Acting as if Watched明鬼

明鬼下 (minggui) is about whether spirits exist. Mozi argues the way he argues everything: check the ancient records, ask what people of the day have seen and heard, and look at what believing and not believing each produce. His conclusion is that people should believe in spirits, because if everyone believes a pair of eyes is watching, then even "in dark corners and wide marshes, deep forests and hidden ravines" no one dares do wrong, and the world is at peace.

This chapter makes many modern readers uncomfortable. 墨门's position is plain: we ask no one to believe in spirits, and we do not think Mozi's argument on this point holds. But we notice that what Mozi really cared about was not spirits. It was a very practical question: why should a person do right when no one is watching?

Mozi's answer was "someone is." Our answer today is to make "someone is watching" an institution rather than a belief. Open books, decisions on file, assignments recorded, everything open to any member: then the dark corners stop being dark. At 墨门, 明鬼 means "light up the hidden places."

It is also a standard for yourself. The truest measure of a person's character is not how they behave in front of a crowd but what they do when no one can see. Mozi said to be careful even in the deep ravine. We say: do what you do in the ravine as though it will be written in the record.

In practice at 墨门

• Open books. Every receipt and expense of the care fund, the 节用捐, and the chapter is published monthly in the chapter record, to the last item. Individual donors' figures stay private, but the purpose and handler of every expense are public.
• Open records. Council decisions, written dissents, who holds which assignment and how it went, and the conclusions of the yearly three-tests review all go into the chapter record. The full record is open to every member; a summary is public.
• Whatever you handle leaves a trace. Any Mohist who handles chapter money or acts on the chapter's behalf leaves a note in the record: what was done, what it cost, how it turned out. This is not distrust. It is making "someone is watching" the default.
• Inspection is a right, not an accusation. Any member may read the chapter's full record without giving a reason. The more often it is read, the happier we are.
• Careful where no record reaches. Where the record cannot go, your private conversations with your care-pair partner, your choices at work, we have one sentence: act as if watched.

Mozi wanted people to fear doing wrong even in the deepest forest. What we do is turn the forest into a room with the door open and the lights on.