CHAPTER XXI
EDUCATION IN VALUES AND
SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT
SHI ZHONGLIAN
Education in values and spiritual enlightenment are the two wings on which the human spirit can soar, or the two wheels on which human civilization can advance. Though both are absolutely necessary, in the actual process of historical development humankind attends to one and loses sight of the other, whence comes a series of problems. Neglect of education in values leads to nihilism, renouncement of the world and anti-culturism; too much stress on education in values, dogmatism, formalism and scholasticism brings thought to a standstill and causes the spirit to wither. So, establishment of a proper relationship between education in values and spiritual enlightenment in accord with the historical experiences of mankind and earlier theoretical thought on this issue should be the main task of philosophy.
EDUCATION IN VALUES
Education in values is a perpetual concern peculiar of humankind. Unlike animals, human beings acquire the ability to adapt to circumstances, mainly not by hereditary instinct, but by learning. From primitive times, human beings began to impart their knowledge and skills to their posterity, although there were at first no permanent educational institutions or standard educational methods and systems. With the progress of human civilizations, the content of education has been increasingly enriched, and educational methods and systems continuously perfected. The degree of educational development is in direct proportion to the level of the evolution of civilization. Therefore, education can be regarded as a sign of the prosperity of the civilization of a nation.
In essence, education is in values, that is, the imparting of thought, knowledge and skill beneficial to human beings. What is called value is the usefulness of an object to a subject; it reflects the relation of need and satisfaction between subject and object. Education is a means by which the needs of subject are linked with the satisfaction of object. As needs are multi-leveled and the properties of the object are manifold, the values which people seek are varied and the subjects and contents of education are extremely manifold. But all education must be imbued with a certain value, and must evaluate and recognize values: it is the search for values. Even religious or moral education uses a certain kind of values to mold one’s morality and personality. No matter how universal the kind of value, it serves only to satisfy the specific needs of the subject.
It must be pointed out that value education not only meets certain practical needs of the subject, but also enlightens and develops the human spirit. The human spirit has unlimited latent potentialities and can be enriched and filled with wisdom, but it achieves its powers only by being watered culturally by various values, and by moral cultivation guided by certain values. For instance, history records not only the vicissitudes of nations and states and the behavior of villains despised and detested by later generations, but also the merits and achievements of great minds which command admiration and inspiration. The thought, feeling and activity of historical figures are linked with the destiny of a society, a state and a nation. Therefore, the study of history not only concerns the processes of development of societies and the past experience of humankind, but also cultivates one’s collective consciousness and broadens one’s field of vision and breadth of mind. If one observes society and life with an historical vision, one’s heart can beat with the rhythm of society, state and nation. The natural sciences, not only provide theories and knowledge about nature, but also discipline man with strict, methodical thinking and keen, exact insight. In short, the achievements of culture, which manifest all kinds of values, are both products of human creation to meet their needs and means by which human beings understand, remold and develop themselves.
For this reason, from ancient times to the present, the human spirit has been trained and developed mainly through imbuing cultural and educational values, but the binding of the human spirit by culture and the relativity of values has been neglected.
As a system of values, culture is both an expression of human creativity in certain circumstances and conditions, and the formalization and fixation of human creativity according to the need of the subject. As such in its essence culture is a shaped creation. Cultural products can enlighten man forever; but as a fixed form of creativity, cultural products lose their positive meaning beyond the particular time and place in which they are needed. Becoming outmoded they bind human thought.
Because of spiritual inertia, men are used to conventional ways of living and thinking, and to the established and fixed models. At the same time, custom and education make culture the existential environment of man and inculcate the spirit of a particular culture. This creates his way of thinking and psychological habits. Consequently, the cultural products made by man to meet his needs become his yoke.
