BGM: The Clash - London Calling
Today was a day off. This morning I went to the mountain, where I listened to Flare's album to think about various idea. But it couldn't work today. Occasionally, I got a message from a friend in Kyusyu on WhatsApp. It's about Aki Kaurismaki had got a prize of Cannes. I had not learned about that at all. All I had learned was about the news Kouji Yakusho and Yuji Sakamoto had got their prizes. So I thought how important to learn news through various news sources in English from foreign presses etc. Also remembering Hirokazu Koreeda, I thought that I should work more by the successes/progresses of those artists who that friend and I always have respected. After that mountain time, I have read Richard. H. Smith's book "The Joy of Pain". It criticizes the emotion of "schadenfreude", which can also mean as a Japanese proverb "Other people's unhappiness tastes like honey" or simply "meshiuma (it means 'I can enjoy delicious meal because of other's unhappiness')". Why is other people's unhappiness so pleasant? This book tries to answer this question with clear style and description. It's really an interesting book.
The mind that can feel other people's unhappiness as fine thing... I confess that in my mind that kind of emotion certainly exists. Because I often feel the unfair or unequal with "Why is he/she pretty great like that?". We are different from each other. Some people are handsome. Or our smartness or the height are also different. And... I wish I could say that kind of difference would mean our characters. From there, that "schadenfreude" must come. I remember the past days. Once I had been haunted by the strict belief that said I must be unhappy and miserable completely, so I wished other's misery. Maybe I even wished other people's death... In "The Joy of Pain", various examples are told and criticized by author. The fall of politicians and celebrity by their scandals, the humiliation in various "reality shows" which enable treating others as idiots, and the discrimination toward Jewish people by Anti-Zionism. It treats really wide topics, so I guess it would cause the sympathy of the readers who might think "I'm liberal so not concerned with that schadenfreude". I also felt exactly that this can't be a topic separated by my life. I have to learn and think more.
Through the movie "Seven", I learned that "envy" can be one of seven deadly sins. Indeed, that "envy" could light a fire to other's motivation to live a better life. So I can't say that "envy" must not be a good concept easily/simply. But, in this book, the author suggests to us that we should accept that emotion, "envy", certainly exists in our minds. So we should give it a proper place within our minds. I can understand that it is not easy. Me, as I always do confess again and again, I have to accept the fact that I had kept feeling that "Why do they live such successful life? They exactly bullied me... I want to pound them". Or, referring to the "envy", I even thought that "I want to speak English more fluently than that person"... And now, I can accept that "envy" as one of my negative emotion. Where has this change come? I can't see. But through the connection with others I have learned that I have to face the negative and ugly emotion in me. Accepting/noticing that ugly emotion might be able to relativize that schadenfreude.
This evening I got a message on WhatsApp from that friend who had shared the news about movies in the morning. He said that he had learned how important understanding Muslim through admitting the meeting of Muslim. He had enjoyed a meal with them (but he is not a devotee). Me, I have to say that I think automatically that religious people can be different from me because I am too full of material/snob desire. "They stand a different stage from me"... I think like this and separate myself from them (this might sound weird, but I do that by a respect). And maybe, I had thought that those Muslim could be a kind of dangerous and fanatic people because of a lot of silly/suspicious news. I could think them as a kind of "would-be terrorists" (of course, this is a silly idea. But I could have it somewhere in my mind). That friend told me the book "Covering Islam" by Edward W. Said. About that Said, I have read his "Orientalism" once but that's all. I should learn various things about Islam. That must work in my life successfully. I can feel that in Shiso city there are a lot of chances to communicate/understand different cultures. Indeed, that might be troublesome. But beyond that we should try to communicate/understand. That would work meaningful trials, and also bring various pleasure... I got this from that friend.
