The Higher Man can grab the pebble from my hand easier than you, Grasshopper.
Posted on 01/19/2017 9:54:42 AM PST by poconopundit
| Confucius, an administrator of government in Ancient China, would be proud that America is elevating a "Higher Man" to its highest office.
"Higher Man" is the name given to a series of aphorisms Confucius used to describe the virtue of a person with great character and leadership. Confucius comes to us through the translation and interpretation of Will Durant, the co-author (with his wife, Ariel) of the Story of Civilization series of books. These books are (unfortunately) collecting dust on many home library shelves, but (fortunately) they are widely available for sale at Good Will and thrift shops across America.
The Higher Man aphorisms are strung together like a series of short tweets. And like all great tweets, they pack tremendous meaning in just a few words.
See if don't see parallels between China's 5th Century BC thinking on Virtue and that of America's new Government and its leaders.
He is not anxious lest poverty should come upon him. He is catholic, not partisan. He requires that in what he says there should be nothing inaccurate. But he is no mere intellect, not merely a scholar or a lover of knowledge; he has character as well as intelligence. Where the solid qualities are in excess of accomplishments, we have rusticity; Where the accomplishments are in excess of the solid qualities, we have the manners of a clerk. When the accomplishments and solid qualities are equally blended, we then have the man of complete virtue. Intelligence is intellect with its feet on the earth. Is it not just an entire sincerity which marks the Higher Man? He acts before he speaks, and afterwards speaks according to his actions. In archery we have something like the way of the Higher Man. When the archer misses the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the cause of his failure in himself. What the Higher Man seeks is in himself; what the lower man seeks is in others. The Higher Man is distressed by his want of ability, not by men’s not knowing him And yet he dislikes the thought of his name not being mentioned after his death. He is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions. He seldom speaks; when he does he is sure to hit the point. (via tweets?) That wherein the Higher Man cannot be equaled is simply this: his work, which other men cannot see.
|
The final "e" is hardly pronounced, like the last syllable of "macabre."
“The man of honour thinks of his character, the inferior man of his position. The man of honour desires justice, the inferior man favour.” Confucius
The Higher Man can grab the pebble from my hand easier than you, Grasshopper.
Confucius say: Wise man never play leapfrog with unicorn.
You got that right.
Story of Civilization series! An excellent homeschooling resource.
Caine was my fave fake Asian of all time!
Actually, all one needs to do is to read the Analects in a decent translation with some annotations. All due respect for Durant, but Confucius can speak for himself.
Confucius was never a very high level administrator, he was too honest and honorable to go very far in government; his students however did.
I read an argument that the Analects is the most influential book in history. EVERY educated person in China, for nearly 2400 years, had to memorize his writings; that is a lot of people, over a long period of time.
Interestingly, one saying is pretty much the same as the Golden Rule, albeit in negative formation (”Do not do to others what you would not want done to you”)
The fundamental point he made was this: to be a good civil servant, one must balance dutifulness and empathy. If you follow every last rule to the ridiculous extreme, always the letter of the law, you can end up wasting lives and resources, on the other hand if all you do is go by feelings you can’t run things in an effective or fair manner.
To be a good civil servant, one must balance dutifulness and empathy.
Great wisdom in the phrase. The leftists had damaged the country by promoting "empapthy" over merit/dutifulness.
The globalist free traders and Dotcoms think nothing of destroying our base of high-quality jobs to make a few extra bucks.
And yet, you can get pretty crazy trying to bring back clothing manufacturing to the U.S. If you did that, the department stores would go out of business because they can't afford to hire employees to man the stores.
So yes, balance is key. We must think strategically: attract investments in America, sustain industries like automobile mfg. and construction with their multiplier effect on jobs, let enterprise competition thrive, and promote free, but reciprocal trade by nation.
And we must no longer fall for the phony "growth" that merely props up the economy by skyrocketing our national debt and paying lip service to reciprocal trade deals.
What do you think?
Hey Steely Tom,
If you use your pronunciation, are you saying your average Chinese person will understand who I’m talking about?
Would that be Mandarin Chinese?
Cheers.
I can't speak for the average Chinese person. Also, I'm not Chinese. I do have family members who are Chinese, and I've been to China, and get Chinese media in my house.
Would that be Mandarin Chinese?
Yes, the person who taught me to say it speaks Mandarin, which is otherwise called "Chinese," since it is the official language of the People's Republic of China. It is the dialect you will hear if you listen to the news broadcast on CCTV 4, or any other media channel originating in the PRC.
OK, Steely Tom, it’s interesting how these names get modified in English.
My daughter studied in China and Taiwan for a while and it was interesting to hear her explain how things are pronounced in Chinese where the pitch of the voice really matters.
My is from Japan, so I am very much attached to Eastern culture, the food, the people, and even the Sumo. It’s all good.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.