Researcher Dan Buettner, with the support of National Geographic, conducted a five-year study to identify and study special places on earth, which he called “blue zones.” These are some areas that have an increased concentration of centenarians. In the course of this work, scientists tried to identify those patterns of nutrition, culture, and behavior that allow local residents to live much longer than in other countries.

One of these specific places is located on the small island of Okinawa. Japan generally has a fairly high percentage of centenarians, but their concentration in Okinawa exceeds all limits. The average life expectancy here for men is 88 years, for women - 92 years.

Yes, the local food set consists mainly of fish, seafood, vegetables and fruits. Yes, physical activity and eastern spiritual practices are very common here. But there is also a very special phenomenon that distinguishes this area from the rest of Japan and the whole world. They call it ikigai ( ikigai).

One day in a small Japanese town a woman was dying. At some point, she felt that her soul was leaving her body, ascending upward and appearing before the spirits of her ancestors. A loud voice asked her: “Who are you?”

“I’m the mayor’s wife,” she replied.

“I'm not asking who your husband is. Tell me, who are you?

“I am a mother of four children. I'm a school teacher."

“Did I ask how many children you have or where you work?”

And this continued until she said: “I am the one who wakes up every day to help my family and teach my children at school.”

After that, she returned to her body and the disease subsided.

She found her ikigai.

What is ikigai?

The Japanese concept of ikigai is quite difficult to unambiguously translate into Russian, but it can roughly be deciphered as “that which gives meaning to life, that which makes us wake up every morning with joy.” In other words, ikigai is an oriental, elegant and compact definition of your main interest, the thing that brings joy to your life.

Although the Japanese of Okinawa have managed to make this concept part of their philosophy, it cannot be said that ikigai is completely unknown in the West. We have met his followers more than once, especially among those people who have managed to achieve a lot in their lives.

We could hardly wait until morning to start work again.

Wilbur Wright, airplane inventor

Do only what you love most. This will definitely lead you to success! Every morning I looked at myself in the mirror and asked: If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am doing today? And if the answer has been “no” for many days in a row, then I need to change something.

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple

- Pooh! “When you wake up in the morning,” Piglet finally said, “what is the first thing you say to yourself?”

- What do we have for breakfast? - said Pooh. - What are you saying, Piglet?

“I say: “I wonder what interesting things will happen today?” - said Piglet.

Piglet, just a pig

Okay, Piglet may not be the greatest pig, but the character's words contain a good definition of ikigai.

It is the interest in life, the desire to immediately begin one’s work and carry it out in the best possible way, that gives people a sense of self-worth, a sense of satisfaction and meaning in life.

Those people who know their ikigai are unfamiliar with depression, they maintain an optimistic attitude towards life and are not susceptible to destructive habits. That's why it's so important for every person who wants to live a long and meaningful life to find a reason to get up in the morning.

How to find your ikigai?

Opening your own business will probably require you to invest a significant amount of time and energy. You will have to make a meaningful and important decision, and it is unfortunate that many people realize the need for it too late.

The sooner you begin to find your ikigai, the sooner you will begin to feel peace and satisfaction in your life. Here are some questions that will help you in your search.

• Achievements. What achievements in your life do you consider the most valuable? Take a piece of paper and write down 2-3 things you do that you are really proud of. This can be a good starting point for finding your ikigai.
• Knowledge. What are your special knowledge and skills? What do you consider yourself an expert in? What do you enjoy talking about, what topic do you read literature on? What sites do you visit most often in your free time?
• Feel. Working in a field that you are skilled in is the key to career success. But if you want to find happiness, then you need to do what you love. Your ikigai does not care much about your business success unless it is backed by joy in your heart. This is what you need to pay attention to first.
• Self-esteem. Where do you see yourself in your dreams? Are you a teacher, lawyer, mother, scientist, book publisher, farmer? Perhaps your assessment of your future can be the lens that helps focus all your efforts.
• Personality. There are no identical people in the world, and different personalities are perfectly suited different kinds works Knowing your personality type will help you understand why some activities bring you great pleasure, while others do not touch a single string of your soul.

You can also use a special map to search for ikigai, which shows that your main business is located at the intersection of what you want most and what works best.

