The concept of the heart is very difficult to understand. God even tells us in the first verse of the Ofudesaki that we do not understand the heart.  It is the energies of our own hearts that punishes or rewards us for our actions. God tells us that God has been only been observing us since the creation of human beings.  We reap what we have sowed because of our own hearts. God saw all the sufferings in the world and descended from heaven to teach us how to prevent future obstacles and illnesses that are delivered by our own hearts.

How does God convince the world that there is a heart (soul) in each of us that regulates our own behavior?  In the Ofudesaki, God even tells us that since there are so many people that do not understand the heart and what it does, it will be a mountainous challenge even for God. What would be the best way to help people understand the heart?

God wants to show us what our own heart do. To convince people, God will begin to place illness as guidance to people, so they can understand what their own hearts do for them naturally. God will begin to enter their bodies, and evaluate what dusts or evil thoughts are in their minds.  Comparing Oyasama’s mind to theirs, God will begin to place illness on their bodies, depending on how much dust is contained in their mind.  God is showing them their fate in this lifetime. A loving God that wants people to only have joy calls this guidance.  This is like the movie Christmas Carol, where Ebenezer Scrooge is shown his future by the ghost of the future.

But this is only a piece of the procedure to save the world. What would be the use of God’s guidance if people cannot understand the guidance given to them? This will be unjustifiable! I understand people that criticize and get angry toward me, for telling them that God places illness. This is why God tells us that for God’s blessings of guidance to occur, we need to go out first and spread God’s teachings. We must go out to inform people what God will begin to do. Tell them that God will begin to give out illness as guidance to help them understand the heart. This is explained in chapter 14 of the Ofudesaki. The spreading of God’s truth is called hinokishin in the Mikagura-uta.

When the spreading of God’s truth is completed, the performance of our special prayer, the Joyous Service, brings upon God’s blessings of guidance to the people we have spread the truths to.   But this is only the beginning of our work, as we must reinforce the concept of the heart to these people who come to our places of worship to be healed from their guidance.  We must teach them to purify their minds by understanding the heart, and then teach them the Joyous Service, so they can save others.