Joy innate in kigai becomes especially powerful when it meets inspiration.
When you are giving the full scope of your talent, you are likely doing it just for the joy of it.
An inspired person can’t help sharing. It’s no coincidence that ‘talent’ is also called ‘a gift’ in English. When you feel truly talented, which means full of inspiration, it makes you not necessarily arrogant but rather humble. You have a feeling that it is not just for you, and start giving spontaneously; you feel like a mere conduit through which inspiration flows. According to Lewis Hyde, the author of “Gift: How the Creative Spirit Transforms the World”, giving is a nature of those who have gifts.
Inspired people give generously without being concerned about rewards, which might explain why artists are usually poor.
That’s because, when you feel truly talented, which means full of inspiration, it makes you not necessarily arrogant but rather humble. You have a feeling that it is not just for you, and start giving spontaneously; you feel like a mere conduit through which inspiration flows.
Like the traditional Kula ring exchange in New Guinea introduced by a French anthropologist Marcel Mause, those inspirational ‘gifts’ also never stops circulating among people.
However, unlike the Kula ring, gifts given by inspired people actually grow every time they meet an audience who truly appreciate their worth. For example, when you hear a good story or idea, you can’t help sharing with some additional comments or new interpretations.
That’s one of many reasons why you should work from your talent. If your ikigai has such an inspirational trait, express it to the maximum! The whole society will benefit from it!
Japanese characteristics of talent related ikigai
Many people have ikigai in professions that require a high level of talent and skills. However, there is a distinct character when Japanese people show their talent. They tend to express it in small things rather than big things, making subtle differences rather than obvious differences.
Japanese people are also proud to be a connoisseur of such differences, too. They tend to be pleased when they find they are able to pick up on subtle nuances which most people can’t notice, like a classical tagline of an instant coffee brand says, “For men who can see the difference”, which sounds a bit sexist by today’s standards. However, isn’t it kind of peculiar that such characteristics like having a delicate sensibility is a part of what is considered to be the perfect male? “You see the difference!” is considered to be one of the highest compliments in Japan.
I am a female but I also realize I am Japanese when I discover an unknown frontier in the details of everyday life and really get a sense of enjoyment out of it. That makes me appreciate small things in everyday life, which has been helpful to accept or even thrive in the stay-at-home period.
A small experiment
However, the joy caused by such perceptual change is not unique to Japanese people. You can try an experiment right now. Choose anything around you and look at it more carefully than you usually would. Forget about any preconceived notions about the item you choose. For example, when you are looking at a cup, forget that it is called a cup, or what its use is. You look at it just as it appears to you, and empty your mind. Then, at some point, you can reach a state of mind in which more details of that small thing effortlessly start to be revealed to you. Then, sink into the details. Don’t you feel relaxed and in a way more content now? Perhaps, it is not easy for you to instantly feel the joy, but if you keep practicing it for a while, you will do! It is a good exercise to be in the present moment, too.
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Because Japan has such a cultural hotbed where people appreciate subtlety, artisans make efforts to refine their skills.
When you go to a restaurant or cafe with a chef full of ikigai in Japan, you might feel that he is giving you a meaningful look. He is checking whether you can see the difference in the taste! Once you comment saying something like, “I’ve never tasted coffee with such a fruity flavor”, you will see a big smile spread on his face. The subtlest nuance they created and offered as a result of enormous efforts are finally appreciated by somebody who can see the difference! This is the happiest moment for them!
Some of them might start talking endlessly about the extent of the fastidious efforts they’ve made, then. If so, they are not genuine ikigai workers. If their work is truly their ikigai, it is autotelic; their joy just culminates at the moment of sharing the high quality experience; they don’t need any approval from us. Joy in sharing and needing approval are totally different!
Genuine ikigai workers generally have little interest in worldly approval or success. It is true that work highly motivated by ikigai brings success, but it is just like a byproduct. There are some famous meccas of ikigai, but when we visit them for the first time, we are often surprised at how small and humble they are. Even when they become well known, they tend to resist expanding their business. They just want to deepen it,
That’s because sincerity to their refinement of their skills, joy of sharing it is most important for them. They just want to avoid everything that disturbs that.
They just want their guests to discover the value they share, and directly experience it deeply on their own, rather than convince them of it.
Their attitude reminds me of masters in the traditional tea-cult.