And I would like to end this article with one more quote from a man about whom we can absolutely say that he not only found his calling, but also followed it all his life.

You have to find what you love. And finding your favorite job is just as necessary as finding your loved one. Work will occupy a very large part of your life, and the only way to get real satisfaction from work is to do it well and be aware of it.

And the only way to do your job perfectly is to love it. If you haven't found your passion yet, keep looking. Don't stop searching until you find it.

As with everything else your heart is set on, you'll immediately know you've found what you're looking for. And like any great relationship, your passion for your work will only increase over time. So, keep searching and don't rest until you find it.

Steve Jobs

Have you found your ikigai yet?

Photo: Stanislav Gruzdev / special correspondent Lyubomir Guzar

“When he spoke, everyone put aside their fuss and listened. Because he spoke wisely and relevantly. His words healed"

At the age of 85, one of the most authoritative Ukrainians, the former head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, His Beatitude Lyubomir Huzar, died after a serious illness.

Ukrainians reacted to this sad news with sincere grief. Social networks are filled with notes, mentions and quotes from His Beatitude.

The Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Kyiv Patriarchate Filaret, noting that under the leadership of the UGCC Lyubomir Huzar, the classification of Ukrainian churches has improved significantly.

1968 The future Supreme Archbishop of the UGCC Lyubomir Huzar (left) accompanies his spiritual father, Metropolitan Joseph the Blind. House of the Union of Ukrainian Youth Helenville in the United States

“Thanks to his wise and balanced leadership of the UGCC, relations between our Churches have significantly improved, and cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats has expanded. I hope that the life legacy of the deceased, his Kiev-centric vision of the future of the Church in Ukraine, will have a worthy continuation,” the message says.

The famous Russian journalist Saken Aimurzaev recalls that he last saw the Father during Lent last year. From time to time, the journalist writes, he gathered journalists just to talk, treat them to tea and listen. “...And suddenly, in the midst of lengthy reflections of one of his colleagues, His Beatitude said: I am a blind person (in recent years he has not seen at all), but I listen to the radio, television, they read articles to me from newspapers and magazines, they read publications from the Internet, but I still haven’t heard or understood what’s happening in eastern Ukraine. “I can’t understand what’s happening in the East,” His Beatitude said something like this,” recalls the Russian journalist.

“His Beatitude Lubomyr is more than Cardinal Huzar, or the first Ukrainian who at one time laid claim to the papacy,” Ukrainian journalist Aleksey Bobrovnikov writes on his Facebook page. Lubomir Huzar was a father, and the lack of opportunity to now turn to him, alive, for advice and blessing is more than a sad reality.”

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also expressed his sadness on social networks. “In one of his last interviews, Lubomir Huzar prophetically said words that sank into my soul: “Peace means loving each other. Peace is not the absence of struggle.” Carrying out his order at the call of our hearts, we must continue to fight for Ukraine, for peace, for love,” the head of state wrote.

The Ambassador of Ukraine to Poland Andriy Deshchytsia, sad for the death of Huzar, calls him an active associate of the Ukrainian-Polish combination.

“The time comes when Great People who have done their great deeds leave us. We are left alone with big challenges. But we must thank God for the fact that they were next to us,” Chairman of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory Vladimir Vyatrovich recalls the deceased.

One of the Muslim leaders, Mufti of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Ukraine “Ummah” Said Ismagilov called His Beatitude Lyubomir a great spiritual leader and the one “whom we can call the conscience of the nation.”

Chairman of the Board of the Institute of World Politics Viktor Shlinchak draws attention to the nationwide grief, and recalls that His Beatitude voluntarily resigned as Primate of the UGCC in 2011. “Huzar was perhaps the only Ukrainian politician (yes, politician) whose self-departure from office was accompanied by millions of regrets. Eternal memory!” he wrote.

Journalist Victoria Pashkovskaya recalls that she saw Lubomir Huzar only once in her life, in 2016, and took the opportunity to ask him when the war will end? “Lyubomir Huzar said: The war will continue as long as it is profitable. A great loss of a great Man... A man with an Angel on his shoulder will undoubtedly be among the Angels,” Pashkovskaya wrote.

