Interpretation of "The Doctrine of the Mean": 4. Moderation and harmony are the foundation of everything

When joy, anger, sorrow, and joy have not yet developed, and when the innate nature has not come into contact with the outside world, it is a natural nature at this time. The state of nature, that is, the original state. In the state of nature, there is no excess or inferiority, so it is medium. Nature is connected with things and manifests as emotions of joy, anger, sorrow and joy. Since people live in groups, the expression of emotions is restricted by various interpersonal relationships and needs to be moderated. And people's differences in environment, status, interests, knowledge, cultivation, etc. will make the expression of emotions more or less than they should be, and whether they are too much or less will affect the harmony of society. Being mean and unfeeling will certainly endanger social harmony. Uncontrolled excessive expression of joy, anger, sorrow, and joy can also harm the body. Especially in a complex environment, a little impatience can mess up a big plan, and acting as one pleases without restraint will endanger the overall situation. There are endless lessons in the improper use of emotions. Therefore, emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and joy require various humanistic norms, which is what tradition calls "Tao." Only when the expression of human feelings is in line with the Tao and does not go beyond the limit can we ensure the harmony of society. Therefore, it is said that when they are released and all are in the middle, it is called harmony. In traditional culture, there are many explanations of this. "Xiao Dai Li Ji" and "Fang Ji" say that etiquette is based on people's feelings. Ritual is based on emotion and adjusted according to emotion to achieve social harmony.

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"Guodian Chu Bamboo Slips" and "Xing Zi Ming Chu" say that the Tao begins with emotion, and emotion is born from nature. The beginning is close to love, and the end is close to meaning. All human actions are based on emotion, so humanity begins with emotion, and emotion is the foundation of humanity. However, emotions must be consistent with morality in order to be beneficial to social harmony. Humane education is to guide people to appropriately express their emotions. Therefore, it is said that the beginning is closeness and the end is simplicity. Humanity begins with love and ends with justice. It begins with nature and ends with humanity.

Dai Zhen said, "There is no excessive love, and there is nothing less than love as a courtesy." He also said that etiquette is what is lost when feelings are not happy, but it is not possible to lose love when there is no love, and etiquette is what is gained. Etiquette is to make love no more wrong or less than perfect. He is based on emotion, not only to control emotion, but also to prevent emotion from being frustrated and to be able to develop and express it appropriately.

It can be seen that emotion is the natural basis of all human activities, but people cannot act at will. The expression of emotion must be controlled by humanities. When they are all in the middle, they are called harmony. Only by complying with human feelings and behaving kindly towards others, with necessary restraint, can human feelings be properly expressed and achieve the unity of nature and humanity, only then can there be social harmony. If a person has a too big temper, is too greedy, often has nameless fires in his heart, and has troubles, he will be in trouble. Therefore, if you understand this truth, you must maintain calmness, wisdom, peace and ease at all times.

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Observing people nowadays, some people do not understand the true meaning of life. If they do not have joy, anger, sorrow, and joy, they may not be able to settle down. We must understand that Zhong, He and Zhong are the foundation of everything. Only with neutrality, concentration, and wisdom can we do things just right. In this way, if the heaven and earth are in their proper place, there will be no disasters.

Here, the author not only proposes harmony between people and between people and society, but also advocates harmony between people and nature. In the four seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter, the weather is favorable. When should the wind blow, rain, the sun shine or thunder? Only when the heaven and the earth are in their proper place can the seasons not be messed up and be just right. In the spring, the grass and trees will grow very luxuriantly, in the autumn the harvest will be harvested, and even the leaves will turn yellow, and in the winter it will be very cold, and the four seasons will be in perfect harmony. If people's hearts change and the world changes, it will snow even in June, or it will be very cold before winter. Because all natural and man-made disasters are caused by the human heart and cannot be neutralized. If everyone can achieve the state of neutrality, then this society, and even the entire world, will become a pure land on earth.

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Zhong and and reveal the goals of self-education, self-discipline, and self-supervision, and point out the great significance of this goal. It extols the immeasurable merits and virtues after achieving the ideal goal, that is, the effect of having the most benevolent, the most kind, the most sincerity, the most Tao, the most virtue, and the most holy character. Zhonghe is the realization of self-worth, Zhizhonghe is the embodiment of social value.

Neutralization is the realization of self-worth, and neutrality is the embodiment of social value. To achieve neutrality, that is, to deal with all things in an impartial way, is the ideal state for people to live in harmony. It can be said to be the main purpose of the Doctrine of the Mean.

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