As we slide and glide into a new year, most of us yearn for something – anything – better than the year passing into history. Personally, I want to thoughtfully prepare for a better 2014.

But where to turn for guidance? I began my exploration by asking myself if I should seek an answer from the principles in religion, in politics or in philosophy. I’ll agree right now that these categories seem incongruous, yet it appears that these are the categories that have had the greatest influence on various world cultures and governments. And perhaps I might find a confluence, an overlapping of values, that would offer some insight for my project.

Almost miraculously, that great scholar-politician-philosopher, Confucius, kept appearing in my realm of reading. Here, in this one person, I can identify the three categories of interest.

Confucius was born in about the year 551 before Christ. He denied any claim to deity, evading answers to queries about an afterlife, and insisting that he was only a human struggling to learn to live in this life. One of his basic tenets of virtue was, “What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.” Sound familiar? Of course, this suggestion was also ascribed to a religious teacher who came 500 years later. If the human race could lead lives as exemplified by the life of Jesus or the life of Confucius, we would reduce worldwide suffering, and the happiness quotient would leap off the scale.

In the mind of Confucius, the arts of learning are to be based on the values of morality. This, he believed, would lead to a moral and just society and government. Indeed, Chinese government reflected his teachings for more than 2,000 years until the end of the 19th century. And today, there are Chinese thinkers offering a return to Confucian-style Chinese governmental legitimacy.

I’ve discovered that James Madison, a major contributor to the United States Constitution and who also wrote the Bill of Rights, studied the teachings of Confucius and had a portrait of the sage hanging in his Virginia home. Thomas Paine considered him to be in the same category as Socrates and Jesus. Some interesting concepts are appearing in the press suggesting our own system of governance could benefit from a change that would allow the long-term interests of mankind to take priority over the people’s short-term interests in order to foster the greater good.

An intriguing precept of Confucianism is that right action is the ethical action to be chosen under certain conditions. Sometimes that action might be against the law; nevertheless, it might be the action that is required at that time. Further, he taught that self-interest is not necessarily a bad thing, but that the more righteous thing to do is to choose what is right for the greater good. He taught empathy and responsibility. He taught us to think positive thoughts.

There is more. To become a disciple of Confucius would require a life of devotion to a better world.

My suggestions for a better 2014:

On a personal level:

Spend time in self-evaluation and improvement.

Be gracious, considerate, and as generous as possible.

Let no evil thoughts prevail.

Let my actions be performed in a responsible manner.

On a state, national and world level:

Realize that personal actions and thoughts can have global results.

Remember that the “other” is your “brother or sister.”

Protect the social fabric that provides adequately for all.

Write letters to your state and federal representatives demanding adequate, affordable and accessible education at all levels.

Sally Breen lives in Windham.