Chapter 36 6. Therefore we have no faith

Like China, Greece also had witchcraft. The wizards of Greece are closely related to the wizards of Chu.They are also the media between humans and gods, and they can also channel spirits.For this reason they are called "entheos" (entheos).Being possessed by a god is called "divine enchantment" (enthousiasmos).At this time, both wizards and witches will fall into a state of ecstasy.Those witches who worshiped Dionysus would dance mesmerizingly while running across the mountains.Of course, wizards and witches sing and dance while they are possessed.These words are considered "God-given truth", and this kind of divine inspiration is called "inspiration". 25

Artistic creation must be inspired, and the origin lies here. So when the Greeks turned their witchcraft into a religion, they turned religion into art. Greek religion is art, which has long been revealed by Hegel.In fact, the Greek gods were human beings, only larger, more perfect, healthier, more powerful, and immortal.In other respects, it is no different from human beings.Therefore, when a Greek meets a handsome man or a beautiful woman on the road, he may stop and ask the other person with envy and respect: Are you a god? 26 God in Greece is the highest beauty. 27 Note, however, that the Greek gods were only more beautiful than men.This kind of beauty is pure beauty, which has nothing to do with morality.On the contrary, the Greek gods are almost "all evil".Many tragedies in the world come from the impulsiveness and misconduct of gods.So the Greeks never saw their gods as moral models.Instead, they are likely to resent the lawlessness and irresponsibility of God.

Like Achilles. Achilles did not really join the Trojan War until his friend died in battle.In order to avenge his friend, he killed Prince Hector of Troy, and vowed to feed Hector's body to wild dogs.Hector's father came to the barracks to ask him to respect the gods, but Achilles didn't think so.What he said is: Those gods have stipulated the destiny for human beings, but they themselves are enjoying themselves! Of course, Achilles finally agreed to the old man's request and stopped the siege for eleven days so that the Trojans would have enough time to bury Hector.But this has nothing to do with revering the gods, but being moved by the old and bereaved king of Troy, and thinking of his old father.The Chinese saying of "not looking at the monk's face to see the Buddha's face" does not work for the Greeks.They don't look at the Buddha's face, only the monk's face.

We are another style. The gods worshiped by Zhou people, Yandi, Huangdi, Zhuanxu, Diku, Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, King Wen, and King Wu, were beautiful or not.Even those natural gods must have contributions and merit.For example, the three lights in the sky can be admired; the five elements on the ground are for survival; famous mountains and rivers are for producing property.Who will regard him as a god if he is fancy but not useful? 28 The gods and the earth only have merit, and humans and ghosts have virtue, so they don't need to be beautiful. God in China is the highest good. The meritorious gods are the "disciplinary inspection committee" of Zhou Tianxia.A historian named Guo in the Kingdom of Zhou said: Gods usually come to the world at two times.One is that the country will prosper, and the other is that the country will perish.In the former case, God will come and see how noble they are; in the latter case, God will come and see how wicked they are.A historian named He in the Duke of Guo said: If a country is going to prosper, it should listen to the people; if it is going to perish, it should listen to the gods.Because God is smart, upright, and dedicated.Whatever a person wants, he will help you.If you intend to fail, God will let you die. 29

Shi Lu's words are very interesting. According to Smith, the fate of human beings is not determined by gods.On the contrary, God's decisions are made by man.If people learn to be good, God will let you rise up step by step; if people want to learn to be bad, God will let you never recover.The role that God can play is to give you an acceleration to speed up your prosperity or perish.that is it. Can such worship of ghosts and gods be called religion, faith? Of course not. What should I say then? There are ghosts and gods without religion, and there are religions without belief. This is the cultural characteristic of the Chinese nation.The slight difference among them is nothing more than the difference between the north and the south.To put it simply, the north advocates turning the worship of ghosts and gods into ethics, while the south is more willing to turn it into artistic aesthetics.But don't believe in it, the north and the south are one.Only in this way, the religions that have had the greatest influence on the Han people in history are Buddhism and Taoism, which are the least religious.Buddhism talks about enlightenment, and Taoism talks about becoming immortals, neither of which is belief.

What can echo us is Greece. The Greeks who turned religion into art were also essentially unbelieving.The benefit brought about by this is that the humanistic spirit has been established early; the trouble brought about by this is that the core values ​​are difficult to maintain. 30 For this reason, Greek civilization finally fell.The humanistic spirit of Greece, as well as their science and democracy, also fell into the abyss temporarily, and then they could be promoted through the Renaissance.But since then, it has been unbreakable. We also have this problem. Our human spirit is also precocious.Therefore, how to ensure the constant concept and the stability of the society took painstaking efforts of the sages.The Duke of Zhou's method was to establish the four major systems of well field, patriarchal clan, feudalism, and ritual and music, thus maintaining peace for hundreds of years.But starting from the Spring and Autumn Period, rituals and music collapsed.The well field system and the feudal system collapsed, people's hearts were not old, morality was degraded, and the society fell into long-term turmoil.Therefore, from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, it became another colorful movement in Chinese history.

25．Please refer to Zhu Di's "Historical Evolution of the Concept of Inspiration and Others". 26．See Danner's Philosophy of Art. 27．Please refer to the fourth volume of Winkelmann's "History of Ancient Art", "On the Art of the Greeks". 28．Please refer to "Mandarin · Luyu Part 1". 29．All see "Zuo Zhuan Thirty-two Years of Duke Zhuang". 30．Please refer to the general preface of "Yi Zhongtian's History of China" "The Will of Civilization and the Position of China".