The heart of peace, according to the Yijing, consists of responding to the near while not neglecting the distant. The heart of peace, then, is something that has to be practised and developed.
The balanced human exercises the supreme virtues:
In terms of social virtues, the water nature corresponds to wisdom, the fire nature corresponds to courtesy, the wood nature corresponds to benevolence, the metal nature corresponds to righteousness and the earth nature corresponds to trustworthiness. In a balanced personality, these five natures should be able to produce and control one another.
Wisdom should be able to produce benevolence. Benevolence should be able to produce courtesy. Courtesy should be able to produce trustworthiness. Trustworthiness should be able to produce righteousness. Righteousness should be able to produce wisdom.
Wisdom should control courtesy. Courtesy should control righteousness. Righteousness should control benevolence. Benevolence should control trustworthiness. Trustworthiness should control wisdom.
When these five natures produce and control each other thus in a continuous circle, then no element of personality dominates; they all interact, balancing each other, resulting in completeness of the five natures.
Sayings of Ancestor Lü, tr Thomas Cleary
The balanced human is nourished by and nourishes the inner stream of life and the outer stream of life.
In point, most particular; in sphere, most universal. Truth is both involving and emergent.
The only wealth is life itself, Value is a human construction of what has meaning and power. George Scott Williamson defined humanity as "the acme of functional simplicity", by which he meant that we are able to plan and achieve the most sophisticated cultural projects with exemplary, and evolving, economy of means.
Intelligence
demands depth and breadth of vision along with sensitive focus on the
necessary detail.
Ecology shows how the whole living world is governed by the mutual evolution of enfoldment and unfoldment. Understanding the implications of this realisation is the spiritual journey of the cultivation of humanity.
The 17th century Chinese Buddhist teacher, Chih-hsu Ou-i, meditated on the Confucian precept "the whole world turns to benevolence" (which prospect is the nutshell of the ecosacral vision). He writes,
If one can use the many liberative methods to correct one's innumerable delusions, one helps oneself and helps others, and can thereby be a spiritual monarch governing the spiritual realm...
In Buddhist terms, within all phenomena without exception there is the essence of ease and bliss, and all phenomena include their antitheses...
Therefore progressive people realise that all the countless problems experienced in the course of life in the world are also so many ways to enlightenment, so they do not cling to anything, nor do they reject anything.
... to take up celestial action and make it into wise and pure, compassionate and innocent work, is what is called keeping all this work in one mind. This is how one receives the favour of the dispenser of spiritual order and receives directions in order to spread true civilisation through all nations.