Stress caused by roadside gangs! Spiritual

 Stress caused by roadside gangs! Spiritual

Let me talk about the stress caused by “road-tribe” children from a spiritual perspective. Have you heard the term “road-tribe” (dōro-zoku) before?

“Road-tribe” refers to children who play around in the streets, and at times it describes children who continue to play outside without concern, even if they accidentally break something like a flower vase placed outdoors.

In some cases, it even refers to children who play noisily in the streets until late at night, which causes neighbors to experience considerable stress.

However, during the Showa era, although it wasn’t necessarily to this extreme, it was considered natural for children to play outside, and in fact, children who didn’t play outdoors were the ones who caused concern.

Between the Showa era and the present day, there has come to be a clear difference. With the spread of news about crimes involving children, there is now a tendency for parents to be less willing to let their children play outside.

In addition, with the spread of video games, many children now spend their time playing at home instead of running around outdoors.

When it comes to the issue of the “road-tribe”, especially for the elderly who grew up in a time before the internet, it was only natural for children to play outside, so some may see it as contradictory to scold children for doing so today.

However, from a spiritual perspective, it is not difficult to understand why people might experience stress in response to these “road-tribe” situations.

“Stress” toward “road tribes,” ‘stress’ means

 “spiritual.”

Stress toward “road-tribe” children, and how “stress” itself can be viewed from a spiritual perspective.

The psychologist Sigmund Freud proposed that whenever a person eats, sleeps, or even relieves themselves, there is always some degree of pleasure involved. He put forward the idea that human beings are creatures who seek pleasure, calling this the “pleasure principle.”

In an extreme sense, one could even say that “a sense of existence” = “pleasure”, and when we feel happiness, we experience both a strong sense of existence and strong pleasure at the same time.

When we cannot feel a sense of existence, it is not simply that the feeling itself is missing — the body and mind influence each other, and under such conditions, stress is more likely to arise, even as a threat to life itself.

The stress response places a person in a state where they must either attack or flee from the stressor. Either way, energy is required, and the mind and body are stirred to produce energy.

In other words, stress toward the “road-tribe” often arises in situations where one’s own sense of existence is being diminished on a spiritual level.

Noise does not only mean the sound of children’s voices. For instance, those living near train stations deal with the constant noise of trains, which is also a form of noise pollution.

Why it may not bother them is because it is part of their daily living environment, where the mind accepts it as a normal and safe part of everyday life, so the noise ceases to be disturbing.

In the case of the “road-tribe,” however, the sudden appearance of such behavior becomes a new stimulus, heightening vigilance, and making it easy for stress to build up and persist.

If such conditions had been present since one first started living in that area, it might have been accepted as part of the atmosphere of the town, and therefore, would not have been perceived as a problem.

“Stress” toward “road tribes,” soul level, “spiritual”

Stress toward “road-tribe” children, soul level, and a spiritual perspective.

Regarding “soul growth,” just as the growth of knowledge consists of individual realizations from each piece of knowledge, the growth of the heart—spiritual growth—also consists of each realization from the heart.

When one’s spiritual level rises, their existential power increases in a mental sense, their creativity to fulfill the hearts of others expands, and the more realizations they have in their heart, the broader their perspective becomes. This is not a difficult concept—it simply means maturing spiritually.

Conversely, when one’s spiritual level is low, their existential power is weak in a mental sense, and they tend to prioritize fulfilling their own heart over the hearts of others. The fewer realizations they have in their heart, the narrower their perspective tends to become. Again, this is not difficult—it simply represents being spiritually like a child.

In fact, among the current elderly population, while it cannot be said for everyone, there are increasing numbers of self-centered elderly. There may be more who are “spiritually low”, prioritizing their own heart over fulfilling the hearts of others.

As a result, stress is more likely to appear, and such individuals may be more prone to feeling troubled by the “road-tribe” phenomenon.

Furthermore, due to the diversity of values, values are dispersed, and when one’s personal worldview is challenged or disrupted, stress can arise from this as well.