I personally like this Confucian proverb because I think it is really funny and I like the wordplay used. I also chose this picture and my title because we are done with Confucius but Confucianism is introuduced after Confucius ends his teachings so it thought it would be appropriate. For Information on Confucianism click on the link, Confucianism
Lets start with Book 15: At the beginning of this book I found three very interesting sentences. The first one, "I have never been able to do something for a person who is not himself constantly asking, "What should I do? What Should I do?"(15:16) I found This interesting for two motives. First what I interpret is that you must help yourself if you want others to help you. Second I notice that Confucius isn't going to do the work for you, you must work in order to receive help.
The next sentence that came to my attention was this one, "Is there one word that can serve as a guide for one's entire life?"(15:24) I think it is self-explanatory and you really don't need to know what my interpretation is but, I would really like to know what you think about this question (please comment below).
The third sentence and probably my favorite was right next to the other two, it goes like this, "When the multitude hates a person you must examine them and judge for yourself, the same holds true for someone whom the multitude love."(15:28) I personally love this quote because it is the truest of all. Before you make judgement on a person you must first see what he/she is like and not let yourself be judged by other's perspective on that person. I actually think this presents a fallacy (appeal to popularity) where you follow the crowds or in this case, the multitude's thinking towards what they think is popular. This reminds me of Michael Jackson's commercial for Pepsi.
Pepsi commercial
Book 17: Interesting Book, I have to admit. We are introduced to a very wise but questionable quote, "Only the very wise and the very stupid do not change."(17.3) This is one of the few quotes which I don't agree with. I think that even before everyone was constantly changing people were learning new stuff therefore change was inevitable. I think it would be stupid to assume that somebody doesn't, because we all do even if we do not notice it. Although some people may discuss that situations change and people stay the same but, that's a load of crap.
We can see that the Master isn't such a serious guy and he really cares if you are comfortable and happy, "Would you feel more comfortable then eating your sweet rice and wearing your brocade gowns?" "I would." Is that nice or what?
Book 18: Not a very interesting book to say the least. We just see the same ol' dialog, really monotonous. I did however, find a very interesting quote, "To avoid public service is to be without a sense of what is right." Think about this you people who think about avoiding public service. I know it might be boring but, it is our duty to do so. And plus, you don't want to disobey Confucius. He'll get mad.
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