Ikigai #1
Creating my own zone
[First, an important (to me) disclaimer: someone recently posted on Substack a Note that called out a “proliferation of gurus” on the forum, as if that was a bad thing—I’ll leave you to decide what that means as I won’t judge another writer’s sincerity. I do know it takes one who knows and understands what/who a guru is—knows, or is familiar with, what they teach—to recognize a guru when they surface. I also know that not everyone recognizes gurus, so there are likely readers who are reading that person’s writing and appreciating it, maybe for the first time. If one person benefits from a teaching, then that writer’s effort was meaningful. I subscribe to a number of writers who fit snugly within this proliferation; when I read one of their posts, I may skim quickly through it and take away only what I want, but I’m glad they are there.
So I’ve noticed this proliferation too but I also chuckled, then grew a little embarrassed. I’ve slinked into that proliferation myself at times. Which leads me to want to clarify just what it is I’m doing here, for myself if not for anyone else. Some writers, it appears, want to be considered a guru. I don’t.
In short, Alchemy of a Journey is ALL about MY journey. You’re on your own journey. Everything I want to write and post here is meant as a quasi-personal journal that I’m choosing to share publicly. Nothing more. I don’t pretend to be a guru to anything, and don’t want followers for that purpose. I don’t want readers for that purpose either. If you are here, I hope it’s because you’re just along for the ride, and having fun, and will take what you will from whatever I post—you do that anyway so we might as well be honest about it. And because it is always offered freely, you’re not having to pay for any of it. I’m just experiencing and exploring my life wanting only to grow more deeply into my own skin until I reach my Soul. I don’t seek to become an expert or sage at this thing called “the human predicament.” Lao Tzu, he of the Tao Te Ching, written approximately in the 4th century BCE (almost 2500 years ago!), shares that Sages don’t seek to become Sages—they are Sages simply because of their actions; simply by living their life of humility, service, and reverence. I fully believe our world needs, desperately, more Elders and Sages—not ones who write about it, but ones who live it. Lao Tzu would say: “But they’re there, among you, now. You’re just not understanding or valuing how they’re living.” And I guess he’d be absolutely correct. I just have to look closer, instead of always looking down at my phone.
I’m just trying to do better here. I’m trying to live a life of excellence, of bringing my best game to each moment, mindfully. And from now on, I’m going to try to make sure my writing here isn’t “guru-ish” (it’s all about intention, and the words we choose to use). At the same time, I hope you’ll stay “along for the ride.” When you like, comment, and share your own thinking, I’ll know you’re here, and I get to learn from you!
In other words, I mean to say: never take my word for it. As one of my real guru teachers, Roshi Bernie Glassman, used to say “It’s just my opinion, man!”]
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming
Inspiration for writing comes from so many different places. Anything that can cause reflection to promote learning is fodder and compost and ingredients for inspiration. Time with family; time with family at weddings, receptions, funerals, and cemeteries (aka my life this past year); conversation with friends; books and poetry readings; hikes and walks; concerts and musicals; long car drives; movies and TV; all, with the right way of being and approach, sources of inspiration.
All this is Alchemy. Or can be.
About TV, with seeds from books
When Dad was living with us, our TV was on a good portion of the day. Like TOO much of a portion of the day—but it did serve Dad well in that, when he wasn’t up to walking or being with us outside, the shows he did watch were documentary-like (Discovery Channel; National Geographic; documentaries on exploring, the Civil War, World War II, the early American West, Native Americans…though he never knew it, my Dad was an amateur historian and anthropologist). And I knew it was engaging him cognitively because we would often talk about what he was learning as he watched—because he was never a reader, at least I could feel somewhat better about his TV-watching because he was soaking in the content. He enjoyed himself when he could ask me any “Did you know…” questions—because he had just learned something and he wanted to share and he was proud of himself especially if he could teach me something new.
Now that Dad is gone, our TV typically gathers dust. Kristin and I just don’t watch a lot of TV anymore. The movies on TV I do watch tend to be documentaries too—just like my Dad (except no one calls The Price is Right, Jeopardy, Let’s Make a Deal, and Wheel of Fortune documentaries!) For the record though, I did count Ted Lasso as a documentary—I played soccer growing up and I loved Ted’s coaching and leadership philosophy which I like to believe mirrored my own (F-words notwithstanding).
