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The issues you are now experiencing all stem from the single word (ICHIRO KISHIMI & FUMITAKE KOGA)

The issues you are now experiencing all stem from the single word (ICHIRO KISHIMI & FUMITAKE KOGA)

PHILOSOPHER: Well, can you tell me what is going on?
YOUTH: You’re asking why I have come to visit this study again? Well, unfortu-
nately, I’m not here just to hang out and renew an old friendship. I’m sure you
are busy, and my situation, too, is that I have little time for such things. So,
naturally, there is a pressing issue that has brought me here again.
PHILOSOPHER: Yes, of course, it would seem so.
YOUTH: I have thought things over. I have worried and obsessed over it all more
than is necessary and thought it all completely through. In doing so, I arrived at
a very serious resolution and decided to come here to convey it to you. I know
you have much to do, so please give me your time for just this one evening. Be-
cause this will probably be my final visit.
PHILOSOPHER: What happened?
YOUTH: Haven’t you figured it out? It’s the problem I’ve been suffering over for
so long: ‘Do I give up on Adler or not?’
PHILOSOPHER: Ah. I see.
YOUTH: I’ll get right to the point: Adler’s ideas are quackery. Utter quackery.
Actually, I have to go further and say that they are dangerous, even harmful
ideas. While you yourself are certainly free to choose what you wish to adhere
to, if possible I’d like to get you to be quiet about it for once and for all. I’ve re-
solved to make this my final visit tonight as I’ve said, in the knowledge that I
had to give up on Adler completely, in your presence and with this feeling in my
heart.
PHILOSOPHER: So, was there some event that triggered this?
YOUTH: I will talk this through calmly and in an orderly fashion. First, do you re-
call that final day three years ago, when I last saw you?
PHILOSOPHER: Of course I do. It was a winter’s day, with glistening white snow
all around.
YOUTH: Yes, it was. The night sky was a beautiful blue, and there was a full
moon. Under the influence of Adler’s ideas, that day I took a great step forward.
I quit my job at the university library and found a teaching position at my old
middle school. I thought I’d like to put into practice a kind of education that
was based on Adler’s ideas and bring it to as many children as possible.
PHILOSOPHER: Isn’t that a wonderful decision?

YOUTH: Sure. I was burning with idealism then. I simply couldn’t keep such
wonderful, world-changing ideas all to myself. I had to get more people to
understand them. But whom? I could arrive at only one conclusion. The adults,
who are no longer pure and unsoiled, aren’t the ones who need to know about
Adler. It’s by bringing his thoughts to the children who will build a new gener-
ation that his ideas will continue to evolve. That was the mission I had been as-
signed. The fire inside me was burning so bright, I might well have burned my-
self.
PHILOSOPHER: I see. You can speak of this only in the past tense?
YOUTH: That’s right; it’s totally history now. But please don’t misunderstand
me. I haven’t lost hope in my students. And neither have I lost hope or given up
with regard to education itself. It’s just that I have lost hope in Adler—which is
to say, I have lost hope in you.
PHILOSOPHER: Why is that?
YOUTH: Well, that’s something for you to contemplate and ask yourself! Adler’s
ideas have no use in actual society and are nothing more than abstract, empty
theories. Especially that education principle that states, ‘One must not praise,
and one must not rebuke.’ And just so you know, I’ve followed it faithfully. I
didn’t praise, and I didn’t rebuke anyone, either. I didn’t give praise for perfect
scores on tests or for a thorough job cleaning up. I didn’t rebuke anyone for
forgetting to do their homework or for being noisy in class. What do you think
happened as a result of this?
PHILOSOPHER: You got an unruly classroom?
YOUTH: Completely. But when I think back on it all now, that was only natural. It
was my fault for getting taken in by such cheap quackery.
PHILOSOPHER: So, what did you do about it?
YOUTH: Needless to say, for the students who were doing bad things, I chose
the path of stern rebuke. I know you’re probably going to make light of that and
tell me it was a foolish solution. But look, I’m not a person who busies himself
with philosophy and gets lost in daydreams. I am an educator who lives, and
who handles real, on-the-ground situations, and looks after students’ lives and
destinies. Because the reality right in front of us never waits—it’s moving con-
stantly from moment to moment. You can’t just sit back and do nothing!
PHILOSOPHER: How effective is it?

