Author: You Sheng
Article Source: *Xue Deng* (Learning Lamp), Issue 8

Abstract: The five-rank system of mourning rites recorded in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties represents a universal vision where ancient political regions and cultural dissemination were equal. It was also a natural consequence of the relatively peaceful and stable social environment maintained by ancient China as a superpower, allowing people to continue living in their genetically encoded, primordial society. In contrast, Western civilization began with artificially created secondary societies. Under the pressure of war and competition among city-states, it introduced a strong external social order, leading to phenomena similar to bipolar disorder. This article analyzes and compares representative works of early Eastern and Western literature—the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, the *Classic of Poetry*, and Homer’s epics, the *Iliad* and the *Odyssey*—vividly and profoundly demonstrating the differences in the living environments of ancient people in the East and West. The former was relaxed and free, while the latter forced people to degenerate towards inhumanity. One difference lies in moral concepts. Confucianism, advocating benevolent governance, traces its roots to Yao and Shun, and follows the example of Wen and Wu, indicating that Chinese civilization emphasized virtuous governance from the beginning. In contrast, Europe only introduced the concept of morality in the 5th century BC, after bipolar disorder had largely disappeared from the social stage.

Keywords: Primitive society, bipolar disorder, omnidirectional thinking, five-degree system of service

Both the Yu Gong and the Guoyu Zhouyu record the Five Zones and use almost the same name to refer to them. The Five Zones means that the political center divides the surrounding administrative regions according to distance, and the outermost administrative region is called the Wilderness Zone. The Yu Gong says that the Wilderness Zone can be inhabited by people, while the Guoyu Zhouyu says that the lords of the Wilderness Zone only need to come to pay homage to the emperor once in their lives. At least one scholar believes that the territory of the Shang Dynasty was also divided into several different regions according to distance[1]. Domestic history textbooks rarely mention the Five Zones system, but it shows an essential characteristic that distinguishes ancient Chinese civilization from any other ancient civilization, and it is also an inevitable result of the original society-type superpower: the universal vision that equates political regions with cultural dissemination. As I mentioned earlier[2], by dividing human society into the original society of genetic coding and the artificial secondary society, ancient China was able to maintain the original society for a long time, while Western civilization broke down the original society and reorganized the secondary society from the beginning. The main reason is that ancient China established a superpower similar to the United Nations today, which can maintain a relatively peaceful and stable social environment. Among the many ancient civilizations in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, China is the only one.

The wilderness region in the Five Regions is the edge of the superpower and also the edge of the world in the minds of the Chinese. This shows that the ancient Chinese believed that they were the only power center in the world and that they were responsible for all mankind. Their culture should be the original social culture of all mankind, not a culture of a secondary society. Only in this way can they truly represent all mankind. In his booklet “Unification and Division: The Enlightenment of Chinese History”, Ge Jianxiong showed that what the Chinese dynasties wanted was the vanity of the Celestial Empire ruling the world, not actual ruling power. In terms of economy, there was no exploitation relationship between tribute and being exploited. Tribute and rewards were often of higher value than the former, or at least of equal value. In order to show the abundance of the Celestial Empire’s resources, the warehouses were often opened and the other party was allowed to choose. This is why there are no records of foreign trade in ancient China. [3]

The material exchanges between dynasties and vassal states described by Ge Jianxiong are more in line with the nature of primitive human interactions. Ancient China’s superpower status was not that of a trading institution, nor did it represent a Western nation or people; rather, it was a cultural institution of unified humanity. Therefore, before the Opium War, the Qing Dynasty mistakenly considered Britain as a vassal state paying tribute to the Celestial Empire. Similarly, today, small, remote countries participating in the United Nations neither suffer losses nor feel a loss of dignity.

