Compass of the Times 267

To Transcend Limits

Keiko Takahashi

The Golden Rule of Energy Saving

In June, the Utsushimi Gathering will be held to commemorate the passing of our founder, Shinji Takahashi-sensei.

This gathering is for us, as GLA members, to reaffirm that we are beings living in the World of Phenomena with physical bodies, and to deepen our gratitude toward our founder, who opened the path of the Divine Truth. Above all else, Shinji Takahashi-sensei advocated to the world that human beings are souls endowed with eternal life. His teachings continue to resonate at the very center of our lives.

We might say that our life is a journey in which we shift our center of gravity from the body to the mind, and then from the mind to the soul.

In the early stages of life, everyone begins by living a life dominated by the physical body. The development of our mind’s function is also, at first, skewed toward the physical senses, the scale of pleasure and pain. As we get older, we cultivate our mind that accepts situations without reflexively reacting to stimuli of pleasure and pain. We eventually awaken the soul’s sense that responds to the calling beyond pleasure or pain. This, too, can be considered one of the stages of our life’s journey.

There is something we must consider here. It is about the human brain that operates on the principle of comprehensive energy conservation.

Our brain conserves energy wherever possible. Once we have learned to do something with minimal energy, we become reluctant to expend any more energy on it. As a result, everything in life becomes habitual and subject to this energy conservation.

There Is Power That Is Unleashed When We Reach Our Limits

As a moment’s reflection will reveal, however, the purpose of our life is not simply to conserve energy.

The reason for our energy conservation is to channel the energy we gain into what truly matters. Energy conservation is merely a part of the essential evolution of our life.

That is not all. We must also consider that conserving energy itself may be hindering the realization of our potential that should naturally be brought forth.　

This is because we can only reach a new dimension when we have pushed ourselves to our absolute limits. When we have exhausted our strength to the point of thinking, “I can’t do any more,” we can draw forth possibilities that had not appeared until then. It is not by the act of conserving energy from the start, but instead by exhausting every power we have, that we are granted new power. It is precisely because we have approached our limits that new doors open.

What is commonly referred to as the “second breath” is likely one aspect of this. This term refers to a stable, efficient breathing state that emerges after overcoming temporary discomfort and fatigue during physical exercise; however, this state can arise not only in sports but also in mental activities and complex endeavors.

Just as molecules can have stored energy and enter an excited state to trigger new chemical reactions, something similar can happen in humans as well, and the power to leap to the next dimension will emerge.

This is precisely why it is important to push ourselves as far as we can in everything we do. Try our best until we reach the point where we think, “I can’t go any further.” At that moment, we discover a new side of ourselves we never knew existed and unlock our dormant potential.

Taking on a “First-Time Challenge”

To begin with, simply taking on something you have never done before, which is, in itself, an ultimate test of your limits.

Stepping away from the way of life and methods you have followed repeatedly is always a step toward confronting your own limits.

You engage with a new reality different from what you have known, which may include forming new relationships, taking on a new job, or adopting new approaches at your workplace. Taking on such a “first-time challenge” can be the catalyst that unlocks your untapped potential.

Of course, taking on the “first-time challenge” is often accompanied by anxiety. You may face failures and difficulties.

Even so, I would like you to believe that these challenges will reveal possibilities within you that you had not seen before. With that mindset, I hope you will move toward a new way of living.

Editor’s Note:

1. Soul (Energy of Volition with Wisdom)

The soul is, in a word, the center and essence of what makes us human. It is the energy source of light and darkness. I have referred to this soul as “the energy of volition with wisdom.” This energy is the core that continues to live on even after the physical body dies to experience human life repeatedly.
(Quoted from page 24 of Reclaim Your Life by Keiko Takahashi)

2. Calling

Each encounter, each event is not something that happens to us by “chance or accident.” They come to us out of necessity, for a reason, and have meaning. When we call out this sensibility of the soul, when we make the soul our center of gravity, we are able to ask of even the most negative situation, “What is this encounter, this event, calling me to do?” And we are able to step out on a new way of living as we ask ourselves, “How can I change?”
(Quoted from page 41 of Reclaim Your Life by Keiko Takahashi)

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