Claim. Filial children align with their parents’ heart and direction without protest — even when the parents seem capricious — because the test of filial piety is unflinching unity, not understanding.
Elaboration. SMM presses the alignment hard: “People going the way of filial piety are not those who behave in a way far different from their parents. If the parents go east, then the children should go east. If the parents go west, then they should go west. If the parents have given a certain direction, but suddenly make an aboutface, then the filial child must follow them. There should be no dissent” (CSG 14.2 §3, 62-32, 1972.9.10). The “strange behavior” of parents is read as a test: “Why would parents behave in a strange way? Their strange behavior would serve to identify the most filial child out of all the filial children.” Taken together with the counsel-the-misaligned-parent claim, the picture is: counsel parents who oppose God’s will, but unite with parents whose direction is godly even when its reasons are opaque.