My Journey into the Daylight Age

At the Beginning (1)

I have not written about this subject but I believe it is the driving force behind my spiritual path. When I was little I remember asking the Buddhist ministers lots of questions about spiritual matters. I also experienced encounters with things that appeared to be spirits and also experienced reoccurring dreams that were puzzling to me and my parents. They eventually sent me to a psychologist of some sort that I shared all my thoughts with (it was very unproductive). Any way, I also seemed a little different than my two brothers and my sister. I remember absolutely hating the flu shot. I only remember one occurrence where I fought the nurses and doctors with all my might. They could not give me the shot so they tried to convince me by showing how brave my siblings were. Well, they all took the shot bravely and with no complaints. Well, that did not convince me. My inner voice was telling me the shot was not good for me. I did not know why . . . I was probably around 6 years old. Any way, they finally got me by using a bribe. They were going to give me a pencil and a snake balloon if I got the shot. While I was distracted looking at the balloon . . . they got me. ^_^ You are probably wondering why I shared that long story with you. Even at an early age I did not care for any medication . Not even aspirin for a headache.

Well, when I finally found Sekai Kyu Sei Kyo, (Church of World Messianity) I could not believe there was a church that actually believed in the things that I already believed in. I have been seeing spiritual things all my life. Now I know why. While going thru the introductory course to become a member of this church, I remember nodding my head in agreement. Point after point after point. Wow! Eureka!

Today is May 22, 2020. I have been a member for over ten years and I have been studying our founder’s (Mokichi Okada’s) teachings nearly every day. For some strange reason I opened Volume 5 of his teachings after the 11 am Morning Service. The title of the teaching is “Tomorrow’s Civilization”. The following excerpt clearly reflects my feelings on the matter even before reading the teachings. Btw, this is the feeling I have when I read the other teachings as well.

My favorite scientist of all time is Albert Einstein so you can understand my excitement when our founder was a scientist of the spiritual world.

. . . more to follow . . .

Waka plus an essay by Eiji Takahara  (Peace of Mind) 

       Memories abound.

       My chore for the day was to

       Heat up the water

        For the family bath tub (o furoba)

        God works in mysterious ways

Why did I attend the Air Force Academy?

Just the other day, I was talking with Alison at the dining room table.  I am not sure why the conversation switched to an old memory.  I believe I shared this story with my family; and I know I shared it many times with my ROTC cadets.        

I believe I was in the 8^th grade when this event occurred.  I was just taking care of my chore of heating up the family bathtub with old coffee branches which were gathered after the coffee trees were pruned every year.  The job was simple because the wood burned easily, and my Dad’s construction business required the maintenance of many trucks which required oil changes.  And some of the old engine oil was used to quickly start the firewood.  Well, all I needed was a single page from a magazine to start the blaze.  I tore the page out and in the corner was a small add about the USAF having a Service Academy.  I knew about West Point and Annapolis, but I never heard of the Air Force Academy in Colorado.  Well, I took the add to school and asked my counselors about it.  They did not know so they did some research for me and the rest is history.  I don’t know what would have happened if I had missed the article.  I knew I had an affinity for planes.  I preferred building model planes then models of anything else when I was growing up.  I even had a Halloween costume of a fighter pilot.  ^_^  But I believe that my Dad being in the Army would have convinced me to drive tanks.  I had an affinity for that also.  ^_^

The reason I just shared this story with you is because I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.  There are no coincidences.  I am 63 years old and I can clearly identify points in my life where a seemingly everyday occurrence and/or earth shattering event changed the direction of my life.  Sometimes I am aware of it.  And sometimes it becomes crystal clear years later.  Either way, I can safely say we are all instruments of God.  Just this thought alone gives me incredible “peace of mind’.  With all the turmoil in the world today I would like to share this thought with you. 

