Honesty and trustworthiness is one of the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. Whether in the past, present or future, it is an extremely important part of the construction of material civilization and spiritual civilization in human society.
Honesty is the foundation of establishing a person and the way of managing a family. Confucius said, "People without faith don't know what they can do." (1) thinks that if people don't pay attention to honesty, they will have no place in society and can't do anything. "Couples are kind, and they will leave if they are not sincere." It is emphasized that husband and wife, father and son should also treat each other with sincerity, abide by their beliefs and live in harmony, so as to achieve the goal of "home and everything". If families lack loyalty and distrust each other, then families will gradually disintegrate and collapse.
Honesty is the foundation of governance. "Zuo Zhuan" said: "Faith is the treasure of the country." The ancients regarded honesty and trustworthiness as the fundamental magic weapon for governing and rejuvenating the country. Of the three, Confucius would rather "eat enough", "foot soldiers" and "people's trust" than "go to the army" and "eat" and insist on retaining "people's trust" Because Confucius believed that "the people can't be untrustworthy", if the people don't trust the rulers, then the national administrative law enforcement will have no place. Therefore, administrative law enforcers must "win the trust of the people". This is just as Wang Anshi, a reformer in the Song Dynasty, said in the poem Shang Yang: "Since ancient times, people have been driven by sincerity, and a word is more important than gold."
Honesty is the way to make friends and the soul of business. Only by "making friends and keeping your word" can we "trust friends", talk to each other and help each other selflessly. Otherwise, if friends are full of hypocrisy and fraud, there will never be true friendship, which shows that friendship is also based on honesty. In contemporary society, when signing a contract, business and trade expect both parties to abide by the contract. Honesty is also the best competitive means of various commercial activities and the soul of market economy. Honesty is the real "golden business card" for entrepreneurs and enterprises. These references and statements are indeed not excessive.
Honesty is also a good medicine to comfort people. "On the contrary, it is sincere and fun." Only by being frank and sincere can you feel innocent and calm. Honesty can bring people spiritual happiness and is a good medicine to soothe people's hearts. If people don't talk about honesty, distrust each other and cheat each other, it will lead to a cold world, moral decay, social disorder and endless future troubles. As "Lu Chunqiu, Vulgarity and Guixin" said: "If the monarch and the minister don't believe it, the people will slander and the society will be uneasy; If officials don't believe it, they will be less afraid of being long, and the nobles will be light; If you don't believe in rewards and punishments, the people will easily break the law and can't make orders; If you don't believe in making friends, you will disperse resentment and can't date each other; If a hundred workers don't believe it, the equipment will be bitter and the red paint will be disloyal. Husband can start and end, respect communication and trust the poor! Believe and believe, attack the body, but even the sky. Treat people like this, rain and dew fall, and it is cold and hot at four o'clock. " It means that if the monarch and his subjects don't keep their promises, then the people will slander and resent the rulers and the country will not be at peace; If an official is not trustworthy, he will not be so afraid of being long, and the nobility will be light; Rewards and punishments are not credible, orders are forbidden, people are easy to break the law, and administrative orders are difficult; If you don't keep your word when making friends, you will hate each other and can't date each other; If all the workers don't believe it, the quality of handmade products will be poor, and the paint will be dyed wrong, shoddy and fake. It can be seen how harmful bad faith is to human society!
In short, honesty is an indispensable virtue for self-cultivation, maintaining family order, making friends, trading and doing business, and even governing the country. It can be seen that honesty is of great significance in the progress and development of human society, in interpersonal relations and international relations.
Shang Shu Tai Xia Jia said: "God is impermanent and enjoys sincerity." This refers to people's faith and piety in ghosts and gods. The Book of Changes says: "Words are sincere, so they are also a cause." In other words, a gentleman must be honest and sincere in words and arguments in order to make contributions.
In the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong, a famous politician and economist in Qi State, used "sincerity" and "faithfulness" for the first time, and put forward that "loyalty to China will gain a good reputation" (2) and "sage is sincere with benevolence" (3), and clearly put forward: "Gui Wang is sincere first. Honest, the knot of the world also "(4). He believes that honesty is the guarantee to unite people and unite people all over the world.
Yan Ying, a famous politician and diplomat of Qi, also attached great importance to keeping good faith. He put forward: "to deal with the way of monarch and minister, to guide parents, to be polite to ministers, to benefit the people, and to trust princes is called loyalty;" To be a son, to guide the father to love his brother, to be good to his son, and to be honest with his friends, is called filial piety "(5); He emphasized: "If I am a minister, I will make it, and if I keep my word, I will forgive it according to the order." (6) "Filial piety is good, no regrets, loyalty is resignation, no regrets; Harmony with brothers, trust friends, but don't blame "(7); Light into sexual intercourse, don't believe it "(8). In Yan Ying's view, "the way of monarch", "filial piety" and making friends are inseparable from honesty and trustworthiness.
In The Analects of Confucius, Lu Ru also mentioned faith, faithfulness and loyalty in many places: "Words must be faithful, and actions must bear fruit" (9); "People can't stand without faith", "believe in the main, move righteousness and respect morality" (10); "A country that follows the Wan Li Road and believes in everything" (1 1).
Mozi, a Mohist school in Lu country, regards "faith" as an important moral standard to evaluate a gentleman's benevolence. He highly praised a trustworthy person: "strong and wise, keep promises and carry out results" (12); "Words must be kept, and actions must bear fruit, so the combination of words and deeds is still in line with Jeff's words." ( 13)
Sun Wu, a strategist of Qi State, put forward in Sun Tzu's Art of War that to be a general, one must have five virtues of "wisdom, faithfulness, benevolence, courage and strictness"; Sun Bin further put forward: "Believers prosper" (14), "Believers are not credible, unbelievers are not feasible ... so those who believe in them are full of soldiers." (15) summarizes the winning and losing laws of the war.
