Category: Message

Everything in the Universe flows and circulates. We are alive in the great cycle. Water continues to flow without staying in one place. It changes its shape freely according to environment and place without losing its essence and bringing abundant blessings to humans and nature. It seems that water flowing is teaching us how to live our life in the great cycle of life.

I visited Yosemite National Park, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. There, I saw Giant Sequoia trees, thousands of years old. Gigantic granite formations like El Capitan and Half Dome were formed over ten million years.

While I was there, I felt my body and spirit being energized. Being surrounded by majestic nature, I felt I was part of their great cycle of life.

Yosemite Falls caught my attention vividly.  I was looking at the stream of water falling from 2,425 feet high that seemed to go on forever. The Stream of water looked the same but never had the same shape even for a second. The water fall was never the same because it was carrying new water every second.

Where does this stream of water come from? With that in my mind, I found that the water I was looking at was part of larger water cycle.

Water evaporates into clouds, which create rain, and the rain on the mountains flows into a river again. Water is constantly flowing while repeating a cycle.

Everything on earth, including human beings, are shaped by this cycle.

For example, our body is made up of a tremendous number of cells, about 60 trillion. Every cell in our body also has a cycle of life.  Every cell in our body is replaced every four years. So, at the cellular level, I’m literally a completely different person from four years ago.

I have been here in America, for four years. That means my whole body has been renewed thanks to the cycle of life. Can I say the same about my thoughts and feelings? Have they continued changing and growing as a person and spiritually?  Have those aspects like thoughts and emotions naturally continued to evolve following the same life cycle?

Sometimes we stop growing.  We get stuck because of difficult and changing circumstances and not being able to adapt and learn from past experiences. Sometimes it is easy to remain still and comfortable without facing new challenges.

I think remaining still is not the solution for any challenge.  Learning from the past and starting all over again will allow us to continue growing and flowing like water in the cycle of life.

There is an old proverb, “let all things past, pass”.

 I think this proverb has a deep meaning. Water does not stay in the same place and always flows. Water pushes away everything in its path. Not only bad things, but good things as well. Everything that breaks from this flowing in life becomes stagnated and nothing comes out of it.

To me, “Let all things past, pass” also means not to hold on to sadness, regret or anger forever. It is you who has to suffer and it is you who cannot move on to a new world for you waiting to be discovered. While everything is flowing, you will miss to get something new if you do not adapt and learn from past experiences.

When you let yourself be free from being trapped or being afraid to change and dedicate your best efforts under any conditions, your true nature will show and flourish.

No matter the circumstances of today, we can always and should free ourselves of the past and move on to express and shine our true nature.

It is always good to start everything all over again! Always!

Even before we are born, and throughout our lives, we are exposed to cultural influences that shape our personality and sets us out in pursuit of our own happiness.

These cultural influences can be divided in to two main categories. The ones related to achieving happiness in the physical world and the ones related to achieving happiness in a more transcendental and spiritual way. Today I will share my thoughts about how we can harmonize these influences and attain real happiness.

Acquiring a good amount and quality of the first influences is necessary for us to flourish in the physical world. Being good, skillful citizens who contribute positively to society is an individual goal that benefits ourselves and our communities. Family, schools and universities prepare us for that.

Education is important so that every individual is able to play their roles and contribute with integrity to social progress and wellbeing.

Do we need more than the first type of influences to create a perfect society in which every individual has the opportunity to enjoy a good life and everlasting happiness?

When you think about the world we have created, the relationships between individuals, social groups and different countries, do you see a good portrait of the goals of the first influences we receive? We should be living in a perfect world.

What is missing?

Our education teaches us to be the best for the benefit of ourselves, families and society.  What is happening in reality to us as individuals? As a society we have not been able to create a perfect world for us, in which every individual has the opportunity to create and enjoy happiness.

Another side of the first influences we receive since we are born are based on a negative aspect of self-centeredness. To think and act based on what is important and beneficial to “me only” without taking in consideration the benefit of others.

