Self Cultivation

Self-Cultivation There is a great importance on self-cultivation in almost every culture. Even though the topic itself may sound easy it is actually very different depending on what the person believes in as to what self-cultivation actually is. The goal of this paper isn’t so much to talk about any singular forms of self-cultivation but look at many different forms to get a bigger idea of what self-cultivation actually is and how it appears that it ultimately depends on how an individual is raised.

Self-cultivation revolves mainly around growth within oneself. There are many different forms of self-cultivation such as learning new skills. However the goal of this paper is to talk more about self-cultivation on a much larger context that is in better relation to the individuals as a whole. In general terms as applied to this class the term self-cultivation usually applies to some social belief and how to grow within that belief. America on the contrary is more of a melting pot of many different cultures and as such there are many different ideas on how to approach self-cultivation. However regardless that they are so different they all want one thing and that is in following what the “true path” is and doing whatever they can to be happy within it (True path refers to the natural perceived in many cases, way of everything and being in harmony with them). Self-cultivation ultimately stems from learning and growth. This learning and growth takes place within the individual themselves, even though they may do it through a social belief they ultimately grow within themselves.

The idea itself of self-cultivation is to cultivate oneself and as such it remains and always will be a highly individualistic idea. It takes individuals to make a society and as such it is the individuals who need to be cultivated, not so much the society. Self-cultivation needs to take place internally and isn’t so much an idea of following through the motions as many religious doctrines state. What this does is to bring out an understanding within the individual so that they can truly grow. If there is no understanding and only motions, there is no learning, and hence no growth. For example if a Confucian simply practices the rites and is a gentlemen on the outside but doesn’t remain true to them on the inside or doesn’t even understand them – this will mean that they are not really cultivating themselves. Even though they stick to the doctrine of their times, how is there any personal growth at all? All these ideas really do is set up a system of failure that will only collapse in on itself. The children of these parents who go through the motions won’t understand and will be hollow idiots on the inside. It will simply become a society of people who go through pointless motions without even growing at all. Exactly then what is self-cultivation? In contrast to the view listed by many of these cultures of what is self-cultivation I rather feel self-cultivation is revolves around the individual. The idea of self-cultivation revolves around cultivating oneself based on one’s one interpretation of life that ultimately creates happiness in their own life (Or perhaps the paradox of someone who loves living a life in their own misery). When one starts to for example infuse being like a gentlemen they lose sight of the individual and become accustomed to society’s way and as such not knowing their own way. The reason behind this is they lose sight of themselves and pay more attention to what society dictates (Important to a part, but as far as self-cultivation goes it needs to be internal). Everyone has someone who they really are deep down on the inside and that makes them different from everyone else. George likes peace and Michael likes guns. If George became an infantry in the marines and Michael became part of a protest banning the use of guns neither of them would be happy with their life or what they’re doing. Even though people may be raised a certain way according to their culture there is an individual underneath and that is what these philosophies are sorely lacking with the concept of self-cultivation.

The other difference that is more dependent on the individual is that some people would rather live life then maybe go to school like everyone else. These people just live and party through life and don’t really have a set goal. These people tend to make up the majority of civilization and as such they show that self-cultivation aimed at becoming the person they wish to be is only partially true. In general it seems that some people lack the motivation to go after what they want because they probably don’t even know, but even then others lack the capabilities to become who they want to be. This shows two contrasting views which may very well be a product of the culture one is raised in or perhaps simply psychological. But self-cultivation is always just being oneself and ultimately just growing as an individual. So regardless if these people actually search for something, they still are growing even if it’s not on purpose. To become self-cultivated then is a process in and of itself that takes a lifetime (For one grows their whole life). It’s becoming who one truly is on the inside and even what they feel is right. Now obviously culture can infuse some values into who one is that’s just natural, but everyone still has an independent them. If this weren’t true, everyone would love football in America and no one would dislike it. So then how does one become who they truly are on the inside? That’s easy, it’s by doing stuff they really like to do such as writing, drawing and really expounding upon it or in other words what makes them feel really good inside by doing it. Even then this evolves on itself finding out who one may truly want to marry, their career that they feel happy doing, and ultimately how one wants to live life. There are many caveats to this I understand. For example one may hate cooking because his parents always told him it was bad and yet on the inside he really just wants to cook. It’s like that secret happiness that maybe he even feels guilty for. But it’s more than simply expounding on one’s own skills, it’s becoming who they really are on the inside. So the first part of self-cultivation is becoming who you really are on the inside and really letting it out. However it can really take a whole lifetime to really learn to listen to oneself. If one has a culture or social background that really dictates what they do they may never find themselves and continue to be just as everyone else in a sense. Regardless there is a great happiness that comes from being oneself and not “trying” to be like everyone else. For example the given cook above may live a miserable life for he always wanted to be a chef growing up. Finally he’s out of his parents’ house, maybe he might detest it at first because that’s what his parents told him about cooking. But he has to start eating so he must cook for himself and finds that he experiences great joy out of it like never before and it helps him find who he wants to be, a cook at McDonalds.

