Even an Incurable Disease Can Be a Ticket to Happiness

Believing That Even an Intractable Illness Can Be a “Ticket” to Happiness

The Happiness I Found While Living with the Intractable Disease “Systemic Lupus Erythematosus”

This is the story of one woman who, after developing the intractable disease systemic lupus erythematosus in childhood, struggled for years with pain, loneliness, and the question, “Why only me?” Yet through the teachings of Happy Science, the prayers and love of those around her, and deep reflection on her own heart, she came to realize that even illness can become nourishment for the soul. By accepting herself as she was, she discovered true happiness and the hope that every hardship can become a “ticket” leading us toward a brighter future.

The Onset of an Intractable Disease

I was born as the eldest of three siblings in a town rich in nature in Fukuoka Prefecture. I first noticed something was wrong with my body when I was in the second grade of elementary school. In addition to cold-like symptoms such as fever and fatigue, I developed a severe rash on my face. My mother took me to the hospital, but wherever we went, doctors told us, “We don’t know the cause,” and we ended up visiting many different hospitals.

Finally, when I was examined at a university hospital, after various tests, the doctor gave me this diagnosis:

“C, you have an intractable disease of unknown cause called systemic lupus erythematosus.”

I was told that systemic lupus erythematosus is a disease in which the immune system, which is supposed to protect the body, malfunctions and causes inflammation in various parts of the body.

The doctor then said, “Unfortunately, it will probably never be cured.”

At that moment, my mother, who was sitting beside me, broke down in tears.

Because I was only in the second grade, I did not understand the seriousness of what had happened. But the thought, “Did I make my mother cry?” pierced my heart. That wound in my heart gradually turned into the belief, “I am a bad child who makes my mother sad.”

“Why Only Me…?”

After that, when I took the steroid medication prescribed by the doctor, my symptoms calmed down a little, but I suffered from various side effects. My height stopped at 130 centimeters, the height I had been in the second grade, and my face became round and swollen. At school, people stared at me, teased me, and pointed at me, which made me feel deeply sad.

My physical condition went through repeated ups and downs. Sometimes my whole body hurt so much that I could not even eat. At other times, I could not get up because of extreme fatigue. During my six years of elementary school and three years of junior high school, I was repeatedly hospitalized and discharged because of fever and severe fatigue. There were many days when I wanted to go to school but could not.

Because it was difficult for me to attend school every day due to repeated hospitalizations, after graduating from junior high school, I decided to enter a correspondence high school where I could mainly study at home.

“Everyone else has healthy bodies and can go to school. I wish I could become healthy too, study with my friends, and play with them.”

Going to school normally, chatting with classmates normally, and enjoying an ordinary youth— I could not help but envy everyone who was living that kind of ordinary life. I felt frustrated that I could not do the same things as everyone else, and I also carried the anxiety that I might be left behind.

At the same time, whenever I saw children who were healthy but skipped school to go out and have fun, I was tormented by intense hatred and jealousy.

“Why only me? Why can everyone else go to school normally, but I can’t?”

Many times, I even thought, “Maybe it would be better if I just died.”

At such times, what supported my heart was Master Okawa’s book The Invincible Thinking. Some time earlier, my mother had been introduced to Happy Science by an acquaintance, and our family had joined Happy Science. When I read the words in The Invincible Thinking, “There is no defeat in life,” it felt as if my negative thoughts were being blown away.

“There are several triggers that help human beings grow. But when I look at people who truly begin to shine from within, I feel that they have usually overcome some kind of trial. Those who have passed through trials and transformed them into their own strength begin to radiate light.”

“Maybe this is a time for me to polish myself.”

Telling myself this, I somehow continued to endure the loneliness and the pain in my body.

My Necrotic Kidney Recovered Through Prayer

One day, when I was in my third year of high school, I was suddenly struck by abdominal pain so severe that I almost lost consciousness.

After being taken to the hospital, the doctor told me, “There is a blood clot in your kidney. One of your kidneys has become necrotic.”

My mother immediately offered a prayer at Happy Science, praying for my recovery from illness.

Then, a few days later, the doctor looked at the test results with wide eyes and said, “Huh?”

“For some reason, the kidney that had become necrotic has miraculously recovered.”

“What!?”

The doctor, my mother, and I all looked at one another in astonishment.

“God and Buddha have allowed me to live…”

A feeling of gratitude welled up within me, and I began to think, “I want to learn more about the teachings of God and Buddha.”

After my treatment was completed and I was somehow able to leave the hospital, I began to aspire to enter Happy Science University, or HSU.

“I absolutely want to go to HSU, which was created by God and Buddha!”

For someone like me, who had spent my days enduring physical pain and fatigue, the fact that I could have a dream of going on to higher education was truly a miracle. While continuing to battle my illness, I studied hard and somehow managed to graduate from correspondence high school after five years. Then, in 2015, I was blessed to be accepted into HSU.

