Chapter 4 Documents

I thought that after reading about Confucius and learning a bit more of him in class, I would be able to understand more of what he had taught, but this doesn't seem to be the case for me in the documents. I have almost no idea what the heck is going on. I am not sure if that is because I have a cold or if it is because it isn't really written in a modern way. I have a small grasp of what may be meant in the documents and I am going to give my best try to try to explain what it means to me.

The beginning is talking about government and basically this is what I am getting out of it. If you are to rule over many, but must have a good understanding in economy, business, sincerity, and you must love your people. Other passages also talk about what he believes is the proper way a child should behave. That child must study, and practice respect and then practice that respect in public. I have absolutely no idea what he referring to when says north polar star but it could be about the heavens or perhaps saying a strong government shines brightly and all the smaller governments will follow by its great influence. I am lost when the Analects talks about submitting, so lets skip that one, when he answers the question about how to have a emperor's people be faithful in him, he answers by saying to be fair and honest with the people and teach them to be virtuous and righteous. So other quotes that are written sometimes feel like common sense such as those who are virtuous will have no wickedness. My response to that is: isn't that the point? these are all a couple that are listened in the documents found in chapter 4. I could keep going on looking at more of them, but that would take all night and there is still more of the chapter to go through.

A quick conclusion on the documents that are devoted to Confucius is I personally feel that since it is from the distant past, and lot of it when it is translated comes off as gibberish. I have a hard time understanding what is being say, and why it is said, and for what point. The possible reason why I feel this way may be because a lot of it deals with the common curtsies that we value today. These are natural things that we may not give a second thought about, but the ancient past was a very different world and many people may have not had these values during their time.

One thing that caught my attention with the Hindu reading was the fact that the diety at one point had said to break away from attachments and then you will become a free man. This belief is actually used in many philosophies and religions. Freeing yourself from all attachments, in some beliefs, believe that you will become free and will be well rewarded in the afterlife.

The Apology, written by Plato, is the words of Socrates, who never wrote any of his teachings. The word apology during the ancient days didn't mean that the person was asking for forgiveness, but in fact the person was saying that they are right. It is in fact the exact opposite of what he understand an apology means today.

by Andrew Murillo