Spirit of Articles
There was an old Japanese woman whose husband had died a year before.
She called in a service company that had business of disposing of unwanted articles and articles left by the deceased.
She said to the manager of the service company to carry out a big sofa which had been exclusively used by her husband for 30 years. But as a year had passed since his death, she decided to dispose of it.
The manager said to her that the sofa still looked well and usable, so that it looked appropriate to keep the important article with memory of her husband somewhere in her big house.
She said that her husband had always sit on the sofa after coming back home from his work place; he had sit there after taking bath and after having supper, drinking beer. So, he had really loved the sofa. But she had never sit on it. Even after her husband died, she would not. But as one year had passed since his death, she for the first time sat on the sofa. Then she heard the sofa speaking to her: "Let me go to your husband, please!" So, she decided to dispose of it.
The manager himself sat on the sofa. He found anew that it was really a big sofa. He said to her, "I feel this is surprisingly big!" She said, "I feel so. It is too big for me."
So, the manager of a service company that had business of disposing of unwanted articles and articles left by the deceased though that her husband in heaven must have told her to be free from the life style she had had with him.
So, he thought that articles used by the deceased must have something spiritual related to the past users. They should not be handled lightly, he thought.
The way of thinking or feeling that articles or goods around men have their own spirit is very Japanese. Traditionally Japanese have sometimes found spirit not only in living things, including plants, but also in daily commodities, such as earthen vessels or woodwork.
This spiritual tradition is most deeply reflected in shintoism.
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Mat 3:14 But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
Mat 3:15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.