The Small Difference

What really separates you from an animal, and did you use it today?

Original

孟子曰：「人之所以異於禽獸者幾希，庶民去之，君子存之。舜明於庶物，察於人倫，由仁義行，非行仁義也。」

In plain words

Mencius said: “What makes humans different from birds and beasts is very slight. Ordinary people let it go; the noble person keeps it. Shun understood the things of the world and saw clearly the bonds between people. He acted from humaneness and rightness; he did not merely perform humaneness and rightness.”

Key words

幾希jī xīVery few; a tiny amount.
庶民shù mínOrdinary people; here, those who drift along without reflecting.
由仁義行yóu rén yì xíngActing from the humaneness and rightness within, not acting them out by rule.

Reading it step by step

The last page said: in hard times, keep yourself good. But what is there in us that can be kept? To answer, we first have to ask what a human being is. With this page we begin the second theme: human nature.

There are a few common views. One says we are born already carrying a value, either born good or born guilty. Another says we are a blank sheet, coloured by whatever we are dipped in. Mencius takes a third road: human nature is a direction, a pull toward the good. The eight pages of this theme are about seeing that clearly.

born good / born guiltyvalue fixed at birth

blank sheetcoloured by surroundings

leaning toward gooda pull toward good, felt when sincere

Mencius: human nature is a direction, not a finished product

First: the difference is small, and it isn't in the body. Eating, sleeping, avoiding cold and pain: here we are much like animals. Mencius calls the body the "small part" and the heart the "great part." The real difference is in the heart, which can stop, look back and ask, "Is this right?" That sliver is 几希.

Second: let it go, or keep it. This sliver is not something in your pocket that can never be lost. It can be dropped, and it can be kept. There is an old story about a painter working on the life of Jesus. For the pure young man Jesus loved, he found a lovely model. Years later, needing a face for Judas, he brought in a hard-looking man from the street, who wept as he sat: "I was the young man you painted before." A lion is a lion all its life; a person can walk from angel to devil in a few years, and walk back. So Mencius does not say "everyone is already good." He says "the noble person keeps it." Goodness is not printed on your birth certificate; it is held onto, choice by choice.

Third: acting from rightness, not performing it. Two people do the same kind deed. One acts because something inside wants to, and follows it. The other follows a rule or puts on a show. The first has a spring behind it; the second is a garden hose, dry the moment the tap is shut. What made Shun great is that the good flowed out from within him.

Now back to today. How many hours do we live on the small part alone? Hungry, we eat; tired, we scroll; snapped at, we snap back. None of this is wicked. It's just no different from a cat or a dog. The small difference shows up when you pause and ask yourself, "What kind of person do I want to be?" Say you're exhausted after work and finally get a seat on the bus, and an old woman climbs on. An animal wouldn't hesitate; it would stay put. Something in you stirs. Mencius draws the line plainly: the small person asks only "will this be more comfortable?"; the noble person first asks "should I do this?" Each time you ask, the sliver is kept once more.

Between us and the animals there is one step. It has to be taken again each day.

One line to carry

The small difference has to be kept, day by day.

Today's question

When today did you simply react, the way any animal would? If you had paused, what would the small difference have had you do?

Quick check

What does “ordinary people let it go; the noble person keeps it” show?

Next pageWhat We Know Without LearningPage 9

II · Goodness Is No Fantasy — Human nature leans toward good; sincerity sets it moving

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