Gallery
In the future, the biosphere will be heavily damaged, oceans and lands will be deeply polluted, and depletive resources will not remain at all. Future people will regret the reality, but they cannot change the past. Our present people can change the future, if we recognize future people’s pain, and do adequate actions. However, present people are always self-centred and indifferent to future people’s pain.
To save future people from environmental crisis, some material
which led present people to feel future people’s pain as that of own will be needed. In other
word, what is needed will be compassion, bond or love to the future people. The
title logo of this site, Love future neighbours, suggests this essence.
The Gallery prepared here is a place where some materials are
exhibited which may move present people to feel future people as our neighbour.
The Gallery is open for anyone who feel future people’s pain seriously.
Submissions of exhibits are welcome.
List of Exhibits in The
Gallery Room 1
1. Big Catch
2. Ox-carts, goat-carts and deer-carts here!
2. Ox-carts, goat-carts and deer-carts here!
3. This Town, That Town
4. And no birds sing
5. A bird nest of almost no value will become
a precious treasure
6. Neither searching for the rich nor the wise
7. From a Distance
8. A Bill Sanders’ cartoon
9. Even Einstein
10. Where are we going?
11. Frédéric Chopin meets William Turner
12. The Pearl
13. A dog’s no good
14. Pay it Forward
15. The opposite of love is not
hate, it’s indifference
16. I am the last
17. Had no choice but to help
18. The Burning Field
19. Love of the remote
20. Lotte in Weimar
1. Big Catch
A short poem by Misuzu Kaneko (1903-1930) suggests the way to
see the present world through the eyes of any living object, not only human but
even fish.
Big Catch
Red skies, sunrise.
Big catch!
Big catch of
herring!
Up on the beach
it’s a carnival, but down in the sea
they’ll mourn
For thousands on
thousands of
herrings.
At present, the world markets are excited by the massive
growth of economy, but this will cause the mourning of a huge number of people
in the remote future.
This poem can be a banner to lead us in activities to save our
planet, though it is seldom seen in such situations.
Further
information
Poems of Misuzu Kaneko were translated in English and
published: Something Nice, Translated by D. P. Dutcher, Japan University
Library Association, 1999.
More details about Big Catch: Reach Across Time to Save Our Planet
pp90-91.
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There is a parable known as Three carts and burning house
in Buddhist text, which is worthy to be considered to save our planet.
Buddha said, “Once there lived a wealthy man whose house
caught fire. The man was away from home and when he came back, he found that
children were so absorbed in play that they had not noticed the fire and were still
inside the house. The father screamed. ‘Get out, children! Come out of the
house! Hurry!’ But the children did not heed him. The anxious father shouted
again. ‘Children! I have ox-carts, goat-carts and deer-carts here, come out the
house and get them!’ Heeding his cry this time, the children ran out of the
burning house.”
At present, our planet is almost a ‘burning house’. Most
people are absorbed in egocentric activities. They have not noticed voices
warning of the danger.
In the ancient Buddhist text of Lotus
Sutra, detailed discussions about the above parable were described. In
that, a monk asked a high priest, "Has the father deceived children or
not?" The high priest replied, "He saved lives, and did not deceive
them." Our present world is in such critical danger that the above parable
should be reconsidered.
Further information
The Lotus Sutra, Translated by Tsugunari
Kubo and Akira Yuyama, Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2007
More details about Three carts and burning house: Reach Across Time to Save Our Planet pp48-50.
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3.
This Town, That Town
This
Town, That Town is a popular children’s song in Japan.
This town, that town
It's getting dark, it's getting dark
The road you came along just now
Go back again, go back again
You've come a long way
From your home, from your home
The road you came along just now
Go back again, go back again
In the sky the evening stars
Are coming out, are coming out
The road you came along just now
Go back again, go back again
Children are coming away from their home, not simply lost but
seeming to be attracted by something. Our present world is in a similar
situation as that in this lyrics. It is getting dark by the increasing risks of
the extinction of humankind. People are coming away from the homes of past
generations. And, evening stars are glowing, warning of the doomsday. However,
people are still wholly attracted by brilliant matters achieved by human greed.
The voice of warning is repeating, Go back again.
Further information
About the
song: Title;This Town, That Town, Lyrics; Ujō Noguchi 1882-1945, Music; Shinpei, Nakayama 1887-1952, English Translation; Katsuei
Yamagishi 1944- , Copyright (C)
YAMAGISHI, Katsuei.
