Toward a World of Dignity for All: The Triumph of the Creative Life

At the start of the second decade of the twenty-first century, I would like to share some thoughts on the issues facing contemporary society and the most effective means of achieving a more peaceful world. The devaluation of language Last year, Japan was shaken by a series of shocking incidents that seemed to epitomize the pitfalls of an aging society. In late July, the mummified corpse of a man, believed to be one of Japan's oldest citizens at 111 years old, was found lying in bed in his Tokyo home where he had died some thirty years earlier. Alarmed, local governments checked on elderly residents and found that many centenarians were indeed unaccounted for. In some cases, elderly residents were still listed as alive in official records, their families having concealed their deaths in order to collect their pension payments. The unexpected realities of a society famed for its longevity deeply disturbed the public. The phrase muen shakai, or "fragmented society, " has been coined to describe the disintegration of social relationships that results in these incidents, which constitute a bone-chilling psychological landscape. As the Buddhist concept of dependent origination explains, the fabric of daily life is made up of bonds that connect us with each other as well as with our environment. These incidents, however, painfully remind us of the fragility of these connections. With family and community bonds growing weaker and people becoming alienated, an increasing numbe