Ikigai (Eastern and Western)
A few Eastern interpretations, all preceding the "western" interpretation, are described at the Japanese Wikipedia page 生き甲斐. Please read that article's overview section, using a translation tool if needed.
Contents
The Sterling Version of Ikigai
Western Interpretation
Generally "Ikigai" is taken to be the presence of four things all at the same time:
- I am doing something that takes advantage of my strengths.
- I am doing something I am passionate about (or "enjoy")
- I am doing something that the world needs.
- I am doing something that I am paid for.
A 4-way Euler diagram (and usually not a Venn diagram) is used to illustrate the need for all four to be present in order to manifest Ikigai, as seen in the English Wikipedia article.
In a 2024 open letter to the community (men and women), the Sterling Institute of Relationship described a leader (Bill Reeves) who was severely ill at the time, thus:
Bill personifies the very essence of success, as defined during the Men's Weekend: Doing one thing better than other men for which men will seek you out, pay you respect, admiration, position in the male hierarchy, power and resources.
In this definition of "success" are all four elements of Ikigai: strength (doing something better than other men [do]), value to others (men will seek you out), passion (implicitly in "respect" and "admiration"), and mundane selfish value (implicitly in "power and resources").
Ikigai and the Five Promises
The Five Promises of Richard Rohr correspond to the four components of ikigai and to their holistic union.
but you have STRENGTHS (West — YELLOW)
2010 commentary:
It is common to interpret "life is hard" as being about pain, and how to deal with it, and that is an important part of it — but I interpret the "life is hard" lesson to be mainly about work/toil, effort and complexity. (In the pre-Mesopotamian teaching, the primordial Man was sent out of Eden and told he would need to work. Farming is a fairly complicated task with lots of things to figure out, and it became necessary as a direct result of the increase in human population, which in turn resulted from human ingenuity.)
Most of the "hard-ness" of life is not about pain — I see these words "life is hard" as the title of a lesson about responsibility. This lesson is: With our special power (the ability to figure things out) comes the responsibility to make the right decisions, rather than acting on instinct or just imitating someone else, or blind obedience. In other words, mental laziness is unacceptable.
2026 addendum:
Relating STRENGTHS to this is natural: our responsibility is not merely to make decisions and take appropriate actuons, but to do so in ways that make great use of our special strengths.
but you have VALUE to the world (East — RED)
2010 commentary:
There is only one way that "I" am important, and it is reflected in this common wisdom: I cannot control others, I can only control myself. No-one else can decide for me, only I can decide for myself. So "I" am important because "me" is the one part of the universe that I actually have control of. And I am the only person who has responsibility for it. (This relates to the lesson #1 being about responsibility and lesson #4 about control)
2026 addendum:
"Value to the world" here refers to immediate trade-able value, i.e. that which I can be immediately paid for. Lesson #3 covers the more general type of value to the world including legacy beyond death.
but you have GIFTS for the world (South — ORANGE)
2010 commentary:
I think this promise is also a statement of the Zen-like philosophy that "Life is empty and meaningless". Any "meaning" or "significance" that we see is all in our heads. Accepting the fact that "meaning" is all in the mind is an important part of taking responsibility for one's own intellectual power. This was also a central theme of EST and the Landmark Forum.
2026 commentary:
The direct message here is that we must be selfless, not selfish: Our life-experience was not granted to us to squander on pleasure day after day or idle inaction for years on end. Rather, your life is about everything except you. We were given life so that we can benefit others, and make a contribution that lives beyond ourselves.
but you have PASSIONS (North — GREEN)
2010 commentary:
Kidman's script addresses this as a lesson to surrender to the journey of life, with its unexpected turns and challenges.
We must also not undermine lesson #1 about how you need to take responsibility for making decisions and taking actions, anbd similarly lesson #3. Nevertheless, the original ritual (about surrendering) is really great.
2026 addendum:
Rather than simply "drifting with the current", when we surrender to life in general we can surrender to our passions, and do what we love. It still must have the context of surrender and not grasping for control — and this takes on extra meaning when realiing that we should surrender to the spontaneous appearance of new passions.
but you can live in IKIGAI (Centre - BLACK & WHITE)
IKIGAI is a lifetime commitment — From This Moment Until the Day You Die
IKIGAI is a daily discipline — One Day At a Time
2010 commentary:
By 2010 there had been three times I had "accepted" my mortality:
- at age 22 when I found out I had cancer (I wasn't pronounced
"cured" until age 28)
- throughout the next 10 or so years as many friends got AIDS and
died
- and at age 38 when a lover killed himself
(and by 2026 I had had cancer twice more)
Obviously other people learn the lesson other ways. So I would stress something like this:
Even when you feel like you have accepted/embraced your mortality, there are usually other ways in which you have not.
The 2010 Kidman ritual is great, particularly the ego-gratification aspect of "creating a legacy". There are several allusions to the mystery of death, but that is not mentioned directly. I'll give it a try:
Everything about death is a mystery, except the basic facts that you'll be gone and "you can't take it with you".
(I believe that no matter how many ways one prepares for death, it will still be a surprise in many ways, so it's important not to obsess too much on any particular part of the task. I don't know how to incorporate that into the Kidman text without watering it down.)
This page was written in the "embarrassingly readable" markup language RHTF, and was last updated on 2026 Apr 13.
s.30