How to Read “Living through a world as vast as one’s heart”
Kokoro hodo no yo o heru
Meaning of “Living through a world as vast as one’s heart”
“Living through a world as vast as one’s heart” means that each person lives in a world that matches their inner qualities. This includes their character, aspirations, and personal depth.
Even when people share the same society, those with broad hearts experience a wide world. Those with narrow hearts see only a limited world.
This proverb shows that life quality depends not just on external circumstances. Your inner state greatly affects how you experience life.
People with high aspirations and broad perspectives find possibilities even in difficult situations. They accumulate rich experiences. Meanwhile, those who cling to narrow thinking cannot fully benefit from their circumstances, even in favorable environments.
You use this proverb when reflecting on your own mindset. It also applies when accepting that you live according to your capacity.
Today, people use it in contexts about self-growth. It carries a positive message that polishing your heart can transform your life.
Origin and Etymology
The exact first appearance of this proverb in literature is unclear. However, we can understand it by examining the words themselves.
“Kokoro hodo” is an old expression meaning the size of one’s heart. It refers to one’s capacity, ability, and level of aspiration. “Yo o heru” means to live through the world or go through life.
This saying likely emerged during the Edo period. Society then had a strict class system. People considered knowing one’s place a virtue.
But this proverb does not simply preach resignation or compromise. Instead, it expresses a profound life philosophy. Your mindset determines the world you actually experience.
People with great aspirations find a great world opening before them. Those who live with small hearts see only a small world.
This connects to the Buddhist concept of “issai yuishinzo.” Everything is created by the mind. It also relates to Confucian “shushin” teachings. Polishing your heart changes your life.
The words are simple, but they contain a concentrated essence of Japanese life philosophy.
Usage Examples
- They say “Living through a world as vast as one’s heart,” and because he keeps holding big dreams, opportunities keep coming his way
- I only complained when I was young, but after realizing “Living through a world as vast as one’s heart,” I started working to broaden my own heart
Universal Wisdom
“Living through a world as vast as one’s heart” touches on a fundamental truth about human existence. The reality we experience is not objective fact itself. It is the world interpreted through the filter of our own hearts.
When looking at the same rain, one person feels gloomy while another rejoices at the blessing. Working in the same workplace, one person sees a place of learning while another feels only pain.
This is not a problem of environment. It is a problem of how that person’s heart is oriented. This proverb has been passed down for hundreds of years because this truth never changes across time.
Everyone wishes to make their life better. But most people focus their energy on changing their environment or changing others.
This proverb teaches that this approach is wrong. What truly needs changing is your own heart. When your heart changes, the world you see changes. The very life you experience transforms.
Our ancestors understood that life’s richness lies not outside but inside. Broadening, deepening, and elevating your heart is the only path to living in a larger world.
This is also a fact proven by modern psychology. It represents the core of human understanding across all times and places.
When AI Hears This
The brain constantly operates by predicting the next moment. When predictions fail, the brain records a “prediction error” and corrects its model. This updating process becomes the basic unit by which we feel time.
The more prediction errors occur, the longer time feels. A trip to a new place feels longer than the return journey for this reason.
New scenery and events repeatedly betray predictions, making the brain update many times. Conversely, a familiar commute route matches predictions, so the brain barely updates and time passes instantly.
The state of worry and anxiety shown in “Living through a world as vast as one’s heart” is exactly a continuous stream of prediction errors. You imagine bad outcomes and deny them, then another worry surfaces.
The brain repeats prediction and correction without rest. Research confirms that when feeling fear or anxiety, a brain region called the insular cortex activates. Time perception stretches from three to ten times normal.
What’s interesting is that actual elapsed time doesn’t change. Only the number of processing cycles in the brain becomes enormous.
One hour of worry equals ten hours of information processing for the brain. This proverb accurately captured the gap between physical time length and experiential time length, without scientific measuring instruments.
Ancient people observed how their own brains worked with surprising accuracy.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches you that if you want to change your life, start by changing your own heart. When browsing social media, others’ success and happiness might seem enviable.
But before trying to change your environment or others, examine your own mindset.
Specifically, you can start by being conscious of how you interpret small daily events. Do you see difficulties as “obstacles” or “growth opportunities”?
Do you view failure as “the end” or as “learning”? This difference in interpretation determines the quality of the world you experience.
To broaden your heart, learning new knowledge is effective. So is interacting with diverse people and encountering different values.
Reading, traveling, dialogue. These are all acts that enlarge your heart’s capacity. And when your heart grows larger, the world opening before you naturally expands too.
The richness of your life is determined by the size of your heart. Why not start polishing and broadening your heart today?
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