志异 Draft by Drama box December 2014 (english) | Page 34

To achieve
harmony in such
a setting requires
managing the
diverse elements
in such a way that
all the elements
involved can
still manifest
themselves in
the same time
and space, but in
varying degrees
of intensity.

groups of people, especially when it came to the issue of
distributing scarce resources.
Mozi thus advocated the idea of referring to one’s superiors as a
way of settling differences of standards. Since we hold different
standards of righteousness and cannot agree on a particular
issue, let us instead refer to our superior and use his standard.
But of course, Mozi knew that even superiors disagreed amongst
themselves, so he advocated turning to the highest superior Heaven.
Heaven held the ultimate standard — the standard of universal
concern. Since Heaven treats everyone equally, people should
adopt this standard and apply equal concern and treatment to
one’s self, kin, and to everyone else. People moderate themselves
when they begin to consider the needs of those close to them.
But such moderation takes place on a rather small scale, and
does no good for everyone in society. However, when everyone
begins to extend their concern to cover everyone in the world,
they will moderate themselves, cease to indulge, and work hard
to ensure that everyone has enough for their sustenance, and for
the good of their society.
What is interesting is that although the standard of universal
concern only requires people to extend their concern and
treatment of the self to everyone, it leaves room for each

Column 2