A New Year

Its 2008 and the calendar has rolled over.

I've been watching an anime series called Mushshi 蟲師. The story features primordial creatures called Mushi that interact with the physical world but with supra-natural powers or influence. They are described as creatures so basic as to be in touch with the essence of life. Most human beings are unable to see the Mushi and dont' know they exist. But there are a few who possess the ability to see and interact with theme. One person is Ginko (ギンコ?), the main character of the series. He employs himself as a Mushi master (蟲師 mushi-shi), travelling from place to place to study them and help people with problems because of them. Ginko is distinct because he has only one eye working and it is green and his hair is absoutely white because of his encounters with the Mushi. (more info here)

I am interested by this series because there is a dimension of life that extends beyond what we can see. There is also very much a message of living in the moment and responding with wisdom in a situation. There are ethical situations and dilemmas exposed. Like Kino's Journey, it is very episodic and is very much a thinking person's anime. It is very embedded in the travel motif and the art work is very mysterious or mystical. The Mushi always affect intially one person and impinge on their reality BUT this spreads ultimately through the community.

At the moment I've been doing a lot of thinking about the source of life, given that I've found the need for solitude recently and I've been reading about evangelism from the introvert's perspective, I'm coming round to wonder how important or core the social aspect of life is to spiritual growth. It seems everything resolved down to the intrinsic I-Eternal Thou relationship that Martin Buber proposes. Or as CS Lewis put is " I believe that the Sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else."

Is this merely an issue of introverts vs extroverts? Or is it fundamentally that the personal-divine relationship should define all other relationships? I am beginning to believe that while being an extrovert or introvert can make a difference, fundamentally we start with the interior life and our individual relationship with God. As I've already posted about this Music is an art and spirituality is also an art rather than an science. There are some technical skills to be learnt but it is more about commitment to the relationship.