Compass of the Times 197
Compass of the Times 197
To Change
Keiko Takahashi
The Switch to Become a New Self
Due to the spread of COVID-19, we were forced to set various restrictions on the activities within the GLA community this year. However, we have been able to hold G.LIVE, a web-study session using the Internet, which was only made possible because we were under such conditions.
The challenge we took on during this time was the “One Day One Sheet Special Seminar to Know Oneself,” in which 16,000 members carried out studies for two months using my book, The Power to Know Oneself as a textbook and a newly created guidebook as supplementary material.
At a place of their choices, such as home or workplace, participants read my book every day and worked on the dual pages of exercise by cutting open each of the folded sheets of the guidebook, enabling the participants to work through the process of facing themselves. They repeated this practice for the two-month period of this seminar. Including the launch session, I also gave seven consecutive lectures on Wednesday study sessions that were held every week.
Even for those who had engaged in the Study of the Soul¹ and had observed their own mind for a long time, the exercise during the “One Day One Sheet Special Seminar” became a refreshing experience.
Members also found, in terms of their own Bonno, that although they believed they understood this well, it could be further cultivated to better understand the three circuits by carefully following the textbook. They also became aware of possibilities within the circuits by listening to my lectures. In this way, they made new discoveries during this period. Observing the four types of Ju-Hatsu-Shiki² in succession brought them realizations about not only their own base Ju-Hatsu-Shiki type but also other Ju-Hasu-Shiki types. It was a time when they could actually experience the Soul Compass (Bonno Map)³ spreading out within them as a map of the mind.
For new members, as well as those who have less experience in the Study of the Soul, this seminar has provided a special learning opportunity because they were given a panoramic view of the system of the Divine Truth through two months of intensive learning, centered on the Soul Compass.
We were able to see how our minds really work and to confirm that our mind and reality are inseparably linked with one another, and that reality can be transformed by changing our own mind.
We further learned about the perspective of the Study of the Soul towards humanity, this world, and life. We learned that all of us begin our lives from the Cave of Karmic Destiny, where we are inevitably bound by constraints due to our Bonno that has been formed by the effects of our soul’s light and darkness and the Three Streams of Influence⁴. However, we came to an understanding that from there, we can escape from the Cave of Karmic Destiny and can proceed to the stage of the Reversal of Destiny by the process of perceiving situations that come to us as Chaos⁵ and create a reality of light with our own Ju-Hatsu-Shiki.
Even if there were sections that some thought difficult to comprehend fully, I believe that the Study of the Soul has become something tangible and more familiar to the participants.
The discoveries and realizations that many people experienced through this seminar were the switches to become a new self. The impression sheets I received from them witness this.
Continuity Fosters Small Changes
Why is it that many of us were able to create such a turning point?
What pushed us forward, I believe, was our repeated practice over the last two months. With just a little step each day, we examined ourselves in accordance with the Divine Truth. We continued taking time to analyze the energy exchange between our minds and reality. How precious was this experience for us!
Coming in contact with the Divine Truth on a daily basis, we made discoveries and developed a sense of reality through the daily exercise, or by tracing the steps of our peers who appeared in the book as a model. What arose within us could be said to be a small change.
Ordinarily, this small change might have dissipated in the daily routine, even if it should have been treated as an important seed. Such small changes might have ended as something fragile and easy to lose track of while responding to various external requests or when our interests are directed to other matters.
Yet, although little, an unusual transformation has grown to become a firm discovery and a sense of reality through our daily dialogue with the Divine Truth, which continued quietly, little by little.
From this, it is evident that there has been a change in our perception and response that we have repeated over and over. Gradually, changes have occurred in our way of understanding and viewing things.
By continuing to make these small changes, we can leap to find our new self.
The small changes to be our new self and to begin a new way of life are something that can be started anytime and anywhere. What is important, however, is to ensure we continue to make the changes in the future.
2020.08.01
Editor’s Note
1. Study of the Soul
The Study of the Soul is a system of theory and practice in which we seek a way of life by connecting the visible and invisible dimensions. In contrast to the study of phenomena, which science represents by dealing with the materialistic dimension, the Study of the Soul goes beyond that, dealing comprehensively with the materialistic dimension and the invisible dimension of the mind and soul. That is a principle that I have discovered from intensive studies of human beings and the individual life journeys of the many people whom I have met. By looking at the soul, mind, and reality as a whole, we observe human beings and aspire to respond to every possible occasion. (Excerpt from p.50 of How to Make Your Life the Best by Keiko Takahashi; available only in Japanese)
2. Ju-Hatsu-Shiki
Ju is the function to receive, in which we perceive events that occur in our reality (the external world) and in our mind (the internal world). Hatsu is the action to transmit and how we interact with the external world after receiving events. Shiki is a Buddhist term that refers to the visible realities, or the external world, such as incidents and events, including people. As long as we live, we continue to turn this cycle of Ju-Hatsu-Shiki and keep on producing realities even if we are not aware of it. (Excerpted and summarized from pp. 66-67 of The Glossary of the Divine Truth 2012; available only in Japanese)
3. Soul Compass (Bonno Map)
Bonno is originally a Buddhist term, and it refers to all delusional thoughts that bother and aggravate people mentally and physically. The Soul Compass grasps them as tendencies in four types of Bonno that turn our life into darkness. The four types of Bonno are as follows: Pain-Recklessness (a victim) that is symbolized by anger and discontent of human beings; Pleasure-Lethargy (a happy person) that is symbolized by laziness within humans and blind dependency on others; Pain-Lethargy (a self-deprecating person) that is symbolized by fear and negative thoughts; and Pleasure-Recklessness (an overconfident person) that is symbolized by greed and controlling others. (Excerpted and summarized from pp.105-107 of The Book to Solve Equations of Life by Keiko Takahashi; available only in Japanese)
4. Three Streams of Influence
In the place we live, whether it be a community, workplace, or industry, there are implicit premises, conventional wisdom, values, and ways of life. When we live there, we are deeply imbued with the atmosphere of the place without realization. I have called such an influence, the Three Streams of Influence (family, place, and era) that we inevitably take on in our lives. Family means values and ways of life flowing in from parents and lineage; place represents customs and premises flowing in from region and industry; and era indicates conventional wisdom, knowledge, and values flowing in from the times and society. (Excerpted and summarized from p.76 of How to Make Your Life the Best by Keiko Takahashi; available only in Japanese)
5. Chaos
Chaos indicates the primordial state, which has yet to have any form or clear outline, nor results or conclusions. There exist various possibilities and limitations, as well as light and darkness harbored within. The origin of the word “chaos” comes from the Greek myth of the primordial deity Chaos. Chaos is a state prior to the beginning of the universe that harbors all light and darkness. It is a state of nothingness, but at the same time, it conceals all possibilities. Moreover, Chaos inevitably leads to a way of life that transcends good or bad judgments. (Excerpted and summarized from p.167 of How to Make Your Life the Best by Keiko Takahashi; available only in Japanese)