Tag: Japan

Ten years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, and it can be considered that one milestone has been reached as the passage of time. However, many of the victims are still suffering from various problems. In particular, the sadness of losing a loved one does not heal over time, and the perception of it will differ greatly depending on the individual’s disaster situation.

The wounds that have lost a loved one are always present. When you touch the memory, the nerves are damaged and you feel numb like when you touch the recovered scar. Rather, it is struck by the complex sensations of waiting for something to cover, with the rawness of the exposed nerves being constantly exposed to the air. It will take a long time to recover from the pain. Also, you will not be able to avoid the difficult period. Despite the turmoil of media reports, it’s been 10 years in the disaster area, quiet and gentle as usual.

In other words, it is not possible to impose a time break on “reconstruction of the mind.” Also, the bereaved family must wait slowly without being impatient, even if the sadness does not disappear easily. And it is important to have the opportunity to talk to someone around you without having to carry sadness alone. If possible, it is necessary to create opportunities for discussion with people in the same situation so as not to be isolated. Alternatively, visiting the “Wind Phone” and speaking out aloud your feelings in a space isolated from the outside of the box, or expressing your feelings with all one’s might will release your mind and lead to healing.

“People have the power to adapt to the post-loss world and ultimately regenerate their vitality, no matter how painful they may be,” psychotherapists say. What does that mean? I have never seen or heard a specific explanation.

I thought about why after 10 years. In Buddhism, there is the word “everything is unchanging,” and everything in the world changes. “It is said that there is nothing that does not change. That means that the time will come when human life will eventually die. In other words, human beings are made by incorporating the fact that “human beings die”. And although you may be despaired with that sadness, if you do not consider everything within the understanding of the Creator, even if you have a grief at the death of your loved ones, you can finally regenerate your vitality. It cannot be interpreted as.

But you are OK! Sadness and suffering do not last forever. Everything changes. Fun things always happen. Because humans are created that way.

Recently, end-of-life care that is actively used in the field of intractable diseases and the terminal stage of cancer. In the clinical setting where patients are suffering from the difficult illness of cancer, having doubts about life itself, suffering from the meaning of life, fear of death, anxiety after death, etc., doctors, caregivers and patients Palliative medicine has come to be brought in with the participation of close relatives.

Mother Teresa said, “The dying person is in danger of being isolated from the world of the living, feeling the anxiety and fear of being separated. To alleviate that anxiety, the role of accepting the death. “We need someone to do it,” he said, creating a “house for people waiting for death” and demonstrating that any human being can play a role in receiving the death.

“Anyone who dies by saying goodbye to someone can get the recognition that he existed in this world and get the hope of rebirth to take over something to someone,” he said.

In this way, Mother Teresa practiced cuddling “for those waiting for death” so that the anxieties and fears of the dying people could be removed and the death could be accepted calmly and with peace of mind.

In the case of a disaster, accident, suicide, etc., the death suddenly comes one day without warning.

Unlike dying after a long illness, he died shortly after looking back on his life, verifying his dreams and hopes, and worrying about his future life with his family. For that reason, I think there are many feelings that the deceased party and the bereaved family who were left behind wanted to convey. However, there is no one to convey his feelings anymore, and only sadness with a mixture of regret and anger that cannot be taken anywhere remains.

I have almost the same situation as the “place” of end-of-life care where my cousin got cancer and died while being taken care of by everyone, and the situation where a large number of people suddenly died unexpectedly in the Great East Japan Earthquake. I experienced it at the time.

My cousin (Hirohisa Takekawa) was four years older and 69 years old, and was a hobby teacher of calligraphy and aikido. He has been playing with him since he was a kid and loved him like his brother. In 2009, when he suffered from cancer and was sentenced to three months to live and was fighting against illness, the ephemeral nature of his life never left his mind.

It takes about 80 to 100 years from birth to death, and people will receive it differently depending on whether they see it as short or long. However, when comparing the time a person is alive with the time since he died, it is far longer after he died, and there is time that lasts forever. If so, I thought that it was important to maintain the “bond” even after death, not just the “bond” during life.

The concept of “Wind Phone” was in place at this point. And, in order to cherish this consciousness, he created the poem “Wind Phone”.

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“Wind Phone”

by Itaru Sasaki

Everyone has a past

There is a present and there is a future

In addition, there are encounters and farewells from time to time

Wind Phone talks to those people

Who do you talk to

Is it a word or a letter

Or is it a facial expression?

