Shi Bo's Idea that "Harmony Creates Everything"

Shi Bo's Idea that "Harmony Creates Everything"

Shi Bo (dates unknown), a court historian in the late Western Zhou Dynasty, was mainly in charge of drafting documents, conferring titles of nobility, recording historical events, writing historical books, as well as managing the national classic books and astronomical calendars. In The Discourses of the States, Shi Bo's dialogue on the rise and fall of a state with Duke Huan of Zheng (d. 771 BC) reflects his view on Hehe thinking.  

During the reign of King You of Zhou (r. 781-771 BC), the whole country was in political turmoil. Duke Huan of Zheng was in charge of public education. Concerned about the safety of his family and the people in the State of Zheng, he went to seek advice from Shi Bo on large-scale migration. When discussing the question of whether the Zhou Dynasty would collapse, Shi Bo talked about the issues of existence and development from the perspective of harmony, proposing the idea that "harmony creates everything." According to Shi Bo, only in harmony can everything be created. Harmony coordinates and balances different elements so that everything can develop and form a unity. 

Shi Bo's opinion is clearly insightful. First, harmony is different from uniformity. It strikes a dynamic balance among various elements, and functions as the most fundamental and effective way to deal with diversity. Second, harmony does not iron out differences, but is in fact to seek a state of equilibrium between the differences, so that something new can be created. So, the purpose of harmony is to create something new. This theory can also be applied in modern innovation. 

史伯与“和实生物”

史伯是西周末年的史官，主要负责掌管起草文告、策命诸侯、记录史事、编写史书，兼管国家典籍、天文历法等。《国语》记载了郑桓公和史伯之间的一段对话，充分反映了史伯对于和合的看法。  

周幽王时期，政治混乱，负责教化的郑桓公考虑到自己家庭和郑地子民的安全，想作大规模搬迁，便找史伯商量，讨教办法。史伯在回答郑桓公提出的“周朝会不会败亡”问题时，从“和”的角度讨论了“生”的问题，也就是通常说的“和实生物”“和生”“因和而生”等观念。在史伯看来，只有和谐才能生成万物。和就是对不同的东西加以协调平衡、丰富发展而使万物归于统一。

从史伯的观点中，可以看出他对于“和”有非常深刻的理解。首先，和不是同，而是不同事物之间和谐、平衡的动态过程，是不同事物相处最有效、最根本的关系形态。其次，只有和才能产生万物，因为和并不是要排除事物之间的差异性，而是在差异性中找到一种平衡，这恰恰是产生新事物的前提，所以和的目的是为了生。我们现在讲的创新，就可以将其动力归之于和。