Great Construction
A Believer And A Non-Believer
I would like you to understand in the beginning of this article that when I write “a believer,” I mean someone who believes in our teachings, not those of any other religion.
Not considering ancient days but carefully studying people living in this material world today, I feel the expression Jesus used in referring to unawakened individuals, calling them “lost sheep,” is apropos.
Just think. How many people are there who are daily living without any uneasy feeling, with perfect peace of mind? Of all the misgivings human beings have, disease must come first. There is a possibility of any person—whoever it may be—being attacked by sickness at any time. One hour from now that individual may catch a cold; the cold may develop into pneumonia; that may turn out to be the beginning of tuberculosis. Maybe tonight the same person will be attacked by appendicitis and writhe in agony. He may fall sick with typhoid fever or some other disease whose cause is unknown. A parent must face the possibility of his child being attacked by infant diarrhea, which often proves to be deadly; or diphtheria; or meningitis, which may send him to the other world in a few days. If he is an elderly person, he may be struck by cerebral hyperemia, which may develop into palsy; may be paralyzed and driven to the miserable fate of being bedridden for many years.
There is a possibility of any one of the family members contracting a contagious disease. Then, of course, that individual must be isolated in a detention hospital. If so, other family members may not know what the expenditures for treatment and hospitalization will come to. If his recovery is quick this may not matter too much, but if sickness is prolonged the savings which no doubt took years to accumulate will soon be gone, and even if the sufferer recovers he may have been fired from his job because of his prolonged absence so he is adrift.
If his life has been saved he may be able to work again and earn money, but if, unfortunately, he becomes crippled or still worse, if he dies, what will happen? If he is the head of a family, what will the other members do to support themselves? When we imagine his feelings, we can understand how bad he will feel when he realizes that he has to go from this world in the prime of life, leaving his plans and projects unfinished. It may be unbearable for everyone involved to have the bonds of affection severed.
Who knows? Such a situation may never happen to us, but when we think about all these possibilities we realize that there is a heavy sense of fear hanging upon us like a piece of lead around our necks. I don’t think there are many exceptions.
If a human life is so full of fear and if there is no hope for anyone to be freed from this, “ours is indeed a world of suffering,” as Gautama Buddha said. He taught that human beings cannot be released from the four basic miseries—that of birth, disease, old age, and death. He said the only way to live in this world, therefore, is to be aware of these and to bear the suffering with a sense of resignation. It is Gautama Buddha’s teaching that this is the attitude of one who has attained spiritual enlightenment.
Since the state of affairs is like this, if people come to know that a religion has appeared which will absolutely free them from the anxiety of being attacked by disease, what a great gospel it must be! However, most of those who have heard of this for the first time say, “How can such an unbelievable thing exist in our world? You must be crazy!”, thinking that anyone who believes it must be next door to real insanity.
But what do you say to the fact that such a religion has surely appeared? You may study everything with a suspicious attitude, or even completely deny all that you read, but what would you do if you came to realize that everything is true? The appearance of such a church is far more than a great event: it will surely cause a worldwide sensation when it becomes widely known.
Now, I will simply explain about our faith and about disease. All those who have grasped the true meaning of faith through the teaching of our church have no more misgivings about disease. No, I should rather say that once the true meaning and cause of disease have become clear to them, far from being afraid of it they welcome sickness. This is because sickness is a natural physiological activity which is necessary to improve health, and so it is a great blessing from God.
I have explained only the meaning of illness itself; besides this there are many other things which cause misfortune. For instance, modern life has an inseparable relationship with means of transportation, and, as you know well, the anxieties and disasters caused by these cannot be made light of. Also, there are accidents in factories caused by machines, calamities caused by fires, and burglaries, all of which happen quite often. Though occurring less often, the damages caused by earthquakes and floods are still very serious.
In this way, when we deeply consider today’s life in which various calamities other than diseases may assault us at any time, we cannot really be at ease even for a short period. But the government and private individuals have prepared all kinds of institutions, facilities and other methods for protection from these. We have health insurance, accident insurance, unemployment insurance. There are also savings systems and other kinds of plans for protection.
However, there is a limit to the peace of mind these material means can give us. In order to obtain absolute serenity, we must have an invisible, spiritual insurance—that is, an insurance policy with God. Most modern people do not accept easily when we tell them about the invisible power of God’s insurance. Yet, they cannot obtain true peace of mind in other ways, so they are in a dilemma and are still experiencing uneasy days and nights. This is the true state of affairs, so human beings are indeed pitiable.
Because of our point of view it is hard to watch the unbelievers living in an unstable way, full of anxiety like floating weeds with nothing to hang onto. They are like people who are steering a small boat in the midst of an ocean where there is a big ship close by. They are not aware of it even though we invite them to come aboard. We cannot just watch them and leave them alone, so we try to persuade them to gain a true faith in God, but they cannot easily get away from the darkness of denial. That is the actual state they are in.
It is understandable, because such a wonderful power of salvation has never before appeared in the history of humanity. When we think of the fact that such a great teaching has made its appearance, we should realize that this fact alone is proof that a paradise on earth free from disease, poverty and conflict is very near hand.
Hikari, Issue 2, page 1, March 20, 1949
translated by KH* * *
“Mushinkō to Yūshinkō,” originally published on the front page of the newspaper Hikari, Issue 2, March 20, 1949, has appeared in translation. Citation is given below for reference.“With Faith and Without Faith,” True Health, 1987, page 17.