"Ricci is adding another dimension to the five relationships of Confucianism among human beings (king and officials, father and son, husband and wife, brother and brother, friend and friend): the relationship between human being and their Creator."
(CHUNG-YAN JOYCE CHAN, Commands from Heaven: Mattoe Ricci's Christianity in the Eyes of Ming Confucian Officials, Missiology vol. XXXI, 3, July 2003, p. 284)
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Morale ockammista-kantiana e morale tomista
http://www.hprweb.com/2012/01/does-morality-inhibit-freedom/
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Individualismo e vita consacrata
G. MUCCI, Individualismo e vita consacrata, La Civilta' cattolica, 2005 II, 153-158.
(...)
R. Bellah ha distinto due aspetti o modalita' (Habits of the Heart. Individualism and Commitment in American Life, Univ. of California Press, 1985). C'e' un individualismo utilitaristico, fondato sul lavoro, attento a valutare rischi e possibilita' di successo, che subordina sentimenti ed esigenze agli interessi pratici. E c'e' un individualismo espressivo, che non nega la ricerca del successo, ma concede maggiore spazio alle varie esperienze che la vita permette e ai godimenti e ai piaceri.
(...)
Trattandosi di religiosi, si deve notare che il ruolo dell'autorita' non e' finito, ma va ripensato non ripetendo semplicemente i luoghi classici dell'ascetica (obbedienza, mortificazione, umilta'), ma tenendo in seria considerazione il nuovo orizzonte della liberta' individuale imposto dal clima culturale (...)Percio' il nuovo nome dell'autorita' non e' l'imposizione, ma la persuasione.
(...)
R. Bellah ha distinto due aspetti o modalita' (Habits of the Heart. Individualism and Commitment in American Life, Univ. of California Press, 1985). C'e' un individualismo utilitaristico, fondato sul lavoro, attento a valutare rischi e possibilita' di successo, che subordina sentimenti ed esigenze agli interessi pratici. E c'e' un individualismo espressivo, che non nega la ricerca del successo, ma concede maggiore spazio alle varie esperienze che la vita permette e ai godimenti e ai piaceri.
(...)
Trattandosi di religiosi, si deve notare che il ruolo dell'autorita' non e' finito, ma va ripensato non ripetendo semplicemente i luoghi classici dell'ascetica (obbedienza, mortificazione, umilta'), ma tenendo in seria considerazione il nuovo orizzonte della liberta' individuale imposto dal clima culturale (...)Percio' il nuovo nome dell'autorita' non e' l'imposizione, ma la persuasione.
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Matteo Ricci e l'Illuminismo
1616
Histoire de l'expédition chrestienne au royaume de la Chine entreprise par les PP. de la Compagnie de Jésus: comprise en cinq livres esquels est traicté fort exactement et fidelelement des moeurs, loix et coustumes du pays, et des commencemens très-difficiles de l'Eglise naissante en ce royaume (1616) - French translation of De Christiana expeditione by D.F. de Riquebourg-Trigault. Full text available on Google Books.
1702-1776
"Lettres édifiantes et curieuses" (31 volumi) raccoglie le lettere dei gesuiti mandate dalla Cina in Europa. Scritti edificanti che mostrano i trionfi della fede. Prototipo della propaganda missionaria.
Les Lettres édifiantes et curieuses forment une large collection de 34 volumes de lettres envoyées en Europe par des Jésuites missionnaires en Chine, au Levant, en Inde, en Amérique, et ailleurs. Publiés entre 1702 et 1776, cette collection fit beaucoup pour ouvrir l’Europe de la Renaissance (surtout la France) aux cultures non-européennes.
Le Lettres édifiantes et curieuses (Lettere edificanti e curiose) sono un'ampia raccolta, in 34 volumi, di lettere inviate in Europa da gesuiti missionari in Cina, nel Levante, in India, in America, ed altrove. Pubblicate fra il 1702 ed il 1776 contribuirono parecchio ad aprire l’Europa (in particolare la Francia) alle culture non europee.
Ces publications jouèrent un rôle primordial dans l’ouverture et l’évolution des idées du Siècle des Lumières. Les grands esprits de l’époque tel que Voltaire et Montesquieu ne tarissaient pas d’éloges pour ce que les lettres leur apportèrent. Gottfried Leibniz parlait de la mission jésuite en Chine comme de la plus grande affaire de notre temps. Par leur objectivité précise, la diversité et l’ampleur des sujets traités et la profondeur de la réflexion elles méritent d’être placées parmi les grandes œuvres encyclopédiques du siècle des Lumières. Elles permirent une première relativisation de beaucoup de mœurs et coutumes européennes.
