The Meaning of Mystical Experiences on the Boundary between Life and Death

ABSTRACT

This article, using reports collected from survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake and the resulting tsunami in 2011, considers the following questions: Where is the boundary that separates the world of the dead and that of the living? What happens in an indeterminate state between death and life? How do we deal with it? Then, as a result, what is brought to us? These questions arise as we ruminate on what death means in the modern world. The author argues that reunion with the dead may sometimes bring about profound healing, which allows us to access the wholeness that includes both the living and the dead.

KEY WORDS:

• boundary between life and death
• death
• disaster
• Great East Japan Earthquake
• religiosity
• reunion with the deceased
• spirit of the dead
• Tōhoku
• Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
• tsunami

Notes

1. The year 1965 is a big turning point in the psychohistory of the Japanese people. Takashi Uchiyama discusses many reasons for this change. During the 1960s, the Japanese economy began to grow rapidly and the relationship between nature and human beings began to change. Traditionally, foxes were believed to have spiritual powers; however, as science grew in stature those beliefs weakened. I believe one of the reasons for this shift was the 1964 Olympics, which were held in Tokyo, the first Olympics ever held in Asia. Japan wanted to show a modernized society to the world and traditional matters began to be excluded at that time.

2. They were sleeping on futons on the floor. In some families, everyone still sleeps together in a large room as they used to in the past.

3. Some Japanese wives refer to their husbands this way.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Megumi Yama

MEGUMI YAMA, PhD, is a professor, Faculty of Humanities, at Kyoto University of Advanced Science in Japan, where she teaches clinical psychology and depth psychology. She also engages in clinical work as a psychotherapist, mainly using Jungian thought. She was educated in clinical psychology at Kyoto University under Professor Hayao Kawai. Her interest is in images and words and in what takes place in the invisible silence, seemingly “nothingness.” She explores this theme in clinical materials, formative art, myth, literature, and Japanese culture. She has written many articles and books, both in English and Japanese. Her articles and chapters written in English include “Ego Consciousness in the Japanese Psyche: Culture, Myth and Disaster” (Journal of Analytical Psychology, 2013); “Haruki Murakami: Modern Myth-Maker beyond Culture (Jung Journal: Culture & Psyche, 2011); “Spirited Away and Its Depiction of Japanese Traditional Culture (The Routledge International Handbook of Jungian Film Studies, 2018); and “Non-fixed Multiple Perspectives in the Japanese Psyche: Traditional Japanese Art, Dream and Myth” (Contemporary Influences of C. G. Jung’s Thought, 2018). She was a visiting researcher at Harvard University and a visiting fellow at University of Essex. She has given lectures and seminars in the United States, United Kingdom, China, and Taiwan. Correspondence: [email protected].