Mencius regarded "honesty" and "faith" as the noumenon of experiencing morality, and gradually became an important theoretical concept to regulate people's moral behavior: "Honesty is heaven; Those who think sincerely, the way of people is also. " ( 16)
Xunzi, a bachelor of Xia Ji, developed Mencius' thought of "sincerity", involving politics with "sincerity" and expanding "sincerity" from the way of being a man to the way of governing the country. He said, "Honesty begets God, and boasting begets chaos." (17) "Honesty is like a god, boasting about being born and chasing the soul" (18). In other words, honesty and trustworthiness can produce magical and generous social benign effects, while boasting and fake birthdays can produce vicious effects that confuse society and hurt the spirit. "Respect your body and trust your heart, … be sincere and meticulous" (19).
These incisive expositions and opinions of Qilu sages still have important theoretical value and practical significance today. Sincerity, sincerity and frankness; Believe, keep your promise, and keep your word. The basic meaning of honesty is: keeping promises, keeping promises and breaking promises. Generally speaking, it means telling the truth, doing honest things and being honest. People live in human society and always have relations with others and society. To handle these relationships well, we must abide by certain rules, so that there are laws to follow, rules to follow, and agreements to be kept; Otherwise, individuals will lose their foundation and society will lose its operating rules.
Honesty and trustworthiness are the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. Philosophers have "people who don't believe, don't know what they can do", poets have "three cups of Covenant, five mountains are light", and folks have "a promise of a thousand dollars", and so on, all of which say that honesty is extremely important. For thousands of years, the story of "a promise is worth a thousand dollars" has been heard in history and widely circulated.
Honesty is not only the character of being a man, but also a social responsibility; It is not only a code of conduct, but also a kind of morality; It is not only a reputation, but also a resource and a valuable "intangible asset". Personally, honesty is a noble personality force; As far as social groups are concerned, honesty is the normal order of production and life; As far as the country is concerned, honesty is a good ambassador of international image.
From ancient times to the present, without sincerity and unbelief, no cause can be built on the beach. Honest labor is hard, but honest and practical. Only honest labor can eventually lead to success. Being an upright person, doing things honestly, being lonely and doing little research, and earning money cleanly ... these are all valuable behaviors to promote the integrity construction of the whole society, which are increasingly admired and appreciated by the society and respected by people.
Honesty and trustworthiness focus on practice and accumulation. It is the only way to improve the integrity level of citizens in the whole society and form a good social atmosphere that "don't do it for the small good, don't do it for the small evil" and do good for the small evil.
Honesty education must focus on the big picture, start from small things, start from dolls, start from me and start from daily life. It is necessary to establish a social atmosphere of honesty, honor and dishonesty in the whole society and form a strong atmosphere of public opinion.
People admire social ethics, honesty, morality, personality and dignity in people's minds. This is people's moral belief. Morality is a practical reason, which aims to solve the problem of "what should I do", including how to be a person, how to treat others, how to do things, how to learn and so on. Among them, being a man is the most fundamental. Being a man should be manifested by doing things and learning. People's moral belief involves many aspects, such as being a man, treating others, doing things and learning, but its core is how to be a man. People's moral beliefs play an extremely important role in all aspects of moral behavior.
For thousands of years, honesty has been sacred and great in people's hearts. People always regard honesty and trustworthiness as the most basic principle of being a man. Confucius's "faith" and "people can't stand without faith", Mencius's "sincerity, the way of heaven"; He who thinks sincerely is also a man's way, Xunzi's "a gentleman is not good at raising his heart with sincerity" and Song Chengyi's "he who touches people with sincerity should respond with sincerity; Those who control people with technology, people also treat them with technology ",and Qing Gong Zizhen's" Why does a husband compete for wisdom and stupidity and seek sincerity with one heart ". , all say this truth.
Honest people tell the truth and treat others sincerely and frankly, which is a good character of being a man, a philosophy worthy of advocating and a way of self-cultivation. In today's society, people who have experienced all kinds of hardships need the quality of honesty too much. Social life is inseparable from honesty, and people need to be honest and trustworthy when dealing with the relationship between people and society! Without honesty, the flesh and blood are alienated, the friendship between friends is indifferent, and the society becomes indifferent, without care, consideration and warmth.
According to the Records of Qing Banknotes and Honesty, in ancient times, Cai Wei borrowed 1,200 gold from a friend without a receipt. Later, when his friend died, Cai Wei returned the 1200 gold to his friend's son. His son was shocked and refused to accept it. He smiled and said, "My father didn't leave me an iou, nor did he inform me about it orally." Cai Wei said: "The loan is not on paper, but in the heart; Integrity in the heart is fundamental. Your father didn't tell you because he knew I was an honest man. He trusts me so much, how can I break my word? " In the end, Cai Wei paid off his two daughters' debts.
Cai Wei's words are thought-provoking. Although IOUs and contracts are legally binding and important, people's integrity is more important. If a person does not have integrity and moral self-discipline, he may take advantage of the law for his own self-interest, and even ignore the law and public morality and do things contrary to integrity and public morality. Don't such cases often happen in real social life?
In real social life, some people can't stand the temptation of economic interests, don't talk about honesty, and even do some unnatural things. Although there are many reasons, the lack of moral belief and moral cultivation is the most important one. In today's society, we should conscientiously implement the "Implementation Outline of Citizen's Moral Construction", and attach great importance to and strengthen people's moral belief and moral cultivation education in strengthening honesty and trustworthiness education, starting from youth education, starting from myself and starting from daily life.