“When he spoke, everyone put aside their fuss and listened. Because he spoke wisely and relevantly. His words were healing,” says People’s Deputy Andrei Ilyenko.

Dictionary by Lubomir Huzar. Quotes from His Beatitude's interview

• Church- these are not only priests or bishops. The church is God's people. Priests and bishops in the church are ministers. They should be teachers, help, lead. But the people are the church.
• Weapon- is a means, on the one hand, of aggression, on the other, of defense. The priest must bless people so that they protect themselves and their own. I don't think a priest should bless aggression in any way.
• War does not ennoble. There are people who behave heroically in war, but not because it is war, but because they are good people.
• Maidan- not only a protest against the government and against the authorities. Maidan is a miracle and a manifestation of the will towards change, change for the better, which is good. Maidan was there to build. And the people who were there, who were worried there, understood: they were there for the sake of good, to build.
• Elite- these are people who know how to look far ahead... Those who look far, first of all, preserve the main thing - human dignity.
• Be in love- this is a very good thing, but it is much more important to be conscious that I am loved.
• Liberty is an opportunity to do good. We are people and we are free. And this means that we have the right to do good. Of course, we can be wrong, but the main meaning of freedom is that a person has no right to do evil.
• World- this is when we create a positive atmosphere in which we begin to consciously respect others, love them, desire and do good to them.
• War will pass, but the shock that our state is experiencing is the beginning of a change for the better. I think it is God's great grace that it has come to such a shock.
• We are told that in Ukraine there is Civil War. That's laughter. That's not true. This is not war. Then we start from that false, insincere supposed world. And now we are on the threshold of true peace, true understanding of human dignity and the purpose of human life.
• Religion- this is not knowledge about God. Religion is an encounter with God. Such a meeting can only be personal.
• Unity- this is a gift from God. And it seems to me that everyone wants to accept it on their own terms. Nobody wants to change, they say: let the whole world change, but don’t force me to change...
• Corruption- it is a sin. But you cannot overcome a single sin with the law. This needs to be nurtured.

Last public appearanceHis Beatitude Lubomir Huzar

Lubomir Huzar born on February 26, 1933 in Lvov. Here he graduated from public school and the first grade of the gymnasium. For 11 years, the family was forced to leave Ukraine. In the Austrian city of Salzburg, Lyubomir continued his studies at the Ukrainian gymnasium, and after the family moved to the United States in 1949, the future bishop received secondary education at the Minor Theological Seminary in Stamford (Connecticut). Then he studied philosophy at the College of St. Basil, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1954. Theological studies went to the Washington Catholic University in America, says the biography of His Beatitude. In the late 50s he was engaged in teaching in the USA.
In 1972 he entered the monastery of St. Theodore (monks of the Studite Rite) in Grottaferrata (Italy). And he returned to Ukraine along with the entire community in 1993. On January 26, 2001, at the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops of the UGCC, he was elected Supreme Archbishop of the UGCC. On February 21 of the same year, he was appointed cardinal of the Catholic Church by Pope John Paul II. He headed the Ukrainian church until mid-February 2011.

Among you, I feel like a nobleman. I communicate with kings and queens, high clergy. No, I'm not trying to deceive myself, and don't think that my mind is clouded. I know and remember that I am a bastard and a thief, and also that this closeness to the nobility is temporary. Most likely it will last as long as I am useful to you. I am tolerated, not accepted. Although I cannot say that I am devoid of pride and place myself so low in my own eyes. In any case, I accept this temporary equality. At least to communicate with smart people. Whores and thieves are not very pleasant company. Of course, when everything returns to normal, people will close their doors on me again. But is it bad to at least play this for a while? And when it’s all over, I will have even more reasons to despise you – the noble, rich and well-born.

I hope that at the end of my days, when I stand before God, I will not have an ounce of talent left so that I can tell him: “I used everything you gave me.”

I woke up and thought..."Lord, give me..." And I stopped...What should I ask Him for?...I have a family...I have friends...I hear and see...I eat and I drink... They love me and I love... And what do I need?... That's what... "God, thank you for everything"

I really like her, but I'm not in love with her.
- And she’s in love with you, although she doesn’t like you very much.