There is a hierarchy values. Max Scheler, a German phenomenalist philosopher, held that there are four grades of values proceeding from low to high: pleasure, the vital, the spiritual and the religious. The highest value is that which endures and has the highest independence. It satisfies a person to the greatest extent and has little bearing on natural feelings. Obviously, a spirit which remains with the inferior value cannot develop to a high extent and enter a lofty realm of mind. The search for, and addiction to, such low and vulgar values as the mad satisfaction of carnal desires lowers one’s temperament to the level of animals. Low and outmoded values often become the fetters of human spirit and stifle human subjectivity and creativity.
Even such high values as religious beliefs and ethical ideas also can limit the development of human spirit. Christian belief in God has led many people to renounce the world. In the Christian era, belief was higher than reason and divinity higher than personality, which resulted in a loss for the human ego. In the East, such Confucian moral ideas as Ren (benevolence) and Yi (righteousness) taught people to submit tamely to, and advocate actively, the patriarchal hierarchy, though they also enabled people to do good and become morally good. As for the suppression and devastation of personality by these moral ideas, Chinese critics from Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, Ji Kang to such representatives of the May Fourth Movement as Chen Duxiu and Lu Xun, all have made full and scathing exposures and criticisms.
SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT
It follows that the development of spirit and culture cannot depend wholly on education in values. This must proceed with continuous spiritual enlightenment. Spiritual enlightenment breaks the deception and binding imposed on the human spirit, in order to recover its original vitality and creativity. In the East, the philosopher who earlier than anyone else advanced the task of spiritual enlightenment was Lao Zi. He said: "In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped."
1 "The pursuit of learning" is education in values; "The pursuit of Tao" is spiritual enlightenment. Lao Zi set one against the other; he negated the former and affirmed the latter. "The pursuit of learning" is the absorbing and accumulating of knowledge; but "the pursuit of Tao is unceasingly to reduce the deception human spirit by value. In view of the dilution of mind by all kinds of values, Lao Zi pointed out, "The five colors blind the eye; the five tones deafen the ear; the five flavors dull the taste; racing and hunting madden the mind; precious things lead one astray."2 Only by "Washing and cleaning the primal vision,"3 i.e., by cleaning one’s mind thoroughly can one grasp Tao and acquire supreme consciousness. Lao Zi said "Give up sainthood, renounce wisdom."4These words did not mean to negate knowledge and culture, but to break away from the binding of a certain value upon the human spirit in order to maintain in one’s mind a state of supreme clarity and brightness. Therefore, Lao Zi’s sayings that "In the pursuit of Tao, everyday something is dropped" and "give up sainthood, renounce wisdom" were not claims of obscurantism, but, on the contrary, advocated spiritual enlightenment.
Zhuang Zi and his followers grasped the essence of Lao Zi’s doctrine of "the pursuit of Tao", and adhered to the basic orientation of Taoist philosophy: i.e. they devoted themselves to spiritual enlightenment. The Zhuang Zi school which was most concerned with the freedom of mind and the extension of spirit made every effort to eradicate all obstacles to the freedom of the mind. In ancient times, no other person could so fully and thoroughly expose the psychological factors and values which hindered the expansion of the human spirit. Zhuang Zi held that the common people admire "a man who creditably fills some small office, or who is a pattern of virtue in his neighborhood, or who influences his prince to right government of the state."
5 But according to him, the human spirit must transcend those values. He thought: "The perfect man ignores self; the divine man ignores merits; the true sage ignores reputation."6 He considered ego-centricity, exploits and fame to be heavy burdens on the mind, and regarded the clearing away of these things as the way of spiritual enlightenment. Zhuan Zi’s followers pointed out twenty-four factors which must be broken with: They said:
7Honors, wealth, distinction, power, fame, gain — these six are entanglements to virtue; mien, carriage, beauty, arguments, influence, opinion — these six disturb the mind; Hate, ambition, joy, anger, sorrow, pleasure — these six are entanglements to virtue; Rejecting, adopting, receiving, giving, knowledge, ability — these six are abstractions to Tao.
Although even certain intrinsic, necessary functions of spirit were negated by the Zhuang Zi school, their intention was to relieve the disturbances of mind caused by desires, to free the mind from enslavement by feelings and to lead it into the realm of freedom.
