Day 14

My physics teacher in secondary school was a very interesting person and to engage us, he would drop a little philosophy along the way. It sparked my interest in the field but what we shared in the classroom was the beginning and the end of my brief stint with the former.

So, when the Chinese lecturer said that we would be covering Chinese Philosophy, she immediately caught my attention. We covered Confucianism, Taoism, Moism, the Legalists, Logicians and also Buddhism.

Confucianism represents the collected teachings of the Chinese sage Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 BC. His philosophy concerns the fields of ethics and politics, emphasizing personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice, traditionalism, and sincerity. The teachings of Confucius weren’t only spread throughout China but also neighboring countries like Korea, Japan and even Vietnam.

Having humanity as its core, the teachings of Kong Zi can be classified into the following categories for Confucianism: Humanity, Rite, Rectification of Names, Doctrine of the Mean, on the Heaven and the Spirits and Government by Virtue.

Okay, I shall not be longwinded and type out things that anyone can Google. I love the teachings that were brought up during the lecture. It showed me that we’re all better off as realists and being wicked towards each other wouldn’t do anyone any good. People nowadays are shallow and go to great extents to achieve or strive for unimportant achievements that don’t even guarantee them a good job with a high paying salary. Sure, you’re book smart but you need street smarts to get around too.

Reflection: Different religions and racial groups exist everywhere. In Singapore, we have the Chinese, the Indians, Malays and Caucasians/Eurasians and there are obvious differences among us all in terms of appearance. However, the way we act have is rather homogenized and besides the skin color, the only difference would be our religions. Because we've been living with each other for so long, it has been cultured that we develop sufficient tolerances and have grown seasoned towards the different practices of the different racial groups.

Like the 2nd NE Message:
We must preserve racial and religious harmony.
We value our diversity and are determined to stay a united people.