Samurai Virtues that Created Modern Japan!

WHY WAR-DEVASTATED JAPAN
BECAME AN ECONOMIC SUPERPOWER
IN 25 YEARS!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente
TOKYO—Historically, many societies have had classes or groups of people who were extraordinary in ways that made them famous or notorious or both, in their own time as well as today.

The largest and probably the most famous of these classes of people were the samurai of feudal Japan—the professional warrior class that ruled the country from 1192 until 1868, during which time they made up from ten to twelve percent of the population.

The strengths and profound influence of the samurai on Japanese culture and society were based on concepts adopted from a number of philosophical and religious beliefs, particularly Shinto, Zen Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.

One of the most important of these concepts was the fragility and briefness of life. Of course, all rational individuals become aware of death at a young age, but the urge for life is so powerful that most people suppress this knowledge and behave as if they are going to live a very long time, if not forever. Not surprisingly, this deeply ingrained behavior has extraordinary consequences that are mostly negative.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all refer to the inevitability of death and use this fact in an attempt to persuade (and frighten!) people to behave in a certain way. It goes without saying that these attempts—often irrational and inhuman—have not been successful.

As contrary to common sense as it might seem today, the only large group of people who fully recognized and accepted the fragility and briefness of life and based their way of living on this knowledge were the samurai warriors of feudal Japan—both famous and notorious for their incredible martial arts skills, their ruthlessness in war, and the equanimity with which they faced death.

Members of the samurai class were taught from childhood that life is as fragile as a cherry blossom that can be wafted away by the slightest breeze, and that they should live their lives accordingly, obeying all of the obligations that made up their world so that they could die at any moment without remorse for having failed to live up to their responsibilities.

Samurai warriors generally followed this philosophy of life with profound diligence for two very simple reasons. First, they were subject to being killed, or having to kill themselves and sometimes their families as well, at a moment’s notice. And second, they believed that if they failed to behave according to the precepts that controlled their class they and their families would be disgraced forever.

The samurai knew that if people were always aware that they could die at a moment’s notice they would be far more likely to follow what became known as the Shichi Toku (She-chee Toh-kuu), or “The Seven Virtues.”

These seven virtues, which were taught as the moral and ethical guidelines of the samurai, became the code of conduct prescribed for them (their “commandments” if you will). They covered virtually all of the areas and topics of human interest and needs, especially those that involved appearance, personal relationships, and living a well-ordered life.

Here are the Shichi Toku in the order of their importance in the daily life of the samurai:

(1)
Kennin (Kane-neen)
Indomitable Spirit, Fortitude & Perseverance

From childhood, both boys and girls in the samurai class were taught and required to demonstrate extraordinary spirit, fortitude and perseverance in all of the facets of their lives.

This training literally began in infancy, with babies still in arms being instructed in when and how to bow properly, followed by constant instruction in all of the basic elements of a very precise etiquette that included how to dress, how to eat, how to sit, how to dress, how to bathe, how and when to use respect language, to withstand cold without complaining, to withstand pain without flinching, to never give up in anything they set out to do, to get revenge against any insult, and to immediately obey the orders of superiors—including orders to commit suicide.

From around the age of six or seven all samurai boys who were not physically or mentally impaired were required to engage in training in kendō (ken-dohh), literally “the way of the sword” and figuratively fighting with a sword—first using wooden swords or wooden staffs.

This training, overseen by instructors, generally took place every day for several hours, becoming more intense as the boys approached their teen years. Youths were formally and officially recognized as “samurai warriors” when they became fifteen years old, at which time they were required to wear two swords at all times when they were in public—a long sword for attacking others or defending themselves, and a short sword for committing suicide when that occasion arose.

Young samurai who were assigned to military units were required to continue their daily training until they retired from wounds or old age. Those who became administrators, including the highest ministers and the shoguns themselves, continued regular training in kendō throughout their active lives.

All shoguns, vice-shoguns, fief lords, and ranking members of the shogunate and fiefdoms had their own kendō training centers staffed by masters. In addition to their own training, they regularly staged exhibition bouts and tournaments.

The masters in these training centers were invariably middle-aged and older warriors who had gained fame by killing many opponents during their earlier careers, and in numerous cases had developed their own style of sword-fighting that was taught in their “schools.”

Because of the competition and intrigue that was typical among the fiefs of feudal Japan, and the fear of the shoguns that one or more of the fief lords would rebel against them, the training in kendō was taken very seriously by the samurai class.

One example of the lengths to which some samurai fathers went in training their sons in kendō was the practice of having them cut the heads off of several convicts or prisoners to get the feel of it and to be able to do it efficiently.

In one famous historical example of this kind of practice, some ten condemned men were line up in a row and a fifteen-year-old samurai youth was instructed to decapitate all of them one after the other. He rapidly cut the heads off of all of the men except one, saying he was tired and would spare the man’s life.

This was the kind and degree of kennin that was expected and demanded of the samurai, and is one of the facets of the samurai legacy is still very much in evidence in the character and behavior of present-day Japanese.

(2)
Shinnen (Sheen-nane)
Conviction & Faith

The demanding life of the samurai required that they develop extraordinary conviction that their attitudes and behavior were admirable and better than other lifestyles. It also required that they have absolute faith in their ability to succeed in life despite the challenges and obstacles.

Over the generations these traits became so deeply embedded in the character and personality of all Japanese that they developed an extraordinary superiority complex that led most of them to believe that they could do anything they set out to do.

This complex had a powerful influence on Japanese society—aesthetically, economically, politically, and militarily. In some cases this influence was positive; in other cases it was negative.

Some of the results of the negative side of this complex became well-known internationally in the 19th and 20th centuries because of military campaigns by the Japanese against Korea, Russia, China, the U.S., Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific.

On the positive side, the superiority complex of the Japanese, buttressed by unbounded shinnen, led them—more than a thousand years ago—to routinely create masterpieces in their arts and crafts industries; to construct the world’s largest wooden buildings and to develop highly sophisticated earthquake technology that has preserved them to this day; and, between 1947 and 1970, to turn their war-devastated country into the world’s second largest economy.