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4.
And no birds sing
A verse written by John Keats (1795-1821), who is one of the
most influential English poets, is put on the front page of Silent
Spring written by Rachel Carson, who is perhaps the most influential
person among the eco movements. The poem is based on a fairy tale. A knight met
a beautiful lady, and he followed her. After he spent good times for a while,
he awoke, and found that he is in the real nature where
The sedge has withered from the lake, and
no birds sing.
Today, humans are spending good times, surrounded by highly
developed technologies and economy. But some day, not so far from now, people
will awake and find that we are in the real nature which has been heavily
destroyed and polluted by human activities.
After more than 50 years have passed since Rachel Carson sounded
the alert with strong voices, with sharp words of John Keats, present people
seem to be still dreaming in the world of a fairy tale. It must be the time to
awake.
Further information
The original poem of John
Keats: La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad, contained in Complete
Poems by John Keats, Introduction by Robert Bridges, Digikread.com
Publishing, 20156.
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5. A bird nest of almost no value will become a precious treasure
Louis Darling (1916-1970), an outstanding illustrator and
environmentalist, drew a bird’s nest as bellow for the title page of Rachel Carson’s Silent
Spring. This is full of sentiment, if we imagine how remote future
people, thinking of a bird’s nest as a precious treasure, are then confronted
by a world in which all wild birds are totally extinct. When we look at this
drawing carefully, we can sense Darling’s passionate feeling about. We can also
see here the eggs in the nest, which should symbolise procreation, but, sadly
they will be gone too.
 |
Illustration by Lois and Louis Darling, from SILENT SPRING by Rachel Carson. Copyrightⓒ
1962 by Rachel L. Carson, renewed 1990 by Roger Christie. Reprinted by
Permission with Houghton Mifflin Hoacourt Publishing Company. All rights
reserved.
|
If we can preserve a wild bird species, it will be a heartfelt
gift to the remote future generations. A gift to the remote future generations
is a gift expecting no return. However, such a gift will doubtless create a
bond between present and future generations.
Further
information
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Houghton
Mifflin Company, Boston, 1962.
More details about a gift expecting no
return: Reach Across Time to Save Planet
pp83-85.
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6.
Neither searching for the rich nor
the wise
A hymn written by a Spanish songwriter and
priest, Cesáreo Gabaraín, has been appreciated and loved
passionately all over the world for its attractive melody and impressive
lyrics. An English translation of verse 1 is as follows:
Lord, you have come to
the seashore
neither searching for
the rich nor the wise,
desiring only I should
follow.
The lyrics of this hymn are inspired by a
Biblical story where Jesus chose two disciples, Simon and Andrew. They were
neither rich nor wise but ordinary fishermen. Jesus had begun salvation of the
world with these two ordinary people.
Our Planet is now in danger. The risks for
extinction of humankind are far greater now than they were in the days of
Jesus. There are many who are rich and wise, and many politicians and
scientists. However, it is by no means clear that such people can save our
world by their leadership. If our God tries to save the world, he will choose
ordinary people again for salvation.
This does not mean that persons who are rich
and wise are of no use. Our world will be saved when the rich and wise follow
ordinary people who are filled with passionate love for future generations.
Further
information
Above mentioned song is entitled as Pescador
de Hombres. The English lyric translated by Robert C. Trupia was
published: in Cesáreo Gabaraín
and Joseph Abell, Pescador De Hombres, OnlineSheetMusic.com, 2013.
More details about the need of contributions of ordinary people: Reach Across Time to Save Our Planet
pp36-37
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7.
From a Distance
A song entitled From a Distance written by Julie
Gold (1956-) became popular since Bette Midler brought it to the public’s
attention.
Among the lyrics, there is a passage:
From
a distance we all have enough,
and
no one is in need.
And
there are no guns, no bombs, and no disease,
no
hungry mouths to feed.
Although what “a distance”
actually means, either spatial distance or temporal distance, is not identified
here, it may be quite sufficient to understand that it is a temporal distance,
so that the passage is a hope to be realized some day in the future.
The lyrics of the Bette Midler
version ends with the following words:
Oh, God is watching us, God is watching.
God is watching us from a distance.
Although these lyrics assume a
theistic view, it will also be acceptable by atheistic view if the term “God” is interpreted as the mind of the
remote future people, or even the conscious mind of present people.
