SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE
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Editorial Department
Q: What does it mean that Socrates was sentenced to death?
A: The definition of justice is to reveal what exists, or rather to reveal truth. For example, behavior which reveals right and wrong exactly is called behavior of justice. A campaign against wrong things is the campaign of justice. Justice is like light which brightens life in human society by revealing truth. Socrates was sentenced to death due to his behavior of justice.
Q: It is said that Socrates had three ways to survive, after being sentenced to death. One is to seek asylum in a foreign country, another one is to pay a fine, and the other one is to write the memorandum that he would not teach people any more. By the way, why did he choose to die?
A: If a person was born with good origin and it is active inside him or her, it is natural that he can accept none of the three. Even if Socrates had gone to another country, could it guarantee him the life of telling the truth. There might also be a language problem. If he had paid a fine to get out of the jail, it would have meant that he admitted committing a crime. Finally, to tell him to live not doing good things meant that a true person had to live not revealing truth(fact as it is). Such life is valueless. Socrates was in the situation where he could accept none of the three.
Q: Certain people respected the teachings of Buddha or Jesus to establish the religions in Buddha’s or Jesus’s names. Why do we need a religion?
A: It is difficult to speak about religions with a word because there are too many religions on the earth. First, we should ask one with religious questions.
“Why should you have your religion? What good does your religion bring to you?”
After hearing his or her answer, we should confirm whether or not what the person does is helpful to him or her and then should make judgments.
The person can be made to be awakened like this.
“Has what you want happened to you? Unexpected things have occurred to you actually, haven’t they?”
Why did humans establish religions or have religions? Although they have their religions, they do not know exactly for what reasons and with what goals they have their religions.
If there was anyone who believes in Jesus because of the belief that he or she can go to heaven, nobody can go to heaven. If there was anyone who believes in Jesus because of salvation, nobody can get salvation. To go to heaven or to get salvation is not what Jesus does for people. Jesus neither gives people fates nor lives the lives of people for them instead.
What you see, hear, learn, feel, and conduct continues to be accumulated in your consciousness. According to activity of the accumulated, the characteristic appears, i.e. you are active in some circumstances or you refrain from being active in other circumstances. Through the results of these kinds of activity or behavior, you determine your destiny and change it on your own.
Q: I heard, ‘if I do good behavior, I will be able to obtain a good result’. What does it mean?
A: Good behavior is the behavior which produces a good result. If you shine a light for a person who can’t do anything because of the darkness, it is a good thing because you help the person who couldn’t show the ability in the darkness to be able to do things. If my behavior results in a good thing, it is good behavior. Good behavior makes a good cause.
Q: How can we get back 'ourselves' which we have lost?
A: Every living creature continues to create itself and reproduce itself through activity. For instance, karma makes karma, a human makes a human, and beans make beans. By the way, what exists inside them changes according to foundation and the environment. The foundation of a human is spirit and this spirit moves and becomes active by teachings. Through accepting the enlightened being’s teachings and a hard life of practicing according to the teachings, you can regain yourself and perfect yourself.
Q: What is causality(因緣)?
A: Words and behavior can be the cause of every phenomenon. In other words, words and behavior become the origin of the activity of consciousness. For example, words and behavior can make karma, cause grudges, or build virtues. A word out of my mistake can cause a conflict and the conflict can make me have a grudge. In other words, my momentary behavior can be a thing which harasses me.
There are cases where a single word makes others build karma in them. On the contrary, if a word helps others have courage and enlightenment to receive a blessing and live well, it will be love. If my behavior saves anyone in trouble, it will be light.
You should not speak of anything without seeing what exists. After seeing what exists, you should give a corresponding answer.
Q: Why are Genghis Khan and Toyotomi Hideyoshi called heros?
A: A hero, a genius, or a great leader is born to be as such. The competent are trained through learning. For example, the origin of fruit comes from itself. A wild persimmon is born with the origin of a wild persimmon and a sweet persimmon is born with the origin of a sweet persimmon. In the same way, those who are special are born with the special origins of themselves. When they were young, they were as normal as ordinary children. However, as they grew up, they came to stand out.
Genghis Khan was born as one of the sons of the tribal chief of a small tribe. As he grew up, he came to show his outstanding leadership and kept winning almost all the battles. He led a small number of soldiers to conquer the world. The power of leadership in his consciousness made all he did possible.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan was a man of humble birth. When he was crying on a bridge after being abandoned by his parents, a monk took him to a temple and took care of him. When he got old enough, he left the temple and became a slave of an influential family. Later, a certain occasion let him start to demonstrate his great power. He brought an end to the Warring States period, became a political leader, and exercised his power to the Chosun dynasty. Most of the systems which have built it possible for the present Japan to be established were made in his ruling time. This thing never happens to the learned.
To understand the world of life, we should know properly about what exists in consciousness and a physical body. Although the physical body has an important role in the activity of consciousness, only the activity of the physical body without enlightenment can’t change us for the better. In order that a wild persimmon changes into a sweet persimmon, the wild persimmon should abandon itself. For those with karma to want to be a good person, not abandoning karma, is the same thing as to expect a tree of wild persimmons to bear sweet persimmons. Similarly, We should not expect a venomous snake to produce deer antlers, by giving the snake a drink of water. A venomous snake has the organ which changes water into poison and a deer has the organ which changes water into antlers. Like this, we should always confirm what exists and think highly of it.