Wind Phone speaks with heart

Close your eyes quietly

Please listen

The sound of the wind or the sound of the waves

Or if you hear the chirping of a little bird

Please convey your feelings

Your feelings will surely reach that person

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On the other hand, no one died in the disaster. Those who were drunk by the tsunami without any means of sudden events, those who desperately tried to escape but could not avoid it, the circumstances vary, but the victims must have wanted to live even more. It must have been an effort to live somehow. However, when he learned that it wouldn’t come true, he must have prayed for the safety of his family and regretted that he had a lot of things to tell. “I want to live, but I can’t live, I want to convey, but I can’t convey.” When I guessed this feeling, I strongly felt that it was necessary to connect that unfortunate feeling.

Also, even if the family was left behind, if they knew that they couldn’t meet anymore, they should have talked more and more, understood each other better, and created a lot of memories. However, the deceased will not come back by any effort or by any means. I can’t talk or play. Remorse and regret swirl, and thoughts are confused, and various requests from real life lose their sense of reality and tend to lose sight of themselves.

In today’s world, too much emphasis is placed on efficiency, and there is a tendency to draw conclusions quickly. There is a tendency to value only what is visible and what is audible, and to conclude based on that.

However, if you close your eyes, close your ears, and use your imagination, you can see what you cannot see and hear what you cannot hear. I can clearly see my way of thinking.

I think it is important to improve your sensibility and “see with your heart, listen with your heart” in an era where abundant knowledge and technology are developed like modern people.

What is really important, what is really necessary, what is really necessary to convey, and by using your imagination and thinking about things from various angles, you can see the essence of the wind. We are thinking about the importance of nurturing sensibility and imagination through “Wind Phone”.

In September 2019, the surrounding environment, including “Wind Phone” won the 4th International Public Art Award. (Public art refers to works of art in public spaces. The world is divided into 7 blocks, and the winning works are decided in each block. Last year’s award venue was Beijing University.)

Bell Gardia KUJIRAYAMA, which has a “Wind Phone”, can be used by anyone at any time, but even though it is a public space, there are some restrictions inherent in it, unlike a fully open place such as a train station or an airport. I think it is.

It is intended for people who have some sense of loss in the “Wind Phone” itself, and hope to convey their thoughts to those who could not meet soon after telling their thoughts, reduce the burden on their hearts, and change their consciousness to live again. I think it’s a place for people to visit. And I think that it is a place where those people regain their original vitality by experiencing the power of “place” called “Wind Phone” and encourage them to act independently. increase. Therefore, the use of tourists and others is generally an element of “play”, even if it provides an opportunity to empathize with those who have a sense of loss and to think about “life and death”. Is a strong person who does not want to be there.

The feelings of people with grief are that they don’t want others to see their sadness, they don’t want to be pityed, and they don’t want to be sympathized. Ignoring that, “anytime, anyone” will tend to avoid those who are originally needed. “Wind Phone” is operated by restricting tourist information so that it does not happen, and paying close attention to the location, arrangement, environment, etc. of the telephone booth.

I think that the public nature of “Wind Phone” is to close your eyes, close your ears, use your imagination, and let each person think and make decisions.

Regarding your question of why “Wind Phone” leads to healing and restoration of vitality, I think as follows.

When you lose your loved one or loved one, everyone in the world, including you, feels sad about the loss. This is a universal feeling of having the same sadness at any time and in any country, and I think there is something like a law.

It can be said that everyone “lives the story of life.”

Everyone lives with dreams and hopes in life. And I am impressed by the effort to realize them. But until it comes true, it’s a dream, not a reality. That is fiction, a myth. It’s fictional. That’s why it’s a story.

If the members who make up the story die and are missing in the middle of the story, the story will not continue. I feel hopeless because my dreams and hopes have stopped. In addition, the death of an important person loses the meaning of self-existence from the concept that “a person is made alive by others” and feels emptiness in life. Therefore, healing requires finding a new relationship of self-existence. It requires the work of re-spinning a new life story with sensibility and imagination.

Humans have a spiritual activity to recover what they have lost, and healing requires a story of being able to meet again and be reconnected. Self-questioning by “Wind Phone” will lead to the reflection of the previous story and the creation of a new story. In other words, talking to yourself on an unconnected phone will bring back the days that were cut off, and organize your thoughts about what is sad, what is painful, and what is painful. increase. It is a discovery of self, and self-consciousness appears in the form of words, and the surviving person must be aware of the new development of the story, which creates the power to live and consciousness from despair to hope. I think that it has led to the revitalization of living a new life while having sadness by encouraging the change of consciousness.