YOUTH: Naturally, if I rebuke them any further, it doesn’t do any good. Because
they disparage me now—I’m just a softy to them. Honestly, there are even
times when I envy the teachers of ages past, when physical punishment was
permitted and even standard.
PHILOSOPHER: It’s not an easy situation.
YOUTH: True. Just so there isn’t any misunderstanding, I should add that I am
not letting my emotions take over or getting angry. I’m only rebuking, in a ratio-
nal manner, as a last resort for the purposes of education. I guess you could
say I’m prescribing an antibiotic medicine called ‘reprimand’.
PHILOSOPHER: And then you felt you wanted to give up on Adler?
YOUTH: Well, I mentioned that just to give you a clear example. Adler’s ideas are
certainly wonderful. They shake up your value system and make you feel like the
cloudy skies over your head are clearing up; like your life has changed. They
would seem to be beyond reproach, a universal truth even. But the fact of the
matter is that the only place they hold water is right here, in this study. Once
you throw open the door and dive into the actual world, Adler’s ideas are just
too naïve. The arguments they put forward are quite impractical and nothing but
empty idealism. You’ve just been fabricating a world that suits your purposes
here in this room and losing yourself in daydreams. You don’t know a thing
about the real world and the swarming masses of people who live in it!
PHILOSOPHER: I see . . . And then?
YOUTH: An education in which one neither praises nor rebukes? An education
that espouses autonomy and leaves students to fend for themselves? That’s
nothing other than a renunciation of one’s professional duties as an educator.
From now on, I am going to face the children in a way that is very different from
Adler’s. I don’t care if it is ‘right’ or not. Because I have no other choice. I will
praise, and I will rebuke. And naturally, I will have to mete out harsh punish-
ment as well.
PHILOSOPHER: Just to confirm, you’re not going to quit working as an educator,
are you?
YOUTH: Of course not. I will never give up on the path of being an educator. Be-
cause it is the path I have chosen. It is not an occupation, but a way of living.
PHILOSOPHER: It is most reassuring to hear that.
YOUTH: So, you think this is just somebody else’s problem? If I’m going to
continue as an educator, I’ve got to give up on Adler right here and now! If I
don’t, I’ll be renouncing my responsibilities as an educator and abandoning my
students. This is the proverbial blade to your throat. Well, what’s your re-
sponse?
* * *
PHILOSOPHER: First, allow me to make a correction. You used the word ‘truth’
earlier. But I am not presenting Adler as an absolute, immutable truth. One
might say that what I am doing is giving a prescription for eyeglass lenses. I be-
lieve there are many people whose fields of vision have been broadened as a re-
sult of these lenses. On the other hand, there are probably those who say their
vision has become even cloudier than before. I do not consider trying to force
these lenses of Adler on such people.
YOUTH: Oh, so you run away from them?
PHILOSOPHER: No. Let’s look at it this way. No other form of thought is as easy
to get wrong and as hard to get right as Adlerian psychology. The majority of
those who say, ‘I know Adler’ misunderstand his teachings. They do not pos-
sess the courage to approach a true understanding, and they do not try to look
directly at the landscape that spreads out beyond this way of thought.
YOUTH: People misunderstand Adler?
PHILOSOPHER: That’s right. If someone comes into contact with Adler’s ideas
and is immediately moved very deeply and says, ‘Life is easier now,’ that person
is grossly misunderstanding Adler. Because when one truly understands what
Adler is demanding of us, one is likely to be shocked by its severity.
YOUTH: So, you are saying that I, too, misunderstand Adler?
PHILOSOPHER: Yes, from everything you have been telling me, it would seem
so. You are certainly not alone in this, however. There are many Adlerians
(practitioners of Adlerian psychology) who misunderstand him at the outset
and then climb the stairway of understanding. It would seem that you haven’t
actually found the stairway that you should climb yet. I didn’t find it right away
either, when I was young.
YOUTH: Huh. You had a period when you were lost, too?
PHILOSOPHER: Yes, I did.
YOUTH: Then, I want you to teach me. Where is this stairway to understanding,
or whatever it is? What do you mean by ‘stairway’ anyway? Where did you find it?
PHILOSOPHER: I was fortunate. Because I was a househusband in the midst of
