"Real Knowledge Is to Know the Extent of One's Ignorance" - Confucius

Ignorance

If you are a successful degree holder, or you have already your master's degree in the line of profession that you chose, or PhD, how far do you know everything? Does real knowledge be measured from achieving the highest degree of education? 

There are billions of heads in this world, billions of heads with billions of brains. If, for the sake of argument, 60 percent of 6 billion heads achieved what I stated above, how can we define the other 40 percent balance of the 6 billion heads? 

Assuming that the 40 percent of the world population (not including infants and children of course) are not as learned or educated in academics as you are, do they be considered ignorant? This is my understanding with this proverb.

"If We Don't Know Life, How Can We Know Death" - Confucius

Nothing in this world that can be seen that has no end. Life cannot be seen and so it has no end. Life is "added" to our material body to be called "alive". When our "time" comes, the life that we have to keep us alive will leave us...and so we're dead. Our "life" leaves our material body to be rotten 6 ft from the ground, and only our bones left that will not rot. It is another story why our bones will not and never rot. God has a purpose for that. I won't discuss it here because I know each of us have our own belief. Let us respect each other's belief.

I will just give an example why life is added to our material body to make us alive. A man who met a head on collision through car accident was thrown out from his car because of strong impact when his car hit the street light post. People rushed to the scene of the accident, and they saw the man lying down, bathe in his pool of blood. One person in the crowd saw that the man is still alive, but either one of the crowd can touch the victim because they have to wait for the police and paramedics. It is in the law that in such incidents, only those with authority can touch the victim. Immediately, somebody from the crowd called the police.

"It Is Better To Light One Small Candle Than To Curse the Darkness" - Confucius

Kerosene Lamp

Darkness separates the day, and the light of the day separates darkness. God had already created that way so darkness should not be cursed. 

We all know that there are two kinds of darkness. Darkness because of separation between night and day and darkness which pertains  to the dark force. I don't know much about the other darkness, with the little knowledge that I have, I'd rather not talk about it.

Confucius taught us not to curse darkness, and really we should not. God created darkness, or we call it night, for us to make use of it as a time to rest. At sunset, we can see the slowly changing of the light of day into night or evening. 

"When Anger Rises, Think of the Consequences" - Confucius

Anger

We are all bound to get angry when something is wrong. Anger, if not controlled can ruin everything, and to regret as soon as anger cools down, is entirely useless.

Consequences of uncontrolled anger in family issues. Violence that can lead to physical and emotional pain. Disrespectful feelings towards the person who is angry especially if the anger resulted into physical and emotional pain. A broken home if problems cannot be solved. Stow away children if they can't find peace in their home and choose to find a place for them where they can find peace. 

"The Cautious Seldom Err" - Confucius

To err is human, to forgive is Divine. I just continued the second phrase because "to err is human" is always followed with "to forgive is Divine". 

Caution should always be practiced so that we can minimize errors. But to what extent should you use caution in your life? The practice of being cautious is important to avoid damage, accidents, and other incidents that can harm your life, or others' lives especially in accidents. However, caution should be practiced in a case by case basis...depending on the situation.

In business, caution is important to minimize losses. But there is also another saying that "a fear of risk shall never win", and you cannot learn without making first a mistake or mistakes. For you to succeed, you have to go through a lot of trial and error. True that it is costly, but the knowledge and expertise that you achieved while learning from your mistakes is more than worth the money that you lost.

"A Journey of A Thousand Miles Begins with A Single Step" - Confucius

A single step

YES! Your single step, step with no support started when you were 4 - 5 months old. You can already do your single step but your support is just beside you in case you stumble...and that is your mother. 

This particular proverb is a reminder for us that no matter how we have gone too far in our journey, we should not forget that "single step" where we had started. You should not forget that single step that although you had already a strong knee to pursue what you want in life and reached that goal, had it not been for that single step with the support of your mother not to stumble, you should not have reached even a hundred miles of your journey.

"You Cannot Open A Book Without Learning" - Confucius

A book is like a vast storage where knowledge of everything is written. It is from a book where all information is stored. True that we don't need too much books now to read in order to learn everything around us because with just a click of a mouse, we can now know what we want to know. Even then, in the Internet, posts that are published online have references that comes from a book or books.

