hagakure

I introduce a few tidbits of 'wisdom' or at least amusing perspectives on the place of people.

Dream

"It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake up and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this."

I like that one. People constantly confuse perspective with reality.

The Way

"It is bad when one thing becomes two. One should not look for anything else in the Way of the Samurai. It is the same for anything that is called a Way. If one understands things in this manner, he should be able to hear about all ways and be more and more in accord with his own."

This has a basis in truth, though I find myself hacking apart ideologies and taking what works from each of them, disregarding the rest and crafting from that my own way. I've heard it often that this is not proper, but I find any 'way' taken to its fullest margins is a recipe for disaster.

Attitude

"Among the maxims on Lord Naoshige's wall, there was this one: "Matters of great concern should be treated lightly." Master Ittei commented, "Matters of small concern should be treated seriously." "

This is wisdom as it is often those matters of smallest notice that detract from our daily lives. It is those small things that add up and defy our ability to achieve greater things. Greater things are like dreams, the work of a lifetime or generations of lifetimes. They should be treated as something fulfilling, but not as something crucial as we cannot satisfy them in a single day. Only through the amassing of many days and nights of effort can we see the mountain moving.

Rain

"There is something to be learned from a rainstorm. When meeting with a sudden shower, you try not to get wet and run quickly along the road. But doing such things as passing under the eaves of houses, you still get wet. When you are resolved from the beginning, you will not be perplexed, though you still get the same soaking. This understanding extends to everything."

I am greatly amused by people running in the rain. I walk as purposefully as I would at any other time, receiving the same soaking as fools in the rain. The resolve that natural annoyances will come and that we should be blissful in the 'winds and rains' makes perfect sense to me.

Do Not Hesitate

"When one has made a decision to kill a person, even if it will be very difficult to succeed by advancing straight ahead, it will not do to think about doing it in a long, roundabout way. One's heart may slacken, he may miss his chance, and by and large there will be no success. The Way of the Samurai is one of immediacy, and it is best to dash in headlong."

Killing people is one thing. Doing things is another. Decisions when made without rage or emotion must be made with immediacy or nothing happens. Decisions flowing from rage or emotion tend to be corruptible and foolish, but the same is true of doing nothing when reasons commands otherwise.

End of the World

"It is said that what is called "the spirit of an age" is something to which one cannot return. That this spirit gradually dissipates is due to the world's coming to an end. In the same way, a single year does not have just spring or summer. A single day, too, is the same. For this reason, although one would like to change today's world back to the spirit of one hundred years or more ago, it cannot be done. Thus it is important to make the best out of every generation."

This is a world that has failed its generations. I have hope that this can change because it's seasons are changing, but it's still too cold to call it spring.