○Education in Prout Village
Education in Prout Village is linked with Duty Share. Duty Share covers various fields such as medical care, housing construction, agriculture, water quality management, and education. Participating in these itself is a form of learning and also constitutes municipal management. Learning to use factory equipment is connected to real life, for example, by learning it in order to repair roads.
Especially for children, learning reading, writing, and basic arithmetic is necessary for living, and teachers who teach these subjects also serve as part of the Duty Share. The central square of the Municipality is designed as a gathering place, where classes are held regularly. Participation in classes is not compulsory; children start attending when they become motivated.
At present, subjects other than reading, writing, and arithmetic are not considered foundational skills. Based on this, the four pillars of education are as follows:
1. Reading, writing, and arithmetic
2. Duty Share (participation in municipal management)
3. Pursuing what one likes
4. Ego and No-mind
1. Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
Prout Village is also a post-rare-metal society, so individuals no longer use PCs, smartphones, or AI. Therefore, reading, writing, and arithmetic are learned by handwriting.
2. Duty Share (Participation in Municipal Management)
Various industries are required for municipal management. Since no one can learn everything alone, residents participate selectively and start learning about one area first. For this reason, the coordination department adjusts the number of participants. Skills such as housing construction, road repair, and manufacturing daily necessities are essential for living. Within these, some industries may be learned shallowly, while others in more detail.
3. Pursuing What One Likes
For people to learn passionately, autonomously, deeply, and continuously, following their curiosity is the primary condition. This eventually becomes a special skill, builds confidence, and leads to growth as a person who understands things well. Since there are no long-working-hour companies in Prout Village, there is abundant free time to pursue what one likes.
4. Ego and No-mind
Every human has the self called “the self,” and thinking begins from “the self.” When the Ego is strong, desires increase and suffering grows. The heavier the Ego, the more dishonest the person becomes, and the lighter the Ego, the more honest the person becomes.
This thought arises spontaneously in anyone. The trick to not being swayed by Ego is to notice it, intentionally stop it, and develop the habit of becoming No-mind. In other words, the more people remove ignorance about Ego and practice No-mind, the calmer and more peaceful both individuals and the world become.
However, No-mind is not something forced. It will be spread as a program by the World Federation, for example through radio broadcasts.
○Organizer Qualifications
In Duty Share, organizers are needed to teach, coordinate, and manage people. The important point is that organizers and participants have a cooperative relationship necessary for municipal management. In other words, the organizer is not “above” and the participant “below.” Therefore, organizers should be cooperative and supportive by nature. In short, they should be sincere people. If someone gives orders from a superior attitude, participants will easily move to other Duty Shares. This would make the system unworkable. Thus, when the coordination department appoints organizers, they choose people who can follow these rules:
・Participants are respected as fellow learners, not as objects to be taught.
・Do not look down on, scold, deny, or ridicule participants.
・Do not interfere with what participants do every time.
・Do not deny participants when they fail; affirm failure as part of learning.
・Do not become eager to teach participants unnecessarily.
・Listen to participants until they finish speaking and build a relationship where they feel safe to talk.
・While showing interest in participants, trust and delegate to them in a laissez-faire manner without hindering their freedom.
・Inform participants in advance about anything that could cause fatal injury.
Those with light Ego are suitable for this role. People with heavy Ego tend to do the opposite. Organizers selected announce meeting dates and places on bulletin boards, and residents apply after seeing these notices.
○About No-mind
Every human being wants to be happy rather than unhappy. In many cases, people believe that this can be achieved by gaining something. For example, “If I earn a lot of money, I can buy this and that, and become happy,” “If I become famous or succeed in something, I will be happy,” or “If I can be with that person of the opposite sex, I will be happy.”
For example, when someone starts dating a person they like, at first they feel very happy, but over time that feeling gradually fades. In some cases, there may be more arguments, suffering increases, and it may lead to a breakup. Before dating, the desire to possess the other person arises. That desire changes to joy and happiness through the relationship, but at the time of separation suffering comes. This is the process.
