Compass of the Times 221

Creating the Focal Point and Inner Magnet

Keiko Takahashi

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We Need an Inner Pressure to Resist the Outer Pressure

Over this blazing summer, how are you doing during these scorching hot days we have endured all over Japan? I would like to urge you to take extra care to maintain your physical condition during these dangerously hot days when just walking outside for a while can cause you to lose consciousness.

On such days, it is even more important to keep in mind that we should look firmly ahead and be surefooted while we walk the path of our lives. To do so, we must have a firm awareness of our life. If there is an outer pressure that oppresses us, we need to have an inner strength, an appropriate inner pressure, so that we will not be defeated by, and be able to push away, the outer pressure.

This month, I would like you to think about creating an inner pressure that can overcome the outer pressure.

For those of us who live in the reality of Saha¹, the World of Suffering and Endurance, the shocks and pressures that come in from the outside will never cease. It is not uncommon for us to receive a blow unexpectedly.

And even if we can avoid the pressure from outside, it does not mean that we can live our lives as we wish. If we spend our days simply responding to the demands that come from the outside, we will not yet have reached the true joy of life.

When we can feel that we are living each day by the power of life, of will, and of a wish that overflows from within us, we will experience a strong sense of living in this world.

Having the Focus and the Inner Magnet

Aspirations and purposes are what gives us such a sense of living. They are what become the focal point from which we draw our own inner energy. When we do not have such a focus to live our life, we will have difficulty drawing forth our inner energy.

Only when we have a target to which to aim can we naturally draw strength toward it. In other words, our aspirations and purpose are essential for us to truly live our lives.

Once we have aspirations and purpose, can we then concentrate our inner energy toward that focus?

As you already know, some people will be able to do this and others not. This is a fact. This is because we need the magnet of the mind that can sustainably direct our energy toward that focus in order to pour our inner energy into our aspirations and purpose. Or, we could say that we need the lens of the mind that can focus our energy.

No matter how great a wish we have, in order for our aspirations to materialize, we need to focus our inner energy and keep it pouring until our wish is fulfilled.

When we become able to form this magnet of the mind then our center and core strengths, in other words, our sustained willpower, enables us to continuously pour energy toward our focus without wavering or faltering at minor failures or difficult circumstances. With this power, we will be able to experience the true meaning of life.

Focus on the Power We Have

When our reality is not as we want it to be, we tend to give up, thinking that we lack talents and abilities. We quickly conclude, “I cannot fulfill my wishes and purpose because I don’t have what I need.”

Those who are truly able to overcome these obstacles, however, are not only blessed with many talents but are also those who can sustainably focus and direct the best of their abilities to that single point.

Before lamenting our lack of talent or ability or what we do not have, we must continue to pour strength and energy toward the focus that we have set for ourselves.

This attitude matches with what is written in Chapter 7 of The Two Doors:  to continue doing and to put what we do not do even though we can into the ring of what we will do. It means that we should concentrate on making full use of what we already have before lamenting what we do not have.

When we can focus and make the most of what we have to the fullest, we can, in fact, crystallize many more of our aspirations.