Regular readers of my previous post - What Then? Be A Prostitute? - have correctly guessed I'm poking parrots who just vomit out mindless catchphrases without much internalisation or deeper thought themselves.
Let's take ikigai.
What comes to mind immediately?
The diagram below?
Hands up anyone who have heard only of the this word "ikigai" or seen the diagram above, but have not read any actual literature on ikigai?
That didn't stop anyone from "pretending" to know everything there is about ikigai, does it?
Want to bet if you talk to a Japanese, or to be more precise, an Okinawan, they wouldn't express ikigai like the diagram above?
The diagram above is definitely something a Westerner would come up with! Everything with clear boundaries - with a name for each box you happen to belong to. A is for apple... B is for boy...
As for those of us who have not forgotten our Oriental roots and culture, you would know right away that's not how we Asians think! Philosophically speaking - we are very holistic and fuzzy, fuzzy; often clear as mud!
Its like trying to describe the taste of mango to someone who has never eaten one.
That's why I prefer to describe ikigai as, "The reason we get up in the morning."
Of the many descriptions of ikigai, I like this one the best!
Why?
Remember those days when we were young we can't wait for tomorrow to arrive? It could be Christmas, a school excursion, going on a date, a sporting event?
As we enter the workforce, ever had those days when we were eager to show up at work every morning? Or during the weekends, we can't wait for Monday to come sooner?
But when we drag waking up in the mornings, or suffer from Monday blues, we know something is not right in our lives...
Some numb themselves with alcohol or drugs.
Extreme cases, some decide to not to wake up ever...
On a side note, please seek medical help or talk to a person that matters if you find yourself avoiding waking up in the mornings persistently.
In case you didn't know, although ikigai as a concept has existed as part of Japan's culture, it was Meiko Kamiya who popularised ikigai to the general public in modern day Japan through her book, "On the meaning of life (ikigai)" in 1966.
Surprisingly, her book was never translated to English!?
Want to see the Japanese version of ikigai in picture?
Hey! I'm going off tangent again!
Some readers may exclaim in frustration...
Some are probably still waiting for the reasons why I'm poking both contradictory catchphrases below:
1. Follow your passion!
2. Follow your passion is the worst career advice!
Well, it's your life.
Who better to judge whether your life has meaning, or are you happy?
Plus whether the pursuit of more money would fill the holes-in-your-heart...
And you don't mind being a prostitute at all just as long the money is right!
Or is you life so shallow that you are easily manipulated influenced by some mere catchphrases uttered or written by people whom you don't know well at all?
A western dude I know used to bring up Raison d'être (reason for being) all the time. I would like to think that popular concepts / ideas such as ikigai, wabi-sabi, mindfulness etc aren't really meant to be taken as immmutable truths. Instead, I prefer to use them as guiding lights to help bring some clarity to the path that I should take.
ReplyDeleteKevin,
DeleteThere will be this "fashion of the moment" thing in everything we do.
Nobody would be learning from the Japanese if not for their economic might during the 80s... Cultural export goes hand-in-hand with wealth and power ;)
Today, the Korean wave is sweeping all over the world. I won't be surprised there will be more Westerners studying and writing books to "popularise" Korean catchphrases or philosophies into our everyday England use in the future.
Especially when economic power moves from the West back to the East this century...
And if China becomes like the economic and cultural powerhouse of the Tang dynasty in the near future, everyone would be dropping Chinese idioms and words of wisdom in their everyday speech!
Big daddy in its infinite wisdom, has opted to retain our cultural roots by insisting we take our 2nd languages.
During my stay in Shanghai, I'm pleasantly surprised by the number of Westerners and Africans who can speak Mandarin better than the average Singaporean Chinese!!!
Smol,
ReplyDeleteThe reason I get up in the morning is an irritating alarm 2 metres from the bed.
Followed by a kick from wifey if I slouch back to snooze.
Still trying to figure out if that's my ikigai. Wifey will say yes!
Spur,
DeleteSmart woman!
If you don't get out of bed, she would have to ;)
Man Friday, get my breakfast!
LOL!
The reason why I can wake up in the morning is that I have survived and contribute 1 data point to survivors statistics.
DeleteCW,
DeleteI think we are the few "walking down the mountain" bloggers ;)
Coming end of this year, it will be your 5th year after retiring fulltime from age 60.
For me, it will be my 10th year taking sabbatical from fulltime work since age 44.
Thank goodness we are still alive and kicking!
And have not blown our investment/trading accounts yet!!!
LOL!
