Humans, animals, viruses. Is the value of life different? {Lumbinii Museum, Takashi Itagaki | HERALBONY 6th Anniversary Lecture}

July 24th of this year (2024) marks HERALBONY's 6th anniversary.

The 20-minute lecture is likely to become legendary among employees as the company looks ahead to the next 100 years of history.

The lecture was given by Itagaki Takashi, artistic director of the Lumbini Museum, which has been a leader in the welfare industry for many years and has supported the artistic activities of artists with intellectual disabilities.

MUKU, the predecessor company of HERALBONY, was founded in 2018. CEO Takaya Matsuda, clutching a tie, went to show the product to Mr. Itagaki. That's when the history of HERLBONY began. Without Mr. Itagaki, there would be no HERALBONY as it is today. And so he was invited to HERALBONY's first company-wide general meeting.

The theme he chose for his commemorative lecture was "Life."

Itagaki spoke about the importance of "life." Why did he make the employees of HERALBONY think about "life"? Therein lies the essence of what value HERALBONY can bring to humanity, the world we must create, and our "mission."

We are providing a transcript of the lecture in order to convey our desire to share this valuable lecture with all of humanity, and to convey the sense of "determination" that all of us at HERALBONY felt after listening to the lecture.

Do you think there is really life?

Itagaki Takashi (hereinafter, Itagaki): I'm happy to be able to stand here surrounded by all of your warm smiles. Thank you. Earlier, each employee gave a presentation on "Heralbony 100 Years from Now." Listening to it, I really felt like I could see the scenery 100 years from now, and my own dreams have expanded.

I'm here today to talk to you about life.

One of our employees mentioned "a world where all life shines" as the goal of "HERALBONY 100 years from now." I felt that perhaps the things we seek using various words and the world we are trying to portray are all linked to that phrase.

Although "life" is a word that everyone knows, I actually feel that surprisingly, humans don't understand that much about life.

I would like to ask you a question. Do you believe that life really exists?

"I think there is." "I can't imagine there isn't. I don't know why, but that's how I feel."
"I don't think so. It only exists as a word because humans imagine it."

Yes. There are a lot of different opinions. I think there are some people who hear these and feel like it makes perfect sense, or that they understand what they're trying to say. I don't think there are many people who listen to it with a completely strange feeling.

If you were to ask, "Do you believe that life really exists?", I think most people would answer, "I believe that life exists." I think that even if you asked the same question to the entire world, the answer would probably be similar.

So, have you ever seen life? How do you feel when asked this question?

Perhaps, in the context of "Have you seen it with your own eyes?", the thought "I haven't seen it" came to mind. However, it doesn't feel right to categorically say "I've never seen it." Even though I haven't seen it with my own eyes, I feel like I have. I think that's the kind of feeling that came to mind.

It certainly exists. But it cannot be grasped. That is "life."

Itagaki: When words are given to that sensation, when it is fixed as an idea, the name "life" is born. Once a name is given, it can be shared as words. A name and words are given to "that sensation" that we feel vaguely, but deep down. I think that's what happened a long time ago, when the word "life" was born.

However, although I certainly felt the "shine of life," I did not see anything flickering with my eyes. That feeling when you gently embrace someone and feel their warmth in your palm. I'm sure that the sensation I had there was touching the "warmth of life." However, when asked whether it was the heat of "life" that we normally use the word for, I'm a little unsure.

In this way, even though life is supposed to be such a certain thing, the fundamental reason why we are alive and exist here, it is actually very elusive.

It's definitely there, but I can't grasp it.

I think this is the root cause of why different lives in our world are given weight or taken away weight, why some lives are cherished or why some are not.

Earlier, one of our employees thought deeply and then said, "Maybe there is no such thing as life." In other words, something that can be named "life," or a named "life," or the word "life." It is a concept, an invention, a discovery. That's what he said. However, this opinion doesn't deny the "realization of life." He said, "I know that thing that is named life." He wasn't denying the existence of life.

There are many people who say, "I've seen ghosts." It's not uncommon to hear people around you say, "I saw one when I was a child," or, "It looks normal to me." However, there are also many people who say, "No, but ghosts don't really exist."

While many people say they have seen it, there are also many who deny it, saying, "No, there is no such thing." While such things exist, no one has ever seen or touched "life." However, everyone believes that it "exists."

Me, a whale, a virus: is there any difference between our lives?

Itagaki: This has an overwhelming meaning. I think that in order for us to know life, we need to confirm that we don't actually know life. We don't know life yet. But we ourselves are life, and everything is life. That's the fact. Knowing this is the starting point, and I think it is the foundation for everything.

We cannot see or touch anything. But everyone has life within them. Not only humans, but cats and rhinoceros beetles have life as well. Earthworms, water fleas, and E. coli. There may even be life within the influenza virus.

Is that life a different life?

Do humans and E. coli have different lives?

If it is different, what is different? The weight? The color? The shape? The smell?

When we think about what differences there can be in lives that have no color or shape, that cannot be seen or touched, the true meaning of the familiar phrase, "All lives are the same," begins to emerge.

There are probably few people who would reject this phrase as a word, even in a moral sense. In today's society, saying things like "equality of life is just a bluff" is embarrassing, so few people would say such things. However, when you really, really think about what life is, there really is no difference.

