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Macrobiotics and the secret of happiness This is Part II of Herman Aihara's reflection on the secret of happiness and meaning in life. In Part I, he shares his unhappy growing up years and how that led him to study macrobiotics in the hope of discovering the secret of happiness.
Health and happiness are strongly related, he says. And happiness comes from seeking freedom as well as from welcoming difficulties in life. This article forms part of a series based on macrobiotic lectures that Herman Aihara gave in Singapore in 1995. Following that, I published an entire issue of The Good Life, summarising his key teachings in Singapore. Herman Aihara passed away on 25 February 1998 and Cornelia Aihara passed away eight years later, on 25 February 2006. Macrobiotics and the secret of happiness In part I of this article on macrobiotics and the secret of happiness, Herman Aihara relates how he migraeted from Japan to the United States and encountered many problems with immigration. Later, during the Cuban Missile crisis, he joined other macrobiotic friends in heading west from New York to California. The story continues...
We started a company in Chico, California, producing macrobiotic foods. And this company applied for my immigration status. But the law said that for Japanese immigrants, every year only 180 would be allowed. If there were more, they had to wait. That was 1962. I was waiting for a miracle. Then John Kennedy, the US president, wanted more immigrants to be engineers. So he passed a law for 4.049 engineer immigrants. I was included. My immigrant status was legalized, after 10 years.
In the 10 years, many things happened. But I was very happy. I enjoyed fighting with the US immigration. Finally, they gave up. During the time, Cornelia also had problems. She had a heart problem from birth. When her first baby was born, her pulse rate was 240. Doctors asked her to operate. Seven years later, her operation gave trouble. I had to hospitalize her. And she was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Every Saturday, I cooked one week’s supply of macrobiotic food and on Sunday, I took it to her in a suitcase. That continued for three years, every week. I opened a ‘Herman’s Catering Service’. Towards the end of three years, Cornellia said she wanted to go back home, so that she would become happy and cure her sickness. Happiness automatically cures. I told her, “If you are not happy in hospital, how can you be happy at home? Home is big trouble. You have to take care of me; you have to take care of the babies, of dish washing, clothes washing, cooking, etc. In the hospital, you don’t have to anything. Just smile.’
The next day, she got the message. She started joking with other patients, even the doctors. Her attitude changed. One month later, after the changed in attitude, the germs were all gone. All sickness is mental. For three years, she could not come out of hospital because she was always complaining, “Why am I staying here?” When she had peace of mind, all the germs were gone. One year later, she was completely cured. So the thing that is more important is the mental state, not diet.
Difficulty and the secret of happiness Those were the two biggest problems that I passed through. It was always one after another. Life is difficulty, then happiness. Life is a weaving. Like nice clothes. Nice clothes – all clothes – are made of two threads, one vertical and one horizontal. This is yin and yang. It’s the same thing in life. One is difficulty, one is happiness. Always difficulty, happiness, difficulty, happiness... One alone will not make life. If you resist difficulty, you will never discover the secret of happiness. My teacher told me, “The most happy guy is the one who jumps into difficulty. He tries to solve the most difficult problem. Then he is most happy. Most people don’t want to have difficulties. They just want to be happy. Then they are never happy. If you want to climb Mt Everest, you go by the difficult way and when you reach the top, you feel very happy. If you go in a helicopter and jump off at the top, you won’t enjoy as much, right? In school, my most happy time was in the mathematics class. I was always the first guy with my hands up when the teacher asked if we could solve a problem. The more difficult the problem, the more I enjoyed. In mathematics, easy problems gave no joy. It’s the same thing in life. More difficult, more joy. Happiness comes after difficulty, just as always morning comes after night, never before. You have to understand that mechanism. Happiness after difficulty. The two makes life.
Long-term secret of happiness Happiness must last a long time, Herman Aihara adds. If you can make your happiness last, that is real happiness. Some happiness is 10-day happiness. Some is 1-day happiness. I went sight-seeing yesterday, I was very happy. That is 1/2-day happiness. “Some people get whole-life happiness, lasting a long time. That is real. During that time, maybe you have many difficulties… But at the end, you can be proud to say, ‘I have accomplished this.’ “ “You have joy to give to somebody your most interesting thing, something that only you can do. You are proud of yourself. I am very proud of what I have been doing. I am very happy. |
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My friend (left in picture), we have been separated for 40 years and he has come from Japan to visit me. He is very interested to know what I have been doing. So I wrote it out - 40 pages – covering just the first few years of my life in America. I will present it to him.