So, in fact, he has preset a question, that is, is it useful to read The Analects? Is the exam useful? Is it useful to find a job? Compared with a Christian, why doesn't he ask why he wants to read the Bible?
First of all, he doesn't think of useful questions when he reads the Bible. Secondly, even if he thinks about the role of the Bible, he will understand that the Bible is helping him to build a belief system and give him a foundation for life.
But in China, why do you want to read The Analects of Confucius is still raised as a question, which turns the problem that was not a problem into a problem. Since I have to answer, I will try to answer.
The value of The Analects of Confucius as a basic education textbook lies in three systems.
First, The Analects is a knowledge system.
The Analects of Confucius contains rich, profound, concise and very pure cultural knowledge with very high cultural content. For example, the Analects of Confucius has 500 articles 16000 words and more than 100 idioms. Idioms are the most primitive source, and the original intention is not the dogma in the idiom dictionary.
There are hundreds of proverbs in The Analects that can be quoted for life, which contain a lot of life wisdom. This knowledge system is completely different from the current textbooks.
Children who have studied the Analects of Confucius for one year don't need to pass tests to prove how different they are from other children. Step by step, it takes a little effort to get promoted. Every step is easy. It must be going downhill. The same is true of education. Up or down, the result is different. One is on the mountain and the other is under the mountain.
Today's children, even if they are doctoral or postdoctoral students, are still immature at work. Mental maturity needs three aspects: one is to know yourself correctly; Second, correctly understand others and the environment; Third, correctly handle the relationship between yourself and others and the environment. True maturity is decent and disciplined, and at the same time it is gentle, respectful and thrifty.
Second, The Analects is a value system.
The Analects of Confucius can tell us: What kind of society is the ideal society? What kind of politics is ideal politics? What kind of person is the ideal person? To sum up, in a word: what kind of life is the ideal life. The second system, teaching children to make value judgments, is more important than the first knowledge system.
The Analects of Confucius is a book about ideals, and it is a book that helps us build our faith. As mentioned above, belief is a belief in uncertain things, and basic values need not be verified, but need to be recognized. So, what is Yang? Believe in what is higher than you, and believe in what leads you upward. It's not faith, it's faith. Look up. Therefore, to believe is to believe in an uncertain thing; But this uncertain thing must make you want to go up. Not all uncertain things can be believed. You can't believe what deprives people. Believing in something that is uncertain but can lead you up is called faith.
Human beings are noble, but we must remember one thing: the nobility of human beings is not reflected in all individuals, and the greatness and glory of human nature are not reflected in the humanity of all individuals; The greatness and brilliance of human nature and the nobility of human beings are often reflected in some very special great men, who represent the brilliance of human nature and the nobility of human beings, and most of us should look up to such brilliance, which is called admiration and faith!
The Analects of Confucius provides us with a kind of faith. People live in the real world, and the real world is just? Real? What do people pursue in the world? It should be? This world.
The human world is different from the animal world. Animals always passively adapt to the environment, while humans will change the environment and make the world a better place. The beautiful world that human beings yearn for is the world that should be.
What will happen if human beings lose their yearning for the corresponding world? We live not only in real life, but also in an imaginary world. The reason why we live is not the world at the moment, but an imaginary world, a better world than today.
Life has its own shortcomings, but isn't it to live for a better life? Isn't education to build a better self? A child comes to your home and makes his life better. Education is to make life better. What kind of education can there be without the imagination of the world?
Reading the Bible is to gain a foundation of life and understand why you want to do this. Just as the Analects of Confucius tells us what kind of person we want to be, it is also the basis of our life. The Analects of Confucius is about ideals and value judgments. If you don't understand this, you will never understand what culture is.
What basis can The Analects of Confucius give us for life? According to the Analects of Confucius, someone asked Confucius, is it okay to repay evil with good? Confucius asked the man first: Why repay kindness? Then, Confucius gave how to treat it. Complain Answer: report complaints directly and report complaints with good deeds.
Confucius' words are simple, but they contain his constant evaluation of various values and his final value judgment. Have a look first? Good for evil? , is that okay? Specific to someone, I hurt you, you don't care, you? Good for evil? As an individual, there is no problem with this choice. However, Confucius is not answering a person's question. He wants to answer a question, whether everyone can always do this. Confucius considered whether the moral system standards of a country or even the whole mankind could be reached. Good for evil? .
From this point of view, there will be a problem soon. What is the standard of a country's moral system? Good for evil? Or advocate encouragement? Good for evil? What will this lead to?
So Confucius asked: Why repay kindness? If a person does something bad, he should be treated well. If a person does a good deed, how should he treat it? If a person does a good deed, of course he should? Good for evil? So, did you do something bad to a person? Good for evil? Finally, merging similar items means that there is good news whether you do good or bad things.
In this way, we can neither stop people from doing bad things nor encourage people to do good things. Being good to the bad guys is unfair to the good guys. It looks like. Good for evil? It is a high moral standard, but it will not promote the progress of social morality in the end, but will promote the retreat of social morality.
