Confucianism
Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 7:29 pm
Does anyone have any knowledge of this or has studied it? I ran across a documentary on it and watched a little bit, it was very appealing. Seems like in Confucianism the family and ancestry is at the centre of life. Humanity, compassion and morailty are cornerstones of the belief system. It also seemed very optimistic.
I think in the west there are number of very big flaws in our societies:
- Individualism taken to the nth degree to where it is actually harmful to society and creates narcissistic people and people who only consider themselves.
- Materialism and consumerism - peoples consumed with buying crap and filling their life with pointless crap that they don't actually need.
- Degradation of the family unit/marriage.
- Drug use as people look for something to fill a void /make them happy.
- Spiritual and intellectual introspection not highly valued. We are more interested in noise rather than silence. We have become societies of people who like to talk but are poor listeners.
- Cynicism is pervasive and people have come to believe that other people are fundamentally bad and incapable of improvement.
As a parent I am always trying to make sure that my kids are developing a clear understanding and appreciation for the important things in life and rejecting what is corrupting. Given its focus on personal growth and humanity it seems like Confucianism has a lot to recommend it. I'm fully intending to study Confucianism and some of the other Eastern philosophies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConfucianismThe worldly concern of Confucianism rests upon the belief that human beings are fundamentally good, and teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavor, especially self-cultivation and self-creation. Confucian thought focuses on the cultivation of virtue in a morally organised world. Some of the basic Confucian ethical concepts and practices include rén, yì, and lǐ, and zhì. Rén (仁, 'benevolence' or 'humaneness') is the essence of the human being which manifests as compassion. It is the virtue-form of Heaven.[11] Yì (义; 義) is the upholding of righteousness and the moral disposition to do good. Lǐ (礼; 禮) is a system of ritual norms and propriety that determines how a person should properly act in everyday life in harmony with the law of Heaven. Zhì (智) is the ability to see what is right and fair, or the converse, in the behaviors exhibited by others. Confucianism holds one in contempt, either passively or actively, for failure to uphold the cardinal moral values of rén and yì.
I think in the west there are number of very big flaws in our societies:
- Individualism taken to the nth degree to where it is actually harmful to society and creates narcissistic people and people who only consider themselves.
- Materialism and consumerism - peoples consumed with buying crap and filling their life with pointless crap that they don't actually need.
- Degradation of the family unit/marriage.
- Drug use as people look for something to fill a void /make them happy.
- Spiritual and intellectual introspection not highly valued. We are more interested in noise rather than silence. We have become societies of people who like to talk but are poor listeners.
- Cynicism is pervasive and people have come to believe that other people are fundamentally bad and incapable of improvement.
As a parent I am always trying to make sure that my kids are developing a clear understanding and appreciation for the important things in life and rejecting what is corrupting. Given its focus on personal growth and humanity it seems like Confucianism has a lot to recommend it. I'm fully intending to study Confucianism and some of the other Eastern philosophies.