Confused Philosophy: My take on the world of philosophy - An Intro - Confucius said what?

in #philosophy7 years ago (edited)
Confused Philosophy

So if you think this is an introduction into the world of philosophy let me stop you right there, and explain a little further. It's not. Since joining Steemit I have loved reading the #philosophy tag more than any other. So much so that it has encouraged me to delve further into the subject both on Steemit and other sources.

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This series will follow my self introduction into the world of philosophy and associated thoughts. Philosophy as I am finding, is an interesting yet never ending subject that could take a lifetime of energy with no hope of mastering it, but given the Greek meaning of the word philosophy is "love of wisdom". The aim was never to master it but to continue to learn from it. I do hope that my thoughts will provoke thoughts in you that will make there way to my comments and in turn will spark additional thoughts in me.

Did you know, it is said, that Confucius the best known Chinese philosopher never wrote one of his philosophies down? Makes you have to wonder how accurate the translations were given that any verbal transfer of information is open to interpretation by the person recording and then those translating it. 300 years after his death these principles became the basis for state law until the early 1900's and are still worshiped by followers world wide as part of Confucianism.

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Haven't they ever heard of the game "Chinese whispers"?

Have you sat in a circle and whispered a sentence into someones ear, for them to pass it around the circle until it reaches you again? It's a game known by many names, played by many children worldwide. No matter where its played when the whisper came back to you, you were lucky if it resembled the initial sentence.

Now you may say well that's children and to see just how much of a part that played I tried it as part of a team building exercise when working in the corporate environment. Thirty of the top paid employees across my division were split into two and given a sentence each to pass around. The group at the end of the challenge closest would be the winner. It was a disaster, we couldn't even pick a loser as they were both as bad as each other, so chocolate all round.

Now I am not saying there is anything wrong with following these teachings, only that you have to wonder if the way we interpret the teachings is the way it was initially intended. As if a group of high paid executives can't get a short sentence correct in the same room, how can we guarantee that his disciples who gathered all his philosophies for The Analects didn't add their own twist not to mention the potential translation errors across languages.

How often do you believe what you have heard, without talking to the person it involves? Have you ever acted on that knowledge, only to find out later that it wasn't what you where told?

The aim for this post series to engage with other Steemian's and develop relationships while challenging my thoughts. If you would like to join me on this journey and be part of the adventure don't forget to follow me @insideoutlet. My hubby @shai-hulud is also worth a look in and has a wonderful Alphabet Adventure series going.

If you find value in my work a upvote and/or resteem would be greatly appreciated, although never required to read and comment on my post. I look forward to getting to know you all better while debating the in's and out's of life itself.

Welcome to 2018!!! A year for the love of wisdom!

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A wise man once said: "When read a good post you do, upvote you must."

Umm, I'm not sure who said that...Yoda maybe? :)

Yes, you have to wonder how things passed along by oral tradition evolve :) I always find it very interesting reading translations of poetry as well, because each translator frames it slightly differently... So your favorite quote from someone may not be what they intended to say at all!

So true. Even if it was written word for word. There would still be our personal influences that would affect how we perceived it.

There is the apocryphal World War I story of an order being passed down the trench: "Send reinforcements, we're going to advance." At the other end, the command was "Send three and fourpence, we're going to a dance." And yet we won!

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

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Confucius say man that chases car gets exhausted but man that runs in front of car gets tired

Haha funny husband! 💜

Great post! It makes me think of news outlets today and how from station to station we can get very different versions of the same story, all depending on the slant of who wrote it. I know many old books that we rely on for history and religion were written many many years after the event, and yet we take it for granted that the stories reported are mostly accurate. But in the end, we have to take that leap of faith and hope that the original moral of the story is still there, even if some things have been added in over time. Anyway, Great thoughts! I look forward to reading more of your writing! :)

Thank you for taking the time to read it and comment. As they say never let the truth stand in the way of a good story.. We can only hope you are correct and the moral of the story is still intact.

The real problem with history, of course, is that it is only recorded by the victors.

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

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Thanks for a well thought out post. I learn in Korea and face the influence of Confucius everyday.

What is they sound of one hand clapping? Feel free to stop by my blog^^

Haha thanks for checking it out. I saw your post about #busy today or yesterday. I've followed you now.

Thank you. I have posted in busy a lot since then. Come aboard the groovy train.

This is a nice one! I never thought about these ideas as being altered of the pass of time, but this is so much likely. Maybe this is one reason why we have so many religions about the same God. It is also in philosophy apparently... @originalworks what do you think?

The @OriginalWorks bot has determined this post by @insideoutlet to be original material and upvoted it!

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To call @OriginalWorks, simply reply to any post with @originalworks or !originalworks in your message!

Thanks Andrew. I'm excited to see where this line of thinking will take me. I don't think your far off the mark with the God thing either. There are so many similarities between then it does make you wonder.

Really nice introduction well done look forward to brain in a vat

Chinese whispers. LOL
I’m going to check out the philosophy tag - thanks for the recommendation.

Haha... Your welcome, my favorite at the moment is @tarazkp. :-)

i like a lot this post! 15 years ago i read a Confucius book. about spiritual laws amazing one! blessings, i love the idea for create education posts with steem it

Its a great place for education.

yes it is. i love it steemit

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