Analects Books 7,8,11

What Confucius Wants

Since I started reading the Analects, I wondered, who really is Confucius? What is he really trying to teach and say about life? How does he relate to humans?

There seems to be a stable and direct conversation among his students, and the Master, and though it’s not mentions within the Analects (or at least what I have read so far), I can conclude that in the physical, he can be quite similar to people.

But then again, how do we know, whether these teachings are being taught on Earth? Confucius is, in a way "superior" than his students...therefore making him a God. We will never know, about appearance, as it is probable for it not to be included within the Analects.

7.2 The Master said, “Remaining silent and yet comprehending, learning and yet never becoming tired, encouraging others and never growing weary—these are tasks that present me with no difficulty.”

We can tell how the Master is wise, how Good and patient must he had to be with himself, to be able to achieve what he did. He is capable of thinking extremely, by himself, capable of always learning and liking it, of encouraging others.

So, The Master differs from humans, in a way in which he can think and idealize without needing to speak, how he is always keen to learn, and encourage others. Humans, kids, do get bored in class, at school, and tend to ignore that what they are being taught is somehow important. Because of jealousy, because we are afraid that they might be superior than ourselves, we sometimes don’t encourage people to do what they want, what is right.

7.3 The Master said, “That I fail to cultivate Virtue, that I fail to inquire more deeply into that which I have learned, that upon hearing what is right I remain unable to move myself to do it, and that I prove unable to reform when I have done something wrong—such potential failings are a source of constant worry to me.”

Now this is what The Masters feels bad at doing, feels worried about it. Perhaps humans do it too, so we are similar, in some way that “both of us” make mistakes. And though we are both fully aware of them, the difference is that we humans don’t care, while The Master understands what he has done, and how gravely it is for him.

In one word, we can tell The Master is Goodness. He is giving us—or giving his followers—a good example to follow, a representation of what must be done, or what must not be done, and how if we ever do it, we shall recognize it and be worried about it.

8.9 The Master said, “The common people can be made to follow it, but they cannot be made to understand it.”

Who are these common people, so unlike him, The Master? Maybe he wants his followers to be able to understand “it”, therefore wanting them not to be common people. But then again, he can be the “it” and is asking the common people to follow…?

I will keep understanding what The Master truly wants as I keep reading the Analects.