“The smallest actions have the most profound ramifications. Confucius, Mencius, and other Chinese philosophers taught that the most mundane actions can have a ripple effect, and Puett urges his students to become more self-aware, to notice how even the most quotidian acts—holding open the door for someone, smiling at the grocery clerk—change the course of the day by affecting how we feel.
That rush of good feeling that comes after a daily run, the inspiring conversation with a good friend, or the momentary flash of anger that arises when someone cuts in front of us in line—what could they have to do with big life matters? Everything, actually. From a Chinese philosophical point of view, these small daily experiences provide us endless opportunities to understand ourselves. When we notice and understand what makes us tick, react, feel joyful or angry, we develop a better sense of who we are that helps us when approaching new situations. Mencius, a late Confucian thinker (4th century B.C.E.), taught that if you cultivate your better nature in these small ways, you can become an extraordinary person with an incredible influence, altering your own life as well as that of those around you, until finally “you can turn the whole world in the palm of your hand.”
~ CHRISTINE GROSS-LOH at The Atlantic: Why Are Hundreds of Harvard Students Studying Ancient Chinese Philosophy?
“Michael Puett, 48, is a professor of Chinese history at Harvard University. Puett’s course Classical Chinese Ethical and Political Theory has become the third most popular course at Harvard. The only classes with higher enrollment are Intro to Economics and Intro to Computer Science. The second time Puett offered it, in 2007, so many students crowded into the assigned room that they were sitting on the stairs and stage and spilling out into the hallway. Harvard moved the class to Sanders Theater, the biggest venue on campus.
Why are so many undergraduates spending a semester poring over abstruse Chinese philosophy by scholars who lived thousands of years ago? For one thing, the class fulfills one of Harvard’s more challenging core requirements, Ethical Reasoning. It’s clear, though, that students are also lured in by Puett’s bold promise: “This course will change your life.”
His students tell me it is true: that Puett uses Chinese philosophy as a way to give undergraduates concrete, counter-intuitive, and even revolutionary ideas, which teach them how to live a better life…Puett puts a fresh spin on the questions that Chinese scholars grappled with centuries ago. He requires his students to closely read original texts (in translation) such as Confucius’s Analects, the Mencius, and the Daodejing and then actively put the teachings into practice in their daily lives. His lectures use Chinese thought in the context of contemporary American life to help 18- and 19-year-olds who are struggling to find their place in the world figure out how to be good human beings; how to create a good society; how to have a flourishing life.”
Read entire article @ The Atlantic.
Image Credit: Image Credit. Michael Puett Bio & CV at this link.
the philosophy rings so true, and i would so love to take this course. happily, i would stand.
I would stand too! 🙂
I would take this course in a heartbeat…and am going to do some reading about Chinese philosophy. Is anyone too old to be a better person? (That’s rhetorical). Thanks David..
🙂 Smiling. No, never too old for that. And lot’s of growing to do there for me.
For me too.
Oh I want to take this course too!
It’s getting crowded. 🙂
Great story. They should require this course for all students before they head out into the working world.
Yes…
Reblogged this on Todd Lohenry and commented:
Good read…
Thanks for sharing Todd
Reblogged this on itakesavillage.
Thanks for sharing.
I want to take this course with my whole family–sounds wonderful and love that one small thing can make a difference
It does LouAnn…wish I had the opportunity to take this course in college.
I went to the article you cited and copied it out–it is great food for thought I am going to share with my sons
Terrific, glad you could find valuable use for it.
I spent many years working in China 10 years ago or so. I was very interested to see the conflicts with modern business in China, where shortcuts were the routine, and ethics were for the other, more foolish guy. The irony was how this was such a conflict with the basic teachings of Buddha and others, or how they conflicted with the ideas you note, above. One has to wonder what or how the diametric changes came about.
Thoughtful comment Barney. Thank you for sharing.
Add my name to the list of wannabe course takers! Sounds incredible! Developing one’s “heart-mind” — a laudable goal. This dovetails very nicely with a talk I attended last night featuring the Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Ron Suskind. He spoke about his book, “A Hope in the Unseen,” and many other things. I laughed, cried, and nodded vigorously in agreement for over 2 hours as Suskind talked about the importance of really seeing people for who they are, not for who we expect or anticipate them to be, for believing in yourself and others, and for listening to your heart. It was really inspiring….
Ahhhh, what a performance. And do you recommend new his book or others?
If everyone in New York took this course, you wouldn’t have to post things about being lonely and alone in a crowd or the impersonal aspect of living in a neighbourhood where no one knows who lives next door, or where the shopkeeper doesn’t make eye contact with his customers.And I wouldn’t have to insist that I’m happier in a small town.
Funny, and true.
“…you can turn the whole world in the palm of your hand.” Yes, I firmly believe in the ripple effect. How we interact with others has an endless effect…passing from one person to another, rippling across the world. And that is why I wish that kindness and love could be expressed more often and more easily, not only for what it does within our own hearts, but to make the world a better place. Those Chinese philosophers had it right.
And they had it right in such a different time such a long time ago. The more things change, the more…
I’m in…so much to learn..so little time 🙂
There really is (so little time)
Sign me up, I have a pack of scantron forms and my pencils are sharpened. Wow…just wow. It’s hopeful, isn’t it, to see a world class university embrace such a course and that our students are actually CRAVING what he’s got offer.
Yes Bonnie. Inspiring.
Finally. Somebody formally teaching mindfulness.
Yes. They are getting their money’s worth here.
It is amazing that the Chinese philosophers’ teachings can still be practical at this time. If you would like to read interpretations of the teachings of Confucius, I would recommend this book called Confucius from the Heart by the very popular Beijing author Yu Dan.
Thank you Marianne. I’ll be sure to check it out.