The structure of early Chinese society fostered a relaxed and carefree lifestyle, while the ancient civilizations of Greece and Mesopotamia resembled the situation in 17th and 18th century Europe and America: amidst constant warfare, large-scale projects and wealth increased dramatically, and people toiled day and night like ants, yet their lives were poor. The best evidence of this stark contrast between Eastern and Western living environments is not historical records or philosophy, but early literary works, as they express people’s psychological feelings—the so-called “poetry expresses the will, song perpetuates the words.” This article uses the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, the *Classic of Poetry*, and Homer’s epics as representatives of early Eastern and Western literature. There are other earlier Chinese literary works scattered throughout various classics, such as the *Song of the Bow* recorded in the *Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue*: “Break bamboo, join bamboo, fly earth, chase meat,” whose style can be fully represented by the *Classic of Poetry*. Similarly, works such as the *Gilgamesh* epic of Mesopotamia are directly descended from Homer’s epics and do not require further discussion.

(I) Whether or not poetry and mythology should be merged

Humanity’s earliest literary works are oral traditions of myths and poetry. In China, this is exemplified by the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* and the *Classic of Poetry*, while in Europe, it is Homer’s epics, the *Iliad* and the *Odyssey*. The content of Homer’s epics is indeed mythology and legend. Why did the West combine mythology and poetry into one earliest form of literature? The very first sentence of Homer’s epics clearly states that it is the gods singing. The *Iliad* begins, “Sing, goddesses, sing of the wrath of Achilles.” The *Odyssey* begins, “The Muses sing to me,” and the Muses are goddesses who govern literature and art. Traditionally, Homer is considered the author of the epics, but he was actually one of many wandering poets in ancient Greece who made a living by singing poetry. According to the original meaning of Homer’s epics, the authors were gods, not humans. Ancient Greek poets created and sang in a state of spiritual possession, as the Chinese would say; the poets spoke, but the gods provided the content and verses.

In 1976, American psychologist Julian Jaynes proposed the bicameralism theory (Julian Jaynes, 1920-1997, bicameralism, the author’s tentative translation)[4], believing that human subjective consciousness only appeared about three thousand years ago. Before that, humans were bicameral, with the right brain hallucinating and hearing the voice of God, which was then transmitted to the left brain, and the left brain carried out the commands. The language center is located in the left brain. When the left brain is diseased, patients often suffer from aphasia. They can understand what others say, but cannot answer. This is one of the many pieces of evidence supporting Jaynes’ theory. Jaynes’ theory believes that modern mental patients are the legacy and reproduction of this bicameralism. In other words, everyone had mental illness three thousand years ago. Jaynes’ theory is based on the analysis of Mediterranean civilization. He admitted that he did not understand ancient Chinese history. Although his theory has not been widely accepted, it has been used to explain the long-standing problem that has plagued the medical community: why humans suffer from mental illness. Furthermore, his theories can be used to illustrate the stark differences between Eastern and Western cultures: the Chinese are still in an era guided by human nature, while Westerners have long since become alienated to the point of mental illness. This is also the best explanation for the fundamental difference between primitive society and secondary society: the transition from primitive society to secondary society is like the evolution of fish into birds and beasts in animal evolutionary history, or like elevating human cells from the tissue level to the level of human organs such as the heart, lungs, liver, and spleen—a world of difference.

Since the actions of ancient Westerners were performed under a state of spiritual possession, and the poets’ creations were driven by auditory hallucinations, it’s easier to understand why early Western literature combined mythology and poetry. The words of God are different from those of mortals; they are either aphoristic pronouncements like revelations or elegant poetry. God would not become a storyteller to humanity—that would be beneath His divine nature. Modern poets, driven by creative passion, may also experience moments of ecstasy, but afterwards return to normalcy, unlike the bipolar disorder of ancient times.

(II) The different belief concepts between East and West reflected in early literary works

While early societies had leaders, they lacked the strong, unified management system of secondary societies. This is reflected in their literature, which lacked the powerful, hierarchical pantheon of the latter.

