Anne Thomas
Japan
|
Last updated 12/ 8/2008 6:12 pm
"You have to be somebody before you can be nobody." I cannot remember who said these wise words, but I love them. I love the idea of becoming transparent after building up to a tremendous fullness. I love how life constantly evolves. It gives and takes away. We consciously build up. And if we are wise, when the time is right, we just as consciously disassemble. If we don't do it, life does it for us. Our projects, our involvements, our lives, our selves come together and disintegrate over and over again.
In this particular cycle of my life, I seem to be peeling away. Life is bringing many losses, yet also a deep sense that all is as it should be. It is a time of letting go and of being let go. And maybe this is a new phase of becoming more transparent, of finally becoming "nobody". Surely no one any more special than anyone else at all. The beauty of an ordinary life.
Imai Sensei is a Baptist preacher with five kids. He wears heavy leather and rides a motorcycle. He works at a small college in Japan, where the students think he is cool because of his black leathers. But he just laughs and says he had an accident once that almost killed him. That scared him into sensibleness since he is responsible for so many and has so many mouths to feed.
And indeed Imai Sensei (Sensei means teacher and is a polite form of address) has far more lives to care for than the six he produced. As part of his seminary training, he studied in Germany for several years. While there, he awakened to the social action dimension of his faith. So, when he returned to Japan and saw the increasing number of homeless gathering in parks and train stations, he decided to do something about the situation. Read more...
posted by
Anne Thomas
on 6/22/2007 3:17 am
| COMMENTS
(2)
