This poem examines a world where the line
between right and wrong is deliberately blurred.
By questioning language, justification, and
power,
it confronts the moral evasions that
sustain domination
and asks what happens when self-overcoming
is refused.
A World of Right and Wrong
When facing a matter,
we must examine our way of thinking.
We must examine our use of words.
We must examine our everyday conduct.
What is the basis that claims alignment
with reason?
What is the basis for asserting what is “right”?
What is the basis for believing one is
doing good?
Is a slip of the tongue
a lie meant to protect oneself?
Is a mocking laugh
arrogance that looks down on others?
Is failure
nothing more than shifting responsibility?
Self-serving values are proclaimed as
legitimate.
Self-centered ethics are boasted as
humanitarian.
Ego-driven morality is substituted for
education.
One secures absolute control
over one’s own
dominion.
One maintains an authoritarian regime.
One perpetuates a politics of dictatorship.
The desire to conquer never ends.
The urge to dominate never runs dry.
Self-love becomes the motivation for
action.
Those who refuse self-overcoming
accelerate the world toward chaos.
Notes on terms (implicit in translation)
“A World of Right and Wrong” renders 理非曲直 as a moral field where reason
and distortion coexist and are contested.
self-overcoming directly reflects Nietzsche’s concept (Selbstüberwindung), preserving the philosophical weight
without over-explanation.
The repeated self- constructions mirror the
Japanese 自己〜 to emphasize enclosed, narcissistic power
structures.