Chapter 762: Do you believe?

Do you believe?

April 13: Do you believe?

Confucius, this figure known to every household, for over two thousand years, he has been changing people, retreating movement of society's civilizational progress. His changes and promotion are multifaceted, not only including the realm of social etiquette, morality, and thought, but also including people's marriage and family. The life story of a sage and great person always brings many legends and controversies.

These legends and controversies, while enriching people's spiritual connotation and expanding the space of people's minds, also distance the great and sage from us ordinary people: the great is great, the sage forever sage; ordinary people forever ordinary. As Confucius said, this is the Mandate of Heaven. How can the Mandate of Heaven be changed!

"Each person is a world", the world of sages and great persons, how could ordinary people enter? Sages and great persons always create what humanity first lacks, the precious things that human society lacks, and these are always created by sages and great persons.

And ordinary people always do not believe the miracles created by sages and great persons. Between belief and disbelief, legends and myths arise.

For example, the Bible says Jesus was born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit, he created the world, do you believe? Another example, some say Great Yu's mother conceived him by treading in the gods' footsteps, do you believe? No! Another example, some say Liu Bang's mother was sheltering from rain under a bridge when struck by lightning and conceived Liu Bang. This, do you believe? No!

I say China's first love poem was written by Confucius, do you believe? No belief!

Not believing is normal. Only not believing brings controversy; with controversy, life's content becomes rich, colorful. "What we know is merely that we humans act clever, understand everything, strive diligently, achieve much, but in the eyes of a sage's wit, all this is petty and insignificant."

Cao Xueqin, speaking through Jia Yucun, says: "Heaven and earth give birth to people; aside from great benevolence and great malevolence, the rest are not greatly different; if one is greatly benevolent, they should arise with fortune; if greatly malevolent, they should arise with calamity; fortune brings governance to the world, calamity brings danger to the world… The greatly benevolent govern the world, the greatly malevolent disturb the world. Clear and bright, the proper qi of heaven and earth, the virtue of the benevolent; cruel and perverse, the evil qi of heaven and earth, what the malevolent uphold……."

Cao Xueqin says there is no great difference, meaning ordinary people are all alike. According to Cao Xueqin, we are all grass-and-wood people: everyone's intelligence is the same, or equal, all alike. Thus demands are basically the same, wishes consistent, basically they are money, status, house, wife, children. "At a glance at someone's expression, you know what they're thinking; before words are spoken, others already know what they want to say…." As for those great figures, especially sages, you don't need to glance; even living with them day after day, you cannot know what they say, let alone what they will do.

After Confucius's father died, Confucius's mother brought the three-year-old Confucius back to her maiden home. Upon returning to the maiden home, the mother and child lived in a narrow alley. At that time, the residents of that narrow alley were all poor commoners. Confucius's mother relied on others doing rough work to support Confucius; for livelihood, young Confucius often helped his mother with menial tasks, petty affairs; young Confucius tasted all the bitterness and hardship that life and fate had in store for him. Who would know, this is all a path arranged by fate, the necessary route for great persons and sages............