Constructive Living, Session 2: Removing Our "Shink" Wrap

We all live in a shink-wrapped package.

David Reynold and Gregg Krech were influenced by Shoma Morita, M.D., and Takehisa Kora, M.D. Morita's life spanned from 1874 to 1938. Dr. Kora brought Morita’s work to Western audiences beginning in the 1950s.

Morita's work reflects ideas from Stoicism, Buddhism, and prominent American psychiatrists such as William James and Karen Horney. Morita's Stoic influences probably originate from a common philosophical wellspring, not direct engagement with Stoic texts.

When relevant in our Constructive Living studies, I'll reference Morita's 1928 text, Morita Therapy and the True Nature of Anxiety Based Disorders. Reynolds and Krech have made Morita’s ideas contemporary and a better starting point for our study of constructive living.

Kora was a medical professor. His accessible and insightful lectures, compiled in How to Live Well, are worth reading. Kora wrote, "I myself am a mediocre and ordinary person, so I understand ordinary people better than heroes or geniuses."

Kora added, "We ordinary people have an infinite variety of personalities, but we have one thing in common: we can become capable, full-fledged members of society as long as we continue to work constructively, even if we were not born with superior abilities."

Morita, Kora, Reynolds, and Krech aim to assist us in recognizing and overcoming obstacles of our own creation that hinder a fulfilling life.

Shinkeishitsu is the evocative term Morita coined for psychological symptoms caused by an individual's preoccupation with their thoughts and feelings. The goal of Morita Therapy is not to eliminate disruptive thoughts and feelings. Instead, by cultivating discernment, we can stop noticing them as much. This is an undoing, rather than a doing.