リンゴ の山 9 月 1 週
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○自由な題名
○鏡
○流れ、自分の利益と相手の利益
○what we think(感) 英文のみのページ(翻訳用)
A few years ago, I was asked to answer this question on a radio program: "What is the biggest lesson you have ever learned?"
That was easy: the biggest thing I have ever learned is the importance of what we think. Tell me what you think, and I will know what you are. Our thoughts make us what we are. How can we be anything else?
I am sure that the biggest lesson you and I have to learn - in fact, almost the only lesson we have to learn - is choosing the right thoughts. If we can do that, we will be on the highway to solving a11 our worries. One of the greatest thinkers, Marcus Aurelius, said it in eight words - eight words that can decide your life: "Our life is what we think of it."
Yes, if we think happy thoughts, we will be happy. If we think sad thoughts, we will be sad. If we think right thoughts, we will not be wrong. If we think unhealthy thoughts, we will be ill.
As I grow older, I know well how great the power of thought is. As a result of thirty-five years spent in teaching, I know men and women can send away worry, fear, and various kinds of illnesses, and change their lives by changing thoughts.
For example, one of these unbelievable changes which showed the power of thought happened to one of my students. He had a heavy illness. This student told me, "I worried about everything: I worried because I was too short; because I thought I was losing my hair; because I feared I was losing the gir1 I wanted to marry; because I felt I was not living a good life. I could no longer work; I gave up my job. The pressure got so strong that something had to happen - and it did.
"My illness was so bad that I couldn't talk even to my own family. I had no control over my thoughts. I was filled with emptiness. Every day was one of sadness. I wanted to jump into the river and end it all.
"But I decided to take a trip to Florida. I hoped that a change of air would help me. When I got on the train, my father handed me a letter and told me not to open it until I reached Florida. I arrived in Florida during the summer season. Because I couldn't get in a hotel, I rented a sleeping room in a garage. I tried to get a job, but couldn't. I spent my time near the sea. I was more unhappy in Florida than at home; so I opened the letter from Dad. His note said, 'Son, you are 1,500 miles from home, and you don't feel any different, do you? I knew you wouldn't, because you took with you the one thing that makes you unhappy; that is, yourself. There is nothing wrong with either your body or your mind. It is not the things that you have met but what you think of these things. "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." When you understand that, son, come home. Then you will be fine.'
"Dad's letter made me angry. I was looking for some kind words, not teaching. I was very angry, so I thought then and there that I would never go home. That night when I was walking down one of the side streets of Miami, I came to a church in which services were going on. As I had no place to go, I went in and listened to a sermon on the text:‘He who controls his mind is stronger than he who takes a city.' I sat in the house of God and heard the same thoughts from Dad's 1etter - and then all my worries left me. I was able to think clearly for the first time in my life. I said to myself,‘What a fool I have been!' I was surprised to see myself in my true light: here I wanted to change the whole world and everyone in it - what the only thing that needed changing was the direction of the lens of the camera which was my mind."

★映画「地球交響曲」の(感)
 【1】映画「地球交響曲」のシナリオハンティングのため、フィンランド北部ラップランドの森を歩いた。ラップランドはすでに北極圏に入っている地域で、冬は雪と氷と暗闇の世界になる。【2】その分、夏は正反対の世界となり、ラップランドの森は、この夏のわずか数か月の間に、あらゆる草木が一気に芽吹き、花開き、萌えるような緑に包まれる。【3】ラップランドの夏の森は、まさにすべての生命によって奏でられる地球交響曲のコンサート会場といった雰囲気であった。しかし、ラップランドの森は、実は、エアコンの効いた都会のコンサートホールではなく、真の野性が保たれている大自然である。【4】撮影を目的として大自然の中に踏み入る時、私はいつも二つの矛盾した世界の上に立たされることになる。私は大自然の中でシンフォニーをともに奏でる演奏者のひとりとなるのか、それともそのシンフォニーに耳を傾ける観客のひとりなのか。
 【5】ラップランドの夏の森に一歩足を踏み入れると、まず最初に出迎えてくれるのは、美しい若葉の緑でもなく、色鮮やかな草花でもなく、実はおびただしい数の蚊やブヨの大群なのだ。【6】しかもその数としつこさは都会生活に慣れた私たちの想像を絶するものがある。写真で見た風景の美しさにひかれてこの森にやって来る都会からの旅人たちは、まずこの洗礼を受けることになる。
 【7】だから森に入る旅人は長袖、長ズボン、そして蚊よけ帽子をかぶるのが鉄則となる。ところが、私の立場はそうはいかない。まず第一に、蚊よけ帽子をかぶっていたのでは撮影ができない。【8】そして何よりも、このようないわばバリヤーを自分のからだの周囲に築いてしまうことは、森と対話する最も重要な回路を自ら閉じてしまうことになるからだ。
 森の本当の美しさは、嗅覚・聴覚・触覚など五感のすべてが解放されてこそ初めて見えてくる。【9】五感のすべてを解放し、全身で森と対話した時、初めて森は私を受け入れてくれる。
 多様な木々、草花、虫たち、動物たち、風、匂い、光などすべてが深く関わり合って一つの大きな生命体として生きている森。【0】森のすべての生命がそれぞれの役割をにないながら、ともに一つの生∵命のシンフォニーを奏でている。そこには安全に隔離された観客席はない。もし森が奏でるシンフォニーを聴きたいなら、どうしてもその森の一員として、隅っこにでも加えてもらわなければならない。
 ラップランドの森の夏は短い。蚊たちはこの短い夏の間に、必死で生きて子孫を残そうとしている。夏の森に侵入してきた私の肉体から血を吸いとろうとするのは森の自然の摂理そのものなのだ。私が感じるかゆさもまた森が奏でるシンフォニーの楽音の一つなのかもしれない。そう思うと、刺された時のかゆさは変わらないにしても、そのことに心乱されることからは少し解放されるような気がした。風や匂いや音に感覚を研ぎすます余裕も生まれた。

(龍村仁(たつむらじん)著「地球のささやき」による。)