Further
information
Lyrics of original Julie Dold version and
the Brtt Midler version were were published ; Bette Midler, Julie Gold, and Nanci Griffith, From A Distance (Kindle
Edition), OnlineSheetMusic.com, 2013.
More details about the importance of viewing
from a distance: Reach Across Time to Save Our
Planet pp49-50.
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8. A Bill Sanders’ cartoon
Most present people don’t worry about any
hardship in the world which may occur long after their life time. But an
innocent baby will criticize this, as in a cartoon by Bill Sanders.
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Reprinted from The
Milwaukee Journal by permission of Mr. Bill Sanders and The Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel. Special thanks to Milwaukee Public Library for identifying the exact
issue among the newspaper archive.
|
The above cartoon was put next to the title
page of a book entitled Responsibilities To Future Generations
published in 1981, without any comment, probably because the cartoon shows the
essential point of the book so clearly. Present people might lose that sense of
innocence, that is probably essential for surviving many generations.
Further information
The book contains the
cartoon: Ernest Partridge ed., Responsibilities
To Future Generations, Prometheus Books, New York, 1981.
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9. Even
Einstein
A fact that the universe is expanding was
discovered by Edwin Hubble in 1924. Stephen Hawking, a leading physicist,
praised Hubble’s work as one of the greatest revolutions of the twentieth
century, on the one hand. On the other hand, he wrote that it is easy to wonder
why no one had thought of it before.
Isaac Newton discovered gravity in the seventeenth
century. Due to gravity, it could be thought that the universe cannot be
static. However, the belief in a static universe was so strong, no one could
predict an expanding universe before Hubble. Even Einstein, Hawking stressed,
was also sure that the universe had to be static.
Human civilization is now expanding.
Although there were some warning signs, such as a report entitled The
Limits to Growth published in 1972, most of the leading politicians and
business persons still believe that economic growth will continue forever. It
must be a time to apply Hawking’s words about the universe to the common belief
of endless expansion of human activities on our Planet Earth.
Further
information
Hawking’s words on the discovery of
expanding universe: Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time, 1988,
A Report of Club of Rome’s Project: D. H. Meadows et al. ed., The Limits to
Grows, Signet, 1972.
The 30 years update of The Limits to Grows,
Chelsea Green Publishing, 2004.
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10. Where are we going?
Paul Gauguin created a huge painting near the
end of his life, and it was entitled Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where
Are We Going? In order to consider the future of mankind, consider here
how Gauguin thought in the third question, Where Are We Going?
The painting was created in 1897 in Tahiti.
It was about 150 years after the Industrial Revolution. In Europe, people were
tending to move to civil society, and traditional communities were fading out.
Although Gauguin would be anxious about the future in developing Europe, he
noticed that traditional life as seen in this painting still dominating in
tropical countries. In the painting, an idle is placed on a special pedestal and an old woman
is recounting myths, may be, to a young woman who is listening earnestly. Such a tradition has been fading our in civil society.
Gauguin would be sure that the traditional
life which had been common in the past would fade out in the near future, and
whether or not a better life style would established in the future would have
been quite uncertain. However, Gauguin’s real anxiety would not be the
uncertainty of the future, but the indifference of the people in that era to
recognise a community that was worthy to live definitely.
Further information
The painting is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. More details as well as it image can be seen in the homepage of the museum.
Further information
The painting is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. More details as well as it image can be seen in the homepage of the museum.
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11. Frédéric Chopin meets William
Turner
An anonymous and obviously creative soul,
produced a short video entitled Frédéric
Chopin meets William Turner in which Frédéric Chopin’s very
moving “Raindrop” prelude, played by
a Lithuanian pianist, Vadim Chaimovich, and William Turner’s phenomenal
paintings were arranged together so as to create a unique atmosphere. This
video will make people feel beauty and harmony with a music and an art, but, at
the same time, feel anxiety emerged from the human nature, becoming significant
at the beginning of the new age.
Frédéric Chopin is a composer from the early
nineteenth century, and William Turner is a painter from the late eighteenth to
the mid nineteenth century, sometimes called “the painter of light”. It was a
time more than 50 years after the Industrial Revolution. New technologies were
being introduced across all sectors. Huge black smoke coming out from big ships
might have been seen as a symbol of the new age, but old buildings were left in
ruin. Conflicts between and within countries were elevated with the
modernization of society. In such an era, sensitive artists might have felt
enormous anxiety for the future.
