Shinto - Sunshine Through the Rain

This segment of Akira Kurosawa's "Dreams" seems to be dealing primarily with the ties between Kami and nature, and the relationship between humans and Kami. The wedding procession of the Foxes is only held when the sun shines through the rain, and the mother knows this, but also knows that the Foxes don't like humans to see the processions. The young boy does not heed his mother's warning, however, and pays the price.

Living in harmony with the Kami is so important to the mother that she aquiesces to the will of the foxes, telling her son he must go to beg forgiveness, and barring the foxes forgiveness, must kill himself. She will not even allow the boy within the walls of her home until he is forgiven. Living in reverence and balance with the Kami is paramount, and maintaining the purity of that relationship is all-important.

The bond between Kami and the powerful parts of nature is strong, as illustrated by the mother's insistence that the boy seek the home of the Foxes below the rainbow. Such a beautiful and ethereal thing could only be home to something as deserving of reverence as Kami. The Kami are so powerful and omni-present that the Foxes are able to make it to the boy's home and tell his mother before the boy ever arrives.

Tao of Pooh

I’d like to start by noting that this is one of the most easily accessible books dealing with philosophy or religion that I have ever read, and I I were ever tasked with teaching a friend about Taoism, after a brief introduction to the context and concepts, I’d refer them to this book. “The Tao of Pooh” was short, easy to read and, above all, easy to comprehend.

The book helped me make perfect sense of the Uncarved Block, the Way, the Doing of Nothing and understanding your place, especially in the passages regarding the “Cottleston Pie” song. Everything comes through loud and clear in the explanation through this goofy little song that Pooh sings, and the narrator says, speaking about people knowing their places the way that fish and birds know where they should be, “you’d be surprised how many people violate this simple principle every day of their lives and try to fit square pegs into round holes, ignoring the clear reality that Things Are As They Are (pg. 39).” 

I agree wholeheartedly with the book in its view of America as a collective that doesn’t stop to smell the roses and consumes with reckless disregard for the environment. With so many people in America suffering from anxiety, cardiac issues and other stress-induced ailments, the advice “if you want to be healthy, just watch what a Bisy Backson does and then do the opposite (pg. 95).” However, the positing of Taoism as a “solution” to the “problem” of American culture reeks of hypocrisy. Surely Hoff utilizes the products of American industrialization, a process directly at odds with Taoism, and yet says that everyone should live the way he does. If Americans as a whole did so, the country as it is now would fall apart. 

I’m not arguing against the average American adopting a taoist approach to their personal or professional lives. I endorse the concept, with the understanding that a mix of Taoist practice and the Protestant work ethic would be better for society than either in their purest form. My vision of this is similar to what one would see when one looks at European society, where siestas are encouraged and they work fewer hours a week than Americans, while still producing more on average. Quality of life and amount of free time is increased, but the same amount of work still gets done, keeping a burgeoning society running.