Queste pubblicazioni ebbero un ruolo primordiale nell'apertura e nell'evoluzione delle idee del Secolo dei Lumi. Le grandi menti dell'epoca come Voltaire e Montesquieu non mancavano di elogi per quanto le Lettere avevano apportato loro. Leibniz parlava della missione gesuita in Cina come del più grande caso dei nostri tempi. Per la loro precisa obiettività, la diversità e l'ampiezza dei soggetti meritano di essere poste fra le grandi opere enciclopediche del secolo dei Lumi. Esse permisero una prima relativizzazione di molti usi e costumi europei.
1755
L'Orphelin de la Chine est une pièce de théâtre de Voltaire écrite en 1755 et représentée pour la première fois le 20 août 1755 à la Comédie-Française.
--------
Il deismo confuciano come fondamento di una morale nuova giocata contro la necessita' della Rivelazione e della universale mediazione della Chiesa. I prodromi dell'Illuminismo sono il frutto dell'influenza delle lettere dei gesuiti, ancorche' interpretate in modo tendenzioso.
東洋文庫141､624､627
『マッテオ・リッチ伝』（平川祐弘著）
Histoire de l'expédition chrestienne au royaume de la Chine entreprise par les PP. de la Compagnie de Jésus: comprise en cinq livres esquels est traicté fort exactement et fidelelement des moeurs, loix et coustumes du pays, et des commencemens très-difficiles de l'Eglise naissante en ce royaume (1616) - French translation of De Christiana expeditione by D.F. de Riquebourg-Trigault. Full text available on Google Books.
1702-1776
"Lettres édifiantes et curieuses" (31 volumi) raccoglie le lettere dei gesuiti mandate dalla Cina in Europa. Scritti edificanti che mostrano i trionfi della fede. Prototipo della propaganda missionaria.
Les Lettres édifiantes et curieuses forment une large collection de 34 volumes de lettres envoyées en Europe par des Jésuites missionnaires en Chine, au Levant, en Inde, en Amérique, et ailleurs. Publiés entre 1702 et 1776, cette collection fit beaucoup pour ouvrir l’Europe de la Renaissance (surtout la France) aux cultures non-européennes.
Le Lettres édifiantes et curieuses (Lettere edificanti e curiose) sono un'ampia raccolta, in 34 volumi, di lettere inviate in Europa da gesuiti missionari in Cina, nel Levante, in India, in America, ed altrove. Pubblicate fra il 1702 ed il 1776 contribuirono parecchio ad aprire l’Europa (in particolare la Francia) alle culture non europee.
Ces publications jouèrent un rôle primordial dans l’ouverture et l’évolution des idées du Siècle des Lumières. Les grands esprits de l’époque tel que Voltaire et Montesquieu ne tarissaient pas d’éloges pour ce que les lettres leur apportèrent. Gottfried Leibniz parlait de la mission jésuite en Chine comme de la plus grande affaire de notre temps. Par leur objectivité précise, la diversité et l’ampleur des sujets traités et la profondeur de la réflexion elles méritent d’être placées parmi les grandes œuvres encyclopédiques du siècle des Lumières. Elles permirent une première relativisation de beaucoup de mœurs et coutumes européennes.
Queste pubblicazioni ebbero un ruolo primordiale nell'apertura e nell'evoluzione delle idee del Secolo dei Lumi. Le grandi menti dell'epoca come Voltaire e Montesquieu non mancavano di elogi per quanto le Lettere avevano apportato loro. Leibniz parlava della missione gesuita in Cina come del più grande caso dei nostri tempi. Per la loro precisa obiettività, la diversità e l'ampiezza dei soggetti meritano di essere poste fra le grandi opere enciclopediche del secolo dei Lumi. Esse permisero una prima relativizzazione di molti usi e costumi europei.
1755
L'Orphelin de la Chine est une pièce de théâtre de Voltaire écrite en 1755 et représentée pour la première fois le 20 août 1755 à la Comédie-Française.
--------
Il deismo confuciano come fondamento di una morale nuova giocata contro la necessita' della Rivelazione e della universale mediazione della Chiesa. I prodromi dell'Illuminismo sono il frutto dell'influenza delle lettere dei gesuiti, ancorche' interpretate in modo tendenzioso.
