Wisdom is the same

Philosophical wisdom is the same, otherwise it would not be true wisdom. The philosophies contained in the folk maxims of different countries and nations in the world often have similarities. If someone with a heart can compile a book like the Great Completion of World Mottos, it will definitely be beneficial to world cultural exchanges.

There are various schools of Chinese philosophy, and there are hundreds of schools of thought. Although they have their own opinions, many of the principles contained in them are comparable. “Book of Changes: Xie Xie” says: “The sage has the ability to see the movement of the world, and to see how it will communicate.” Sima Qian also said: “The world is the same but has a different path, and is consistent and has a hundred concerns.” It is not only Chinese philosophical thought that has similarities. There are also similarities in the philosophical wisdom of all countries in the world. Just looking through the history of Western philosophy, we can see the same wisdom expressed in different languages. This is true both in ontology, epistemology, and life theory. Why? Because people are people living in society, they are faced with the relationship between man and nature, the relationship between man and society, and the relationship between man and self. These three relationships can be said to be relationships that people in any society will inevitably encounter. Therefore, the experience involving these three relations, and the philosophy that is its ascendant wisdom, must have something in common. In the West, water, air, fire, and earth are taught, and in China, the five elements are interrelated, and the principles are similar.

Both in China and abroad, in philosophical thought, the world outlook and the outlook on life are related. The world is a world including people. How a person views the world must determine how he views life. If the world is regarded as an unreal world, then life will be regarded as a fleeting cloud, so the outlook on life is often negative. Because it is difficult to carry a positive and optimistic life on the basis of a nihilistic non-real world. Likewise, the view of history determines the view of life. If history is unreal, then what is the difference between being a good person and being a bad person, and between the ages and ages? In the eyes of some people, the so-called historical evaluation is just the evaluation of others, and has nothing to do with the real history, because history has no objectivity, no laws, and there is no difference between moving against the sky and moving with the trend. luck. Those who do not believe in the objectivity of history and the laws of history must only pursue happiness in the present, and who care about the floods after death. A nation without a sense of history will never feel guilty for its wrongdoing, and a person without a sense of history will never have a sense of shame, because history dies with his death. Tocqueville said that when the past no longer illuminates the future, the human heart will wander in the dark, and this is what he said.

Not only are philosophies similar, but the customs of different countries and nations are also common. Customs and habits have the most national characteristics, but because human customs are inseparable from their own lives, there may be similar worship, but only in different ways. Water is the source of human life, so there is the Water Splashing Festival. The Dai people in Yunnan and Myanmar have this custom. Fire is very important in the production and life of human beings. Not only in the West has the myth of Prometheus stealing fire, but many ethnic minorities in China, such as the Yi, Naxi, Hani, Lisu, etc. also have torch festivals. Hanging high, red lights shining brightly, costumed carnival.

In short, whether it is philosophical thinking or customs, different countries and nations have their own characteristics and similarities in this regard. The “harmony but difference” advocated by traditional Chinese culture is our highest wisdom in dealing with cultural differences in the context of world cultural diversity.

(The author is an honorary first-class professor at Renmin University of China)

——-
This article is from: https://ift.tt/WSDibBN
This site is only for inclusion, the copyright belongs to the original author