Prologue (From Chaos)
In the beginning, everything is chaotic. Initially, everything is meaningless, and wisdom still sleeps in the dark. Therefore, the first recognition is always made through intuition. At first, it is not understood but vaguely felt. All recognition begins with the unconditional and unconscious acceptance of an object by some vague and unclear force. Wisdom awakens through intuition and finds meaning after a certain process in the interaction between self and object. This is the birth of wisdom.
The chaotic consciousness is shrouded in a deep fog, and as it awakens, it finds a world of majestic nature, mysterious universe, desolate wilderness, and noisy cities. And soon, the consciousness is again covered by a deep fog. Ah, is this deep fog an illusion, or was the scenery I saw earlier an illusion? Or are both the deep fog and the scenery I saw earlier illusions, or are they the truth? Well, whatever it is, whether one is an illusion and the other is the truth, for me, the world that spreads out before my eyes is my truth, my world, in which my loved ones and my dreams reside. So, let’s not doubt, let’s not hesitate. Just live as the will dictates.
Why do I like that person? I don’t know such things. There is no logic in liking someone. I like that person simply because I like them. If I deny such raw emotions, everything loses its meaning. Then, living itself becomes meaningless.
Love begins when you vaguely feel that you like someone, and over time, it gradually acquires a special meaning. Eventually, it clearly manifests as strong conviction and passion. Similarly, concepts arise through intuition and form a certain meaning through a certain process.
Originally, objects have no discrimination, distinction, or meaning, and there are no imperfect or perfect objects. Discrimination, distinction, meaning, and the judgment of whether something is perfect or not inevitably arise in the process of the self identifying the object. Therefore, value is a problem on the side of the self’s ideas and does not exist in the object itself. Value arises by capturing the object in a limited way. Therefore, value is relative. When a person falls in love with a specific person, that person acquires a special meaning for them.
Originally, there is no beauty or ugliness in the human body, and there is no discrimination of nobility, poverty, or wealth in nature. There is no such thing as being beautiful because it is an intellectual part or ugly because it is an excretory organ. If someone thinks so, it is their problem, not the problem of the object. Poverty, wealth, nobility, and beauty are not inherent in the object world but are attributes of ideas created by humans. Eventually, humans become dominated by those ideas, but nature remains essentially equal.
Originally, objects have no position, movement, relationship, or meaning. As they are, they can only be vaguely perceived and acted upon vaguely. This allows only a passive way of life like that of unicellular organisms, and humans, with their fragile bodies, cannot even preserve their species in harsh natural environments. Therefore, humans set arbitrary standards between the object and themselves, find position, movement, relationship, and meaning, and try to find the laws that seem to exist behind the object world. This is where human thought begins.
Meaning arises in various relationships. Truth finds the relationships hidden behind objects and connects the broken contexts between ideas and concepts to reveal the whole picture. Individual concepts are islands floating in the sea of chaos, and truth is the totality of that chaotic world. Individual concepts cannot be taken as the truth alone. However, once the essence of truth is recognized, one will realize that truth is neither the whole nor the part but the thing itself. Therefore, human thought is limited to the relationships between objects that appear as phenomena, and the recognition of the existence of the thing itself can only be made through intuition. By knowing various laws and positioning oneself within them, humans can form their values and enable an active way of life based on subjective judgment.
Individual phenomena are one-time occurrences and therefore relative. However, the fact that the phenomenon occurred is absolute, and the existence of the world that caused the phenomenon and the existence of the self that recognized it are absolute.
Love appears in various forms. Taking one of them and saying this is all of love is not possible, nor can it be said that it is not love. People come to know love not through words but when the person they love appears before them, and they feel, “Ah, this is love.” And whether that love is true or not can only be confirmed in the reality of the relationship. Even if one piles up facts with words, they cannot convey the truth of love to others, but if one loves someone, they can make the truth of love their own. Because love is reality, and words are ideas. The true nature of love is found by each person, and if one knows how to love someone, that is all of love for that person, no matter what form it takes. No matter how many words are used, one cannot fully express all of love. However, if one knows how to love someone, they can know the truth of love. That is the truth and the correct recognition.