How can you open a book when you don't know how to read and understand it. Like an alphabet that starts with "A", you have to "learn" first how to pronounce your ABC, which is taught by your parents. That's the first step. The second step, you have to learn how to completely pronounce the 26 letters of the alphabet, still taught by your parents. From your birth, you have to wait for 4-6 years before you can learn how to write the alphabets. You cannot start your elementary grade until you reach the age of 6-7 years old. In your first grade, your teacher will slowly teach you how to read words using flash cards. You will spend 6 years in your elementary grade to be able to read and understand what you are reading. Depending on your IQ, or if you are a slow learner, maybe 6 years in elementary is not enough to be able to understand how to read even a pocket book. 

"Never Give A Sword To A Man Who Can't Dance" - Confucius

What is the meaning of this proverb? It is really deep and I can't find the answer. I took a rest, have some sleep hoping that as soon as I wake up, I have already have the answer. After I woke up, I have an idea but I am not really sure if this is the right answer.

Never ask a person to do something that is against his will. If you do so, you will be in trouble. 

"Everything Has Beauty, But Not Everyone Sees It" - Confucius

This proverb is very much applicable and seen in life. The most difficult thing to do is "to see what you can't see in your physical eyes". Sometimes it's true that first impression is lasting especially if the beauty of what you see is right before your very eyes, but there are exceptions which we all know very well.

One example is a book  with a very nice cover that you can't refuse to buy in a bookstore. You bought that book because you want to include it in your collection of books. As soon as you reach home, you throw yourself in a couch and lying down, relaxed with your two feet stretched in the arms of the couch, you begin to flip the pages. You are just excited what's interesting inside the book that you can't wait to see all the pages. As you go on reading, you slowly feel disappointed because nothing much of the contents are interesting. Until your excitement disappeared and you felt sleepy. When you woke up, you picked up the book that dropped on the floor which slipped off from your hand when you fell asleep while reading. With dismay, you threw the book  in the corner where you put the other books that you are planning to discard. And so the book that you had once been attracted by its beauty because of the cover is there now waiting to be thrown or burned.  

"The Strength of A Nation Derives from the Integrity of the Home" - Confucius

My late Aunt, a Grade lV teacher, always say "education comes first at home". This is very true. The very first word that you learn comes from your home. Your first teacher/s is your mother or father. Before you step your feet at school, you already know your ABC.

Another proverbial saying "know them by their fruits". I remember my late brother, when he was still in his young age, my father used to scold him because he has an attitude of being hot-tempered, impatient and moody. My father told him that "from whom did you duplicate that kind of attitude"? My late brother answered him back by saying "a mango tree will not bear a tomato fruit". It was a sad memory between a father and a son, but it proves that the proverbial saying is true.

A house is not called a home because it is just a structure built from materials. A house can only be called a home when a person, persons or a family is living in it. But what kind of home is a home?

"Never Contract Friendship with A Man That Is Not Better Than Thyself" - Confucius

It took me hours to think of the meaning of this particular proverb of Confucius. What did he mean with this?

If you make a contract friendship with a friend, are you going to find out first the level of standard he has? If you know fully well your standard does not meet his standard, are you going to just back off and find another one? Does this proverb points us to the "harmonious balance" that Confucius always stressed during his time?

This is how I understand this proverb if I think it on the negative side. I don't know if my reader agrees. If I make a contract friendship with such a friend, there will be no balance between us because where knowledge is concerned, I know more than him. There are possibilities for me to be demanding, to always look down on him, will seldom listen to his ideas, might be disrespectful to him...and so on. Respect between the two of us will not exist and the break-up as friends is inevitable that in the end, we shall end up as enemies.

"Respect and Good Conduct" - Confucius

Public Domain, Link

Confucius' Chinese name is K'ung Futzu which means "master king". In history, it has been told that his parents gave him the name K'ung Futzu because, when he was born (531-479 B.C.), it was foretold that he would be a king without a crown.

Confucius was one of the greatest Chinese philosopher who taught his followers to help others, to value the family and to respect others. 

How many of us keep and observe the teachings of Confucius? 

His philosophy and teachings at a time of great disturbance in China was really great that it is not about religion that shrines and temples were erected in his honor. He helped the Chinese people during that period of great disturbance to enlighten their hearts through his teachings to bring peace and order in his country. 

To respect for their ancestors and parents, work hard, and good conduct was very important. He taught that if everyone did their duty to the emperor and behaved well, the country could be strong and at peace.