The slogan of fear of god

The traditional interpretation of this sentence is "stay away from ghosts and gods" (The Analects of Confucius by Jin Liangnian). On the basis of this understanding, the idiom "stay away from them" appeared. "Far" is interpreted as "alienation". But if you think about it carefully, you can know that it was impossible for Confucius to say such things as "staying away from" ghosts and gods and "alienating" ghosts and gods at that time. In other words, what Confucius said at that time "stay away from ghosts and gods" will not be what we mean today.

Look at the word "respect" first. There is a chapter 19 in The Analects of Confucius that talks about "respect", which is an idea, a code of conduct and a standard of value that the Analects of Confucius emphasizes.

What is "respect"?

Confucius said, "The country is a thousand times as big as it is, respecting things and believing, saving and loving others, and making the people timely." ("learning")

The "thing" of "respecting things" is understood as "serving", which is a respectful, earnest, cautious, practical and dare not neglect attitude from the bottom up. "Stay away from ghosts and gods" is written as "stay away from ghosts and gods" in the Book of Rites, so "respect for things" means "respect for ghosts and gods", which is the top priority of "the way of one country and the respect of all roads". "Respect" is the proper attitude when offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods.