1. Rule of Law at the National Level#
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato proposed the idea of a "philosopher king," advocating for a system where a wise ruler governs the entire country. Compared to Plato's "rule by man," Aristotle advocated for the superiority of the rule of law over rule by one person. Although Han Feizi, the representative of Legalism, had a different view on the rule of law compared to Aristotle, he still believed that going against the law would lead to chaos, while following it would bring order. Moreover, the "Bamboo Annals" denied the abdication of Yao and Shun, and Yi Yin regained power from Tai Jia. Although "rule by man" still exists today, the rule of law is always the trend.
Civilization requires the rule of law because people seek stability and order. In modern Western societies, whether it is a constitutional monarchy or a separation of powers, the aim is to balance power and be subject to rules such as public opinion. Even in a feudal monarchy, governing the country must follow realistic rules; otherwise, one can only stand alone, leaning against a crooked tree. However, compared to rule by man, the rule of law is more systematic and theoretically respects the development of civilization.
2. "Rule of Law" at the Individual Level#
Different countries have different levels of civilization, resulting in varying degrees of stability and rationality in their rules, leading to significant differences in the speed of political changes and the quality of people's lives. However, people often talk about the constitutional system of a country but overlook their own constitutional system. Therefore, exploring the rule of law at the micro level may increase individuals' understanding of themselves and analyze the relationship and rules of interaction between the two.
When a country violates the rule of law, it is only a temporary disaster; when an individual violates the "rule of law," it may be a lifelong tragedy. The "rule of law" at the individual level is not directly related to specific laws but rather analyzes the relationship between individuals and themselves based on the theory of national constitutionalism.
Taking the British constitutional system as an example, as a constitutional monarchy, the United Kingdom's parliament has legal sovereignty. Politically, the people are the source of national sovereignty, and in terms of specific power operations, the majority party in the House of Commons exercises the highest power in governing the country. The leader of the majority party naturally becomes the holder of power in the UK. However, it is known that the Prime Minister is accountable to the parliament, restricted by the governing party that elected him as the leader, and subject to relatively independent judicial constraints, not to mention other forms of public supervision. Therefore, a leader of a rule of law country, even as a CEO, must operate within the framework of the rule of law.
According to a Reuters report on April 17th of this year, British Prime Minister Sunak is under investigation by the UK Parliament's Standards Commissioner for his wife's shareholding in a childcare company suspected of benefiting from new policies. Sunak is being investigated by Parliament solely for failing to disclose his interests. Under the sound constraints of the rule of law, Sunak's failure to disclose may be unintentional, but the parliamentary investigation leaves Sunak with no choice but to follow the rule of law. Sunak can implement various administrative measures to strengthen the UK, promote legislative reforms, but only on the condition that he abides by this set of rules.
Individuals and countries are very similar in this regard. People have the power to control themselves, actively influence the outside world. However, from an individual's perspective, we are sometimes overly confident in our control over ourselves. People believe they have the power to control themselves, creating an illusion of self-control. The power of intention generates various thoughts and concepts, which in turn influence our actions. The power of intention in individuals is like the Prime Minister in the UK Parliament, the Parliament in relation to the people, and the people in relation to the country. People can have various thoughts, just as there are various government orders in a country. Government orders cannot be issued arbitrarily, and personal thoughts cannot be executed at will. In short, individuals, like countries, must abide by various rules and principles.
3. Discovering the "Rule of Law" in Oneself#
Master or king? I used to think that I was my own master, but after experiencing setbacks, I realized that I don't always listen to myself. In reality, I can only be considered my own king. Compared to the constitutionalism under the modern rule of law, kings have considerable power, but governing a country is not child's play. Even Emperor Qin Shi Huang had to govern according to Shang Yang's Five Aspects of Governance. Therefore, as long as we understand the relative independence between our intentions and ourselves, we can fundamentally solve certain extreme problems.
Relative Independence#
What does "relative independence" between an individual's intentions and oneself mean? "Independence" means that there is a difference between an individual's thoughts and oneself, and the components of intention and execution within oneself are mutually independent. "Relative" means that this boundary is not very clear to the individual. Our intentions and thoughts are all part of ourselves, whether it is the greed, anger, ignorance, slowness, doubt within our bodies, or the limitations of our hardware, the boundaries are not very clear. From the perspective of responsibility, there is no need or possibility to distinguish between "fault of intention" and "fault of execution."
Unveiling the Veil of Humanity#
The legal person system was first adopted in the German Civil Code in 1900, giving birth to a legally fictional "person" in the civil law system. Legal persons can independently bear responsibilities and exist separate from natural persons. But why can legal persons be designed as "people"? It is because legal persons have their own intention, execution, and supervision mechanisms.
With the emergence of shareholder abuse of the independent status of legal persons, the unveiling of the corporate veil became popular in English and American law, and the corporate personality denial system also became a manifestation of protecting the true independent status of legal persons.
