"Towards a conscience": Through practical practice and time, we will continue to cultivate ourselves into a person with a kind heart, ethical words and deeds, and a certain degree of reverence for "respecting God, loving others, and benefiting ourselves and others." , compassionate and philanthropic people. To put it simply: no matter what you do in your life, in the end, it is all to hone your soul to become more pure.

It is clear that life is not just a vulgar living in the material world and the ethical world, and there is a consciousness of pursuing higher levels of self-cultivation and self-realization. In Yangming’s Theory of Mind, “conscience” as a philosophical concept is somewhat different from what we usually call conscience. In philosophy, the concept of "conscience" comes from Mencius. Mencius' original words are "Knowing without worrying is a conscience."

It means that what people know intrinsically without thinking or considering it is called "conscience". Here, the transcendental nature of “conscience” is affirmed. The so-called transcendental nature means that relative to experience, conscience is an innate and innate rational consciousness that exists in our consciousness.

Because it is transcendental and has not been mixed and polluted by human acquired experience and consciousness, it is very pure. This is the original meaning of "conscience" in philosophy. In this sense, "to achieve conscience" is to teach people to get rid of bad artificial experience consciousness in the cultivation of mind, and return to the transcendental nature of human beings, that is, "get rid of human desires and preserve the natural principles", that is, This is what Zen Buddhism calls “knowing one’s mind and seeing one’s nature.”

Here, in terms of personal spiritual cultivation, Wang Yangming’s philosophy of mind affirms the superiority of the transcendental over experience. Of course, this is by no means a simple denial of people’s acquired experiences and experiences. On the contrary, in order to “reach a conscience”, we need to return to our transcendental nature, and to understand our true nature, we must hone ourselves in things. Extensive practice with experience.

It just means that the core position of the transcendental must be made clear, and the transcendental should not be buried with experience, and the natural principles should not be buried with the increasingly rampant human desires. On the contrary, affirming the transcendental nature of conscience does not mean that the entirety of conscience originally exists in our consciousness. It just means that everyone has the potential to realize the totality of conscience.

The seeds of conscience exist a priori in our consciousness. Only after being tempered and cultivated in the right direction can the seeds of conscience fully grow into towering trees. Finally, the so-called "removing human desires and preserving natural principles" is not a simple denial and abandonment of human desires and demands. Normal love between a man and a woman is in line with human nature, is beautiful and happy, and is in line with the morality of heaven and earth.

However, the eroticism and uncontrolled sexual desire other than the normal love between men and women are "human desires". They not only cause the failure of objective moral practice, but also lead to the inner failure of individuals. The failure of worldly and inner cultivation. If my motivation for writing this article is to win others to praise my knowledge, it is "human desire". I will not be at peace because of this vanity and desire.

So the so-called "get rid of human desires and preserve natural principles" means that humans, as spiritual and thoughtful spirits of all things, should get rid of the perceptual desires at the level of human animal characteristics and not be bound and enslaved by them. , give your own moral emotions and inner consciousness a rational freedom. In this sense, "removing human desires and preserving natural principles" is actually not only a moral issue related to the order of human ethics.

Essentially, it is a question about people’s state of existence and the emotional feelings of people’s inner world. Putting aside the level of ethics and morality, from the perspective of human self-cultivation, realization of the inner world, and experience of the state of existence, "preserving the principles of nature and eliminating human desires" and "developing conscience" are two different expressions of the same meaning. They all reach the realm of spiritual freedom after breaking away from the constraints of perceptual desires.

To "cultivate conscience" means to "preserve heaven's principles and eliminate human desires". Conscience is the law of heaven.

Extended information:

The influence and role of Wang Yangming’s philosophical thought of “To Conscience”

Wang Yangming’s epistemology and methodology of “To Conscience” and the integration of knowledge and action are of great significance to Economic development also plays a very important guiding role. Lu Zuofu, a famous Chinese patriotic industrialist, started from scratch and developed assets of hundreds of millions of yuan in less than 20 years. How did he develop? That is to treat employees as family members, with lifelong employment and unlimited benefit sharing. His business ideas come from Wang Yangming's wisdom.

Yangming’s theory of mind is a theory that uses conscience to judge right and wrong and implement actions. It is the most dynamic part of traditional Confucianism. Confucianism says that people have an innate kindness, and people are inherently good by nature. This idea points out a bright way for Chinese people's moral cultivation.

Therefore, Yangming’s Psychology has extremely high cognitive and operational value. It advocates the feelings of heroic deeds and inspires people to create great deeds and achieve moral perfection. This is of great significance to our current purification. Social atmosphere, cultivating selfless gentlemanly habits, and eliminating corruption play a huge role. This valuable philosophical legacy should be studied and carried forward by future generations.

Baidu Encyclopedia-To Conscience