For example, while you are in adversity, have you ever been jealous or envious of others who were wealthier, better looking, more successful, more educated, etc.? Comparing ourselves to others often leads to depression and a greater sense of inadequacy.

This may drive you to compete with others, and if you don’t beat them, your jealousy and envy will grow stronger. Some times to the extent that our actions overshadow or remove the rights of other people, which is considered the first step of violence.

We compete against each other. We want to be and have the best for just our own benefit. We chase the physical world for everlasting happiness.

We live our lives outside of our core nature.

Lucky for us we have a second type of influence. The one that teaches us about the origin of the world and human beings and the purpose of life from the spiritual perspective. I am talking about Divine Teachings.

Divine Teachings, according to our beliefs, are originated in the Spiritual World.  These are revealed to special people like the first Oshienushi-sama who created the World Divine Light Organization.  Throughout human existence, God has nourished us through many special people to whom these teachings were revealed.

One fundamental idea in these teachings is about our true nature as humans.  In Japanese the name for Human is Hito.  It means the human who has the spirit of God within. We are the divided spirit of God, and that is our true nature. They bring us to our core nature.

As God’s children we are all equal and part of him.  We are part of his Great Love.

Why, then, do we have to compete when we are equal?  Why do we have to demonstrate to us and others we are better when we are part of God already?

Through Divine Teachings I have learned that we are born in this world to learn from it and realized our true nature as God’s children. Yes! We have to be and do our best in the physical world not only for our own benefit but for every one of us because we are God’s children.

God’s great plan is for us to be happy.  Creating a world ruled not by self-centeredness but centered in God, within us and spiritual principles for the benefit of all.  Heaven on Earth.

As we live our lives centered in ourselves and for our own benefit, we create negative Karma. Impurities that block us from being our true self.  These impurities have to be scraped off and will appear as what we call “Cleansing Phenomena”. Health problems, lack of harmonious relationships, accidents and all kinds of misfortunes.  God intends to bring us back to our original state of happiness. 

Fortunately, God, has granted us the art of Divine Light to purify and clean these accumulated impurities.  By receiving Divine Light our accumulated Karma, is gradually reduced bringing peace and happiness into our lives. 

Divine Teaching and Divine Light together are God’s arrangements for us to rekindle our true and forgotten divine nature.  We may look different in the physical world.  We may play different roles in life and we earn our living in different ways.  But there is no real difference because spiritually we are God’s children.

I like the prayer “The I of True Self” from the prayer book page 149.  There is a part that says:

“I have seen another existence in the depths of the physical body, which seems truly existent. There exists The I of True Self that eternally allows us to be Hito. The one with a divine Soul within”.

The World Divine Light Organization is dedicated to teaching the Divine Principles and the practice of Divine Light. Promoting altruistic love in our communities based on spiritual volunteer activities, we are creating heaven on earth and bringing happiness to people. 

I think you will feel real happiness when you see yourself as God’s child and express your love to others. The third Oshienushi-sama wrote in his book Life Renascence:

“Brush up your talents and exercise them to the utmost. Hold a great intention day and night. Live each moment in all seriousness and make continuous efforts towards your goal”.

Now it is a good time for you to live your life based on a Spirit Primary Principle.

Be the Light and shine with no limits!

To become a practitioner of Divine Light at World Divine Light, it is necessary to take a Divine Light Basic Seminar course.

One of the topics you will learn on the first day of this seminar is “rebirth”.

It teaches that even though the body will perish one day, the soul will continue to live on. Eventually, the soul will be reborn as a new life.

We believe most people have had multiple past-lives.

If you have a child who is gifted at something, there is a good chance that he or she is repeating the same thing in a previous life and the life before that.

An obvious example would be Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson was a child prodigy and his singing ability was outstanding since he was a child.

The human vocal range is usually expressed in 8 pitches, and the average human singing voice is 2 Octaves.

In Michael Jackson’s case, however, his vocal range was 4 Octaves in the normal case, and in his best performance, it was over 5 Octaves.

