What is the golden mean? As the name suggests, it seems that the golden mean is the right way, because "the golden mean" means neither slanted nor slanted, neither left nor right, nor extreme, just like the appearance of the "son of the boss" - one point added is too long, one point taken away is too long. Short, applying vermilion is too red, applying powder is too white; just like the riddle of "tickling", "top is top, bottom is bottom, left is left, right is right, heavier is heavier, lighter is lighter," it means "just right", which is just right. The good thing is that such a way is naturally a good way and the most correct way. But once it is related to the specific facts, it becomes completely different. Whether it is the "doctrine of the mean" or the Confucian way, it is not the correct way we call it. It is not the real golden mean. It is just a preemptive use. The term "moderate" is used. Let’s put metaphysics aside for now and look at what the true golden mean is on some specific issues.

In politics, there are two extremes that are inconsistent with the mean, one is anarchism, and the other is authoritarianism. Gu Hongming used "worship of the masses" and "worship of power" to illustrate these two extremes, which is very appropriate. The golden mean between these two extremes is naturally democratic centralism, which is of course centralism based on democracy, not democracy based on centralism. The economic structure that is the basis of politics also has two extremes. One is the liberal market economy and the other is the planned economy. The golden mean for these two extremes is naturally the market economy with macro-control. Keynesianism is such a relatively Moderate stuff. On moral issues, there are two extremes. One is unconditional absolute loyalty, filial piety, sincerity, trust, etc.; the other is unconditional absolute disloyalty, filial piety, sincerity, trust, etc. The former can be called Slave philosophy, the latter can be called bandit philosophy or tiger and wolf philosophy but it is still not quite appropriate, because bandits and wolves are also moral. The golden mean between these two extremes is naturally relative morality. This morality is based on common interests and is a means of competition. If the world were a slave philosophy, there would naturally be no problems like the "Prisoner's Dilemma", nor would there be game theory or information asymmetry. The same is true for the gangster philosophy, because there would be no cooperation at all at this time. Just like what Qian Zhongshu said about "two handles and multiple sides", there are many similar aspects and extremes, too numerous to mention.

"Heaven and Earth are kings and teachers", "Three Cardinal Principles and Five Constant Virtues"... In Confucian philosophy, the so-called "golden mean" means obedience to the emperor, superiors, ancestors, and parents. On the contrary, disobedience, resistance, and reform are not moderate, but go to extremes. This is not the golden mean, not materialism, not seeking truth from facts, but slavery, ancestralism, a kind of stubbornness and conservatism, not wanting to make progress, and an extreme.

Confucius’ political sociology can be easily summarized as “junior, minister, father, son, husband, wife, aunt, aunt, ××, ××…” Gu Hongming summed it up in "The Spirit of the Chinese" as "the great meaning of fame and fortune", which is right to the point. Regarding this "great meaning of fame and distinction", Sima Guang gave a more detailed and full expression in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", saying: "Nothing in the emperor's duties is greater than etiquette; etiquette is nothing greater than proportion; nothing is greater than distinction in name...", which means That is to say, when a life is born, it does not even have to wait until it is born, or even before it is fertilized, or even before I am born..., it has already been named, that is, the "name" of "the great meaning of the name", which is called "Zi". ", it's called "Chen", it's called "Guizhou head", it's called "Prince", it's called "cat", it's called "mouse"... Once the name is determined, there will be a "point" corresponding to each "name". In modern terms, it means status and status. Different statuses and statuses must observe different "etiquette", that is, obligations. The obligations of ministers, sons, wives, chief ministers, etc. are to be loyal and obedient. Knowing their names, observing their duties, and performing their etiquette is righteousness, because all these relationships are predestined and arranged by God. , no one needs to worry about themselves. For emperors, the eldest son is the prince, and the other sons are kings.

Sons are born to honor their fathers, women are born to obey men, emperors are born to enslave their subjects, subjects are born to be enslaved by the emperor, cats are born to eat mice, mice are born to be eaten by cats, noses and ears are born to Wearing glasses, growing knees is for kneeling, growing butt is for being spanked... Everyone follows his/her name and observes his/her duties and behaves accordingly. It is rude for a cat not to eat a mouse, and it is even more rude for a cat not to eat a mouse. Therefore there is absolutely no need to compete or choose. In Confucius' political and social system, there is no room for competition. Everyone, even a non-existent person, has a "name" in society, and corresponding to this name, there is a fixed set of behavioral norms. Thinking, there is no need to choose, no need to use your brain, and no need to fight. If you fight, you are not a gentleman, but a villain. Therefore, Sima Guang said that "name" is the most important. If a person is about to die of thirst and suddenly discovers a clear spring, and someone tells him that this spring has an unpleasant name (such as Pirate Spring), then according to the Confucian "golden mean" he will You should not drink this water, but rather die of thirst. Of course, the best thing is to learn how to cover your ears and pretend not to know or not hear. This kind of ignorance and cannibalism of "gold mean" and "honor and righteousness" can be seen. This is obviously not moderate, but extreme.

