Confucius and bravery.
Confucius was a philosophical and religious leader in China about 2,500 years ago. He only talked a little bit about God and heaven. Instead, he mostly taught about how we ought to live. He was especially interested in good government, believing that if our leaders are righteous, the rest of us will be all right. He spent some time as a government official, but the rulers didn’t want to listen to his instructions on ethics and right conduct, so he spent the last 18 years of his life wandering from state to state in China, trying to find a ruler who would listen to him. Then, after his death, his teachings were accepted throughout China, and the teachings of Confucius are still influential in China today.
During his years of wandering, Confucius was sometimes in danger, because some people really don’t want to hear about what they should be doing. Instead, some people want to live only for themselves, no matter who gets hurt.
Once, a ruler named Huan T’ui sent a band of men out to kill Confucius, and Confucius told his disciples, “Heaven planted worth in me; what harm can come of Huan T’ui?” (The Sayings of Confucius, VII:22).
Think about this. If God or heaven has a purpose for our life, won’t God show us a way to finish that purpose?
Confucius felt that God had called him to give his teachings to China, and Confucius called these teachings, “culture.” Another time during his wanderings, he came to a state called K’uang that had been ruled by a dictator. That dictator looked something like Confucius, and when he came into K’uang, some of the confused people tried to kill him. Confucius was in serious danger, but later he said, “Had Heaven condemned ‘culture,’ later mortals would have missed their share in it. If Heaven upholds ‘culture,’ what can the men of K’ung do to me?” (The Sayings of Confucius, IX:5)
Again, Confucius was saying that as long as God or Heaven wanted him to spread his teachings (or “culture”), God would protect him from the confused men of the State of K’ung.
These two events in the life of Confucius should remind us that “A Scout is Brave,” but courage is only one point out of twelve in the Scout Law. Bravery by itself is not worth much. Good bravery must be linked with a concern for other people, the concern we affirm when we say, “A Scout is Friendly,” “A Scout is Helpful,” “A Scout is Courteous,” and “A Scout is Kind.”
Confucius understood this. One time one of his disciples asked him, “Does a gentleman honor courage?” Of course, a “gentleman” was a person who followed the teaching of Confucius, and to “honor courage” means to think bravery is highly important.
Confucius replied, “Right comes first for a gentleman. Courage, without a sense of right, makes rebels of the great and robbers of the poor.” (The Sayings of Confucius, XVII:23)
Think about that a little
bit. There are all kinds of bad
people who are brave. You cannot be
a thief unless you are brave. You
cannot be a guerrilla warrior or terrorist unless you are brave.
Even though these people are “brave,” they do bad and destructive
things.
On the other hand, we may
believe good things, but unless we have the “courage of our convictions,” we
will never do any good in this world. Righteousness
is more important than bravery, but effective righteousness requires bravery.
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--meditation by Richard E. Davies (copyright ©2007).