When High and Low Scramble for Gain, the House Falls

answered by Mencius, King Hui of Liang I

기원전 4세기(맹자 언행록)

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

The Godfather (1972)

dir. Francis Ford Coppola · USA

How far can the cause of 'protecting the family' remain just? When one begins to believe that for loved ones any universal good may be set aside one by one, into what do the family — and the self — being guarded slowly turn?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

In the name of "our own good," am I selling off, piece by piece, a good that should never be surrendered?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

上下交征利

上下交征利而國危矣

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

When those above and those below vie with one another for gain, the state is imperiled.

💡 TL;DR

Mencius saw that when gain is put first, high and low gnaw at each other until the house collapses.

📝The Classic Answers

Mencius saw that when gain is put first, high and low gnaw at each other until the house collapses. I read this warning as covering not only a state but a single heart. Once, in the name of protecting family, we place righteousness behind profit, even that family climbs onto the scale of gain. Love cannot be an excuse. Whatever the cause, I choose to remember first that there is a good which must never be sold.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If you justified a choice today as 'for the family,' check in one line whether it crossed a line that should not be crossed.

📖 Classic Source: Mencius, King Hui of Liang I. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.