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(3) Change in the view of life and death
And the most characteristic change in people’s values that is observed in connection with LOHAS seems to be the change in the view of life and death.
Since olden days, it is said that many people in Japan believe in afterlife and/or metempsychosis (reincarnation). But in the 20th-century era of modernization, such a traditional and religious way of thinking faded away and a secular, ephemeral view of life and death, with a life-on-earth-is-all-that-matters attitude, became common in Japan as well. Accordingly, as only life between birth and death mattered, tradition and history were apparently disregarded and irresponsible attitudes toward the future became more conspicuous. It is very difficult to stop people from acting self-righteously, selfishly and irresponsibly without limit, if they think that everything starts from the moment of birth and ends at the moment of death. If the situation becomes such that only fear could restrain peoples’ actions, the world will plunge into turmoil and the society itself will head for collapse.
However, people leading Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability seem to detach themselves from the self-righteous, secular, ephemeral view of life and death quite naturally, without believing in any one particular religion. They appear to sense [the presence of] other lives transcending species, space, and time, as well as feel ― with their bodies ― the pleasure and joy of living together with those lives. The people seem to be gradually departing from the modern view of life and death, and returning to the traditional view of life and death, namely that which is compatible with the notion of afterlife or metempsychosis (reincarnation), as evidenced by the following examples: many episodes of near-death experiences become topics of seminars on spirituality; people closely observe plant growth or animal life with their own eyes; cases are introduced, one after another, in which intractable diseases are cured without modern medical treatment; and many instances are witnessed in which mentally-depressed persons are healed by getting in touch with the world of LOHAS.
To table of contents (English)
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(Date published / 公開日： 3/13/2021)
(Date last updated / 最終改訂日: 5/1/2021)