東洋文庫141､624､627
『マッテオ・リッチ伝』（平川祐弘著）
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
CRIMINALITY DEFENDED AS CULTURAL DIFFERENCE
1) Reuters on Olympus Japan corruption issue: It takes a NJ whistleblowing CEO to uncover it, yet he gets sacked for “cultural reasons”
This is still a growing issue, and there’s an excellent Reuters article below to hang this blog post on. Consider the case of Michael Woodford, a Brit hired more than thirty years ago by Japanese firm Olympus, with the superhuman tenacity to work his way up to the post of CEO (not hired, as are many of the famous NJ executives in Japanese companies, as an international prestige appointment).
The presumption is that his appointment was because Mr Woodford would be different — there are plenty of Japanese corporate drones who would have gladly not rocked the boat for a quiet life and comfortable salary. But when he actually does something different, such as uncover and question possible corporate malfeasance, he gets fired because “his style of management was incompatible with traditional Japanese practices”.
This of course, as further investigations finally gather traction, calls into practice the cleanliness of those traditional Japanese corporate practices. And it looks like the only way to get them investigated properly in Japan is to take the issue to overseas regulators (this is, after all, an international company, if only in the sense that it has international holdings, but now beholden to international standards).
Not to mention the Japanese media (which, as the article alludes to below, is once again asleep at its watchdog position). None of this is surprising to the Old Japan Hands, especially those let anywhere close to Japanese corporate boardrooms, who see this nest feathering as a normal, nay, an obvious part of Japanese corporate culture the higher and richer you go.
But woe betide the NJ whistleblower — perpetually in a vulnerable position for being of the wrong race and for not doing what he’s told like a good little gaijin. After all, there’s peer pressure behind membership in “Team Japan”, and as soon as it’s convenient, the race/culture card gets pulled by the crooks to excuse themselves. I’m just glad Mr. Woodford had the guts to do what he did. I doubt it’ll result in a system-wide cleanup (the rot is too systemic and entrenched, and few watch the watchers in corporatist Japan). But you gotta start somewhere, since exposure of corruption must be seen to be becoming commonplace in post-Fukushima Japan. Bravo Mr. Woodford, and expose away.
http://www.debito.org/?p=9576
This is still a growing issue, and there’s an excellent Reuters article below to hang this blog post on. Consider the case of Michael Woodford, a Brit hired more than thirty years ago by Japanese firm Olympus, with the superhuman tenacity to work his way up to the post of CEO (not hired, as are many of the famous NJ executives in Japanese companies, as an international prestige appointment).
The presumption is that his appointment was because Mr Woodford would be different — there are plenty of Japanese corporate drones who would have gladly not rocked the boat for a quiet life and comfortable salary. But when he actually does something different, such as uncover and question possible corporate malfeasance, he gets fired because “his style of management was incompatible with traditional Japanese practices”.
This of course, as further investigations finally gather traction, calls into practice the cleanliness of those traditional Japanese corporate practices. And it looks like the only way to get them investigated properly in Japan is to take the issue to overseas regulators (this is, after all, an international company, if only in the sense that it has international holdings, but now beholden to international standards).
Not to mention the Japanese media (which, as the article alludes to below, is once again asleep at its watchdog position). None of this is surprising to the Old Japan Hands, especially those let anywhere close to Japanese corporate boardrooms, who see this nest feathering as a normal, nay, an obvious part of Japanese corporate culture the higher and richer you go.
But woe betide the NJ whistleblower — perpetually in a vulnerable position for being of the wrong race and for not doing what he’s told like a good little gaijin. After all, there’s peer pressure behind membership in “Team Japan”, and as soon as it’s convenient, the race/culture card gets pulled by the crooks to excuse themselves. I’m just glad Mr. Woodford had the guts to do what he did. I doubt it’ll result in a system-wide cleanup (the rot is too systemic and entrenched, and few watch the watchers in corporatist Japan). But you gotta start somewhere, since exposure of corruption must be seen to be becoming commonplace in post-Fukushima Japan. Bravo Mr. Woodford, and expose away.
http://www.debito.org/?p=9576
The costly fallout of tatemae and Japan's culture of deceit | The Japan Times Online
The costly fallout of tatemae and Japan's culture of deceit | The Japan Times Online
By DEBITO ARUDOU
There is an axiom in Japanese: uso mo hōben — "lying is also a means to an end." It sums up the general attitude in Japan of tolerance of — even justification for — not telling the truth.
