Confucius Confuses Me!

The Analects, the kind of Holy Book for Confucius, is arranged in Books. I can't see how the contents of each Book are related to each other, and this leads to a bunch of life lessons taught by 'The Master' bundled up in an unorganized matter. It is confusing but at the same time it somehow makes sense.

Book four says something I really like: 'Do not be concerned that no one has heard of you, but rather strive to become a person worthy of being known.' (4:14) I think this is a great aphorism because it is basically saying stop waiting around for others to do something, do it yourself! I am so freaking tired of having everybody complain about other people, when in reality the problems they have are their problems and it is nobody else's job to solve them and make them happy. It's kind of a like do-it-yourself kind of theory.

This Book starts by taking of Goodness, is followed by The Way, then moves on to being your own person, and finally ends with how you should treat your parents. See what I mean? It's kind of like a disorderly order, very much like my room!

In Book five Confucius (who I assume is 'The Master') talks mostly about the Way a gentleman has to go through to be Good, however, he teaches this by giving examples of what not to do. He never says what makes a man Good, instead he asks: 'what makes you think he deserves to be called good?' (5:19)

Something that grabbed my attention in this Book is when Confucius asks his students what their aspirations are. One of them is 'to be able to share my carts and horses, clothing and fur with my fellow students and friends, without feeling regret.' The other is 'to avoid being boastful about my own abilities or exaggerating my accomplishments.' (5:26) What surprises me is that out of everything they could have wished for they ask for generosity and modesty. Even the Master asks for something a little more self-centered.

I didn't really understand Book six. It starts by praising Yan Hui for his dedication and goes on to describe the Good ways and how virtue and Goodness is maintained. I did notice however that the Master talked to a lot of different people, probably students. This gave me the idea that these rules and these concepts can be applied to anyone who seeks them and wants them enough, probably the effect they wanted.