The second part of self-cultivation lies ultimately in the growth factor that is more external then the first. The second factor is what the individual learns through the world that ultimately becomes life experience that facilitates their own individual growth. This not only helps them learn more about themselves and grow, but it also helps them broaden their own horizons and learn more about who they are as well.

There is one last factor that tends to be the most neglected in self-cultivation, but it allows for far more growth within the individual and that is simple searching for who one really is. There are many ways to approach searching for oneself that ultimately helps them become more of who they are. Sometimes they don’t have to search very far and come up in a line of marines to realize they love shooting people and that’s just who they are. However searching doesn’t just involve what one wants to do with a career, but it’s more than that. It’s finding out who is really underneath all the flesh and bones. This is the whole point of searching or finding oneself is to find out who one really is on the inside, independent of culture. It’s a little hard to explain this one. This one occurs the least out of the three because some people may never care or life just doesn’t allow them to find out who they are so they’ll never know.

What it has meant to self-cultivate oneself has really changed over the years in China. At one time legalism had been popular and at other times and still today, Confucianism has been the most popular. In Confucianism self-cultivation is mainly that of becoming the gentlemen (Or in some cases a gentlemen-sage type of person). The idea of the gentlemen revolves around much of the core teachings of humaneness, morality, the rites, etc. (Ivanhoe 2005). The concept of sticking to the rituals of the past and sticking with them religiously is highly valued in Confucianism. The reason why this is so highly valued is that it allows one to stick to the ideas of the ancestors and stems a lot from the idea of filial piety or ancestor worship. The reason that this is so important is that it makes social harmony. However this is what much of Confucianism revolves around, self-cultivating oneself in accordance with the society that one is present in. Confucianism doesn’t care too much as to what culture one is in or even what rituals one does, just as long as one does them. The other concepts mainly deal in how one should treat each other morally and how one should react in society. The idea revolves around in keeping a social harmony and as such this is important and heavily stressed in society. How much this doctrine has been influenced by legalism is hard to say but nonetheless with strict keeping of the rituals and following the way of a gentlemen one will never step out of line and thus everyone is equal in a sense. For the Confucian the society appears to be moreover what needs to be cultivated and it does this through the individuals that make it up. When the ideal Confucian state is reached there is no social disorder, there is peace, and the state itself works in harmony. In all reality this harmony benefits the people as a whole. When this harmony is reached it helps create more gentlemen like people and the people themselves are greater.

The legalist on the other hand takes the ideas of the Confucian and raises them to a whole other level and gets rid of the moral parts which it so heavily disagrees with. The ideas of self-cultivation are not really stressed at all and even do away with the individual in the grand scheme of things. The reason this is so important is that it helps create a strong functional state. During the time that this philosophy was created was during a time of great wars in China (Safra 2010). What good will morals do if everyone is dead in an attack by an enemy country? The idea of self-cultivation is blind obedience to the law and working hard for the individuals and creating an even stronger state. The people may be unhappy but this will help them live in the state as a whole because the state is so strong.