The important point here is that any external matter satisfies only one’s own desires for possession and self-expression (Ego), and the joy or happiness gained in that way does not last long. It makes one want more, eventually turning into suffering. While trapped in that, one endlessly repeats the cycle of happiness and suffering. Happiness and suffering are two sides of the same coin. However, humans want to be happy rather than suffer, so where is the answer?
The answer lies in No-mind, which is the state between the two extremes of happiness and suffering. In No-mind there is calmness, peace, tranquility, silence, and harmony. To understand No-mind, try the following simple method.
○Concentrating Consciousness on One Point to Achieve No-mind
You may stand or sit and close your eyes for 20 seconds. During that time, spontaneous thoughts or words will arise in your mind — this is thinking. From thinking, suffering is generated.
Next, close your eyes again for 20 seconds and direct your consciousness to the area between your eyebrows (the brow center). This causes your consciousness to focus on one point, and for a moment, thinking stops and No-mind arises. In other words, you have intentionally stopped thinking. If you slowly inhale through your nose and exhale slowly, you can concentrate even more deeply. This can also be done with eyes open.
The area behind the brow center is where thoughts arise, such as sudden memories of the past, predictions or anxieties about the future. When No-mind arises, these thoughts stop and silence comes. This means that the mind’s uncontrolled chatter disappears and suffering is reduced. The key is to maintain this conscious attention continuously. If practiced habitually, the brain will remain quiet most of the time, and even if thoughts arise, you will immediately notice and habitually return to No-mind.
This is being consciously attentive. The opposite is the unconscious state. When anyone gets angry or excited, they sometimes say harsh words in emotional outbursts — this happens because they are unconscious and not attentive. When you consciously observe your inner state as described, you are in an attentive state and less likely to be swept away by emotions.
Focusing consciousness on the brow center is one method; the object of focus can be anything. For example, watching passing clouds, paying attention to environmental sounds while walking, or focusing on your breathing.
○Thinking Creates Suffering
When you repeatedly practice conscious No-mind every day, you become aware even when your mind is occupied by thoughts. As the time spent in No-mind increases during the day, the suffering created by thoughts decreases, and the habit of quiet stillness develops. People whose minds are not calm tend to have habitual thinking patterns. Those with many negative thoughts may even experience depression.
An important insight from this method is that even when your mind is in No-mind, thoughts will spontaneously arise, recalling past memories and triggering emotions of anger or sadness. These memories and wounds may be so old or deep that you are not even consciously aware of them. People unaware of this habit of thinking get emotionally caught up in these spontaneous thoughts, suffering from anger or sadness. However, if you know that “this is temporary, and if I return to No-mind, both thought and suffering will stop,” you can stay in a peaceful, silent, and calm state. Strong anger or anxiety may take longer to calm down.
What can be understood here is that during No-mind, the human heart becomes calm and peaceful. Happiness or joy gained by typical values — such as acquiring or achieving something — is temporary. Over time, these feelings fade, desires re-emerge, turn into attachments, and suffering begins. Happiness and suffering come alternately as two sides of the same coin. There is no calmness in this cycle. Lasting calmness can only be obtained by putting the mind into No-mind, which means simply stopping thinking. Since the more thoughts occupy the mind and attachments grow, the more suffering is born, observing this process closely and gaining this awareness makes it easier to break free from the ingrained thought patterns that create suffering.
It is impossible by nature to stop thinking forever, but being able to stop thought momentarily with No-mind means that Ego is like a mist that appears momentarily. That is, Ego arises and disappears in an instant, so even if it arises, you learn not to engage with it.
When children are in kindergarten, their thinking ability is not well developed, so their Ego is weak, they have few worries, and they generally spend their time happily. Even if they are scolded or fight, within ten minutes they behave as if nothing happened. Around age ten, entering puberty, their bodies mature and thinking ability increases, so Ego also strengthens. Consequently, worries, jealousy, inferiority, suffering, and conflicts increase.
