Compass of the Times 247

To Dig Deeper

Keiko Takahashi

A Season of Maturation

With the arrival of the month of October, the late summer heat has finally retreated. The weather is becoming more like autumn.

For us, the season of autumn brings special value.

Known above all as the “harvest season,” it is the time of year when the harvest of Japan’s symbolic crop, rice, takes place. Rice, as its Japanese character indicates, is a crop that takes farmers’ 88 laborious efforts to cultivate. It is no exaggeration to say that rice is a crop of “maturation” that is nurtured through countless efforts.

In other words, “autumn” is the season that focuses on the theme of “maturation.” I would like to consider for a moment how important “maturation” is as we go through life.

In fact, we humans take our first impressions and intuitions seriously. Our first impression when we first meet someone will have a huge impact on our subsequent interactions.

With people we have a good first impression, we are more likely to develop a positive relationship with them. On the other hand, for people with whom we have a bad first impression, we will have a lingering negative relationship.

The same is true of intuition. We humans are greatly influenced by the direction of our initial intuition, which goes beyond words. It becomes harder than expected to form a new impression beyond that.

The Joy of Discovery

We rely on our first impression and intuition in this way because it is probably a more correct sensibility than many people think.

It usually reflects the sum total of the various experiences we have had in our lives. The cumulative wisdom that we cultivate through countless experiences creates the skills of impression and intuition.

However, our first impressions or intuitions are not always without distortions due to various assumptions and preconceptions. Sometimes, they do not work as honest sensibilities or intuitions but instead work as rigid preconceptions or fixed ideas, which in turn keep us distant from the facts as they really are.

Therefore, while valuing first impressions and intuitions, it is important to remember the perspective of the Divine Truth, which is that reality is always being generated and changing and that humans are constantly growing. It is also becoming more important to try to live each new moment to the fullest while understanding the “strata of meaning¹” that lies hidden within things and people.

In this process, it is truly wonderful that we have experiences and discoveries that go beyond first impressions and intuitions. The deepening of our perception of people and things is inseparable from the process of “maturation.”

By discovering the character of a person or the possibilities and limitations of things that cannot be seen from outward impressions, we secure the path to “maturation.”

If we think about the soul, which is the essence of our human nature, we can say that it is the very process of “maturation.”

Each one of us, without exception, overcomes the limitations within our soul and nurtures the potential within through various past experiences. We can say that the process of growth and evolution of our soul provides the irreplaceable steps of the “maturation of the soul.”

To Dig Deeper

For those of us undergoing the process of “maturation,” the most important step is to “dig deeper.”

We must not treat anything as known or obvious but accept it with a renewed mindset.

Even if it is a familiar situation or a person we know well, we should not pass by it in our usual way but should stop and take a second deep look at it.

With unprecedented concentration, we should look for new aspects of the reality we are facing.

In this way, I would like you to challenge yourself to go beyond the conventional way of interacting with people and things and to dig deeper.

Editor’s Note

1. Strata of Meaning

If we look at everything with a shallow Impression, we can only obtain a superficial meaning from them: good or bad; loss or gain; and valuable or valueless. That is because everything is grasped only on its Surface. But when our spiritual level or the state of our mind deepens, the reality that we can grasp will also increase in depth. If we are able to go beyond Impression and accept things with our True Heart, the Core Truth of everything will come into sight. The True Heart lies deep behind social correctness or candid feelings. It is the true feeling that comes from the dimension of the soul; it is the true aspiration. When we sense these feelings, we experience something like the removal of a veil that had covered the world. The world as we know it will split open to allow a new world to emerge. The Core Truth is a plain fact unclouded by our preconceptions. It is indeed the reality that has become one with our true feelings, true aspirations. And that is not all. There is an even deeper way of perception. If we can interact with everything at the level of Personal Mission (something that only the person can undertake and respond to in the flow of life force of the universe) in which we acknowledge our own mission, we will be able to accept the Divine Will that was entrusted to this situation. We will be able to sense various unseen connections and the weight of circumstances and be able to respond to the mission that we should accomplish.
(Excerpts from pages 77-79 of Keiko Takahashi’s book, The Soul Doctrine as a Way of Life)

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