The Four Beginnings

2A:6 Mencius said: "All people have a heart which cannot stand to see the suffering of others. The ancient kings had this heart which could not stand to see the suffering of others, and, with this, operated a government which could not stand to see the suffering of the people. If, in this state of mind, you ran a government which could not endure people's suffering, you could govern the realm as if you were turning it in the palm of your hand."

"Why do I say all human beings have a heart which cannot stand to see the suffering of others? Even nowadays, if an infant were about to fall into a well, anyone would be upset and concerned. This concern would not be due to the fact that the person wanted to get in good with the baby's parents, or because s/he wanted to improve his/her reputation among the community or among his/her circle of friends. Nor would it be because he/she was afraid of the criticism that might result from a show of non-concern."

"From this point of view, we can say that if you did lack concern for the infant, you would not be human. Also, to lack a sense of shame and disgust would not be human; to lack a feeling of humility and deference is to be "in-human" and to lack a sense of right and wrong is to be inhuman."
"The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of humanity. The feeling of shame and disgust is the beginning of righteousness. The sense of deference and compliance is the beginning of courtesy, and the sense of right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom."

"People's having these four basic senses is like their having four limbs. Having these four basic senses and yet claiming inability to act on them is to cheat yourself. To say that the ruler doesn't have them is to cheat the ruler. Since all people have these four basic senses within themselves, they should all understand how to enhance and develop them. It is like when a fire just starts, or a spring first bubbles out of the ground. If you are able to develop these four basic senses, you will be able to take care of everybody within the four seas. If you do not develop them, you won't even be able to take care of your own parents."

~Wing-Tsit Chan, A Sourcebook in Chinese Philosophy, 1963.

Falling down rabbit holes - The Wizard of Ahs: Nick Beggs - part 1

Since no one reads here anyway, I'm just going to post this work in progress until I can get to it again. The top half is the good part. 

I posted this comment at a youtube video. 

 @ricoF  I agree about Nick's basslines having that special something. It goes way beyond words to describe, but it feels like making love through sound. True love, the kind that holds your soul in their own. And is deeply sensual as well. 

It is deeply sensual in the way it touches the inside of you in an emotional way carried by the way the sound touches your ears and body. There is a fundamental difference in the way the lower frequencies affect the way we hear and feel that is more visceral and less mental. Not that I don't love good guitar especially in the way David Gilmour could make his "sing" giving the soul wings to fly into the ether. But the bass is more primal and operates on a more instinctive level. Nick would call it guttural. Which is what makes Nick's bass so phenomenal. 

He, like others I admire or respect like Bobby Kennedy, are often touched by tragedy and must deal with the suffering in such a way as to turn it from a poison to a medicine, or as the Japanese do with broken bowls or cups by using gold to repair them thus ennobling the scar of their ordeal. 

Hm, what's my point? Just that Nick Beggs is a really decent person, plays a mean bass, and is a prime example of being a good human being. 

This can be seen in what became Kajagoogoo both with Limahl in 1983 and the White Feathers album and in the following year without Limahl on the Islands album. Given the zeitgeist of the '80s New Wave British pop bands of that time Nick's energy is unmistakeable. 

I'm not sure how it happened but sometime during the week of Thanksgiving 2021 I found myself watching a YouTube video of clips of '80s music hits. How I came to watch it I have no clue. But as a result I watched a video of Too Shy. It was the only American hit they had and I had no idea what their name even was. Had I known it was Kajagoogoo I'm pretty sure I would have remembered that. Nevertheless, the moment I heard that baseline I was back in the '80s when I was instantly hooked. Not to the point of becoming a fan of the band and getting their albums, but enough to sear it memory for all time. I also learned that it's "too shy shy" and not "too zsa zsa". While I didn't think much of the song itself, that bass was an instant attraction. 

So now in the age of YouTube I promptly fell into the rabbit hole of Kajagoogoo and into the world of Nick Beggs. It's been quite a wild ride. It is the third one of these I've been on. The other two were with Pink Floyd in 2008 and Prince in 2018. But there is something very different this time, something far more significant in how it speaks to me and the impact it is having on my own life. 

Interestingly, not too long after this journey began around Thanksgiving I serendipitously came across an over-the-air broadcast of a PBS documentary about Pink Floyd that circled around again to Roger Waters talking about how his mom was an educator who's orientation was to prepare students for a life that starts in the future. But his experiences with Floyd led him to the realization that life starts at "dot" and your in it and that at any time you could take up the reins and drive it yourself. That's actually a lot easier said than done and harder still for women in a patriarchal society, not to mention the kind of ambition one needs to have to even think that way. Still, he is absolutely right. 

The issue for me is figuring out how to do that given the circumstances and experiences of my own life. Then comes along Nick Beggs and Kajagoogoo dropping into my world from straight out of the blue as if to show me how through their experiences. And in the process get to know them, mostly Nick because he's the most public figure having a musical career with his bass and Chapman stick. 

Anyway, I'll have to get back to this later so I can link it back up with the title of the post which started out as:

"The Way does not enlarge the man; the man enlarges the Way. Nick Beggs: An exemplary human"

What's a Leftist?

By Peter Daou:

What's a Leftist? (https://www.directleft.com/p/whats-a-leftist)

I really like his description. It also fits for what is a progressive. I also call it sane and humane. It encompasses the principles Confucians call humane government. Something devoutly to be wished.