What you would not want

Confucius gives a test you can run without a theory of everything. Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire. He also says learning without thought is labour lost, and thought without learning is perilous. The first line is a check on an email, a rule, or a favour. The second stops you treating the check as a mood. You still have to learn what the other person is dealing with. The cards are paraphrases of the Analects.

“Do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire.”

Confucius · Confucianism

ethicsvirtuesociety

Paraphrase or translation

Meaning & application

“Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous.”

Confucius · Confucianism

knowledgemind

Paraphrase or translation

Meaning & application

Mini check

You are about to send a sharp email. Confucius's counsel is: do not impose on others what you yourself do not desire. What is a direct application?

Ask whether you would want this tone sent to you, then decide.Send the email faster, so the sharp feeling has less time to fade.Impose a harsher rule, as a way of putting the counsel to a test.Read the counsel as a remark about river water, not about conduct.

Try it today

Before you send a sharp note, ask whether you would accept the same note aimed at you.

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