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    CONFUCIUS FOR CONFUSED
    CONFUCIUS FOR CONFUSED
    CONFUCIUS FOR CONFUSED
    Ebook102 pages1 hour

    CONFUCIUS FOR CONFUSED

    By CALIXTO LÓPEZ and ROSALÍA ROUCO

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    CONFUCIUS FOR CONFUSED.

    We would not like to categorically affirm that we live in a moment of extreme confusion, but a series of facts seem to corroborate the opposite. In a globalized world, wealth and well-being have not been distributed equitably and balanced among nations. Rulers do not always rule with the welfare of their peoples in mind. Corruption, that miserable evil has not been extirpated and it stands out for its respect in all spheres of human activity, mainly in those of public affairs. The productive forces have reached a considerable degree of development capable of guaranteeing basic material goods for the entire world population and yet in many countries the population is starving, there are material needs of all kinds and many children die from malnutrition and curable diseases. Education and access to universal culture are not available to everyone. Nor does medical care reach all people. There is talk of ethics and morality and immoral positions are often adopted. Deception, lies and dishonesty are displayed daily in society. Humility, decorum, respect and human consideration is not what abounds. None of this is globalized and it is what needs to be shared and made to reach the most remote places on the planet.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLulu.com
    Release dateSep 6, 2020
    ISBN9781716600616
    CONFUCIUS FOR CONFUSED

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      Book preview

      CONFUCIUS FOR CONFUSED - CALIXTO LÓPEZ

      CONFUCIUS FOR

      CONFUSED

      480 Aphorisms of Confucius

      CALIXTO LÓPEZ

      ROSALÍA ROUCO

      978-1-71660-061-6

      Aviso legal: Lulu.com

      CONFUCIUS FOR CONFUSED

      FOREWORD

      We would not like to categorically affirm that we live in a moment of extreme confusion, but a series of facts seem to corroborate the opposite. In a globalized world, wealth and well-being have not been distributed equitably and balanced among nations. Rulers do not always rule with the welfare of their peoples in mind. Corruption, that miserable evil has not been extirpated and it stands out for its respect in all spheres of human activity, mainly in those of public affairs. The productive forces have reached a considerable degree of development capable of guaranteeing basic material goods for the entire world population and yet in many countries the population is starving, there are material needs of all kinds and many children die from malnutrition and curable diseases. Education and access to universal culture are not available to everyone. Nor does medical care reach all people. There is talk of ethics and morality and immoral positions are often adopted. Deception, lies and dishonesty are displayed daily in society. Humility, decorum, respect and human consideration is not what abounds. None of this is globalized and it is what needs to be shared and made to reach the most remote places on the planet.

      And it is not that doctrines or ethical principles have not been developed to address all the evils that we have mentioned, on the contrary, the human spirit studied these problems from the earliest civilizations and in a universal sense. Proof of this is what we send you about one of the most prolific and ancient thinkers in history: The Chinese scholar and philosopher Confucius, who more than 25 centuries ago developed a moral, educational and government doctrine in order to achieve well-being of all human beings regardless of their social, economic, or caste status. This is why in a modest way we address transcendental aspects of its doctrines that can guide us all in this time of real, or apparent confusion.

      In summary, more than 450 aphorisms of the famous Chinese scholar and philosopher are collected, related to government, education, ethics, family, justice, corruption, among others, all or almost all, with full current validity.

      THEMATIC INDEX

      - Foreword

      - Thematic Index

      - introduction

      I.- Confucius was not confused

      II.- Confucius for confused rulers

      III. Confucius for a confusing education

      IV.- Confucius for a confused ethics

      V.-. Confucius for confusing laws and justice

      VI.- Confucius for the corrupt confused

      VII.- Confucius on the family

      VIII.- Confucius on work

      IX.- Confucius for confused vicious

      X.- Confucius before a confused communication

      - Appendix

      - Ancient literary sources

      - Bibliography

      CONFUCIUS FOR CONFUSED

      INTRODUCTION

      I never thought to write about the Chinese sage and philosopher Confucius, and it is not that he did not deserve to do so, because in fact many have done it and continue to do so today. The reason was another, until some time ago I considered that I did not have a sufficiently clear notion of his doctrine, nor had I studied it thoroughly enough, but one day, when reading one of his famous aphorisms, I realized that I had lost a lot of time in understanding summarized the essence of human life and that this distinguished thinker of antiquity, had briefly defined it in a metaphor of just under two lines:

      "You ask me why do I buy rice and flowers? I buy rice to live and flowers to have something to live for".

      In them the essence of the symbiosis of the eternal contradiction and union of the material and the spiritual is deduced; and the need for the balance that the human being must give to these two concepts, faced in many philosophical currents as if they were inexhaustible sources of water: rivers and seas, until their waters meet and remain the same, clear and crystalline, without any difference, united forever.

      The material and the spiritual, the necessary balance, rapport and union of these concepts, which can make a human being happy or unhappy, reduced to the smallest expression and in very few words, is what Confucius expressed. To live you need a material sustenance that for the Chinese citizens of the time was completely condensed in rice, but what is this element used for? If not, there is an object, a noble end the flowers that guides our actions and makes us enjoy the beauty of spiritual life.

      It was something like the dialectical materialist conception of history that every man before doing politics, art, religion, etc., has to eat, drink, have a roof. Just as Karl Marx and Frederick Engels put it, only 2,300 years after the Chinese teacher and philosopher. And to be fair, this one phrased it in a more concise way and with simpler words and examples.

      How many people have squandered their lives in pursuit of material benefits, riches impossible to enjoy in many lives, and when they reach the end of their days they realize that this has been of no use but is accompanied by essential human values, such as love, friendship, honor, honesty, humanism, the appreciation of beauty and the whole set of spiritual values that a human being can access?

      We do not speak of excessive power, of ambitions and dishonest acts, of insults, blasphemies, betrayals and lies. No, Confucius does not say that he buys rice and brambles or thorns, but flowers and what they represent in any culture and in universal thought.

      Only with this phrase Confucius would have reached the top of the pyramid of human thought, but he was also prolific in advice on human conduct and ethics, the way of governing, of educating with a view to forming a man of integrity in knowledge and values. , as I would have liked the Chinese officials and rulers of the time, all over the world, and of all times to be.

      But we have forgotten Confucius, we have underestimated or left him in a secondary plane, omitted his study, as well as the application of his doctrines and this has led us, yes, to progress, but on the basis of exploitation, social inequality, lies and deception, oblivious to the human suffering of many, and only concerned with filling our coffers, or acquiring fame and honors that are often undeserved; but it is time that if we do not improve our behavior, but rather govern for all, if we enrich ourselves illicitly, we are sure that we will not achieve full happiness and our true consecration as human beings.

      Perhaps it is possible to think with this initial assessment that only the simple reading of Confucius' maxims and aphorisms could get us out of the confusion in which we live, and it is that although this word does not come from Confucius, as a Miss of beauty misinterpreted from a country a few years ago, it is noteworthy that we are immersed in great confusion, which the great Chinese sage, if we are consistent with his doctrine, can help us to resolve. But we cannot

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