Confucianism emphasized the responsibilities of the current generation, and stressed that "when drinking water, one should remember the source," i.e. one should worship one's ancestors. But one needed only to ask oneself whether one's character and conduct conformed to heavenly principles, for the spirit world existed only in form, and humans did not interact closely with it.
儒家重現世責任，雖強調飲水思源的祭祖活動，卻只問自己素行是否合於天理，神的世界形式上存在，並不與之發生密切的互動關係。