丢脸vs.内疚 Losing Face vs. Feeling Guilty


每日一语：

Conscience is God's presence in man. --- Emanuel Swedenborg

良知是上苍在人心中的体现。 --- Emanuel Swedenborg

There is a difference between him who does no misdeeds because of his own conscience and him who is kept from wrong-doing because of the presence of others. --- The Talmud

那些由于自己的良知而不从恶的人与那些由于他人的在场而不敢从恶的人有着本质的区别。 --- The Talmud

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Dear Visitors:

What is the difference between the Chinese who are godless but worshipping their ancestors (无神崇祖) and those from the Western Christian culture who are in touch with their own conscience through worship of God? The qualitative difference is what governs their behavior:

In China, people are kept from wrong-doing because the presence of others and majority. Losing face (丢脸）is most devastating to a Chinese and keeping face at any cost is what preoccupies the Chinese masses. In a Western Christian culture, presence of God via each one's conscience is the rule to govern one's behavior, making one do good and avoid doing evil. Such a contrast spells that a Chinese can do anything as long as no one sees him or her, while one in a Christian culture will not do just anything -- he or she has to choose between doing good and doing evil because of the omnipresence of God, regardless whether or not there is presence of man or how many people pressuring him or her to do anything.

So do you still wonder why in the Orient, unspeakable atrocities have been committed and continuing to be committed, and why in China there is a persistent vicious cycle of dynasties, while in the West, people do indeed learn from their own mistakes and misdeeds and progress consistently with a moral compass -- Christ teachings and Christian values? So is there only a comparison, not a contrast between how the Chinese behave and how people in America behave? Things can not be more clear. If you still cannot see the contrast between losing face (丢脸）and feeling guilty (内疚），you should examine your own faculties of perception and reasoning.

If a person cannot feel sick or pain when he is injured or infected with germs and viruses, he will not seek treatment and help to get better. The consequence is that he will deteriorate fast and die soon, for he is not conscious about his deadly conditions. A Chinese dynasty, communist regime being one as well, will not cure itself because it constantly deceives itself by creating a superficial, good looking face. But inside it is dying or already dead. A godless and "face-saving" society is beyond salvation, for its conscience is dead and it cannot see reality and feel its own defects.

To save China, a society that worships God -- a society of conscience must be rebuilt and reestablished. Before the Chinese can have the feeling of guilt when they did anything wrong, before the Chinese entirely abandon "governing by man and majority" and "governing by face-saving", there is not much one can do to save or change China, regardless how grand their schemes are.

I pray for the Chinese to regain their humanity and their conscience.

Best. Kai Chen 陈凯