First — defining "telling the truth" as divulging the truth (not a lie), the whole truth (full disclosure) and nothing but the truth (uncompounded with lies) — consider how lies are deployed in everyday personal interactions.
Let's start with good old tatemae (charitably translated as "pretense"). By basically saying something you think the listener wants to hear, tatemae is, essentially, lying. That becomes clearer when the term is contrasted with its antonym, honne, one's "true feelings and intentions."
Tatemae, however, goes beyond the "little white lie," as it is often justified less by the fact you have avoided hurting your listener's feelings, more by what you have gained from the nondisclosure.
But what if you disclose your true feelings? That's often seen negatively, as baka shōjiki ("stupidly honest"): imprudent, naive, even immature. Skillful lying is thus commendable — it's what adults in society learn to do.
Now extrapolate. What becomes of a society that sees lying as a justifiably institutionalized practice? Things break down. If everyone is expected to lie, who or what can you trust?
Consider law enforcement. Japan's lack of even the expectation of full disclosure means, for example, there is little right to know your accuser (e.g., in bullying cases). In criminal procedure, the prosecution controls the flow of information to the judge (right down to what evidence is admissible). And that's before we get into how secretive and deceptive police interrogations are infamous for being.
Consider jurisprudence. Witnesses are expected to lie to such an extent that Japan's perjury laws are weak and unenforceable. Civil court disputes (try going through, for example, a divorce) often devolve into one-upmanship lying matches, flippantly dismissed as "he-said, she-said" (mizukake-ron). And judges, as seen in the Valentine case (Zeit Gist, Aug. 14, 2007), will assume an eyewitness is being untruthful simply based on his/her attributes — in this case because the witness was foreign like the plaintiff.
Consider administrative procedure. Official documents and public responses attach organizational affiliations but few actual names for accountability. Those official pronouncements, as I'm sure many readers know due to arbitrary Immigration decisions, often fall under bureaucratic "discretion" (sairyō), with little if any right of appeal. And if you need further convincing, just look at the loopholes built into Japan's Freedom of Information Act.
All this undermines trust of public authority. Again, if bureaucrats (like everyone else) are not expected to fully disclose, society gets a procuracy brazenly ducking responsibility wherever possible through vague directives, masked intentions and obfuscation.
This is true to some degree of all bureaucracies, but the problem in Japan is that this nondisclosure goes relatively unpunished. Our media watchdogs, entrusted with upholding public accountability, often get distracted or corrupted by editorial or press club conceits. Or, giving reporters the benefit of the doubt, it's hard to know which lyin' rat to pounce on first when there are so many. Or journalists themselves engage in barely researched, unscientific or sensationalistic reporting, undermining their trustworthiness as information sources.
Public trust, once lost, is hard to regain. In such a climate, even if the government does tell the truth, people may still disbelieve it. Take, for example, the Environment Ministry's recent strong-arming of regional waste management centers to process Tohoku disaster ruins: Many doubt government claims that radioactive rubble will not proliferate nationwide, fanning fears that the nuclear power industry is trying to make itself less culpable for concentrated radiation poisoning by irradiating everyone (see www.debito.org/?p=954!)!
Apologists would say (and they do) that lying is what everyone in positions of power does worldwide, since power itself corrupts. But there is the matter of degree, and in Japan there is scant reward for telling the truth — and ineffective laws to protect whistle-blowers. It took a brave foreign CEO at Olympus Corp. to come out recently about corporate malfeasance; he was promptly sacked, reportedly due to his incompatibility with "traditional Japanese practices." Yes, quite so.
This tradition of lying has a long history. The Japanese Empire's deception about its treatment of prisoners of war and noncombatants under the Geneva Conventions (e.g., the Bataan Death March, medical experiments under Unit 731), not to mention lying to its own civilians about how they would be treated if captured by the Allies, led to some of the most horrifying mass murder-suicides of Japanese, dehumanizing reprisals by their enemies, and war without mercy in World War II's Pacific Theater.
Suppressing those historical records, thanks to cowardice among Japan's publishers, reinforced by a general lack of "obligation to the truth," has enabled a clique of revisionists to deny responsibility for Japan's past atrocities, alienating it from its neighbors in a globalizing world.
