Johrei Fellowship

The Current Situation of the World and the Spiritual Realm

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(Adapted)

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The world situation today presents a critical condition on scale that we have never seen before in our history.  Fear of the outbreak of a third world war must be something that occupies the mind of almost everyone on earth. 

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However, this is only the state of the material world as it is seen by the physical eyes of most people.  Since the true cause of all things in the physical world lies in the spiritual realm, unless you become aware of the real state of things, you can never grasp the true root of any problem here.  Only when you come to realize this can you have a preview of the future so that you can attain true peace of mind. 

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God’s Plan is to establish a paradise on earth, but in order to achieve this goal, material civilization must be developed to a certain degree.  For this reason, the creation of good and evil were necessary.  It is because of the friction between good and evil that the material civilization we see today has been accomplished.  The world is now on the eve of the birth of an ideal condition - paradise on earth.

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Conflict among human beings started in the spiritual realm at the very beginning of humanity’s creation.  The strong and powerful began to desire sole possession of everything and to dominate over all.  They resorted to violence without distinction between good and evil.  This is the same picture we see now.  As populations increased, the scale of conflict has expanded accordingly, until it has become the size that we see today.

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Many individuals who have been considered heroes and great men of power throughout history have been victims of, and possessed by, negative spirits.  They have been outstanding men in their times, and nothing seemed impossible for them, but so many of them ultimately failed and experienced sad and miserable endings.  I have referred to such heroes of the past as leaders of the destroyers of the world. 

Up to the present time, our world was not a truly civilized one, for man still retained half of his barbaric nature and, spiritually speaking, committed sins and accumulated lots of spiritual clouds.  Because of this, every once in a while, widespread purification has been necessary.  Therefore, you must seek to understand the reason for such negative situations in the world and not give way to indignation and desperation.

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February 25, 1951

A Half-Civilized, Half-Barbaric World

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(Excerpt)

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People in general probably think that the present-day world is a most civilized one.  However, as we study its true substance we find it is full of defects, as we can easily see from the daily newspapers, which are filled with reports of crimes and of other unhappy events involving the human race.

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Taking an impartial view, we find that there are far more bad things than good things occurring.  Considering this matter deeply, we come upon something which is quite surprising.  We would naturally think that the better education people receive, the more knowledge they acquire and the more civilized they become, crime should decrease in frequency.  But when we see what has actually happened, we become speechless with astonishment.  This is indeed incomprehensible. 

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What should be done, then, to correct this state of affairs?  It is not a particularly difficult undertaking; it is, in fact, quite easy.  That is, it can be done by awakening people to the importance of spiritual education over materially-based education — the importance of the need to make spiritual education preeminent.  To put it more plainly, we can correct this condition by dispelling false belief in only the visible and bring awareness of the invisible.  The way to accomplish this is to awaken people to the reality of God by the power of spiritual teachings.

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When this truth is realized by the leading classes and when this way of thinking spreads among the general public, it will become impractical for people to do wrong deeds.  The world will then become a place of goodness and happiness.

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But, this simple truth is yet to be realized by the authorities, as they continue to maintain control by way of strict laws that can well be compared to nets or cages.  This is no different than treating human beings like wild beasts and therefore, such methods are ineffective.  In fact, social order cannot be maintained with the cages known as “laws.”  The authorities should be awakened to the fact that the cause must lie somewhere else.

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Thus, our society remains a collection of half-human, half-beastly beings.  In this sense, it is only too clear that man's animalistic nature cannot be eliminated by materialistic education.  Judging from the results, the old method of education can be said to be only a technique to conceal man's animalistic nature.  Therefore, we cannot even predict when a world of true civilization can be realized.  The only solution is to eliminate the animalistic nature from man's spiritual being; there is no other thoroughly effective method.

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The time has come for this state of existence to be eliminated.  I say this because a new path of Light has appeared – one which can awaken people to the reality of God.  It can be done as soon as people are able to grasp the spiritual power of the miracles that they experience.  I believe this is nothing other than a proof of God's Plan for correcting the unbalanced condition of the half-civilized, half-barbaric world, and creating a world of true civilization in which the material and spiritual sides advance hand in hand, in perfect balance.

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April 14, 1954