“Sermon on April 15, 1952”

As humans judge others by their appearances, they do not understand the truth in them. Humans make decisions through observing outward appearances, and this is dangerous. God, on the other hand, sees through what hides beneath as well as into the soul. God knows everything and we cannot hide from His eyes. Since humans are fixated on appearances, they are concerned about how things look. They are worried about how others view their actions, and this, I say, is a pitfall. That is why I always tell you, “Do not care about how others see you, but care about how God sees you.” There is no need for you to please humans. You must please God only. Even though I’ve been telling you this for some time, it is unfortunate that there are some who still try to please humans. While it is true that people in general place importance on pleasing others and this is accepted as a social norm, in our case, in the case of God, it does not work this way. I hear that in other religions, when someone makes a generous donation, they display the names along with the amount of money they donated. I do not do things like that. I have no idea who donated and how much they donated. In our religion, you cannot receive any honor by showing off how much you donated. I only care about how God sees me. Humans are not my objective. To be seen by God – this is my objective and this, I believe, is the true way. That is why my thinking is God-centered. I only care about how God sees me. I only care about how to please God. This is how you should live, too.

The Collected Works of Mokichi Okada, Sermons vol. 7, pp. 233-234
* Portion omitted for the service.