Meishu-sama wrote in a teaching entitled, Ways to Relieve suffering, “. . . Where is the source of suffering?  It is contained within the individual consciousness.  Therefore, the solution lies in the removal of negative elements from a person’s consciousness so it will radiate the positive.  .  . “  Easier said than done.  We received confirmation from Dr. Arnette who recently talked to Alison about the same topic.  Whether our, fight or flight reaction is purely physical or a combination of physical or mental, it is our perceived reaction to our past, present or projected future situation which defines our suffering. 

Well, what is a possible solution?  Meishu-sama wrote in another teaching entitled, Peace of Mind, where he wrote, “. . . I hereby guarantee and declare that anybody can obtain, through receiving Johrei and practicing the teachings of our spiritual movement, a sound mind and a sound body – and eventually achieve peace of mind.”  For those of you who do not have Johrei or Meishu-sama’s Teachings, there is nature’s way of achieving peace of mind.  No memory of the past and no projection of the future.  Most of the other animals on Earth have peace of mind.

So, in closing, I believe my short phrase, “I am an instrument of God” gives me peace of mind.  I hope you can find something which will take the rough edges of the ups and downs of life and give you a little bit of peace of mind. 

Sangetsu is God.
We are instruments of Him.
And he channels his
Love thru us, thru the flowers.
To all who view them. Thank you.

Why I would like to become an Ikebana Practitioner? (2)

My original feelings and thoughts about flowers cannot be politely mentioned in this essay. I have definitely come a long way in my spiritual journey and I believe I have flowers to thank for this. Three reasons, all of which are concerned with learning to become practitioner in Sangetsu (Ikebana), come to mind. 1) the beauty and divine light being spread from flowers are undeniable. 2) I prefer flowers speaking for me instead of using my feeble words to help spread the word. 3) Last, I need a reflection to help keep me on track in my spiritual journey and I believe Sangetsu will provide that feedback.

Flowers should be enjoyed in Nature. If that is not possible, flowers should be planted in a beautiful garden and enjoyed in that manner. And if, not enough people can enjoy your garden, then a good third choice would be a flower arrangement. Flowers have a magical aura surrounding them. I have witnessed smiles emanating from the faces of people in the presence of flowers. The happiness of people is reason enough to learn how to become a practitioner of this valuable, God-shared, skill.

The second reason I would like to mention is about spreading the word. Our mission of creating Paradise on Earth is very important. The Five Pillars are important for all our members and finding like-minded individuals to help us create this Paradise is very important. Well, I believe that flowers have a way of finding those individuals and whether they join our movement or not, does not matter. They will all become instruments of God and will be all striving to create Paradise on Earth.

The final reason is a selfish one but I also think it is important. I believe the flower arrangements I create with the help of God and Meishu-sama acts like a mirror. Depending on my sonen the arrangements could be wonderful or perhaps not so wonderful. Either way, it serves as a way to check up on my spiritual development.

Well, that is it. I have shared three reasons why I would like to become a Sangetsu Practitioner: appreciation of beauty, spreading the words of Meishu-sama, and using the arrangements as a barometer of my spiritual growth. I have other reasons for striving to attain this goal but I will save it for another essay. ^_^

A Solution

I believe that Meishu-sama the founder of my church, Sekai Kyusei Kyo (Church of World Messianity) covered the solution to all the problems of the world. Jesus, also, mentioned Judgement Day. And I am going to assume that many people who live today, especially those who are Christians and those who love movies ^_^ know about Judgement Day. But what can we do as people living just before Judgement Day do, to help mitigate the severity of that day. According to Meishu-sama . . . we can do plenty.
Obviously, what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy. What was really bad about this is that three police officers who knew better carried out this deed which cost George his life. There are those who will even point fingers at George for sustaining the sequence of events leading to his death. But in the name of changing this world to a better place . . . let us look at what had been done in the past and why it does not work. Some people will say that we can teach morality. Yes, we can; to a certain extent. So, education plays a role. Different organizations have training requirements aimed at making us better people. I remember the Air Force having a very good program to make officers better people. All the honor and ethics classes made a difference. Another organization, religious organizations have been at the forefront of morality training and yet . . . we continue to have instances where we fail. Do we stop what we are doing because it appears not to be working. Absolutely not. But Meishu-sama shared the coming of the new civilization and I believe he is sharing the path to a new world.
In Volume 1 of Meishu-sama’s teachings he explained why the world is in such turmoil:

