1870 A WW2 Japanese sailor chats about discipline.

Part of a nice evening’s meditation where several visitors share their experiences with us.

(Geoff) Right, I have a little Japanese soldier.

He had been at home for a long time. But he was totally committed to what he believed, the same as we are committed to what we believe. And In Japan it’s far more discipline.

 

It seems it has to be done, and that’s the way it is. There is no bending of the rules.  He believed this quite strongly, and he went through his life believing just that, without bending the rules. So when he got to the other side, he understood that what he did was 100% what he thought was the right thing to do. But he didn’t realise that what he should have been doing was looking at all the different possibilities which were around him that he could have changed.

 

He could have changed a lot of people for the better. But in that era, which is the Second World War era, there was no room for maneuver or discussion.

 

(Guide) And in a way you’re in a similar situation, but you’re lucky that you are able to move around and change things. What you believe is very good.

 

When you find the people who believe along the same lines, when you find people who see it slightly differently, it’s very difficult to get your point across because of the strength of their beliefs. So, what you need to do is just to show them a little bit at a time, so they can see it and say that makes sense. And slowly they will change to your way of thinking.

 

So don’t think about teaching these people exactly what you want. Teach them in a very casual, roundabout way that could be changed slightly to suit whatever their denomination or religion or way of thinking is. And that way you’ll get through to a lot more people who will change.

 

You will find, when I look at the communities surrounding you, there are many others who think the same as you do. They have the same belief as you, but the problem that many have is one of jealousy and ego, of not being too sure whether you are good enough. We know, or you know, that basically being spiritual means that you have to accept others.

 

There can’t be any ego. So my advice to you is try not to be so disciplined, so rigid in your way of thinking, and allow others to comment and give their opinions, and then maybe you can just correct, in the nicest way possible, their thinking, and therefore gain their trust, and progress from there.

 

(Sharon) Very well put.

 

(Guide) He was in the Navy, and very disciplined. He died during the war, and he said when he died, he stayed behind for a long time.

 

Because of the discipline. It wasn’t the same, he didn’t have the same spiritual understanding that we have.  

 

(Japanese spirit takes over) I believed that I could stay behind, and I could help others, and to move across to the other side, as you call it, would just be an act of walking away, of leaving my comrades behind. Now, you know that our thinking was, you fight until the death, you never give up.

 

It’s the same sort of thing when I crossed over. That was exactly what happened. I refused to move over, and I wanted to stay behind, and I wanted to encourage others to stay behind.

 

And there were plenty of others moving across, saying that they had seen their mistakes.  and it’s quite okay to kill the enemy. It took me a long time before I could actually do that. That’s how stubborn I was.

 

But it was a good lesson. So, you will go through a similar lesson, but not quite as bad as that. Thank you for allowing me to speak.

 

(Sharon) Thank you so much. And good luck with what you’re doing.