both universality and specificity, as well as collective and individual dimensions. In terms of universality, belief is an omnipresent conceptual issue that touches every level of social life and governs our worldview, outlook on life, and values. In terms of specificity, the severity and complexity of the belief problem in our country are manifested not only in the fact that it is the crux of many social problems, nor merely in the lack of effective methods to resolve them, but more importantly, in its relation to what flag we raise and what path we take. On an individual level, belief relates to every person’s growth and career; it is a vital necessity for the individual and is intimately linked to one's life. On a collective level, shared belief relates to our common values and the vitality of the group; it affects the collective cause, the construction of the socialist core value system, and the success or failure of the socialist cause. Experience proves that the mysticism that contradicts socialist ideology and erodes the socialist organism often possesses a strong degree of concealment during its inception and development. Such movements often carry out the actual dissemination of faith under the name of freedom of belief; they practice ignorance and superstition under the name of cultural heritage; they deconstruct politics under the name of academic research; and they seek wealth or harm lives under the name of caring for believers. The cultish sects [24] of the early period of the People's Republic of China used mystical beliefs to bewitch the masses, engaging in the swindling of money and sex while the foundations of socialism were still unstable, even going so far as to attempt to "claim the mountains as kings" [25], bestowing upon themselves holy and venerable titles to oppose the government and disturb society. Contemporary mysticism uses science as a facade, calling upon the study of unknown things, mysterious phenomena, and mystical culture; it uses the principles of the infinity of the movement of knowledge and the non-ultimate nature of truth as a pretext, and "no forbidden zones in academia" as an excuse, to shield the expansion of cults, the practices of sorcerers and shamans, and the rampant activities of swindlers. Furthermore, a small number of Party members and cadres have abandoned their Marxist faith and acted in collusion with mystics, creating a terrible social impact. Facts prove that freedom of belief can easily mask a lack of resolve in the faith of Communists, allowing non-Marxists to scheme for influence and harm the socialist cause. Precisely within the dialectical unity of the universality, specificity, individuality, and collectivity of belief, we must uphold the Party's leadership over ideology, adhere to Marxist materialism and scientific atheism, distinguish clearly between what to love and what to hate, and resolutely resist mysticism.
To uphold the Party's leadership over ideology, we must strengthen the building of the governing Party and ensure a high degree of unity within the Party on matters of belief. "Uniformization" is a basic operation of ideology; by "constructing a unified form," people can be "encompassed within a collective identity regardless of their differences and divergences, thereby establishing and supporting relations of dominance" [33]. Materialism is the essence of Marxism, and atheism is the foundation of the Marxist worldview. Only by resisting mystical ideology can the Party spirit of Communists achieve a high degree of unity on the basis of these "two theories" (materialism and atheism). After the communist movement entered a low ebb, some Marxist parties in Western Europe relaxed their requirements for members regarding these "two theories" to help the parties escape their predicament, given the local strength of religious forces. However, compromise did not improve the situation of those Marxist parties. This fact proves that only by continuously strengthening its own construction according to the requirements of the times and resisting all forms of idealism and theism can a Marxist party remain forever invincible.
4. Strengthen Academic Research and Theoretical Critique of Mysticism
Importance must be attached to the academic research and theoretical critique of the following viewpoints. First, the view that mysticism is traditional culture and must be carried forward. Those who hold this view wave the flag of populism to win the patriotic hearts of the masses. For instance, applying for cultural heritage protection for "eggs boiled in virgin boy urine" or "evasion arts" (dùnshù) [26] practiced by street performers [27]. Such a bias in orientation easily leads recipients who lack basic scientific spirit and humanistic literacy to identify with mysticism. Second, the view that mystical belief is a matter of freedom. True, belief is always free, but collective consciousness requires regulation. Individual freedom of belief can only be established if it does not infringe upon the freedom of belief of others. If a mystical belief erodes the nobility and purity of the collective faith, or if the collective faith obstructs the national ideology, then such freedom lacks legitimacy. Third, the view of mystical academic freedom. Some researchers promote mysticism under the guise of value neutrality and academic freedom, yet an important connotation of academic freedom is the freedom of academic criticism. Closed mystical research, which publishes its own books, operates its own journals, and establishes its own academic groups, actually always evades questioning and criticism. Once they encounter criticism, they cry out about being wronged. Mysticism lacks the grace and courage to accept academic criticism and therefore does not qualify to enjoy academic freedom. Fourth, the view that mysticism has contemporary value. Within a utilitarian perspective, mysticism can create harmony and possesses instrumental significance. This is a stale concept long ago criticized by Marx. Although "religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world," and the "self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again," religion is simultaneously the "opium of the people." We implement the Party's policy of freedom of religious belief, but we do not allow mysticism to don a religious cloak to engage in anti-scientific activities. This is because mysticism is not only the "opium of the people" but also a vulgar and anti-scientific form of idealistic consciousness. Fifth, the view that materialism cannot satisfy people's need for belief. As a driving force of life, the power of a belief lies not in the degree of perfection in its description of the "afterlife," but in whether that beautiful "afterlife" is reliable and whether the path to reach it is feasible—that is, whether it is "believable" (xìn). Mysticism claims that "union with God" can be achieved simply through subjective experience; the path is convenient and the destination is perfect, but both the path and the result are illusory and unreal, and thus not "believable." Taking the unbelievable as belief is a paradox that idealism cannot reconcile. Only materialism solves the problem of "believing" (xìn) and "believability" (kěxìn). Through a scientific outlook on history, it points out the lofty ideals of humanity and the realistic path to achieving them; through dialectics, it provides a conceptual path for individual ideals to submit to social ideals and for limited life to merge into the infinite river of history, making "immortality" possible. Marxism does not need paradoxical or false beliefs. In the eyes of Communists, by devoting a limited life to the infinite service of the people, the immortal value of the individual life can be realized, allowing the individual to live forever in history.