Allow me at first to transcend. Then \u2013 some patience needed \u2013 I will come back to Confucianism itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Heavenly<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Any theorizing about \u2018heaven\u2019 as if it is conceptually graspable is not Aurelian. It denotes a direction toward the ungraspable, a direction that goes vertically toward the inside \u2015 deeper self, the inner universe of mental-neuronal patterns. This doesn\u2019t say where it ends. It is a direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stating that it\u2019s about specific things outside oneself \u2013 for instance, looking for heaven on a cloud \u2013 is crucially different.\u00a0Confucianism simultaneously transcends this and then it doesn\u2019t. It accommodates but, in doing so, remains inconsistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is also cultural, in a good sense.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Something may be poetic when embedded in a respectable culture, while straightforwardly transplanting it toward another respectable but less evidently poetic culture may take out the zest. These differing cultures may be separated in time or space or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The poetry may be very nice and carry tons of wisdom \u2015 excellent!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, it may be unsustainable in the long term to keep the poetry without simultaneously seeing what it\u2019s about from a conceptually rational viewpoint. The latter is like the heaviest hammer. It\u2019s a pity to have poetry as the enemy of such. It shouldn\u2019t happen, and it\u2019s not necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the age of cultures coming together. Therefore, Confucianism \u2013 like many other things \u2013 should be purified of what can only in the past be exclusively poetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Open Leadership looks like purified Confucianism.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Translate heaven to the deeper self. That is straightforward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then let\u2019s look at two main Confucian concepts \u2013 r\u00e9n and yi – and see how they can also be translated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Translating r\u00e9n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Benevolence or, say, compassion. With ancient wisdom and modern insights into human depth, this becomes Compassion<\/a> \u2015 the virtue-form of heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Translating yi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yi is the moral disposition to do good. In essence, this is the overflowing of the bucket of Compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After this, two more concepts: Li and Zhi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Li is a communal system of behavior according to the above. This may be culturally dependent and evolving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zhi is the insight into what is good in the behavior of others and oneself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People are fundamentally good and can grow toward their human potential.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This doesn\u2019t come automatically. It needs support and can be supported by personal and societal efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This support is what Open Leadership is about, bringing together poetry and rationality, past and present, and hopefully East and West, into Worldwide Compassion<\/a>.<\/p>\n