My Dream Student Life

I attended classes, joined seminars, and ate meals with my friends at the cafeteria. Everything about student life was so enjoyable that I could hardly contain my happiness. There were still times when I suffered from fever and fatigue, but even when I felt unwell, I did not want to miss school. I forced myself to commute every day while drinking energy drinks.

Finally Finding My “True Self”

However, in my second year at HSU, my beloved father suddenly fell ill and passed away, going to Heaven. Then, in my third year, job hunting also began, and the burden on my heart gradually increased.

One morning, I felt an intense pain around my abdomen and lost consciousness.

I was taken by ambulance and ended up being hospitalized for three months.

The doctor said to me with a serious expression:

“Fluid has accumulated in your abdomen up to near your heart. If you had been brought in just a little later, it would have been dangerous.”

Looking back, although I had an intractable illness and needed to take more care of my health than most people, I had been pushing my body too hard because I was desperately thinking, “I have to catch up with everyone.”

Through the teachings of Happy Science, I had learned that “the thoughts within the mind can create the deterioration of the physical body.” So I decided to carefully look into my own heart.

Inside my heart, intense feelings of resentment were still swirling, both from the past and the present: “I hate myself for being sick,” and “I can’t forgive people who are healthy but lazy.”

I kept comparing myself with others and became trapped in the suffering of thinking, “I want to become like everyone else who is healthy, but I can’t.” I had been running forward desperately, all alone.

But in truth, I was not lonely at all. I was already loved just as I was.

My family, my seminar teacher, and my friends—everyone prayed for my condition to improve. They came to visit me and gave me countless words of encouragement.

“I had been walking surrounded by so much love…”

As I encountered everyone’s kindness, I became deeply ashamed of myself for having resented both myself and others.

“To hate myself means rejecting and denying all the love I have received from everyone.”

Furthermore, when I thought about my mother, who had come from far away every time I was hospitalized and stayed overnight to accompany me, I realized something:

“My mother carried my suffering too. She suffered for both of us.”

“I don’t want to make everyone sad anymore. I want to become someone who can repay their kindness.”

When I made that decision, I felt as if the “armor” around my heart, which had separated me from others, was being peeled away.

“The self who can believe in myself and others, and who can feel the love of God and Buddha—that is my true self.”

Looking back, I realized that my physical condition had worsened when I was filled with negative thoughts. The teaching I had learned at Happy Science—that the essence of human beings is not the physical body, but the mind and soul—began to truly make sense to me.

“God, thank you for giving me this realization.”

Graduation and Employment

After leaving the hospital, I had previously suffered by comparing myself with others. But once I was able to think, “It is okay to be myself just as I am,” I became able to live with much more ease, without carrying so much tension in my heart.

I expressed my gratitude to each member of my family, to my teachers, and to my friends who had supported me. Before, I had been filled with self-pity, wanting others to comfort me. But after leaving the hospital, my heart was filled with gratitude and affection for others.

With the desire to repay everyone’s kindness, I worked on my graduation thesis and job hunting.

“I will do my best so that my father in Heaven will also be happy.”

When I held a memorial service for my father through Happy Science, I felt as if his peaceful heart was gently reaching me.

After graduating from HSU, I began working as a temporary employee in an administrative position at a nursing-related company. I was worried about whether I would be able to work properly, but through Happy Science, I had learned that it is important to begin with what one can do. So I was able to approach my work with a lighter heart.

“Learning to live at my own pace is also a way of cherishing myself.”

Six months after I started working, I was thankfully offered a full-time position by my supervisor, who asked, “Would you like to become a regular employee?”

Without my health breaking down, I have been able to work five days a week as a full-time employee.

A “Ticket” That Carries Us Toward Happiness

If, on the railway of life, someone receives a “ticket” called an intractable illness, anyone might think, “I have boarded a train bound for unhappiness.”

But I believe that, in the end, every event in life carries us toward a place that brings us happiness.

Through Happy Science, I have learned, “This world is a world created by Buddha. Buddha created this world with good intentions,” and “This world is a school for polishing our souls.” Even when there is suffering or sadness, I believe that the love of God and Buddha is contained within it, as if saying, “You are a strong soul. I have great expectations for you.”

When you have an illness, there are many things in life you have to give up. But I do not think that is necessarily a bad thing. As Happy Science teaches, “Even if one door closes, another door will open.” I believe that each person will surely come to see the path they are meant to live.

Looking back now, the path I have walked since becoming ill was never smooth.

But with the encouragement of many people, I was able to reach a place I could never have reached by my own strength alone. I was able to accept myself with my illness. I have come to love my past and my present self, and I am confident that I will surely be able to love my future self as well.

I want to tell many people that even an intractable illness can be transformed into positive power, and that there is absolutely always hope.

I am still immature in many ways, but I want to become someone who can encourage others and gently push them forward.

I am truly happy to have encountered God and Buddha.

With gratitude to God and Buddha in my heart, I will continue doing my best so that I can live a life of repaying the kindness I have received.

