Why the western representation of ikigai it's a total nonsense

Little introduction

This is my first spin-off. I tried to answer the question of what makes a good day, and this post became necessary after I conducted my research. If you're curious to know how it started, use the previous link. Alternatively, if you came from that blog post, you will find the same link at the end of this post to return to your previous reading.

My two cents on this Ikigai thing

The major success of the Ikigai concept in Western society is due to books like "IKIGAI: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life" by Héctor Garcìa and Francesc Miralles, published in 2016. 

Like other japanese words/concepts, ikigai has not a direct traduction, so probably for helping western readers to understand, or to make the concept a little more complex to make the book worth reading (I'm totaly guessing here, and I didn't find any resource in support of my opinion), Garcìa introduced in his book the venn diagram created by Marc Winn to illustrate the concept of ikigai (in reality was originally created by Spanish astrologer Andrés Zuzunaga to represent his concept of "purpose". Marc Winn later replaced the word "purpose" with "ikigai,"), an intersection of four categories: what you love; what the world needs; what you can be paid for; and what you are good at.
We know this directly from reading Kizuna: the Official Magazine of the Government of Japan.

As I explained before, since the diagram is a Western construct, it's normal that it does not align with the traditional understanding of ikigai in Japan.

The Ikigai refers to a passion that gives value and joy and/to life every day (to easily clarify this concept, I wanna share with you this video).

What I wanna add in this post are my thoughts on this diagram and why it's so silly that we considered it right.

The Venn Diagram Sections

First of all, I need to analyse every section. I wanna leave the "What you love" section for last and continue clockwise.

"What the world needs" and "what you can be paid for" are the same thing, two sides of the same coin if you like the metaphor. 

A need is a good or service essential for survival and basic well-being, such as food, water, and shelter. 

In the hope of making myself understood better, in contrast to the concept of need, we can delve deeper into the concept of want. A want is a good or service that a person desires to have but is not essential for survival and serves to enhance comfort, pleasure, or status, and we don't have to go and disturb John Maynard Keynes or other economists to get it.

So if the world needs your ikigai, you can bet your ass on the fact that there will be people who will pay you handsomely for it, because it is something so needed that we cannot give up.

But there is the catch: It doesn't matter if the world doesn't need it. The world doesn't need these blog posts. I'm not that brilliant, but I'm happy when I'm writing. I felt that sense of joy. 

But why keep the conversation centred on me? Search online, on YouTube, and find a video like this one. You will see people, Japanese elderly, who journal to prove that they are alive, and by doing that, pursue their ikigai, or some had as their ikigai to help their children become independent, and so on.

Then think about it: will you have to keep working your whole life? Or once they stop paying you because you retire, have you lost what gives your life meaning? Or is there a chance that what gives that sense of purpose to your life would be something that you do after your 9-to-5?

Talking about "what you are good at", it could be the result of natural talent or a skill you've developed over time. However, you may be good at something that was taught or imposed on you from a young age, such as playing the piano. Although you're competent, you may not feel a true passion or a strong connection to that activity (Can you think of at least one great performer who got nothing but depression from doing what she/he is good at?). Being good doesn't always translate into lasting satisfaction or happiness.

Finally, let's talk about "what you love". This is obviously something we need to balance with the other elements discussed previously, but in this context, it doesn't add anything. It's not a real decision-making element.

I remind you that we're talking about your passion, that thing that will make your life feel meaningful. It's obvious that it's going to be something you "love". So perhaps it would make more sense for the intersection of only the previous three to occur within this last one.

Even if you hate the "what," you might love the "why", and that's your ikigai (the Andre Agassi story reminds you of that).

Don't get me wrong, there are exceptions; we can make various additions to this reasoning, but generally speaking, that's the case.

Talking about intersections

If the foundations fall down, what's above collapses too. But let's briefly talk about the intersections.

• Passion: a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept.
• Mission: a statement defining the fundamental purpose or reason for existence of a person or organisation, the set of long-term goals, explaining what they do, for whom, and how they do it, serving as a guiding framework for daily actions and future goals.
• Vocation: summons or strong inclination to a particular state or course of action.
• Profession: a principal calling, vocation, or employment 

(N.B. I take most of this definition from Merriam-Webster)

Defining a passion as something you have to be good at is the result of a society where the only value is competition and winning. Why can't you be passionate about something you're not good at? Over the last year and a half, I've become passionate about painting, and you only need to look at the way I dress to understand that colour combinations are something alien to me, and I've never picked up a paintbrush.

For me, vocation has always been a higher calling. I'm not talking about it in a religious way, and history is full of people who had a vocation that could give them everything except being paid.

Profession is the only one I agree with. While the mission, at least as far as the long-term aspect is concerned, I'd say it's definitely distant from the Japanese way of life, which is much more Zen. Ikigai itself is tied to something done in the here and now, which will certainly bring things to the future, but that's not the point. As for the rest, I won't comment because I haven't found a unified definition that I'm convinced by.

Come back to What makes a good day ?