What will I do when I get old and my reflection in the mirror is no longer pleasing? I won't look in the mirror - I will look at my children.

I just want to do what I do best and that's fighting. I love it.

I decided that today was a great day for me! Why I decided that, I haven’t decided yet...

It was not the fact that you deceived me, but the fact that I could no longer trust you that shocked me.

I still don’t regret anything, if only because it’s pointless.

I worked at Cirque du Soleil. This is the best circus in the world. And I am the star of the great circus. This is a tour in New York. And I am the main character. A dream, the pinnacle of a career... And I'm bored. Not interested. Unfortunately. Why? And the creativity is over.
I repeat the same thing every day. There is no development. They don’t allow you to develop, because the formula for commercial success is consolidation and repetition. And I start to feel depressed. Something is wrong. I'm not there. The depression lasts for several months - terrible, severe... Although everything is perfect, everyone loves me, they carry me in their arms! And now I’m looking for an opportunity to break out of this wonderful, profitable, promising contract. And I break free. And the depression goes away.
That is, you need to understand what exactly and in what place is wrong - this time. And finding the strength to take a step out of this place is two things. And this is always very painful. It's very difficult. And absolutely necessary.

My question is, how long will a utopia last before the community within it considers it normal or even resents it? I'm starting to write a novel about a mega-structure built to contain ideal conditions life (utopia) and society, so I want to think about life and make it real. (moderately)

My current idea is that over a period of time, about 10-20 years, (also starting to count something like a generation) the government and civilians begin to dislike the building, perhaps due to other reasons (such as corrupt government, unclean conditions, discrimination, etc.) if there is no reason for the utopia to fail. I hope you have creative ideas, this is my first post on this forum! :)

Alexander

What will be the social structure of your utopia? Without this, any answer would be a wild guess (and I'm afraid it's still a guess even if we know it).

drbitey

I didn't consider that, thanks for that! And yes, at the end of the day, this is all speculation since it just depends on the society within the building. (like what user 39743 said in his answer)

a4android

There were many utopian communities that occurred mainly in the 19th century and early 20th century. Although they started with the common ideals of an idealistic people, the communities collapsed within 10-20 years. About the time you expected. State-run pseudo-utopian societies such as the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, Khmer Rouge Cambodia, the People's Republic of China, and even the United States had more variable life expectancies. Big may be better even for pseudo-utopias. Pseudo-utopias are societies bound by high ideals; their reality may be different.

Julian Egner

Hectometer Evil with a corrupt government etc. will not be a utopia in my eyes. But people will settle in pretty quickly and see that it's normal for a short time. A utopia can collapse if a group of people wants to change it, perhaps because they want a bigger share of the pie for themselves? Or perhaps external conditions are changing, such as climate or foreign policy.

Frostfire

Welcome to the site, drbitey. Please note that we strongly recommend that users wait at least 24 hours before accepting an answer to give all users the opportunity to see the question and potentially provide a better answer. Also, don't forget to upvote answers you find helpful; You can raise multiple answers, but only accept one answer to your question. If you haven't already, feel free to take a tour to better understand the site.

Answers

akaioi

The snooker in me wants to say "about as long as it takes a child to become a teenager"; D

Let's make some assumptions (you might want to add a little more to your question, by the way, so I shouldn't assume), just to play with it. Fine:

The designers of Utopia are real nice guys, this is not some secret tyranny.

The physical needs of the people and the building are reasonably well met. No one goes hungry, the building is maintained, and the community is adequately policed.

There is no "unjust underclass" of people who are humiliated because of religion, skin color, language, and so on.

Okay, what do we have to work with?

Envy- someone has a better idea. Someone is closer to the pipes with hot water. People are cars, seers images; we can build a model or conspiracy theory from three data points. There may be some latitude for unrest. Any inequality - any inequality - in lifestyle, educational opportunities can be used.

