Sebastian Marshall - Ikigai

IKIGAI

Sebastian Marshall

Kindle Edition

Copyright 2011 by Sebastian Marshall

Published by The One Week Book

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

http://theoneweekbook.com

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The creation of this book was only possible due to guidance, inspiration, and assistance from many people. I am very grateful to everyone for their help, but I would like to thank a few in particular.

Many thanks to Aaron Tucker, who shaped the overarching themes of the book and who fearlessly led the team and pushed the boundaries of the book's vision and publication. He was the heart and soul of the book, and this book exists due to his kick ass abilities. Aaron can be found at http://shugyoshayear.wordpress.com/.

Many thanks to Kendall Giles for his editing and book production skills. He was a pleasure to work with, in it for the long haul, and executed in time frames that most people would consider impossible. Solid in every way, the book wouldn't have made it to the Kindle without him. Kendall can be found at http://kendallgiles.com.

Many thanks to Sachit Gupta for his guidance on marketing and the core ideas of the book. If you heard about this book from anyone other than me, you probably have Sachit to thank.

I'd like to thank test readers Louis Eastman and Curtis SerVass. The book wouldnt be what it is without their feedback.

Thank you to Yifei Zhang for the visionary book cover. His mind for aesthetics and art is incredible.

Thank you to Matt Mazur, Matt Ramos, and Anna Salamon for letting me use their posts "Nine TimeTracking Tips," "Letting Go of Your Ego Enables You to Live Without Limits," and "Humans are not Automatically Strategic," respectively. They really helped tie key segments of the book together, and gave readers a nice perspective on some important points. Matt can be followed at http://30vanquish.com . Posts like "Humans are Not Automatically Strategic" can be found at http://www.lesswrong.com .

Thank you to Brendon Bobzin for allowing me to use his post "Greatness and Humility." It really helped tie together the themes of the book.

I understand that outside of their own posts, those who have written guest essays do not necessarily endorse the ideas expressed in this book.

Finally, I'd like to thank James Pan for the website layout, design, and implementation.

A cold urban desert landscape, the sun setting
Shall it ever rise again?
The nighttime, criss-crossed wires overhead, buzzing faintly with electricity
That goes where? That does what?

Why is the way not illuminated?

What if the sun, then,

Would not rise unless we lifted it?

Took it upon our hands and backs
Our palms and fingertips scorched for the effort

Nighttime giving way to sunrise
The way illuminated

Burnt hands, sunburnt faces, eyes near blind from brilliance
Throwing off the false gods with their faint passive buzz
The sun was never supposed to setlet us lift it, accept a heroic scalding
So all might bask in sunlight, oh too long has it been since the sun rose

The Million Dollar Question

A mix of confusion and awe as I step off the platform.

I must have made a mistake. But maybe a good mistake.

Birds caw and cicadas click gently, filling the warm afternoon air with sounds of nature. The train platform is open to the air and on the other side of the tracks is a high fence. Beyond it, a bicycle and walking path leading to a park.

Children are running around and playing in the park, but surprisingly quietly. Very Japanese.

Where am I?

"Su mi ma sen Kasukabe doko wakaru des ka?"

The girl looked at the board of times, and pointed the opposite direction I came from. I had taken the wrong train and happened to step off in the middle of a quite rural station.

It's early afternoon, but the light is low since it's cloudy. It feels like a sleepy evening and the air is heavy with condensation.

The train I'm supposed to take arrives, but I let it pass. I'll sit a while.

There's a vending machine. I get a "Georgia Black Iced Coffee" for 120 yen.

It's exceptional.

People drift back and forth across the foot path. Little kids, families, older people.

It's so simple out here. Everyone looks happy. An old woman, maybe 70 years old, passes by on a bicycle. The basket on her handle bars is almost overflowing with something in white plastic bags.

Time passes.

Another train arrives. Leaves.

The old woman is riding back in the other direction, her basket empty.

I wonder where she dropped the things off at. Perhaps her daughter's house? Maybe it was some food and vegetables, and she dropped it off at her daughter's a kilometer away, tussled one of her grandkids' hair, and then bicycled back to her home.

A family passes. Father, mother, pre-teen daughter, six-year old son. The father is a little goofy in a likable way. He swings his arms broadly as he walks and his son is giggling. Dad stops swinging his arms, takes out a cigarette, lights it, takes a drag. Starts swinging his arms again, cigarette in hand. Then they're gone.

Another train comes, leaves. I'm still here.

A big group of kids, all with full bags of gear. Tennis? Camping? I can't tell. Some athletics or outdoor recreation type stuff. There's like 15 kids, maybe 9 boys and 6 girls. They wind along the path and are gone.

The cawing bird has stopped and gone away, but now a little tiny bird is chirping. The cicadas keep rubbing their wings together.

A second iced coffee. Another train arrives. Leaves. I'm still here.

A pretty girl, maybe 23 years old. She's not beautiful, but she could be: she's a just little bit too self-conscious. She's wearing a summer dress that's a size too big, her hair is a little messy. But she's pretty and she's smiling and seems like a nice person. Without knowing anything at all about her, I guess she'll get married sometime in the next two years and be a very good wife for someone.

Apparently this area is a major rest stop for train conductors. I see many of them walking around, getting on and off the train periodically. Or some sort of officials, anyways, with hats and white gloves. Probably train-related, I guess.

Maybe a lot of them live out here. It does seem like a nice area to live.

I think, this is what I'm giving up.

I don't get to have this.

It's nice to have it right in front of me, fully on display. This is idyllic suburban life. The people who live here commute to their jobs in Chiba or Tokyo and come home to this at night. Parks, trails, birds, cicadas.

People here can broadly understand each other. Everyone's a little different, but most people aren't that different. The people who live here probably have broadly shared values, their kids get educated in broadly the same way, they eat broadly the same sorts of food, and do broadly the same sorts of things. They put in long hours at work, but have lots of stability.

The jobs tend to be repetitive after the initial learning curve, and the days blend into each other. Wake early, walk through the clean country air to the station, ride to work, work blends together into long hours, come home and have a late dinner with the wife. Play with the kids if they're still awake, check in on them in their bedroom if they're asleep. Do picnics or go to a family restaurant or go to the movies on the weekend. Go to Tokyo Disney once a year.

Everyone here probably has 95% of their life make perfect sense to their neighbors. An eccentric hobby would be making your own fruit jam or woodcarving or having a home gym. And those aren't so eccentric even the things that are unique about people here, their neighbors can understand. And they get along well and are happy and at peace.