The Doctrine and Core Ideology of Confucianism - Essay Example

The Doctrine and Core Ideology of ConfucianismConfucianism was developed and widespread in Han Dynasty, dated back to 500BC. While the doctrine of Confucianism is of complexity and depth, the Core Ideology of confucianism emphasizes simple virtues, including humanism, righteousness, etiquette, knowledge and integrity. These virtues still exist in the modern society, and are advocated through many forms of media, such as movies and music. Although seemingly distant from confucianism, some of the songs today champion the same kind of virtues confucianism scholars were striving to achieve thousands of years ago.

Greatest Love of All by Whiney Houston is a great example of how the values from two eras collide.Greatest Love of All was first written by Michael Masser and Linda Creed in 1977, and later made popular by one of the greatest female R&B singer - Whiney Houston in the late 80s. The song was written by Creed to battle her breast cancer. The main idea of the song is to encourage the audience to gather up strength and courage from within. The song starts off by bringing up the relationship between us and the next generation - parents to children, or teacher to students.

Relationship in Confucianism was mainly to help people find their appropriate place in the society, whereas in this song nurturing the children and leading by examples is stressed. First part of the song focuses on being kind and helpful for the next generation, the basic humanity virtue is brought up here. Confucius has defined “humanity” as “loving others”. Loving our next generation is a specific case of “loving others”. Going beyond just the “humanity” and “loving others” as defined by Confucianism, this song also brings in the aspect of empowering yourself.

The Chorus of Greatest Love of All takes “humanity” further from “loving others” to loving oneself. “No matter what they take from me. They can’t take away my dignity. Because the greatest love of all is happening to me. I found the greatest love of all is happening to me”. This aspect was not traditionally emphasized in Confucianism, but has become a very dominant topic in today’s society. Confucianism focused on moral obligations, whereas today’s society, on top of the moral obligations, individual personality is highlighted.

Decades after women back-to-work movement and the end of slavery system, individuality became more and more prominent in the North American society. The era the song was created in defines the core values promoted in the song. Promoting individuality and power from within made the song widespread. Greatest Love of All also slightly touches upon the “knowledge” part of confucianism. Conventionally, confucianism was taught by teacher and scholar. Teachers and students would typically go through a question and answer session to discuss philosophy.

“knowledge” was a key element of confucianism. Whiney Houston’s Greatest Love of All promotes self-improvement and self-empowerment with knowledge and strength. Interestingly a modern song concurs with many aspects of what confucianism was promoting thousands years ago. Ever since Whitney popularized the song, Greatest Love of All has been sung and played for decades. Not only the catchy tune of the music, or Whiney’s memorable voice, but also the heartfelt nature of the song’s morale.

The simple message from the song is to encourage the audience, and make it strong. Listening to a song like Whiney’s Greatest Love of All is essentially equivalent to mind cleansing. Just like how Confucius used “yayue” and “suyue” to encourage people’s morale and build social harmony, Whiney’s song echoes with the mainstream ideology in its time.