Great Construction

The Age of Superstition

     The face of the intellectual or educated person will probably show signs of being doubtful or puzzled when I say that ours is an age of superstition. There even may be some who insist that though it is an upstart religion that has the temerity to call itself World Messianity, the organization does publish volumes with such titles such as Salvation for Americans, Faith Healing of Tuberculosis, or Explanation of Nature Farming chosen to titillate the reading appetite of the general public and sell books as well as spread propaganda for promotion. Most think our methods are slick and shrewd. Rumors to the like are encountered here and there and we see handbills that carry messages that purport to the same. Anyone who picks up and carefully reads the books mentioned above, however, will mostly likely realize how off the mark these comments are. The books do contain a message that seems to take leaps in logic and readers may feel lost for a while, but if they think carefully about what they are reading, they will not find anything illogical, and what is declared is backed up by actual proofs. Serious readers will find they cannot but acknowledge the contents of the books.
     When something unorthodox, particularly new ways of thinking about medicine and agriculture such as are in World Messianity, are introduced, the usual reaction for doctors and those who study agriculture would be to seek to thoroughly question and refute the points, reactions which I had eagerly anticipated, but there has been no sign of that happening so far. It is not that I am too proud to admit defeat, but I do feel a bit disappointed. In the beginning, I did have concerns that wide publication of my views could cause problems, but none seem to have appeared at all. Frankly, to have something happen would be beneficial. In that case, my books would no doubt sell in greater numbers, and because the more books that are sold, the more that are read, it means that that many more people would be saved. The books I have published so far are about health and foodstuffs, two of the most important issues in the daily lives of human beings. If these two great issues can be solved, all other problems, which are merely derivative, would naturally arrive at a resolution.
     In the future, I do intend to publish books about other matters, so leaving those issues aside, here I would like to discuss the two great problems in question. To begin, when we evenly and fairly critique the times in which we live, I think it fair to summarize them as being an age of frightening superstition. One of these superstitions is, of course, medical science, probably no greater superstition since the beginning of the world. Whether it is the announcement of new theories, the invention of new medicines, or the fashioning of new techniques for surgery and other physiotherapies, all are no more than superstition. It is only right to call these activities superstitious because their most essential element, the true cause of disease, is not understood at all, so the efforts of medical science are all merely fumbling in the dark. The world hallucinates that medical science has progressed, so the situation is indeed pitiful. That diseases are not cured is only a matter of course. Medical science gives only the appearance of healing but does not actually heal at all, which the world does not perceive. Medical science is taken in by and seeks to heal only the symptoms on the surface, and does not understand the basic cause that produces those symptoms. This ignorance is like the situation where the leaves of a tree that die due to an abnormality in the roots of the tree, an abnormality which is not perceived because the roots are invisible, hidden in the soil, and because the soil is thought to be nothing, research is therefore promoted that is focused only on the leaves. This ignorance, surely to be pitied, is none other than superstition.

Eikô, Issue 221, August 12, 1953
 translation by cynndd