And this kind of "righteousness" obviously violates the natural law of competition and the "righteousness of life" of survival of the fittest. Mutation, evolution, and change are unstoppable. Confucius seemed to know this, but he wanted to "know it is impossible and do it" and want to impose his will on objective laws. This is very sad. In order to realize to some extent the ideal that he already knew was impossible, Confucius also took some specific measures. In addition to the content, he strongly advocated the cramming of education methods. Confucius' educational methods are concentrated in "The Analects", from which we can see that one of the biggest characteristics is that Confucius' students almost never ask "why". For example, student A asked: "What is 'benevolence'?" Confucius said: "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you." That's it. This student will never ask again, "Why don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you?" 'Is it 'benevolence'?" Instead, they just memorize: "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you...Do not do to others what you don't want others to do to you..." In today's Chinese universities, this This kind of education method, in today's scientific research institutions, this kind of authoritarianism, patriarchalism, and bureaucracy still lingers, and it can be called the "quintessence of the country."

Confucianism says that those who do not change their food, memorize by rote, play with rubber pillars, drums and harps, carve boats for swords, and do not know how to adapt are great virtues, while those who can use them flexibly and adapt to things are called unvirtuous and villains. . For example, there is a word in Chinese that says "to adapt to the wind", which is usually regarded as a derogatory term according to Confucian morality. But in fact, is it really bad to adapt to the wind? Is it good to not turn around when the wind blows? Anyone who has experience in sailing - especially a boat with sails - knows that if the wind direction and speed change, the direction and speed of the water flow will also change. If the direction of the sails and rudder is not adjusted according to the actual situation, what will happen? Can we reach our destination? Isn’t that so stupid as to carve a boat for a sword and be worthy of being called a “laughing forest”? Therefore, we say that those who understand current affairs are heroes. The so-called people who understand current affairs refer to those who can draw inferences from one instance and grasp objective laws and apply them flexibly. Some people say that "Qu Yuan should be released, and Ma Qian should be corrupted." Even if we don't understand this as "Qu Yuan can only write "Li Sao" if he is released, and Ma Qian can only write "Historical Records" if he is corrupted, we should understand it as saying that Qu Yuan deserves to die. Let go, it makes sense that Ma Qian deserves to be rotten. Like Yue Fei, they do not respect objective laws, do not understand objective laws, and will not use objective laws but are blindly loyal and try to impose their will on objective laws. Those who are above should naturally be punished by objective laws.

When later generations of Confucianists talked about the "golden mean", they always quoted those few sentences from "Shangshu", saying: "...Yun Zhi Jue Zhong" and so on.

However, judging from the only records in the "Book of Secretaries", it seems that Yao and Shun implemented a system of imperial harmony. Although the emperor was lifelong, it was not a hereditary system. Major events, such as choosing the next emperor, controlling floods, etc., The emperor must consult the "Four Mountains". Cai Shen noted: "The Four Mountains are official names. One person is responsible for the affairs of the four mountains." According to Cai Shen, this so-called "Four Mountains" seems to be regarded as a form of democracy. The specific manifestation and representative of centralism. Although the "Four Mountains" are one person, not four people, there is obviously an organization under the "Four Mountains". Otherwise, one person alone cannot "overall the affairs of the Four Mountains", and within this organization, there must be There are representatives from various regions, so it has the functions of today's "People's Congress", "Congress", "Two Chambers" and the "Senate" in ancient Rome. It can be seen that the so-called moderation of Yao and Shun should never be a kind of servility, and should be very different from the so-called moderation of Confucianism. They often put out sheep heads like Yao and Shun, but what they sell in cases is dog meat, and they sell extremes under the pretense of moderation.

Finally, we might as well borrow a sentence pattern commonly used in the Diamond Sutra: "The golden mean is not the golden mean, it is the golden mean." We want to talk about the golden mean, but it is not just the golden mean. The counterfeit "Golden Mean" that registered this trademark. We want to talk about morality, but it is not the morality of slavery in the Zhou Dynasty as Confucius said. It is not morality for the sake of morality, but morality based on the premise of "centering on economic construction." The morality we want to talk about is just A means to improve economic efficiency and reduce transaction costs. We often talk about handling the relationship between "development and stability", which does not mean that development and stability are parallel or contradictory. Development is the goal and stability is the means. Stability is for the sake of development, not stability for the sake of stability. Thermodynamics The state of "heat death" and "a ditch of hopeless stagnant water" are quite stable, but we don't want this kind of stability. The stability we want is a good order, an order in which everyone does their best and is fully employed. The factors that undermine this order are instability factors.

The essence of traditional Chinese culture------the golden mean. What the ancients called the golden mean is now called balance. As early as thousands of years ago, our ancestors have understood that things are a contradictory unity, those who buy things and those who sell things, the interests of the company and the interests of employees, the incentives and punishments of employees..., in the world Everything is contradictory. The development of things is also the result of the development of contradictions. The key is to find the balance point of contradictions. This is a stable thought. Favoring one side will intensify conflicts and things will undergo huge changes, which is difficult for people to grasp. Therefore, the golden mean is a stable thought, not decadent, but positive.

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