What is the difference between ambition and KOKOROZASHI? ( Requirement #2 of a good vision )
In my last article, I talked about one of the requirements for a good vision: that there be a connection with the subjective truth, or to express it from another angle, that there be at least one person who will “keep trying at all costs.
In this article, I would like to continue thinking about the requirements for a good vision.
A good vision is not ambition, but KOKOROZASHI
When we are all trying to accomplish something big, we need to have a vision.
“If You Want To Go Fast, Go Alone. If You Want To Go Far, Go Together.”
This is an African proverb that I introduced in a previous article. When we choose to “go far together”, we naturally want to think about “where shall we go then?”
There are two types of visions: one is called ambition and the other is called KOKOROZASHI.
Ambition: A dream that is only for you
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KOKOROZASHI: A dream that is not only for you but also for the people around you
Ambition is a dream “for oneself,” while KOKOROZASHI is a dream “for everyone, including oneself. If our dreams are only for ourselves, it will be difficult to gain sympathy and resonance from the people around us. A dream that is not only for our own benefit, but also for the benefit of the people around us, will gain the sympathy and resonance of many people, and as a result, we will be able to “go far together.”
This is not an issue in the expression of visions, but rather an issue of how we perceive them at the bottom of our hearts. It is difficult to gain the sympathy and resonance of the people around us when we express our vision “for the sake of everyone,” while deep down we are thinking about our own gain and loss first and foremost. From the standpoint of a person who is able to convey a vision, the true intentions of the leader who appeals for the vision can be intuitively seen through.
It is also important to note that ambition and KOKOROZASHI are not a binary matter of black and white, but a matter of degree. Replace the word “myself” with “my company” or “my country” in our definition of ambition and aspiration. Even if it is a dream that is not unique to you, from a larger perspective it could be a dream that is confined to your own company.
Self → Workplace → Department → Company → Country → Human society → Earth
If there is such an inclusion, we will find that whether it is an “ambition” or a “KOKOROZASHI” is a matter of degree, depending on what perspective we take.
The scope of the “common good” (the common good for all involved) envisioned in a vision determines the range of people who will sympathize and resonate with that vision. In this sense, the more common good you can make your vision, the more likely you are to gain sympathy and resonance.
Integration of inner energy and KOKOROZASHI
So far, we have talked about how “going far together” can be achieved by vision being a KOKOROZASHI rather than an ambition.
This is where we run into one difficult problem.
It means that when we try to get closer to our KOKOROZASHI instead of our ambitions, our connection to our inner energy can be weakened.
Subjective truth is not big or small, good or bad, noble or low. The only thing that matters is whether or not there is a connection to the original self. In some cases, expressing the energy that comes from that subjective truth in a natural way will inevitably lead to ambition.
I want to do what I love.
I want to be rich.
I want to be recognized by the people around me.
When we feel this way deep down, if we express this feeling honestly, the content will be ambitious. But even if we prefix it with a title, “By being helpful to everyone…,” it will not make much sense.
The issue is how to integrate or reconcile “inner energy” with “KOKOROZASHI, not ambition.
In conclusion, “ mental maturity” is the key to integrating and reconciling. Mental maturity is “a gradual transformation toward integrating the contradictions of one’s true self and harmony with one’s surroundings and society.” In a word, it expands the scope of what we perceive as ourselves.
As the scope of what we see as ourselves expands, we will naturally be able to integrate and reconcile “coming out of our inner energy” and “KOKOROZASHI, not ambition (not just for ourselves, but for those around us).
In a previous article, I wrote about “What should leaders focus on to develop themselves?” The reason I mentioned that leaders should look to their own mental maturity was to be able to do exactly this, to be able to integrate and reconcile their inner energy and KOKOROZASHI.
What is important here is that when reconciling our inner energy and our KOKOROZASHI, we do not try to force them to exist side by side, but rather, by focusing on our own mental maturity, we value the sense of integration and compatibility that comes naturally.
The important thing to remember is that when integrating and reconciling our inner energy and our KOKOROZASHI, we should not superficially try to put them together, but rather we essentially focus on our own mental maturity and valuing the sense of compatibility that naturally comes with it.
Superficially trying to put things together means, for example, pretending that our egoic elements don’t exist because we need to express our visions as KOKOROZASHI, or covering them up as something that is not good for us. If we discard our inner energy in this way, we may run out of energy somewhere, or the covered energy may appear in another form (often undesirable to the original self).
For me personally, there have been times when I have covered up my egoic elements and they have manifested themselves in a way that is not good for me or the organization, in the form of a “sense of carrying the burden alone.” Recently, by focusing on my own mental maturity, I feel that there are more and more situations where I can naturally stand on my KOKOROZASHI without discarding my own wishes.
In this article, I mentioned that one of the requirements for a good vision is “KOKOROZASHI, not ambition,” and that it is important to have both inner energy and KOKOROZASHI.
Here are the quests of the day. (If you’d like, please share your thoughts in the comments.)
・Of all the things you’ve had in mind in the past, what do you consider an ambition and what do you consider a KOKOROZASHi?
・In your experience, when have you been able to reconcile “your inner energy and your KOKOROZASHI” or when have you not been able to do so? What were the reasons why you could or could not achieve this compatibility?
Bunshiro Ochiai
