Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 161
CONFUCIANISM. In other words, through emulating God, his qualities became so great that people could not find adequate words to describe him: "Chang said, "I presume to ask how it was that Yaou presented Shun to Heaven, and Heaven accepted him; and that he exhibited him to the people, and the people accepted him. " "11. Again these verses make it clear that Heaven is not the cosmos, nor the inner micro-universe of a person, but an active and conscious being, synonymous with the term. God. As Heaven chooses sages according to certain criteria, so God chooses the prophets. Our proposition that Chinese sages are considered to have the same qualities as those of the prophets of the Bible and the Quran, has been well served by the references presented above. . A further study of the Confucian text illustrates that revelation was not only a means of establishing the true philosophy of life, but was also of practical value in guiding man's actions in everyday life. We have already mentioned Fu Hsi's vision and its application in a practical way to many aspects of Chinese civilization - an influence that lasted for many millennia. Below we present some other examples where revelation played a a role in influencing the material well-being of a nation: 6 66 . . . . When the king speaks, his words form the commands for them; if he do not speak, the ministers have no way to receive their orders. " The king on this made a writing, and informed them, saying, "As it is mine to secure what is right in the four quarters of the empire, I have been afraid that my virtue is not equal to that of my predecessors, and therefore have not spoken. But while I was respectfully and silently thinking of the right way, I dreamt that God gave me a good assistant, who should speak for me. " He then 161