First, we must point out that the concept of a chief deity could exist in primitive societies. Among the many gods, there was one chief deity. This chief deity could be interpreted as a spiritual reflection of the chieftain politics of primitive societies, or as a conjecture about the origin of the operation of heaven and earth and all things. However, this chief deity’s image was vague and lacked authority, much like the chieftains of primitive societies, who only had titles and positions but little real power. The images of the Emperor and Heaven appearing in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* and the *Classic of Poetry* are precisely like this.

The *Classic of Mountains and Seas* uses the same character, “帝” (Di), to refer to both the highest deity in heaven and earthly rulers like Yao, Shun, and the Yellow Emperor. Even more surprisingly, the meaning of “帝” in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* is often ambiguous, leaving readers unsure whether it refers to the celestial emperor or the earthly emperor. This blurring of the lines between heaven and earth reflects the equal status of humans and gods in early society, a spiritual reflection of the equal position of leaders and members of society. Only after the division of society into two classes did the distinction between humans and gods become emphasized. The authority and position of “帝” in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, like that of the leaders in early society, is not absolute. The story of Xing Tian in the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* is celebrated, stating: “Xing Tian and the Emperor fought for divinity here. The Emperor cut off his head and buried it on Changyang Mountain. Then, he used his nipples as eyes and his navel as a mouth, wielding a shield and axe to dance.” Literally, the Emperor personally beheaded and buried Xing Tian, ​​and Xing Tian’s defiance is endearingly clumsy. This reflects the social phenomenon in early society where competition for power was primarily limited to individual physical strength rather than social organization. Whether in heaven or on earth, the emperor of a secondary society has an organizational structure to ensure his supreme authority, and he absolutely does not need to kill people himself.

In the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, the Emperor becomes Heaven in the *Classic of Poetry*, indicating the Zhou Dynasty’s conversion to the belief in Heaven. This also serves as evidence that the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* predates the *Classic of Poetry*. The *Classic of Poetry* frequently contains descriptions of vehemently criticizing Heaven, which modern scholars interpret as condemnation of the Zhou King, comparing Heaven to the Zhou King—a insightful observation. The Zhou King was the master of the earth, roughly equivalent to today’s UN Secretary-General, while Heaven is the master of the celestial beings; both occupy similar positions in the minds of ordinary people. An ordinary person may find it difficult to perceive the direct impact of the UN Secretary-General on their life; humans are imaginative beings, and they can connect any unpleasantness in life with Heaven and the Zhou King, making their criticisms undoubtedly more powerful. For example, the first poem in the *Yong Feng* section, “The Cypress Boat,” contains the repeated lines, “Mother, Heaven, why do you not understand people?” Clearly, this equates the mother with Heaven in the criticism. The daughter should understand why her mother is not understanding her; by criticizing Heaven, this lack of understanding is emphasized to an incomprehensible degree. The use of the sky to express one’s inability to accept reality reveals the intensity of one’s unhappiness.

The Chinese History: Pre-Qin Volume edited by Liu Baocai et al. may not be appropriate to say that the poems in the Book of Songs that curse the heavens are evidence of the wavering of religious thought at the end of the Western Zhou Dynasty. [5] Sima Qian wrote in the Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of Qu Yuan and Jia Yi, “Heaven is the beginning of man… When man is in dire straits, he returns to his origin, so when he is exhausted and weary, he will call on the heavens.” Poems such as “Rain Without Order”, “Summoning the Min”, and “Looking Up” all begin with a call to the heavens and the whole poem satirizes the world. This is a kind of return to the belief in the heavens. However, this heaven is like the headman of the original society and the parents of the family. It can be complained about and cursed. This kind of cursing cannot eliminate the parents who are the origin of man, nor can it remove the heavens that are the beginning of man. On the contrary, the king who can be replaced when necessary cannot be cursed all the time. There are many examples of people being killed for advising the king before the Warring States period in China. There are no examples of people being executed for blasphemy like in ancient Greece. Ancient Chinese beliefs in Heaven and God remained at the primitive stage of society and were not deified by the hierarchical system of a two-tiered society, because a typical two-tiered society did not exist in China at that time.

