Central to Confucius'
teaching are relationships and social roles. There are five great
relationships:
1.
Father/ Son: Kindness in the father and obedient devotion
in the son
2.
Elder Brother/ Younger
Brother: Gentility in the eldest brother
and humility and respect in the younger
3.
Husband/ Wife: Righteous behavior in the husband and
obedience in the wife
4.
Elder/ Younger: Humane consideration in elders and deference
in juniors
5.
Ruler/ Subject: Benevolence in rulers and loyalty of
ministers and subjects
Relationships. Confucius believed that human relationships
were the core of the identity to the person.
In this he was partially right.
People are their relationships in many ways. Even in this very individualistic society, no
one is without relationships defining who they are. Guidelines in how to behave in these
relationships is not a bad thing.
Unfortunately, when you elevate one person in a relationship above the
other, you lose the honest give and take that differentiates personal
relationships from professional ones.
The guidelines given by Confucius were quite typical of the times that
he lived. If the guidelines are updated
to be more observant of the equality of each and every person then they should
continue to be used. Of course, the
professional relationship will always exist in a hierarchal style.
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