Xunzi
If human nature is evil, how can we attain goodness?
📝ONGO's Reflection
Vivid still is my astonishment at discovering, behind the cold phrase "the doctrine that human nature is originally bad," the ardent passion for education in Xunzi. I had misunderstood him as one who viewed humanity pessimistically. But his true meaning was a powerful affirmation: that we must face our selfish nature head-on and ceaselessly refine ourselves through acquired learning and ritual propriety (li). His teaching to tend faithfully each day the field of the mind, which runs wild with weeds if left alone, comes through all the cooler and clearer in this shifting age where raw emotion runs rampant.
"Wood that is straight enough to hit a plumb line will bend if you steam it and force it into the shape of a wheel."Xun Kuang, Xunzi
"나무가 먹줄을 좇으면 곧아지고, 쇠는 숯돌에 갈아야 날카로워진다."
🌱Apply It Today
Today, don't let the selfishness or irritation that suddenly rises within you run loose; govern it with conscious effort and courteous conduct, and build your own order.