Ancient Greek mythology, based on Homer’s epics, possesses a strict hierarchical system, undoubtedly a reflection of the two-tiered social class system in the human spirit. Ancient Greece created a large group of gods who obeyed Zeus, the chief god. Heroes were born from the union of gods and humans, equivalent to kings of city-states. These heroes commanded warriors composed of commoners, below whom were slaves. Thus, from Zeus to the slaves, there were already five ranks. In the Iliad, the warriors commanded by the hero Achilles were transformed ants, signifying their large numbers and blind obedience in arduous battles. That is to say, in Homer’s poetry, even the warriors and citizens at the main level of the second-tier society lost their inherent humanity, becoming merely cogs or ants in the social machine—the aforementioned bipolar disorder.

The transition from primitive society to secondary society is like a fish emerging from the water, entering a completely different world. The unmanipulable nature of secondary society is even more pronounced in its early stages of development, making society seem incomprehensible to humans. The Trojan War, as described in the Iliad, was triggered by the displeasure of the god of discord for not being invited to the assembly of the gods. Moreover, this ten-year-long war, which resulted in the deaths of millions, was entirely orchestrated by the gods; the armies operated like two groups of puppets manipulated by the gods. A god’s slightest displeasure could lead to immense disasters, such as when a Greek warrior killed a hare, leading to the martyrdom of the daughter of the Greek commander-in-chief; after the Greek army entered Troy, a minor officer dragged down the statue of Athena, causing a great storm on their way home, resulting in the entire Greek army being swallowed by the waves. These are all reflections of the power dynamics of secondary society on the human spiritual level, not found in the *Classic of Poetry* or the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*.

Another characteristic of Homer’s epics and ancient Greek mythology is the placement of the idea of ​​predetermined and irresistible fate above all else, or the view that this idea is the true religious belief of ancient Greece. While both ancient Greece and China had traditions of divination to predict the future, only ancient Greece placed such a high degree of importance on the inevitability of fate. The deaths of Achilles and Hector, two heroes in the Trojan War, were repeatedly foreshadowed, and both firmly believed in the immutability of fate, bravely facing the prophetic ending. Here, we mention the story of the ancient Greek tragedy *Oedipus the King*: In his youth, Oedipus was tormented by a prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. To avoid this prophetic fate, he resolutely abandoned his comfortable court life, left his parents, and embarked on a life of wandering. During his wanderings, he accidentally killed someone in a fight, only to later learn that the deceased was the local king. Because Oedipus had correctly solved the riddle of the monster, the citizens hailed him as the next king, and he married the widow of the deceased king. Years later, he learned that the king he killed was his biological father, and the wife he married was his biological mother. It turned out that the parents he had left were merely his adoptive parents. He wandered to the ends of the earth to escape his fate, only to find himself facing it head-on. This convoluted prophetic story is representative of many ancient Greek tales of fate, all repeatedly demonstrating that fate, no matter how tragic, is unavoidable; no matter how tortuous, fate will ultimately be fulfilled. This reflects the incomprehensible yet powerful influence and trampling of every individual in early secondary societies. Life is the weak and powerless lament of an individual entering a secondary society for the first time. Ancient China lacked a typical secondary society and therefore had no such experience. Thus, the *Classic of Poetry* and the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* contain no trace of this powerlessness in the face of the social machine. Humans, manipulated by the social machine, could only worship and admire—this is precisely the social environment that nurtures bipolar individuals.

(III) Compared with Homer’s epics, the *Classic of Poetry* and the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* embody a comprehensive understanding of primitive social thought.