While the present-day cultural and technological accomplishments of the Japanese would not generally be attributed to a superiority complex, they nevertheless are manifestations of the conviction and faith—and pride—that the Japanese have in their ability to create and innovate…and, in fact, are an extension of their built-in belief that they are a superior people.

(3)
Shincho (Sheen-choh)
Care, Caution, Discretion
One of the paramount characteristics that Japan’s samurai had to develop from a very early age was that of exercising extreme shincho (care, caution, discretion) in their daily lives.

Even when very young it was necessary for them to be extraordinarily careful in the way they behaved toward others because of the demands of their formalized, ritualized and unforgiving etiquette. As they grew older, these demands became even stronger and more encompassing.

There were occasions when something as simple as a failure to bow in the established and expected manner could mean death—sometimes instantly. Giving the “wrong” gift or no gift at all to a high-ranking person could be equally disastrous.

There were innumerable situations in which failure to be discreet could result in the ruin of a person, and sometimes their family as well.

The samurai therefore developed a cultural sixth sense that helped guide them through the intricacies of their system of etiquette—first because it was a matter of survival, and as time passed, because it became a matter of both honor and pride.

Most present-day Japanese, particularly the older generations, have retained much of the traditional built-in shincho reaction in their relationships with others because the level of day-to-day physical and verbal etiquette remains high.

The shincho factor in Japanese behavior invariably kicks into gear when they are dealing with non-Japanese—and the higher the business, diplomatic, and social level of the people involved, the higher the level of shincho that is engaged.

It is therefore especially important for foreigners dealing with Japanese to be aware of this factor in their character in order to accurately evaluate their actions and reactions.

The tatemae (tah-tay-my), or “façade” element in Japanese speech (that I explore in detail in my book, Japan’s Cultural Code Words), is an extension of the shincho factor.

The built-in shincho compass of the Japanese typically results in them concealing their true thoughts and intensions at the beginning of negotiations with a ceremonial façade that is only gradually removed as the dialogue progresses…if the opposing team is aware enough of what is going on to persist in chipping away at it.

(4)
Seigi (Say-ghee)
Righteousness and Justice

Despite the ruthless and often barbaric aspect of the culture of the samurai there was an underlying theme of seigi (say-ghee), or righteousness and justice, in their moral and ethical code.

Japan’s feudal history is, in fact, filled with examples of the extraordinary sense of righteousness and justice of the typical samurai. These examples include such things as demonstrations of goodwill and honesty that go above and beyond what is normal.

I recall a number of such instances in my own early years in Japan in the 1940s and 50s. On one occasion I stayed overnight at a small inn in the Akabane district of Tokyo, and forgot a raincoat there when I left the next morning.

Some two years later, during which I totally forgot about the coat, I went back to the inn. The instant I stepped into the entrance foyer the proprietress of the inn said: “Ah! Mr. De Mente! You forgot your raincoat!”

Many of the historical examples of the manifestations of seigi are far more telling. Among these are common occasions when retainers of fief lords or other high-ranking samurai would become disillusioned with the morality and ethics of their superiors and commit suicide, leaving a message beseeching them to mend their ways; a very powerful way of getting their point across.

I remember at the end of World War II some American businesspeople were amazed when Japanese companies informed them that they would honor prewar payments and other obligations owed to the Americans, even when the American firms had no records of such debts.

In present-day Japan examples of seigi range from ordinary people going to extremes to return lost items to their rightful owners—including wallets containing money—to businesspeople who remain loyal to partners and suppliers even when it is seriously disadvantageous for them to do so.

(5)
Sessei (Say-ssay-ee)
Moderation and Temperance

The conduct prescribed for the samurai was based on aspects of court etiquette that had been imported from China during the 6th and 7th centuries and had become institutionalized and ritualized over the generations, first at the Imperial Court, then from the 9th century on at the courts of domain lords who were mostly excess princes sent out to govern the provinces.

This conduct included the apparel and accessories the samurai wore (which denoted their rank), the style of dressing their hair (which required that a portion of their heads be shaved every morning), the way of carrying their swords, their way of sitting in formal and informal situations, the way of bowing, the way of speaking (in the vocabulary used and in the tone of voice and manner of delivery), the way of greeting people (which varied by their rank), the way of handing something to someone, the way of drinking, the way of toasting someone or an occasion, and so on.

In other words, there was a precise, prescribed way of behavior that covered virtually every aspect of the daily actions of the samurai…to the point that their behavior was a conspicuous and unmistakable demonstration of whether or not they had absorbed all of the features of the samurai culture—and whether or not they chose to follow them.

Choosing not to follow the established rules of conduct was a very serious decision to make, and could have serious and often fatal consequences. Again, Japan’s feudal history is filled with examples of warriors deliberately or unknowingly failing to follow the prescribed etiquette, bringing ruin to themselves and often to their families as well.

There was also a prescribed etiquette for common people, particularly in their interactions with samurai. During the early years of the last shogunate dynasty (the Tokugawa Shogunate, 1603-1868), it was made the law of the land that a samurai could kill on the spot any commoner who failed to show him the prescribed respect. The samurai could then apologize and walk away. This law was known as kirisute gomen (kee-ree-suu-tay go-mane), literally “regretful killing.”

The strictness of the samurai culture resulted in the majority of them being extraordinarily self-restrained in their behavior, not only to uphold the honor of their class but also as a matter of their own survival, since they were extraordinarily sensitive to slights from other samurai and were obligated to take immediate revenge against such insults by killing the guilty individual. [During the Tokugawa Shogunate an edict was passed making it necessary for samurai to apply to the shogunate for official permission to embark on revenge killings.]

Another aspect of the education and training of the samurai was their indoctrination in Buddhism and Confucianism, which taught temperance and moderation in all things.

Obviously, all this is not to say that most samurai were paragons of sessei, but the majority did scrupulously abide by the etiquette prescribe for this class, resulting in a level of temperance that was extraordinarily high by world standards.

The legacy of the samurai inspired sessei has not fared well in contemporary Japan. It is still visible and important in formal situations, but informally, particularly in drinking situations, it is typically thrown to the wind.

