You think religion has nothing to do with you. Is that really so?

The phrase “They are all beautiful” in “The One and Only Flower in the World” has a religious tone

Many people in modern Japan are likely to view religion as something that does not concern them. I find that, especially since the Aum Shinrikyo incident 30 years ago, more people have been trying to distance themselves from religion. That said, I do not think that those people have never had a religious experience.

For example, there is a song called “The One and Only Flower in the World (Sekai ni Hitotsu dake no Hana)” sung by SMAP (songwriting by Noriyuki Makihara), which I hear is now taught in school. Its lyrics sound quite religious to me. This song begins with: I was looking at various flowers lined up in front of a flower shop; Everyone has their own taste, but they are all beautiful.

Generally, the word “beautiful” has meaning only when contrasted with something “not beautiful.” It will be easier to understand if you replace it with the word “long.” When shown only one stick, you cannot tell whether it is long. However, when you are asked, “Is this longer than one meter?” or “Is this longer than the stick next to it?” you can answer the question. This is because the meaning of a word is relative.

Therefore, for instance, while we understand the phrase “(The flowers in front of me) are all beautiful” by comparing them to other flowers that are not present, saying “They are all beautiful, and there is nothing anywhere that is not beautiful” does not make sense as a phrase that generally expresses relative meaning. You could say that these words are used because what the song is trying to tell you is something absolute, beyond the general meaning. That is why I said earlier that this song has a religious tone.

Many people still seem to relate to this song. It is perhaps because they have something within themselves that could be religious. Given that considering what religion in general is can be challenging, let me talk a little about some situations in which we appear to have religious experiences.

Life has no “meaning”?

As you live your life, many things happen, which may make you lose sight of the meaning of your life. While sometimes it is only a fleeting feeling, other times it can be serious. Specifically, if your dream has been shattered, or if you have lost your purpose in life, it will take time to get back on your feet.

However, that is not all. Even if we live our lives reasonably well, once we become aware that we will eventually die, we cannot help but reconsider whether our lives have meaning. If we are going to die anyway, whatever we do might be meaningless, and life might ultimately be nothing more than passing the time.

It is often the presence of others that saves us from those thoughts. Even when one’s life does not go as planned and is difficult, one can accept it if there is the belief that it helps others. Examples include working hard for our families, taking on hardships for the next generation, or devoting ourselves to the well-being of society.

Although such attitudes may seem admirable at first glance, they also carry risks. For example, sacrificing yourself “For the Country (okuni no tame)” can be seen as an extension of such an attitude. However, what makes “For the Country” dangerous?

During the Second World War, the idea of “For the Country” was imposed by authorities. It was not something people chose to do through their own reflection. That is where danger lies. The same applies for the sake of family and society. Doing something for others without being convinced means being enslaved to them. In other words, it means making your life a tool for others. When people are not given time to think, they often fail to question such ideas, which makes the situation even more dangerous.

When we think about it this way, we realize that the meaning of “For Others,” which seemed to save us from losing the meaning of our life, is not certain on its own. It becomes clear once again that we must find meaning in life that can convince us. However, our original problem was that we could not find meaning in life that convinced us. This brings the problem back to square one.

But it is not simply going back to square one. There used to be hope that we might find our meaning of life somewhere; however, the hope is now gone. It is clearly recognized that we cannot find meaning in life. This realization brings us despair. Nevertheless, this recognition of despair gives us an opportunity to reflect on whether it is all right to seek meaning in life itself.

“Life” does not exist for the sake of something else

We usually seek meaning in life. But now we are faced with the question of whether it is the right attitude toward life. Seeking meaning in life is trying to provide grounds for life by something other than life. Is it really possible to provide grounds for life by something other than life? That is the question.

I said earlier that you cannot regard your life as a tool for others. The question here is whether the very act of seeking the meaning of life itself, no matter whose life it is, does not turn life into a tool for the meaning, and whether it is not the right attitude toward living.

Many people may realize, for instance, that it is not appropriate to question the meaning or purpose of love. If your partner were to ask, “Why do you love me?” or “What meaning do you see in loving me?” you would be at a loss. The same holds true for living.

The essence of life is that it exists for its own sake, not for the sake of something else. The existence of life is not affirmed because it has meaning. It absolutely affirms itself.

Realizing this means discovering something absolute within yourself. It is a significant experience that can be described as religious. Clearly experiencing the absolute may be limited to some religious people, yet we may sometimes feel the absolute in our everyday lives.

Think about when you are hungry. While you are the one who feels hungry and eats, hunger itself does not originate from you: it comes from something greater. When we realize that, we can feel within us a greater life that goes beyond ourselves. I believe that the greater life we can feel in this way is nothing less than what I have just called I have just called “life” in the absolute sense

When we experience the absolute, we begin to see ourselves from the absolute. In this case, having experienced the absoluteness of life, we come to think that we cannot understand life by starting from ourselves. Rather, we should understand ourselves by starting from life.

Living is absolutely affirmed prior to any “meaning”

When you experience absolute life, you come to see your life as a manifestation of life. If your hunger is not considered “yours,” but rather a manifestation of hunger here and now, then similarly, your life cannot be considered “yours,” but rather a manifestation of life here and now.

Seeing yourself as a manifestation of absolute life in this way differs from seeing yourself as subordinate to life and lacking autonomy. If you think of life as something outside of yourself, it may mean that you lack autonomy. In this case, however, life is your own. Therefore, what is meant here is that your life with your autonomy is nothing other than the life of absolute life.

Then, each person’s life is absolutely affirmed as a manifestation of absolute life. Since the manifestation of life means that life is placed in a particular situation, each person’s life has the task of living appropriately to the situation. However it is not the case that a task exists first and then we live to fulfill it. Tasks become identified as we live.

Using the word “meaning” I mentioned earlier, meaning does not precede living. Instead, living precedes meaning. I explained earlier that if you seek the meaning of life, you cannot find it. That is because you look for a meaning given prior to living. Meaning is not given prior to living. Instead, it is something each person seeks and creates as they live.

As you can see, many people are likely to feel that life is absolutely affirmed prior to its meaning through the experience of hunger I discussed earlier and many other experiences. I am convinced that this is why many people relate to the lyrics of “The One and Only Flower in the World.”

The phrase “They are all beautiful” can be understood to mean that the existence of all flowers is absolutely affirmed by the absolute. If that is the case, these lyrics can be said to be religious in a broad sense, and further, it might be said that they are difficult to emphathize with without religious experience.

It is important to become aware of the religious sense

In the sense I have described so far, I believe that many people in modern Japan have a sense that can be described as religious. If so, it is important to become aware of such a sense.

While religion has become an issue in many ways nowadays, as long as we consider it someone else’s problem, we cannot truly address it. This is because we do not know what the problem is there and what should be addressed. It is important to look within yourself first to see if you have any experiences that could be called religious. If you find such experiences, you can use them as a key to think about various matters as your own.

* The information contained herein is current as of January 2025.
* The contents of articles on Meiji.net are based on the personal ideas and opinions of the author and do not indicate the official opinion of Meiji University.
* I work to achieve SDGs related to the educational and research themes that I am currently engaged in.

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