YouTube and Netflix are a kind of digital, community college bachelor’s program for me. Just like my too many books on my To Be Read shelf, I have too many shows now in my digital streaming queues. But we pick a few off when we are done with being outside, or between chapters of our books, or when the weather moves us downstairs or our brains just need something different.
100 Years
For a number of years now, I’ve been interested in the science of longevity: how to extend life, a MEANINGFUL and productive life, well past normative life expectancies. This study, this pursuit, has factored in quite naturally within my dietary (vegan and fasting practices), spiritual, mindfulness, career, service/volunteer, hobby, and gardening practices. In other words: how I spend my life and time—especially nowadays.
I wouldn’t normally share a goal as personal as this, but by doing so, I accomplish two things: 1. I open up a vulnerability of mine as a form of Eldering; and 2. By sharing, I enlist your support (even vicarious, long distance, “send your good karma my way” support). A third would also be a measure of accountability—but I don’t need anyone else in my life to hold me accountable. I’m good with that all by myself. You see…
I’m going to live to see my 100th birthday.
I will. And then whatever comes after that, will come as it will. But it won’t be a win for me, or a goal accomplished, if the life I’m living when I get there is not meaningful, productive, active (relatively speaking), and beneficial for others. That’s the kind of life I like to believe I’m living now (if I’m not, that’s on me!); and it’s the kind of life I always want to keep on living. It’s my “ikigai!”
Living In The Zone
When kindergarteners used to ask me my favorite color, I’d usually say blue. And it’s karmically come back to me in a new and fun and interesting way. Because I’ve been interested in human longevity for a number of years, I was already familiar with a phenomenon discovered by researchers (namely the National Geographic Fellow and world explorer Dan Buettner) that involved five very specific geological locations/regions in the world. Known as Blue Zones, researchers were curious to understand why populations in five regions of the planet were statistical outliers when it came to longevity—like, BIG TIME longevity. Okinawa (Japan), Sardinia (Italy), Nicoya (Costa Rica), Icaria (Greece), and Loma Linda (California, USA) have the highest populations of centenarians in the world—those who are 100+ years of age. And not just that they have that many solar orbital miles travelled, but that they remain engaged with life—they are thriving!
BTW Fun Fact: These zones are termed “blue” only because Buettner and his fellow researchers used blue markers to draw circles around these geological regions on the maps they were using when they analyzed their data. If they couldn’t find their blue marker, I might be writing about the puce zones. (I’m glad they found their blue marker!)
So…why? How? How can it be that so many 100+ year old people in these areas are not only alive, but thriving?
I would like to go deeper with this, with you, by writing more about it so I’ll extend this reflection into next week as well. This experience, of further study and reflection, is helping me to become more fully human. It’s a vital component of my Alchemy. It’s a part of my “Ikigai.”
And it’s making a difference. A HUGE difference.
It’s a way of creating around me my own Blue Zone—that’s one of the major takeaways from this learning. One doesn’t have to travel to, or live within, a geographic Blue Zone to have an aspiration of extending your life of meaning. It’s just that, in those specific zones, the community and culture serves to support all individuals simply because of how that community has come to make their way in the world. So you don’t have to live in Okinawa or Costa Rica (or Loma Linda of all places). No. It is possible to create a Blue Zone around you all the time. THAT is a part of my “Ikigai” too! Only five regions have been identified geographically (that were naturally occurring; efforts are underway to create “Blue Zone” communities and cities through the implementation of many of the lifestyle characteristics)—but what a great thing it could be to discover or create millions, if not billions of Blue Zones all around the world. It would, literally, change the world.
It would be revolutionary, this “helping to create a zone of wellness around each and every individual.” Revolutionary because it runs counter to everything humans now face, virtually world-wide, when it comes to what to eat, how to eat, how to move, who to live with and among, and even what/how to believe.
When Kristin and I were at Trevor and Kendra’s house (my brother and sister-in-law) last Fall, we had a shared experience of watching the first two episodes of a Netflix mini-doc: Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones. Right up my alley. I had it already in my queue but it was SO fun to watch it together! When next you see the four of us together, just ask us about purple sweet potatoes! And getting rid of all our furniture. (Okay, not the furniture part—kidding there. Sort of.)
Initially what was considered to be just dietary in nature (“just what are these old people EATING that’s making them stay so young while they get so old?”), Blue Zones, turns out, have much less to do with what is ingested by the mouth and stomach, and more to do with “ikigai.” The diets in the five regions vary greatly—much more than researchers expected. Blue Zones have less to do with what, more to do with how; less to do with doing, more to do with Being.
