Deep Encounters: Steps toward Dissolving the 21st Century Mystery and Discovering the Truly Global Learner

by Eiji Hattori, Wallace Gray

Excerpted from the preface: In this great river of life that flows endlessly, there were moments of deep feeling when I realized that my life is a gift. Each such moment resembles an eternal spring gushing forth with the joy of 'being helped to live and helping others to live.' We can live as recipients of life from all others and all else. Striving to live with all, I present this book as a kind of landscape of encounters_a portrayal of thoughts and experiences that call on privileged instants in the process, instants by which I have been coming to encounter myself.

198 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2009

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Deep Encounters” began as a series of essays by Eiji Hattori in the Japanese-language magazine "Reiro" trying to emphasize Japanese connectedness with the rest of the world. He published them (still in Japanese) in 1999 as “Deai no Fūkei—Sekai no Naka no Nihon Bunka” (Scenes of Encounters--Japanese Culture in a Global Context). Dr. Wallace Gray, who had collaborated with Hattori on a previous translation, agreed “to translate and rewrite the original in order to update and enhance the message without distorting the beauty and power of ‘scenes of encounter.’” Something--perhaps literally--was lost in translation. With the addition of translator’s footnotes, “bridges” at the end of each chapter, and side bars--called fireflies--the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

Hattori reports Zen-like moments of enlightenment in his contacts with both eastern and western cultures. Some “To Be or To Appear”, “Being and Having” and “The Encounter of a Lifetime” are easily absorbed. Some seem in error, perhaps based on bad science or apparent misunderstanding of the encounter. Most are simply opaque.

I suggest the potential reader first reader Hattori’s work straight through. Skip the bridges, footnotes and often irritating “fireflies”, if you can. Then, if you like, read “Deep Encounters” in its entirety. Even though I disagree on several points, I applaud what Hattori and Gray attempted. A thoughtful reader will find “aha” moments in these pages. It just won’t come easily.