VOLUME III, SEMESTER 4, CHAPTER 50, SECTION 3

VOLUME III, SEMESTER 4, CHAPTER 50, SECTION 3

Culture Is the Root, Economy Is the Foundation

The previous two sections traced that path to the very bottom: the social atmosphere of a workshop tracing to those leading individuals; those leading individuals tracing to before they turned twenty; and further forward, tracing to home, village, and master, to those few lines carved and polished generation by generation. What this final section must do is formally lay out the position of these few lines upon the entire diagram. Once laid out, this volume, having addressed economy across four semesters, reaches its own conclusion and can be handed over downward.

One, laying out all three layers completely

Chapter 48 laid out two layers: economy is the foundation, while politics and law form the superstructure; the foundation supports the superstructure, rather than determining everything. A line was left at the end of that chapter saying another layer must be padded underneath, left for this chapter to address. Now it is filled in.

What this set of books lays out are three layers. The lowest patch is culture—those few lines carved and polished generation by generation; what a place speaks of, what it avoids, what it regards as proper dignity, and what it regards as shameful. One layer above is economy—bringing things into physical existence, dividing them down below, and singling out that ownerless portion. The highest layer consists of politics and law—setting rules, judging right from wrong, and enforcing compliance.

To use a more memorable phrasing: culture is the root and that patch of soil; economy is the foundation and the ground; politics and law form the superstructure and the building erected upon the ground. The sequence of the three layers cannot be inverted. The foundation must sit upon the soil, and the building must sit upon the foundation; if the soil grows loose, the foundation sinks year by year, and those cracks in the building above will be patched only for new ones to open, endlessly impossible to repair, with few people ever realizing the problem lies at the very bottom.

Two, why it sits down below rather than as a fourth item side by side

Some might ask: Why is culture not a fourth item side by side with economy, politics, and law? It also has its own tasks to manage and its own domain. This is a fine question, and the answer forms the most vital layer of this section. One matter must be observed: each of the other three layers manages a concrete, specific task. The economic layer brings things into physical existence and divides them; the political layer sets rules and judges right from wrong; the legal layer writes boundaries in black and white text. Yet culture manages not a single concrete task. It manufactures no chair, issues no wage, sets no rule, settles no dispute, and collects not a single penny.

Managing no concrete task, why does it sit at the very bottom instead? Because every single matter managed by those other three layers must pass through human hands, and how humans handle them is given by culture. Under the exact same pay table, two workshops carry out two different forms; under the exact same set of rules, one place follows them with meticulous care, while another place does not defy openly, but merely circumvents through loopholes; at the exact same table, in one place people sit down to speak the truth, while in another place people speak for hours only in formal pleasantries. That single difference is culture.

Therefore, it is not an item side by side, but that patch of soil down below. Soil does not grow grain by itself, yet grain grows out from within it; once soil grows thin, no seed planted therein will thrive. That line established in Volume II means precisely this: economy is a tree grown out of culture.

Three, this layer was reached naturally by this volume itself

One matter must be made clear: this layer is not grafted on by force by this chapter, but reached naturally by this volume as it walked along its own path. When digging to the deepest point in Semester 3, what was spoken of was the scale of "according to need": the foundation for executing "according to need" is not mechanisms, but moral character; and moral character belongs to culture, with culture being the shared root of economy, politics, and law. At that time, that interface was intentionally left wide open, not sealed tight.

This semester started from the morning of a factory floor and walked through eleven entire chapters: four scales running simultaneously, hanging upon a person's body, and supporting a lifetime; coexisting, co-nourishing, co-dwelling, and co-sharing; the three paths of check and balance; and further pushing upward to foundation and superstructure, pushing to the boundary between the two positions. Walking all the way down strikes against the exact same answer.

Two paths, setting out from two directions and arriving at the exact same place—this fact itself deserves to be remembered. Semester 3 dug down from the end of dividing things; this semester dug down from how the four scales come together. Digging to the end, what lies underneath is that exact same patch of soil.

Therefore, this volume addresses economy, and when reaching its deepest point, it hands itself over to culture. This is not that this volume can no longer go on speaking, but that it has reached its own boundary. As Chapter 49 stated, He who is not in that position does not meddle in its governance; a book works the exact same way—upon reaching the end of one's own position, hand it over honestly.

Four, yet soil relies on the upper layers for nourishment—this is also bidirectional

Having laid out these three layers, one line must be added immediately, lest things slide back toward that word that was too absolute. Saying culture is the root does not mean culture determines everything. The first rule established in Semester 1 takes effect here for the fifth time: restriction is bidirectional. The previous chapter noted that the bottom supports the top, while the top also turns back to alter the bottom; digging one slot further downward into this layer reveals the exact same form.

