Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Analect 6.28 ( VI.XXVIII ) of Confucius, Helping Others

A friend wrote something very thoughtful in a personal blog about helping others. I was reminded of Analect 6.28, where it says, "To advance, help others to advance."

Here is 6.28 in its entirety, translated by Legge:

1. Tsze-kung said, 'Suppose the case of a man extensively conferring benefits on the people, and able to assist all, what would you say of him? Might he be called perfectly virtuous?'
The Master said, 'Why speak only of virtue in connexion with him? Must he not have the qualities of a sage? Even Yao and Shun were still solicitous about this.

2. 'Now the man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others; wishing to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others.

3. 'To be able to judge of others by what is nigh in ourselves;-- this may be called the art of virtue.'


Within this Analect you see "wishing to be established himself, seeks also to establish others," which I render as, "To advance, help others to advance."

Does this mean that if you are ambitious you should help others with the expectation they will be able to pay you back? No. In other writings Kongzi (Confucius) says you should not be calculating in your relations with others.

The Bible says, what good is it to gain the world and lose your soul? To advance yourself, you must advance as a complete human. Growing in money or possessions without growing in character or virtue is not real growth, but the illusion of advancement. You must help others selflessly and spontaneously, without calculation. It is satisfying in itself.

Allow me to share a couple of good memories.

I was on our high school chess team at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans. In a chess match agains Holy Cross High School I saw a fresman at Holy Cross demolish a senior on our team at the 1st board position. I asked the freshman if he would like to join me when I drove uptown to play chess against adults at the Echec Carre chess club, meeting at the Milton Latter Library on St. Charles Avenue. He wiped out the adults, and they were serious players. One adult, a former Louisiana State Champion, avoided playing the kid because every time he played the kid he lost and dropped rating points.

Jim Rousselle was that kid. Jim became the Louisiana State Chess Champion while he was still in high school. He defeated a tournament of strong adult players because I recognized his talent and introduced him to the adult chess world, which was very hard to discover at that pre-Fischer time.

I did not benefit materially by helping Jim into the broader chess world, but I felt joy in watching him fulfill his potential as chess player. He would read a chess game and remember all the moves. Once, when I got to his house to drive him to the club, he set up a chess board and replayed a spectacular game of Frank Marshall's. He made all the moves from memory and it truly was an amazing game. And it was amazing to see Jim's talent and love of the game. This was all decades ago, back in the 70's and it is still a fond memory.

Here's another, more recent, example. When I was teaching Math at a Charter school in Texas, I overheard a smart young man telling a classmate he wanted to go to MIT. I mentioned to him that he should make an effort to do well on a test in his future called the PSAT because he might win a National Merit Scholarship. Later, I mentioned this to his mother and she said her son had related this to her.

Wow! A young man who listens! I was impressed that he listened to me, so I next mentioned to him that he should become a proficient programmer in C and C++ before he arrives at MIT. He asked how so I gave him a book on programming in C. Next, he tells me that reading is not enough. He has to write and run programs to really learn C, and how can he do that? Wow, this boy is really applying himself and coming to the right conclusions. So I tell him he should look for a C compiler he could purchase on the internet. Yes, he takes that next step and discovers it is hard to find a C compiler to purchase on the internet.

Next, I gave him a C compiler. When the rest of his 6th grade classmates were having cookies and Cool Aid on the last day of school, he and I were in the computer lab. I showed him how to install a compiler on a computer and how to write and execute C programs with the compiler. Installing and using a new software tool is a pain in the neck. I would modify a program and try to run it again, and have trouble. "Why doesn't this work? It worked a moment ago?" I would say. He said, "Mr. Canright you pressed that other button last time." And he was right. He watched intently and remembered what I did.

Was he a great student? He sat in the very back of the class and goofed off, but he got perfect scores on his math tests. He was home schooled and his parents put him and his sister in a charter school for one year. I don't believe he came back next year. His mother felt he could advance faster with home schooling. I did not return to this school next year because I needed a higher salary. Each of us was at this school for only one year. We met. I helped him get started on his road to MIT. Then we went in different directions.

I did not profit at all by helping this young man. It cost me money to help him: I gave him a book and a compiler. But I got great satisfaction in seeing a young man with ambition and talent apply himself. How many 6th graders do you know who would give up a fun time to install a compiler onto a computer? He was a special kid and I felt enriched by just getting to see this side of him.

If we love humanity we are enriched when we help others grow.

If you calculate the profit in helping someone, you cheat yourself by the very thought of personal profit.

Robert

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Richard Rorty and the Ru Jia

I believe Richard Rorty is an American who exemplifies virtues of the Ru Jia. “Ru Jia” means “school of scholars” and is another name for Confucianism. Confucians are also referred to as the Ru.

Here is a quote from a lecture about Rorty:
"We do not learn moral education by the teaching of philosophy, not by rational speculation, but by becoming sensitized to the suffering of others."

That lecture also attributed these thoughts to Rorty:
1.) "Liberalism is the realization that cruelty and humiliation are the worst things we can inflict on one another."

2.) "Solidarity is the glue that holds society together, and it can be expanded through acts of identification with those previously considered as 'others.'"

Here are what I see as attributes of American Ru Jia:
a) They are compassionate and sympathetic to the suffering of others.
b) They look beyond society as a mechanism and see it as a source of identity (the "identification" mentioned above).
c) They look to improve the lives of the people.
d) They believe in morality.
e) They believe in the importance of education and culture.


Americans can look within our own American or Western tradition for people to emulate who are also in the tradition of the Ru Jia.

Robert

P.S.
The lectures I've referred to here are "Great Minds of the Western Intellectual Tradition" from the Teaching Company. Rorty is lecture 81, found in Part 7 of the lecture series.