Today, risks for the future are growing in
magnitude, becoming so much bigger than those in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. However, most people are almost indifferent to the various risks
that have been signalled to be appearing in the future. This video will be
timely to awaken people so as to motivate them to think about the origin of
their anxiety.
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12. The
Pearl
John
Steinbeck wrote a small novel, The Pearl, based on a long-told
story in a community. A young fisherman found a great pearl. He thought this
was his fortune and imagined that he would be rich, cellebrate a wedding with
his wife, and educate their baby. But, he accidentally killed a robber, and had
to escape with his wife and baby. They were chased by three chasers. Although
he finally beat them, he and his wife decided to leave the great pearl. He threw
it into the sea.
The present
civilization is almost equivalent to the great pearl. It looks brilliant.
People think it is a great fortune and imagine a prosperous future. However,
advanced civillization often stimulates greed in the intrinsic human nature so
that many conflicts may occur among people, and finally cause serious
misfortune in the whole world.
The Pearl is a success story. A brave man finally left the pearl
so as to remove all misfortune even though it might bring a great fortune.
Unfortunately, our present world is far from a success story. Once technologies
have been developed, people only try to enjoy fortune regardless of many
conflicts that can emerge. People tend to pursue much more technological
developments, resulting in the escalation
of conflicts. Each conflict does not remain only among human, but it escalates
between humans and nature. The nature will finally be beaten by human greed. If
such a scenario becomes a reality, human history will end as a tragedy.
To save
humankind, it will be necessary to turn the tragedy into a success story. To
throw all technological achievements away,
as in the pearl story, and go back to the primitive life may be a possible way.
But now, it will be extremely difficult, because the modern way of life has already penetrated so deeply into everyday
life. On the other hand, it will be more difficult to survive withough leaving the
technological achievements. Now, humankind is facing a great difficulty to
survive. Remote future people, if existing, will look back at the present era,
and will find a story filled with severe pain and discomfort, far above that of
any war story. Although future people cannot change the past, present people
can change their future. The Pearl encourages us to do good
deeds, which the future generations will heartily appreciate.
Further information
The Pearl was first published in
1947, and has subsequently been published many times in different styles. It is
available , for example, from Penguin Books.
More details about
the difficulty of leaving cultural achievements are discussed in Reach
Across Time to Save Our Planet 32-33.
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13. A dog’s no good
Kazuo Ishiguro, who received the Nobel Prize
for Literature in 2017, wrote a mysterious novel entitled The Unconsoled. Although
it does not appeal explicitly, an anxiety in present world seems to be presented
throughout the story. The hero, Mr Ryder, a world famous concert pianist, was
invited to a town to give a piano recital. While people in the town apparently
welcomed him, most of them were so self-centred that he had to spend most of
his time responding to their demands. Finally, his whole schedule was ruined
and when he appeared on the stage to perform he found that the entire audience
has gone home.
In this story, the self-centredness of the
people appears frequently, even in short conversations. When a dog died that
was kept by a Mr Brodsky, an old conductor of the town orchestra, he said, “A
dog’s no good. We’ll choose an animal that will live a long time.” He had no
thoughts on the misery of his pet animal after his death.
Present people mostly appear to be self-centred
so that they are indifferent to the remote future people’s difficulties, pain,
and inconvenience. Although it is obvious that present people’s activities will
cause serious global warming and pollution around the world, people do not
worry so much if the problems are not so serious during their own lifetime.
Regrettably, remote future people will be left out of present people’s thoughts
and deeds. The title of Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, The Unconsoled, can be
interpreted as the remote future people’s fate.
Although the unconsoled future people are a probable
consequence of the status of the present world and the behaviour of present
generations, it does not mean that the future is totally hopeless. The future
filled with compassion to others beyond bodily lifetime of each person will be
still realizable if, for example, present people hear a voice such as that in
Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, The Unconsoled, as prophetic words, a new life could be awakened. Present
people could manage the future more favourably. It will not be too late.
Further
information
The novel: Kazuo Ishiguro, The Unconsoled, Faber
& Faber Ltd. 1995.
About indifference to the remote future: Tatsuo Togawa
and Peter Rolfe, Reach Across Time to Save Our Planet, Grosvenor Hous Publishing
Ltd. 2017, pp1-11.
