Only you know your strengths and talents, and no one else will tell you what they are. But I believe that polishing and utilizing them is surely the shortcut to success. While the standards of the world and society are important, your own originality is even more so.

What is success, anyway?
Is it gaining money?
Is it obtaining fame?
Is it being recognized by others?
Is it possessing great power?

As you walk through life,
you realize that many people are chasing various forms of success.
A more affluent life.
A higher status.
More recognition.
Greater influence.

Those things will certainly enrich your life.
They are certainly not things to be denied.

If success were only that,
why do people keep seeking more even after they have obtained it?
Why, even though they should be satisfied,
do they want even more?

When you dig deep into that question,
you start to see something different.

People seem to live only for themselves,
but in reality, they do not live by themselves alone.

We stand upon what we have received from the past,

and we live while passing something on to the future.

The words I speak now,
my way of thinking, my skills, my knowledge, and my values,
are all things left behind by countless predecessors.

Someone kept the fire burning.
Someone left behind words.
Someone created tools.
Someone passed down wisdom.
That accumulation supports this very moment.

We are not beings who suddenly appeared in this world.

We are in the middle of a life that has been passed down through a long, long flow of time.

When you think of it that way, isn't it true that success
cannot be satisfied by just your own justice or winning and losing?

Success is passing on what you have received to the future in even a slightly better form.

Perhaps that is the true meaning of it.

On the other hand, people seek knowledge.

They want to know how the world works.
They want to know the universe.
They want to know life.
They want to know themselves.
Knowing is a human instinct.

But life cannot be completed with knowledge alone.

No matter how many books you read,
there are times when it cannot compare to a single step you have actually taken.

No matter how much theory you know,
there are times when it cannot reach the experience of having actually overcome suffering.

There exist two types of wisdom there.

One is the wisdom of knowing.
The other is the wisdom of living.

The wisdom of knowing expands the world.
The wisdom of living deepens life.
The wisdom of knowing nurtures the mind.
The wisdom of living nurtures the heart.

I am not talking about which one is superior.

I felt that both are necessary.

The power to look up at the sky and
the power to stand firmly on the ground.
The power to imagine the future and
the power to live in the present.

When all of these overlap,

a person begins true growth.

My impression after living for 58 years is
that you encounter a strange sensation.

It is a world that cannot be measured by age.
There are young people who are profound.
There are people who are shallow even after aging.
The maturity of the spirit cannot be determined by time alone.

How much have you continued to ask?
How much have you continued to think?
How much have you moved forward while struggling?
How much have you trained your body?
How much have you faced the world?
How much have you indulged yourself?
How much have you spent your time stoically?

As of today, it is said that there are about 8 billion people in the world.

Surely there are as many thoughts, feelings, and burdens as there are people.

True growth likely lies there.

The more mature a person is,
the more they know what they do not know.

They know the importance of continuing to hold questions
rather than having answers.

Therefore, as you reach the latter half of life,
your interest shifts from gathering knowledge
to searching for meaning.

Why is it so tough?
Why do we live?
Why do we encounter so many different things?
Why is it painful?
Why are we happy?

And what will I leave behind for the future?

I believe that the attitude of continuing to face such questions

is what makes humans human.

Perhaps life is a bridge.

A bridge that connects the past and the future.

We are walking on that bridge in this very moment.

While carrying the various things received from the past.
While holding onto what we will pass on to the future.
We may never see the completion of the bridge.

We may never see the flowers of the seeds we have sown.
Yet, we still want to sow the seeds.
Yet, we still build such bridges.
Yet, we still try to pass the baton to someone.

I think that is the nobility of being human.

Success might be standing at the summit, but
even if you reach it,
there is always something next.
Unless you set your own rules to some extent,
there is no end to it.
Success is not letting the flow stop in the future.
It is connecting the relay of life.
It is keeping the fire you received alive and passing it on.
And it is that fire illuminating someone's future.

We are living in that 'now' which is still on the way.

Not completion, but on the way.
Always on the way.
Not the answer, but the exploration.
Not the destination, but a passing point.
That is why we continue to learn today.
That is why we continue to live this very moment today.
That is why, even if this moment is painful...
we can keep going.

In order to pass on a slightly better baton to the future.

That might be the greatest mission

given to the existence of humanity.