Go and Find Your Lost Heart

If your dog ran off, you'd search every street. What if your heart did?

Original

孟子曰：「仁，人心也；義，人路也。舍其路而弗由，放其心而不知求，哀哉！人有雞犬放，則知求之；有放心，而不知求。學問之道無他，求其放心而已矣。」

In plain words

Mencius said: “Humaneness is the human heart; rightness is the human road. To leave the road and not walk it, to let the heart go and not know to seek it: how sad! When people's chickens or dogs stray, they know to go looking. When their heart strays, they don't. The way of learning is nothing else: it is simply to go after the heart that has strayed.”

Key words

放心fàng xīnA heart that has strayed (not today's sense of “relax”).
由yóuTo walk along; to go by.
學問xué wènLearning and questioning; more than study for exams.

Reading it step by step

This is the last page of the second theme. Across eight pages Mencius has been saying one thing: the human heart has a pull toward good. Today he closes with a very plain sentence: if your heart wanders off, go and get it.

First: humaneness is the heart; rightness is the road. Humaneness is the sincere "I can't bear it" in us; rightness is the road that heart should walk once it turns into action. Heart and road are linked: with the heart present, you can see the road; lose the heart, and the road grows over. The sprouts, the inner light, the dawn air we've read about are all this one heart.

Second: we chase a lost dog, but not a lost heart. It's a contrast that makes you wince. Leave your phone in a taxi and you call, message, chase it down at once. But growing colder, more careless, more half-hearted? Few of us panic about that. A heart rarely goes missing all at once. Like the trees on Ox Mountain, it goes a little each day.

a dog strays

we go lookingat once

the heart strays

we don't look

The way of learning: go after the heart that strayed.

Third: learning is getting your heart back. Mencius sums up all study in one line. Reading, listening, reflecting: in the end they are for this. The good news is that however far the heart has wandered, it can be brought home. Be sincere and, like water finding the slope, the strength returns. As Confucius put it, "I want humaneness, and here it is." He also said that Yan Hui's heart could stay with humaneness for three months, while other students lasted days or months. So the heart and humaneness are two things: the heart can wander off, which is why we must look; and it comes back as soon as we do, because it already faces that way.

How do you look? Not far away. Write a few lines to a friend you've lost touch with. Hear a family member out to the end. Do one good thing nobody will see. The heart is usually waiting in places like these. Mencius said there was only one kind of person he couldn't talk with: one who has thrown himself away, decided he is already bad and can't do good. It has nothing to do with grades. Losing your heart is not the danger; deciding it can't be found is.

Look back over these eight pages. The gap between us and animals is tiny. Conscience is a demand for good. At the well, a heart that cannot bear it. Four sprouts that need to grow. A nature that leans toward good like water running down. Ox Mountain, which can turn green again. A heart that loves rightness as the mouth loves good food. And finally: if your heart strays, go and find it. Goodness is no fantasy, and no certificate handed to you at birth. It is a road you can step back onto every day.

In the next theme we'll see how a heart brought home grows into a flood-like spirit.

Today, go and bring a little of it back.

the slight difference · conscienceDays 8–9: a small demand for good

can't bear it · four sproutsDays 10–11: it sprouts in the heart

water · Ox MountainDays 12–13: a direction to nourish

loving rightness · the lost heartDays 14–15: the heart loves it; if lost, go find it

Goodness is no fantasy: it's a road you can step onto every day.

One line to carry

To learn is to bring your heart back home.

Today's question

Where have you lost your heart lately: gone numb, careless or cold? What one thing could you do this week to bring it back?

Quick check

Mencius says the way of learning is “nothing else” but what?

Next pageThough Thousands Stand Against MePage 16

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

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