Interestingly, the reason why the Japanese have traditionally “let their hair down” when drinking is that throughout the history of the country the only time that people could legitimately and safely ignore the strict etiquette and “be themselves” was when they were drinking—a rule that applied more to commoners than to samurai.

However, during the last two hundred years of the Tokugawa Shogunate during which there were no clan or fief wars to fight, many lower ranking samurai who were often idle (they were forbidden to work), became dissolute and would often get drunk in public, become boisterous and sometimes destructive—including testing their swords on innocent passersby.

This phenomenon resulted in the Shogunate establishing a network of koban (kohh-bahn) or “police boxes” (small sub-stations on street corners that were generally just large enough to hold a desk and two chairs) to help keep unruly samurai under control.

The koban remain a significant part of the present-day police infrastructure in Japan, and many of the contemporary koban in main areas of larger cities are big enough for a staff of four or more policemen.

Instead of being keepers of the peace, however, the primary role of present-day koban policemen is serving as local information centers for people looking for destinations in the area. (Addresses of buildings and houses in Japan do not have anything to do with the streets they happen to be on or near, making it extremely difficult to pinpoint addresses without detailed instructions and/or maps.)

Several other Asian countries, impressed with the concept of the koban, have copied them.

(6)
Jizen (Jee-zane)
Benevolence and Charity

It may be difficult for people who are only casually acquainted with the history of the samurai to associate benevolence and charity with samurai warriors during the long feudal era—as well as after the samurai system ended in the 1870s and the sword-carrying warriors were recast in the uniforms and with the weapons of Western-styled military forces of the day.

By contemporary Western standards much of the behavior of the samurai during both of these periods was, in fact, barbaric and savage. But, historically, it was not any different from the standards that existed in the West during the Middle-Ages, and which did not begin to change until the latter part of the 1800s…the same period when the samurai class was dissolved.

In other words, the samurai of Japan did not have an exclusive monopoly on barbaric and savage behavior. That was a trait that has been common in most societies throughout the history of mankind—and still is in many societies.

The genuine jizen (jee-zane) of Japan’s samurai was mostly overshadowed by their role as warriors, their view and treatment of death—their own as well as that of others—and by their role as judge and jury in establishing and enforcing laws to control the behavior of commoners.

Just as in the West during the same period, torture was a key part of the samurai justice system, and execution methods included those that were designed to be especially painful.

But behind this very real public image, one of the key principles in the indoctrination of the samurai class was the Buddhist concept of benevolence and charity, and it was followed most of the time by most samurai in positions of authority. There are many historical examples of city and town samurai magistrates who were famous for their wisdom and benevolence.

Over the generations of the long samurai era these same jizen character traits became imbued in the culture of the common people, but the drama of the samurai way of fighting obscured the goodwill and hospitality that has been characteristic of ordinary Japanese throughout their history—a characteristic that still persists today and is often so unexpected by foreign visitors that they are astounded.

One of my favorite anecdotes that emphasizes the character and behavior of the typical Japanese involves the famous writer-author Lafcadio Hearn. He went to Japan in the late 1800s on an assignment for an American magazine and was so entranced by the behavior of the Japanese he proclaimed that living Japan was like living in paradise, and remained there for the rest of his life.

Hearn was referring to the refined etiquette of all Japanese, and specifically to the innate hospitality and incredible honesty and goodwill of ordinary Japanese.

But traditionally the Japanese practice of jizen was more complicated than all this suggests. It was first of all generally limited to members of the exclusive groups that made up society as a whole, and in effect was group-oriented rather than universal.

Outside of these primary groups jizen was generally applied only to those whose goodwill and cooperation were necessary to achieve specific goals—such as government officials, teachers and doctors.

Interestingly, the Japanese have traditionally regarded foreigners as special guests of the country, and have typically treated them with special benevolence and charity. This cultural factor remains very much in evidence today and is one of the reasons why most present-day foreigners in Japan find living there seductive, as Hearn did more than a hundred years ago.

(7)
Kibō (Kee-bohh)
A Life filled with Hope

Despite the many cultural and governmental restraints that limited the options and opportunities of the Japanese prior to modern times, the Japanese were not a morose or morbid people. They had a marvelous sense of humor, loved jokes and puns, and had a variety of celebrations and parties of one kind or another throughout the year.

The Japanese were among the first people to travel widely within their own country for recreational purposes, especially to enjoy the incredible beauty of both the mountain and coastal areas of the country.

And Japan was the first country that had a nationwide network of roadside inns at regular government-prescribed distances from each other that were specifically designed and managed to cater to travelers, virtually all of whom traveled on foot (also by government decree), and were therefore on the road for weeks at a time when traveling long distances.

All of these feel good and enjoy yourself aspects of Japanese culture were manifestations of the fact that the major religions of Japan—Shinto and Buddhism—were based on positive and happy beliefs that included sensual pleasures of all kinds.

These elements in the culture of Japan imbued the Japanese with a sense of kibō (kee-bohh), or hope, that helped them deal with the strict lifestyle imposed by the samurai over a period of nearly eight hundred years—a period during which they served as role models as well as created and enforced the edicts that controlled the behavior of the common people.

As the generations passed, the six other virtues promoted by the samurai gradually impregnated the mindset of all Japanese, and continue to this day to distinguish them from other people.

This is not to infer that all of Japan’s samurai were paragons of these six primary virtues, or to ignore the fact that the definitions and nuances of all of these virtues were based on Japanese values and aspirations, which often differed fundamentally from Western precepts.

But within Japanese society during the age of the samurai the level of ethics, manners, morality and overall behavior was as high—if not higher—than has ever been achieved, before or since, in any other society. And this encompassed many of the most desirable and admirable beliefs and behavioral traits that were part of the Hebrew and Christian traditions.

The overall legacy of the samurai remains today the foundation of Japan’s etiquette, ethics and morality—weakened here and there by the importation of democratic ideals of individualism and selfishness from the West, primarily the United States, but nevertheless visible in every area of society.

The one area of Japanese culture that is the most visible to foreigners, and the one in which they can participate without prior knowledge or experience, is the fun side, the pleasure side, which combined is probably the largest single industry in the country.