Jealousy- people want to keep what belongs to them. In particular, you want your kids to have every advantage over the next guy's kids. Guess whose kids will have the best opportunity? Yes, administrators. Cue envy, higher. ; D

Public control- this is inherent in utopian societies. Founders have a vision, right? They want this vision to continue, right? Well, you have to keep the hoi-polloi in line with the vision. Whether with propaganda, taxation, instant executions or anything else... The Plan will to have some position to force people to follow along with how the Founders believed people should behave. People are smart (visionaries, roit?) and will notice that they are being influenced. Some of them will resent this.

Changes in terms and conditions- this is a killer. Utopias are usually developed by angry, bitter philosophers who rage from the state of society from which they came. So their utopias will be designed - dare I say they are designed? - fight what they hate most about their current society. Their vision will become less and less relevant to the changing conditions of the building over the years. But as stated above still applies. Uh-uh... Example: Let's say a building was built as an "ecological redoubt" to shelter the remains of the human race and reduce its impact on the world. This ensures extreme recycling and rationing of resources. Over time, as people realize that the world is healed and empty, it beckons to repopulate, but the leaders they won't release them anyway ...

Problem out of context- associated with changing conditions. What if there is a major earthquake that opens up huge gaps in the walls? What if solar activity decreases so the solar panels can't get enough juice? What if residents see cities appearing outside the building that look like really fun? All this strains society.

So... what does this all mean?

Honestly, I give it 3 generations, tops. The first (founding) generation is full of zeal for the plan. The second generation got used to it; they are not in delighted from utopia. It's just a boring funny life for them. All big problems decided, ambitious people begin to quarrel over smaller and smaller bets. The third generation is restless...

I encourage you to check out The Fourth Turning, which represents generational clocks in American society!

drbitey

Thanks for the answer! I haven't considered these types of changing conditions and agree with your final answer. I also rejected the multi-generational idea due to the thought that it just seemed too long, but now that you give some context that I hadn't thought of, I'm going to think more about this plan. I will definitely read the book when I can, thanks for the recommendation too!

user39743

Well, it all depends on the type of people there. Are they all trained to know no other way than this utopia from birth? Even if this is the case, it will be relative a short time, I would say about 50 years until a person understands that humanity once existed and wants to come out. It's human nature that we don't want to get involved with. However, if the utopia was designed to feel open, this could have been avoided. The fact is that it is almost impossible to create an ideal utopia for the entire population. But I would say someone has to do the dirty work, it's not all machines. They would probably rebel, as in Isaac Asimov's story "The Striker."

ACAC

I would say that utopia is destroyed in a few weeks. Utopias for humans are inherently unstable systems because any small disruption due to perfection sends them away from the utopia you imagined. Your city may not burn down in a few weeks, but there will already be social constructs that make the whole system somewhat uneven. If there were groups that formed with social tiers (even small groups of friends usually have some hierarchy of social power), people would gossip to gain social status. Small things will be left out or exaggerated for personal gain. All this destroys entire concepts of a utopian society.

Corruption will start small with people starting out on a level playing field, but as social structures form, people will gain power over others. Larger forms of corruption in systems will emerge because any greedy system will receive positive feedback. This means that any imperfect human nature will manifest itself and then spread throughout the community if it can gain something. People who abuse it usually only get better because if others don't know about it and have no laws against it, anything they can use to gain power will be used.

To fight side effects greedy system that is human nature in our own society, we have laws for the common good of everyone. However, laws introduce bureaucracy, and imperfect systems of laws end up becoming corrupt, as those who have power under the law can abuse it for their own gain. Due to the imperfect nature of people, laws become difficult to fix all the loopholes and in the end you will not get what people consider to be a utopia. However, even if you had enough rules and they are perfect, your utopia general is more like a dystopia than anything else. Creating a bunch of rules that cover all cases that people can abuse simply limits individual freedom to the point where everyone ends up becoming a robot.

If your system adapts to governments like ours and some basic levels social support and motivation, it can remain stable for a long time, even if there are cases of corruption. However, if there are fundamental problems with your initial government and it does not accommodate people's sensibilities, then this becomes a problem very quickly. Countries with power struggles have government systems, and no government or even government system lasts more than two years. As long as the public understands that the current system is better than any simple alternatives, you can keep it running. Either by artificially creating other systems, gaining support by actively eliminating rebellious people/ideas, or by making your system decent enough that most people don't actively seek alternatives.