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14. Pay it Forward
Pay
it Forward is a novel written by Catherine Ryan Hyde. A movie based on
the novel was produced and released in 2000. In a junior high school, a teacher
of social study gave an assignment to a 7th grade class. The task was “Think of
an idea to change our world – and put it into an ACTION.” A 12-year old boy,
Trevor MacKinney, thought of an idea to set up a goodwill movement, called “Paying
Forward”. The idea is based on doing good deeds to three persons, and each of
these three recipients then doing so for three others, so that the movement
will spread and change the world. Trevor tried to carry out the actions by
himself and the teacher encouraged him. But, to do a good deed was always
difficult. Trevor was killed when he tried to rescue a boy attacked by a gang, but
his idea and movement spread widely and
moved very many people’s minds.
In this
story the idea of paying forward is considered only in a fairly short period of
time so that the ‘doer’ can see its consequence of what they themselves have
done. However, this idea can also be applicable to much longer period. If one
tries to do a good deed for distant future generations, one cannot see the
consequence of the deed. However, such a deed could attract many people as a purely
altruistic deed without expecting any return.
Present
people are so often receiving a great many legacies from past generations. If
we fully recognize the tremendous value of these legacies received from the
past, it will be quite natural to try to preserve them well, add some more, and succeed to future
generations. With such a view, paying
forward is not a special credit but is our fundamental responsibility. Such
understanding should be recommended to be taught at least in social study in
all junior high schools.
Further information
Original
novel: Catherine Ryan Hyde, Pay
it Forward, Simon & Schuster Inc. 1999.
Movie: Mimi
Leder (Direct.), Pay it Forward, Warner
Bros. 2000.
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15. The opposite of love is not hate,
it’s indifference
Elie Wiesel
was a Holocaust survivor. He enthusiastically carried out numerous activities
against violence, repression, and racism. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in
1986. He criticised those who were indifferent to the oppression of people. He
also mentioned many kinds of indifference and during an interview with a
journalist, he said:
The opposite of love is not hate, it’s
indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s
indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s
indifference.
The opposite of life is not death, it’s
indifference.
Regrettably,
he did not mention explicitly the indifference to future generations. When he
was invited to White House in 1999 and gave a speech entitled “The
Perils of Indifference”, but once again he did not say any word about
indifference to future generations. If he had recognized the urgent global
environmental problems, it would have been an ideal opportunity to plead for us
all not be indifferent to the suffering of future generations resulting from
the ego-centric activities of present and recent generations.
However,
Elie Wiesel’s warnings concerning indifference are still worthy to be
considered for saving future generations. When we try to save future people
from various hazards caused by our ego-centric activities, awaking them from
indifference to future people is essential. If opposite of love is
indifference, love must be at the opposite of indifference. In environmental
movements, to love future people must be essential.
Further information
The report
of interview with Elie Wiesel: U.S.News, October 27, 1986.
The White
House speech: The History Place - Great Speech Collection, Elie Wiesel, The
Perils of Indifference, April 12, 1999.
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16. I am the last
Alphonse Daudet, a French writer in the 19th century, wrote a very
short novel entitled The Fairies of France. While it
consists of only five pages, it strictly warns of the disappearance of
traditional comfortable life. In a court, the judge asked an old woman prisoner
about the accusation of trying to set fire to Paris. She testified. “I am a
fairy. ... I am the last. ... Fairies of France are dead. ...It is a great
pity. ...France with fairies was more beautiful. ... The country folk loved us.
... But the age has progressed. ...All was ended. ...We have seen what a
country without fairies may become. ... I hate it. ... I filled the cans with
petroleum to burn everything.” But, no one heard her warning.
The present world is similar to a Paris where all the fairies
were gone. As modern civilization has progressed, traditional comfortable life has
disappeared, just like the disappearance of the fairies. But no one felt concerned
at the change, because the civilization looks brilliant and attractive. No one
noticed that all the fairies were gone.
The fate of the fairy could also suggest the fate of
humankind. If the fairy represents a human nature that realized a comfortable
life in traditional communities, a part of human nature will be lost when the
modern civilization takes over the human mind. Then, even though the human body
can survive until a billion years ahead or more, the human nature filled with
fairy-like components may die out in a hundred years ahead or less. The fate of
the last fairy in The Fairies of France seems to suggest the fate of humankind.
In this sense, we have to watch the present world through the fairy’s eyes.
The coordinators discussed the matter of the last human in our
book. However, our view was optimistic. We assumed that humans keep fairy-like
components of the mind until the last human. The last fairy story warns that the
human mind may change. If that is possible, humans have to make more effort to
preserve good nature in the mind forever until the last one.
