There are times in life when we must endure. There are also times when we must wait. There are times when we have no choice but to suffer days of submission.

At times like these, which are inevitable in all our lives, I want you to view the circumstances in the following way: “In order to be fully ready for the time that is to come, I will prepare all that needs to be prepared.”

Preparations That Support Successful Re-insertion of Akatsuki

The Venus orbiter Akatsuki (“Dawn”), launched in May 2010, failed to enter Venus orbit in December that year as planned due to a disorder in its injection engine. It seemed that the original plan hit a snag. However, the team members of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) did not judge the situation as a failure, but perceived it as Chaos, in the terminology of the Study of the Soul, and began searching for the best possible way to gain value from this circumstance.

In other words, they thought that the situation still had possibilities that could be realized. Crucial was that the team did not only think so, but they also examined the problems of the orbiter thoroughly, and at the same time they meticulously went through the orbital calculations to set up a series of repeated fine corrections that might allow orbital re-insertion. They made incessant efforts and prepared everything so they be able to make a perfect choice at the very moment that they believed was to come.

On December 7, 2015, five and a half years after its launch, the orbiter Akatsuki was successfully re-inserted into Venus’s orbit, in spite of the failure at its first attempt. It was an unprecedented step in space exploration.

Chance Favors the Prepared Mind Even if we make one plan, create its blueprint, and work on it, it is not uncommon that it does not go to plan and we have to stop midway. This is more likely the case when we aim for important and far-seeing aspirations and goals.

At that time, if we do not label such unwanted situations as failures, but reinterpret them as Chaos, we can open a path for our own reattempts.

Of course, the decisive moment may not come around immediately. It may take a month, a year, or five years as was the case with Akatsuki.

If that reattempt is part of the blueprint of your life, you should choose to go forward towards that very time without hesitation. During that time, it is nothing but incessant preparation that will lead you to reattempt and achieve a positive result.

It is well-known that Thomas Edison, the master of invention, tried thousands of materials that best worked as the filament for an electric bulb, and conducted one experiment after another. Sir James Dyson, who invented the epoch-making vacuum cleaner that separates dust and dirt from drawn in air by applying the principle of centrifugation, said that he had made 5127 trial machines before he came up with the plan of the first prototype product. It means that both Edison and

Dyson had many repeated failures.

The failures that happen while trying to achieve a purpose have significance.

Louis Pasteur, who studied invisible bacteria, was another who fully realized the importance of continuous efforts. However, no matter how many efforts one makes, it may not always be rewarded in the world of the pursuit of truth. That is why Louis Pasteur encourages us with the following remark:

“Chance Favors the Prepared Mind.”

Devoted preparations that we accumulate, aiming for the right purpose and aspiration, provide the foundation to invite such chance.

Preliminary translation as of February 16, 2016

GLA member-volunteers translated Takahashi Sensei’s words.
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