Mencius on Men

     Men are born good.

Now let us suppose you were ruined young.

So you believe there is no such thing as human nature. People are no better than pigs because God, too, is a lie, and, since ethics and morals are, therefore, only situational and relative, good and evil do not exist, either. Only Matter and History are real, and History is the bloody, repetitive saga of when and where those who knew what you do unleashed force majeure against those who did not — and, of course, it’s the winners who write the history books.

These ancient words which follow will hold no appeal for such as the New Class has made of you. The danger is Mencius might open you to a vast light unrelated to religion. Your owners prefer keeping you just where they left you, tense and empty, teetering out there on the dark and edgy. And if you are yourself one of the lordly New Class, Mencius apologizes for pretending to be your equal, for presuming to make either eye or mind contact. Dismiss these writings which global mankind has kept alive since three hundred years before the birth of Christ.

Mencius (372 BC — 289 BC) is considered China’s greatest philosopher after Confucius.  In fact, his interpretation of Confucianism became its standard orthodoxy.

Dartmouth Professor Emeritus of Chinese Culture and Philosophy Wing-Tsit Chan comments in his A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy: “Mencius is the most important philosopher on the question of human nature, for he is the father of the theory of the original goodness of human nature.”

As translated by Professor Chan from The Book of Mencius: Book Six, Part One…

Mencius said: “If you let people follow their feelings (original nature), they will be able to do good. This is what is meant by saying that human nature is good. If man does evil, it is not the fault of his natural endowment.
“The feeling of commiseration is found in all men; the feeling of shame and dislike is found in all men; the feeling of respect and reverence is found in all men; and the feeling of right and wrong is found in all men.
“The feeling of commiseration is what we call humanity; the feeling of shame and dislike is what we call righteousness; the feeling of respect and reverence is what we call propriety; and the feeling of right and wrong is what we call wisdom.
“Humanity, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom are not drilled into us from outside. We originally have them with us.”

 

Oh, New Class! Did you ever hear such stupid shit?