Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Pantheism

We Japanese believe that a soul inhabits everything, not only human being or animals but also nature and architecture. It is pantheistic culture to cherish and respect everything and we think highly of calmness as part our nationality. These quiet circumstances existed in our daily life before modernization in Japan.
But now we forget spiritual culture, the feeling of an respect for the invisible existence in nature. Life in an urban city like Tokyo is very busy and people can’t afford to think about other things or calmness. Cruel murders and crimes are increasing and it is a social problem in Japan
The feeling of respect for everything except ourselves is indispensable in our daily life.

6 comments:

FabrizioTorri said...

i am agree, obviously. i like the word "panintheism", a subtle variation of the word pantheism used in some books that i've read, that can mean "multiplicity-in-unity".
but i wish to ask you, when you write "respect for everything except ourselves" what exactly do you mean? because this statement can be read as we should not respect ourselves....can you explain better your thinking?
i believe that we too are part of the wholeness, we are made of the same substance of the sakura flowers and of the mountains, isn't it so?

Ricky said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ricky said...

Thank you for your message.
And I apologize for responding sooner.

My expression might be enough to explain. Our happiness is very important as you said. We aren’t be able to worried about other things except us, if we aren't happy, I want to say that consideration for other thing, people or nature, is also important as same as our happiness.

We are looking for only material thing for our ego, we stop to think how important other people's feeling is. We have cherished nature because we believe that a soul existed in nature. But I recently feel that Japanese is forgetting consideration for others.
As I mentioned "Wa " in my blog, we have a culture that Japanese cherished harmony of other people about relationship.
I agree your opinion that " We too are part of the wholeness ".
I think consideration is an important way to diminish war or conflict and be happy in this world

FabrizioTorri said...

domo arigato for your explanation,
i agree with you in all.
i don't know if the past was really better than the present age, probably it wasn't, but i understand your concerns.
caring for feelings and emotions of others is an essential thing.
best wishes and thanks again, my wife says "hi" too...she's a big fan of japanese culture and food (and of the singer Gackt)...

Anonymous said...

You know Japanese well, don't you? I am surprised that your wife knows Gackt. He is very popular singer in Japan. Does your wife like J-Pop? And have you and your wife come to Japan?
I love Italian food. And Japanese love it, too. Though I have never been to Italy, I want to go to your country someday and eat real Italian food.
I really appreciate your comment and having interest for my blog. Please let me know when you want to know about Japan. Grazie !

FabrizioTorri said...

Dear "Yasashii Omoide" or "Amai Omoide (which is correct?),
how's the weather there? is there snow-yuki already? we live in a sea town, on the coast of tuscany, and it snows very rarely here.
I wish i knew japanese language!!! i have learned only a few words and phrases watching japanese movies and anime with english or italian subtitles. Usually in Italy all movies and animation are dubbed with italian voices, but many people manage to see the originals via file-sharing websites. In Italy and in Europe there are many fans of japanese pop-culture, there are webpages devoted to j-pop, j-rock (i guess arc-en-ciel is the favorite band), and visual kei too, and so on...we watch "music station" and other tv shows too....
We, my wife and me, have many interests and Japan is definitely one of them (another one is brazilian music, tom jobim ivan lins djavan etc. and that's how i've found your blog), but there are many italian (and european) persons who literally LIVE exclusively for Japan and japanese culture in a very "otaku" way.....compared to them we are only amateurs!!
Speaking of japanese music, we know more or less all the popular ones, (we watch "music station" now and then, as i've said) but our tastes are a little different...my wife like Gackt but also the Mana band "moi dix mois" plus "ayabie" and the nirvana-like band "deadman" (and of course Gackt and Mana former band Malice Mizer).... i like the bands "mono", "anoice" and "ghost", but i appreciate "thee michelle gun elephant" and "back horns" too, and i love Shiina Ringo's voice and songwriting, both in her solo career and with "Tokyo Jihen".....(and i like the score of Kanno Yoko too, and others...)
A travel to your country is one of our greatest dreams....until now we haven't had the money..but who knows what the future holds.

we look forward to hearing from you again,
best wishes..
Fabrizio and Marlena,
(you can write us to my e-mail address, if you prefer... it's in my profile's page on blogger)