In other words, right up my alley!
And THAT is serving as further ingredients for me in the cooking of my own life. It’s my Alchemy. It’s my “Ikigai.”
Ikigai
The concept goes by many names but the name is nowhere near as important as the concept itself. Words, anyway, are always the abstractions that point to reality—never reality itself. We humans DO need words, language, and abstractions, or think we do, to better understand our world, or define who we are or how we should be. Still, some cultures and peoples have language that better encapsulates a concept that English sometimes has no way of capturing or articulating fully.
Ikigai is Japanese for a way of Being (and I intentionally capitalize the ‘B’ here) that, I believe, is perhaps the most valuable ingredient in the Alchemy of a life. Just as my interest in Zen stands as a signpost, I’m drawn to the Japanese culture, more specifically, the more ancient forms of it, that center on a way of Being that embodies something very deep within the human psyche and soul. I’m drawn, similarly, to indigenous, Native American and Eastern cultures for many of the same reasons. Both the traditional forms of Japanese and Native American cultures embody a form of lived-wisdom that is becoming extinct, much to our detriment—replaced by the fast, capitalistic, materialistic, fast-food/empty calorie, Western (read USA) set of values and beliefs about how best to live and “succeed.” Personally, ONLY personally, I think we’ve got most of it wrong. Call it living in a Red Zone.
Over the next week, I’m going to do some more thinking about my own Ikigai and post that in next week’s blog. That particular way of life doesn’t have to go fully extinct—at least it won’t in the zone I want to keep creating ‘round myself. These are choices fully within one’s control. I would, though, even given my introverted, love-of-solitude nature, like and appreciate more friends in that area. THAT, after all, is a Blue Zone characteristic as well.
You coming along for the ride?
Ahead of next week’s post, if you have Netflix, haven’t seen it yet, and are interested, here’s the trailer:
Always and Ubuntu,
~ k
And with Ahimsa!
🙏🏼
And just because it fits the theme, not to mention it’s a pretty great song!
We are “just for a moment.” But…
“…there’s never a wish, better than this. When you only got a hundred years to live.”
Every day’s a new day.
Postscript:
Dad lived for only a moment on this Earth—84+ Earth orbit years. He lives differently now. This is the fate of each one of us. I inherited some pretty good genes from my mom and dad—each lived well past the average life expectancies, but both well short of my intended goal. The final number I reach actually isn’t as important as the age I believe I am in each passing moment and how I choose to live each moment when it does pass through me. Age is simply a concept, a random function of an Earth orbit around the sun. Age isn’t “how old?” Age, as I want to believe, is more “how well?” Regardless…
We truly are “just for a moment.” But THAT is our miracle.
BTW: “If you didn’t know how old you were, how old would you think you are?”
Great question that! Because, did you know:
Right now, you are as old as you’ve ever been; and as young as you will ever be.
How are YOU living this moment? The only moment available?
THAT would be your own unique Ikigai!
But then again, it’s all just my opinion, man!
Good morning, Kert! May I respond to your opening disclaimer before I read the rest of your post? :-)
At first when you mentioned someone's remark that there seems to be a proliferation of gurus here (on Notes I presume?), my mind went to those who seem to want to offer lots of unsolicited advice on how to live the good life. It is true, it's getting to be a bit too much, kind of Hallmarky sticky sweet. But I certainly wouldn't put you in that category.
I think you can usually tell the difference between someone who is trying to get likes or attention, or to feel important and wise, by venturing into the life-lesson territory, versus someone who is genuinely excited by a discovery, whether it is in their own mind and heart, or a literary discovery, a quote, and they just want to share it with others because they find it so enlightening. There is a sincerity in their words, an authenticity, a vulnerability, too, and I welcome their sharing.
But when a Substacker presumes the job of enlightening the rest of us—apparently from their lofty outlook of sage wisdom—it's a bit of a turn off. (Again, not you!)
Do I understand you correctly, Kert? Or have I misunderstood your concern?
Anyway, thanks for sharing!
Wonderful to read part one since I started with part two. I like that your writing style makes reading it out of order OK.
I have been intrigued by different cultures and ways of thinking since a small child, born in Lima, Peru. My parents were there for 4 years, me, a year and a half. I still have the carved leather furniture I grew up with - full of symbols & icons. Took care of both of them & held hands on earthly departures.
It is amazing when you slow down and enjoy the small moments how rich life becomes.
Ikigai is a beautiful way to live.
Great read!