Even today, in light of Fukushima, Japan's development into a modern and democratic society seems to have barely scratched the surface of this culture of deceit. Government omerta and omission kept the nation ignorant about the most basic facts — including reactor meltdowns — for months!
Let me illustrate the effects of socially accepted lying another way: What is considered the most untrustworthy of professions? Politics, of course. Because politicians are seen as personalities who, for their own survival, appeal to people by saying what they want to hear, regardless of their own true feelings.
That is precisely what tatemae does to Japanese society. It makes everyone into a politician, changing the truth to suit their audience, garner support or deflect criticism and responsibility.
Again, uso mo hoben: As long as you accomplish your goals, lying is a means to an end. The incentives in Japan are clear. Few will tell the truth if they will be punished for doing so, moreover rarely punished for not doing so.
No doubt a culturally relativistic observer would attempt to justify this destructive dynamic by citing red herrings and excuses (themselves tatemae) such as "conflict avoidance," "maintaining group harmony," "saving face," or whatever. Regardless, the awful truth is: "We Japanese don't lie. We just don't tell the truth."
This is not sustainable. Post-Fukushima Japan must realize that public acceptance of lying got us into this radioactive mess in the first place.
For radiation has no media cycle. It lingers and poisons the land and food chain. Statistics may be obfuscated or suppressed as usual. But radiation's half-life is longer than the typical attention span or sustainable degree of public outrage.
As the public — possibly worldwide — sickens over time, the truth will leak out.
By DEBITO ARUDOU
There is an axiom in Japanese: uso mo hōben — "lying is also a means to an end." It sums up the general attitude in Japan of tolerance of — even justification for — not telling the truth.
First — defining "telling the truth" as divulging the truth (not a lie), the whole truth (full disclosure) and nothing but the truth (uncompounded with lies) — consider how lies are deployed in everyday personal interactions.
Let's start with good old tatemae (charitably translated as "pretense"). By basically saying something you think the listener wants to hear, tatemae is, essentially, lying. That becomes clearer when the term is contrasted with its antonym, honne, one's "true feelings and intentions."
Tatemae, however, goes beyond the "little white lie," as it is often justified less by the fact you have avoided hurting your listener's feelings, more by what you have gained from the nondisclosure.
But what if you disclose your true feelings? That's often seen negatively, as baka shōjiki ("stupidly honest"): imprudent, naive, even immature. Skillful lying is thus commendable — it's what adults in society learn to do.
Now extrapolate. What becomes of a society that sees lying as a justifiably institutionalized practice? Things break down. If everyone is expected to lie, who or what can you trust?
Consider law enforcement. Japan's lack of even the expectation of full disclosure means, for example, there is little right to know your accuser (e.g., in bullying cases). In criminal procedure, the prosecution controls the flow of information to the judge (right down to what evidence is admissible). And that's before we get into how secretive and deceptive police interrogations are infamous for being.
Consider jurisprudence. Witnesses are expected to lie to such an extent that Japan's perjury laws are weak and unenforceable. Civil court disputes (try going through, for example, a divorce) often devolve into one-upmanship lying matches, flippantly dismissed as "he-said, she-said" (mizukake-ron). And judges, as seen in the Valentine case (Zeit Gist, Aug. 14, 2007), will assume an eyewitness is being untruthful simply based on his/her attributes — in this case because the witness was foreign like the plaintiff.
Consider administrative procedure. Official documents and public responses attach organizational affiliations but few actual names for accountability. Those official pronouncements, as I'm sure many readers know due to arbitrary Immigration decisions, often fall under bureaucratic "discretion" (sairyō), with little if any right of appeal. And if you need further convincing, just look at the loopholes built into Japan's Freedom of Information Act.
All this undermines trust of public authority. Again, if bureaucrats (like everyone else) are not expected to fully disclose, society gets a procuracy brazenly ducking responsibility wherever possible through vague directives, masked intentions and obfuscation.
This is true to some degree of all bureaucracies, but the problem in Japan is that this nondisclosure goes relatively unpunished. Our media watchdogs, entrusted with upholding public accountability, often get distracted or corrupted by editorial or press club conceits. Or, giving reporters the benefit of the doubt, it's hard to know which lyin' rat to pounce on first when there are so many. Or journalists themselves engage in barely researched, unscientific or sensationalistic reporting, undermining their trustworthiness as information sources.
