"I have studied Confucian classics and understand the research results of Neo-Confucianism. They have said a lot about how to treat women, right? I still know these descriptions." Guo Kang quickly spoke, trying to tell him that he already attached great importance to .
Brother Patrick, however, shook his head.
"Our theologians and philosophers here all think that Seris philosophy is very wise. But unfortunately, they are all too kind." He commented seriously.
"Nowadays, many people like to study the teachings of the Cheng brothers, Mr. Zhu and others. However, after our research, we found that they still have high expectations for women and imagine that they can make them through education and persuasion. Take the high road.”
"This problem seems to be more than just Neo-Confucianism." He thought for a moment and said, "As far as I know, this has been the case since ancient times."
"My colleague Brother Yang studies Seris philosophy. He told me that even the philosophers of the classical era themselves said that the main problem of Seris people is that they like to be teachers. Maybe from very early on, they I am very addicted to teaching others and can get a lot of happiness from it.”
"If you ask me, this is not a problem. Compared with other pleasures, this hobby is very healthy." He spread his hands: "But we should also know that some people are impossible to educate."
"I have seen a very meaningful fable before." He said to Guo Kang: "According to Hesiod, the 'seer' Prometheus created human beings, and then Athena, who is in charge of wisdom, came to help He completed the work."
"Prometheus cared for mankind very much. He stole fire from heaven to provide help to people; he also manipulated the sacrificial rituals and left more meat for people to enjoy instead of offering it to the gods. These actions finally angered Zeus, So he summoned the other Greek gods and created woman to inflict punishment on Prometheus and mankind.”
“The first woman was named Pandora. Hephaestus created a seemingly dignified creature in the image of the goddess. Aphrodite gave her the ability to drive men crazy with obsession; Hera gave her curiosity; Hermes gave her the gift of lying and a cunning mind; Athena gave her ignorance and beautiful clothes. She also carried all the evils of the world, and has been with all mortals ever since."
"Pandora means 'possessing all gifts', which means that she symbolizes all the qualities of women: their appearance and clothing look very beautiful and can attract humans; but when humans worship them like gods, they It will only bring disaster.”
"Women are cunning in nature, but also extremely curious. They always inquire about any trivial information regardless of the consequences. They are good at weaving lies and always use deception to hurt human beings, but they have no real wisdom - Athena, who symbolizes 'wisdom', does not I don't like them. This ability was only given to humans created by Prometheus. And in various fables that followed, wisdom was always on the side of men."
This story is still widely circulated among Greek philosophers. Guo Kang is also very familiar with it and understands these not-too-obscure metaphors. The words "human" and "man" can be regarded as the same word - which may sound a bit strange, because in the Greek stories, humans and women are indeed two different species.
"Hesiod said that women in future generations are all descendants of Pandora. They are beautiful scourges sent by the gods. They will constantly torture men and make them toil like worker bees all day long, but they can only feed other people's peaks."
"Those who get married will never be happy. Even if someone gets a virtuous wife, his life will be full of twists and turns; and once the family is in decline, this bad luck will be even more fatal."
"Some men refuse to marry for this reason, but as they get older, they face the same painful situation. No one will support him, and other relatives will compete for his property-this is the punishment that has long been planned part of the world so that they could never escape the wrath and vengeance of Zeus.”
"Of course, we don't have to believe in the mythical part." He said: "This fable is also easy to analyze: the intention of fire is actually very obvious, and it is a symbol of civilization; and keeping the sacrifices for yourself means that humans have gained the freedom to do things. The freedom to make decisions, even if those decisions are not pleasing to God.”
"So, the meaning of the whole story is also very clear: as human beings escape from barbarism and enter a more developed civilized society with higher freedom, the problem of women also appears."
"You see, barbarians rarely encounter this kind of problem, and we Romans are seriously affected - I think you can understand it." Brother Patrick smiled bitterly: "I think this is just a kind of accompanying The sufferings born of civilization.”
"This is also another concern of mine: if not taken care of, as your organization becomes more mature and your civilization becomes more developed, the disasters caused by women will become more serious. This may be what 'Zeus' Revenge' represents. original intention."
"I think this is not a problem caused by the development of civilization, but a problem in the process of civilization development." Guo Kang thought for a while and expressed his opinion: "It is normal for problems to arise in various directions. , some may even be places we have never paid attention to. But we cannot give up eating because of choking."
"We can indeed pay attention, but we don't need to scare ourselves too much." He said: "I believe these are just technical and management problems, and they can also be solved through appropriate adjustments in these aspects."
"I was worried about whether it was so easy, that's why I came to see you." Brother Patrick said frankly:
"Hesiod was a Greek poet from the ancient era. Many people believe that he was earlier than Homer. It was roughly the ninth century BC, or the eighth century BC. According to my impression..." he thought He thought for a moment: "It was the anniversary of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Siris. He must have been a figure at that time."
"He had discovered so many problems at that time. Now, more than two thousand years later, how many have been solved?" The monk shook his head: "I think the Greeks today are still trapped in them. There are no signs of improvement. That’s why we think this fable still has reference value.”
"As for the future..." He hesitated and frowned: "Of course I can't predict the future, but I don't think it's optimistic. What do you think? Will all Greeks in the future really dare to get married?"
This question also stopped Guo Kang.
Seeing that he was hesitant and unable to answer, Brother Patrick was not in a hurry and just continued: "In our view, many of the Eastern views brought by the Roman Church are different from what we thought. For example, they believe that, Men and women are born from yin and yang and should belong to the same species. Of course, there are not many scholars who believe that women are created separately: According to the traditional Orthodox Church’s view, women are created from part of men and should be regarded as a kind of It’s the human subspecies.”
"Of course, this can only be considered a trivial matter. The main problem is that the Central Plains people may be... too good at fighting. This has made their culture well protected and has not suffered a fatal blow for a long time; their philosophers , and therefore became too kind, or too idealistic." He criticized tactfully.
"Serris scholars of all ages have written many works, trying to educate women from various angles, regulate their behavior, improve their morality, and make them a beneficial part of society rather than a punishment to mankind. ——But you might as well imagine that trying to use artificial rules to restrain a woman’s nature, is it possible to succeed?”
The monk shook his head again and said bluntly: "Mr. Zhu Xi was too kind to the 'Pandora's Daughters' and had too high expectations. He underestimated the gap between women and humans, and also underestimated their destructive power."
"Therefore, Neo-Confucianism has a huge problem in this regard. I am afraid it cannot solve practical problems and will definitely be replaced by true philosophical ideas."
(End of chapter)
