If anything, the sayings of Confucius show that common sense is
timeless, or at least as old as dirt. But not every word of it is gemstone.
Consider this whiffle ball:
The Master said, "If a man in the morning hear the right way,
he may die in the evening without regret." - Analects IV:8 (tr. James
Legge)
Strike! It is no wonder that Confucius attracted opprobriums in
his own day. Indeed the Chinese intellect was finely burnished by the sixth
century BCE and we can understand why his contemporaries might chafe at the dry
homilies of Confucius. Lo! Stop what you're doing and soak up this aphorism:
The Master said, "Who can go out but by the door? How is it
that men will not walk according to these ways?" - Analects VI.14 (tr.
James Legge)
This riddle is but the mental equivalent of a paper cut. And
sometimes Confucius is just darn silly:
The Master said, "A cornered vessel without corners. A
strange cornered vessel! A strange cornered vessel!" - Analects V.23 (tr.
James Legge)
There might have been a silly tune to go with this one that has
been lost in the black abyss of time. Any scholar would point out that
Confucius did not compose the Analects himself. Rather, it was his bits wisdom
subsequently pieced together by his acolytes downstream on the calendar of
human events. And to be fair, nowhere do we read The Master said, "They
chose wisely."
Yet is the Analects really nothing more than, say, a like
experience to reading through a box of fortune cookies? No. But it takes a
little work, and more than a little patience to extract the nutrients from the
victuals he offers.
Confucius is conservative. He preaches ceaselessly against any deviation
from traditional ways:
The Master said, "I am not one who was born in the possession
of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it
there." - Analects V.19 (tr. James Legge)
So, for Confucius, conservatism is necessary, because it is the
philosophy that promotes knowledge. And in his times, there was no notion that
there is ever anything new to know. There is no concept of human progress.
Think about it. If you're a farmer in ancient China, your methods and
implements are essentially unchanged from those of your
great-great-great-grandfather. What then is "progress"? What are
talking about? Change occurred very slowly, and actually imperceptibly over the
course of a human lifetime, so that the very idea of progress was alien to the
mind.
But his conservatism is simply context for his better angels. In
this petri dish grows two great teachings: 1) virtue and ethics, and 2)
competency of the state. Here, Confucius is worthy of our rapt attention. In
particular, it is worth asking if there are lessons for us, as Americans, in
our own troubled times. Side-by-side with virtue, he emphasized etiquette, and
with governing, attentiveness to the needs of the people and confidence of the
people in their rulers.
The Master said, "Respectfulness, without the rules of
propriety, becomes laborious bustle; carefulness, without the rules of
propriety, becomes timidity; boldness, without the rules of propriety, becomes
insubordination; straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, becomes
rudeness." - Analects VII.2 verse 1 (tr. James Legge)
Well, I dare say we can see these effects in our culture today.
The rules of propriety suffer from willful neglect in our public discourse, and
Confucius would tell us that is part of our problem. Of course, we can figure
that out for ourselves. But there is added force in noting, not just in
passing, that we've known this stuff for the better part of three millenia. So
what's our problem?
We convince ourselves that as we interact with "the
other" that this other is undeserving of the application of the rules of
propriety. That applying the rules of propriety is somehow a concession, an
abrogation of our principles. Hence, boldness becomes insubordination, and
straightforwardness becomes rudeness, and worse. But how do we fix it?
The repair relies on the fact that the problem is perpetuated by a
fairly small class of people who reside in the political sphere and an
agenda-driven subset of radio and television pundits, and to some extent their
"fans." The vast majority of Americans do not agree with this injury
to simple civility and the commonsense principles of negotiating, with
propriety, through inevitable disagreements.
So, the civil majority has to throw the flag. Our electoral
politics don't support that, you say? Yes it does. Voter apathy is the real
problem. We get the government we deserve. If the Koch brothers
"speak" (by which we mean spend big $$$), who says we have to listen?
Here's an idea. Let's go vote, and frustrate them with how much money they
flushed down the toilet.
Confucius's other principle is the competency of the prince, and
is devotion to the well being of the people.
1. Tsze-kung asked about government. The Master said, "The
requisites of government are that there be sufficiency of food, sufficiency of
military equipment, and the confidence of the people in their ruler."
2. Tsze-kung said, "If it cannot be helped, and one of these must be
dispensed with, which of the three should be forgone first?" "The
military equipment," said the Master.
3. Tsze-kung again asked, "If it cannot be helped, and one of the
remaining two must be dispensed with, which of them should be foregone?"
The Master answered, "Part with the food. From of old, death has been the
lot of all men; but if the people have no faith in their rulers, there is no
standing for the State." - Analects XII.7 (tr. James Legge)
The State is a lifeboat, and nothing can be of greater consequence
than her seaworthiness, and the trust among her skipper and crew. Having that,
all needs can be fulfilled with effort, however strenuous. Is it possible that
we can be weakened by gratuitous prosperity? That we become churlish upon
experiencing want? Perhaps it is so indeed if "there is no standing for
the State."
Join the conversation and leave your comments. Or chat:
Twitter: @unrefuted
Email: myirrefutableopinion@gmail.com
Originally published October 14, 2014 on blog.com
Well, butter my buns and call me a biscuit! In my pilgrimage through life so far, I had always assumed that Turkey the bird had nothing to do with Turkey the country. Check this.