. . . God has revealed that a person’s life does not belong to the material world but in its true essence is of the spirit, and that it is governed by God, its Creator.
You may wonder why a truth of such tremendous importance to all living beings has been largely unknown or ignored by the majority of the human race. It is due to the profound Wisdom of God. According to God’s Plan, it was necessary to bring material science forward to a certain point of advancement, a temporary condition of the transitional period.
Now the time is right to accentuate the spiritual side, clarifying that which belongs to the spiritual as distinct from that which belongs to the material, bringing both into balance and thus enabling the correction of past human errors. When people become fully aware of the spiritual realm and its true significance, material and spiritual science will advance hand in Hand. A new civilization will then emerge, for the old order will come to an end and the new order will take its place. . . .

We have a choice. God has planned Judgement Day for the final purification prior to building a new civilization. We can suffer and purify the old fashion way. Or we can purify thru a less painful method that God shared with Meishu-sama. The following excerpt from another teaching in Volume 4, says it best:

. . . In the same sense, suffering on a grand scale, such as storms, floods, fires, earthquakes and riots, are all purifications; the greatest and most terrible is, of course, war. It should be obvious that in order to prevent this mass purification from happening, everyone must be cleansed of their heavy spiritual clouds; there is no other solution.

Later in the teaching he writes,

. . . Therefore, it is obvious that in order to prevent such a war, everything on earth – humanity and all other things – must be so thoroughly cleansed individually that an overall cataclysmic purification becomes unnecessary. From a different point of view, the world is made up of individual human beings, so, each of us individually must endeavor to become fine and noble in character to become free of spiritual clouds – so that any worldwide purification becomes unnecessary.

So, we do have a choice. Suffer or become the spiritual beings God meant us to be. The path is Truth, Virtue and Beauty. I will endeavor to explain that solution in the following essay.

. . . more to follow . . .

Waka plus an essay by Eiji Takahara (Spiritual World)

       Spiritual World,.

       What is it? And where is it?

        Why are we so lost?

        Once we know the world of cause

        Every problem will be solved.

I have read Meishu-sama’s teaching on the spiritual world many times, but it took Alison one time reading it out loud which clarified details about the spiritual world which makes everything make a little bit more sense.  And making spiritual solutions to our problems a feasible option.  The spiritual world is all around us and inside of us.  It is like all the material world is immersed in an invisible sea called the spiritual world.  I believe science has been unable to observe it, or measure it to prove, without a shadow of a doubt, of its existence.  But physical forces such as gravity become easier to understand once you place the entire universe into this invisible sea. 

I am going to stumble along trying to explain all of this in my own words but do not worry, I will be including many paragraphs of his teaching . . . in fact, I may include the entire essay.  ^_^

Let us start with the title, “The Primary World” – this alone is a good place to start.  If I was a movie producer this is a perfect place to start a screenplay covering this topic.  It reminds me of the movie, Matrix.  When we all realize that our world is just a reflection of the spiritual world, “The Primary World” then, once again, many things begin to make sense.  The first paragraph of this teaching is a good start:

“In the past, only the physical world engaged people’s interest, since humanity was not aware of another world, the spiritual world of cause.  Because its existence cannot be perceived by standard investigative methods, science made progress only in studies of the material world, and our civilization shows this imbalance.”

The next teaching that I would like to use in support of this line of reasoning is “The Power of Spiritual Energy”.  In this teaching Meishu-sama shares a look at a world that most of us are not aware of.  The first paragraph of this teaching is a good start:

“Modern science has discovered many facts about our world and the atmosphere surrounding it.  However, atmosphere, matter – all the elements known to us through our senses alone – are only physical.  Science has yet to fully account for that which lies beyond those five senses.”

