In the preceding "Introduction," I referred to the phrase "change the orientation of your consciousness," which is generally understood to mean to change the way one feels about something, change the way one views his/her surroundings, change one's way of thinking, or change one's values.
That said, changing the way one feels about something, changing the way one views his/her surroundings, changing one's way of thinking, and changing one's values are said easier than done. One may feel like some change has been made inside himself/herself, but such changes are usually temporary; our hearts do not so easily change.
In other words, the tendencies of the way we feel about things, or the tendencies of our hearts, do not so easily change.
Like the sayings "Danger past, god forgotten" and "Ending up in square one," the tendencies of the way we feel about things and the tendencies of our hearts do not so easily change. This is because they are literally "tendencies"; I assume most people who think they made a fundamental change find themselves back in the same state after some amount of time.
Making the turn of consciousness is as difficult as is changing the tendencies of our hearts. This is because making the turn of consciousness is not the same thing as changing the orientation of our consciousness. Although making the turn of consciousness will lead to changing the way one feels about something, changing the way one views his/her surroundings, changing one's way of thinking, and changing one's values, making the turn of consciousness, as I stated in the "Introduction," means to make a 180-degree paradigm shift in the basis of one's life. Making the turn of consciousness means to change one's basis of life. No matter how much one changes the way he/she views his/her surroundings or changes his/her values, if his/her basis of life remains the same, that is not the same thing as making the turn of consciousness.
Some people may have experienced a narrow escape from death that led to changing their view of life and the world and their values. However, if I were asked whether that is the same thing as making the turn of consciousness, I would have to say, "No, not at all."
Narrow escapes from death and other eye-opener experiences do provide those that experienced them with opportunities to reconsider their values and make life-changing decisions. However, I believe even experiencers of such events still believe that the physical world is the real world. Those who have undergone events that led them toward the realization that the real world is not the physical world would have been guided, one way or another, toward this study of the heart. This is because the study of the heart taught by Mr. Tomekichi Taike is the only practice that shows us the truth. Therefore, I believe that those who have been guided toward this study of the heart will repeatedly undergo eye-opener experiences that orient their hearts toward the true world. However, I have not yet met such people.
Therefore, some people may believe they have undergone eye-opener experiences and thereby decided to make a new start. However, I believe the new starts they made are not the same thing as the turn of consciousness. I believe a large gap lies between the two.
Some people may have had a near-death experience and thought, "I will take this narrow escape from death as an opportunity to live my life as a new person." However, I do not believe such an opportunity would be enough to help them change the basis of their lives. Of course, I know that experiences that leave you with the feeling that you are not your physical body are rare. Experiences that leave you with such a feeling would most likely have to do with events involving people's lives and deaths. In addition, the events would need to be of the type that occur out of the blue, rather than natural deaths, by which I assume readers know what I mean. I believe the type of eye-opener experience that could help people change the basis of their lives are only that which involves their lives. Our belief in the physical world as the real world is so strong that to prove us otherwise would take an event that could take away our lives.
Even if one undergoes a narrow escape from death, if one takes the first step toward the study of the heart with the wrong foot, the life that one would lead from there would be completely wrong as well. If one starts his/her study of the heart with the wrong foot, the path he/she will follow thereafter will of course be wrong. No matter how much time one invests in the study of the heart, if he/she starts his/her study with the wrong foot, unless he/she corrects his/her mistake, the outcome would inevitably be wrong.
A person may think his/her eye-opener experience provided him/her with an opportunity to lead his/her life as a new person. However, unless he/she changes the basis of his/her life, I believe such an experience would hardly make any difference. Having an eye-opener experience and thinking the experience changed his/her view of life without changing the basis of one's life is not the same as making the turn of consciousness being discussed in this book.
However, the general public likes stories where a person undergoes a life-changing experience. People in general sympathize with and even become moved by such stories.
After hearing such life-changing stories, people usually say things like "I feel refreshed," "I was moved," "The story was very refreshing," "The story gave me the courage to continue on with my life," "I was really inspired by the story," and/or "I will also try to make a difference in the lives of others."
If one leads his/her life based on the belief that the physical world is the real world, he/she will naturally feel sympathetic toward such life-changing stories. However, if one led his/her life based on the belief that the non-physical world was the real world, outcomes would be the other way around. I earlier said that unless one changed his/her basis of life, having life-changing experiences would hardly make any difference, and I believe the same goes to those who tell life-changing stories and others who sympathize with such stories. They will all go to hell. I cannot stress the following point enough: "Whether one will be able to understand the joy and happiness of humankind depends on whether one can change the basis of his/her life."
Even those who have pursued this study of the heart for 30 years are still unable to make that change. Thirty years is a long time, and there have been many, many seminars held over those years.
Seminars were held all over Japan, in the U.S., and in South Korea.
Of course, those who attended such seminars seriously tried to understand whom they truly are and what the purpose of their lives is. Unless they had seriously tried, seminars would not have been held over 30 years. Seminar practitioners had trouble making progress for a number of reasons, including the very reason they began to pursue this study of the heart in the first place. However, I believe they continued pursuing the study over 30 years because they felt with their heart that the study teaches the truth.
Nevertheless, making progress in this study is not easy. Making progress in the study of the heart is hard enough for those pursuing it; so it goes without saying that it would be impossible for those not pursuing the study to make any progress in making the turn of consciousness. In fact, when introduced to this study, those not pursuing it show absolutely no interest at all.
Do not get me wrong, I am not disappointed in people not pursuing this study. I know it will take more time before more people come to be interested in this study. In addition, I have unwavering confidence in what I am feeling with my heart. That is why, despite knowing the difficulty underlying this study, I keep typing on my keyboard.
However, I also know continuing to stress the difficulty underlying this study on and on will not make a difference either. Therefore, in the following, I would like to take myself as an example and talk about my own case.