It is difficult to communicate among people at different levels; people with different heights of cognition and see the different worlds; human’s cognition is like a huge sinkhole, arranged in a funnel situation. The lower you are, the less you can see and the less opportunities you have; the higher you are, the much you can see and the more opportunities you have. The cognitive hierarchy may be depicted as following:

The lowest level, only knows likes and dislikes;

The second level, obeying the rules;

The third level, recognizing the limitations of the rules;

The fourth level, identifying what is right or wrong, and understanding the overall situation;

The fifth level, recognizing the limitations of right and wrong;

The sixth level, recognizing the limitations of realistic resources;

The seventh level, recognizing the development of human beings;

The eighth level, recognizing the unchanging humanity and social laws of the world;

The ninth level, recognizing the highest meaning and value of human’s life.

Excerpts from the cognitive hierarchy, people with different heights of cognition have different awareness of quality; human’s cognition of quality is like a huge sinkhole, arranged in a funnel situation. The lower you are, the less awareness of quality you have and the less intention to improve; the higher you are, the much awareness of quality you have and the more intention to improve. The cognition of quality hierarchy may be depicted as following:

The lowest level, only knows OK/NG;

The second level, recognizing conformance of specifications;

The third level, recognizing deviation disposition;

The fourth level, recognizing the priority of quality, cost and delivery;

The fifth level, recognizing the importance of continuous improvement;

The sixth level, recognizing the social accountability;

The seventh level, recognizing the development of vision, goal and strategy;

The eighth level, recognizing the "Environmental, Social and Governance" the ESG framework of sustainable development;

The ninth level, recognizing the highest meaning and value of human’s life.

Talking about "Cognition", how is human’s cognition formed? When I stayed on site of CTA plant in China for 60 days in July and August of 2018, the topic which I most deeply pondered is how human’s thinking is formed. After I saw Prof. Shi Yigong’s speech: "The essence of life and limitation of life", then I got a rough understanding. Cognitive Science is a cross-disciplinary study of how messages are formed in the brain and the transcription process [1,2] (Figure 1).

It is difficult to communicate among people at different levels; people with different heights of cognition and see the different worlds; human’s cognition is like a huge sinkhole, arranged in a funnel situation. The lower you are, the less you can see and the less opportunities you have; the higher you are, the much you can see and the more opportunities you have. The cognitive hierarchy may be depicted as following [3]:

·         The lowest level, only knows likes and dislikes;

·         The second level, obeying the rules;

·         The third level, recognizing the limitations of the rules;

·         The fourth level, identifying what is right or wrong, and understanding the overall situation;

·         The fifth level, recognizing the limitations of right and wrong;

·         The sixth level, recognizing the limitations of realistic resources;

·         The seventh level, recognizing the development of human beings;

·         The eighth level, recognizing the unchanging humanity and social laws of the world;

The ninth level, recognizing the highest meaning and value of human’s life.

Figure 1: Cognitive science.

Professor Shi Yigong’s conclusion is: The development of science and technology to nowadays, the universe what we can see, is only 5% of the entire universe. This is same as humans 1000 years ago, people don't know that there is air, magnetic field, elements, and think as the sky is round and the earth is flat, our unknown universe is much more, and it is hard to imagine. The universe is such unknown, human beings are so ignorant, what other things must we have to be disputed? Understanding these is to deepen the cognition of the universe. We must understand the future and see ourselves! This is a change that has never happened for 5,000 years.

The conclusion of Fog over the river is: In our lives, we often only see a boat, but we don’t see the river, and we have even ignored beautiful scenery on both sides. We must understand that reading thousands of books is not better than walking thousands of miles. The purpose of reading is to let you gain a clear understanding and a decisive ability to act.

Figure 2: Professor Shi Yigong's decomposition of life sciences.

Figure 3: Maslow's need hierarchy theory.

Figure 4: Bloom's Taxonomy of education objectives.

Don't be too utilitarian, in our worlds, human’s competition is not a credit score, but is your ultimate understanding of self and society, and the final thing is just cognition. How do you see yourself? How to treat the world? People with insufficient cognition will be trapped in their own hearts. Climb out from the cognitive funnel; don’t see the world like the frogs in the well, to see the vast expanse, to see the colorful and beautiful world, and the cognition stemming from the open-mindedness.

My personal conclusion is: Those who try to improve the level of self-cognition, they should study the essence of substance first; substance being investigated, then their knowledge became complete; their knowledge being complete, then their thoughts were sincere; their thoughts being sincere, then their hearts were rectified; their hearts being rectified, then their personality were cultivated. As I always said that when we discuss the issue of economic and social development of a country, with quality as its topic, it will get less controversy in ideology. The quality of the subject to the "essence of substance" requirements are precise, accurate and reliable; to the "process of business" focus on efficiency, effectiveness and value; to the "conduct oneself" emphasis on words and deeds should be consistent; to the "organizational operations" master opportunities and avoid risks coupled with addressing strategies; to the "quality of life" pursue the balance of production, ecology, and life; to the society "Datong (The Ideal World)" is our dream. It is strange to say that the book on "Great Learning" to me in the past, it seems to be ignorant, now I am aware of it. Listed it below, in order to be able to recite [4].

·   The way of great learning consists in manifesting one's bright virtue, consists in loving the people, and consists in stopping in perfect goodness.

·   When you know where to stop, then you have stability; when you have stability, then you can be tranquil; when you are tranquil, then you can be at ease; when you are at ease, then you can deliberate; when you can deliberate, then you can attain your aims.

·   Things have their roots and branches, affairs have their end and beginning; when you know what comes first and what comes last, then you are near the Way.

·   The ancients who wanted to manifest their bright virtue to all in the world first governed well their own states; wanting to govern well their states, they first harmonized their own clans; wanting to harmonize their own clan, they first cultivated themselves; wanting to cultivate themselves, they first corrected their minds; wanting to correct their minds, they first made their wills sincere; wanting to make their wills sincere, they first extended their knowledge; extension of knowledge consists of the investigation of things.

·   When things are investigated, knowledge is extended; when knowledge is extended, the will becomes sincere; when the will is sincere, the mind is correct; when the mind is correct, the self is cultivated; when the self is cultivated, the clan is harmonized; when the clan is harmonized, the country is well governed; when the country is well governed, there will be peace throughout the land.

·   From the king down to the common people, all must regard the cultivation of the self as the most essential thing. It is impossible to have a situation wherein the essentials are in disorder, and the externals are well-managed. You simply cannot take the essential things as superficial, and the superficial things as essential. This is called, “Knowing the root.” This is called “The extension of knowledge.”

1. Excerpts from Prof. Shi Yigong’s speech of "The Limits of Life Science Cognition", Prof. Shi Yigong is Vice President of Tsinghua University.
2. Cognitive science.
3. The world is secretly punishing people with low cognitive level.
4. The great learning was one of the four books in confucianism. 1992.
5. Mcleod S. Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. 2020.