When Fan Chi asked about it, Confucius said, "I know the meaning of serving the people and staying away from ghosts and gods." When asked about benevolence, he said: "A benevolent person can be said to be a benevolent person because he suffers first and then gains."
The first sentence in the book explains that respecting ghosts and gods means respecting a value, and staying away means not believing in ghosts and gods. I don't know that I don't believe in mysterious power, but I believe in ghosts and gods, and I lack rational spirit. There is both faith and reason, which is wisdom.
God, I have read this passage several times and think it is too logical. I wonder, how to explain this view? I think of a point, which is death education.
Our family is free and open, and there is no superstition. There is naturally no taboo for children to go to the grave to worship or attend funerals, but my parents-in-law are superstitious and will have scruples.
My grandfather died before New Year's Day in 20021year. I took my little daughter from Shanghai to attend his funeral in Wenzhou during the New Year's Day holiday.
As the eldest daughter, I am naturally not afraid of my grandfather, but the ceremony at the funeral also makes us feel awe of the deceased, letting us know that this is a serious matter and is actually conveying a value.
My daughter was involved in the whole process. She saw the old man being carried from home to the funeral home, and then stayed there for two or three days. After that, many people came to attend the final farewell ceremony, all of them were my grandfather's relatives and friends, friends, colleagues and apprentices, and then waited for the remains to be cremated, and finally brought out an urn.
Then everyone was sent up the mountain together, my daughter was held, staring at the last brick in the cemetery, the stone tablet was erected, and finally everyone burned incense to say goodbye.
Naturally, she was puzzled. When she was at home, she watched so many people coming and going. I didn't see Mrs. O come out of the room. Before the farewell ceremony of the funeral home began, she finally saw Mrs. Tai lying there. She couldn't understand why Taitai was lying motionless and asked me quietly in her ear.
Finally, when she saw that the bricks were all tired, she asked again: Does Mrs. Tai sleep in them? Isn't he black?
Through these, she respects and fears death. We will tell her that our beloved Taitai was tired and needed to sleep all the time, and he passed away. People will continue to accompany us in another place when they die. We are safer with Taitai's blessing. Besides, we visit him every year to tell him something and share our joy with him. I hope my daughter can understand this natural thing objectively and rationally.
My son sometimes asks us if there are ghosts in the world, and we will say, maybe there are, maybe not, because we have never seen them, but if there are, I think they have never hurt us, but they may be silently protecting us.
This paper introduces the Travel Notes of Dream Ring, which is a good animation of death, affection and affection education. After watching this animation, children will not be afraid of skulls. In the play, Mexico's Day of the Dead has neither tears nor sadness, and the atmosphere is peaceful and joyful.
Every country has its own festival to worship ancestors. Such a festival is not mysterious or terrible. It is just to express the memory of relatives and friends in the past, but this matter is too important to be casual.
Children can experience death from this animation and understand that death is not a permanent farewell, but forgetting. To do what Confucius said, there is both faith and rationality.
In this sentence "Away from ghosts and gods", the author says that when Confucius answers questions, he answers them according to the questioner's own characteristics or shortcomings, rather than defining things.
Because here, "away from ghosts and gods" refers to "knowledge", that is, wisdom, not that wisdom is only away from ghosts and gods. His answer is a targeted explanation of Fan Chi's character weakness.
I understand "away from ghosts and gods" here, not to say that this sentence can only be used to interpret death education. If we sublimate ghosts and gods into beliefs, there can be many aspects.
For example, the pursuit of career success requires both faith and rationality. The pursuit of inner spiritual growth also requires the combination of faith and reason. It seems that everything can be applied.