Ceremony and performance: pure-hearted ideas and political infighting

Righteousness, righteousness, benevolence and Tao.

A sincere ceremony

The chapter of the Rural Party in the Analects of Confucius describes Confucius' manners in various aspects, such as among the rural parties, on diplomatic occasions, in front of the monarch, in the sacrificial environment, at home and eating times, and so on. For example, after Confucius walked into the hall of the king, he bowed in awe, and the air became serious, as if he could not tolerate himself with a little slackness. Confucius always pays great attention to every small behavior, and he thinks that there is the way of being a man, etiquette and society, so he is respectful and unplayful.

These ceremonial behaviors are not expressions of natural emotions and original postures, but behaviors that are constantly modified and corrected, which mobilize higher reason, and then influence the original feelings and habits. I believe that Confucius' respect for the monarch is not out of flattery or personal gain, but from his inner identity, expectations and beliefs.

After everyone has a lot of experience, there will be more and more "performance". It is not the insincerity of human behavior, but the rational change of behavior. Reason to change behavior is to rely on the understanding of things, so that they have feelings for new behavior. Therefore, after recognition and understanding, human feelings will naturally come into being.

For people who do not have enough understanding, such as a person who simply does not understand what Confucius said or did, he will resent the actions of Confucianism, criticize them for being tedious, affected and hypocritical, and naturally will not understand the etiquette of what they do. If the times forced him to perform Confucian rituals, he would show them to people, but he didn't agree with him and had no emotion. Therefore, only with full understanding can the ceremony be performed sincerely; over time, the newly unfamiliar posture will become full of emotion.

The purpose of holding the ceremony is not only because you are convinced, but also because you want to attract others to understand your feelings, beliefs and status. Otherwise, it will be less fun for people to stick to a ceremony. In this way, a lot of our appearance and posture is for others to see, it is the externalization of our heart, but also the externalization of desire.

Political ritual

There are also rituals with a secret purpose. For example, politicians from different countries visit each other, and in order to show respect, the host will arrange reception etiquette for the guests, and the concierge team will take a few positive steps for the guests, increase the number of the team, and change the etiquette routines, so that the guests can enjoy higher honor. it's also an unconventional respect.

"it is unbearable to dance in court, but it is unbearable!" In the Spring and Autumn period, Sun, a wealthy family, arranged a music dance team of eight times 864 people. Confucius said the previous sentence when he knew about it. Because the 64-member dance team is the specification of the son of Zhou, Ji Sun is the subject of the State of Lu, two levels lower than the son of Zhou, and can only use the specification of Sifu.

Today, these ancient rituals seem out of date, but as mentioned above, every country is continuing the etiquette system, and even the civilian people are still using it. When we receive guests, we always murmur in our hearts what specifications to use, and each of us will ponder the wealth and wealth of the other. According to the level of status or the goal we want to achieve, we will introduce different expressions and demeanors, that is, the level of performance. Who's not having fun?

After Wang Mang usurped power, he built ceremonial buildings such as Ming Tang, Piyong and Lingtai, and Cao Cao built Bronze Sparrow platform after defeating Yuan Shao's family. is it just to pray for peace in the world? do they still have a hidden secret, that is, with the help of etiquette, ceremony, and architecture? to establish your own authority and legitimacy. When they personally participated in such a ceremony, Wang Mang and Cao Cao understood that their performance was of great significance, which was a major event affecting the world.

In addition to the above queue ceremony, modern countries also play a role of deterrence and humiliation by inviting guests from other countries to visit their own military equipment. On the surface, everyone is polite, but secretly they are invisible. When a politician is threatened and intimidated, he must restrain his emotions and continue to communicate in a civilized way. This is a struggle of civilization.

In short, etiquette is nothing wrong, it is a contest between the human heart and the human heart. If any etiquette becomes tedious and lifeless, it is time for it to die.

I also wrote two articles about rituals before:

Our hearts can't do without rituals.

At the beginning of the ceremony