Facing the Upcoming Society
| (Tohon Newsletter Vol.1_No.3) by Mr. SHINAGAWA Mikio Living in New York, U.S.A., Yoboku of Hon-shiro Branch Church (This is the original essay written by Mr. SHINAGAWA Mikio for this issue.) It has been almost 10 years since Tenri Cultural Institute was established in SoHo of New York in order for us to engage in universal mission work through cultural exchange. Throughout these years, I have been thinking in my own way how we can make progress in plans to spread the name of the path to the world. I am grateful that I was given opportunities to help the path through hinokishin for these 10 years . I like the moment when I’m facing the east. It may be because of the rising sun and moon, I feel a dream, hope, and challenge toward something new at all times. In other words, my heart is burning with desire. New York is located in the East coast of the continent. So when you look toward the east, you always see the Atlantic Ocean and beyond that, you can see Europe, the Eurasian Continent, and Africa. I have opportunities to travel in Europe. Especially in recent years, I have traveled Italy on business trips. Italy is a fascinating country. Historic footprints of people rested in peace up to now. You can look back different cultures and histories of Egyptian civilization, Islam, Jews, Indians, Silk Roads, Greeks, Romans, Renaissance, and so forth. And they talk to moderns through their voices and colors. Religions, battles, and missionary work : Hardships of Christianity teach us, who cultivate the path, a good model when considering a world peace, and it is also a precious resource to study the Divine Model. At the turning point of the millennium, there were various editorial articles in various newspapers regarding the “past, present, and future.” A decade marks a break and a century marks a turning point. What is the world going to be in a year 2100, a hundred years from now? We can firmly believe that the answer will be beyond our imaginations. God the Parent is the only one who can answer that question. We want to have a dream : We will write down news of the world in a hundred years from now with a dream in our mind. What are articles of Tenrikyo newsletter going to be and how do things go with the path stand? We will write down the dream as a guidepost for the construction of the universal joyous world. When I think of ourselves as “predecessors” of the upcoming generation, I hope that we are able to send out rays of light for the railroads of the future. I hope that the Tenrikyo newsletter in a hundred years from now will be filled with big and bright news. I indulge myself in thinking of such things at the turn of new millennium. “Blown in the wind.” It is a tasteful expression and I feel akin to it. And a daily life here in New York teaches us that “Blown in the wind, but don’t get blown away.” It is said that “strike while the iron is hot.” Facing the upcoming society, how should everyone strike the hot iron or peace? We ought to resolve our minds by looking from various perspectives. Upon hearing sounds of our striking irons, God the Parent becomes spirited, and give us words of encouragement and blows a galvanizing puff of air. Under the truth of the “Jiba,” a foundation to realize a joyous world will be laid out on the earth when the truth of God the Parent stands and shines out on everyone’s mind and spirit. I hope to live faithfully in accordance with God the Parent’s intention next hundred years and years after that. Return to the top of the page. |
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