WHY JAPAN BECAME AN ECONOMIC SUPERPOWER

In summary, it was the legacy of the samurai spirit that made it possible for Japan to become the world’s second largest economy between 1950 and 1975—notwithstanding the wide-open American market and the billions of dollars the United States government spent in Japan procuring supplies for the Korean and Vietnam wars.

Without the spirit, the perseverance, the will and the pride that had become the hallmarks of the samurai character, it would have taken the Japanese decades to overcome the devastation and loss caused by their defeat in World War II, much less become an economic superpower.
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Copyright © 2010 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente. All rights reserved.
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For a definitive discourse on the culture of the samurai, see The Japanese Samurai Code and Samurai Strategies, by the author—both available from Amazon.com. To see a list and synopses of all of his 60-plus books go to: www.BoyeDeMente.com and/or www.Amazon.com.

Why Technology is Destroying God-Based Religions!

CULTURAL CRISES FACING MANKIND!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente
It is, of course, a given that Judaism, Christianity and Islam have never been successful as arbiters of morality. These religions have, in fact, been the source of much of the immorality that has plagued the Western and mid-Eastern hemispheres of the planet since their inception. You might say that after men created God in their own image everything went to Hell!

It is no doubt true that Judaism, Christianity and Islam were founded with the best of intentions but it was not long before they were turned into instruments of discrimination, oppression, violence and murder. Throughout their history mayhem and war have been their primary legacies to mankind.

Over the millennia the vast majority of people who have accepted and attempted to live by the precepts of these three man-made religions—in other words, to live morally upright lives according to the precepts of their particular religion—have been the least powerful, the most downtrodden and the most victimized by the state and by the church.

The word God itself has been turned into a catchall term that is used to justify murder by individuals and mass-killing by states. Pathological killers as well as the most upright members of societies beseech God to aid them in the destruction of their competitors and enemies, and praise God when they succeed.

That this incongruity is ignored by many of those who profess to believe in and follow the precepts of a “loving God” is pathological to the extreme. To be more precise, it is a form of insanity. In virtually the same breath “God the Creator and Savior” becomes “God the Avenger, the Destroyer and the Bringer of Death” to one’s enemies and disbelievers.

In human history good and bad have never existed in reality as fixed polar opposites. They have always been circumstantial and were whatever was prescribed at the time by the ruling powers—the clergy, the government and the military, or whichever one of these entities was dominant. These three institutions have also traditionally worked hand-in-hand to indoctrinate, subjugate and control people for their own purposes.

It goes without saying that for the vast majority of people survival and some degree of security and comfort take precedence over all other things. And if professing to believe in something like Islam, for example, will provide this security and comfort, even to a small degree, people programmed in that faith will believe and obey even the most irrational and inhuman dogma.

When the United States was founded some of the teachings of Christianity that are humane, positive and nurturing were incorporated into the laws of the land. But institutionalized Christianity was not made a state religion because it was clearly seen as an enemy of intellectual and personal freedom.

In all Christianized societies then and now there is what could be referred to as a Sunday Morality for some people, mostly women, and a Weekday Morality for the rest, mostly men. While Sunday Morality traditionally represented the spiritual world, Weekday Morality represented the real world, where people tended to do whatever they needed to do, or wanted to do.

These two worlds have always been contradictory despite the efforts of religions to both persuade and force all people to obey their spiritual and social dictates at all times. That has never worked in the past. It is certainly not working now. And it will never work in the future!

WHY GOD-BASED RELIGIONS HAVE FAILED!
It goes without saying that people in God-oriented societies typically behave in ways that are contrary to religious teachings. In many cases this is because the teachings range from being impractical, to inhuman, dangerous, or worse, and following them makes no sense.

On the practical side, another reason for such behavior in Christianity-based cultures in particular is that the threat of burning in Hell for eternity may frighten young children, many women and a few men, but the realities of daily life in the past and today are such that the threat of punishment after death is mostly meaningless.

The concept that the “Kingdom of Heaven” is within the individual—not in some after-death place high in the sky—is probably the most important of all of the insights attributed to Jesus, but it has been down-played or ignored by all levels of God-based religions. In fact, according to the teachings of Christianity you can “sin” left and right and still go to Heaven if you confess and accept Jesus as your savior before you die.

In more ways than one, the God-based moralities of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have become an unfunny joke. The daily news is rife with references to God that are so irrational they go beyond being ridiculous. Preachers, politicians, military men and others are constantly calling on God to bless them and their countries, and to bring death and destruction to their enemies.

There are far more damaging mental and moral aberrations across the board in societies where the guidelines for human behavior are based on an irrational male-oriented theological concept—with so-called entertainment being one of the most conspicuous examples.

It is incredible that modern-day entertainment, one of the biggest and most culturally influential of all industries, is more often than not based on catering to the most primitive, savage and gross side of humanity. The Christian Church in particular cannot compete with this form of mass cultural conditioning.

This morass of immorality has come about because over the decades the laws of the United States have been skewered by politicians under pressure from academics, business leaders and others to favor and permit the debasement of humanity—and most people at large accept this situation for a variety of reasons: they tell themselves they can’t change it; that it is not their responsibility, and so on. It is also no doubt true that many people who publicly oppose this pandemic of cultural sleeze are actually attracted to it.

In the first place, Judaism, Christianity and Islam have never had all of the right answers for humanity—as history has so graphically demonstrated. I am not saying that spirituality is out. In fact, spirituality is in, especially in the U.S. But more and more so-called Christians are creating their own personal paths to fulfilling their spiritual needs.

And then, of course, some two-thirds of the world’s population is not Christian or Jew—even if in name only. These are the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Hindus, and so on—most of whom have had good reason for disliking and fearing Christianity because of its intolerant claim of exclusivity and historical use of violence…not to mention the primitive, irrational elements of its theology.

THE NEED FOR A NEW CULTURAL PARADIGM
It obviously goes without saying that to truly meet the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of mankind the world needs a new, global, cultural paradigm—one that “fits” and enhances the lives of everybody in all societies.

