E26193

     Henceforth, it will not do for human beings not to be citizens of the world. In this regard, I had an interesting experience. Right after the war, a former military officer came to visit me, and with a look on his face that could not contain indignation declared, “In whatever way this surrender is considered, I just do not understand it. It is shameful and unpardonable,” and seething with resentment, sought to engage me. I showed no inclination to respond, and finally seeming to tire of his efforts, he asked me, “Mr. Okada, are you Japanese?” I immediate replied, “I am not Japanese,” to which he was quite shocked, and trembling, queried me further, “Well then, to what nation do you belong?” When I replied, “What I am is a citizen of the world,” taken aback, he simply stared at me blankly. Then he insisted that I explain what I meant in a way he could understand. We discussed the issue from various aspects, and here let me relate the basics of what we talked about.
     To begin with, the idea of distinguishing individuals as Japanese or Chinese is the greatest mistake. It was with such an attitude that the Japanese fought and won wars with China and Russia. The Japanese became conceited, and, thinking that they had so suddenly entered the ranks of the major nations of the world, conceived of various concepts like Japan as a divine nation, and believed as well as made others believe that Japan was somehow special. Such thinking ultimately led to causing the recent war. The Japanese held other nationalities in disdain as if animals, did not pause for a moment to massacre, and ravaged the lands of other nations at will until finally the nation met with the bitter experience of defeat that we are living with now. As long as there exists the ideology which is content when one’s own country is satisfactory and is not concerned with the fate of the other nations, there is no hope for any kind of peace in the world.
     This situation can be understood when likened to a domestic issue in Japan. Just think about what would happen if a prefecture were to fight another prefecture. As a domestic issue, it would be as the quarreling of siblings, so the way matters ought to be settled is obviously very simple. This principle can be expanded throughout the world. The Meiji emperor’s famous poem expressed this aptly. “Over the four seas / When it becomes a world / Where all think of one another as brothers, / How can tempests and such come about?” When all have been brought to this way of thinking, world peace would be realized, even tomorrow. When all the peoples of the world come to have this encompassing world-view, people everywhere would become family members, so should not there be any reason for conflict to occur? Even today, groups form based on certain isms or ideologies and all others are considered to be enemies, or else national policy or national spirit or nationalism or national divinity are paraded about, and the resulting self-righteousness ultimately not only leads to grave mistakes but obstructs world peace. Therefore, at this time, at least for Japanese, the forthcoming signing of the peace treaty next year should be commemorated by all becoming global citizens, renouncing and overcoming their narrow-minded shojo way of thinking, and becoming broad-minded daijo individuals. From now on in the world, this thought will be the most progressive. The world needs individuals with this type of attitude.
     On a different level, the same can be said about religion. The creation of distinctive groups like such-and-such religion or so-and-so sect or this-and-that church is rather out of date. Not to be too boastful, I present World Messianity. World Messianity does not have even one particle of the pettiness that does not allow its followers to come into contact with other religions. Rather, we welcome such contact, because World Messianity emphasizes peace which conciliates and fuses as one family all peoples of the world. It is in this sense that World Messianity seeks to proceed, considering all of whatever religion to be friends, participating with everyone on the basis of fellowship.

　　　　　　　　＊　　　　　　　　　　　　　＊　　　　　　　　　　　　　＊

English versions of “Sekaijin Tare” have already been published. The titles of previously published translations are given below.

    “One World,” The Glory, Number 008, August 15, 1955

    “World-Vision,” The Glory, Number 023, February 10, 1959

    “Have a World Consciousness,” Foundation of Paradise, 1984, page 388

    “A Citizen of the World,” Teachings of Meishu-sama, Volume Three, 2005, page 38

    “Citizens of the World,” A Hundred Teachings of Meishusama, page 29