Public trust, once lost, is hard to regain. In such a climate, even if the government does tell the truth, people may still disbelieve it. Take, for example, the Environment Ministry's recent strong-arming of regional waste management centers to process Tohoku disaster ruins: Many doubt government claims that radioactive rubble will not proliferate nationwide, fanning fears that the nuclear power industry is trying to make itself less culpable for concentrated radiation poisoning by irradiating everyone (see www.debito.org/?p=954!)!
Apologists would say (and they do) that lying is what everyone in positions of power does worldwide, since power itself corrupts. But there is the matter of degree, and in Japan there is scant reward for telling the truth — and ineffective laws to protect whistle-blowers. It took a brave foreign CEO at Olympus Corp. to come out recently about corporate malfeasance; he was promptly sacked, reportedly due to his incompatibility with "traditional Japanese practices." Yes, quite so.
This tradition of lying has a long history. The Japanese Empire's deception about its treatment of prisoners of war and noncombatants under the Geneva Conventions (e.g., the Bataan Death March, medical experiments under Unit 731), not to mention lying to its own civilians about how they would be treated if captured by the Allies, led to some of the most horrifying mass murder-suicides of Japanese, dehumanizing reprisals by their enemies, and war without mercy in World War II's Pacific Theater.
Suppressing those historical records, thanks to cowardice among Japan's publishers, reinforced by a general lack of "obligation to the truth," has enabled a clique of revisionists to deny responsibility for Japan's past atrocities, alienating it from its neighbors in a globalizing world.
Even today, in light of Fukushima, Japan's development into a modern and democratic society seems to have barely scratched the surface of this culture of deceit. Government omerta and omission kept the nation ignorant about the most basic facts — including reactor meltdowns — for months!
Let me illustrate the effects of socially accepted lying another way: What is considered the most untrustworthy of professions? Politics, of course. Because politicians are seen as personalities who, for their own survival, appeal to people by saying what they want to hear, regardless of their own true feelings.
That is precisely what tatemae does to Japanese society. It makes everyone into a politician, changing the truth to suit their audience, garner support or deflect criticism and responsibility.
Again, uso mo hoben: As long as you accomplish your goals, lying is a means to an end. The incentives in Japan are clear. Few will tell the truth if they will be punished for doing so, moreover rarely punished for not doing so.
No doubt a culturally relativistic observer would attempt to justify this destructive dynamic by citing red herrings and excuses (themselves tatemae) such as "conflict avoidance," "maintaining group harmony," "saving face," or whatever. Regardless, the awful truth is: "We Japanese don't lie. We just don't tell the truth."
