Excerpts from Recent Lectures and Guidance

I called to you and said, "Hoshin Daigaku students, be ambitious!" urging you to envision your future vividly, your life from here on once again.

As you may know, the phrase “Be ambitious!” came from Dr. William Smith Clark, who had been invited to Hokkaido University by the Meiji government that expected him to help with Japan's modernization. When he left Japan, he said to his young students, “Boys, be ambitious!”

Actually, Dr. Clark said much more than this to them. What did he also say?　He said, "Boys, be ambitious. Be ambitious not for money or for selfish aggrandizement, not for that evanescent thing which men call fame. Be ambitious for the attainment of all that a man ought to be.”

Dr. Clark uttered these words. What do you think everyone, regarding “for the attainment of all that a man ought to be”? I believe that he was talking about the “Mission of Human Beings.”

What he wanted them to realize, I believe, was to discover the human force which has been given to each one of us to achieve everything as a human being; in other words, to fulfill a vocation in their lives.

At the same time, Dr. Clark’s words seem to indicate discernment between light and darkness within ourselves. He must have meant to say, “Have an ambition which must not be any wishes associated with your inner darkness such as money, self-interest, or fame, but an aspiration based on your soul’s inner light for your mission.”

These ambitions of Hoshin Daigaku students are different from those of youths. At the Hoshin Daigaku, you have learned that as you have been living for 60, 65, 70, or 80 years up until now, you are able to see an outcome of the middle of your life, which is called an “Intermediate Result”. It is the outcome that has resulted from the realities that you have created through your life in this world as consequences of the light and darkness within you.

Since you are able to discern the light and darkness that appeared in your life by looking back upon your long life up to now to see how you have lived it, you are able to come up with an ambition based on that reflection. That is what we call the ambition that Hoshin Daigaku students should have.

May 31, 2014: 2014 Hoshin Daigaku Seminar at GLA Yatsugatake Inochi-no-Sato (second day)