[Hong Wu]

I'm starting to think that explaining Confucianism to a western mindset could be very difficult. The essence of Confucianism is of course ritual, but why do a ritual at all? I think the origin of the idea might be related to the Hindu concept of doing any activity with the mentality of it being a "sacrifice" to God, or seeking enjoyment of the activity itself (since you have no right to the fruits of your labor, even if men would imagine such a thing), but such an idea is of no interest to western people today so I won't go into it any further here...

Speaking from the standpoint of enjoyment, we know that after we do something we enjoy, we are in a good mood. But what if you were already in a good mood before you did the thing you enjoy? Practiced over time, a ritual trains you to be in a good mood because you associate the ritual with the thing. In doing so, the ritual gains the power to put you into a good mood before you do the thing, which then influences your mood after you do the thing, and so-on throughout your day.

A book I was reading (not actually about Confucianism) says to start each day off with a positive ritual because this influences your mindset throughout the day. I imagine, what about doing such a thing at key moments throughout your life? Some believe that such dedication has literal magic power. Ultimately, the rituals begin to apply not only to "good" things but even to "bad" things, perhaps contextualizing or taming the pain associated with them.

[Atlantis]

To try to explain Confucianism as a sort of hedonist philosophy aiming for mere enjoyment would be a perversion of Confucianism.

The Chinese rite (which predates Confucius) is the celebration of the harmony between heaven and earth. The rite itself is the meaning. Thus, it does not symbolize another meaning hidden behind it. On the contrary, the aim is the perfection of rite itself.

Westerners are looking for the meaning hidden behind the rite, thus always failing to grasp the true importance of the rite. To perform the perfect rite on Earth also signifies harmony in the heavens, because harmony in the heavens is paralleled by harmony on Earth. It's a bit like the microcosm/macrocosm analogy of the Middle Ages.