This is not sustainable. Post-Fukushima Japan must realize that public acceptance of lying got us into this radioactive mess in the first place.
For radiation has no media cycle. It lingers and poisons the land and food chain. Statistics may be obfuscated or suppressed as usual. But radiation's half-life is longer than the typical attention span or sustainable degree of public outrage.
As the public — possibly worldwide — sickens over time, the truth will leak out.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
コルモスに参加して
「現代における宗教の役割研究会」（Conference On Religion and Modern Society - CORMOS)の第58回研究会議（京都国際ホテル・2001年12月26-27日）に参加して感じたことを書きます。
石蔵 文信（いしくら ふみのぶ）は、医者として「巨人性うつと阪神性不安」という著書に書いているように、男性更年期外来の人は両方を抱えている。
読売巨人軍（とそのファン）は、常に勝つことを義務付けられている（と思いこんでいる）。幸せ慣れした人は突然の不幸に弱く、些細なことに傷つく。つまずいたことのない人は転び方がわからずに大怪我をする！ それが「巨人性うつ」なのだそうです。「つまずいたら、つまずく前のように走ろうと無理をしてはいけない。少し症状が良くなると、すぐ元のように働こうとする。そして、ぶり返して元の木阿弥になるのである。」・・・典型的なうつ病の経過を、見事に巨人ファンの心理を通して解説しておりました。
一方、阪神です。「いつも負けているのに今年は優勝するかもしれない？」・・・そんな絶好調の真っ只中での阪神（とそのファン）の心理です。慣れない幸せに恵まれると落ち着かない、不安でたまらない。今日は良いけど明日から全部負けるかもしれない。この幸せの先にもっと大きな不幸があるかもしれない！といつも不安に思うのです。これが「阪神性不安」です。不安になると過去の失敗ばかりに気をとられて「また失敗するのではないか」と悪い予感にとらわれる。これを避けるには過去の良いことばかり思い出せばいい。
不安と言われると私はゲーテの『ファウスト』を思い出します。メフィストフェレスと取引をしたファウストは感じたのは不安ではなかったかと思います。
今月は真珠湾攻撃の70周年に当たります。これについて朝日新聞（12月8日朝刊）に東大の加藤陽子教授のインタビューが載っていました。真珠湾攻撃に終わったサイクルは明治維新に始まるというのです。そして、「今の日本社会の状況が、昔のこの時代に似ていて心配です。」
明治維新というと、「追いつけ追い越せ」、「和魂洋才」、「富国強兵」、「尊皇攘夷（そんのうじょうい）」というスローガンを思い出します。西洋の技術（洋才）だけ輸入し、大和魂を守るといいながら、実はそこにメフィストフェレス的な取引はなかったかと思われます。大村さんが「敗戦後の日本に輸入された欧米の宗教文化」を嘆いておられるが、戦後ではない、明治でしょう。明治において欧米から技術を輸入しながら、拒んだのは宗教ではないか。技術と富と権力にメフィストフェレス的なものが付いて回るのは分からなかったのか。今やっと分かるようになったのか。
石蔵 文信（いしくら ふみのぶ）は、医者として「巨人性うつと阪神性不安」という著書に書いているように、男性更年期外来の人は両方を抱えている。
読売巨人軍（とそのファン）は、常に勝つことを義務付けられている（と思いこんでいる）。幸せ慣れした人は突然の不幸に弱く、些細なことに傷つく。つまずいたことのない人は転び方がわからずに大怪我をする！ それが「巨人性うつ」なのだそうです。「つまずいたら、つまずく前のように走ろうと無理をしてはいけない。少し症状が良くなると、すぐ元のように働こうとする。そして、ぶり返して元の木阿弥になるのである。」・・・典型的なうつ病の経過を、見事に巨人ファンの心理を通して解説しておりました。
一方、阪神です。「いつも負けているのに今年は優勝するかもしれない？」・・・そんな絶好調の真っ只中での阪神（とそのファン）の心理です。慣れない幸せに恵まれると落ち着かない、不安でたまらない。今日は良いけど明日から全部負けるかもしれない。この幸せの先にもっと大きな不幸があるかもしれない！といつも不安に思うのです。これが「阪神性不安」です。不安になると過去の失敗ばかりに気をとられて「また失敗するのではないか」と悪い予感にとらわれる。これを避けるには過去の良いことばかり思い出せばいい。
不安と言われると私はゲーテの『ファウスト』を思い出します。メフィストフェレスと取引をしたファウストは感じたのは不安ではなかったかと思います。
今月は真珠湾攻撃の70周年に当たります。これについて朝日新聞（12月8日朝刊）に東大の加藤陽子教授のインタビューが載っていました。真珠湾攻撃に終わったサイクルは明治維新に始まるというのです。そして、「今の日本社会の状況が、昔のこの時代に似ていて心配です。」
明治維新というと、「追いつけ追い越せ」、「和魂洋才」、「富国強兵」、「尊皇攘夷（そんのうじょうい）」というスローガンを思い出します。西洋の技術（洋才）だけ輸入し、大和魂を守るといいながら、実はそこにメフィストフェレス的な取引はなかったかと思われます。大村さんが「敗戦後の日本に輸入された欧米の宗教文化」を嘆いておられるが、戦後ではない、明治でしょう。明治において欧米から技術を輸入しながら、拒んだのは宗教ではないか。技術と富と権力にメフィストフェレス的なものが付いて回るのは分からなかったのか。今やっと分かるようになったのか。
Equivoci su comunita' e missione
Cosa si intende precisamente quando si dice che il soggetto della missione e' la comunita'?Che la missione e' fatta dalla comunita' e non dall'individuo?
Non ci sono forse molti fraintendimenti o preconcetti ideologici, quando si parla di missione e comunita'?
Si prega di meditare i due posts qui sotto.
Non ci sono forse molti fraintendimenti o preconcetti ideologici, quando si parla di missione e comunita'?
Si prega di meditare i due posts qui sotto.
