Textual changes LO22436

ACampnona@aol.com
Wed, 11 Aug 1999 15:57:37 EDT

Dear Learners,

The following comments are from "The Original Analects, Sayings of
Confucius and his Successors" E.Bruce Brooks and A Taeko Brooks. Columbia
Press. This work demonstrates for me a tentative model of the vast
'potential energy' that one can find wrapped in Confucius' known sayings
which only run from 14 paragraphs, and over two centuries of adaptation
developed through innumerous births and deaths to the ocean of thought
that is now simply termed Confucianism.

-"Besides frequent wars, we witness the growth of trade, the spread of the
means of learning, the rise of new bureaucracy, the elaboration of ritual,
the growth of technology, the invention of myth and the rise of 'little
people' as a factor in great affairs."- "In short a social and
intellectual tumult."

Sound familiar?

"The intent of these writings is at bottom ethical: to guide by
strengthening resolve, shaping conduct and by preparing for the practical
crises of life, -they convey; no less strikingly for being discontinuous,
a vivid sense of working toward the ideal, the humane, the public
outcome."

Sound familiar?

"The core facilitator was himself a failure in his professed ambition to
political influence, much of his thinking therefore if read
sympathetically can provide psychological support for the principled
individual in adversity, thus assisting such individuals to preserve their
capacity to contribute at some point in the future to society."

Sound familiar?

"By simply emanating and existing in the world the wider writings
constitute a different resource; serving as a plan for society itself in
which both leaders and led interact on a less adverse basis. This may
prove important for those with an eye on the long future."

Sound familiar?

"The collective wisdom herein then might become for many a faithful
companion on our common, ongoing journey."

Sound familiar?

Then, could we imagine a 'thought' from the future (;-)) AD. 2227
-something like this,

"What is striking is that the foundation of a threaded text that lasted
fully two hundred and thirty years began with 34 lines of original text.
It was and remains a journey of many steps, a tapestry with many stitches,
not one is the same; most astonishingly it seems to have a capacity to
keep unfolding itself."

Or to paraphrase Leo, 'thoughts meandering to a sea of ideas...'

Best wishes,

Andrew Campbell

-- 

ACampnona@aol.com

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