Hara-kiri virus in Japan. Causes and possibilities of cure
The hara-kiri rite originated in medieval Japan. Literally "harakiri" is translated as "cut the belly." The man himself opened his stomach with a sword, inflicting a mortal wound and experiencing severe pain and torment. It was a ritual suicide, officially enshrined as an honorable death, which was practiced among the upper class of Japan - the samurai. A kind of passive protest against any injustice.
Japan is a country known for its identity. A European, getting here, notes how much the Japanese differ even from their Asian neighbors, not just from the inhabitants of the European continent. The rapid development of technology, technological progress, significant advances in medicine, social security are side by side here with an extreme degree of emotional closeness, sexual promiscuity (in the opinion of a European who is not accustomed to such a freedom to distribute pornography) and absolute disregard for the value of life. Suicide in Japan is a national problem and huge amounts of money are spent on prevention.
In 2006, Japan ranked 9th in the world in terms of suicide rates, 71% of which were committed by men between the ages of 20 and 44. The increase in the number of people who have committed suicide continues. In 2009, it amounted to more than 30 thousand people, that is, 26 people per 100 thousand of the population. This meant that suicide was committed here every 15 minutes. In this sense, Japan stands out significantly against the background of other developed countries.
What is the reason for this state of affairs? What makes young and able-bodied people die with such a high standard of living? The Japanese police agency cites job loss, depression, pressure from society as the main reasons for the increase in the number of suicides, and also finds an additional 50 motives. Moreover, in each case, up to two or three reasons for the death are indicated.
Many believe that the reason lies in the traditions of the Japanese people, who from time immemorial consider suicide to be the most honorable and glorious way to solve problems. This is evidenced by the medieval rite of hara-kiri (or seppuku), and the appearance during World War II of Japanese kamikaze pilots who deliberately sacrificed their lives in order to inflict the greatest damage on the enemy, and the banzai attacks of the Japanese army in the same war, which did not wage to victory and in fact turned into mass suicidal acts intended only to show that the spirit of the army is not broken. Where did these traditions come from?
The essence of hara-kiri is ritual suicide
The hara-kiri rite originated in medieval Japan. Literally "harakiri" is translated as "cut the belly." The man himself opened his stomach with a sword, inflicting a mortal wound and experiencing severe pain and torment. It was a ritual suicide, officially enshrined as an honorable death, which was practiced among the upper class of Japan - the samurai. A kind of passive protest against any injustice.
For example, when a warrior was defeated, he thus had to maintain his honor. Or due to the fact that he could not apply his professional military skills as part of the feudal army (just like a modern Japanese when he loses his job-realization - isn't it a similar reaction to the situation?). The most striking example of military prowess was shown by Masashige Kusunoki, who committed seppuku along with 60 devoted friends after the battle they lost. Until now, it is considered the most noble act in Japanese history, demonstrating loyalty to duty and purity of intention.
Harakiri was not done out of despair, but rather resembled a sacrifice in the name of some idea, but in general, it was a way out of any difficult situation in which a samurai fell. Sometimes it got to the point that two samurai, just arguing, opened their bellies. How easily they parted with life!
When the social system of Japan began to focus on the European way of life, hara-kiri was officially abolished, but it did not disappear from the life of the Japanese at all. Its echoes are also manifested in modern Japan, although no one opens their belly anymore, now they die in more modern ways.
The influence of the past is especially felt when prominent persons of the state (diplomats, ministers, writers) commit suicide, each fact of suicide of which is accompanied by the hidden approval of the nation and pulls a trail of glory and greatness.
Why is this so in Japan, while in European countries suicide is considered a grave sin? System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan helps to answer this question, proceeding from the concept of "people's mentality".
Japanese mentality
The geographical position of the Japanese state is unique due to the isolation of the islands on which it is located. Therefore, for a fairly long period of its history, all the attention of Japanese society was focused on internal problems, and not on the development of relations with other states. There was even a period in the history of Japan (from 1641 to 1853) when the policy of self-isolation played a significant role - Sakoku, which translates as "a country locked up." At that time, under pain of death, the Japanese were not allowed to build ships for long voyages, leave the country and have trade relations with their neighbors.
It was also impossible to expand, since Japan was always surrounded by strong neighbors with a centuries-old ancient history and strong statehood (in its modern form, it is China, Korea), and in the north the climate was not as favorable as on the Japanese islands. Therefore, the socio-economic conditions of this country developed practically independently of what was happening on the Asian continent. All this has left a special imprint on the formation of the mentality of Japan.
According to the system-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan, the entire volume of the human mental is divided into eight vectors - eight groups of desires and properties. The lower vectors - cutaneous, anal, urethral and muscular - contribute to human survival in the material world. They also shape the mentality of countries.
