This book is a book different from the usual books. It is authored by two people who happened to meet and discover their common interest to study a phenomenon that was common in some communities, where people live happily and go on to live longer years.
The authors during their one year long research found that people in the five places that they discovered where people lived happily and longer years were, who were in pursuit of the purpose of their living.
The back cover of the book summarises what they discovered about people of Japan-'a reason to jump out of bed each morning'.
Each of us has a personal ikigai, which 'will show how to leave urgency behind, find your purpose, nurture friendships, and throw yourself into your passion'.
There is a lot of reference to Victor Frankl in the book, because he survived the awful experience of the Nazi concentration camp and proposed Logotherapy, as a way of living with hope and purpose.
As for me, I have observed a departure from an inclusive social consciousness in this country, which unsettles many who love freedom, fraternity, and inclusive society.
One political party in Maharashtra has now proposed Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian award in India for the founder of an organisation, that proposes a majoritarian control of society. It is this election manifesto which might give them a benefit as people view religion as a the deciding factor in polity.
At a time such as this, when from the prime minister to others in one political party speaks the language of imposition of an ideology, people feel threatened and reduced.
When people struggle due to financial crunch, unemployment, lack of opportunities, indications of recession, etc. there is an air of helplessness and hopelessness.
This book revived me. The Okinawa community in Japan according to the authors, whom they visited, conveyed, 'incredible friendliness' and 'laughed and joked incessantly amid lush green hills fed by crystalline waters'. The centenarians whom they visited in this community practiced, 'nurturing friendships, eating light, getting enough rest, and doing regular, moderate exercises..' They were people who cared for others, which according to them was an essential purpose of living !
This place of Okinawa witnessed losing two hundred thousand people at the end of the second world war. They instead of harbouring animosity towards outsiders, Okinawans 'live by the principle of ichariba chode, a local expression that means, ''treat everyone like a brother even if you have never met him before" '!
The way we view others define our humanity and humaneness!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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