But are there principles and policies that would ensure high standards of ethical behavior and would work on a worldwide basis?

I believe there are, but to create and implement this new paradigm would mean discarding all of the institutionalized and ritualized one-God cult religions…and if you question my calling Judaism, Christianity and Islam “cults,” look up the word “cult” in your dictionary! The only difference between these three cults and notorious little cults is that these three are very big and very powerful, and can ignore and squash criticism.

It is, of course, a fact that some of the social tenets of Judaism and Christianity are responsible for much of the humane morality that has managed to survive in the United States and other Western countries. But even the most casual glance at the level of morality in so-called Christianized societies reveals that corruption and immoralities of all kinds are thriving as never before.

There is, in fact, statistical evidence that following the end of World War II in 1945 Christian-based morality in the United States took a sudden down-turn, and by 1962 the shift was so dramatic that criminal acts, immoral acts and other types of socially harmful behavior had increased by up to 2,000 percent!

In his recent book, THE CHEATING CULTURE, Princeton political scientist David Callahan catalogs the rampant immoral behavior that goes on in the U.S. today. He identifies fourteen categories where cheating is rife, including: accounting, business, education, the Internet, financial services, insurance, journalism, law, pharmaceuticals, sports, taxes, the work-place—along with historians and academics! He could have included virtually every other category in existence!

An even stronger indictment of the failure of Christianity is the fact that the level of immoralities and violence in general has historically been higher in the so-called Catholic countries of Europe and South America than in the United States.

However, as ineffective and as inhuman as Christianity has been, Islam is even worse—at least in some respects. It remains caught in a time warp, with many of the same irrational and barbarous tenets that were the bedrock of Christianity for many centuries—the same Christianity that was responsible for the crusades against Muslims, for the Catholic Inquisitors who tortured and burned thousands over a period of several generations, for the depredations of the Conquistadors in the New World, for the European Colonialists and their campaigns to subjugate native populations in Africa and to eradicate them in North and South America, and on and on.

The anti-infidel war and “sacred terrorism” now being promoted by radical Islamic clerics—not to mention their cruel and paranoid treatment of females of all ages—are stark reminders of the dangers inherent in cult religions.

Of course, Christianity now presents itself as humane and nurturing. But it is still off-base in many of its teachings—and has never been and is not now capable of instilling and enforcing a desirable standard of morality even in “Christianized” countries, much less universally.

And there is another very conspicuous obstacle to the creation and implementation of a new code of ethics for humanity. This obstacle is a large number of professional people worldwide in think tanks, in universities, and in other organizations that have agendas that range from being anti-white, anti-black, anti-Jewish, anti-Islamic, anti-democratic, anti-capitalism, anti-globalism, anti-American, to anti-international business, and more.

As is also obvious, these groups now have the means to reach millions of people daily with their virulent messages. A recent book entitled Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel by Michael Adams presents a fascinating and frightening portrait of these think-tank and campus-based anti-everything groups.

GUIDELINES FOR A NEW MORAL PARADIGM
So what might a new social paradigm look like—one that all people could live by and achieve their fullest potential? Being as practical as possible, given what is known about humanity, the new cultural paradigm would have to include the following:

1) That all governments be based on the best principles of democracy.

2) That all societies acknowledge and follow the fundamental principle that females have an equal stake in humanity and must have the same rights and same opportunities as males.

3) That morality be based on dogma-free principles that recognize the true nature of mankind and are designed to nurture all of the elements in the make-up of human beings: the body, the emotions, the intellect and the spirit.

4) That the educational policies of all governments and all educational institutions be redesigned to inculcate all students, from day one, with a genteel standard of behavior; a moral value system that includes respect for others, honesty, truthfulness and diligence; a sense of pride in themselves; a sense of honor; the ambition to make the world a better place; and the courage to have big dreams.

5) That the economic policies of all governments be redesigned to further a global-based process of raising the living standards of all people on the planet to a comfortable level.

6) That the finite nature and fragility of Planet Earth be totally recognized and that universal mandatory directives be established to protect and sustain it… balanced with the profit-making that is essential for any business!

7) That these goals be made the basic charter of mankind and be pursued on a global, coordinated basis.

Of course, there are hundreds of other factors, real and imagined, that would have to be a part of this paradigm shift. What I am saying is that all societies on the planet must become interconnected to the point that they are, in fact, members of a global society. An old idea…a global village!

We’ve gone from a Cold War of political ideologies to a Hot War of religious ideologies. And that is the new reality of the 21st century. We must therefore strive with everything in our power to bring all countries into the same rational, logical, humane, human family.

And the United States, despite its many short-comings, is the best hope for leading the world in a crusade for a sane, rational, comprehensive, universal morality. The world is, in fact, waiting for us to create and demonstrate a morality that would lift mankind up and out of the religious, political and economic muck and mire of history.

We have very obviously already attempted to start this crusade. But we have failed to do enough of the educational groundwork necessary to bring the mass of humanity on board the effort, even in the United States!

I fault all of the Establishments for this failure: the Political Establishment; the Business Establishment, and most of all, the Educational Establishment. I could have added Religious Establishments, but all of them have already failed in every facet of their self-proclaimed mandates.

The Educational Establishment is the guiltiest of all in failing to provide a foundation for a truly humane, ethical, world society because the majority of educators know—or should know—what is good for humanity and what is not good!

But most of the people making up the Educational Establishments worldwide, like people in many political institutions, are more self-serving than society-serving—not by choice but by the systems we’ve created. Furthermore, academia, like religion, has always attracted zealots whose goals do not serve mankind.

Of course, there is a lot of complaining and wailing about these systems. But like religious and political institutions, the educational organizations are too divided, too hemmed in by laws, too entrenched, and too bureaucratic to reform themselves.

TECHNOLOGY AS GOD!
Given all these negative influences, I believe that the only salvation for humanity is technology—which by itself is already rapidly changing all of the world’s cultures. In the long run, even without forward thinking and forward-acting leaders, the world’s cultures will become more and more rational, and more and more democratic because of the universal, objective, unemotional, impersonal, influence of technology.

