tmccarthy0's picture

    Confucian Me: Regaining my Center In a World Gone Mad

    By tmccarthy0 on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 11:01am |

    From the Desk of tmac... to the World

    Long ago, in the 1990's while I was in graduate school the first time I wrote my thesis on Confucianism and  Post-Modern Environmental Philosophy, especially in conjunction the musings of Aldo Leopold in The Land Ethic.

    Chinese Environmental Thought: from the Confucian to neo-Confucian Eras, yes this is the title of my first Thesis.

    Lately the US has gone mad, absolutely completely, batshit crazy, insane, mad, seriously. Racists have emerged from their shells to accuse the President of crazy things. The President is a socialist, Marxist, communist, fascist, Manchurian, Indonesian, Kenyan, Muslim, undocumented working, usurper, oh wait and according to a new viral video, he is also a Saudi! My god our President, he is one amazing fellow. You all have seen this crazy video, right?

    Even when I go to blogs anymore, so many are filled with hatred and racism and illogic and fear, it is almost too much to take so lately, I hide away. I don't want to fight anymore, especialy with people I essentially agree with, yet our own society, right now fights with one another as though we are mortal enemies with nothing in common. Yet what we have in common is our own humanity. I think we must return to some respect for humanity, before we can once again, return to our respect for one another, even when we disagree, vehemently. I will do this by returning to my roots, (no I will not let my hair go grey...) I will return to optimism and laughter, and remembering our humanity, because this is what ties us together as one with the earth which gives us our breath, gives us our lives, if we can live in unison, without such anger, we might have a chance to save ourselves from ourselves.

    So I started by doing several things I've wanted to do, obviously I've started up my massive bike rides again, those do put me in a place where I feel my Qi is back where it should be, Qi is an active principle forming part of any living thing.

    In the Analects of Confucius, compiled from the notes of his students sometime after his death in 479 B.C., qi can mean breath, and it can be combined with the Chinese word for blood (making 血氣, xue-qi, blood and breath), and that concept can be used to account for motivational characteristics. The Analects, 16:7, says:

    The [morally] noble man guards himself against three things. When he is young, his xue-qi has not yet stabilized, so he guards himself against sexual passion. When he reaches his prime, his xue-qi is not easily subdued, so he guards himself against combativeness. When he reaches old age, his xue-qi is already depleted, so he guards himself against acquisitiveness.
    I am trying to accomplish things that make the world a better place, just by doing things that make the world a better place. I can only do these things by insisting I change myself, and I can impact the world slowly this way. Because as I change so changes the world around me, I may impact it in small ways, helping someone with their groceries, buying lunch for someone who is out of money, spreading as much good in the world as I possibly can, as opposed to blaming others for the way the world has turned out, when in fact I am as responsible as any leader for what the world has become. In reality we are all responsible for what the world has become, but I can only take responsibility for myself and my actions and this is what I intend. We often blame our leaders for the many mistakes we have made ourselves, we blame others because accepting responsibility is hard, in fact it is so difficult we rarely if ever accept our own complicity and responsibility for what ails the world. Real change takes place on an incremental level, so small we can't tell, but we see in history how many positive changes as humans we have made. This is what Confucius told us, this is the philosophy of life, we have our own butterfly affect, but as post-modernity has arrived, we are further and further from accepting our own personal responsibility for the way the world is, because we seek to blame others for what ails our world, and in reality what ails us as human beings. We are our own problem and I intend to go back to my philosophical roots and always remember, I can control me, I can affect the world in with a positive force. I do it by not fighting any longer on blogs, or with nuts on the ferry, or with my father, I do it by remembering me, remember I have ultimate control over my own happiness, I seek to strengthen my Qi.
    I seek to love you, even if you don't love me. Be Happy, it will change your world.
    Who is riding with me today??? Anyone, Anyone, Bueller????

    Comments

    I love the spirit and optimism of this post, and I love your determination to rise above the fray. You are so correct in your description of the polarization, and I am so sick of the dearth of humanity and compassion.

     

    Friday night, as I rode with my husband toward our rural Missouri home, we happened upon a dog sitting on the side of a lonely stretch of road. As soon as we passed the forlorn creature, I told my husband to turn around. He grumbled and complained but obliged me.

     

    We pulled over where the dog sat, and I could see it was a large yellow labrador-retriever. He was crying but just sat there. I called him over gently, and he moved toward me haltingly. When he got closer, I spoke sympathetically and reached out to pet him at which point he practically threw himself in my lap, wagging his tail joyfully, and licking my face.

     

    I coaxed him into the car, and we took him home, where we gave him food & water, played with him, and put him to bed in our pantry. He was strong and healthy, and obviously belonged to a loving owner. Around his neck was a collar used in conjunction with an underground-fencing system. So he was intelligent too, having outsmarted the faux fence.

     

    Saturday morning, we took him to our vet, who unsuccessfully scanned him for a identification microchip. With our vets help, we placed the dog with our local humane society, which will find his owners -- or a new home.

     

    Friday night as my husband was grumbling about having to turn the car around to pick up the stray, he had a minor meltdown, informing me, "You can't save every dog," a reference to the half dozen other mutts I've taken off the streets in the last couple of years.

