Family Dynamics in “The Great Learning”

 “Because he served as a worthy example as a father, a son, elder brother, and younger brother therefore the people imitated him.”

                            from the commentary on “The Great Learning” p.91


    I am thinking of this idea of the relationship of the individual to the family and to the state and how the cultivation of one’s virtue and personal character are reflected in and reflections of those relationships.  I am reminded of an anecdote about James Joyce.  While he was working on his great novel Ulysses he would tease his friends by asking them “who is the greatest character in all of literature”?  Hamlet, King Lear, Oedipus, Don Quixote.  No, no, no, no.  The answer was of course Odysseus.  Why?  Because, Joyce said,  he was father to Telemachus, husband to Penelope, son to Laertes, lover to Calypso, and king of Ithaca.  That is, all of his “roles” were thoroughly dealt with in the narrative and the reader would have to be variously aware of all of them at any given time.  Joyce, a notorious hater of violence, also noted that he (mostly) used strategy rather than the sword and yet was a great and successful Homeric hero.

    Now, significantly I think “The Great Learning” leaves out the role of husband or partner in its formulation and that is an unfortunate and grievous omission.  Nonetheless, the point comes through that one must cultivate and thrive in all of the various roles they play within a family.  These roles are very different from each other and require a certain kind of flexibility; an ability to move about in and understand the responsibilities of each of them.  An ability to do this well is a reflection of ones ability to learn these roles and to take what one has learned and put it into play on a daily basis.


So what does this mean for the “regulation of the state”?  Many of us will bristle at the notion that the state be run like a family, with one (male) member at the top “regulating” the rest of us for the good of the nation, etc.  It certainly has an authoritarian ring to it.  However, I am thinking about that last bit in the quote above: “therefore the people imitated him”.  That’s not quite the same as therefore the people obeyed him.  It suggests that the one who displays this in his or her character makes themselves a teacher to others, an occasion to learn by example, not just as one to be followed, respected and feared.


    

                

Comments

  1. Krishnan VenkateshMarch 29, 2022 at 10:17 AM

    The Joyce reference is apposite. I'm reminded me of a character in another modern novel: Mrs. Ramsay in "To the Lighthouse," who brings order to the family through the love and respect they have for her, and also through "ritual."

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