Hi SMOL,
ReplyDeleteWe can compartmentalize first then mesh things up. That's why it's a venn diagram - makes us think through each part then find all the overlaps and then goes ah-ha I think I am belonging somewhere here. However, the drawback is it seems so restrictively defined...
What if wake up because we "work" for our family, what if because 职责所在?
Often some things need to be forsaken for some things...
Nothing grandeur like "what the world needs". First ask what we need and what our loved ones need.
Rainbow girl,
DeleteYour description on the venn diagram is spot on!
The Western method is to "dumb things down" so everyone and anyone can easily arrive at their "supposed" ikigai. No one gets left behind!
A bit patronising... But still...
That's when most casual readers may mistake aspirations, dreams, visions, goals for "ikigai"...
Discovering our ikigai is not supposed to be "easy" ;)
First question we need to ask is whether we are living for ourselves, or for others?
Next, what is our purpose here on Earth? (OK, for those who are religious this is much easier. But is it?)
Put against these 2 philosophical questions, how do goals like FIRE at age 35 or 1M65 stack up?
The true test whether we have lived our lives true to our ikigai or not is on our death beds. Either we go with a smile or with regrets...
Women have it harder.
A man can work 60 hour work weeks, no time for wife or children, but just as long he brings home the bacon, society will still call him a responsible husband or father.
If a woman did the same for the sake of her career aspirations, society will "chastise" what kind of wife or mother she is!?
On the flip side, I am quite impressed with young men who dare to be stay-at-home dads/husband!
Most relatives or neighbours would probably look at the wife with pitiful eyes... She married a "loser", didn't she?
But to the wife, she has struck the jackpot! How many men will support their wives' career aspirations? How many men are truly comfortable when their wives earn more than them?
Even today, there are some places or cultures that prefer women to be uneducated. How to have ikigai when you don't even have the freedom to think for yourselves?
For me, I only dared to contemplate what's my ikigai only after I'm at peace with myself for being a penguin.
I'm a bird who "flies" different from other birds ;)
FIRE birds no need to wake early in the morning to catch worms so less competition for other birds to feed themselves. Doing good for others too?
DeleteCW,
DeleteDo you believe it yourself?
First it was foreign competition to "blame"...
What's next?
"Blame" old fogeys for hogging the good jobs or getting in the way?
Sure! Maybe someone should tell big daddy NOT to raise our retirement age to 70!?
How about reducing it back to age 55 like our parent's time?
Look everyone! Less "competition" from old fogeys!
LOL!
P.S. See? Discovering our ikigai is not easier even when we have achieved FIRE.
There's only so many times we can walk round Singapore. So many overseas trips before we get jaded...
When we have enough, no mountains to climb, what's to make us get up in the morning and look forward to a NEW day?
I see a lot of old fogeys around my place having little dogs as pets nowadays.
I guess if their married children are not having babies, pets are the alternative to not having grandchildren...
Observe. I suspect more old fogeys will "question" their ikigai if our birth rates keep dropping!
I wake up in the morning because I really need to pee. hahahaha....
ReplyDeleteFrankly, I agree with the part of us when young waiting for tomorrow to come and nowadays is more like, err....
The diagram is interesting and it makes a lot of sense. What you love, What you are good at, what you are paid for and what the world need. But it focuses a lot on oneself and what.
Sometimes need to ask why also.
What the world needs sometimes drive what we love, what we are good at and what we are paid. So if the world needs evil, then......
Most parents wake up for their kids. Most kids wake up for pleasure. Most people wake up for the sake of waking up without know why they need to.
Rolf,
DeleteTrust an atheist in me to ask where does "living in his glory" fit in the venn diagram???
Isn't it a little bad taste to always first ask how much will I be paid before doing anything!?
So youths who petition for bolder climate change initiatives, save the trees, protect the animals... How much were they "paid" to get their participation?
Eh...
I like your "why".
Once youths get a job, be married, have children... I guess the "why" gets forgotten...
Idealism turns into having more money will solve all my problems!
Prosperity gospel for the win!
The reason why so bookshops have so much self help section.
ReplyDeleteSo many snake oil salesmen want to sell "solutions" to the beikambings.
And many people buy many books to search for the solution, but likely, if you can't think for yourself, you'll probably find it hard to find the solution.
The utter irony of... if you can think, you don't need the books, if you cannot think, buy the books also no use.
ERSG,
DeleteYou know what?
What you've said is the best I've read on the "purpose" of having an education!
Most would equate having an education to earning money, improve our social status, gain prestige, blah, blah, blah...
I'm humbled.
Namaste.