How Do You Live?

by Genzaburo Yoshino

terribly

scary feeling.

The watching self, the self being watched, and furthermore the self becoming conscious of all this, the self observing itself by itself, from afar, all those various selves overlapped

rooted and stubborn than the human tendency to look at and think of things with themselves at the center.

fried

But when it comes to the taste of cold water, there’s no way to teach that other than letting you drink the water yourself. No matter how anyone tries to explain, you’re not going to understand the actual taste unless you have that experience.

That is why I think the first, most basic step in these matters is to start with the moments of real feeling in your life, when your heart is truly moved, and to think about the meaning of those. The things that you feel most deeply, from the very bottom of your heart, will never deceive you in the slightest. And so at all times, in all things, whatever feelings you may have, consider these carefully.

The most important thing—more than what other people think, more than anything—is that you should first know for yourself, truly and deeply, where human greatness lies.

it’s that you should collect many experiences and, while you do, always be true to that voice in your heart.

They already felt close enough that there was no need to speak. How nice it was just to lie there in silence.

Galileo’s law of falling bodies.

“So you see, Copper, the things that we call obvious are tricky. When you think about a thing as if it were self-evident and follow it wherever it may lead, soon enough you run into a thing that you can no longer call self- evident. This is not only true when it comes to the science of physics . .

Net Rule of Human Particle Relations.

People who can eat without working have, in their own way, a very special relationship to this net.

But what I must ask you to put your mind to is this: What sort of discovery would be truly useful to humanity and worthy of respect from all?

When we unite those different points of view into the broadest possible thing, without creating contradictions, we call that a field of study.

To work from up there—no, even to be able to make the climb—you must not lose the spirit that woke you in the middle of the night, to follow your own questions wherever they lead!

There is nothing more beautiful than people nurturing goodwill toward their fellow beings. And those are the human relations that humans truly deserve. Copper, don’t you agree?

Well, Tomé, give him the tour. Anyway, I’m sure you’ve seen enough pretty houses in your life already, right?”

As he was telling the story, little by little, a dark shadow stole over Uragawa’s childlike face. Somehow it made him look like an adult.

“But leaving aside the comparison of the two families, what differences do you think there might be between Uragawa himself and you?”

So in theory, then, saying that someone is poor shouldn’t make them feel small. It should go without saying that the true worth of a person doesn’t depend on that person’s clothes or house or food. No

You and I, too, because we are human, must live with only our value as human beings in mind, not thinking we are unimportant if we happen to be poor or that we are great because we lead a wealthy life. Someone who feels inferior because they are poor can never be much of a human being.

Still, just because we must always be ready to look at ourselves that way, that doesn’t mean it’s okay to ignore the fragile spirits of those in poverty. At least, Copper, until the day that you have stood in the place of the poor and tasted the bitter pain of poverty and then stood up to the world time and again, without losing your confidence, you are not qualified to do so.

Because a human being who doesn’t understand the essentials of being human, in other words, is a pitiful fool.

Despite that, the sad truth is that in today’s world, the people who will be in the most trouble if they get hurt are the people who are in the greatest danger of getting hurt.

arigatai.

And what about you? What will you create? You take many things from the world, but I wonder what you will give back in return? You use things without thinking twice about it, but at the same time, you still haven’t created a thing.

If nobody made anything, there would be no tastes, no pleasures—consumption would be impossible. The work of making things itself makes it possible for people to be truly human. This is not just a matter of food and clothing. In the academic world, in the art world, the producers are needed far more than the consumers.

But while you may not have noticed, there is something else, a big thing that you produce day after day. What could that be?

Win or lose, heroes are heroes! Actually, real heroes are great even when they lose.

To charge right at the things that are painful and difficult, break through to the other side, and take pleasure in that—don’t you think that’s truly fantastic? The greater the suffering, the greater the joy in overcoming it. So you don’t fear death anymore! I think that’s what a heroic spirit is all about.

But even though Copper and his friends felt that they were treated with ceremony, somehow they couldn’t tell whether the treat was delicious or not.