Human ways of living and dying are diverse. However, the fact that humans are born and die does not change.
Since meaning was given to meaningless objects and distinctions were brought into a world without boundaries, human thought has been contradictory from the beginning. Therefore, human suffering begins from there.
However, trying to escape suffering by denying meaning and distinctions also denies one’s values, resulting in the loss of one’s subjectivity. Therefore, even if one’s recognition of objects is full of contradictions and unreliable, if one wishes to live with subjective will and belief in this uncertain reality, in other words, if one wishes to live freely, one must rely on one’s unreliable ideas. Therefore, the means for humans to be liberated from suffering and live freely is to have the patience and courage to observe the external world patiently while humbly reflecting on and correcting the state of one’s inner self, thereby aligning the inner reality with the facts of the external world.
All living things in the great nature are equal. An equal world is the original state of nature. Therefore, humans moving towards realizing an equal world is nothing but a return to nature. However, this does not mean denying civilization and science and returning to primitive life. Denying human progress is denying the abilities that nature originally gave to humans, which is unnatural. True equality is achieved by correctly recognizing nature, finding the laws that govern the natural world hidden behind phenomena, and harmonizing with them. Blindly denying civilization and science is merely escaping from suffering under the guise of nature.
The problem is how to be, not what to do. If one’s way of being is determined, what to do will naturally be decided. In other words, after discerning one’s true nature, one decides how to position oneself in this world and how to relate to the objects surrounding oneself. Without knowing oneself, how can one speak about others? If one’s way of being is not determined, one’s way of dealing with oneself will not be determined. Therefore, the first thing humans must think about is their way of being.
I don’t know. Is it so difficult to know oneself? In this chaotic world, trying to know oneself seems contradictory. In a fundamentally meaningless world, knowing one’s meaning itself seems fundamentally impossible. Trying to know the unknowable is foolish. However, saying that leaves nothing to be said. Indeed, it may be a foolish question for those who are not living. However, for those who are living, it is a poignant question. There may be no more futile question than asking “why.” But humans cannot help but repeat that futile question. That is what it means to be human.
The mission of philosophy is to find means to correctly recognize the object world, provide guidelines for determining the correct way of being, and create blueprints for building human society.
As long as humans, whose way of being is not determined and whose recognition of the object world is full of contradictions, gather to form a society, one of the important missions given to philosophy is to resolve those contradictions, find commonality that applies to all humans, and enhance national consensus. As long as there is some law and order, a state without philosophy cannot originally exist. However, did modern Japan build its state with a philosophy that it could will?
To build a state, whether it is for a minority or a majority, some ideals or thoughts are necessary. Because thoughts and ideals are the blueprints for building the law and order that citizens should follow in that state and the guidelines for running the state. And those thoughts and ideals require philosophy and religion.
No matter how much time, materials, costs, and labor are available, a house cannot be built with just that. To build a house, a purpose for building the house, a design philosophy for designing the house, and yes, a dream are necessary. Only with such purposes, thoughts, and dreams can the will and passion to build a house be born, and the house be built. Moreover, those purposes, thoughts, and dreams must belong to the people who live there to have meaning.
Similarly, to build a country, a philosophy that establishes that country is necessary. Moreover, it must belong to the people who live in that country. However, modern Japan lacks the philosophy and ideals sufficient to constantly regenerate and renew its state. What exists is corrupt politics driven by money, bureaucratic convenience, and selfish egoism. Can Japan be called an independent state with this?
The ideals and philosophy that establish a country must be deeply rooted in the culture and traditions of that country. National consensus cannot be obtained in a short period. Even a regime built by revolution requires broad support from the people behind it. Blindly destroying or ignoring the culture and traditions of that country leads to the destruction of the people’s living foundation and causes the state to fall into an uncontrollable state of division.
