Compass of the Times 245

To Burn

Keiko Takahashi

Season of Heat and Energy

As of early July, when I was writing this article, the temperature in Tokyo had already reached 36 degrees Celsius.

The intensity of the unbridled sunlight affects people relentlessly. It deprives people’s ability to concentrate and, sometimes can be life-threatening by causing heat stroke.

Therefore, I would like to encourage everyone to take extra care of their health during these hot days and to avoid unexpected accidents as much as possible.

But even though this scorching season can be a harsh environment for us, it does not mean that it is a season only of danger. While it reminds us to be cautious, it is also a season that brings something worthwhile to the world.

What does the summer season bring to the world? It is, for sure, “heat” and “energy.”

We cannot avoid being aware of the “heat” and feeling the “energy” that abounds in the summer; but more than that, this season is calling¹ us to live a new way of life, and to live the next stage of life.

The time when our way of life evolves is the time when we have greater heat and energy stored within us compared to our previous way of life.

It is known that when a new chemical reaction occurs in the world of matter, energy is stored at the molecular level. This energy causes electrons to jump into new orbitals, creating bonds that are different from those that existed before.

I think that the same is true for our way of life.

By storing “heat” and “energy” in each of our ways of life, we can prepare ourselves to leap into a new way of life, into the next stage of life.

Burn to Perfection

What is the next leap forward in life?

We all have a unique “life” that breaths within us. It is a “life” that should be celebrated, and it is the purpose of life that points to the meaning of life and the reason why we were born. Everyone is born with the wish to live it to the fullest.

The leap toward the next way of life we aim for, is always nothing but the steps we need to take to approach closer to this “life.” It is a journey to take a first step toward the purpose and blueprint of life that each of us embraces.

We use the word “burn” to describe the act of fully living this “life” that is stored in each of us. We sometimes use the word “complete combustion” to mean the state when we fully realize the qualities and potential we have.

There is a force within us that cannot be manifested without flaring up. There are realities that crystallize only when we fully burn ourselves.

Many of the things that we should really value in life are those like that. The role we must play in life can only be fulfilled with the “heat” and “energy” that raise the dimension.

This month, because it is the season of scorching heat, we would like to move toward burning our own unique “life” that we harbor.

Burning with Bodaishin

We are now engaged in a community-wide “Bodaishin² Challenge” in GLA, centered on the Global Genesis Project Studies³.

Following the steps of the Bodaishin Excavation pioneered by the Seinen-juku⁴ students last year, as many as 15,000 GLA members are now trying to draw forth the power of the soul that lies dormant within them by living the Bodaishin. If this can be done, how much new power and new reality will be born!

I hope you will take the calling of this summer and spend a year of burning yourself toward excavating your own Bodaishin. That time of flaring up will bring you a new dimension of life that had never existed before. Let us open up this new dimension together.

Editor’s Note:

1. 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?” (Excerpt from pp. 47-49 of Reclaim Your Life: The Power to Survive the Time of the Unbelievable, currently available only in Japanese)

2. Bodaishin

Bodaishin is a Buddhist term originally used to refer to the “mind that seeks enlightenment.” I would like to define Bodaishin more broadly as a “mind that seeks one’s true self, loves others, and contributes to world harmony.” Bodaishin is a mind that not only seeks to develop and perfect oneself but also expands one’s boundaries to care for others and work for the good of the whole. The major problems of our time, such as global warming, world poverty, and social inequality, cannot be truly solved without Bodaishin at work. Bodaishin is what is essential for our lives and the world to truly shine. (Excerpt from pp. 4-5 of Twelve Bodaishin: The Way That the Soul Shines Brightest, currently available only in Japanese)

3. Global Genesis Project (GGP) Studies

The Global Genesis Project Studies is a place of practical learning where “study” and “volunteer work” are combined into one. Participants can learn the wisdom of the front lines of the Study of the Soul once a week while also gaining an experiential understanding of the Divine Truth through Project activities (volunteer work at GLA).

4. Seinen-juku (Youth School)

The youth generation goes through the most drastic changes in life, such as entering higher education, finding a job, and getting married. Every young person searches for their own path while experiencing some difficulties. The Seinen-juku Seminar (the Youth Seminar), held for three days and two nights in early May every year, provides such young people with solid clues to discover their true aspirations and to move toward the mission they should fulfill in their lives. (Participants: GLA members from junior high school students to 35 years old)

All Articles