Chapter 15 chapter 15

In other words Religion tells us in obeying the law of our being we must obey the true law of our being, not the animal or carnal law of our being called by St. Paul the law of the mind of the flesh, and very well defined by the famous disciple of Auguste Comte, Monsieur Littre, as the law of self preservation and reproduction; but the true law of our being called by St. Paul the law of the mind of the Spirit, and defined by Confucius as the law of the gentleman. In short, this true law of our being, which Religion tells us to obey, is what Christ calls the Kingdom of God within us. Thus we see, as Confucius says. Religion is a refined, spiritualized, well-ordered moral law , a deeper higher standard of moral law than the moral law of the philosopher and moralist. Therefore, Christ said: "Except your righteousness (or morality) exceeded the righteousness (or morality) of the Scribes and Pharisees (ie., philosopher and moralist ) ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven."

Now, like Religion, the law of the gentleman of Confucius is also a refined, well-ordered moral law—a deeper higher standard of moral law than the moral law of the philosopher and moralist. The moral law of the philosopher and moralist tells us we must obey the law of our being called by the philosopher, Reason, and by the moralist, Conscience. But, like Religion, the law of the gentleman of Confucius tells us we must obey the true law of our being, not the law of being of the average man in the street or of the vulgar and impure person, but the law of being of what Emerson calls "the simplest and purest minds" in the world. In fact, in order to know what the law of being of the gentleman is, we must first be a gentleman and have, in the words of Emerson, the simple and pure mind of the gentleman developed in him. For this reason Confucius says: "It is the man that can raise the standard of the moral law, and not the moral law that can raise the standard of the man." *

Nevertheless Confucius says we can know what the law of the gentleman is, if we will study and try to acquire the fine feeling or good taste of the gentleman. The word in Chinese li (U) for good taste in the teaching of Confucius has been variously translated as ceremony, propriety, and good manners, but the word means really good taste. Now? this good taste, the fine feeling and good taste of a gentleman, when applied to moral action, is what, in European language, is called the sense of honour. In fact, the law of the gentleman of Confucius is nothing else but the sense of honour. This sense of honour, called by Confucius the law of the gentleman, is not like the moral law of the philosopher and moralist, a dry, dead knowledge of the form or formula of right and wrong, but like the Righteousness of the Bible in Christianity, an instinctive, living, vivid perception of the indefinable, absolute essence of right and wrong or justice, the life and soul of justice called Honor.

Now, we can answer the question: How did the man and woman who first recognized the relation of husband and wife, discover the secret, the secret of Goethe, the law of the gentleman of Confucius? The man and woman who discovered this secret, discovered it because they had the fine feeling, the good taste of the gentleman, called when applied to moral action the sense of honor, which made them see the undefinable, absolute essence of right and wrong or justice, the life and soul of justice called Honor. But then what gave, what inspired the man and woman to have this fine feeling, this good taste or sense of honor which made them see the soul of justice called Honor? This beautiful sentence of Joubert will explain it. Joubert says: " Les hommes no sont justes qu envers ceux qu ils aim. Man cannot be truly just to his neighbor unless he loves him. Therefore the inspiration which made the man and woman see what Joubert calls true justice, the soul of justice called Honor, and thusenable them to discover the secret_the open secret of Goethe, the law of the gentleman of Coufucius _is Love_the love between the man and the woman which gave birth, so to speak, to the law of the gentleman; enabled mankind not only to build up society and civilization, but also to establish religion_to find God. You can now understand Goethes confession of faith which he puts into the mouth of Faust, beginning with the words:

Lifts not the Heaven its dome above? Doth not the firm-set Earth beneath us lie? Now, I told you that it is not the belief in God taught by religion, which makes men obey the rules of moral conduct. What really makes men obey the rules of moral conduct is the law of the gentleman_the Kingdom of Heaven within us_to which religion therefore the law of the gentleman is really the life of religion, whereas the belief in God together with the rules of moral conduct which religion teaches, is only the body, so to speak, of religion. But if the life of religion is the law of the gentleman, the soul of religion, the source of inspiration in religion, _is Love. This love does not merely mean the love between a man and a woman from whom mankind only first learn to know it. Love includes all true human affection, the feelings of affection between parents and children as well as the emotion of love and kindness, pity, compassion, mercy towards all creatures; in fact, all true human emotions contained in that Chinese word Jen(~H), for which the nearest equivalent in th e European languages ​​are, in the old dialect of Christianity, godliness, because it is the most godlike quality in man, and in modern dialect, humanity, love of humanity, or, in one word, love. In short, the soul of religion , the source of inspiration in religion is this Chinese word Jen, love_or call it by what name you like_which first came into the world as love between a man and a woman. This, then, is the inspiration in religion, the paramount virtue in religion , upon which religion, as I said, depends principally to make men, to enable and make even the mass of mankind obey the rules of moral conduct or moral laws which form part of the Divine Order of the universe. Confucius says: "The law of the gentleman begins with the recognition of husband and wife; but in its utmost reaches, it reigns and rules supreme over heaven and earth_the whole universe."