Education is Important to Confucians

Education is one of the core values in Confucianism. This link discusses how morality is the root of education.

People say knowledge is power. Education divorced from ethics and morality is reduced in its power.

Robert

Li as Ritual

Li often refers to rituals or rites which were important to ancient Chinese culture. In American culture we have public and private rituals, but we do not speak of them as rituals. Singing the national anthem at a sporting event is a public ritual. A family meal can be a private ritual.

Rituals bind us together in a society, but we do not talk about them. The Dallas Morning News, December 24, 2006, printed Alan Jacob's interview with P.D. James, the author of "The Children of Men," recently made into a movie. The author, P.D. James, spoke of the uses and importance of ritual.

The musician David Byrne (of the Talking Heads) published a photography book called Strange Ritual. He picked that title because he understood ritual is important to people.

We do not want to be bound to silly or excessive ritual, but the rituals in our life, like a family meal, are important for us to live satisfying lives. It is important we talk about them and respect them.

Robert

Li , Propriety or Decorum, is Still Important

Li is an important concept in Confucianism. Here is a Wikipedia article on li. It originally referred to ritualistic rites. Then it came to mean propriety. Eventually the Neo-Confucianists changed the meaning to "principle."

To show how this ancient concept of propriety is still relevant, let me direct your attention to an article on the front page of the New York Times (Tuesday January 2, 2007): "Lock the Library! Rowdy Students are Taking Over" by Tina Kelley. The article reported that some of the public libraries in Maplewood, New Jersey, have to lock their doors to keep out rowdy middle-school children. The students fight, urinate on the bathroom floor, put graffiti on the walls, and are disrespectful to the librarians.

You might think Maplewood is a ghetto, but it is not. It was selected by Money magazine in 2002 as one of the "Best Places to Live" in America. How did the children of Maplewood, New Jersey, sink so low? They were not taught about propriety, polite behavior, by their parents.

What can Maplewood, New Jersey, do to teach their children good manners? They can teach their children Confucianism. You might think that Confucianism is an ancient, foreign religion, but it is not. It is a vibrant system of universal ethics. There is even a book, Achieve Lasting Happiness, that shows how Confucianism is a good fit for contemporary America.

America needs Confucianism.

Robert

American Culture and Confucianism

On Saturday, December 30, the Metropolitan Opera broadcast a live production of the Magic Flute to movie theaters across America. The Cinemark theater in Plano called Tinseltown was, to my understanding, the only venue in the Dallas metroplex. Cinemark put the Magic Flute in on one screen and it sold out. Then they added a 2nd screen and sold that out. I was lucky to get tickets.

As I listened to Sarastro sing how knowledge and virtue would uplift humanity, I realized he was singing about Confucian ideas.

There is much in Western and American culuture that is compatible with Confucian culture. In my Yahoo group I have many Western examples of Confucian ideals. Robert Owen, for example, manifested Confucian ideals.

Confucianism will be the new wave in American culture.

Robert

Propriety and Graduations

I went to my neice's college graduation recently. I was surprised by the poor behavior of some of the students.

Some students were whooping and hollering during a violin perfomance. The violinist was a graduating senior who was graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 average. He was playing a complicated and challenging piece for the audience and you could not hear his playing over some of the hollering by some jerks.

Then the president of the university went to the microphone and told the students this was not a basketball game, but the rude behavior continued. Those students had no concept of appropriate behavior.

Confucians, I thought to myself, would not act like that -- cat-calling during an artist's performance. Propriety, Li, is a Confucian virtue. The Confucian tradition, also called the Ru Jia tradition, has a lot to offer America.

Robert

How I got Hooked on Confucianism

I read a couple of books on Confucianism and was very impressed. The ideas were solid. I was very impressed that Confucius never claimed to have received his ideas as a revelation from god. Then I read "Boston Confucianism" by Robert Cummings Neville. This book presented the idea that a person could be a Christian and a Confucianist. I had to agree that I saw no conflict.

Neville's book made reference to books by a professor named Tu Weiming (sometimes spelled Tu Wei-ming). I read one of Dr. Tu's books and found it intriguing. Other professors made Confucianism seem like a relic from the past. Dr. Tu made it seem alive. I have read many of his books and I was hooked.

Now, Confucianism is not only alive to me, it seems to me to offer great hope for moving our country forward. We need to bring a commitment to ethical behavior back into the public dialogue. Confucianism, viewed as a philosophy or an ethical system, is well suited for public discussion.

Now I am promoting Confucianism for Americans.

Robert

Confucianism in America

I have not seen a blog about Confucianism in America, so I am starting this one.

I have a strong interest in Confucianism (Ru Jia). I ran for my local school board on a platform of Confucianist educational principles.

I've started a website to promote the application of Confucian principles, like the love of learning. The URL is:

http://www.timelesswayfoundation.org/

More later. I look forward to hearing your comments.

Robert