“A young person’s duty is to behave well
to one’s parents at home and to one’s elders abroad,
to be cautious in giving promises and punctual in keeping them,
to overflow in love to all,
and to cultivate the friendship of the good.
If, when all that is done, one has any energy to spare,
then let one study the cultural arts.” (Analects 1:6.)
Confucius was, when the rubber meets the road, a man who was about putting priorities first and putting self-seeking ambitions second. Study first who you, your family, and your immediate context are before you stretch your learning beyond those borders. With that said, Confucius does have discuss on a wide range of topics (e.g. poetry & music, propriety, politics, virtues, religion, personal development into “the better person,” as well as many other avenues).
On the matter of his well known “better person,” Confucius comments:
“If the better person is not serious,
one will not be respected,
and one’s learning will not be on a firm foundation.
That one considers loyalty and faithfulness to be fundamental,
has no friends who are not like that one,
and when one has made mistakes,
one is not afraid of correcting them.” (Analects 1:8.)
The furthest someone can and is to go is to know and love the Way, which is often discussed when Confucius discusses religion:
“To know it is not as good as to love it, and to love it as not as good as to take delight in it.” (Analects 6:18)
