2026: The Inception of Yangmingism

As we stand at the threshold of 2026, it is a common human experience to witness many formulate resolutions for the year, only for few to retain them until year’s end, and fewer still to achieve them. The act of setting a goal becomes the goal itself; one becomes satisfied merely by the formulation, eventually losing sight of what the goal was for in the first place. This is far removed from the authentic act of “establishing one’s will”. It occurs because one is tossed about by hesitation, intervened by self-interest and private desire. Indeed, while it is customary in Japan for multitudes to visit shrines and temples early in the New Year to offer prayers, the reality is that for the majority, these supplications have devolved into mere expressions of private greed. The Gods and Buddhas are not so foolish as to heed the self-centered avarice of individuals.

Precisely because such disorientation has permeated society at large, it seems necessary now, with a purified heart, to turn our eyes to the teachings of our predecessors, to face them with sincerity, and to commence the first step of the New Year. We consume our days in busyness, and it has become a shared feeling among us all that opportunities to gaze upon what it truly means to live have become rare. Under such circumstances, one cannot establish the will that serves as the axis of life; and because there is no will, there is no cultivation, only a descent into wandering. Though there may be vast disparities in wealth, the span of twenty-four hours is the sole asset bestowed equally upon all humanity. Since not everyone can become the 0.1% of billionaires, is it not in how one employs this singular asset of time that the true sensibility of modern man is revealed?

It is a mistake to equate the usage of time with efficiency; rather, it lies first and foremost in “establishing one’s will.” Without this establishment of will, there is no scholarship, nor is there work. Yet, the modern age has inverted this, presuming scholarship and work exist without the establishment of will, and this inversion has become generalized. The act of establishing one’s will has been transmuted into “career,” ossified into the hollow forms of LinkedIn profiles. However, the true essence of establishing one’s will is entirely divorced from social estimation. What I felt painfully throughout 2025 is that everything has shifted too far out of alignment; stepping into individual problems one by one solves nothing. It is easy to say the “whole” is the problem, but it is rarely perceived that this “whole” resides in the very ground of civilization itself—or more precisely, the ground upon which modern people conduct their thinking. Through the realizations of this past year, I have solidified my resolve for 2026: not to view matters from the perspective of reviewing individual problems, but to concentrate all my energies on the displacement of this ground itself.

Now, in this global era, each individual harbors diverse ideologies, principles, faiths, and ways of thinking. While one cannot speak of things in sweeping generalizations as in the past, if one has lived life with some measure of depth, one will inevitably find those things and thoughts that are cherished in living. If these are born of a true heart, then even if there are surface differences between people, the interior substance often allows us to say we are the same.

I myself am not of a disposition to adhere rigidly to a single way of thinking; rather, I have taken the stance of learning what is necessary for me at the time, only in the amount necessary. Therefore, I cannot devote myself to scholarship centered on a single theme year-round. As you can understand if you saw yesterday’s photo essay, it suits my nature better to move while holding multiple themes simultaneously. However, that is merely the surface story. When it comes to the inner axis, I suspect that not only I, but anyone—surprisingly enough—believes in a rather limited philosophy or faith. And usually, this is not something newly proposed recently, but something for which the answer already lies within the classics. Those who live facing themselves with sincerity, unswayed by the times, will likely agree with this.

In fact, while I live mixing diverse themes on the surface, the root that serves as the axis of my will—in other words, the source of my driving force—stands upon a rather limited thought, or perhaps I should say, conviction. Of course, at the bottom of this lies my own strong passion and spirit of inquiry, but year by year, I feel the image that the decorative elements I have learned in such variety throughout my life are being stripped away, and ultimately, only a specific philosophy remains. As everyone has likely experienced, it is impossible to set a firm axis in one’s twenties; in one’s thirties, one continues in a subtle state where an axis seems to exist yet does not; in one’s forties, the axis is finally fixed; and in one’s fifties, that axis ceases to waver. Then, it is only in one’s sixties that one can finally perform true work from that axis. The axis of life is not something easily settled. Yet, it is the profound logic of life that only those who continue to search for the axis in the dark, who continue to move forward without giving up regardless of their circumstances, will, before they know it, acquire an unwavering axis.