 Another objection to over-reliance on meditation was that it would leave its practitioners ill-equipped to handle the demands of active life, which (unlike quiet sitting) regularly tests our ability to maintain control of our feelings in the face of provocations. Feelings on the Confucian view should be both proportionate and responsive to the correct events (for example, we should react with moderate anger toward the moderate mistreatment of a friend and not react with fury to a minor, personal slight). For these purposes, Confucians suggested that reverential attention (jing 敬) is better suited to instill the right sort of self-control, one that they thought we could use in both passive and active states. Zhu Xi described reverential attention both as a kind of concentration or focus and as an attitude showing respect and humility, and thus capable of putting private concerns in proper perspective and keeping selfish desires in check. He also recommended using reverential attention when reading texts for ethical and philosophical insight (ZZYL 12; Chu 1990: 170–179; Zhu 2019: 28–32 and 49).