Why I read philosophical books
Many kind friends and respected readers of my articles say that I am a
"philosopher", but I am not a philosopher at all, I read many philosophical
books, and especially about Chinese and Western philosophers, with the
intention to understand and practice how to live my daily life safely. In
other words, I do not for my career or for myself to climb up the social
ladder, because I have already an interesting profession as a medical
specialist. My goal is to live free and peaceful in this world with so many
challenges and problems of daily life such as physical and mental
annoyances, home care, problems in communicating with people, financial and
political problems, etc. I take as an example of what we often see in our
everyday life that people come together what they say love in a personal
atmosphere as in politics, but unluckily some people are separate by hatred.
They say that life and work should be separated? But we know
that you work for your bread to earn to maintain the life of your family and
yourself. According to Kong Fu Zi (Confucius) and his main follower Meng Ke
(Mencius): "a Qunzi (rational gentleman) will never let anyone do, what he
doesn't even want to do." Furthermore, they preached humanism, norms and
values (in the West was translated as ceremony), justice, reason, trust, all
parameters to civilize people. That is the only way to prevent excessive
lust, arrogantly and violence.
Follow the Tao is the teaching of Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, they
preached freedom and "do, by not to do, Wu Wei" or in other words, working
in efficiency. You may correct it only when it is needed. In this way, the
world will be peaceful and civilized. They learned that the pursuit of
progress under the leadership of certain leaders can lead to violence and
backward. One can think about the misery of civil wars in countries of
former Yugoslavia and Africa, First and Second World Wars.
Zhuang Zi said that the Tao of management could be misused by bandits or
armed gangs. Technology and management are very applicable to charities and
violence as well. On other hand, we see in nature the evolutionary tendency
and in social life was confirmed as reformation. I understand after
positive, happiness and negative, sadness and genocide experiences, some
wise people start thinking that the situation wasn't in order and it has
become for many reasons to change it for peace and development.
The English philosopher John Locke believes that we in every
daily life in dealing with people, we should not only rely on rational
arguments, may be it is because your reasoning could be wrong, and I would
consider that as a hypothesis and then it may not be feasible in practice.
However, you must rely on experience, which is more secure and verifiable,
because the life experiences are practical to everyday life.
Old and good cultures have learned how to handle with defeats. He, who does
not want to learn from his defeat, expects other defeats in the future. I
would take The United States of America as an example, there is the Korean
War, then followed the defeat in Vietnam War, and again other are the Iraq
and Afghanistan wars. The brilliant Chinese strategist and tactician Sun Zi
preached us that a country which is engaged in an endless war with an enemy
far from home, should be considered as a defeat! There are many problems in
this protracted, long term war to overcome. I will mention only a few of the
so many troubles as the difficulties to resolve the transport of the daily
needs of the soldiers and war equipment, the local people consider them as a
foreign occupation, fatigue and homesickness of the forces etc.etc.
Kong Fu Zi said that his teachings were based from the
experience of wise men of the Zhou dynasty, even he said: "I'm a
transsender." And I think beside his modesty, his knowledge and learning are
developed by hard study and the daily dialogue with the students. These
students have different cultural and social background. The discussions were
free and transparent with a solid regulations which is that everyone is
equal and they should retain their identities. A Qunzi (gentleman) is firm
and does not change his opinion under the influence of oppression, emotion,
passion, and lust. He is preparing to change his view by virtues and
justifiable arguments. The master said: "If I discuss with three peoples,
there are always things that I can learn from them." This is in contrast
with stubborn people.
Feeling influenced strongly people's thinking and could be very
difficult, by sense and oppression can reasons weakened. on the other hand
we know that a person without feeling is cruel. Therefore the
neo-confucianists preached that we have to be moderate and this theory is
called in China "Zhong-Yong or the theory of the golden mean." Isn't that
half blown flower the most beautiful?
Balance between reason and sense
Reason is essential for life
Do all things with your heart
There is enrichment of life
You will understand what life means
A balance of reason and sense
You can do everything and hurt no one
Happiness in the journey of life
is enjoying the scenery en route
Beloved and friends come and go
We have sung together music of our hearts
Let us not forget and re-sing the songs
They have a place in the garden of my memories.
Dr. Han Hwie-Song
Breda, 10 march 2009 The Netherlands
Dr. Han Hwie-Song
Breda, 9-3-2009 The Netherlands