Wang Bi, one of the founders of New Taoism in the Wei (220-265) and Jin (265-420) dynasties, and who regarded nonbeing as noumenon, refused to define and limit the noumenon. His aim was to get rid of the burden of all kind of values over the mind. Later, Ji Kang advocated the "Transcending of ethical code, and complying with Nature." This view was intended to overcome the greatest obstacle of spiritual freedom, i.e., the patriarchal ideas and systems in politics and ethics. Therefore, the historical mission of New Taoism in the Wei and Jin dynasties was spiritual enlightenment.
In the Confucian school, the philosopher who noticed the obstructors to mind earlier than anyone else was Xun Zi. He discovered that any idea or thing can become an obstruction to the mind. He said, "Desire is an obstruction, as is detestation; the beginning and end, the far and near, extensiveness and meagerness, the ancient and the present, all these are obstructions."
8 He summarized his thought as follows: "So long as all things on earth are distinct, they all might become obstructions to each other. This is the origin of the common ills of the mind."9 Actually, the obstructions appeared because of the value of an idea or thing rather than the difference between ideas or things, for the value of a thing fascinated men. Although Xun Zi did not point this out explicitly, the abundant instances — cited by him in his theses titled as Jiebi (elimination of obstructors) — of the descriptions suffered by men in politics and mind indicated that it is value which is unduly admired by men that becomes an obstruction of the mind.
10Obstructed by utility, Mo Zi ignored decoration; obstructed by desire, Song Zi ignored virtue; obstructed by law, Zhen Zi ignored the role of the worthy; obstructed by rhetoric, Hui Zi ignored reality; obstructed by nature, Zhuang Zi ignored man.
This paragraph not only summarized precisely and succinctly the advantage and weakness of each school in the Warring States (475-221 B.C.), but also demonstrated how values become obstructions to thought. In order to clear away these obstructions, Xun Zi advocated: "Desirefree, detestationfree, beginningfree, endfree, nearfree, farfree, extensivefree, meagerfree, ancientfree, presentfree."
11 His practice was similar to Zhuang Zi’s as was its meaning, that is, to break the bonds of the mind. However, unlike Zhuang Zi, he stood for "showing all things all-sidedly and selecting what conforms to criteria."12 He called for opening the mind to all kinds of values and making a selection. This attitude was more reasonable and desirable than was Zhuang Zi’s nihilism.Wang Yangming’s idealism stressed that the original substance of mind is void, intelligent, bright and self-conscious, and that there is nothing in the mind. This theory was belittled as Chan’s philosophy, but its real meaning was to avoid the obstruction of mind by values. Zhan Ruoshui, the famous idealist in the Ming dynasty held the same view as Wang Yangming. Later, Wang Yangming’s idealism was accepted by other factions of the Confucian school. For instance, Gao Panlong was a follower of Donglin in the later period of the Ming dynasty, and advocated Cheng’s and Chu’s rationalism in Neo-Confucianism. He held also: "There are no affairs at all in the mind,"
13 and stressed this argument in order to establish a foundation for philosophy. The objects which the neo-Confucianists intended to clear away were mainly "lusts" and "selfish desires and interests"; they wanted to eliminate all desires which run counter to Confucian ethics. However, Wang Yangming’s doctrine of "Nothing in the mind" may lead in theory to the negation of all values and hinder the development of the human spirit, including even some basic principles of the Confucian school, for instance, the first "Cardinal guide", i.e., that ruler guides subject. In fact, since the middle period of the Ming dynasty the Chinese enlightenment has used this doctrine as an ideological weapon.
THE COMBINATION OF VALUES AND
SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT
Therefore, spiritual enlightenment has been an important issue to which since ancient times Chinese philosophers have always paid great attention. Education in values and spiritual enlightenment are the same as regards the development of the human spirit and culture, but differ in method: the former instills values while the latter breaks the bonds of the human spirit; the former is mainly construction whereas the latter is mainly destruction. As for the quantity of knowledge, the former is increase, while the latter is decrease; in grasping the external world, the former strives for increase, while the latter strives to lessen; and in education the former stresses teaching and receiving, while the latter emphasizes eliciting and consciousness. Both are necessary for the development of knowledge, culture and spirit; they cannot replace each other. However, people often are confused about the functions of the two, and substitute one means of spiritual extension for the other.
