What is the nature of human life?

4) The desire of the body and the desire of life
In the book Painless Civilization I distinguished two sorts of desires, namely, "the desire of the body" and "the desire of life." While the desire of the body seeks to protect pleasure, pleasantness, and vested interests, the desire of life tries to discard them, dismantle the current self, and open oneself to an unexpected future. It is our "desire of the body" that promotes "painless civilization." This desire of the body takes away from us the deep "joy of life" that could visit us in an unexpected way when we transform ourselves by going through pain and suffering.

5) Reality of swaying I
When we encounter a situation we have never wanted to experience, especially that of profound self-contradiction, we are emotionally swayed by it, and wish to avert our eyes from the situation. Japanese feminist, Mitsu Tanaka, called this kind of experience "the sway of the confused self." But paradoxically, only people in this swaying situation can truly understand the deep suffering of others and enter into the relationship of mutual support. "The reality of swaying I" is the concept introduced in the book Life Studies Approaches to Bioethics in order to enlarge Tanaka's idea. "The reality of swaying I" is closely connected to "the advent of an absent being."

6) Relationship and irreplaceability
All beings in the universe, especially all living things on the earth, are incorporated into the web of “relationships.” They can not exist without these relationships. At the same time, every being in these relationships is fundamentally “irreplaceable” to each other. Life studies urges us to view everything from the perspective of correlation between "relationship" and "irreplaceability." (see Concept of Inochi(life).)

7) Three natures of human life
In the series of essays Life Torn Apart, I insisted that three natures are deeply engraved on humans, namely, "the nature of connectedness (with all living things)," "the nature of self-interest," and "the nature of mutual support." These natures sometimes keep in harmony, but sometimes come into conflict with each other. I believe that it is important to see the relationship between humans and the world of living creatures from this perspective.

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What is Life Studies
(2004)
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