Taoism on the other hand takes a completely different approach to self-cultivation and it views one in being harmony with nature or the “universe” on a more metaphysical level. In the teachings themselves one finds that the Taoist has many paradoxes and this is important in its own right (Ivanhoe 2005). A good example of this is perhaps just viewing the concept of self-cultivating oneself and how the Taoist might approach it. If one is trying too hard to be one with nature one will become too stressed and lose balance and become out of touch with nature. It is through non-action that one becomes one with nature. But even then one must still want in a sense to become one with nature or if the Taoist truly is correct in their life then everyone will naturally become as a Taoist through non-action for why does a rock need to “try” to be itself, it just happens naturally. It is like going downhill on a river, one can try and fight it all one wants to go against the river but will one simply fight in vain for the currents are too strong. But if one goes with the river, one may be able to swim to the other side and have a much easier time steering themselves to safety. The other advantage of non-action lies in it leads one to the way. The way goes through everyone so long as they let it and don’t fight it. For many years people have been taking the doctrine of society and as such have lost touch with the way and even more so lost touch with themselves. If they do away with the doctrine of society they bring themselves back to the way and the only way this can occur is through non action for if they try too hard they inadvertently fight against society. But once one takes the way of non-action they lead themselves to the way of the universe and become more in touch with themselves. For the Taoist then much of self-cultivation stems from the idea of returning to harmony with nature and in an ideal Taoist state (even though such a thing would never happen viewing the Taoist idea of doing away with a state) there is only harmony with nature and as such all diseases disappear for they are a sign of disharmony, natural disasters go away as well, and there is only great peace to the individual.

Now even though it isn’t a part of Chinese philosophy (at least most of Chinese history) the concept of Christianity is nonetheless important because it gives a greater idea on to what self-cultivation actually is. For the good Christian one – like a Confucian does the rituals to become closer to god and inadvertently brings the society closer to each other. There is constant worship to god who is in essence “all there is” and to go away from god is to go into disharmony with what is right in the world. The idea here is the importance of god in society is what matters. If god is all there is and he is the greatest being there is, the creator, and even the most benevolent. Then surely doesn’t this make it what one wants to become a part of again, the kingdom of god? To become a part of what truly are to a good Christian? It isn’t so much a religion to a Christian, but rather just the way things are and if one steps out of line with god then they bring them out of harmony with him and invite great chaos in their own life.

What each of these beliefs/philosophies show is self-cultivation is mainly how they feel the world or individual can “fix” themselves. Throughout every culture one is raised in a certain way to how everything works in the world. What is important isn’t so much an opinion to them but rather just the way things are (This is assuming one actually believes the doctrine that they are taught) and as such doing away with god to a Christian is like doing away with what is truly right in the world, eating. If one does away with food this will surely not invite a disharmony in their body? First there will be hunger, eventually one won’t be able to move, and soon death. This shows that self-cultivation is going with what’s right in the world, cultivating goodness within oneself and applying it to their own life in hope that they become a part of whatever way that is true in their life and this is what is most important to each individual/society; to become a part of the true way and as such goodness will continue to flow through them. So given the whole context of things then what is self-cultivation? In one way it is dependent on what the culture dictates (the social belief factor) and in the other it is more dependent upon the individuals themselves. However to go off the social belief factor would in its own right lead to a certain madness trying to determine which path in life (Assuming for example there are multiple religions) is the real true path. Even then if it’s like the Taoist says that through non-action one finds the way, then they’d never find it and instead have to just let it happen naturally in order to even find it. However the more individual approach is more geared towards individual happiness (Could lead to global happiness) and doesn’t completely deal with following the right path of the world but rather the right path of one’s own life. Now an individual can follow both paths but there may be some limitations if he or she follows the social belief because in many cases there is some individuality that is done away with in culture/social belief. The real conclusion though to this whole story is to live life to how you want live it. Enjoy life how you enjoy it and continue growing within yourself. For that is true self-cultivation.

Bibliography Ivanhoe, Phillip, and Brian Norden. Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy. 2. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 2005. Print. Safra, Jacob. "Legalism." Encyclopedia Britannica. 15. Chicago: Britannica, 2010. Print. <britannica.com>.