He was a singer who had a genius voice, and we call people with such idiosyncratic talents as “geniuses”.

However, it can be said that these so-called geniuses have also improved their abilities through repeated life-cycles.

For example, I believe that anyone can ride a bicycle, and most people have acquired a driver’s license.

But no one could drive a car or ride a bicycle like an expert on the first try.

You learn to ride a bicycle by using training wheels.

Once you start riding without the training wheel, you may fall over a few times.

Soon, however, you will be able to ride your bike naturally, without thinking about it.

Even if it’s a car, at first, you may ask your parent or a friend to ride in a passenger seat to practice, or you may ask a coach from a driving school to teach you how to drive.

Then you start to gain experience as a novice driver, and eventually, you’ll be able to drive without being aware of your hands behind the wheel or your foot on the accelerator. You’ll just pay attention to what’s ahead and around the car.

In this way, a person can grow gradually, and here we find what God expects of a person.

In other words, the purpose of life, as taught in the Rebirth of the seminar, is “polishing your soul”.

God wants you to grow, and the common purpose of life for mankind is to grow as children of God.

Just as someone taught us how to ride a bike or a car, we have a teacher in our life’s purpose, “polishing our soul”.

The teacher of life is God, and we, the people, are His students.

I will continue this next week.

Enjoy your life more, and stay tuned to World Divine Light.

Minimalism and Spirituality

Have you ever heard the word “Minimalism”? 

Minimalism lifestyle has been calling much attention lately as a practice of awareness and intention regarding your belongings, time, and energy. I would like to share my thoughts about this way of life and mindset, and how Minimalism can be applied to Spiritual growth during these challenging times, in the spirit of Divine Light.

The origins and history of Minimalism as principles of reducing belongings in order to gain in areas of more importance dates back thousands of years. Many religious groups from Buddhism to Christianity have a practice of renouncing possessions to gain peace and spiritual enlightenment. 

In modern times the concept of Minimalism has mixed with an artistic movement and evolved into what is a common lifestyle today. Minimalism became popular in the 50’s and 60’s in America, as a simplistic trend first in music and then in art and design. The ideas were to remove all but the essential.

By definition, Minimalism as a lifestyle is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what is important, so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.

It doesn’t mean there is something wrong with owning material things. Minimalism is about the meaning we assign to the things we own. However sometimes we give too much meaning to our things, often negatively affecting our health, relationships, personal growth, and our role in contributing to the happiness of others.

As God’s minister, for many years, my work required traveling between Europe and Japan every three months. I decided to minimize what I carried with me during those trips. At the beginning, limiting things to my basic needs, was difficult but surprisingly I was able to live comfortably.

Also during those years the threats of terrorism in the world made me think about the importance of time. The time I have and how to focus my attention to important things in life. I decided I had to give myself a three month deadline to accomplish most of my projects.

As you can imagine as God’s minister there are many things I have to renounce to better serve God and others.  But in doing so and practicing Divine Teachings and Principles have showed me a new way to relate to things, people and God. And how to use time to accomplish what is important in life.

All of our belongings in the physical world demand something from us. Our time, our attention, our energy. And material clutter is not the only thing taking our time, attention and energy from us.  How about our mind clutter? Our negative emotional Clutter?

Material things, the abundant information we receive and the ways we react to changing circumstances in life can clutter our physical, mental and emotional aspects. They can take away our attention, energy and time. But what do we really lose when we give them too much meaning?

Here, we get to think about what is important as the foundation not only for Minimalism but also for ourselves in life. I found the answer in the spiritual practice of World Divine Light Organization.

Minimalism is practicing being intentional with the things we allow to take from us and practicing awareness of the things that make us feel full and that bring out our most authentic self. 

“Our most authentic self” is what calls my attention.  In that sense I think what we lose when we give too much attention to our belongings and mental and emotional clutters is our authentic sense of self.

