SELF CONFLICT

Human should not commit sins, but he or she does. He or she has the duty and power to be pure, but cannot be pure. Though qualified to be an angel, he or she often degenerates into an animal. Human may mount to heaven as well as descend to hell. He or she may reach either boundless glory or bottomless misery. He or she stands in between the two extremes, the peak and the bottom. It is easy to descend ignoring the warning of conscience, but hard to mount fol- lowing the will of climbing. What I should, I do not do; what I should not, I do. I have two selves always conflicting with each other. Truly, this life on earth must be a struggling life.

UCHIMURA KANZO