East Asian lessons remedying American exceptional thinking

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How to solve the Alienation problems of interpersonal relationships

Confucian Lessons

In America, there is many type Alienation problems of interpersonal relationships, like the war veterans’ alienation caused by psychological trauma, Alienation of family members, Alienation of immigration and aborigines and Alienation of the relationship between different skin races. The psychological trauma caused by war and the existence of the life between the troops and the real life has led to a strong and difficult to adapt to the feeling when they return to life, This negative state has led to their inability to integrate smoothly into normal life, which has led to their uncomfortable communication with the average person, thus creating alienation of interpersonal relationships.[1] The alienation of relationships between family members is often caused by inappropriate communication channels between parents and children. As the child grows up, the child’s mind will lean toward the self-centered direction. If parents do not establish timely communication channels with their children, it will easily lead to the alienation of parent-child relationship. Alienation of immigration and aborigines or between the different skin race is caused by differences in culture, language, and values. And these problems may indirectly lead to social instability.

So how can we solve these Alienation problems? If we turn our eyes to the East, we will find that the ancient Eastern countries have been working to solve such problems. An interpersonal relationship is one of the core issues that Confucianism has always paid attention to. Confucianism puts forward " Self-Cultivation, Family Regulation, State Governance, Bringing Peace to All Under Heaven[2]", which points out the importance of maintaining interpersonal relationships to govern the country and society. It also clarifies the focus of correctly handling interpersonal relationships. Confucianism advocates, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, faith. Benevolence refers to people and people care for each other, righteousness refers to have the risk and responsibility, courtesy refers to always respect others, wisdom refers to master the objective laws of things and understand the thoughts of others, faith refers to Treat others with sincerity and not deceive others. Therefore, if we focus on cultivating character in this aspect from an early age, everyone in the society recognizes such a concept, and the alienation of interpersonal relationships can be solved.

However, since the traditional Confucianism was proposed thousands of years ago, Confucianism also has limitations in the times. Many of the contents may not be compatible with today's modern society, such as restrictions on the status of women and absolute obedience to orders from superiors, these are not what our modern society should pursue. Therefore, when we study Confucianism, we should carefully discern whether the content adapts to the times, use dialectical thinking, select the beneficial parts of the district, and ignore the bad parts so that the wisdom of the ancients can be better for us

 â€œå„’家思想”的图片搜索结果



How to solve the Deterioration problems of the natural environment

Taoist Lessons

   Recently, the US government’s attitude toward environmental issues has also been criticized. On June 2, 2017, President Trump of the United States announced the official withdrawal of the Paris Climate Agreement at the White House Rose Garden. The world’s largest and strongest country withdraws from this agreement that is conducive to environmental protection, making everyone feel disappointed.

Former US President Barack Obama immediately criticized Trump’s announcement of the Paris Agreement. Obama, who has strongly promoted the signing of the Paris Agreement, condemned the Trump administration’s move to "reject the future."

The leaders of France, Germany and Italy have issued a joint statement rejecting President trump's proposal to restart negotiations on the Paris agreement

Catherine McKenna, Canada's environment and climate change minister, said Canada was "deeply disappointed" by President trump's decision.

Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland also condemned President Trump’s decision.

A UN spokesman said that this was a major setback for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote global security.

Trump announces the withdrawal of the Paris agreement, the international community is disappointed. BBC NEWS. https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/world-40129266

Former Vice President Al Gore, who was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for efforts to educate about global warming, called Trump's decision "a reckless and indefensible action".

"Trump is betraying the country, in the service of Breitbart fake news, the shameless fossil fuel industry, and the Koch brothers’ climate denial operation. It’s sad," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and co-chairman of the Senate Climate Action Task Force, in a statement.


Now, it’s too late to let the United States revoke this decision. But if President Trump learns Chinese Taoism from an early age, then maybe none of this will happen. In dealing with the relationship between man and nature, Laozi is very advocating and paying attention to the harmony between man and nature. Laozi believes that man is part of the natural world, that is, everything in the world, and all human actions should conform to nature. This idea is Laozi’s harmonious thought of heaven and man. Throughout history, it can be said that the earliest and most systematic proposal for environmental protection in response to nature is Laozi. The so-called harmony between man and nature is actually the unity of man and nature, that is, the formation of a harmonious and unified organic whole with human beings, rather than the separation of people from the heavens and the earth, and even the opposite. Human beings can realize the harmonious development of human beings only by recognizing the harmonious unity between man and nature and adapting to and obeying the laws of nature when dealing with nature.

Lao Tzu believes: "If you know how to be satisfied, you will not be humiliated. If you know how to stop, you will not be in danger." That is, asking humans to remove extreme behaviors, remove extravagant behaviors, and remove excessive behaviors, and must not ignore the laws of ecological development. Infinitely plundering natural resources and at the expense of destroying the ecological balance to obtain short-term benefits. The resources of nature are limited. Human beings cannot arbitrarily plunder indefinitely. They need to be carefully protected and cherished to create and form a harmonious ecological balance. Human beings must be temperate in gaining benefits, and they must know how to know and know. Only in this way can we reach the realm of harmony between man and nature, so that people and nature can live together in a harmonious environment in order to achieve the long-term development of mankind itself.

Laozi also discussed the serious consequences of not respecting nature and not acting according to the laws of nature from the opposite side, in order to oppose human beings to impose their own subjective will on nature and arbitrarily conquer nature. Lao Tzu said: "If you do not understand the laws of nature, it will often lead to disasters and dangers." If human beings violate the laws of nature, they will be punished. Nowadays, the environmental problems caused by human beings against the laws of nature are getting more and more serious, which fulfills the warning that Laozi made unreasonable mistakes 2,500 years ago.

Today, when the human living environment is severely damaged and the trend of re-respecting nature is rising, it is undoubtedly far-reaching to relive the idea that Laozi and man are harmonious. We should acquire and apply the ecological wisdom of harmony between heaven and human from Laozi's Tao Te Ching, and pursue harmony between man and nature, that is, people and nature live in harmony.




  Stabilizing the interpersonal relationship between people is an important foundation for maintaining social stability. At the same time, protecting the natural environment from the development of human civilization is the necessary action for us to help our civilization develop for a long time. If the United States wants their American dream can be realized one day, I hope that they must pay more attention to these two aspects to prevent the American dream from falling short.


“道家”的图片搜索结果

 Reference material: KEY CONCEPTS IN CHINESE THOUGHT AND CULTURE, NBC NEWS, BBC NEWS, WIKIPEDIA, Tao Te Ching, The Analects of Confucius 
[1] Social alienation. WIKIPEDIA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_alienation
[2] KEY CONCEPTS IN CHINESE THOUGHT AND CULTURE.
     https://www.chinesethought.cn/EN/shuyu_show.aspx?shuyu_id=2196

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