Now I am jumping into the exciting part.  The fifth paragraph of this teaching are the words that caught my attention:

“The visible world, the physical world known to our five senses, is immersed in a sea of universal energy.  Unknown from the perspective of scientific evidence, this “sea” is the spiritual world.  According to the natural laws of the universe, all that appears in the physical world first originates in the spiritual realm, just as thoughts give rise to all physical manifestations”.

So, episodes in Star Trek makes more sense.  The book put together by David Wilcock, “The Source Field Investigations” makes more sense.  ^_^  Doing more chin ups without being stronger makes more sense.  Gaining energy through better breathing makes more sense.  And, of course, the effectiveness of prayer, makes more sense. 

What follows is the teaching in its entirety.  Enjoy!

THE POWER OF SPIRITUAL ENERGY (10)

          Modern science has discovered many facts about our world and the atmosphere surrounding it.  However, atmosphere, matter – all the elements known to us through our senses alone – are only physical.  Science has yet to fully account for that which lies beyond those five senses.

       What I wish to dwell on now is something that is in the realm beyond the material, the release of the spiritual energies around the earth.

       The word “spirit” is most generally used to indicate something that is invisible or intangible.  Because of this, it has been limited to the category of religion or spiritualism.

       There has been a tendency among many individuals to deny the existence of spirit, to treat it as mere superstition.  This is unfortunate, for, the truth is that spirit is the actual source of power, the tremendous energy that creates, activates and maintains all things in this universe.  Spirit, the invisible force, is not only omnipresent but omnipotent.

       The visible world, the physical world known to our five senses, is immersed in a sea of universal energy.  Unknown from the perspective of scientific evidence, this “sea” is the spiritual world.  According to the natural laws of the universe, all that appears in the physical world first originates in the spiritual realm, just as thoughts give rise to all physical manifestations.

       In the past, material science attempted to explain all of life in physical terms, and that is why humanity’s much-vaunted progress has not really brought happiness with it.  The troubles of the physical world can only be solved by recognizing that everything begins in the spiritual realm, and so, all problems must first be solved on the spiritual level before they can be successfully dealt with on the physical plane.

       Illness is no exception.  True healing can come only through the healing of spirit by Spirit.

       The human being has a visible physical body and an invisible spiritual body, the physical being a manifestation in the material world of the spiritual body, which belongs to the spiritual world.  When the physical body suffers from disease, the true cause of it lies within the spiritual body.  A toxic area or affected spot of any kind is simply the outer or surface reflection of clouds that are covering the same part of the spiritual body.

       Nature tries to eliminate these clouds through its own processes so the body can work toward its God-given wholeness.  Pain is an indication of the action that is attempting to disperse the clouds, clearing some of them from the spiritual body so they are no longer manifested as strongly in the physical body through disease or other afflictions.

       We call this process purification.  The purification of the spiritual body is a wonderful solution for any human misery, and the way to achieve it is with the Divine Light of God.  Human beings must recognize this and obey the laws of Spirit on all levels of existence if there is to be a constant condition of health and happiness.

       In the process we call death, the physical body has become unable to function as a result of illness, injury or a general degeneration.  The spiritual body therefore separates itself; and while the discarded physical body returns to dust, it returns to the spiritual world, where it stays until it is ready to reincarnate.

       The primary spirit – or soul – is infinite, of main importance, and has eternal life, while the physical body is finite and of secondary importance, existing only for a single lifetime.  Therefore, the primary spirit, the true being, should be the center of our attention in healing.

       It was revealed to me that every living creature, every vegetable and mineral emits spiritual vibrations that are different to any other.  Of them all, the vibrations of the human being are the highest.

       While all human bodies emit a more powerful radiation than anything else in creation, each one differs in the degree of power according to the spiritual awareness of the individual.  The greater the spiritual discernment, the finer and purer is the spiritual radiation and the higher is the vibration; and the higher the vibration, the more difficult it becomes to detect it by material means.