I do not intend to call back the ghosts of the past. Rather, I oppose the simplistic nostalgists who avoid essential discussions and blindly call for constitutional revision. However, I feel doubtful about the attitude of trying to abolish all of our culture and traditions under the name of old-fashionedness in pursuit of rapid change. If we are to discuss the constitution, we should first clarify what we stand on. Then, we need to discuss the pros and cons of the constitution.
In other words, what I want to say is that we must build the era we should bear with our will and passion, and for that, we should assert and discuss our ideals and philosophy without hesitation. Instead of focusing only on the contradictions and bad aspects of this country, we should talk more and more about specific dreams and ideals of how the future of this country should be, and in that process, explore our way of being, and then correct the contradictions and bad aspects of this country. Without holding a blueprint for the next era, blindly fighting the contradictions and evils of reality is futile, and what remains afterward is only despair and desolation.
Why do we have to deny our culture and traditions just because we lost the war? We must deeply reflect on the mistakes made during the war as mistakes. However, in order to correct those mistakes, Japan must also strive for the regeneration of its culture as Japan. That means that Japanese people, as Orientals, should have awareness and pride as Orientals, and in the process of regenerating Oriental culture and traditions within Japan, absorb and develop Western culture and traditions. Culture and traditions are not relics of the past but are still pulsating in our lives.
Victory and defeat, strength and weakness, old and new, young and old are unrelated to right and wrong, good and evil. Those who make the right claims do not necessarily win, and countries with nuclear weapons are not necessarily culturally superior to those without. Good things are good even if they are old, and bad things are bad even if they are new. True justice is what is in one’s heart. Therefore, others’ actions are evaluated by their results, but one’s own actions are evaluated by their motives.
Those who make a living from philosophy sometimes try to be cold and critical of real politics, economics, and morality. They take a detached and disdainful attitude towards worldly things, as if to show off their superiority. Do they know how empty and hollow that is? As long as one’s philosophy is something that can only be substantiated by the representations expressed as reality in the external world, it cannot be unrelated to the real world. Rather, it must be deeply involved with the worldly and realistic world as a stronger place for self-expression. Ideals and philosophy exist only in the worldly and realistic world.
Philosophy does not aim to create something new. Its original purpose is to discover and refine the various relationships hidden behind everyday, commonplace phenomena. Whether we are aware of it or not, there is always some value behind human actions. For humans to live, even if only barely, they need standards, criteria, and policies for each judgment. Those standards, criteria, and policies constitute that person’s values. Philosophy is the study that tries to logically systematize and codify those values. For example, even in love, there are some values such as each person’s view of life and love, and behind them is philosophical thinking. That is what philosophy originally is.
Such philosophical thinking is unknowingly nurtured by the norms of the society in which the person lives, that is, culture.
Culture permeates every corner of daily life. For example, even in casual conversations and small gestures, people absorb the culture of the environment surrounding them and the country and society to which they belong, and unknowingly reflect and express that culture. However, just as we can live without being particularly aware of the fact that we are alive, and just as we can converse daily without knowing the troublesome grammar, we can live according to culture without knowing its significance. It is just like being able to drive a car without knowing the laws of physics. Rather, those who do not have strange knowledge handle things better. Knowing the laws and following and utilizing them are different dimensions. Those who do not know the laws often utilize them better, and villains often know the laws better. Moreover, seeing an airplane fly in the sky or a ship float on water is much more convincing than the laws of physics written in books. However, that does not mean that we can ignore or underestimate such laws of physics.
Modern science was brought about by the research attitude of finding the laws that determine those phenomena behind very ordinary and commonplace phenomena such as apples falling from trees or kettle lids being lifted by steam. It is the result of efforts to refine everyday thinking. And in that process, modern industry was started, and industry developed.
However, in the midst of this, are we not losing sight of the essence, being captivated only by the fruits brought by science?