The life that keeps alive a virus that can only be seen with an electron microscope, the life that keeps alive a human being named "Takashi Itagaki," the life that keeps alive a huge whale that is tens of meters long.

I don't think it's possible that the life of a whale is 2,000 or 3,000 times heavier or larger than my life. I also don't think it's possible that the life of a virus is hundreds of millions of times smaller than mine.

We live as such creatures today, treating lives that are in fact completely different as if they were different.

"Life" cannot be treated equally

Itagaki: In reality, there are just the same lives. There is a life in my shape, and a life in your shape. There is a life in the shape of a cow, and a life in the shape of a water flea.

Maybe that is the reality of the world. On the other hand, if we were to think, "Oh, just like me, all beings are irreplaceable and precious. I can't take any of their lives. Because I don't want my life to be taken away either," can humans really live like that?

you can't.

I'd like to try, but I can't. This is the law of nature. Although it is true that all life is equal, we cannot treat it equally.

However, they refuse to continue to follow that law. That, too, is human.

Humans are even trying to resist that law. What have humans been aiming for over the past 10,000, 1,000 years? Looking at it on a very large scale, we can see that we are continuing to challenge ourselves to make it common sense for our species that "every life is precious. Every life is important." No other creatures are willing to take on such an outrageous, reckless challenge.

In a sense, it is a challenge that all living creatures, all equal, have finally reached over billions of years of history. Through the human species, we strive to achieve this seemingly impossible ideal, and we continue to challenge ourselves to achieve it. That is the species known as "human beings."

Heralbony's action marks a turning point for humanity

Itagaki: I have said this to you all before: What the actions of this company, Heralbony, will bring to society will be a turning point not in the history of business, or even in the history of capitalist society, but in the history of humanity.

Humans will finally be able to visualize, materialize, and implement in their lives the idea that all lives are equal. We will continue to confirm this in our daily lives. I believe we are approaching a time when we can achieve this lifestyle.

HERALBONY can make this happen through its business. The customer experience that HERALBONY can deliver as a global brand is not complete with "the happiness of wearing beautifully designed clothes made by unique artists." It is a passing phase. Rather, it is a secondary experience.

This is what I think true customer experience is, the greatest value that Heralbony can create.

Wearing HERALBONY clothing, I walk down the street. Then, someone comes walking across the street. It could be a young man with Down's syndrome, or a girl with autism. At that moment, I feel that it is beautiful that I and he/she pass each other. There is a part of me that feels that such a world is beautiful. I feel that I am beautiful for being able to feel that way.

In other words, the satisfaction of knowing that you are shaping a beautiful world. HERALBONY can create a sense of security that no life is threatened. Deliver "clothes", wear "clothes". Deliver "bags", put "bags" on your shoulders. Through these things, you can experience a beautiful world, or yourself shaping such a beautiful world. You can confirm it. This is the value that HERALBONY creates.

This is something that no company in the world has yet achieved. And I believe this can only be achieved through business. If good deeds and social good were only done by people who act for the sake of others, who care more about others than themselves, then this kind of change would never happen.

However, Heralbony's business allows people to take action for themselves. They wear what they want to wear, and look at what they want to hang on their walls and look at every day. Through this, they confirm their desire for a better world, and try to create the part of themselves that can shape a better world. Through this kind of motivation and action, many people can take part in creating social good.

The second stage of welfare begins with Heralbony

Itagaki: I hope that Heralbony will achieve these goals in the next 100 years. No, in a shorter period of time. The things I have just mentioned will be decided in the next 20 years. If we are unable to establish ourselves then, we will likely miss our chance. And it will take another 100 years for someone to appear who can bring about the same changes as Heralbony.

Therefore, I strongly hope that in the "100-Year History of Heralbony," a page will be recorded showing that Heralbony made this happen.
Finally, HERALBONY has a "welfare division" that is developing new businesses to build new infrastructure for people with disabilities. I believe that when this business actually gets going, it will bring about big changes in society.

The welfare services and welfare facilities created by HERALBONY will not be merely a place that provides support within a closed system of "welfare services and welfare facilities." They will definitely be welfare services that act as a social action.

Currently, welfare services play a major role in providing the foundation for the lives of people with disabilities, especially those with intellectual disabilities, severe mental disabilities, and severe physical and mental disabilities. It can be said that the way each person with a disability lives their life and the choices they have are determined by the structure of welfare services. In other words, it is a platform that decisively determines the way people with disabilities live their lives.

I believe that the current "welfare" platform is far from complete. I believe that the welfare platform that Heralbony will create in the future will be the second stage in the history of welfare development.

Welfare services, which are the foundation of a person's way of life, facilitate how that person lives in society and what kind of relationships they will form. What kind of relationships will they form with others? What kind of experiences will they create through those encounters? The welfare platform can creatively support this.

People with disabilities and people without disabilities, whose relationships have had some gaps up until now, will be naturally connected. HERALBONY can create new social relationships through its welfare services. It can directly change the relationships between people in society.

So I am very much looking forward to the day when Heralbony will enter the welfare service field and actually provide the services it provides. From here on, the flow will completely change. The place where you are standing is a watershed in the history of mankind.