Why Was she Able to Find Happiness Despite Living with an Intractable Illness?

POINT 1

She Believed That Even Illness Could Become Nourishment for the Heart

Through the scripture The Invincible Thinking, C learned that even hardships and difficulties can become nourishment for the soul.

She was able to believe, “There is meaning even in the suffering of illness. This can become an important experience for polishing my soul.” That belief became the strength that helped her overcome painful times.

POINT 2

Through Deep Reflection, She Realized That the Essence of Human Beings Is the Soul

As she deepened her reflection, C discovered that she had been loved by those around her all along. As feelings of gratitude welled up within her, her self-pity and resentment toward others gradually dissolved, and she became able to love both herself and others from the heart.

She also realized that her physical condition had worsened when she was filled with negative thoughts. Through this, she truly felt, “I am not my physical body. I am a mind, a soul.”

Figure out what the problem is trying to teach you

A message excerpted from Stress-Free Living by Ryuho Okawa / IRH Press

Let's take illness, for example. Not many people will intentionally try to get sick. You often get sick when you're least expecting it. There are many causes of illness, including neglecting your health, a lack of exercise, too much stress and poor nutritional balance. We can resort to such worldly explanations. In fact, there is a good reason as to why you get sick. Illness manifests because it is necessary. In other words, illness manifests because it is necessary for your age and circumstances at that time.

Say, for example, you didn't pass your exams. The result is trying to teach you that you have a problem that needs to be solved now, not that it was merely an issue of luck. It may be trying to teach you that you didn't put in enough effort in the past or it may be trying to teach you the harsh reality of the world. Or, it may be using the opportunity to try to teach you to be more diligent, so that you don't fall or become conceited. In any case, please know that the phenomenon that is now manifesting is not a coincidence. A problem that is appropriate for you has appeared.

This is true for a case where your child isn't so bright. There is definitely a reason behind your child being born with a disability, too. In case of a problem between a married couple, there is some meaning behind how it is being presented. There is a good reason or meaning to a fight between husband and wife. The problem is trying to teach you something.

In other words, the marital problem has appeared because now is the time when it must appear. It is trying to teach you something important. So, please try to get an understanding of what that is. You must not use the problem as a tool to blame yourself or others without trying to understand it.

Whether an illness is cured depends on how one uses the “power of the mind.”

A message excerpted from The Super-Absolute Method for Health by Ryuho Okawa / IRH Press

The idea that “illness can be cured through the power of faith” is not so mysterious

People may not easily possess the “power to heal illness,” but almost everyone possesses the “power to create illness.”

Even if one does not have the power to cure cancer, almost everyone has the power to create cancer. If one overworks, neglects one’s health, becomes extremely emotionally disturbed, or lives in a destructive way, cancer will likely develop.

In truth, “creating cancer cells within the body” is a difficult thing to do. Yet people are able to do such things in a negative direction. However, when it comes to the positive direction—“eliminating cancer”—they are not easily able to do so.

This means that people do not understand the power of thought, the formative power of the mind—the fact that one’s body is shaped by one’s own thoughts—and they have not sufficiently mastered how to use their thoughts.

People can produce destructive thoughts endlessly. However, because most people have never been taught how to use positive thoughts—harmonious and constructive thoughts—they are currently unable to heal illness.

Since it is possible to create illness, it should also be possible, in principle, to heal illness by oneself.
To begin by thinking in this way is the first step toward healing illness.
It is you yourself who are creating the illness.
If I were to say to everyone, “Try to become ill within one year,” I think it would be possible. There may be some extremely strong people in the world who would not die no matter what they did, but most people should be able to become ill if they tried.

For example, if you were to “work without sleeping at night,” “take on a debt of one billion yen even though a debt of more than one hundred million yen is already beyond your capacity,” or “fight with your spouse every night,” you would likely become ill very quickly. Or, if “your child misbehaves,” you may become ill; and for young people, even heartbreak can lead to illness.

In this way, people can easily become ill. If mental shock causes disharmony between the mind and body, illness can be created very quickly.

A miraculous moment will come when you become one with the power of the great universe

A message excerpted from Stress-Free Living by Ryuho Okawa / IRH Press

While you are thinking about defending yourself with the power of your ego or your own power, miracles will not occur. It will not happen while you are trying to solve problems with your own knowledge, experience, judgment and discretionary power of good and evil.

However, it will occur when you become one with the great universe and yield yourself to it. Please try to feel that. Please make time for such meditation, even if it's only 15 minutes a day. Please stop trying to solve problems at your own discretion and accept them as they are. Accept what has appeared in front of you. And please feel the miracle coming to you. Your state of mind will change.

There are miracles happening in our organi-zation, but there aren't that many yet. Most of the reasons come from trying to solve those problems by using the brain, will or emotion.

However, as I said earlier, if you can think of yourself as being one with the power of the great universe and let yourself float in it, many issues will be resolved. I would like many people to experience this moment of miracle.