       There is a spiritual radiation that is far superior to the human.  It is the Divine Radiation, or what we term the Divine Light.  Through revelation, I learned how to contact and then send the Light for the welfare of humankind.
This is done by bringing it into focus, then transmitting it through the hand in a special way that disintegrates the clouds on the spiritual body.  The process is that which we call Johrei.

       One of the outstanding characteristics of this Divine Spiritual Energy is that it is effective only when it is used for the welfare of humanity.

       The principle of Johrei is taught to each member of our movement, so each may become a conduit for the Divine Energy.  The strength of one’s faith and the degree of one’s love influence the intensity of the Light.  As the member grows in spiritual understanding, the flow of Light increases accordingly.  Thus, each has the privilege of sharing in the Divine Plan for the transformation of this world into a true and real paradise.

The Ultimate Connection of Dots

     Just before our first Open House a thought came to me.  I shared it with the newcomers but I am sorry that I did not have this very same thought while my parents were alive . . . or while my Uncle Ben was still with us.  (I could ask my parents or Uncle Ben about those years between my Grandma’s passing and the day my Dad walked away from the church)  The thought was this . . . What if my Dad became a member of this church, so many years ago, to help his Mom with her purification (stomach cancer).  And after her smooth transition to the spiritual world, he continued to be a member for a number of years.  I was old enough to remember the church so my Dad was a member for at least 5 years.  What if, during that time, he channeled Johrei to all of us.  I am hoping he did . . . because it would explain our relative good fortune.  And definitely explain my apparent good fortune when it came to close calls.  I can remember at least a half a dozen close calls while I was flying for the United States Air Force.  And two very severe auto crashes that should have ended my life.  One, I walked away without a scratch and the other with a head laceration caused by a second impact after the initial airbag deployment.  All this happened before I became a member.  I have been struggling with this because equal miracles were occurring before and after my membership into the church.

     I may never know for sure but I now believe the daily application of Johrei is the answer that I was looking for.  Not for the cure of a disease, per say, or relieving a person from poverty or solving an apparent conflict in a relationship.  No, the daily channeling of Johrei is like breathing.  It is like eating nutritional foods or like spending time in the sun having fun.  It is an essential part of life.  Why is that??  According to Meishu-sama, he shared that it was impossible to prevent taking in toxins or living the perfect life with no sins.  Clouds will form on the spiritual body in this lifetime or is passed on to us via our ancestors. 

      The miracles I have experienced after joining the church are subtle while they are occurring but miraculous when we clearly see the consequences and results from a viewpoint 6 months into the future looking back. The power of Meishu-sama’s teachings are like the contantly flowing Colorado River which over a great deal of time cut into existence the Grand Canyon.

Update 5/29/24: Another episode of connect the dots. Today was an amazing day like all the days of our lives. This particular day I had the good fortune to have a late start for my substitute teaching job. (Getting up late is cool) ^_^ The fourth grade teacher had jury duty so I covered her class from 11:30 till 3pm. Things happened during the day that were initially very disappointing and other things were miraculous but looking back on it . . . all of it was necessary. I have a clearer understanding of why I enjoyed teaching so much and why I continued to teach long past the average AFJROTC Instructor. When they mentioned the average instructor taught for 5 years, I understood why. Autonomy in the classroom is important to a teacher. The AFJROTC program had many options for the instructor when I first started. All we had to do was put together a curriculum from all the material offered by headquarters. This was like heaven for me. Because of the computer age that freedom was slowly taken away. Sadly, I knew my days were numbered. I was not even teaching what I wanted to teach. I was trying to follow two masters. My intuition and headquarters. It was a disaster for me and my students. Well, I clearly understand why the Principal of the school today, could not allow me to share things I have learned in the Air Force or in my life in general because her approval would take more away from whatever autonomy school teachers have today. I can compare my teachers, to my children’s teachers and to my joy . . . they are comparable. But my children’s teachers had to deal with standardized testing hell. Today’s teachers have even less autonomy. I don’t want to be a problem. I will try a different approach. Instead of getting approval from the Principal. I will ask for permission by directly asking the teachers. And I will make it clear to the teachers that they can easily say no. No pressure. If the Principal had approved of my original idea it could be perceived as one more thing interfering with the teacher’s classroom.   

