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change and to actions aimed at a more humane society, it clearly is insepar-
able from the political and, so it seems, from the democratic process. Weber
succinctly summed this up:
It is immensely moving when a mature man [sic]
-
no matter whether old
or young in years
is aware of a responsibility for the consequences of
his conduct and really feels such responsibility with heart and soul. He
then acts by following an ethic of responsibility and somewhere he
reaches the point where he says:
-
“
Here I stand; I can do no more.
”
That
is something genuinely human and moving
In so far as this is true, an
ethic of ultimate ends and an ethic of responsibility are not absolute
contrasts but rather supplements, which only in unison constitute a gen-
uine man
…
-
a man who can have the
“
calling for politics
”
(Weber 1991: 127)
Weber is talking about the role of the politician and politics as a vocation,
but a theme emerges in this topic about how religious philosophy and practice
shape people
s sense of agency in a way where they respond to external
structural powers by not giving in to feelings of apathy, the seemingly most
prominent political attitude among young people in Japan. They try not to
see the political world as separate from their lives, but as something they need
to respond to with collective action.
The process of trying to maintain belief in the idea of people
'
'
s propensity
to nobility and mutuality is the creation of an organising principle that marks
an altogether di
erent way of being and constituting others and relations in the
social world. Whether one wants to classify this as
'
religious
'
or philosophical
contains its own historical trajectory, but it is signi
cant if one is to under-
stand the political participation of this religious movement. To imagine that
people essentially possess the positive potential to create social good through
developing themselves to take actions that are seen to bene
t others and
wider society is part of these young people
is way of re-imagining themselves
out of the Machiavellian discourse, the centrifuge of political analysis so long
dominant (and real enough). For them, sectarianism does not have to be the
overriding organising principle of sociality and society. While they recognise
that self- or group-interest is often the organising principle in politics, their
underlying driving force is to try to make it a realm dominated by ideas of
wider social good. This is profoundly political, but it is also philosophical.
Religious leadership has been central to this re-imagining. Coupled with a
philosophy that speaks exceptionally positively about human potential, it is
the trust that these young people feel Ikeda places in their potential for living
the ideals expounded by his Buddhist humanism. This creates new imagina-
tions about themselves. The content of his speeches gives people hope and
inspires them to turn the gaze upon themselves as the key players in a move-
ment that is seen as having the purpose of
'
. How active young
people are in Soka Gakkai, and often thereby in canvassing for Komeito, is
'
value-creation
'
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