HIGH THINKING

A publishing house in Tokyo has printed a 160-page book. It is an introduction to Japanese society and the temperament of the Japanese people. The book is titled:

Chie Nakane, Japanese Society (1987).

The author of this book is a woman, Chie Nakane, who is a professor of social anthropology at Tokyo University. She has explained in detail what the mental make-up of the Japanese people is. According to her description, the mindset of the Japanese can be summarized in these words: the constant desire to rise a little higher than the average (p.155).

The author considers this to be the way of life of the Japanese. They treat it as something sacred, almost like a religious teaching, and always try to live by it. There is no standstill in life. A person will either fall downward or rise upward. The principle is so absolute that if you do not lift yourself upward, you will automatically begin to decline. No further effort is required to fall.

This principle applies equally to both religious and worldly matters. A true believer is one whose faith is continuously growing. If the process of strengthening faith comes to a halt, then the person begins his journey toward decline. There is no possibility of remaining fixed in one state.

The same is true of worldly life. In worldly matters too, a person must keep moving forward in development. Whoever cannot maintain the process of progress will first fall into stagnation, and then slowly fade away. One must always remain concerned about one’s growth. To stop caring about growth is to hand oneself over to death.