2023/03/13

Mt. Fuji (Japan)

82. The Japanisation Part 3

In Japan, as in Western Europe and the USA, structural economic changes have led to social polarisation since the 1970s amidst the progressive liberalisation of divorce and the sexual revolution. According to sociologist Masahiro Yamada, introduced in the previous article, in the West, where individualism was well developed, the "marriage-indispensable society" transitioned into a "marriage-unnecessary society," whereas in Japan, which had experienced modernisation without enough development of individualism due to historical factors, the society shifted into a "hard-to-marry society," where people who wanted to get married could not. In addition, due to the unique tradition of strongly linking marriage and childbirth, pregnancies out of marriage tend towards abortion to avoid children born out of wedlock. As a result, Japan is stuck in a society with one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, to the extent that it is said that the Japanese people are an endangered species. The government has shown no leadership in this regard and has postponed things. 

On the other hand, the Catholic Church, which has enjoyed a long history of the richness of spirituality, introduced mysticism, which described the relationship between believers and Christ in terms of a marital relationship with a highly theological expression, into 20th-century theology. As we have seen, mysticism has left its mark on the documents of the Second Vatican Council. In this context, believers living in the polarised society, the society of liberalised divorce and the sexual revolution in the 1970s onwards, sought to experience Christian spirituality and mysticism, attracted by the words "encountering God" and "encountering Christ," without understanding the spirituality of Christ, the worldview of Jesus Christ. And various spiritualities, charisms and piety were then born. At the same time, sexual abuse by priests was a frequent occurrence around the world, but the Church continued to cover them up. As these e

These phenomena have happened because theologians and mystics from Origen to the 20th century have drawn into the Church the ancient trend of using the relationship between a man and a woman depicted in the Song of Songs, said to have been written by Solomon, as an analogy for understanding God, and have formed a back road of mysticism, or nuptial mysticism, which aimed for spiritual union with God. As abrupt as it may sound, this was a gross disregard for Jesus' feelings towards Solomon (cf. Luke 11:29-31, 12:27-32). In this very time that Jesus called the "evil generation" (Luke 11:29), the Church has sought the sign of "mystery," being spiritually concerned and worrying about what to eat and drink and has pursued spirituality and principles that "all the nations of the world seek" (Luke 12:30). Even though Jesus said, "Your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well" (Luke 12:30-31), the Church has not paid attention to the Holy Spirit telling Jesus had done everything (cf. blog № 59, № 60).

Maria K. M.