对于君子与小人之理解 － 学习易经心得（３）

我们祖国３０００多年文字文化的渊源很大一部分来源于易经。很多易经上的词汇仍在我们日常生活中沿用，如道德，君子，小人等。但我们今天的用语和易经的原始含义又有多少距离呢？

其实，我也不太懂古文。还是看英文译文吧。先从什么是道德说起，问卦是问什么，再论君子，小人：

Tao（道）：way or path; ongoing process of being and course it traces for each specific being or thing. It is not limited by any system or morality, and it continually undermines rational definitions. It is not predictable, but versatile (易).

The symbols produced by the I through divination (从易经里问来的卦) try or test an acation by aubmitting it to the spirits and revealing its hidden roots. When you use these symbols in a versatile way, as imaginative models, they act like a sacred vessel (鼎), enacting a process of containment, scrifice and transformation. By doing this you acquire te (德)，the virtue and power that comes through reflecting tao（道）in the events of your life.

Actualize-tao, TE (德)，realize tao in action; power, virtue; ability to follow the course traced by the ongoing process of the cosmos. The ideogram: to go, straight, and heart. Linked with TE (德), acquire: acquiring that which makes a being become what it is meant to be.

Actualize-tao suggests that the continual process of straightening, clarifying and deepening the heart enables you to become what you are meant to be, correcting and straightening movement on the path or way of life. Someone who seeks to acquire this virtue, and thus to live their life as a manifestation of tao (道), is a chun tzu (君子).

Chun tzu（君子）:  ideal of a person who uses divination to order his/her life in accordance with tao（道）rahter than wilful intention. － 这就是君子的定义。

怎样做君子呢？

You are a chun tzu（君子）when you use the oracle to understand what is in harmony with tao（道）in any given situation in your life, to help and protectyourself through tao（道）rather than seeking control by imposing your will.

这里有两种人：大人和小人。小人不是对应君子而言，而是对应大人而言。

Great People (大人) : important, noble, influential; those who impose a ruling principle on their lives; effect of the great within an individual.

Small People (小人) : lowly, common, humble; those who adjust to circumstances with the flexibility of the small; effect of the small within an individual.

Great People, the effect of the great on an individual, means imposing an idea on things, independent of what that idea might be. Only when it is connected to actualize-tao (德) is it valued in itself.

Small People, the effect of the small on an individual, is not simply the shadow of the great, but points at the ability to let go of self-importance, quickly and humbly adapting to what croseses your path.

所以，一味地追求做大人并不是君子的行为；适当的时候做小人也不卑鄙，称不上＂卑鄙小人＂。

The chun tzu（君子）is not only a Great Person or only a Small Person, but seeks the capacity to act quikly and fluidly as both.

这个君子的解释才是我们做人的正确之路。

在工作中，处理和老板，和同事之间的关系时；在家庭中，处理和配偶，和孩子之间的关系时；在恋爱中，处理和男／女朋友之间的关系时，我们要努力学做君子。

这里提到，遇到生活中的难题，疑惑，我们怎样知道actualize-tao (德) 在哪里呢？下次我再接着谈我怎样问卦，对具体事件，我应怎么做才是君子。