Only when granaries are full can those few lines be passed down. In lean years, those few lines are often the very first to break: people on the roads begin to loot, doors require an extra lock, and two neighboring households that are usually the most harmonious can turn against each other over half a bag of rice. If a person is mistreated daily, with promised wages delayed for three months, and receives cold looks after asking several times, it is very difficult for him to turn back and earnestly teach his child that line: spoken words must count. That sequence from Chapter 48 remains effective here: When granaries are full, people learn etiquette.

Therefore, the three layers hold each other up and pull each other as well. Soil nourishes the foundation, and the foundation turns back to nourish the soil; the foundation supports the building, and the building turns back to protect the foundation. Chapter 48 replaced "determines" with "supports," and that replacement holds equally true at this layer: culture supports economy, rather than culture determining economy.

This line must be spoken together to avoid sliding toward either extreme. Speaking only that culture is the root turns into blaming everything on human hearts, faulting people for lacking etiquette even when granaries are empty; speaking only that economy determines everything turns into that word that was too absolute, dismantled in the previous chapter.

Five, this layer also explains why the entire framework of "Four Co-s" is possible

Looking back at every single item established in this semester, one finds that they all require one thing to run, and that thing resides right upon this patch of soil. Coexisting requires all four scales to remain individually complete, yet completeness requires someone willing to keep to his own task: not skipping that stage of work, not quietly moving that safety-net entry elsewhere, and not pressing thin that given slot year by year. Co-dwelling requires keeping to one's own boundary, yet the most vital step in keeping boundaries is being able to step back on one's own when crossing over; and as for stepping back, no one can ever force you to step back, nor can any written rule capture it. Co-sharing requires that ownerless portion to be handed out, yet the first step in handing it out is someone willing to acknowledge that a given slot is not his own; whether acknowledged or not cannot be seen on the books.

The three paths of check and balance are even more so. The first path requires someone willing to speak a line of truth at that table, even if speaking it is unrewarding; the second path requires someone willing to keep testing furnace after furnace even when losing money for over a decade; the third path requires someone willing to walk two extra steps and ask an extra line of why for an unseen matter. All three paths are paths, yet they require people willing to walk upon them.

Every single item requires human willingness. This willingness grows upon that patch of soil. This is why, when speaking to the end of this semester, one must dig down to this layer: the previous eleven chapters drew a diagram; this chapter explains what enables this diagram to stand firm.

Therefore, that line from Semester 3 can be spoken once more right here with even greater weight: mechanisms guard the bottom line, while moral character determines the height. This entire volume addresses how the bottom line is guarded; this final chapter addresses where the height comes from.

One more line must be spoken, lest this layer be heard as a sigh of resignation. Digging to this point, some might feel discouraged: When all is said, it still relies on human hearts; were all those chapters on accounts, boundaries, positions, and paths discussed in vain? Quite the contrary. Precisely because it ultimately relies on human willingness, those earlier matters must be handled all the more thoroughly: when accounts are visible, willing individuals know where to exert effort; when boundaries are drawn clearly, willing individuals need not worry over others' matters; when paths remain open, willing individuals can walk forward. Mechanisms cannot make people good, but mechanisms can ensure willing individuals do not suffer losses—and willingness that suffers no losses is what can be passed down generation by generation.

Six, what this section sets clear, and the closure of this chapter

What this section sets clear is one single line: culture is the root, economy is the foundation, and politics and law form the superstructure; the sequence of the three layers cannot be inverted, yet the three layers hold each other up, rather than any single one determining another. Culture manages no concrete task, yet it sits at the very bottom, because every single matter managed by the other three layers must pass through human hands, and how humans handle them is given by culture. This layer was not grafted on by force, but reached naturally by this volume: Semester 3 dug down from the end of dividing things, while this semester dug down from how the four scales come together—digging to the end, both reach this exact same patch of soil.

This volume addresses economy, and when reaching its deepest point, it hands itself over to that patch of soil called culture. How that patch of soil grows, how it is nourished, and how it carves and polishes people generation by generation is not the position of this volume, but the subject of Volume II, Cultural Systems. Having dug through this chapter, the diagram for this semester lacks only the final step: taking a look at these four scales and three layers joined together, to see what they ultimately look like when gathered in one place. The next chapter speaks of that soup: Five Tastes Blending in Harmony: Missing One Fails to Form a World.

Credit to the ancestors; the mistakes are mine: Tiger Lyon.

Chapter 51: Harmony Among Five Flavors; Lacking One Fails to Form a World