Mencius, the Idealistic Confucian

A History of Mankind (124)

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Mencius became one of China’s most influential philosophers because he had a way to please everybody.

He took one of the main dicta of Confucianism, that the daily task of dealing with social affairs in human relations is not something alien to the sage — a phrase that in principle alienated Taoists and others of a similar disposition — and explained that carrying on this task is the very essence of the development of a perfect personality.

This, Mencius explained, is because one performs such a task not as a citizen of a (possibly despised, perhaps corrupted) society, but also as a "citizen of the universe,” which sounds a lot more like it for mystically-inclined Taoists.

We all, Mencius continued along the same lines of Taoist appeasement, must be conscious of our being citizens of the universe; otherwise, our deeds would not have super-moral value. If one has the chance to become a king, one must gladly serve the people, thus performing his duty both as a citizen of society, and as a citizen of the universe.