This paper presents a key argument: primitive social systems can also develop civilization, but they lack the directional accumulation of secondary societies. The development of civilization in primitive societies is itself a process of human self-gratification, requiring neither war nor the supervision of a leisure class. Compared to Western civilization, ancient Chinese civilization exhibits these characteristics. This further supports the inference that the main social stratum in pre-Warring States China was primitive society. Compared to the directional accumulation of secondary societies, the development of civilization in primitive societies demonstrates a comprehensive social thinking. If we compare primitive society to the earth, China built sturdy bungalows with expansive development space in all directions, with little risk of collapse, while ancient Greece built skyscrapers with expansive development space in the sky, prone to collapse and difficult to rebuild. Therefore, unlike other civilizations that rise and fall in waves, Chinese civilization developed continuously. While the wealth accumulation of the two civilizations differs greatly, the construction of spiritual civilization, philosophy, and culture is quite similar. In terms of the average happiness of the total population, which is greater? Undoubtedly, the people under the Chinese system are happier.

The ancient Egyptians spent a millennium building the pyramids. If we disregard the pharaohs’ corpses beneath, the pyramids are purely works of art with no practical value, a result of the directional accumulation of resources in a secondary society. In contrast, the millions of prehistoric rock paintings around the world are a comprehensive reflection of the artistic thought of early human societies. For example, the Damaidi rock paintings discovered in Ningxia, China in recent years, contain over 8,000 individual images divided into more than 3,000 groups, depicting the sun, moon, stars, deities, hunting, and herding. Modern people, having experienced life in a secondary society, tend to interpret these prehistoric works using our established values, such as interpreting them as religious acts or lewd graffiti created by youthful sexual impulses, failing to capture the comprehensive nature of early societal thought. Both the Egyptian pyramids and ancient rock paintings are purely works of art with little practical value; one is magnificent, the other colorful, and it’s difficult to definitively say which is superior. The latter reflects the inherent colors of humanity, while the former is a monotonous creation forged through millennia of relentless pursuit with whips and bayonets. Only with this perspective can we truly appreciate the achievements of ancient Chinese culture.

Immigrant nations like Canada and the United States promote cultural diversity, but no matter how many “diverse” elements they incorporate, their diversity cannot represent the entirety of a society’s culture; it can all be summarized as material civilization. In contrast, the comprehensive culture of a primitive society represents its entirety because it is based on human nature and is a natural expression of that nature. Different primitive societies may have slightly different cultures, but these are merely differences in expression, not in essence.

The difference between a comprehensive approach and a single-direction one becomes readily apparent when comparing the *Classic of Poetry*, the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, and Homer’s epics *The Iliad* and *The Odyssey*, which appeared in the 8th century BC. All four works were primarily transmitted orally and later recorded, revised, and supplemented by scholars. The *Classic of Poetry* contains 305 poems, divided into three parts: *Feng*, *Ya*, and *Song*, roughly representing folk songs, literary works, and court hymns. This practice of placing folk songs first and court poems connected to political power later indicates that the editors did not intend for this collection of poems to be placed within a single system. The *Classic of Poetry* contains fewer than 30,000 characters, with a total line count within the thousands. The *Classic of Mountains and Seas* consists of eighteen chapters, approximately 31,000 characters, recording over 100 states, 550 mountains, over 300 waterways, and over 100 historical figures. It also includes about 300 animals, mainly fish and beasts, and dozens of gods. The *Classic of Mountains and Seas* uses geography as its framework, lacking both a coherent ideological system and any comparative evaluation of the various states.

Homer’s epic poem *The Iliad*, written in the 8th century BC, is over 15,000 lines long and narrates the story of the Greek coalition’s siege of Troy, a city in Asia Minor. It centers on the argument between Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek coalition, and Acris, a powerful general, and focuses on the events of the last fifty days of the war. *The Odyssey*, over 12,000 lines long, tells the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and his ten-year journey home after the conquest of Troy, focusing on the last year and a few dozen days of that period.