raising a young child when I came to know Adler.
YOUTH: What do you mean?
PHILOSOPHER: Through my child, I learned Adler, and, together with my child, I
was able to practise and thus deepen my understanding and obtain positive
proof of Adler.
YOUTH: So, that’s what I’m asking you to tell me! What did you learn? And what
is this positive proof you obtained?
PHILOSOPHER: In a word, it was ‘love’.
YOUTH: What did you say?
PHILOSOPHER: You don’t really need me to say it again, do you?
YOUTH: Ha-ha, what a laugh! Love, the thing that there’s no need to speak of?
You’re saying that if I want to know the real Adler, I have to know about love?
PHILOSOPHER: You who can laugh at this word do not yet understand it. The
love Adler speaks of is the harshest and most courage-testing task of all.
YOUTH: Oh, please! You’re just going to recite some preachy talk about
neighbourly love. I don’t want to hear it.
PHILOSOPHER: Just now you stated that you have reached a dead-end in educa-
tion and have a feeling of distrust for Adler. And then you are eager to tell me
that you are denouncing Adler, and that you don’t want me to talk about him
anymore, either. Why are you so upset? I suppose you felt that Adler’s ideas
were something like magic. As if you could just wave a wand and, without fur-
ther ado, all your wishes would be granted. If that is the case, you should give up
on Adler. You should give up the mistaken images of Adler that you have em-
braced and know the real Adler.
YOUTH: No, you’re wrong! In the first place, I have never expected Adler to be
magical or anything like that. And second, as I think you yourself once said,
‘Any person can be happy from this moment onward.’
PHILOSOPHER: Yes, I certainly did say that.
YOUTH: But aren’t such words a perfect example of magic? You’re warning peo-
ple, ‘Don’t be fooled by that counterfeit money,’ while pushing other counterfeit
money. It’s a classic swindler’s trick!
PHILOSOPHER: Any person can be happy from this moment onward. This is an undeniable fact, not magic or anything of the sort. You, and everyone else, can
take steps towards happiness. But happiness is not something one can enjoy by
staying where one is. One has to keep walking along the path one has embarked
on. It is necessary to be clear on this point.
You took the first step. You took a big step. Now, however, not only have
you lost courage and let your feet come to a halt, you are trying to turn back. Do
you know why?
YOUTH: You’re saying I don’t have patience.
PHILOSOPHER: No. You have not yet made the biggest choice in life. That’s all.
YOUTH: The biggest choice in life! What do I have to choose?
PHILOSOPHER: I said it earlier. It is ‘love’.
YOUTH: Hah! You expect me to get that? Please don’t try to escape into abstrac-
tion!
PHILOSOPHER: I am serious. The issues you are now experiencing all stem from
the single word ‘love’. The issues you have with education, and also the issue of
which life you should lead.
YOUTH: All right. This seems like something worth refuting. Now, before we get
into a fully-fledged discussion, there is one thing I’d like to say. There is no
doubt in my mind that you are a modern-day Socrates. However, it is not his
thought that I am referring to, but his crime.
PHILOSOPHER: His crime?
YOUTH: Look, apparently Socrates was sentenced to death on the suspicion of
having tempted and corrupted the youth of the ancient Greek city-state of
Athens, right? He restrained his disciples, who were appealing to him to escape
from prison, and then drank a poison tea and took leave of this world. It’s inter-
esting, isn’t it? If you ask me, you who espouse the ideas of Adler here in this
ancient capital are guilty of exactly the same crime. In other words, you are
tempting and corrupting naïve youth with deceitful words!
PHILOSOPHER: You are saying that you were taken in and corrupted by Adler?
YOUTH: That is precisely why I resolved to visit once more to part ways with
you. I don’t want to create any more victims. Philosophically speaking, I must
snuff the life out of you.
PHILOSOPHER: Well, then, it’s going to be a long night.
YOUTH: But let’s settle this tonight, before daybreak. There is no need for me to keep calling on you after this. Will I climb the stairway of understanding? Or will
I tear down that stairway of yours and abandon Adler, once and for all? It’ll be
one or the other; there’s no in-between.
PHILOSOPHER: All right. This may be our last dialogue . . . No, it seems we will
have to make it our last, no matter what.

 

 

 

THE COURAGE TO BE HAPPY
Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga



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