Unlike the development of the legal person system, natural persons seem to have never realized the existence of this veil on themselves. I have always believed that people are objective. From "life and death are determined by destiny" to "the dilemma of creation" and "unveiling the veil of humanity," these vague ideas fill my objective understanding of the world and the relative independence of subject and object.
The so-called unveiling of the veil of humanity, since it can be unveiled, is something very objective, such as where certain ideas come from and the reasons behind them. Of course, we don't need to unveil too many veils today. It's like there are molecules, atoms, protons, and even quarks beneath the particles. Today, we are only discussing "chemical changes" from the molecular level.
In ancient times, those who wanted to bring clarity to the world would first govern their country; those who wanted to govern their country would first put their family in order; those who wanted to put their family in order would first cultivate themselves; those who wanted to cultivate themselves would first rectify their hearts; those who wanted to rectify their hearts would first be sincere in their intentions; those who wanted to be sincere in their intentions would first attain knowledge; knowledge comes from investigating things.
The hierarchy in the "Book of Rites - The Great Learning" is well-expressed. From oneself, to the family, to the country, to the world, it is a progressive order. From investigating things, gaining knowledge, being sincere in intentions, rectifying the heart, and ultimately cultivating one's character. Thus, the most fundamental aspect beneath the veil of humanity is investigating things and gaining knowledge. This is the most fundamental and rapid change, as it directly observes the rapidly changing objective world. Secondly, it is the pure consciousness stage, the thoughts we have in our daily lives. Finally, from the individual's consciousness to the integration of consciousness and the body, it is about character. First and foremost, the most fundamental change is the investigation of the world, gaining knowledge. This is the most rapid change because it directly observes the rapidly changing objective world. Secondly, it is the pure consciousness stage, the thoughts we have in our daily lives. Finally, from the individual's consciousness to the integration of consciousness and the body, it is about character.
Assuming this analysis is correct, according to the previously mentioned principle of the relative independence between an individual's intentions and oneself, the most easily changeable aspect is the thoughts directly influenced by the outside world. Thoughts are different from a person's character and habits; they cannot be changed overnight. These less changeable aspects often directly influence our behavior and conduct. For example, if you used to be easily angered and disliked by others, and you analyze the reasons and come to the conclusion that you want to change your easily angered temperament, there is still a long process of change ahead. Similarly, if you have low emotional intelligence but recognize the importance of emotional intelligence, it still cannot be improved overnight. The focus is not on emphasizing the necessity of a long time but rather highlighting the complexity and difficulty of this process, which requires us to find methods within it.
4. Becoming a King with Command of Laws and Effective Governance#
In fact, the first section serves as an introduction, the second section presents the problem, the third section explains the principle, and the fourth section naturally discusses the methods. This is a common approach of presenting a problem, analyzing it, and solving it. However, after the third section, the problem has already been solved, and the remaining part is simply a brief introduction of my own methods. As the king of my own life, I am not very comfortable, and this kingdom is still in need of development. However, we can learn from the principles of national constitutionalism, which ultimately lead to the same goal.
A few days ago, I came across a book called "Light-heartedism," which is very similar to my idea of how to be the king of oneself. In fact, we can completely draw on the principles of national constitutionalism, despite taking different paths.
Simply put, be a "people-oriented" good king. Sometimes when we want to accomplish a task, we often seek help and use connections, but we never think of seeking help from ourselves. When we work for our superiors, we always hope that they will be in a comfortable state to listen to our suggestions, but we never make ourselves comfortable. This is a mistake, thinking that we are our own masters when in reality we are not. Even if you want to be your own king, you must present yourself as a public servant.
We command the various unnamed agencies within ourselves, which is equivalent to governing the subjects as a king. If we want our subjects to pay taxes, we must ensure that they live and work in peace and contentment, and only then will they be loyal to the king. For example, if we want to read more books but never have time to do so, and then develop a sense of anxiety about not studying, in reality, your hands and eyes are in doubt, thinking about how to read without books! As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. If you want to read, carry a book with you and place it in a prominent position on your phone. Your subjects, like you, do not want to take the initiative to work overtime to read books or do extra work. What you need to do is consciously incorporate work into your body. It is best to have an automated workflow to reduce the cost of reading... For example, reading and listening to books. Active reading is good, but if your subjects are too lazy, then you can only passively listen and gradually progress. After all, reform is a difficult path in any country.
In short, we can also draw on some administrative principles, such as the principle of trust. Don't issue one command today and another command tomorrow; changing orders frequently is not conducive to the stability of the regime and the obedience of the people. At the same time, rewards and punishments should be moderate, and the body should be both commanding and persuading. Don't just focus on improving efficiency and performance; also provide more welfare benefits to your subjects, such as more rest, and so on.
Finally, I hope that everyone can be a good king and make their own kingdom flourish!