Dear Mademoiselle de Gounet: [Note 1]
Thank you for putting the article "On Pride, Prejudice and True Knowledge" in the first chapter of volume one when you were organizing my manuscript, because when I presented the "Collected Essays", I was extremely happy to see it on Count Seris's face. Appreciation is evident: he at least thinks we are not hopeless.
"A person who has never seen a river thinks that the first river he encounters is a vast ocean." "Arrogance is an innate disease of us humans." These maxims that once made me so proud of myself have undoubtedly saved the honor of Europe.
Otherwise, the Duke of Tuscany, Bishop Ferdinando and I, and even all the Europeans present at the time, could only save the face of "self-proclaimed civilized people" by committing suicide - although Count Xu Guangqi later greatly softened his tone. , it can even be said to be very gentle.
I have written so much that you must be wondering what happened in the Palace of Signalia to make me feel so emotional. You know, I went after the mission from the East with a sacred mission. Through the Grand Duke's introduction, I was very honored to meet His Excellency Count Seris - a true sage.
Through the conversation with him, I sincerely believed that I was the clown who had “never seen a river”, a typical arrogant maniac and a role model for all Europeans. Because the "true knowledge" we have is so shallow and ridiculous compared to what Siris has.
At the beginning, the count emotionally criticized the bad habits of Europeans, that is, not distinguishing themselves from animals in terms of cleanliness and "hygiene". Of course, I explained to him that our reluctance to cleanse our bodies has religious implications - but the soon-to-be-baptized Count scoffed at this and rounded off my rebuttal with a quote from Leviticus:
“The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘If a man has an discharge... the bed on which he lies, the stool on which he sits, his clothing, and anything he touches is unclean. ..... You have to take a shower and wash your clothes; if you get the person with leakage, his clothes and utensils, or his vomit, etc., you have to take a shower and wash your clothes... If the person with leakage is cured, Just like other diseases, you should first observe it for seven days and wash your clothes and body with running water...' This paragraph is very long and I will not quote it in full here."
"Count Xu Guangqi said, 'If the infectious diseases in Bordeaux had followed God's instructions, they would have been controlled long ago. The Seris people do not believe in God, but the methods used to control infectious diseases are not consistent with those recorded in the Bible. It’s essentially different, but it’s done more thoroughly.”
He then told me about the pathogenic mechanisms of several infectious diseases that Siris had discovered: including smallpox, schistosomiasis, dehydration, and the plague that was prevalent in Bordeaux. You must not have imagined that the infectious diseases currently prevalent in Bordeaux are actually spread by rats and fleas. Unfortunately, these two things are everywhere in Europe, and our dirty living environment and flea-infested hair and bodies have become a breeding ground for the spread of the disease.
Thanks to the Almighty God, His angels will save Bordeaux. I am about to return to France from Florence, and what will arrive before me will be my order - cleaning, disinfection, isolation and protection. As long as the above four points are followed, it is entirely possible to overcome the continued epidemic of this disease in a short period of time.
Of course, necessary treatment is indispensable for citizens who are already suffering from the disease. Count Xu Guangqi generously provided prescriptions, but what worries me now is that these complex drugs will not be available in a short period of time - what if those mercenary businessmen It would be a much more cost-effective deal to be able to import these life-saving herbs from Seris instead of shipping back luxurious spices and porcelain.
Dear Mademoiselle de Gounet, if - I mean if, I had seen the count when he arrived in Lisbon, then the plague in Bordeaux would probably not have happened, because in Count Xu Guangqi's view, the plague that had once been prevalent in Europe The Black Death was a type of plague, because its symptoms also appeared in Seris, but they were eradicated before it could become popular.
"Hygiene" - protecting people's lives and maintaining people's health is a manifestation of civilization. I learned this at Palazzo Vecchio. His Excellency the Count compared what he had seen since his visit to Europe with the sanitary habits of the Salis people, eloquently proving the tragedy that our ignorance and fallacies on this issue will bring: the Black Death and the infectious diseases currently prevalent in Bordeaux are not should happen, and even if it does, it can be eliminated quickly by taking reasonable steps.
...
What surprises me even more is that the Salis people's attainments in philosophy and humanistic thought have exceeded the limits of human thought. I cannot describe to you in my letter the shock that the count brought to me when he argued that "Tao can be Tao, but it is not Tao; names can be named, but they are not famous."
I guess those mottos that made me so complacent could only be regarded as wisecracks in the Count's eyes, because the meaning and implications of a casual quote from Confucius would be enough to write an article of two thousand words - in fact, In Seris this is how they select their officials.
When it comes to selecting officials, Siris is at least a thousand years ahead of us - there is no doubt in my mind. Siris has no tradition of using aristocrats to govern the country at all. They have been "meriting meritocracy" since the countries were competing for hegemony two thousand years ago. In a special period, talented people can serve as prime ministers of six countries, and after he achieved Before this achievement, he was just an ordinary scholar without any pedigree that he was proud of.
Miss Gunai, if today's Europe can implement the "nine-grade Zhongzheng system" that the Seris people have abandoned long ago, simply speaking, it uses "zhongzhengguan" to select officials among the people through "promoting filial piety and integrity" and other methods, our The king and the people can laugh and wake up from their dreams.
The Seris people used the "imperial examination" to select talents as early as a thousand years ago. All officials must pass the examination instead of determining their status by their origin and bloodline. Wang Jiaping, the deputy envoy who followed the count, passed the examination. He passed the exam and became a high-ranking official in the empire. Before he became an official, although he was able to receive a good education and possess amazing wealth, his status was equal to that of a peasant in Seris.
This is terrible equality. Where the light of the Lord does not shine, the lambs are treated equally, and what an irony this is...
OMG I can't keep writing. After talking to Count Xu Guangqi, I felt like my entire faith had been shaken. He is not the "skeptic" that I was in my thirties. In my opinion, his belief in the Lord is very firm, but I also have a feeling that he may not believe in the method taught to us by the church. Lord's.
For example, he said that Emperor Seris had a motto that could explain the essence of all religions: "Don't add entities unless necessary." If a thing cannot be falsified, the emperor suggested that everyone should listen to Confucius and adopt the approach of "keeping a respectful distance" Strategy.
Count Xu Guangqi said that God is something we cannot keep away from, even though in fact His existence cannot be falsified. But humans cannot imagine God because He is unknowable. The limits of our human imagination cannot exceed human beings themselves. Therefore, when it comes to belief in God, all we can rely on is our own soul and moral precepts - placing our faith in others is unbelief in itself.
Oh My God! I really can't keep writing.
After I return to France, I will sort out the contents of this letter. I am sure that this record will become an immortal masterpiece in the "Essays" because it will be the beginning of our escape from ignorance.
To Your Father, Montaigne, November 24, 1584.
