目次
- Chapter 6: Myth and the Future — Toward the Renewal of the Heart
- 🔗Japanese Mythology Series
- 🔗Japanese Version
Chapter 6: Myth and the Future — Toward the Renewal of the Heart
Myth Is Not a Record of the Past, but a Guide to the Future
When we hear the word “myth,” many imagine ancient events and stories of gods.
Yet myth did not exist merely to tell the past — it has always existed to help us live into the future.
The stories recorded in the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki are not simply historical accounts.
They are books of wisdom, revealing the interconnectedness of nature and humanity, heaven and earth, life and death.
As long as the human heart experiences doubt and uncertainty, myth will rise again and again.
Like a star before dawn, quietly illuminating the darkness.
The Law of Harmony and Cycles Taught by Myth
A common thread in the stories of the gods is the cycle of destruction and rebirth.
When Susanoo-no-Mikoto disrupted order with his fierce power and Amaterasu hid herself within the Heavenly Rock Cave, the world fell into chaos. Yet after turmoil, light was restored.
This reflects nature — and life itself.
Only through hardship and loss does the heart become purified, prepared to receive new light.
The stagnation and division we see in modern society may also be signs of approaching renewal.
Myth quietly teaches that all things move in cycles, eventually returning to harmony.
The Form of Prayer in the Modern Age
Even so, many hearts today feel loneliness and anxiety.
Perhaps this is why more people visit shrines or take deep breaths in nature — instinctively reclaiming the sense of prayer.
Prayer is not merely a wish for desires to be granted.
It is an act of facing the stillness within ourselves and remembering our unity with the world.
From the age of myth until now, prayer has endured as a way to restore inner balance.
What It Means to Live Myth
In our daily lives, we unconsciously live within the lessons and principles of myth.
When we take on new challenges, it resembles the descent of the heavenly grandson to earth.
After failure or setback, we rise again like the myths of rebirth.
Each of us embodies the stories of the gods in our own lives.
To read myth, then, is to trace the memory of our own soul.
To learn, feel, and share mythology is a path back to our human origin — a way of preparing ourselves to live into the future.
The Spirit of Japan Carried Into the Future
The gods remain close to us, even if their forms change.
They dwell in the sound of the wind, the rustling of trees, and the quiet light within human kindness.
To pass down mythology is to pass that light into the future.
In an age ruled by speed and convenience, pausing to reconnect with nature and the heart may be the true path to richness.
— Myth does not end.
It lives on as each of us becomes a storyteller of a new chapter yet to be written.
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