Cognitive Dissonance and Confucius

This is a post that backtracks a little bit, going back to The Secular as Sacred. In the Analects, Confucius states that an individual should take every aspect of their life and attempt to make it sacred. That is to say, one should act out of duty, but take a sincere interest in what they are doing, and appreciate every facet of that act. It occurred to me in class today that this type of thought process is not dissimilar from cognitive recalibration, at least in regards to any possible cognitive dissonance one may have towards a duty they have.
Cognitive dissonance is the phenomenon which describes the disconnect between one's thoughts or sentiments about something, and their actual actions. So, if an individual really doesn't want to do something, say go to the gym, but ends up going, there is a disconnect with how they feel about the gym, and what they're doing. Another example of this would be if someone considers themselves a moral individual, but performs an immoral act, they will feel a disconnect, more easily described as guilt in this situation.

According to Confucius, performing dutifully and wholeheartedly will lead to happiness and a fulfilling life.  Without getting too much into it here, one way of reducing cognitive dissonance is to change one's opinion of whatever is causing it, namely adopting a more sincere and invested view of a particular act that one is engaged in. Essentially, Confucius had stumbled upon this idea of cognitive dissonance and recalibration millennia ago. Pretty interesting, if you ask me.