Tenrikyo Dynamic Mission MAINTAINING THE MODEL

Although the Tenrikyo Dynamic Mission is primarily concerned with construction or more properly with reconstruction the task is large and complicated and like all large and complicated tasks requires frequent reviews of the plans to make sure that everything is moving ahead in the proper pace and in the proper order.

As a reconstruction there are difficulties in dealing with preexisting structures, some of which have deep and hidden foundations that need to be identified and removed and that is a very tricky bit of work since all of the older foundations both hidden and apparent have stake holders who are committed to keeping them in place. That fact makes the job much more complicated than a purely new construction raised on a clean, clear and prepared ground.

Some years ago near the end of my working career I was a participant in a construction project. At a particular point in the project I was presented with a set of construction plans - when I was younger they were called "blue prints" but that is no longer the case - and told that they represented the plans for my areas of responsibility. That was nice and I was excited about the prospect of seeing the new construction finally ready to come to completion. but in looking at the plans I was aware that there was a problem, at least as far as my participation was concerned. I didn't know how to read construction plans.  Fortunately, the person who gave me the plans patiently explained to me how to read and understand their scale, how they fit in and  related to other parts of the project and the legends, variances and notes that accompanied them.  By the time that the project was finished my set of plans were well worn and dog eared and more or less my constant companions.

The Tenrikyo Religious Corporation holds and maintains a set of  master plans, a "Model" for the work of reconstructing  this world as the world of joyous life for all equally and stands ready and eager to share those model plans with any all who might be interested in the project of reconstructing the world. That same organization also provides limited instruction in how to read or interpret the model that they maintain. Again because of the complexity of the task preparation and instruction in interpreting the model is limited because the level of individual responsibility in interpreting and carrying out the work is so diverse that it would not be possible to address every kind of work called that is called for in the early stages of preparing the ground. In the later stages of the project however every detail is shown, taught and understood according to the degree of sincere effort expanded. Now at the early stages of the work just maintaining the integrity of the "Model" requires pretty much all of their energies. For instance as I write this the Tenrikyo Religious Corporation is engaged in trying to "restore" the model to its intended form as it was from the start subjected to severe outside interference that attempted to change and distort the "Model" plans in favor of keeping older insecure foundations.

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