Compass of the Times 197

To Change

Keiko Takahashi

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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