Making Knots a Springboard for Further Progress
After conducting the 130th Anniversary of Oyasama, we faced great knots one after another. Three years ago on July 26, the Kanrodai—the center of the faith—was knocked down. I will never forget the sight of the Kanrodai with only its bottom two sections remaining. In the following year, the Shinbashira, who has been taking a leading role as the core and a parent of the path, received a sign in the form of illness. These difficult situations were repeated manifestations of God’s stern instruction and urging.
Since then, we have prayed for the blessing of the Shinbashira’s recovery while exerting further efforts in our respective roles and positions, believing that we will surely be blessed if we carry out the activities of single-hearted salvation in an even more proactive and spirited manner.
However, we encountered the knot of novel coronavirus, which left us no other choice but to cancel almost all of our activities. There was no direct ban on performing the service at the Main Sanctuary or regional churches, but we had to ask followers to refrain from attending the services.
At that point, I realized that, although we pondered what we were urged to do through these occurrences, we might have totally misunderstood the meaning of God the Parent’s urging. This reminded me of the knot that arose in 1887.
At that time, Oyasama requested our predecessors to resolve to perform the Service exactly as taught by Her. They fully understood Her intention, but they asked Her for an alternative means to respond to Her intention out of fear that the performance of the Service would cause Her trouble, for performing the Service meant rebelling against the authorities. I realized that I was following their mindset of pursuing an alternative means to handle the situation.
In view of a prolonged pandemic of the coronavirus and other several major knots in recent years, I feel that we are repeatedly taught that “to resolve [our] minds is primary” just as our predecessors were instructed by God the Parent through the dialogue that took place during the knot of 1887.
A Divine Direction said:
Sah, sah, because Tsukihi exists, the world exists. Because the world exists, things exist. Because things exist, your bodies exist. Because your bodies exist, law exists. Although the law exists, to resolve your minds is primary.
Osashizu, January 13, 1887
We are indeed fortunate because it is not as if the teachings are being distorted or the performance of the Service is being banned. It is important for us to do our best to perform our duties however we can by following the Divine Model. Let us first and foremost implement the teaching “Save others” straightforwardly in our day-to-day lives. Let us lean on the everliving Oyasama as we pray for the full recovery of the Shinbashira as well as seek to make the knots that are shown to us a springboard for the further progress of the path. Let us therefore firmly settle in our mind a shared understanding of our purpose and once again make a firm resolve. In so doing, let us address the downward trend and overcome anxiety about the future of the path. It is not easy to achieve results within a short period of time, but I want to see the current situation as a chance to make a turnaround. This must be part of what we are being urged to do as well. I have no intention of rejecting or criticizing the way we carried out our work in the past. It is necessary to honestly evaluate what we have done but, at this point, making a commitment to move forward is more important.