But given the fact that primitive religions and authoritarian political forms still have at least a partial death-grip on the majority of mankind, these transformations could take generations because educators and political leaders will not take the heroic steps necessary to change today’s morality and today’s policies…even if they want it to happen!

And, of course, there are many national leaders who are dead-set against freedom and against a humane morality for the people they rule over.

As a result, most people may continue to be oppressed and prevented from achieving their full potential for generations to come…unless these changes are aggressively promoted by huge numbers of people blogging the world’s bureaucrats and leaders in business, in politics and in religions with criticism and advice! And even more importantly, by simply refusing to go along with stupid, insane policies and the people who promote them!

Of course, there are thousands of things one can point to in the U.S. and elsewhere that are encouraging. I saw in a recent news article that American entrepreneurs have established etiquette schools to teach young kids basic, good manners…something that parents used to do in their homes.

But how many schools that teach manners and the accompanying morality do you think it will take and how long will it take to counter all of the course behavior and lack of ethics that are being programmed into the minds of millions of children and young people seven days and nights a week by the so-called entertainment industries?

Of course, the majority of people everywhere are sickened by all of these cultural failures. But survival, power and profit-making…not moral behavior…are the overwhelming goals of most leaders in politics and business. And as already said, there is no way that the weak, divided and often irrational spiritual-based moralities of today are going to change that!

We therefore need to teach and follow a philosophy of living and working that is based on common sense, on the fragile nature of the Earth, on the real physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and philosophical needs of human beings.

Of course, there are people already espousing these philosophies but with so little impact that contemplating the future is frightening. Despite the misuse and abuse of the Internet by hate mongers, pornographers and radical religious zealots, this new technology also makes it possible for the average person to make his or her voice heard on a large scale for the first time in the history of mankind.

Ordinary people can now vote and express themselves online at any time on very important issues of the day! If enough rational, educated, morally enlightened people will bring more and more pressure against leaders in every field to force them to give up their self-serving ways—or force them out of positions of authority and let a new breed of people have a go at it—the ancient religious promise of peace on earth might be achieved.

Two of the more obvious things that we in the United States are now talking about—and could do if we had the will—is to reintroduce discipline and a reality-based future-oriented curriculum into the educational system, and to boycott purveyors of obscene, immoral and harmful ideas and behavior instead of rewarding them with fame and great wealth.

Just as obviously, it goes without saying that the First Amendment of the Constitution should be amended to prohibit its abuse by the so-called entertainment industries. In addition to being morally inexcusable, the present system is socially insane.

AN EPIC CHALLENGE FACES MANKIND
Of course, striving to transform the many cultures of the world and create a global Earth Culture is a challenge of epic proportions. In addition to the religious obstacles, there is the automobile industry, the oil industry, and the use of sex as the foundation of the advertising, marketing and entertainment industries—all of which fly in the face of common sense.

The profits involved in the automobile and oil industries alone virtually rule the world, and in today’s world profit comes before morality, before sanity, and especially before the future! It goes without saying that these two industries are not going to change their stripes anytime soon! They will surely milk the oil cow until it goes dry!

The blatant, gross use of sex in business is another of the most negative legacies of the religious distortion and repression of the sexual impulse. Even once straight-laced Asian countries have picked up on the American way of using sex to sell. This misuse and abuse of human sexuality is also not going to go away until we manage to create a new ethic for sexual behavior that is rational, satisfying and doable.

GOD DOESN’T NEED MORE PEOPLE!
We also need to obliterate the religious commandments for people to go forth and multiple. God doesn’t need more people, and the Church-based obsession that it does is another kind of insanity! Who in their right mind can believe that the Earth needs more millions or billions of poor, oppressed people? Why? For what purpose? For the support and glory of self-serving religions?

Furthermore, the religious-economic-political concept that prosperity and the quality of life is based on a continuously growing population is not only out-dated, it is one of the primary factors in the poverty that plagues over half of the population of the Earth, including millions of people in the most prosperous nations.
Over-population is also one of the primary sources of much of the violence that afflicts so much of mankind.

Mexico is a good example of a country in which Catholicism promotes population growth, thereby contributing to the poverty and suffering of some 70 percent of its people—a major factor in the reason why so many Mexicans come to the United States illegally.

In fact, the world needs some kind of parental code of ethics that people be required to agree to before they have children—in or outside of wedlock. To start with, courses in parenting responsibilities and skills should be made a mandatory part of the education of the young.

The political, economic and social policies of promoting growth and more growth for the sake of growth and power must be eliminated from the human mindset. Economic growth should first of all be designed to raise the level of the living standard of all people on Earth to a comfortable level and thereafter ensure that it is sustainable.

All of the prevailing reasons why men go to war—religion, the hunger for political power, the obsession with wealth, territorial ambitions, oppressive government regimes—should be eliminated by a coordinated universal effort that now seems to be so far beyond the ability of mankind that it is not even a dream. But that is exactly what at least 95 percent of the people on Earth want! So why can’t it be done?

It can be done but it will not be done until religious and political leaders are no longer in the dark ages where ignorance, irrationality and inhuman behavior are the norm—the norm for them; not for the people at large.

One of the most positive factors that is already raising the living standard of people in China and India—two countries that represent some two-thirds of humanity—is work out-sourcing from the United States, Japan, South Korea and other developed countries.

As controversial and as painful to some as this phenomenon is, it nevertheless is the most efficient and practical means of achieving economic parity between nations—not tearing any of them down, but building all of them up.

The more affluent China, India and other developing countries become, the more they contribute to the economy of the countries out-sourcing to them, the more stable their governments, and the more likely they are to cherish and work for peace and prosperity.

Of course, there are many other things that should be done. And despite all of the gloom and doom scenarios I’ve harped on the great majority of people on this endangered planet are good-hearted, well-behaved and hard-working, and want only to live peaceful, comfortable, secure lives.

The truly evil doers—those leaders and their henchmen who are actually well-known to the world—number only in the thousands. If the world could somehow get rid of them and prevent others from taking their place the Earth could and surely would become a sane, safe habitat for humanity in a very short period of time.