     

    "You're right," I argued. "I can't save them all. But I can save this one."

     

    This morning as he headed to the office, he asked casually if I'd be calling the humane society about the dog. "Why?" I asked him.

     

    "I want to know what happens to him," my husband replied.

     

    My reminder to the world: a little empathy goes a long way.


    by Linda Tilsen (not verified) on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 11:30am

    Linda, thanks... your story made me cry, for that poor puppy and I guess really for us. I feel like you do, I can't save everything and everyone, but I can change me, and that changes the world.  And your husband like mine is softhearted and sweet, he just doesn't want anyone to get wind of that.

    That was such a beautiful story, I hope everyone reads it.


    by tmccarthy0 on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 11:39am

    Thanks, Teri.

     

    The story about the dog reminds me of the post-Holocaust phrase of the righteous: "He who saves one life saves the world." Of course that's a reference to human life, but I respectfully submit it should apply to domesticated animals as well, whose very existence is a result of human interference with nature -- a situation people and people alone caused.

     

    If it's true that we created the problem of stray dogs and cats, it's also true we should be able to find a solution. Making my own small contribution to that effort helps elevate me above the fray too.

     

    :-)

     

    Thanks for this wonderful post, and have a great week!


    by Linda Tilsen (not verified) on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 12:05pm

    UPDATE: The Southeast Missouri Humane Society informed me this morning that the yellow lab's owners picked him up and took him home Sunday.

     

    YAY!


    by Linda Tilsen (not verified) on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 1:17pm

    Double YAY!


    by Ramona on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 2:37pm

    Woof.


    by Donal on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 2:52pm

    I am so happy that the dog has been retreived by her owners, that is the best news of all. I just want to update everyone with a last few thoughts on Regaining My Own Center.

    We all recharge differently. I like quiet. I turn off the TeeVee, and have for weeks now, (except for Chuck and Burn Notice!). Hahahahaha, but everyone knows I love Bruce Campbell. I remember to smile at everyone I see, I quit reading comments at news/ezine sites once they get vitriolic, and to be honest, I feel now I've read everything there is to read at in those sections, at times they still shock me, once they get racist, sexist, homophobic. It makes me so utterly disappointed in humanity.

    I try to remember it’s better to be happy and do my part and I keep reminding myself that life is short, much to short. I have to always remember to surround myself with the things and people I love. I try to remember to take advantage of every opportunity granted to me. I remember I live on and on through my children, grandchildren (whenever they come), nieces, nephews, and we live on and on through their families future families, just as our relatives before us live on and on through us. I want to remember to treat humanity with the gentleness and respect they deserve, simply because we live on the earth together. It is the only thing of worth I have to offer, that can spread on and on through-out society, I hope. I know it is the small step that makes the biggest change.


    by tmccarthy0 on Mon, 11/08/2010 - 6:01pm

    I am tired of alot of the bullying that I read on blogs.   I often wonder were all the nastiness has come from.   I find myself laying low.   News on cable even bothers me because so much of it repeated selfishness.  When will people finally figure out that we are all in this together.   


    by trkingmomoe on Tue, 11/09/2010 - 3:06am

    I agree momoe, I am tired of it, and when will people realize we are all in this together. I don't know, someday, I hope, I have more faith in my kids generation than I do in my own.


    by tmccarthy0 on Tue, 11/09/2010 - 10:40am

    Thank you for this post Teri! It's amazing to see how far you have come since we first met at TPM. Back then it seemed like you were spoiling for a fight. You sorta scared me a little. I like the new, kinder, gentler terri a lot, in fact I often find myself in awe of you!

    I'm finding more and more that I just can't take all this fighting. I despise what those self-righteous people are doing to this country, but all the arguing in the world isn't going to change them. However, having said that, I am frustrated with having such a limited amount of ability to influence the larger population. I have a hard time rolling over and playing dead. Setting a good example and being a bright light in my extremely small portion of the world seems so inadequate given the enormity of the problem. But, I guess we have to start somewhere, and if millions and millions are doing it, maybe it will make a difference.

    Frustrating times we live in.

     


    by stillidealistic on Tue, 11/09/2010 - 12:02pm

    Yeah, just getting back to me stilli, it took a couple of years though. You know we've all been fighting since Lewinsky and the first government shut down, that is when things took a turn for the worse in our ability to communicate with each other. It hit me suddenly, I just didn't want to be them anymore, I didn't want to contribute to our spiral of hate. I finally decided it just isn't worth fighting with each other. Our humanity suffers for it, and I'd think about my degree and how hard I'd worked to get that philosophical place, the thoughtful place, and how much we all lacked any of that, and it was just time to get past everything, and forget about politics as a combat spot, and get back to me... still snarky sometimes, but I am not mad anymore, not at anyone. I just figure if I don't participate in ugly, I can't be affected by ugly. So far so good! And I keep in mind I can only make me better.. and that should be good enough.

    Thanks for coming by, and here is hoping we can all get back to something good in our lives, even just by remember we live, therefore we must work towards something better.


    by tmccarthy0 on Tue, 11/09/2010 - 1:11pm

    Latest Comments