Confucius on Communication
We all eat and drink, but who knows flavour?
Defining a “moral life” is a fraught task for a Confucian historian. Readers bring their cultural and personal baggage, so words must be chosen carefully for a project the writer can seldom know the success or failure of. A conscientious translator, such as LinYutang, will take pains to draw back the curtain on the uncertainty of translation and admit freely that it is almost impossible to really know with certainty the full meaning of isolated commentaries. Understanding anything of the thought of Confucius means considering the moral life closely but sharing what we believe brings more challenge.
Confucius remarked, “I know now why the moral life is not practiced. The wise mistake moral law for something higher than what it really is. I know now why the foolish do not know enough what moral law really is. I know now why the moral law is not understood. The noble natures want to live too high, high above their moral ordinary self; and ignoble natures do not live high enough, i.e., not up to their ordinary true self. There is no one who does not eat and drink. But few there are who really know flavour.”
We will never know the context or setting as such was not handed down to us. Who was the audience, and is Confucius responding to questioning? His tone might have been combative, raising his voice over hecklers responding to his roasting of the wise and powerful. He might have been venting his struggles with an intimate group of friends. Musicians playing softly in the background, everyone has already had a bit too much to drink. Confucius sighs heavily, and says, “Now I understand what I wish I’d known before. Why is it so hard to be understood?”
This could be about the difficulty of communication and accepting that we are always going to be misunderstood in some small way in everything we say and do. Our languages are not up to the task. Our cultures distort unseen all sides of conversations. Is it even possible to bring a mind open and empty of expectations to any encounter? There is nobody who does not crave understanding and to be understood, but few who bring the patience and humility to come close.
[Author’s Note: Quote taken from The Wisdom of Confucius by LinYutang. A must for any student of the culture.]
Great piece, wonderfully written! I've never thought of it from this angle. Very unique perspective!
Paul, very clever of you to introduce such a deep and important conversation and keep the article so short! Raises many questions.
"This could be about the difficulty of communication and accepting that we are always going to be misunderstood in some small way in everything we say and do. Our languages are not up to the task. Our cultures distort unseen all sides of conversations."
How indeed can we begin to read and understand not only across the boundaries of cultural perspectives but of time!
Important to remember that only in the west do we refer to this tradition by the name of one man - in China it is not called Confucianist, it is 儒教 Ru Jiao, or Ruism. 儒 is usually translated as 'scholar' but it has its roots in the Zhou kingdom, meaning someone who mastered the rituals.
Confucius himself declared "I follow the Zhou".
The term 'confucius' and 'confucianism' originated with the Jesuits when they were in China in the 16th century, latinizing the name孔子 or Kong Zi.
As to who Kongzi was speaking with, we can be reasonably certain that at least two of Confucius' disciples were there, as he namechecks them in Book Four, where this discussion of morality and virtue take place. Line ten talks about Disciple Zhen - who was Zhen Shen, or Zhenzi, a politician and military strategist who is then recorded as explaining Confucius' meaning to other disciples.
The other one, Ziyou, not only namechecked but given his own speech in line 26, "Ziyou says" ( same grammatical construction as "Confucius says" ).
So we can assume that Confucius was talking to his students and disciples, all learned and apparently 'virtuous' men, some serving as government officials.