It is obvious that the material quality of life is primarily determined by knowing what to do and having the political and religious freedom to do it. This makes it imperative that all people be freed from the destructive religious, political and economic shackles of the past.

During much of the Administration of President George W. Bush it often seemed to me that he had only a few words in his vocabulary. One of these few words was freedom. It is a great word; a wonderful word.

But his Administration’s efforts to export freedom have failed because it did not take into account the extent to which some religious and political leaders will go to deny freedom and prosperity to their own people and to eliminate other people or force them to bend to their will.

The Obama Administration's efforts to export freedom remain just as constrained because freedom means freedom from all cultural, economic and religious restraints that prevent people from fulfilling their potential...restraints and bars that are imposed upon people by the very same institutions that must be changed.

Copyright © 2010 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente. All rights reserved.

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Boyé Lafayette De Mente, a graduate of Jōchi University in Tokyo and Thunderbird School of Global Management, in Glendale, Arizona, is the author of more than 50 books on the business practices, cultures and languages of China, Japan, Korea and Mexico. His primary publishers are McGraw-Hill and the Periplus-Tuttle-Berkeley Group. See: www.boyedemente.com, and/or www.amazon.com.

CHINA IS BAAAACK! - Return of the Central Kingdom!

LIGHT FROM THE "BLACK HOLE" OF CHINA!
Boyé Lafayette De Mente
Futurist Alvin Toffler (author of Future Shock, The Third Wave, Powershift, War and Anti-War, Creating a New Civilization and other seminal works) has noted that Chinese is replacing English as the most common language on the Internet.
He also notes that China has already passed Japan and Germany in the race for economic superpower status, and is in the early stages of closing in on the United States—not only in productivity and financial strength but also in the overall accumulation and creation of scientific knowledge, technology, military power, and political clout.
There are the usual self-styled prophets who predict that the forces that have been unleashed in China are likely to have a “black hole” effect, with the whole economy spiraling downward and ending in chaos, but I believe that view is short-sighted and self-defeating.
I believe that much of the future of the civilization of mankind will be fundamentally influenced by China and its billion-plus people. In fact, it is already happening. Chinese influence is now being felt around the world in virtually every country—on a scale that will soon make the post-World War II emergence of Japan as an economic superpower seem piddling by comparison.
There are demographic, economic and cultural reasons why the Chinese will play an increasingly significant role in the affairs of the world—reasons that no other country can match, and this makes the story of the emerging China of special interest and importance.
To understand and appreciate the role that China will play in the future of the world it is necessary to know a number of key facts about the history of the country, beginning some 5,000 years ago.
One important historical note is that Zhong Guo (Joong Gwaw), the Chinese name for their country, means “Central Country” and refers to the fact that since ancient times the Chinese regarded China as the center of civilization and looked upon all other countries as tributaries inhabited by barbarians.
Belief in the “Central Country” view suffered a serious blow when China was overrun and virtually colonized by Western powers in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the idea did not disappear from the psyche of the people. It is now being rekindled—politically, economically and militarily.
While the Zhong Guo syndrome remains an important part of the mindset of the Chinese it is not the primary force for change that is now driving the country. That element—the personal freedom that the Chinese now have for the first time in the history of their country—has evolved from the fact that from the beginning of China’s history as a nation-state until 1976 the thinking and behavior of ordinary Chinese was controlled by imperial governments and deeply embedded cultural beliefs that prevented them from thinking and behaving as individuals.
These two factors made it absolutely mandatory that the Chinese repress and limit the physical, emotional, and sexual desires that are common to humanity, and to live more or less as mindless drones as directed by the emperors and traditions that had built up over the millennia.

THE EMPERORS AS GODS
One of the primary keys in the development of this kind of culture was the early deification of the rulers to the point that they became known as “the Sons of Heaven (Gods!), who acted as intermediaries between Heaven and humans, and were answerable only to Heaven.
Philosophers such as Confucius, who was born in 551 B.C. and died in 479 B.C., taught that absolute obedience to seniors, immediate superiors and emperors was the highest morality.
Confucian philosophy was based on ritualized etiquette that was designed to make every person think and behave properly according to his or her particular class. Obeying these rituals became the moral standard of China, and led to make-believe, play-acting and deception becoming an important part of the character of the people—because that was the only way they could survive.
Ordinary Chinese did not have the right to decide things for themselves. In a broad sense, their only reason for being was to serve the interests and needs of the emperors. Ancestor worship and an emphasis on the past became the hallmarks of Chinese culture.
Building on the philosophical foundations prescribed by Confucius and later scholars the imperial court and provincial mandarins developed a form of governmental bureaucracy that became more and more ritualized and hidebound as time passed.
Only a small percentage of the population became educated, and the vast majority lived at a subsistence level. Over the long centuries there were extraordinary inventions [the compass, gunpowder, paper] and technological innovations in architecture, engineering, arts and crafts. But these amazing and far-reaching developments did not result in emotional, intellectual or spiritual freedom for the bulk of the population.

CATACLYSMIC ENCOUNTER WITH THE WEST
Traditional China, with all of its hidebound bureaucracy and limitations on the thinking and behavior of the people, survived into modern times. There had been incursions into its heartland by outsiders over the millennia, but all were eventually absorbed into the mainstream of Chinese life.
It was not until the coming of Westerners who had gone through the Industrial Revolution and bypassed the Chinese in virtually all areas of human endeavor that the traditional culture came under attack, and was incapable of dealing with the technologically advanced nations of the West.
The encounter with the West led to a long series of student uprisings, civil rebellions and finally a revolution that ended the reign of the imperial court at the beginning of the 20th century.
Sporadic fighting between imperialists and nationalists continued until 1927 when Mao Zedung launched his communist revolution against both the nationalist and imperialist forces. This struggle was still going on in 1937 when Japan invaded China, resulting in the nationalists and the communists joining forces to fight the Japanese.
As soon as Japan was defeated by the Allies and withdrew its forces from China, the communists and nationalists renewed their war. In 1948, with massive support from the Soviet Union, Mao’s communist forces began a major campaign to totally destroy the nationalist forces, led by Gen. Chiang Kai-shek who was supported by the United States.
Despite aid from the U.S., Chiang Kai-shek and his followers were no match for the communists, and to avoid the complete destruction of his forces, he and the remnants of his army (with many of their families in tow) fled to Taiwan in 1949, leaving Mao master of the mainland.

