by Nikkyo Niwano

Ask Yourself, "Is This All Right?"

Over a decade ago the Japanese Committee of the World Conference on Religion and Peace (WCRP/Japan) invited Mother Teresa, the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, to Japan to commemorate the first decade of the WCRP. In her keynote speech she said, "The children of Japan are delightful, but the adults seem too fidgety and are lacking something spiritual. There are too few smiling faces, and expressions are gloomy." I remember being struck by this comment. Perhaps she saw that despite our country's affluence, we are constantly on guard, looking out for what may be advantageous to us.

I can't help worrying that eventually we will face a day of reckoning. Even without one, I believe human progress will be impeded if we merely drag our feet through daily life, presuming that this blessed environment will continue indefinitely.

There are many sides to what we call human progress, and what I want to stress here is spiritual progress. Humanity has made tremendous spiritual progress in recognizing that the right to pursue happiness belongs not only to individuals, families, and other small groups, but also to ever larger numbers of people. Sometimes such progress carries the cost of individual self-sacrifice and pain. However, unless one is unafraid of pain and decides to devote oneself to some kind of action, happiness for humanity as a whole will remain out of reach.

What I want to propose here is that you constantly ask yourself, "Is this all right?"--that is, that you continually question in your own mind, "Is the present condition of the world acceptable?" "Is it all right for people in this country to be this way?" "Is my own lifestyle all right the way it is?" If you do this, a variety of uncertainties and doubts appear, like clouds in the sky. To resolve these, you must initiate some form of action.

What action should one take? The first, which seems commonplace enough, is endeavoring to improve oneself; that is, making an effort to take one step forward spiritually, physically, and in the ability to act. Those with a proper worldview will be dissatisfied with that alone, because they know that they will not thrive unless many others are saved materially and spiritually and enjoy happiness. At that point there naturally arises a desire to advance together with everyone else.

A story is told about Albert Schweitzer when he was a young student. He was at home on vacation, and one morning as he gazed at the beautiful early-summer garden outside his window, he was filled with happiness. He contemplated his happiness in being blessed with two kind parents and in being able to devote his time to his favorite studies and to playing the organ. At that very moment, however, a doubt flitted through his mind: Was this the way things should be? Outside his window a small bird continued to chirp. By and by, the words of Jesus Christ came to mind: "Whoever tries to gain his own life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake will gain it." (Matt. 10:39). At that moment he felt something like a revelation seize his entire body. After a moment's contemplation Schweitzer made a pledge in his heart: "Until the age of thirty I shall live for scholarship and art and then I shall devote what remains of my life to the service of humanity." In that instant the course of his life was decided.

On graduating from university, Schweitzer served as a minister and university lecturer and continued playing the organ, a talent which he had exhibited early in life, becoming a man of distinction. On learning that many people in Africa were dying from lack of medical treatment, he decided to carry out the pledge of his earlier days by practicing medicine in Africa. He audited classes in medical care at his alma mater, the University of Strasbourg, and at the age of thirty-eight went to the province of Gabon in what was then French Equatorial Africa and opened a hospital at Lambarene. In the fiercely hot, humid jungle, where epidemics were rampant, Dr. Schweitzer devoted his life to advancing medical treatment in Africa, saved innumerable lives, and lived to be ninety.

Schweitzer's activities in his later years, which were lauded around the world, commenced that summer morning in his youth when he asked himself whether things were as they should be.

The most highly developed nations' way of life is rapidly depleting natural resources and energy supplies. This is the road that takes the human race toward destruction. Unless people of spirit ask themselves whether this is acceptable, and spare no effort to change the way they live, humanity will ultimately be beyond saving.

Since one person alone can never be happy as long as many others are unhappy, we must always ask ourselves whether the status quo is all right.