Chapter 14 Section 14: The Law of the Gentleman

The value of religion lies in its ability to make people, the masses of humans without rational power and personality power, strictly follow and obey the rules of moral behavior.But how and by what means does religion enable people to do this?people imagine.Religion enables people to abide by the code of moral behavior by teaching people to believe in God.As I have revealed to you, this is a big mistake.The only authority that makes a man truly obey the moral law, or the code of moral conduct, is the moral sense, the law of the gentleman in them.Confucius said: "There is no moral law outside of human beings."Even Christ the Redeemer said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you" when teaching his religion.So I say that the notion that religion makes people obey a code of moral behavior by teaching people to believe in God is a mistake.Martin Luther praised in the comments of Daniel's book: "God is where the trust, faithfulness, hope and love of the heart are. If the belief is right, God is also right; if the belief is wrong, God is also an illusion."So this belief in God, which religion teaches, is just faith, or what I call it, a refuge.And Luther said: "This belief, that is, belief in God, must be true; otherwise, belief, this belief, is an illusion. In other words, belief in God must be a true knowledge of God, a knowledge of the divine nature of the universe. a real awareness of order, which we know can only be attained by men of great thought and not by the mass of mankind." So you see the belief in God taught by religion, which is imagined to lead the mass of mankind to follow and obey moral behavior Standards are an illusion.One rightly calls this belief in God—the belief in the divine order of the universe that religion teaches—a belief, a trust, or what I call patronage.However, this refuge, the belief in God taught by religion, although an illusion, an illusion, helps to make people obey the rules of moral behavior, because, as I said, belief in God gives people, mankind in general, a kind of A sense of security and eternity in existence.Goethe said: "Piety, such as the belief in God taught by religion, is not an end but only a means. Through the perfect peace of mind and emotions it gives, the highest state of self-cultivation and human perfection is obtained."In other words, the belief in God taught by religion calms people by giving them a sense of security and eternity in their existence, giving them the necessary peace of mind and emotion to once again feel the law or morality of the gentleman in them. Sensibility, I say again, is the only authority that can make a man truly obey a code of moral conduct or a moral law.

But if the belief in God that religion teaches only helps to make people obey the rules of moral behavior, then what does religion mainly rely on to make people, the mass of mankind, obey the rules of moral behavior?By revelation.Matthew Arnold puts it precisely: "Noble souls under whatever creed, the pagan Empedocles and the Christian Paul, insist on revealing the necessity of this strong emotion for the perfection of moral conduct".Then, I say, what is this revelation or strong emotion (which is the supreme virtue upon which religion rests) that makes men, the masses of humanity, obey moral codes of conduct or moral laws?

You will remember that I told you that the whole system of Confucius' teachings can be summed up in one word: the Law of the Gentleman, and the closest word in European languages ​​is the Moral Law, I think.Confucius called the law of the gentleman a secret.Confucius said: "The way of a gentleman is hidden." However, Confucius also said: "The simple intelligence of ordinary men and women can also know something about this secret. The humble nature of ordinary men and women can also fulfill the law of a gentleman." Because of this The reason, Goethe, who also knew the secret of Confucius' Law of the Gentleman, called it "an open secret".Where and how did humanity discover this secret?You will remember that Confucius said, I told you that the understanding of the law of the gentleman begins with the understanding of the relationship between husband and wife - the real relationship between man and woman in marriage.Thus the secret, what Goethe called the open secret, the law of the gentleman of Confucius, is first discovered by men and women.So how do men and women discover this secret - Confucius' Law of the Gentleman?

I told you that the closest word in European languages ​​to Confucius' Law of the Gentleman is moral law.So what is the difference between the Confucian law of the gentleman and the moral law -- I mean the moral law or moral law of philosophers and moralists, as opposed to the belief or moral law taught by religious teachers.To understand the difference between Confucius' law of the gentleman and the moral law of philosophers and moralists, let us first find the difference between religion and the moral law of philosophers and moralists.Confucius said: "The mandate of heaven is nature; the way of nature is the way; the cultivation of the way is teaching." Thus, according to Confucius, the difference between religion and the moral law—the moral law of philosophers and moralists—is that Religion is the purified and orderly moral law, the deeper and higher standard of the moral law.

The philosopher's moral law tells us that we must obey our human law, which is reason.And reason, as everyone understands, means the rational force, the slow process of thought and reason, which allows us to distinguish and recognize the outer forms and definable attributes and qualities of things.Therefore, reason, our rational power, can only allow us to see the definable attributes and qualities in moral relations. form.Reason, our reason alone, cannot allow us to see the ambiguous, living, absolute essence of right and wrong or justice, or, so to speak, the life, or soul, of justice.For this reason, Lao Tzu said: "Tao can be said, but it is very Tao; name can be named, but it is very famous".The moral law of the moralists tells us the laws of our being that we must obey, called conscience, which is our heart.But, as the wise man in the Hebrew Bible said, there are many tricks in the heart.So when we keep our conscience, our heart, as our human law, we may be inclined to obey, not what I would call the voice of the righteous soul, the unspecified absolute essence of justice, but a human Many tricks in my heart. (s-8)