Why do toxic parents appear? Spirituality

 Why do toxic parents appear? Spirituality

From a spiritual perspective, it may be that Japan is currently experiencing a period where “toxic parents” are appearing more frequently than at any other time in its history.

Before the widespread use of the Internet, during my own childhood, social communities were stronger, and there was more objective oversight from older generations. People’s behavior and attitudes were observed from a wider societal perspective.

Additionally, there were more opportunities to learn what it meant to act responsibly as a parent. Being an adult carried certain social expectations that shaped behavior.

With the rise of the Internet, society has become more accepting of diverse values. Conversely, this also means there is a growing tendency not to impose one’s own values on others, which may contribute to the emergence of toxic parental behaviors in some cases.

As a result, it’s possible that highly self-centered individuals—almost like restless spirits driven by desire—are becoming more common.

Starting with the concept of “presence” or “sense of self,” the psychologist Sigmund Freud proposed the “pleasure principle,” noting that humans naturally seek pleasure in basic activities such as eating, sleeping, or relieving themselves.

In extreme terms, one could equate “sense of presence” with “pleasure.” When a person feels happiness, they simultaneously experience a strong sense of presence and intense pleasure.

When someone lacks this sense of presence, it is not just an emotional gap. The body and mind are interconnected, and the absence of presence can trigger stress, signaling a threat to life itself.

Stress responses push the individual into a state where they must either confront or avoid the source of stress, both of which require energy and stimulate both mind and body.

In other words, a “toxic parent” may act primarily to satisfy their own sense of pleasure and presence, treating their children as tools to fulfill these needs.

Why “toxic parents” appear, “soul growth,” and “spirituality”

From a spiritual perspective, the emergence of “toxic parents” can be seen as a social issue tied to the growth of the soul.

As discussed multiple times on this blog, the growth of knowledge comes from each individual realization or “awareness,” and the growth of the heart, known as “spiritual character” or reikaku, similarly comes from each awareness that arises from the heart.

When one’s reikaku is high, their spiritual presence strengthens, their ability to create and nurture others’ hearts increases, and the more awareness they possess, the broader their perspective becomes. This is not a difficult concept—it simply means becoming spiritually mature.

Conversely, when reikaku is low, one’s spiritual presence is weak, and there is a tendency to prioritize fulfilling one’s own heart over caring for others. With fewer heart-based realizations, one’s perspective tends to be narrow. In other words, this represents a spiritually “childlike” state.

While not absolute, Japanese education often focuses primarily on individual knowledge and awareness, creating environments where people tend to prioritize their own fulfillment over nurturing the hearts of others.

Furthermore, when reikaku is low, a person’s perspective remains narrow, and their concern for the hearts of others is often limited.

“Toxic parents,” why they appear, “feminine energy,” “spirituality”

From a spiritual perspective, the emergence of “toxic parents” may be seen as an inevitable phenomenon.

Spiritual teachings suggest that the overall energy of the Earth is gradually shifting from a male-dominant energy to a female-dominant energy.

This change is not a sudden, black-and-white switch; rather, it occurs gradually, like the relationship between the sun and the moon, and it affects the entire planet regardless of gender.

The female-dominant energy is still in its early stages. The emotional energy of young women, with its opposing forces such as joy, anger, sadness, and pleasure, tends to appear strongly. This can manifest in society as polarization, contradictions, sudden policy reversals, and wave-like fluctuations.

Men tend to suppress and control their emotional energy, making their minds and bodies more rigid, while women tend to release and channel their emotional energy outward, resulting in greater flexibility both mentally and physically.

Changes occur more easily in flexible systems than in rigid ones, and the current era, influenced by female-dominant energy, marks the beginning of a period of rapid and intense change.

Male-dominant energy tends to value visible, material things, while female-dominant energy places greater value on the invisible, inner heart.

In other words, previous generations were strongly influenced by the values of male-dominant energy in education. As a result, a lack of attention to the heart and low spiritual character made the emergence of “toxic parents” more likely—a development that can be seen as spiritually inevitable.