 On Quietude It is universally acknowledged that quietude plays an important role in cultivating virtues and morality. The most popular precept in Chinese is Zhuge Liang’s line in Exhortation to My Son: Quietude cultivates virtue; frugality breeds morality. Mr. Wisdom, Kongming, attached importance to quietude in the development of a gentleman. But it’s a pity that Mr. Wisdom didn’t give an answer to the question why quietude can make a man gentle with his virtue. It is worth a little deeper discussion. The quieter you become, the more you can hear. Being quiet is the best way to listen to your inner voice, the sounds of your own soul. Following your inner voice, you can reserve your simplicity of your nature, which is good from the beginning, most of the philosophers and thinkers believe. And returning to the simplicity of your human nature, Lao Tzu proposed, can help you reduce worries in life: Express simplicity and embrace the natural. “Returning to the roots is called serenity” is his philosophy root. He called on human being to concentrate deeply on serenity, because by concentrate deeply on serenity, human beings are human beings, who preserve the primitive wisdom and thus they will be virtuous. Of course, Zhuge Liang was deeply affected by the moral principles of Confucius, who initiated the school of Confucianism, which argues that morality is based on cultivation of the pursuit of Knowledge, by knowledge, the school refer to not scientific findings but social order knowledge. That is to say, to be a good gentleman means being familiar with how to maintain the harmonious relationships such as King-courtiers, parent-offspring, husband-wife relationships. Different relationships need different principles and tactics under the guidance of being benevolent. From the point of view of Confucianism, being benevolent means you do things listening to your inner voice. To some extent, Confucianism agrees that you are created good. Mencius, who was later called Sub-Sage, proposed that the feeling of commiseration is the principle of benevolence; The feeling of shame and dislike is the principle of righteousness; The feeling of modesty and complaisance is the principle of propriety; The feeling of approving and disapproving is the principle of knowledge. The four feelings are from human nature, by which, he says, one knows Heaven. To serve Heaven, one is to preserve one’s mental constitution and nourish one’s nature. To nourish our nature, we should first of all “Know thyself”. Albert Schweitzer, who was a German-French philosopher, physician, musician and theologian, suggested that in quietude and solitude we find ourselves; we become aware of our own existence and learn to live with ourselves. Lao Tzu, as mentioned above, advocated that quietude is the master of restlessness. Silence is a source of great strength, he says. We usually associate strength with activeness, energy and being positive but Lao Tzu associates it with silence, which means quietude and solitude. “Remaining still with non-interference, then you will be the right leader for the world.” Deepak Chopra, who is an Indian-American author, also advocates quietude. He says: In the midst of movement and chaos, keep inside of you. He is not alone. Albert Einstein believed that the monotony and solitude of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind. His viewpoint tells us that the real power of a man lie in quietude but not in activeness. So, if we want to employ the power inside, we need to be still outside. This reminds me of an Chinese idiom: Still water runs deep. Great minds think alike. It is true. As a saying goes: in quietude, we find the space to reflect, to grow and to be. I want to conclude my article with a line from the Scripture: In quietude and confidence shall be your strength. Let’s find ourselves and our strength. |
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