Using thought is not bad; it is necessary for planning or similar tasks. At other times, thoughts should be calmed. There is no need to change your living environment to practice No-mind. You can continue working and living your daily life while doing it.
○The Purpose of Life
All human beings are constantly troubled and suffering. This suffering arises because of thoughts stemming from past memories and anxieties about the future. However, within a person who is in a state of No-mind, peace and calmness come. As a result, suffering decreases.
The problems and human relationships that occur in daily life are created by one’s own thoughts, behaviors, and speech. If one interacts with others by becoming No-mind, maintaining silence as a basic posture, and engaging in conversations with moderation, unnecessary problems are less likely to arise, and even if problems occur, they will not be regarded as problems or worsened. For example, when meeting someone one dislikes, if one thinks negatively about them in the mind, that feeling may be unconsciously conveyed to the other person. However, if one immediately notices this and becomes No-mind, subsequent human relationships are less likely to deteriorate.
Becoming No-mind and escaping the cycle of thought (Ego) → desire → attachment → suffering, and maintaining a calm heart, is the ultimate purpose of human life recommended by Prout Village. Just as human actions have habits, thoughts also have habitual patterns, and if those are negative, suffering will unconsciously arise. By habituating No-mind, one overcomes this.
If there is no thought (Ego) and no “the self,” then there is no “my body,” no “my possessions,” and no meaning to one’s life. When thoughts cease, the last thing remaining in the mind is pure consciousness. Consciousness exists first, and then thought (Ego) arises. In other words, consciousness is the true essence, and Ego is something that appears afterward. What humans call “the self” — one’s name, body, gender, nationality, etc. — are just clusters of memories and thoughts. Thought is therefore an illusion that can be intentionally erased, and consciousness is the original nature of humans. When there is only consciousness without thought, calmness and peace come, but when Ego (thought) appears, suffering begins.
○Philosophy
● To exist as consciousness, become No-mind, let go of Ego, and maintain a calm heart.
● To live a sustainable life without war, weapons, or money, within the limits that allow nature to recover, ensuring everyone has neither excess nor deficiency.
○Conclusion
People may naturally wonder, ‘Does Prout Village give up the latest technologies such as the Internet, computers, smartphones, and AI, and return to the Mid-tech technologies used before the 2000s? Surely no one desires such regression.’ These modern technologies are maintained within a monetary society where people work from morning until night without any time to spare. In other words, while technology has become convenient, it also brings numerous social problems, stress, and anxiety. If technological advancement had reduced human labor and increased happiness, that would be ideal, but in reality, it has not. In Prout Village, above all, people have time to live at leisure and enjoy life freely. There are no long-hour jobs every day, transportation is free, and travel is always possible. There, Mid-tech technologies exist to meet the necessities of daily life. It is not necessary to stay constantly connected via smartphones; one can visit people directly, and phone communication is also possible. Moreover, because these are harmonious technologies, they do not cause environmental destruction. From the perspective of scientific technology alone, the harmonious technologies of Prout Village may appear to be a regression, but in reality, they retain the necessary conveniences while improving the quality and comfort of life itself. Prout Village builds towns primarily using Mid-tech technologies, but it is also key that more people gain an understanding of Ego, which is directly linked to human behavior. The reasons humans suffer, and the causes of conflict and problems, all stem from Ego and thought. Increasing the number of people who consciously exist as conscious beings forms the foundation for a peaceful and calm society. In this sense, the era coming alongside Prout Village is also an era of human spiritual development. Finally, the most concrete and effective action Prout Village encourages people to take toward solving all the world’s problems is ‘migration to Prout Village.’ This is the simplest, most influential step, connecting directly to the resolution of all social issues.
Sustainable Society Prout Village Third Edition
Author: Hiloyuki Kubota
Website
Email
proutvillage.info@gmail.com
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