I have seen it—
the towering Giant Tower.
Encircled by massive stone walls, layered in impenetrable defense,
rejecting all who approach, allowing no voice to pierce its stillness,
it rose higher than all else, stabbing at the heavens.
Around it stood a fortress—
political parties, parliaments, bureaucracies, schools, corporations, the media.
They seemed independent, yet invisible threads bound them together,
reinforcing one another until they moved as one colossal creature,
writhing solely for its own survival and prosperity.
It was the fortress called entrenched privilege.
Those who stepped inside offered themselves willingly to the Giant Tower,
lured by the feast of wealth and status.
From its heights, they gazed down upon those outside—
upon us, the commoners—
their cheeks flushed with the vulgar satisfaction of looking down,
their nostrils flared with the intoxication of having climbed so high.
The labyrinth — the Prison of the Mind
The structure of this domination is not built merely by law or institution.
It is far more cunning, far more deeply rooted.
It seizes upon the calculus of gain and loss within each heart,
entangling people in a labyrinth.
“If I stay here, I can survive.”
“It’s not worth making waves.”
“If I keep my head down, tomorrow will come.”
“It’s better to just get along.”
Small compromises, small fears, small calculations—
these uphold the rule of the Giant Tower.
So long as one complies, the freedoms of desire and excretion are guaranteed,
and the days pass in quiet security.
Thus, everyone learns not to look at the Tower,
moving with eyes downcast through the labyrinth of its sprawling control.
In truth, it has already become the norm.
Thought has stopped.
The senses are numb.
Awakening — The Key to the Future
And yet—there is an exit to the future.
Not to flee. Not to resist blindly.
But to seek the exit to what lies ahead.
First, open your eyes and look.
At the Giant Tower. At the walls. At the structure itself.
There are truths known only to those who have seen.
There are futures visible only to those who awaken.
To awaken is the moment the world inverts.
Once awakened, the world begins to turn over.
The self of yesterday and the self of today become strangers.
Do not drown in emotion.
Anger and despair are but fodder for the Giant Tower.
What is needed is rational, logical thought—
a pure and sharpened sensibility.
Gaze upon the entirety of the Giant Tower, the fortress, and the labyrinth—
calmly, precisely, with a serious eye.
This is the key that unlocks the way out of the labyrinth that binds us,
the way toward the future.
The Giant Tower is indeed vast and unyielding.
The exit from the labyrinth is not easily found.
But it is a tower that also stands within our own hearts—
a labyrinth within the mind.
The “awakening” within each person becomes the hammer-blow
that shatters the Giant Tower and its walls,
becomes the key that opens the way out.
You have already awakened.
Then there is no going back.
Welcome to the awakened world.
Here begins the true work of thought.
And the Giant Tower—
will begin, ever so quietly, to tremble.
This is the English version of the article → Japanese version