Further information
The English version of the novel: Alphonse Daudet, The
Fairies of France, in Monday Tale, The Little Brown, and Company 1900,
Forgotten Books 2017.
About the last human: Reach Across Time to Save Our Planet
10.1.
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17. Had no choice but to help
Kristen Renwick Monroe, an American
political scientist, has been studied deeply for her work on altruistic human
behaviours. She attempted very many interviews of so-called altruists, and finally
she found that those most closely approximating pure altruists were among
rescuers of Jews in Nazi Europe. At that time, if one hid Jews and this was detected
by the Gestapo, both the person who hid the Jews and the hidden Jews themselves
were all sent to concentration camps. Nevertheless, even under such dangerous
circumstances, very many people hid Jews. Monroe interviewed some rescuers of
Jews and she found that the rescuers decided to help Jews spontaneously. They
claimed to have had no choice but to
help.
To help future people whilst enduring one’s
own stress and inconvenience is an altruistic behaviour. If the global
environment is getting worse, everyone will have to save many kinds of resource
more strictly, even basic things like food, so that altruistic behaviour will be
necessary in everyday life. Everyone will have to be a pure altruist, although
such a life will be incredibly difficult when compared with the present
ego-centric lifestyle. However, Monroe’s observation showed that purely altruistic
behaviour could certainly exist, at least in the actions of the rescuers of Jews.
Future people are definitely in danger
and if present people do not help them, they will have no chance to be born;
they have no ability to be alive by themselves. They need rescuers and they
need them now. Furthermore, the rescuers, in other words those of us existing
now, need to be purely altruistic if we definitely desire the existence of
future generations. This should not impossible, as Monroe showed. The altruistic
feature clearly exists as an intrinsic human nature, although it may be
suppressed in our present civilized society. To awaken the altruistic nature
will be an urgent need; present people are
sleeping altruists.
Further
information
Kristen Renwick Monroe, The Heart of
Altruism – Perception of a Common Humanity, Princeton University Press, 1996.
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18. The
Burning Field
There
is a story told in Japan about how the quick thinking and actions of a man saved
all of the people in a village from a great tsunami. The man’s name was Hamaguchi
and he was a wealthy farmer having a rice field on a plateau near the sea
shore. One autumn evening, he felt an unusual earthquake. He looked at the sea
and noticed the sea water was running away from the land. He was taught by his
father that this is a sign of great tsunami. He immediately told his grandson
to light a pine torch and he set fire to all of the rice-stacks on his rice
field. The villagers soon saw the flames and they all ran quickly to see his rice
field. Then, the great tsunami arrived at the sea shore but all of the villagers
were safe near the rice field and they all survived.
This
story is actually true, and Hamaguchi was a real person who lived from 1820 to
1885. The tsunami in the story was also an actual event, which occurred in 1854.
The story was popularised in an English monograph, published in 1897, by the Greek-born
British writer and journalist Lafcadio Hearn. The story, which was somewhat
dramatized in this book, became known widely. It was known that the rice-stacks
were not set on fire, it was actually stacks of straw from threshed rice, and
the purpose of setting fire was not to announce the coming of the tsunami but
to show the direction of evacuation after the tsunami had arrived. Nevertheless,
it has been the dramatized version of the story that has been widely read, as
well as being used for texts on ethics and for warning of a tsunami even today.
A
great disaster is now approaching Planet Earth. It is a human-caused disaster.
It is not localised but is global so that there is no place to escape from its
consequences and to keep safe. What is needed to survive is to stop the mass
destruction of nature. To realize that will require the minds of the whole population
to be moved so as to save future people.
This is a very difficult challenge because logical explanations have so far
been ineffective and it will be vital to explore all means possible. Inspiring
and emotionally moving stories, real and fictitious, using books, social media,
film and music, dramatized or in straightforward style, must be tried and could
be effective. What is important is to move people’s mind to save our future
neighbours.
Further information
Lafcadio
Hearn’s monograph: Gleanings in Buddha-Fields: Studies of Hand and Soul in
the Far East, Houghton, Mifflin, 1897.
E-Book:
Japanese Folk Tale – The Burning Fields, Antelope
Publishing, 2002.