Community, Mission and the Individual
"Karl Barth clearly put the election of the Church (the community) before that of the individual (Church Dogmatic II/2, 195-305). In some way, therefore the community becoms mother of the faithful. In itself this is not wrong, but Catholic thought complements it: here the community's place is occuopied by a person, most concretely by the Mother of Jesus; her mission is also to be the mother of his brothers, of his 'Mystical Body'(...). (...)This can be illustrated by the mission of Abraham. (...)It is impossible to discover which is prior in God's plan: the election of the individual for his universal mission or the election of the 'great nation' (Gen 12:2f) that is to result from that mission. The universal mission only exist as the pr longation of the person, and the person only exist through being thus prolonged in the mission.
(...)No longer do we simply have a number of individuals forming a community on the basis of a shared specific nature and the relation between the sexes. Rather, every individual who has been personalized in Christ has within him a sphere of community in virtue of his mission, for the mission proceeds from the individual member (that is from each person9 and its goal is the entire Body.
(H. U. von Balthasar, Theo-Drama, III, 273ff)
"D. THE INDIVIDUAL
I. The Pathos of the Christian Individual
(...)We began by considering Christ, the unique individual in world history who becomes universally present and universally necessary. We went on to consider the feminine answer he receives, an answer given by a single woman. Only on the basis of this primal encounter did what we call 'community' come about - facilitated by other individuals, namely, the first disciples. However firmly these individuals may have been anchored in a given (Jewish) community - with the result that the event took place 'in the fullness of time' - the fact remains that the event as such was brought about uniquely by them, by individuals; it continues to rest upon them.
To this extent, a very particular pathos attacches to the 'individual' in the Christian context. (...) In Christian terms, community can only be a community of disciples, and such community must begin in particularity; moreover, it must CONTINUE in particularity, for this is how Christ's path began, proceeded - and ended.
(...)This will give us a new perspective on the Church and on life in the Church. (...)though she is Christ's community of love, che consists of individuals who live their lives following the solitary Christ.
a. Community and Mission
The Eleven who, at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, are given the exalted Lord's command to go forth are rent asunder by centrifugal force.
b. The Situation of the Witness
So it can happen that an individual, sent out into a non-Christian world or finding himself there against his will, can follow his Lord by representing the Church as such.
(...)Witness, martyrion, is always the individual's response to Christ, but it is always made in teh name of the Church and concretely represent her. Whether the martyrdom is bloody or unbloody, the person who gives it, staking his whole existence on it, speaks and 'acts', not for himself, but IN PERSONA ECCLESIAE. The Church is concentrated in this individual; he steps forth in her name, with or without an explicit commission.
(H. U. von Balthasar, Theo-Drama, III, 447ff)
(...)No longer do we simply have a number of individuals forming a community on the basis of a shared specific nature and the relation between the sexes. Rather, every individual who has been personalized in Christ has within him a sphere of community in virtue of his mission, for the mission proceeds from the individual member (that is from each person9 and its goal is the entire Body.
(H. U. von Balthasar, Theo-Drama, III, 273ff)
"D. THE INDIVIDUAL
I. The Pathos of the Christian Individual
(...)We began by considering Christ, the unique individual in world history who becomes universally present and universally necessary. We went on to consider the feminine answer he receives, an answer given by a single woman. Only on the basis of this primal encounter did what we call 'community' come about - facilitated by other individuals, namely, the first disciples. However firmly these individuals may have been anchored in a given (Jewish) community - with the result that the event took place 'in the fullness of time' - the fact remains that the event as such was brought about uniquely by them, by individuals; it continues to rest upon them.
To this extent, a very particular pathos attacches to the 'individual' in the Christian context. (...) In Christian terms, community can only be a community of disciples, and such community must begin in particularity; moreover, it must CONTINUE in particularity, for this is how Christ's path began, proceeded - and ended.
(...)This will give us a new perspective on the Church and on life in the Church. (...)though she is Christ's community of love, che consists of individuals who live their lives following the solitary Christ.
a. Community and Mission
The Eleven who, at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, are given the exalted Lord's command to go forth are rent asunder by centrifugal force.
b. The Situation of the Witness
So it can happen that an individual, sent out into a non-Christian world or finding himself there against his will, can follow his Lord by representing the Church as such.
(...)Witness, martyrion, is always the individual's response to Christ, but it is always made in teh name of the Church and concretely represent her. Whether the martyrdom is bloody or unbloody, the person who gives it, staking his whole existence on it, speaks and 'acts', not for himself, but IN PERSONA ECCLESIAE. The Church is concentrated in this individual; he steps forth in her name, with or without an explicit commission.
(H. U. von Balthasar, Theo-Drama, III, 447ff)
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