Man is a rational animal, and reason and morality are two different things. The so-called rationality is to maximize personal interests and consider problems from oneself. Morality is not to change people's rationality, but to guide people's rationality, so that people who do good things feel rewarded, people who do bad things feel pressured, and guide them to rationally choose to do good things instead of doing bad things. This is not to change human nature, but to conform to human nature. So from the perspective of establishing a moral system, isn't it? Good for evil? .
Will it be like this? Repay hatred with hatred? And then what? I can't. ? When is revenge? ? What's the worst thing? Repay hatred with hatred? Will cause good people to degenerate like bad people. When a society advocates. Repay hatred with hatred? In fact, it is corrupting the whole society, and even encouraging the whole society to degenerate. So, how to treat it now? Complain On this issue, can't you? Repay hatred with hatred? , also can't advocate? Good for evil? So, Confucius said? Direct complaint? ,? Good for evil? For those who do good deeds, reward good deeds with good deeds, give encouragement and let more people do good deeds; For those who do bad things, since they are not? Repay hatred with hatred? , no? Good for evil? , but? Direct complaint? . What is straight? This is justice. Those who do bad things will be punished as they deserve, without special forgiveness or deliberate revenge, and will be rewarded with a fair trial.
Look, such a short dialogue contains Confucius' consideration of three kinds of value judgments. There are more than 500 Analects of Confucius, almost all of which are multiple-choice questions. Reading the Analects of Confucius, you gain not only a knowledge system, but also a value system. You can learn to make value judgments, improve your value judgment ability, be mature in mind, distinguish right from wrong, know good and evil, beauty and ugliness, and have a basis for advancing and retreating all your life.
Today, we should focus on quality education and engage in quality education. Why has it been unsatisfactory for so many years? Because increasing knowledge is misunderstood as improving quality, skill education is misunderstood as quality education. Can you play the piano, write calligraphy, dance and perform? Is it of high quality? No, the child is exhausted and his quality is not high.
Because quality is not a skill, a test score of knowledge, or a standard answer on a piece of paper. Quality is a value judgment. Mencius used wisdom to tell right and wrong. Right and wrong is the essence of one's wisdom. Distinguishing between right and wrong and being able to make value choices is the quality.
Is quality what Mencius said? Four hearts? Sympathy, shame, resignation, right and wrong. A person, compassionate; A person knows shame, what to do and what not to do; A person who knows how to make concessions will always struggle in this world, and there will always be concessions when there is competition. This is called civilization; One can understand right and wrong and judge right and wrong. These four hearts add up to four words: benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom. This is quality.
These four words are emphasized and advocated in our education, but the effect is average. Why? Because it is not implemented in the textbooks of basic education, it will not help the educated to form a knowledge system and a value system, and will not establish a belief and spiritual foundation of life. The implementation of culture is a cultural classic; The implementation of cultural classics is to enter basic education textbooks.
Third, The Analects is a cultural system.
Someone asked me a question: Since reading the Bible can also make you a good person, why do you have to read The Analects? I'm a little angry. I said reading of the analects of confucius, reading the Bible can make a person a good person. The difference is that learning The Analects of Confucius is the recognition of China culture.
A nation's education must give children a sense of national cultural identity, so as to have national cohesion. Isn't there another basic function of education, that is, to cultivate the recognition of national culture and national cohesion? Why do children nowadays like foreigners' festivals so much? Can our education enable children to gain a sense of cultural identity from cultural classics at an early age?
There is a Confucius Temple in Jianshui, Yunnan. I said a word there: in such a border area, a Confucius temple is worth 100 thousand troops. It's close to Vietnam and far from Beijing. Why do you agree with Beijing and not Vietnam in history? Because of cultural identity.
Why is China the only nation in the world whose history has never been interrupted? Because of cultural identity. Whether history is interrupted depends on whether cultural identity is interrupted. With such a vast country and a large population, the geographical environment and product resources are very different. Why can we maintain long-term unity? This is the power of cultural cohesion.
China's greatest and most lasting force in safeguarding national unity for thousands of years is not the army of the Qin dynasty, but those who lead students to read aloud with the thread-bound Analects in the countryside? Confucius said to study, to study all the time? Old scholar in private school.
When do children in Yunnan open the Analects to read? Confucius said to study, to study all the time? At that time, children in Beijing, Sichuan and Qinghai were also studying. Finally, they all have a teacher, Confucius. Their lives have a * * * and foundation. The Analects of Confucius is a classic of China traditional culture and also a classic of Yuan Dynasty. Who is Yuan? At the beginning, too, in the classic? Source code? .
China people have the beauty of life in China. Starting from basic education, teaching traditional cultural classics including The Analects of Confucius, and then teaching children China's traditional piano, chess, calligraphy and painting will form the true spirit and temperament of China people, both mentally and physically.
Civilization is the true strength of a nation.