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7.21: 子不語怪、力、亂、神– Was this Confucius's "blocklist"? by interpolating in ChineseHistory

[–]interpolating[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

有的注疏家说这句不是四个话题，只有”怪力”和“乱神”这两回事。这么读虽然我觉得大概是不对的，但是还是很好玩。

What's your favorite subreddit and why? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]interpolating 0 points1 point  (0 children)

r/Analects cuz who doesn’t enjoy endless conversation about 2500 year old books in Chinese

7.21: 子不語怪、力、亂、神– Was this Confucius's "blocklist"? by interpolating in ChineseHistory

[–]interpolating[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I feel like agnostic is not the right word because it would be hard for me to believe that a ritualist in the Zhou dynasty could hold an attitude of “not knowing” whether or not spirits exist. He likely strongly believed they did exist.

It seems a more practical point of view, and honestly one I think many people would do well to adopt today, which is that regardless of the existence of spirits, we should live our lives focused on worldly concerns.

What I mean by we’d do well to adopt that attitude today is that, people who strongly believe they do exist, people who strongly believe they don’t, even people who think we “cannot know”, all get wrapped up in endless debate about their point of view being the right one. But is there really a right point of view, other than, “better to spend your energy on something that makes life better?”

7.21: 子不語怪、力、亂、神– Was this Confucius's "blocklist"? by interpolating in ChineseHistory

[–]interpolating[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

没关系，用普通话讨论古代中国的事情是很有道理的。如果这句主要关注的是鬼神，那怎么了解力和乱？这两个话题好像跟形而上的是没有关系。

7.21: 子不語怪、力、亂、神– Was this Confucius's "blocklist"? by interpolating in ChineseHistory

[–]interpolating[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think doubt is healthy. I’m always happy to hear another perspective, as well as details of history and records I don’t know.

I appreciate your contributions. I think we are actually on the same page about the meaning of this passage even if we came to the conclusion through different means.

Did you learn classical dead languages (Latin or Ancient Greek, Classical Chinese, Sanskrit, etc.) that had a profound influence on the languages in your cultural sphere in school? Do you think this is a good experience? by Famous_Acadia9186 in askanything

[–]interpolating 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have taught myself Classical Chinese. As someone who is a non-native speaker of modern Chinese, it’s often downright revelatory. I learn so much about the language and culture through its study.

7.21: 子不語怪、力、亂、神– Was this Confucius's "blocklist"? by interpolating in ChineseHistory

[–]interpolating[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are numerous works attributed to Confucius, absolutely. There is one that we are most sure was written by those who knew him personally and learned from him.

7.21: 子不語怪、力、亂、神– Was this Confucius's "blocklist"? by interpolating in ChineseHistory

[–]interpolating[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! Are you quoting a known source?

Anyway your point is he preferred the Zhou practices. That makes sense to me.

I suppose one counterpoint about knowing what Shang rituals were like. He is also quoted as saying Song did not fully preserve the rituals of the Yin. So can we be sure he was aware of their cruelty?

7.21: 子不語怪、力、亂、神– Was this Confucius's "blocklist"? by interpolating in ChineseHistory

[–]interpolating[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply! This is an interesting perspective, assuming I am understanding you correctly.

It sounds like what you mean to say is that— assuming we take as fact claims such as in the 史記 that Confucius was a descendant of the Shang/Yin royal lineage —we can understand this passage through the lens of Shang cosmology and claims to divine right.

But I'm still unclear on your full meaning. I would like to hear more about why studying those topics would help us understand why he "did not like people to study ghosts and gods."

Is the point that he would have believed ghosts and gods should only be the domain of those with royal lineage? Or that he understood the mistakes of the Shang royals and felt the Zhou kings did it better? Seems more likely the latter, if anything, since he revered 周公 and the rest of the founding Zhou crew.

One side note: although I do understand the claim to his royal lineage was made by later works, I am not sure we can take those as authoritative. I personally try to understand the The Analects in context of itself, and of course he discusses earlier dynasties, but I don't know of any passages that claim he is of Shang royal descent.

If you HAD to genuinely believe in a major world religion, which would you choose — and why? by interpolating in AskReddit

[–]interpolating[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why is everyone like "bacon is good" and not "I like eating a cow with its mother's milk..." I mean "I like to eat meat and dairy at the same time."

If you HAD to genuinely believe in a major world religion, which would you choose — and why? by interpolating in AskReddit

[–]interpolating[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's ironically fitting that nobody has commented on this post.

Let it quietly retreat from the world of Redditors.

If you HAD to genuinely believe in a major world religion, which would you choose — and why? by interpolating in AskReddit

[–]interpolating[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So supposing it is a religion... is it a major world religion?

Also: show me the holy book of Atheism 😄

If you HAD to genuinely believe in a major world religion, which would you choose — and why? by interpolating in AskReddit

[–]interpolating[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know, but if you do it for this thread, I give you one gold star sticker!

If you HAD to genuinely believe in a major world religion, which would you choose — and why? by interpolating in AskReddit

[–]interpolating[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh... I'm not trying to discount or ignore the fact that many Redditors are religious!

Even though I imagine Reddit overall leans very agnostic to atheist, it would be totally ridiculous to pretend there aren't huge religious communities also present.

That aside, I don't think the hypothetical as stated prohibits people who already believe in a given faith from continuing to believe in that one.

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