Early society was individualistic, so the *Classic of Poetry* (Shijing) primarily expressed emotions, conveying the individual’s various feelings about society and life. The *Classic of Mountains and Seas* records scattered legends from various regions. The *Iliad* and the *Odyssey* tell the story of a ten-year war and the return of a hero afterward. Homer’s epic poems, such grand works, were not created overnight, but rather the result of centuries of targeted accumulation within a two-tiered social environment. Homer is generally considered a wandering bard who sang for the leisure class. These wandering bards and the leisure class as listeners were two groups that fostered the continuous development of ancient Greek sung poetry. Chinese society did not have such groups, and therefore, the targeted accumulation of such grand works as in ancient Greece was impossible. The *Zuo Zhuan* records that in the late Spring and Autumn period, Prince Ji Zha of Wu visited the State of Lu and requested to see classical music from the Zhou Dynasty. Lu musicians sang various sections of the *Classic of Poetry* for him, including the *Feng*, *Ya*, and *Song* sections. Ji Zha was able to offer insightful critiques of each piece, a remarkable achievement, and thus the story was recorded. Such occasions were clearly uncommon and could hardly be compared to the style of the ancient Greek bards.

The order of primordial societies is intrinsic, based on human nature, while the order of secondary societies is artificial, external, and often backed by violence. As mentioned above, prehistoric rock paintings are a natural expression of human nature, while the pyramids are works of whips and bayonets. This can also be used to distinguish between the Chinese classics *The Book of Songs* and *The Classic of Mountains and Seas* and the ancient Greek epics of Homer.

(iv) The alienation of human moral values

Social morality and values ​​are complex issues, which will not be discussed in detail here. Both primitive and secondary societies possess their own moral and value orientations; the former is based on human nature, while the latter is based on the direction of societal construction. Here, we will distinguish Homeric epics from Chinese classics like the *Classic of Poetry* and the *Classic of Mountains and Seas* by the presence or absence of values ​​that clearly contradict basic human nature. Ancient Greek civilization, represented by Athens, primarily produced goods such as wine, olive oil, and silver; its developed commerce was a direct result. Commerce fostered a culture of free individuals and wealth accumulation, while internal democratic systems drove the search for external sources of wealth, namely, war and plunder.

The Trojan War, as depicted in the *Iliad* and its sequels, was in reality a war of plunder. At the war’s end, scenes show children being killed and women, including the queen of the defeated nation, being taken away as spoils. The entire poem is filled with praise for wartime plunder and detailed descriptions of the distribution of spoils. The conflict between the hero Achilles and the commander of the Greek coalition forces forms the main thread of the story, stemming from the distribution of plundered women. This reduction of noble human emotions into the distribution of spoils under bayonets is something that primitive societies could never have achieved. While hungry people in primitive societies might attack their neighbors for food, they typically used sneak attacks to minimize conflict and casualties. This desperate act of sneak attack is entirely different from the blatant and open plunder of ancient Greece. The former doesn’t appear in works like the *Classic of Poetry*, which instead condemns various immoral acts; the latter, however, becomes a theme celebrated in lengthy epics. A culture of wartime plunder that violates human nature cannot be built in a short time. Aristotle wrote extensively about the legitimacy of slavery and the plunder of slaves through war, demonstrating that Greek culture had strayed far from natural humanity.

One of humanity’s inherent instincts is to refrain from killing. To portray the indiscriminate killing of innocents positively and imbue it with poetic beauty is certainly not a characteristic of primitive societies. In the *Odyssey*, the protagonist Odysseus, participating in the Trojan War, is absent for twenty years, his fate unknown. Due to the prominent status of Odysseus’s family, a large group of men pursue his wife. Upon his return, Odysseus disguises himself as a stranger and, after winning an archery contest with these suitors, shoots them one by one while they are defenseless. Odysseus’s wife’s ability to remain faithful to her husband for twenty years in the face of such a large group of suitors—this elevation of the concept of chastity to an alarming degree—is also a product of a secondary society. The *Iliad*, on the other hand, depicts the abduction of Helen, his wife who eloped ten years prior, leading to their reunion, completely disregarding the traditional concept of female chastity. Therefore, the *Iliad* and the *Odyssey* represent different stages of cultural development, with the *Odyssey* clearly emerging later. The aforementioned American psychologist, Jennis, believes that the *Iliad* depicts a typical bipolar individual, while the *Odyssey* already shows signs of developing subjective consciousness. The Book of Songs and the Classic of Mountains and Seas do not contain such excessive and inhumane descriptions.

