語学、翻訳、海外生活

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Let's not talk about the Supernatural (7月4日投稿記事「怪力乱神を語らず」の英訳)

For as long as I can remember, I, just like everyone else, was interested in things like Shinto, Buddhism, spirits, and the afterlife. You can't see or touch Gods or Buddha or spirits. As far as the afterlife, I haven't been, and deceased people don't come back, so there is no way to understand it.  There is extensive literature on the subject, but I don't put much weight on it. From the perspective of physics or chemistry, if spirits have consciousness and the ability to hear and see or are active in the physical world, where does the energy essential for all of this come from?  If there are conscious spirits after death, will those who suffer from Alzheimer's or lost their memory, judgment, or motor skills recover their memory after death? If you could restore all the memories from when you were in good health after death, why can't you do that while you're still living? Thinking from this perspective, when we pass, aren't we like computers after they have been shut down, losing our consciousness, memory, senses, and judgment? However, in the end, to try to think of it as if it has proof for a scientific foundation or not is a bit of a fruitless endeavor no matter how long you ponder it.

 

To try to understand everything about the world from a scientific perspective may be a bit of an overestimation of the field. For example, the universe is explained as created by the big bang. Concerning the ultra-high temperature and density involved with the big bang, there are details that we can't clarify since they lie outside the scope of our currently known physical laws. When I look up at the starry sky at night and realize all of the intricate workings of life, I find myself at a loss for words. The world working with some things nobody can explain is acceptable. There's a saying by Confucius: "True knowledge is a clear distinction between what one knows and what one does not know." In the same way, Confucius suggests that supernatural, mysterious events or existences are best not related to others.

 

People hope to have the chance to be reunited with their beloved relatives, partners, and friends who may have passed away from illness or misfortunes. You wouldn't argue with them that there is no afterlife without any ground. You just can't say it. The idea that they can see their loved ones in the afterlife is full of the stuff of dreams, and a wonderful one at that.