Great Construction

Record of Oral Teachings, Issue 30
February 15, 1953

January 15, 1954

     The reports and other materials for the Special Agriculture Edition of the newspaper have been largely collected, so they will be in the next issue. As I have written essays for that issue, I will have them read. They are quite different from previous essays.
(Reading of essays: “The Great Revolution in Japanese Agriculture,” “Production Increases of 10% to 50% in First Year,” “The Principles of Nature Farming,” “Technical and Other Aspects of Our Agricultural Method,” Eikô, Issue 245, January 27, 1954)
     What comes at the end was in the testimonial that was read aloud recently. With the testimonial is a photograph that has been greatly enlarged which compares grain by grain fertilizer-rice grains with non-fertilized rice grains. The fertilized grain appears in the photograph to be decayed and almost empty. The non-fertilized grain looks like a grain of rice should look. When you compare these photographs of five or six grains of rice, all the grains of fertilized rice are defective, some with only about one half of the meat of the grain. Since even rice shows this difference, if rice is consumed all year long, it is only natural that germs and parasites would be generated within the physical human body. When non-fertilized agricultural products are regularly consumed, diseases based on parasites go away.
     So, as has just been read, what was not understood until now is that not only rice grains but in all things, as in animals, there is reason and emotion, and that there is artistic thought. But, for all things apart from animals, there is no freedom. Even when plants and trees want to do this or that, they can move to a certain extent, but they are not as free as animals. The best way to understand this is in how I handle flowers. I love flowers and I am always arranging them. There may be something that I am not happy about with an arrangement, but if I am busy and leave the arrangement as it is, when the next days comes, the part I did not care for has corrected itself. It is truly mystical. Yesterday, I arranged two stems of narcissus. I couldn’t get the two stems to harmonize well, but I had something to do and left them there. When I looked at the arrangement this morning, the overall shape had corrected itself to good proportions. Other examples are the times when, based on a tree and its surroundings, I direct the gardeners to plant more. I have written about this previously, but there are times when plants reverse themselves or become horizontal. Otherwise, they do not look their best. Thus, as time passes, what faces to the front takes its proper shape. When you look at human beings in this way, what appears to the eyes looks good. I say all is continually living, and truly it is. So, in this a way, such things should be loved, taken good care of, and treasured. The thing itself will become happy and will arise within the feeling that, “Well, in that case, let me show off my best.” This is indeed true. And in the same way, therefore, so is the soil. When the soil is respected and loved, the soil itself is happy and will work much more. If human beings are continually meeting with unpleasant situations, are abused, or are not treated satisfactorily, they will become discontented and not work to their full extent. In the same way, a subtle point has much influence. As if feces were thrown in your face or the virulent poison that is ammonium sulphate were applied to your body, so in the same way will soil also become emotional and say, “Do what you like” and nothing satisfactory results. From this point, you can see how bad it is to apply fertilizers to the soil. Labor strikes are now being held quite often. These are strikes by human beings, but there are strikes in other areas as well. This applies to everything. The report that was just read concerns plants, but it is true in all organic substances. This phenomenon is true for everything that has a spirit. Material objects such as antiques and curios that have been prized and treasured for many years also include such an element. Thus it is that old objects, things with a long history are very good. Even with the same type of object, the older, the better. It is indeed intriguing. If you were to ask me in what way is such an object good, all I can say is that it is just somehow good. When you continually come into contact with objects that are a hundred, two hundred, five hundred, or a thousand years old, you will understand. This is because as an object is prized by human beings, human sentiment continually gathers around that object, so it is as if the emotions that the objects receive from human beings, that spirit, gradually develops, and grows. This spirit that has developed somehow influences the sensibility of individuals who view the object. It is very subtle. In olden times, deities were said to be in everything. For water wells, there was a “well god,” and there was a god for the toilet. This is how peoples in olden times referred to this phenomenon, but it is true. Nowadays, if you talk in such a manner, you are belittled for being stupid and old-fashioned, but it is those doing the belittling who are the real block heads. When this point is understood, all affairs and matters proceed smoothly. So, when inorganic materials are treated as if they are not living, as merely objects, when they are treated that way by human beings, the results will be different. In each room, I have different decorations and accessories, and among them are objects of a high level and objects of a lower level. Objects of a high level are placed in good locations, and lower objects are placed at the bottom levels of the room. When objects are arranged in such a manner, the room has a pleasant atmosphere. Even individuals who are not my followers feel something, and tell me that upon entering a room which I have arranged in such a way that it is indeed pleasant. They find it pleasant because in the spiritual world, the order of spirit is good, so it is pleasant. Understanding this is quite essential. When this principle is applied in other circumstances, we see many instances where in certain rooms conflict occurs, some of which even gives way to actual physical fighting. In those cases, the seating arrangements have been mistaken. Therefore, the spiritual world is in a state of confusion. That confusion is reflected on to human beings. So, when you enter such a room, if the seating order is even a little in error, the atmosphere will not be good. Those of higher ranks sitting in lower positions and those of lower ranks sitting in higher positions means that the spiritual world is in confusion, so it will be unpleasant and disagreeable. In these situations, it is easy to get upset and for fights to break out. This point actually has a rather large impact. If I started to give examples of this situation, there would be no end.
     Overall the reports from Natural Cultivation this year show better results than last year. This is because the spiritual world is gradually changing. This is because the spirit of fire in increasing in the spiritual world. We can see this change in other areas as well, as lately it has been very warm everywhere. Even in Atami, when I went to the public plum garden yesterday, the plum blossoms were in full bloom. They always come to full bloom by the end of January, but this year, by the end of January, the blossoms will probably already be falling. This is because the spirit of fire is increasing. So, as the climate grows warmer, the harvests of crops become better, but because the toxic fertilizers interfere with the growing process of the plants, results become reversed. They become reversed because in the spiritual world, clouds are being eliminated, so the influence of good things and the influence of bad things appear faster. In other words, as the spiritual world improves, people who are mistaken will meet miserable consequences and the circumstances of good people will become quite favorable, that is, the distinction between good and evil will come to be distinct. Therefore, the results when fertilizers are applied and the results of clean earth, of not having applied fertilizers, appear quickly. On this point, this year particularly, those crops that have not been fertilized will turn out well, and those that have been fertilized will turn out poorly. As this tendency will grow more pronounced each year, the general public will have no choice but to face this fact. Next will be sickness and disease, and the situation with disease has not reached the same proportions, but it will one day. This is something I say all the time, and there is no need to say it here, but the results of medical science will become reversed, so when that happens, people will begin to understand. The change will be seen first in agriculture. Medical science will be next. That is the order.
     As regards to religion, I have written an essay about a subject no one knows about. Not even religious professionals understand. I think it is of interest.
(Reading of essay: “Brahmanism and Mohammed,” Chijôtengoku, Issue 56, page 6, January 25, 1954)

Pages 52-56
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