MAO ZEDUNG AS THE NEW GOD
Mao Zedung was a brilliant strategist as well as a powerful writer and poet who resembled the warlords of an earlier time, but his vision for a new China knew no bounds. He began a crash program to destroy the ancient culture that had ruled the country for more than four thousand years, and rebuild a new society based on communist ideology.
Some of the reforms instituted by Mao were admirable and positive. He made women equal with men under the law, launched land reforms that made millions of farmers owners of their own tiny fields, made it mandatory that Mandarin (the language of Beijing and the northern area of China) be taught in all schools as the national language, and more.
But his efforts from 1958 to 1962 to modernize the economy and turn China into an industrial power virtually overnight—epitomized by what he called the “Great Leap Forward”—was an abject failure that resulted in the death of 20 million people, unimaginable suffering for more millions, and a virtually complete breakdown in the economy.
In 1966, in a last-ditch effort to stave off complete failure, Mao inaugurated what he called “The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”—a campaign to literally eradicate all vestiges of the traditional culture and society and rebuild the country as a Marxist-Lenin paradise. To help promote this revolution, his communist cohorts, led by Lin Piao, published a small book made up of quotations from his many speeches and writings on his philosophy and plans for remaking China.
Entitled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, this little red-covered book quickly became the “cult bible” of the communist movement, selling 700 million copies and turning Mao into a kind of god-figure.
Mao turned the vanguard of his cultural revolution over to the youth of the country who formed a huge number of “Red Guard” groups to carry out his goals.
The youths, by this time angry and disillusioned by the chaos around them, began a 10-year long campaign that became an orgy of humiliation, torture, death, imprisonment, and slave labor for members of the educated class. Children were induced to become spies, turning their parents in for such things as owning books and having eye glasses. Libraries, museums, schools, and religious artifacts were burned. Extraordinary efforts were made to eliminate all references to the teachings of Confucius.
Millions of city dwellers were sent to the countryside without advance preparation to work as peasants, with millions of families separated from each other. No one was immune to the rampages of the Red Guards and their backers in the communist government. Even Deng Xiaoping who had been a lifelong ally of Mao on the highest order [and was later to become the chairman of the communist party and make the famous declaration “to get rich is glorious!”] was purged from his high position and exiled to the countryside. His son was thrown from an upper storey window by Red Guards and crippled for life.

THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION BACKFIRES
The so-called Cultural Revolution did not end until after Mao died in 1976, by which time his reputation as an infallible “god” had become irreparably tainted. Shocked into some semblance of rationality, the ruling members of the communist party recalled Deng Xiaoping from his exile and restored him to power.
Far more open-minded and pragmatic than Mao (which was what got him exiled in the first place), Deng began promoting the reconstruction of China along more capitalistic lines—and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.
But the memories of the holocaust-kind of tragedy inflicted on China by Mao and the Red Guards was to forever change the mindset of most Chinese. From 1976 on, the stories told by survivors of the labor camps and prisons were beyond the imagination of most people. Many of the Red Guards, by then in their 20s, had become disillusioned with the revolution and regretted their actions.
One of the unintended consequences of this incredible period in China’s history was that it turned most people against the Communist ideology, and from then on most of the urban population who were members of the party remained members because that was often the only way they could get and keep jobs.

THE POWER OF PERSONAL FREEDOM
The new China that arose from the death and destruction inflicted upon the country by Mao was unlike anything ever seen before. For the first time in the history of the people they had some freedom to help themselves as individuals—and millions of them set out to do just that despite the extraordinary restrictions and handicaps placed on them by the still ruling Communist Party.
In an incredible demonstration of the power of even limited personal freedom millions of Chinese—with their pent-up energy released for the first time in the history of the country—began an all-out effort to build rich, new lives for themselves without thinking about political labels.

THE BIRTH OF A NEW BREED OF PEOPLE
By 1986, just 10 years after the end of the Cultural Revolution, there were millions of entrepreneurs in China—and thousands of them had become millionaires. Today, China is awash in millionaires and the number of wealthy people is growing exponentially.
Urban Chinese born in the 1980s and later grew up in a new world—a world so different from the past that they became a new breed of people, virtually identical to freewheeling Americans in their lifestyles and appearance. By the year 2000, Chinese cities in the eastern portion of the country had modern and futuristic buildings and high-end shops and stores that were astounding to even the most sophisticated visitors.
For those who had visited China between 1976 and 1986, the evidence of affluence was mind-boggling.

LOOK OUT, WORLD!
But the Westernization and modernization of the face of China does not mean that all of the cultural traits that have made the Chinese a formidable people for thousands of years have disappeared.
Their traditional work-ethic and their obsession with getting an education have been retained, and now that they have achieved the freedom to utilize all of their talents in the pursuit of success their combined energy and efforts have become an irresistible force.
Another traditional trait that has survived into modern times is their extraordinary ability to distract, entertain and please foreigners. This is a factor that Western businesspeople, diplomats and politicians should keep in mind when they are dealing with their Chinese counterparts.
Most foreigners who visit China are impressed if not overwhelmed by the size of the country, by the number of people, by its amazing history, and by what the Chinese have accomplished since 1976, and are far more susceptible than usual to being flattered and manipulated.
The Chinese have more than enough going for them, and it is not wise to give them an extra advantage out of a sense of politeness and attempts to demonstrate goodwill—no matter how genuine these feelings.
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For a comprehensive discourse on the mindset and still traditional behavior of the Chinese, see the author’s China’s Cultural Code Words (McGraw-Hill), available from Amazon.com. It identifies and defines over 300 of the most powerful words in the Chinese language that serve as windows to the culture. Also see: Chinese Etiquette & Ethics in Business and Etiquette Guide to China. To see a full list and synopses of the author’s books go to his personal website: www.BoyeDeMente.com or www.amazon.com.

Copyright © 2010 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente. All rights reserved.