Update 5/4/25: Wow! I cannot believe another year has passed. This is a Eureka moment. This episode of connect the dots will, I believe, surpass all the others. It started with my attempt in the classroom to help achieve my 10,000 step goal for the day. Substitute teaching can be sedentary but I chose to quietly pace around the classroom keeping my students on their toes. Oddly enough most of my pacing was accomplished walking in a large counterclockwise direction. I later found out that this does help with our thinking outside the box and utilizing our intuition and connecting to God. Well, all the above occurred this morning after I awoke. This Sunday morning started slow but it sped up quickly and the energy I feel now is off the charts.

Let me connect the dots for you. Earlier in the week I was sharing with my classes the works of Angeles Arien. I may have mentioned this anthropologist and author previously . . . she entered into my life through my wife, Alison. Her Mom and Angeles were good friends and some day I will read her books in there entirety. But I was sharing a small part of one of her books that resonated with me. I imagine her works with the indigenous people of the world allowed her to see what people do to live with Nature and not fight against Nature like modern man often does. I know many philosophers agree that Nature represents the truth. Many of its processes remain a secret but the lessons taught by Nature can be obtained thru observation. Like taking care of the soil. (I will expand upon this later) But for now . . . watching indigenous people live healthy and happy lives can give us some clues into a natural way of living harmoniously with each other and with Nature. Angeles offered 4 daily activities to help maintain the health of our spirit. I believe the spirit leads the mental and physical activities of man so for us to maintain out spiritual health makes a lot of sense. The four activities are: 1) Sing 2) Dance 3) Listen and share stories and 4) Comfortable silence. The first two are achievable and since I enjoy singing and dancing I just make sure I manage to schedule it into my busy day. Angeles uses other adjectives to achieve the benefits of storytelling. What I use is the feeling I have after a good story. Am I energized and ready to go? Or am I exhausted. I use this after reading a book or watching a movie. Entertainment can be fickle. But the feeling during and after the event could help us decide if we would like to do something similar in the future. The last one, I believe, I achieve thru meditation or something close to it. When I receive the divine Light (Johrei) or when I channel it, I use the same feedback to see if my spirit is receiving what it needs from the Universe. I ask my self the question, what do I feel when I am doing Johrei (channel or receiving) do I feel rested and ready to go or do I feel exhausted. If I feel exhausted after any of the four activities then I adjust my sonen. Sonen is a Japanese word which basically means three things (thought, feeling and will)

The final dot occurred this morning. This was a short Mindvalley add with Jeffrey talking about energy management. He was talking very fast and although he mentioned three things which were critical to the success of any project, I did remember one. I am not going to share it here. It made a lot of sense to me and I will attempt to find it. Suffice to say . . . . I feel like I can conquer the world. I feel inspired to go out and help people become truly happy. That is my mission and I hope and pray my quality time with God is keeping me headed in the right direction with the energy to get it done in this physical world.

p.s. Rev. Nagase shared the other day some insights on prayer. In emergencies we may ask for help in a panicked state of mind and it makes sense that we would do it that way. But the next level of prayer is the one that resonates with me. It is not something that I do very often but I would like to add it into my sonen. Let’s improve our relationship with all the creations of Nature and pray that all of creation will raise their spiritual awareness and become aware of the existence of God. This is true especially for man because we are deviating from the Truth because our spiritual awareness is low. You may ask why our spiritual awareness is low. There are multiple reasons. 1. Our lives are conducted with material science versus spiritual science as its core. 2) God wanted material science to advance faster to prepare the world for the next step. 3) Now is the time for the advancement of spiritual science so that man does not destroy itself with the technology that it has created. ( the atom bomb is an example of this) A simple truth will bring spiritual science back on the same level of material science. That truth is the existence of God. The miracle saving power of God will emerge and people will once again believe in the existence of God. At that point world leaders will be making decisions which are good for humanity and not just good for their own country.