JAFARECYesterday’s Yoyogi workshop started with a chat on the theme of “The Wonder of Life”. I’ve been thinking that our concept of life as understood by the values of modern rationalism and the reality of life are quite different. Our understanding of heredity, evolution, and ecology is partial and superficial. My understanding is that the various events surrounding life are multilayered, complex, diverse, and full of chaos. So, I tried to tell about the reality that cannot be understood by science, such as the existence of people who do not eat or drink for decades, or the existence of people who are reincarnated.
When we think about the difficulties and happiness in our lives, the answers we get are quite different if we think about them from a small perspective or from a big perspective. There is no right answer in life, but I believe that the more choices we have, the freer and less difficult we can decide to be, and the deeper and greater our satisfaction and joy will be.
However, if we continue to live only the way we are given in the environment we are given, we will not be able to think, know, or make decisions for ourselves, which will lead to what is called domestication.
The domesticated animal will eventually be disposed of according to its purpose, but until that time comes, it will not understand its own destiny. Because they are livestock. I once heard a saying, “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied.” I guess it is in a similar context.
Each and every one of us has a life, and it is a characteristic of human beings to be able to think about what that life means and how to maintain it. However, for those who are on the verge of becoming domesticated animals, this ability to think may already be fading. That’s why everyone is wearing a mask.
The venue for the workshop, the National Olympics Memorial Youth Center in Yoyogi, is a public facility, and they keep asking us for masks, disinfectants, and Three C’s, so from next month we’ll be going to a different venue…
Yesterday, we had two workshops to look back on the past year, and in the Women’s workshop, we had a workshop to ask questions to each other.
This year, we have been able to continue our workshops in Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo, and many people have participated in them. I would like to thank you all again. I hope you will join us again next year.
Originally posted on December 29, 2020
English text translated with DeepL (Japanese to English) and checked by Mina.
