"I have studied Confucian scriptures and learned about the results of physical research. What do they think of women, they've already said a lot, right? I still know about these narratives. Guo Kang hurriedly spoke, trying to tell him that he had taken it very seriously.

Brother Patrick, however, shook his head.

"Our theologians and philosophers here think that the philosophy of Seris is very wise. But unfortunately, they are all too kind. He commented earnestly.

"Nowadays, many people like to study the teachings of the Cheng brothers, Mr. Zhu and others. However, after our research, we found that they are still stuck in the high expectations of women, and fantasize that they can lead them to the right path through indoctrination and persuasion. ”

"This problem seems to be more than just science." He thought for a moment and said, "As far as I know, since ancient times, it has been like this. ”

"My colleague Brother Young studied the philosophy of Seris. He told me that even the philosophers of the classical era themselves said that the main problem of the Seris was that they liked to be teachers. Probably from a very early age, they are very obsessed with educating others, and they get a lot of joy from it. ”

"If you want me to say, that's not a problem. Compared to other pleasures, this hobby is already very healthy. He spread his hands: "But we should also know that some people are impossible to educate." ”

"I've seen a very moral parable before." He said to Guo Kang: "According to Hesiod, Prometheus the 'seer' created the human race, and then Athena, who was in charge of wisdom, came to help him complete the work. ”

"Prometheus was very kind to mankind, he stole the heavenly fire, and he helped people; They also made hands and feet in sacrificial ceremonies, leaving more meat for people to enjoy instead of sacrificing to the gods. These actions eventually angered Zeus, who summoned other Greek gods and created women to punish Prometheus and humanity. ”

"The first woman was named Pandora. Modeled after the image of the goddess, Hephaestus created a seemingly dignified creature. Aphrodite gave her the ability to make men obsessed and mad; Hera gave her curiosity; Hermes gave her the gift of lying and a cunning mind; Athena gave her ignorance, and a gorgeous dress to dress up. She also carried all the evils of the world, and ever since, she has been with all the mortals. ”

"Pandora means 'all talents,' meaning that she symbolizes all the qualities of a woman: they look beautiful in appearance and dress to attract humans, but when humans worship them as gods, it only brings disaster."

"Women are cunning, but they are also very curious, and they are always reckless to find out all the trivial news. They are good at making up lies, always using deception to harm humans, but they have no real wisdom - Athena, who symbolizes 'wisdom', does not like them, and this ability is only given to humans created by Prometheus. And in the fables that followed, wisdom was always on the side of men. ”

This story is still widely circulated among Greek philosophers, and Guo Kang is also familiar with it, and understands these not too subtle metaphors. The human and the male can be seen as a single word - it may sound a little strange, because in the story of the Greeks, human and female are indeed two different species.

Hesiod said that the women of later generations were all descendants of Pandora. They are the scourge of beauty sent by the gods to torment men and make them toil like worker bees all day long, but they can only feed the majestic peaks of other people's homes. ”

"Those who are married will never be happy. Even if someone gets a virtuous wife, his life will be full of twists and turns and worries; And once the family falls, this kind of bad luck is even more deadly. ”

Some men refuse to marry for this reason, but as they get older, they face the same painful situation. No one will support him, and other relatives will compete for his possessions - part of the punishment that has been designed so that they will never escape the wrath and revenge of Zeus. ”

"Of course, we don't have to believe in the mythical part of it." He said: "This parable is also very easy to analyze: the intention of fire is actually very obvious, it is a symbol of civilization; Keeping the sacrifice to oneself meant that human beings were given the freedom to make decisions, even if those decisions were not pleasing to God. ”

Therefore, the meaning of the whole story is also very clear: as human beings move out of barbarism and into a more developed civilized society, with higher freedom, the problem of women also arises.

"You see, the barbarians rarely have this kind of problem, and we Romans have suffered a lot - I think you can understand that." Brother Patrick smiled wryly, "I think this is a kind of suffering that accompanies civilization." ”

This is another concern of mine: if left unchecked, as your organization matures and civilization grows, the calamities caused by women will become more severe. This may be the original meaning of 'Zeus's revenge'. ”

"I don't think it's a problem brought about by the development of civilization, but a problem in the process of civilization development." Guo Kang thought for a moment and expressed his opinion: "In various directions, it is normal for problems to occur, and some may even be places that we have never paid attention to. But we can't choke on food. ”

"We can really pay attention, but we don't have to scare ourselves too much." "I believe that these are only technical and managerial issues, and they can also be solved through appropriate adjustments in these aspects," he said. ”

"I'm worried about whether it's so easy to see you." Brother Patrick confessed:

"Hesiod was a Greek poet of the Archaic era, and many people believe that he was even earlier than Homer. It's roughly the ninth century before the Heavenly Brother Era, or the eighth century before the Eighth Century BC, according to my ......impression," he thought for a moment, "It's the Western Zhou Dynasty of Seris, the characters of that time." ”

"He had already discovered so many problems in his time. Now, more than 2,000 years have passed, and how many have been solved? The monk shook his head: "I see that the Greeks are still trapped in it, and there is no sign of improvement. That's why we think that this parable still has reference value. ”

"As for the future...... he frowned hesitantly, "Of course I can't predict the future, but I don't think it's optimistic." What do you think? Will the Greeks of the future really dare to get married? ”

This question stopped Guo Kang.

Seeing that he was hesitant for a moment and could not answer, Brother Patrick was not in a hurry, but continued: "It seems to us that many of the Eastern views brought by the Roman Church are different from what we think. For example, they believe that men and women are born of yin and yang and should belong to the same species. Of course, there are not many scholars who believe that women were created alone: according to the traditional Orthodox Church, women were created by a part of men and should be regarded as a subspecies of humanity. ”

"Of course, it's all trivial. The main problem is that the people of the Central Plains may ...... It's too good to fight. This makes their culture too well protected and not suffered a fatal blow for a long time; Their philosophers have thus become too kind, or too idealistic. He tactfully criticized.

"Generations of Serris scholars have written works that have tried to educate women from all angles, to regulate their behavior, to improve their morals, and to make them a beneficial part of society, rather than a punishment for humanity—but can you imagine that it is possible to succeed in trying to restrain women's nature with man-made rules?"

The monk shook his head again and said bluntly, "Mr. Zhu Xi is too merciful to the 'daughters of Pandora', and his expectations are too high. He underestimated the gap between women and humans, and overestimated their destructive power. ”

"Therefore, the ideas of science are very problematic in this regard, and I am afraid that they will not be able to solve the problems of reality, and they will definitely be replaced by real philosophical ideas."

(End of chapter)