Geography Reference
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(Asad 1999), what in this case is an organisation actively involved
in promoting important civic issues remains obscured, relegated as it is within
discourses about social hierarchy and group mentality. Such discourses
obscure this rather large part of civil society that engages in the di
outcomes
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cult pro-
cess of fostering enthusiasm and commitment to social engagement. Soka
Gakkai members
political involvement could perhaps, and ironically so, be
compared to what Marx envisioned in his more philosophical moments,
namely, that
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man
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s nature makes it possible for him to reach his ful
lment
only by working for the perfection and welfare of his society
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, an extension of
Aristotle
is idea that civic virtue is developed in civic practice (in Giddens
1971: 1). A similar kind of rhetoric is what shapes Soka Gakkai members
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political culture. As members of this religious organisation struggled with the
inevitable problems of whether or not at certain points they were compro-
mising their ideals too much through their support for Komeito, their sense of
ownership towards the political system stood out against the representation of
Japanese citizens as largely politically apathetic or disillusioned. They knew
that sometimes political decisions were problematic, but it was their sense of
individual commitment to a process of self- and social actualisation that
made most of them maintain political commitment, for good or for bad,
amidst political controversy because it felt like the somewhat better option
among imperfect political choices. This unsettles the modern Western social/
liberal
ideal that religion should be seen as separate from politics. I say
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here, because I am not arguing, as the interlocutors do not, for a
reconsideration of religious doctrine to become part of what they believe must
remain a secular public sphere. Instead, the data in this topic tell me to
reconsider the e
should
ect of a particular religious philosophy and practice on
socialisation and on the way in which political behaviour is manifested. We
may
find that within habitus as a
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matrix of perceptions, appreciations and
actions
(Bourdieu 1977: 83), there are moments of freedom that create dis-
cursive openness if not social change. In fact, it may be creating moments of
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s (2002) term, a transcendence of other political
structures and attitudes. This sense of
communitas
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, to use Turner
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that can paradoxically be
achieved through all these activities is arguably the real attraction in Soka
Gakkai. Freedom here means being able to imagine possibilities. Through
thoroughly planned and well-organised activities, despite the pertinent
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freedom
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structure
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in place, people are often able to touch the
of each other in a way that
has nothing to do with other social structures, statuses or roles, but more to
do with a shared sense of humanity. Moments arises of sincerity and
conviction about noble causes that touch something that goes beyond other
socially structured roles and expectations. It is those moments of
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heart
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freedom
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that these young people
orts to engage in
secular discussions about the good life, thereby participating in a shared
public life.
When we compare this to the representation of Japan as a Confucian-based
society in which social membership is characterised by conforming to
find enjoyable in their many e
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