The mentality of Japan is the same as in developed European countries - skin-like, but with its own differences. The skin mentality develops in countries with a small territory, with clear, almost physically felt boundaries. This is precisely the situation in Europe, where the population is forced to intensify their labor, to think about the greatest efficiency of their actions in order to squeeze everything out of the small piece of land allocated to them by the historical process. However, there were good roads in Europe, which contributed to the development of the properties of the skin outward - in trade, in the realization of the desire of the skin person for movement and novelty.
Japan, limited from all sides by water, did not develop the skin properties of its mentality outward, but only inward, which led to such phenomena as extreme asceticism, minimalism in everything, hypereconomy of time and space, the emergence of a code of social norms and restrictions "weight", which called for restraint of emotions, movements.
The formation of a cult and even suicide mania was facilitated by a special component of the Japanese mentality - a superstructure, which was determined by the state of the sound measure of this country.
Isolated sound
It is believed that the hara-kiri rite appeared under the influence of the dogmas of Zen Buddhism. In the concept of this teaching, the human soul was located not in the heart or in the head, but in the stomach. In Japanese, one character stands for "belly" and "soul" and "secret thoughts" and "intentions". Therefore, the seppuku ritual was supposedly designed to "let the soul out", to show the purity of their intentions, to prove their inner righteousness. Thus, hara-kiri was considered “an extreme justification of oneself in front of heaven and people,” that is, it was more related to spiritual action.
In addition, Zen Buddhism spoke about the frailty of the transient earthly life, hence such a disregard for it. Among the military-feudal class of busidage, there was a cult of death, inspired by the teachings of Zen. And yet the reason is not that. It is, rather, a consequence, the adaptation of the teaching to your needs. Indeed, in other countries where Buddhism is widespread, it did not cause the spread of the suicide virus.
System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan says that the main desire of a person with a sound vector is spiritual categories - knowing oneself and the meaning of life. The physical world does not bother him. And if he does not receive an answer to his main questions: “Who am I? Why am I?”, Then his soul hurts, which manifests itself in depressive states, and asks for release from the shackles of the mortal body, which creates a tendency to suicide.
The existence of the hara-kiri rite and the current suicidal problems speaks of the unfilled, sick state of the sound measure of Japanese society, whatever the rationalizations of the reasons for suicide may be. This is really an attempt of the soul to free itself from the problems of this world, because the problems of spiritual search are not solved.
Without a doubt, in Japan, the values of the sound vector are fundamental, and spiritual aspirations are very strong, which so attracts sound lovers of searching for the meaning of life to her. This is again due to the special geographic conditions. How fragile and dependent on natural forces is the life of a Japanese for centuries! Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis - common phenomena for the Japanese archipelago - make its inhabitants think about the frailty of life, about life and death, and direct their attention to the metaphysical and spiritual world.
Hence, many rituals and events reflecting the spiritual search of the Japanese people. This is admiring sakura flowers in an attempt to feel the universe, and the hara-kiri rite, which demonstrates the priority of fortitude over earthly life, and special Japanese poems of hokku, which briefly convey abstract meanings in their skin and sound.
And nevertheless, this sound search, formed as a result of isolation, does not go out (such is the Japanese mentality), limiting itself to searching within oneself. But there are no answers inside. And this plunges the sound measure first into depression, and then into suicide. This is evidenced by the numerous manifestations of Japan's sound distress, ranging from the general virtual gambling addiction and ending with the complete asexuality of Japanese society, which is a consequence of complete sexual permissiveness and is already becoming a real threat to the country's demography.
Suicide is not an option
And yet it is not for nothing that in most traditions suicide is considered a terrible sin. System-vector psychology of Yuri Burlan says that a suicide completely erases his mark in the mental, destroying forever his soul, and with it all his contribution to the development of the human species. From the point of view of nature, this is the greatest sin. After all, the value of each individual human life is determined by how much the person contributed to the survival of the whole.
While the sound measure is sick at the level of the nation, humanity, nature is sick with it, responding with cataclysms, which are becoming more and more, which the inhabitants of the Japanese islands feel on themselves in the most obvious way.
The ability to go beyond the framework of individual development, to feel like a part of the whole, to understand this whole as oneself - this is what heals a sound person, regardless of where he lives. This could be a real solution to the problem of suicide, not only in Japan, but throughout the world. For this, there is a system-vector psychology - the science of the human soul, which allows you to deeply know yourself and the people around you, to fill the sound desires of the search for the meaning of life.
If you are interested in learning everything about yourself and the world, sign up for free introductory online lectures by Yuri Burlan. Register here: www.yburlan.ru/training/registration-zvuk