The most common substitution is the reduction of spiritual enlightenment to education in some religious, ethical or philosophical values. In advocating revelation as the basis of belief, Christianity demands that the judgement between rightness and wrongness, good and evil, justness and unjustness must be in accordance with God’s decree brought to light in the Bible. In the East, spiritual enlightenment as the task of moral education was essentially the inculcation of ethical ideas such as Ren (benevolence)and Yi (righteousness), in order to cast off the yoke of selfish desires and interests. The European Enlightenment overthrew the spiritual domination of Christian theology and the political rule of feudal autocracy by establishing the value of reason. However, a particular value, no matter how high, can in no way replace or do away with spiritual enlightenment.
For instance, reason played a powerful role in criticizing obscurantism and autocracy in the Middle Ages, in the development of science and democracy, and in the modernization of Western societies. However, after the practice of reason for 200 years, reason has been found to have created a new spiritual domination and alienation of man. Some point out that reason separates the true from the good and the beautiful, science from ethics, and transforms man into an abstract concept disregarding human feeling. As a result of the rule of the abstract laws and principles of logic and mathematics over everything, human ideals and subjectivity disappear. Horkheimer and Adorno note in Dialectics of Enlightenment that in order to liberate human beings from terror, Enlightenment reason established autonomy, but the world marked by the enlightenment shows signs of disaster. From the beginning the spirit of the Enlightenment contained factors latently harmful to freedom, which might lead even to totalitarianism. In the process from myth to logic, thinking has lost its ability for self-reflection, reason has been materialized into scientific technology, and languages, philosophies, weapons and machines all have become means for ruling people. The dialectics of the Enlightenment moved to the opposite of its own goal, so learned men led society to a state of barbarism. According to both philosophers, the havoc of Fascism and the calamities caused by the Second World War are clear proof of these statements.
Another tendency in the relation of education in values and spiritual enlightenment is to stress spiritual enlightenment exclusively, in the belief that education in values might obstruct free spiritual development. In the West the representative of this tendency was existentialism; in the East it was Taoism. Existentialism holds that the subjectivity of human beings is supreme; it must not be limited and bound by any value. Taoists advocated resolutely that the human spirit should not hold to any idea or value. The negation of the need to inculcate values will lead to nihilism which either fosters blindness of mind, or brings about a passive, inactive outlook on life. The former is characteristic of existentialism, whereas the latter was the end result of Taoism.
Thus it is clear that overstressing the role of either education in values or spiritual enlightenment will lead astray culture and spirit so that people will fall into dire straits. The way to escape this predicament is a combination of spirit enriching and developing itself with values and at the same time searching incessantly to realize higher values. On the one hand, the spirit must not separate itself from values, but always rely on their support and guidance. On the other hand, the spirit must not allow itself to be bound by former ideas, but constantly and perpetually engage in new explorations of the true, the good and the beautiful. In this way, nihilism, relativism and blindness can be avoided, while dogmatism, absolutism stagnation and ossification of the thought can be prevented.
NOTES
1. Lao Zi: The Daode Jing, ch. 48. See Tao Te Ching by Giafu Feng and Jane English (New York: Random House, 1972).
2. Ibid., ch. 12.
3. Ibid., ch. 10.
4. Ibid., ch. 19.
5. Zhuang Zi, Xiao Yao You (transcendental bliss). See Chuang Tzu: Taoist Philosopher and Chinese Mystic, tran. By Herbert A. Giles (London: Mondala, 1980).
6. Ibid., Gengsang Chu.
7. Ibid.
8. Xun Zi: Jie Bi (elimination of obstructors).
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Huang Zongxi, Mingru Xuean, Donglin Xuean (1).