Historical
facts about Hamaguchi Goryo: http://www.town.hirogawa.wakayama.jp/inamuranohi/english/siryo_goryo.html
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19. Love of the remote
If those of us living on planet Earth
now and in the near future understand and seriously worry about the stress, pain
and inconveniences of future people, and if we carry out actions to reduce
global warming, pollution of oceans and land, and extinction of wild species,
and to sustain depletable resources, future generations will be pleased and will
genuinely appreciate the deeds and personal sacrifices made by us now. At
present, such a course is far from reality.
However, even this scenario is far
from ideal, it suggests that we have to think at a much higher level of human
existence for future generations. To maintain the environment that is just sufficient
for human survival is a materialistic need and spiritual contentment should be
considered besides fulfilling the materialistic needs.
Nicolai Hartmann, the Latvian (formerly
German) philosopher, wrote an article entitled Love of the remote in his
monograph published in 1926. The term ‘remote’ means remote future. He thought very
deeply about the relationship between present and future generations, and he concluded
that a bond can exist between them even though they are not co-existing in time.
He described this as a higher level of existence, greater in quality, and as a form
of love.
In the usual understanding of helping
others, fulfilling materialistic needs are considered first and spiritual needs
next. However, if we seriously desire contentment of future people, the order
of priority should be inverted. At the same time, if we are surely concerned
for their spiritual contentment, we cannot be indifferent to the fulfilment of
their materialistic needs. Thus, Love of the remote should be an urgent
matter to be considered prior to the environmental problems.
Further
information
Original article of Love
of the remote: Nicolai Hartmann, Ethik (in German), de Gruyter, 1926.
English translation: In Nicolai
Hartmann, Ethics, vol. 2, George Allen, 1932.
Recent printing: Moral Values, Moral
values volume 2 of Ethics / Nicolai Hartmann; with a new introduction by
Andreas A.M. Kinneging, Transaction Publishers, 2009.
More about Love of the remote: Reach
Across Time to Save Our Planet pp 77-89.
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20. Lotte
in Weimar
Lotte in Weimar is a novel written in 1939 by Thomas Mann.
The main character in this novel is Charlotte, who was a real person, known as
the model of the heroine of Goethe’s novel The Sorrows of Young Werther.
Because of the fame of Goethe and his novel Werther, Charlotte became famous. However, she
recognized the fact that people saw her only as the model of Lotte in Goethe’s
novel, and no one respected her as a real person. She realised that,
unwillingly, she had become famous for the benefit of Goethe.
The story of Lotte in Weimar begins at
an occasion after 40 years from her intimate days with Goethe. Charlotte
decided to visit Weimar where Goethe lived and to confront him. She found that
people in Weimar still saw her only as the model of Lotte. After staying there
for some while, she was invited to Goethe’s house and met him. She expected to
be welcomed as a beloved old friend, but she was embarrassed at Goethe’s cool
attitude. She could not tell him of her sacrificed life being just a model of
Lotte. A carriage was prepared for Charlotte to go back to the hotel.
Unexpectedly, Goethe rode after her. All of her feelings then burst out, but
Goethe’s reply, although filled with esprit, did not ease her. The last moment
would be her imagination.
A human life is not fully contented and
satisfied only by its own existence. Becoming rich will not be enough. To achieve
success or some other objective in life thing will also not be enough. This
story of Charlotte tells us that it is also not enough just to become famous. A
human life will be fully satisfied when the person’s life is respected as a
real person as it is, not as a model. If this is correct, one cannot be fulfilled
only by one’s deeds or effort. To realize a situation where everyone can live
being fully contented, each member in a society needs to respect others as real
persons, in other words, as a real neighbour. Goethe alone cannot be accused in
this story. Society will have to be changed.
At present, our society has not
changed much since the era in which Goethe and Charlotte lived. Still very many
people spend own life without being fully content. Someone who becomes rich or
famous, may find that their life is not fully content because their real self
is not fully respected. If we imagine a distant future, the mere existence of
humankind will be desired first. But it is not enough. It will also be desirable
that each person can spend their own life full of contentment, and the society will
provide an atmosphere where each person naturally respects others. Furthermore,
the person-to-person relation will spread from the same generation to the whole
period of human existence, including the whole past and the whole future. In
particular, the preferable future can be realized only if present people seriously
desire it and dedicate their efforts for future generations.
Further
information:
An English version: Thomas Mann, Lotte
in Weimar, Translated by H.T. Lowe-Porter, University of California
Press, 1990.
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