If you turn on the TV, you can watch your favorite programs, and if you get on an airplane, you can go to places you couldn’t have imagined in the past at incredible speeds. However, if you only focus on such conveniences and ignore the harmony of nature and use it as you please, what will be the result? Isn’t it time for us to reflect on that?
I am not saying that you should have specialized knowledge of physics or become a philosopher. I just want you not to overlook the fact that using such conveniences of civilization without reflection, with the selfish consciousness that you bought it with your money and as long as you don’t bother others, you are losing something important to humans without realizing it. At least, shouldn’t humans have more reverence and respect for the power of nature and the efforts of their predecessors?
I don’t understand education or scholarship without philosophy. Words like thoughtless thought or neutrality in reporting are meaningless. They are just irresponsible. Indeed, philosophy is original. Philosophy is the aggregation of each person’s experiences and thoughts into their view of life and values. Therefore, teaching philosophy itself is certainly difficult. However, that does not mean that educators and researchers do not need to have philosophy. When we study or convey some object, some personal thoughts inevitably come in. The more complex the object, the more so. Otherwise, education is just the imposition of stereotyped knowledge, and scholarship ends up being mere interpretation, crushing the creativity that is originally necessary for education and scholarship. Philosophy is original. Therefore, it is not about blindly following or fanaticizing a specific ideology. To avoid blind obedience and fanaticism, each person must have their own philosophy. And only when each person has their own philosophy can mutual communication go smoothly, and mutual understanding become possible.
A body without a soul is just a corpse. Similarly, a state without ideals and education without philosophy are just empty shells. They are just ugly. A state or education that has become an empty shell is dead. It corrupts and degenerates the people in it. When each educator pursues an ideal human image and practices it in the educational field, the policy for each student is determined, and it permeates the students, awakening pride and confidence in them as humans. Ideals generate passion and hope among people. That becomes the driving force for continuous new discoveries and updates. And that passion creates the laws and policies of the country. Therefore, education without philosophy is just making people memorize useless knowledge and skills for selection, making them servile. A state without ideals cannot create any laws or policies. It is self-contradictory. When the people of such a country are led to hold false illusions by a few fanatics, another tragic history is added.
The motive of this book lies in the pursuit of principles. The purpose of the main text is to find causes. Principles and causes are originally abstract. However, it is not abstract in a speculative sense but abstract in the sense of extracting generality from individual relative phenomena. Science is an abstract concept. However, science is utilized in real society and real life because the concept of science is based on real phenomena. For philosophy to be utilized in real society, it must similarly probe the motives behind human social phenomena.
All thoughts and actions are rooted in some motive. Therefore, the conclusions of thoughts and the results of actions are constrained by those motives. However, motives are not constrained by conclusions or results. Moreover, motives are recognized when expressed as thoughts or actions. Therefore, motives are substantiated by thoughts or actions, but thoughts or actions do not substantiate motives. Similarly, individual phenomena are constrained by principles, but principles are not constrained by individual phenomena. Moreover, principles are substantiated by phenomena, but individual phenomena do not necessarily substantiate principles. Phenomena are one-time occurrences, and principles are universal.
The visible world is transient, and the universal world is invisible. However, we can only know the universal world by exploring the visible world, and we cannot see the invisible universal world.
Real love is transient. However, love is universal. Love can be found in real love, but universal love cannot be equated with transient real love.
Natural phenomena change, but the laws of nature do not change. The laws of nature can only be understood through natural phenomena, but natural phenomena cannot change the laws of nature. Are humans not forgetting the universal world behind the transient phenomena? Even if humans perish and I die, it does not mean that everything ends. Something else begins from there.
I love traveling. However, traveling is not an escape from reality or to forget oneself. It is to gain the courage to face reality and the courage to look at oneself. The destination in a journey is just a milestone. The end of one journey is the beginning of a new journey. The journey of life is the same, and its ultimate destination is chaotic. It is fundamentally impossible to unify the individual purposes of humans. In the journey of life, which is repeated until death, if one only pursues reaching the destination, one will know the infinitely continuing journey. The journey is rewarded by enjoying