In short, while immoral acts such as murder and robbery occasionally occurred in ancient, primitive societies, the powerful allure of human nature rendered these occasional acts nightmares for the victims and bystanders. These memories were unconsciously suppressed, eventually leading to complete forgetting. Secondary societies, however, must implement effective and sustained measures to suppress human nature and create a culture contrary to it. A modern example illustrates this point:

According to Dave Grossman, a trained psychologist and American officer, humans are indeed born with a strong resistance to killing. The military understood this more than half a century ago. If you give a man necessary military training, give him a gun, put him on the battlefield, and expose him to the imminent danger of being killed by the enemy, in most cases he will still refuse to kill. But he feels deeply ashamed, considering himself a shameful coward, and will not tell anyone about his refusal to kill. Only towards the end of World War II, when American military historians conducted post-war interviews with hundreds of Army companies under strict secrecy, did they discover that only 15% to 20% of the soldiers had actually pulled the trigger. Some soldiers even deliberately fired into the air. The result is that a small minority who could tolerate killing committed almost all acts of killing. This is a fact that has existed for thousands of years, yet has never been noticed or studied. For example, after the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, 90% of the discarded muskets were never fired.

The military later used techniques such as desensitization and conditioning to overcome this innate human resistance to killing. When training soldiers, human-shaped targets were used, and the action of firing a gun was made easy, so killing suddenly became automatic, almost like an automatic reflex. That is to say, before the soldier had time to think, the gun had already fired. This technique was used in the Vietnam War with good results, with as many as 95 percent of American soldiers firing at their “enemy”. As a result, their incidence of post-war psychological trauma was also very high, obviously because they were tricked into killing, which violated their original intentions, and they felt guilty afterwards. [6]

A comparison of the *Classic of Poetry*, the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, and Homer’s epics reveals that ancient Chinese people did not invent techniques similar to the desensitization and conditioning used by the US military to promote the alienation of human moral concepts because their societies were relatively peaceful and stable, and there was no such social need. According to the research of American psychologist Johnny, ancient Mediterranean civilizations possessed a social mechanism more effective than the desensitization and conditioning techniques used by the US military to promote the alienation of human moral concepts—this is the bipolar disorder. Johnny argues that bipolar disorder individuals lack moral concepts and long-term memory, possessing only immediate memory sufficient for them to execute commands—essentially, the mental illness of today. Johnny does not believe that humans are born with bipolar disorder; rather, bipolar disorder arose as an adaptation to the need for social stability following the rapid expansion of communities at the time. According to Johnny’s research, Europe first proposed the concept of morality in the fifth century BC, after bipolar disorder individuals had largely disappeared from society. Confucianism, which extols the virtues of Yao and Shun and modeled itself on the reigns of King Wen and King Wu, indicates that Chinese civilization emphasized morality from the beginning. The *Classic of Poetry*, the *Classic of Mountains and Seas*, and Homer’s epics represent different cultural crystallizations from different societies and traditions.

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literature

[1] Jack L. Dull(1990): The evolution of government in China. In Paul S. Ropp, eds: Heritage of China, Berkeley, USA: University of California Press. p56-57.

[2] Yu Sheng: A new perspective on the differences between Eastern and Western cultures, see the 7th issue of Xue Deng on this website.

[3] Ge Jianxiong, Unity and Division: Lessons from Chinese History, Beijing: Sanlian Bookstore, 1994.

[4] Julian Jaynes(1976): The origin of consciousness in the breakdown of the bicameral mind. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.

[5] Liu Baocai, Chinese History: Pre-Qin Volume, Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2001, p. 125.

[6] G. Dyer (1995): Learning how to kill humans. Globe and Mail, Dec. 23, 1995.

Learning Lamp, Issue 8

author By Dr. You-Sheng Li

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