Why do westerners pride themselves on honesty and China people on cleverness?

If wisdom is a gift, then honesty is a choice. No one doesn't want to be smart, but not everyone will choose honesty. In the big dye vat of society, the longer you are contaminated, the smarter you are, especially using its cleverness.

When it comes to honesty, we have to mention the spirit of contract. The spirit of contract is the mainstream spirit of western civilized society. The word "contract" comes from Latin, in which the original meaning is "transaction". Its essence is a concept of freedom of contract. The so-called contractual spirit refers to the contractual relationship and inherent principles existing in the commercial economy and society, and is a spirit of freedom, equality and trustworthiness.

Christian civilization is the original source of contract spirit. The Bible is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament. Before Jesus came into this world, the contract between God and the Jews was called the Old Testament. After Jesus came into the world, the new contract between God and man was called the New Testament. This sacred spirit of contract is the foundation of western traditional culture and promotes the development of western commercial civilization. Because of this, the traditional concept of observing the agreed rules is deeply rooted in western countries.

In China, however, the situation is completely different. China people value intelligence more than honesty. China people basically use their intelligence to take shortcuts, and regard the system as restricting others rather than themselves. Being able to circumvent the rules is a sign of cleverness. Why can't there be flowers of contract spirit on this land?

First, there is no religion in China. It is said that there is a three-foot-tall god. Without a god above him, he would lose the omnipresent supervisor and the middleman to ensure the normal performance of the contract. It is difficult to rely on his own inner moral laws and regulations.

Second, the constraints of self-sufficient small-scale peasant economy. The spirit of contract comes from the agreement between man and god and is conceived in commodity trading. China has always been an agricultural society, which is self-sufficient. Moreover, China has always valued agriculture over commerce, held a derogatory attitude towards commerce, and its commodity trading was extremely poor. Occasionally, commodity trading often runs in the world of acquaintances, so it is naturally difficult to produce the contractual spirit needed by stranger trading.

Most importantly, China lies in its flexible cultural genes. The spirit of contract is to abide by the rules honestly. But China's culture often cares about being smart and flexible, and doing whatever it takes in the war.

For example, the story of horse racing in Tian Ji is a living breach of contract. Horse-to-horse, horse-to-horse, and horse-to-horse are the rules of horse racing, but Tian Ji used dismounting, horse-to-horse, and horse-to-horse, which is a typical irregularity; But it is regarded as the most classic case by China people. Whether it's a white cat or a black cat, catching a mouse is a good cat, which also contains contempt for the rules.

In Song Dynasty's Selling Ghosts, ghosts keep their contracts with people, treat people sincerely and walk behind their backs. One is one, one is two. Song Dingbo is a ghost. Ask ghosts what they are afraid of. Tell the whole story: but it's not gratifying. As a result, Song spat at the ghost, and the ghost turned into a sheep. Song tricked the ghost into selling it and got 500 yuan. Such trampling on contracts has always been regarded as a hero by us and admired by people for thousands of years.

The trilogy "Kidnapping" by comedian Zhao Benshan crippled a good man and caused a national carnival. Three years in a row, wave after wave, from kidnapping to selling stretchers. This is not like a nation with normal manners, it is simply a mob era of a large group of little fools. Art is a true reflection of life.

Because the society doesn't talk about contracts, China's honesty education has become water without a source and a tree without a foundation. My basic judgment is that there is no contract in society and no integrity in education. Honesty in education cannot start from scratch. To say the least, even if such honesty is established, children will continue to hit a wall when they step into society in the future, resulting in a terrible situation.

The construction of honesty must be guaranteed by the system, and there must be huge punishment measures to make dishonest people "not worth the loss", and there will always be people who choose honesty. In other words, at first, honesty is just a choice, and over time, honesty will become a kind of morality. In fact, westerners are not more trustworthy than us, but the price of breaking promises is beyond their imagination. Westerners without integrity are almost unable to move, and life is worse than death. This forces them to "cherish honesty as much as their own eyes." For westerners, losing credit means losing spiritual life, and there is no difference between the two.

Of the three kingdoms, I like Zhuge Liang the least. In Jingzhou, Zhuge Liang had sex. Does he have any spirit of contract?

China people generally lack the spirit of good faith in contracts and the recognition of fraud, which shows that China people care more about winning or losing than good or evil. No country will pass on the spirit of fraud, dishonesty and breach of contract as great wisdom. Perhaps this is the real reason why the Chinese nation has always been unable to get out of ignorance and has been wandering on the edge of civilization.

I often think of Gandhi's non-violent and non-cooperative movement in India, and I admit that Gandhi endured the greatness of sacrifice spirit; But at the same time, I also admire the British colonists, who are qualified and competent high-quality opponents. The essence of Gandhi's "non-violence" is to invite the other party to abide by the norms of human civilization with the spirit and moral strength of forbearance. The real difficulty is that the opponent must also be a person who pays attention to the basic rules of the game. Otherwise, you are "non-violent" to him, but he is always "violent" to you, and the result can be imagined. Gandhi went on hunger strike 16 times in his life, and almost every time he targeted the government. The British rulers were greatly frightened and had to give in. But behind this "concession" is actually a change in "life concept". We can imagine that if Gandhi's hunger strike is not for the British "demonstration", but for Hitler and Stalin, the result is self-evident.

People are not isolated. Everyone is a small piece of soil connecting the whole continent. When people come to this world, as advanced animals of society, they have contracts: legal contracts for the exchange of material interests; Behavioral life communication, spiritual contract. Honesty is essentially a "spiritual contract". Those who keep the promise are wise, and those who keep the promise are "expensive". Knowing how to pay for your contract is essentially insuring your personality.

Kong Ziyun, a man without faith, doesn't know what he can do. It is better to get a promise than to get a promise. This is the so-called "a promise as good as a thousand dollars". However, when did our whole nation lose its only tenderness and integrity? And most importantly, once the contract is destroyed, it is difficult to establish it again. Just like that cruel fable, a lying child can only be eaten by a wolf if he chooses to be dishonest.

I finally declare:

Whether our country will be strong in a few years, in fact, at some time and place today, most of us have decided whether to choose honesty or not.

When reading an article, you may be sitting in a bright office drinking coffee, hoping that you can live in a higher moral environment. I didn't know that there were still many lawyers, journalists, intellectuals and ordinary people fighting for one place, one room, one case and one law. Their blood is actually for you and me.

Of course, you can not believe what I say, but you can't escape what is happening and falling, what you know and what you don't know.

Because this is your life and my motherland.

Honesty is the lowest transaction cost and the highest personality charm. Honesty is the most proud wisdom and the most proud wisdom.