According to our teachings we are God’s children.  That is our true nature, our most authentic self. The first Osienushi-sama, the founder of World Divine Light Organization stated that his life mission on earth was to remind people of who they truly are. He received many revelations from God during his lifetime.  The essence of our spiritual practice is synthesized in the Three Pillars of Truth.  That is Receiving Divine Light, Giving Divine Light, and Dedicating ourselves to Divine Light.

To me this is the key that opens the true meaning of life.

When we receive Divine Light we become more and more who we really are by clearing the cloudiness blocking us from our true self. The practice of receiving Divine Light scrubs impurities -Karma- we have accumulated through life times and inherited form our ancestors.

When we give Divine Light to others we help them realize their true nature as God’s children. We focus on giving to others as part of our spiritual growth.

When we dedicate our talents to the service of God and others we are helping God in the creation of the Spiritual Civilization.

I have found that practicing the Three Pillars of Truth is the best way of remembering who I truly am.  We call it living our life in Spirit Primary Principle. Focusing our attention only in the material aspect of our lives takes away not only time and energy.

We habitually lose our sense of selves when focusing our attention on material things as well as intellectual and negative emotional clutter.  According to Divine Teachings our mission in life is to realize our divine nature which is the source of eternal happiness.

Therefore, Minimalism to me is not just a matter of organizing my time and things but at the same time, clearing out what is valuable and important for me and my mission as a human being.  

As time goes by, some of the material things I valued highly or recognized as important to me vary going through the experiences in my life. Minimalism does not advocate getting rid of everything you own for we live in a material world and we have to use material things for a higher purpose.

Minimalism does encourage us to take a look at how our possessions, thoughts and emotions may actually be cluttering out our time and energy and taking away from us our most authentic self, our joy and happiness in life.

By practicing the Three Pillars of Truth you will find that gratitude plays an important role in enjoying freedom and quality of time with important people in your life. We have to be grateful for the Life God has given us.

Focusing on practicing the Three Pillars of Truth has helped me establish stronger relationships with God, myself and with others. It has centered my life and time in what is important and transcendental for humans throughout our history of spirituality in the world. It has cleared my path to happiness. Focus your life in what is important and always remember your most authentic self.

In the Goseigen, the following is a prediction of the coming age:

“The ‘haves’ who are elevated in the realm of the soul and spiritual body will be given more than before.”

I think what the Goseigen teaches us is already happening.

The visible world is a secondary realm, while the essence of everything is in the invisible spiritual world.

And your daily life is also just another manifestation of the spiritual side of you in the visible world.

Our physical body is also a mass of invisible waves, and the phenomena that happen in front of you are the reflection of your thoughts.

What the Goseigen tells us is that what we have in the world of the spirit will be manifested.

Of course, material objects and money are necessary for your living in this world.

However, they can never become the main subject of your life although material objects and money are necessary to advance God’s Divine Plan.

Therefore, the idea of “having it spiritually” will become more important in this age.

The good news is we know the way to have it spiritually as the “Three Pillars of Truth”.

Receiving truthfulness is one’s effort to receive the Light of God.

Giving truthfulness is to share the Light of God and teachings with your neighbors.

Dedicating truthfulness is to participate in the service of God.

The basics of those spiritual practices will never change, and our spiritual practice must always return to these basics.

Some of you may be worried about losing your job in the future economy.

However, if you pay attention to living in harmony with God, your life will surely move toward a direction that is in line with His Will.

It may become severely challenging; however, God surely shows you the way to follow in the end.

The secret to getting in tune with God is to be in contact with Divine Light daily.

We still can’t exchange Divine Light at the spiritual center yet, however, please continue to exchange the Light of God with your family at home.

If you are the only one in the family who has the Omitama, you can start from the neck points, avoiding the forehead (#8).

Being in touch with God’s Light is essential to enhance the vibrations that come from within you.

As the vibrations inside you rise, so do the vibrations that are brewing outside.

You will be sublimated into a giving self, and you will become the person to be given without asking for it.

Let’s stay firmly in touch with God’s light again this week.

Enjoy your life more, and stay tuned to World Divine Light.