25 January 2012

Heaven, Universe, and Psyche

Question: What is the relation between Heaven (as in the Decree of Heaven), the Fabric of the Universe, and the human psyche?

In my not-so-professional (in that I receive no payment for holding this) opinion, these concepts are of mechanical relation.

The Universe as Psyche - Everything that we 'know' about the universe, everything in the scope of human action and thought, all that we perceive and conceive, as far as we can know, exists only in our psyche. To restate this: We can only think and know about the universe in our psyche, Thus, the universe and our psyche are essentially, for our purposes, the same thing.

Morality is a part of that which makes up our psyche (a part of the fabric the universe). Heaven, which is the idea from which we draw correct set of morals, exists naturally our psyche (the universe). We always have access to our psyche, as it is inherent in us, and therefore always have access to the correct set of morals, and should therefore always act on those morals.

I feel that this connection is further evident in that Confucius suggested that the only thing that anyone has any power over is their actions/moral choices. He suggests that a person can have no effect on what is (another parts of the universe (what we perceive from our psyche) that is not morality). Another part of our psyche (the universe) is our recognition of what and how things are. We cannot change those things. No matter how I will away Murdock Hall, or President Obama, they will continue to be. If, however, I wish away a bad moral thought, I have the power to replacing it with a correct moral thought.

*These may or may not be the views/thoughts of Confucius. I am offering my own modern interpretation of Confucianism which may or may not happen to coincide with Confucius' thoughts (I do not know).

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