“You Only Live Twice. One Life for yourself, and one for your Dreams.”
In 2012, I was able to realize and live a dream I’ve had since childhood. June 20, 2012, I was able to go to Japan. This dream has been something I have wanted to do since I first grew a liking to anime, particular Dragon Ball Z. Another reason this draw to Japan was so strong within me, was through my Karate training, and whole code of the Samurai, Bushido. The trip to Japan was for play, but also some business exploring and training at the JKA headquarters.
During my journey preparing myself to set up this trip found relation to the term You Only Live Twice.
Coincidentally this is the time when the term YOLO was making airwaves in the minds of the generation.
You Only Live Twice is the movie in which James Bond had a mission in Japan, and basically the movie Austin Powers made the Dr. Evil, Project Vulcan etc. spoof off from (well technically it was a spoof of spy movies in general, but clearly James Bond is the pastiche). The theme song by Nancy Sinatra, really struck me hearing her voice resonate the words of the theme song.
Thoughts streamlined my consciousness trying to make sense of what it would mean to live twice.
Based on the empirical knowledge of the universe through Human understanding, we have Life, then we have Death, in a linear order through the concept of time.
Technically One Life, before Death…
I got lost in my thoughts, and contemplated the meaning of One Life, and then Death.
Death comes at the end of Life, an end-point. But does it mean that there is only one path that leads up to this endpoint?
I am thinking of a multitude of entry points and paths to reach this endpoint. There are so much ways to Live Life until we die. However in Life there is something I feel and believe in, Physical and Spiritual, Real world and Dream World, Corporeal and Ethereal, the Dualism, Dichotomy of the Universe’s “known” existence that is contained in Life.
Death is the unknown variable that is beyond the scope of this universe, though it could be a part of it…
The point of this expanded thought is Why I choose to understand You Only Live Twice.
When we are born, there are customs practices and roles that are naturally and socially constructed for us. E.G Gender, born male or female, how this role impacts our lives, location, social situation, there are all these barriers that try to streamline our Lives already into a pre destined path and well, we all know the end point, death… but the Path to it? There can be an infinite set of probabilities to reach death based on choices…To Live twice to me means to not just bypass these choices, but rather make the choice-less action to just Live…
Choosing gives us 2 options though.
No choice, is Oneness, just action, no hesitation…
The way I interpret You Only Live Twice is through the universal Zen, Telos, Enso the eternal Return.
The flow of the Universe is Eternal, We flow from the Life Stream of the Eternal to the Life stream of the Mortal…
So in a sense we Live Twice. Death is potentially a bridge between the Eternal and this physical mortal realm… That I/We have no way of grasping or knowing yet…(to my limited scope of knowledge at least.
Building on this concept stemmed from my Karate, Bushido mentality of being Connected with Everything in the Universe… which stems my relation to the Japan trip, and the James Bond movie, which started this complicated contemplation to begin with.
What I Feel I know based off of my OWN personal Experience, my DŌ, so far is that I can choose to live one life, and be limited to the understanding of just living this physical realm straight until death. Or I can open myself up, rather Empty myself into the void of the eternal, and Live Twice, eternally… Death is just a checkpoint, but once I cross this checkpoint I have no idea if I will be able to remember things prior to the checkpoint, e.g. past lives… e.g reincarnation… e.g. Continuation…
Yes I have one physical life, my body may expire…Physical organs, mind, heart, limbs, they will expire….but will I LUIGI GARDE die when my body dies? Do I Live based off of my material sensory experiences? I Live My Way through contemplating this eternal realm (Nirvana? Heaven? Ether?…) by Understanding it through the Physical…Living BOTH simultaneously but also individually, until my existence is either expired through Death, or what void I/We are not aware of…
You Only Live Twice…
To be Continued…
( I will be updating this post as I continue to understand things based off of my experiences)
If you read this and are Lost, or understand and wish to share a dialogue in to what/why you feel lost, or what you understand and may be able to help bring more clarity to this understanding, please comment below, or submit feedback anonymously via “Feedback” page of this site.
Luigi DŌ 