Mencius said: "What is desirable is called good, what is fulfilled is called faith, and what is fulfilled is called beauty." ("Mencius: Try Your Heart") In Mencius' view, the generation of beauty is inseparable from goodness. . What is goodness? Pursue what your heart desires. So what is it that I yearn for so much? Mencius said: "The taste of the mouth is the same as that of seniority; the ears of the sound are the same as hearing; the eyes of color are the same of beauty. As for the heart, are there nothing the same? The heart is the same. What is it? It is called principle, and righteousness is the first thing that the sage understands. Therefore, reason and righteousness please my heart, just like eating grass." ("Mencius: Gaozi 1") Like the mouth and eyes, there is empathy. Although the specific things that each person pursues and yearns for are different, fundamentally speaking, what people pursue and yearn for are principles and principles. There is what is called faith in oneself. If one desires good and is able to physically do good, this is faith. Enrichment is called beauty, here it is not the enrichment of other things, but the enrichment of the good in the heart, that is, further improvement on the basis of "goodness" and "faith". However, it needs to be pointed out that “to interpret Mencius’ words as meaning that aesthetics is at a higher level than moral goodness may be to misunderstand Mencius’ original meaning.” ③On the contrary, the "beauty" here is based on goodness, and "refers to the harmony and unity of a person's spiritual life full of benevolence and righteousness and other beautiful qualities and the corresponding talent and appearance."

Source: Poyang Lake Journal