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Let's continue our deep dive into the final installment of Ikeda Sensei’s lecture on The Heritage of the Ultimate Law of Life and Death. Today we keep studying the first section, “The Heritage of Faith in All Its Aspects.”

Let's look at the article's sidebar which provides quotes from Sensei about faith:

We need to break through the shell of the lesser self and focus ourselves on the constant thought in the innermost depths of our lives. That is what it means to have faith in the Mystic Law.

So Ms. Julie has two selves! There's a “greater self” in the innermost depths of her life. It's surrounded by a shell, a “lesser self.” If I get this right, faith is the act of persistently drilling through the shell to reach the essence.

In another essay Sensei explains it further:

The wisdom of Buddhism enables us to break the confines of the “lesser self” (Jpn. shoga), the private and isolated self held prisoner to its own desires, passions, and hatreds. It further enables us to contextualize the deep-rooted psychology of collective identity as we expand our lives, with overflowing exuberance, toward the “greater self” (Jpn. taiga), which is coexistent with the universe. (Also see here)

This concept applies to organizations as well as to individuals. My professor in the Organization Development course that I am taking, describes an organization as a Starship, fairly self-sufficient with many subsystems. But does it travel aimlessly like the Axiom in WALL-E? Or is it driven by a core value, a mission, like Picard's Enterprise-D tasked with scientific pursuits, diplomatic engagements, first contacts with new species, and defending the Federation of Planets? Apparently, within the discipline of organizational studies, there's an entire subfield that examines the role vision plays in terms of productivity and renewal.

So, how's our digging going, Benjamin Kdaké? Well, first of all, let me say that we haven't given up, have we? When we mess up we've gotten much better at picking ourselves up, dusting off, and moving on.

Mama Dee had been warning me that my OCPD seemed to be reoccurring with The Great Laptop Search. OK, she's right and I was turning a small thing into a preoccupying perfectionism issue. But now, I dust myself off, and move on. (And, haha 🤣, that beautiful ASUS Zenbook Duo should be arriving tomorrow!)

Papa Eulogio has been telling us little by little about his week in Big Bad City for the Managers Meeting, KRG, and the broadcast of the January Headquarters Leaders Meeting in Tokyo. This is third-hand so we will have to wait until we read the transcript in Publications. But President Harada was sharing a story about a Q&A Sensei had many years ago with some youth. One member asked a question, something like this: “Sensei, in your long practice trying to respond to your mentor, did you ever experience any regrets?”

Sensei's response (paraphrased):

I feel regrets about 99% of my time. But I pay attention to that remaining 1% telling me to just keep moving forward and that has enabled me to accomplish what I have.

Let's say that 99% of my life is filled with junk such as ego, dissociation disorder, addiction recovery, and HS. But I still have 1% that wants to fight for Kosen-rufu. How much value can I create with that 1%?

So, my darling Benjamin Kdaké, let's “Drill, baby, drill!”

To conclude:

Ultimately, it comes down to awareness. We need to awaken to the fact that we are the Mystic Law, that we are living out our lives based on the Mystic Law over the three existences of past, present, and future.