Confucian School #3 - Focus on the Goal |
Copyright ©2021 December 21, 2021
Confucian School - Focus on the Goal
It is very rare for an individual to choose choices that agree with, support, and harmonize with one's goal. It is very common for people to want one thing, but the people continue behaving in opposition of the wanted thing. A modern example is of people believing that they want to solve global warming, but the same people continue living in big homes, driving cars, wasting electricity, using cell phones, and buying products made by companies that cause the pollution that is believed to cause global warming.
It is very common for people to want privacy and security while online, but the same people still use the wrong computer hardware, the wrong operating systems, the wrong software, and the people also uncaringly continue to use the social media and search engines that spy on the people.
When an individual's choice of outer behavior contradicts their goals, then the individual has self-created themselves to be a hypocrite who does not know what their goal's topic is.
'Zi say: Scholar ambition to way, and humiliation bad clothes, bad food, person not-yet worthy participate discussion.' (word-per-word draft translation of 里仁 Li Ren - Inner Benevolence #11)
Dressing oneself with clothing of the wrong ingredients and wrong sequences, results in oneself being ridiculed. Having confirmed one's core foundational goal, and yet not following-through with the correct choices of ingredients and sequences that support and harmonize with the goal, results in oneself being ridiculed.
If an individual wishes the world to live in harmony, then the individual must first become of harmony with himself. If an individual's goal is to have a paradise planet, then the individual must first cleanse the soil under their own feet. If an individual wishes to become a talented violinist, then the individual must first rid himself of all that distracts from his talent. If an individual wishes to accomplish his goal, then he must also choose which things will be permitted within his life.
'Zi Zhang ask uniform-virtuous person him way.
Zi say: Not walk-on footprint, not enter room.
(word-per-word draft translation of 先進 Xian Jin - Before Progress #20)
Humans are not identical, nor the same, nor equal. Everyone is different. Each individual's life is different. Each individual's goals are different. Each individual must exert the effort to choose their own choices, and to not follow the path of someone else's footprints.
Unless an individual's goal is to become a hermit living alone on a mountain top, then the goal also requires the individual to not enter a room where they have no contact with other people. An individual cannot be friendly, loving, nor outwardly virtuous towards people if there is no one near to be friendly, loving, and virtuous to. One's inward goal dictates one's choices of outward behavior.
Before progress of one's goal can be made, an individual must exert the self-effort to self-think, self-analyze, self-observe, and to self-critique how their own personal life relates to their chosen goal. Before progress can be made of choosing which items are to be kept within one's life, an individual must first know what the items are, how the items are made, how the items function, and how the items influence one's own environment. To achieve a good choice, requires that the individual exert a lot of effort to learn of a lot of things. No man can know if solar panels are an answer to global warming, if the man does not know how much energy was consumed to manufacture the solar panels, and how much energy that the solar panels are able to produce. A junzi knows that solar panels consume more energy to manufacture than what the solar panels are able to produce, but tiny people do not know, and yet it is the tiny people who say that solar panels are an answer to global warming.
It is not possible to eliminate pollution by buying more stuff. It is not possible to eliminate the pollution of one's goal by buying more stuff. The solutions are always of the same things: self-participation in one's own life; one's own self-analyzed choices.
'Zi say: Before make-progress of when social-custom cheerful-happy, rude people.
After make-progress of when social-custom cheerful-happy, junzi.
Like expenses-outlay, it then we pursue before make-progress.
(lightly paraphrased draft translation of 先進 Xian Jin - Before Progress #1)
Before progress can be made towards one's goal, first there is the investment of the self-effort to focus on the goal itself. Next is to self-analyze which things in life harmonize with one's goal, and to then eliminate the things that disharmonize with one's goal. The higher the worthiness of a goal, the higher the investment. The higher the investment, the more worthy the achievement.
Confucian School - Introduction
Confucian School #2 - Choose Who You Will Become
Confucian School #3 - Focus on the Goal
Confucian School #4 - Calm Center Wise
Additional pages will be listed at Confucian School.