How to Read “In making money and fatal illness, there are no companions”
Zeni mōke to shinibyō ni to wa nai
Meaning of “In making money and fatal illness, there are no companions”
This proverb means that when pursuing profit or facing a deadly disease, you have no companions or helpers.
In business, you must make final decisions and take responsibility alone. When you suffer from a fatal illness, even your closest friends cannot take your place.
The suffering belongs to you alone.
People use this expression when talking about life’s lonely battles. It often appears when conveying harsh reality to someone facing difficulties, or when expressing personal resolve.
The phrase isn’t just cold or heartless. It carries a sense of determination – because you’re alone, you must face challenges with your own strength.
Even today, this proverb rings true in the business world and at life’s crossroads.
Origin and Etymology
The exact literary origin of this proverb is unclear. However, scholars believe it spread among common people during the Edo period.
The word “to” means companions or helpers in old Japanese. While rarely used today, people commonly said “form a group” or “gather companions” back then.
This proverb likely emerged from Edo-period merchant culture and medical conditions of that time.
In the business world, gaining profit meant unavoidable competition with others. Sometimes even trusted companions became rivals.
When someone contracted a fatal disease, people around them often kept their distance. They feared infection or wanted to avoid the burden of nursing.
What’s particularly notable is how this proverb pairs these two situations. By linking the seemingly different concepts of “making money” and “fatal illness,” it highlights their common thread.
Both require you to face the struggle alone. This harsh yet truthful view of life is embedded in these words.
Usage Examples
- If you’re starting a business, you need to be prepared – they say in making money and fatal illness, there are no companions
- I have to fight this disease myself – in making money and fatal illness, there are no companions, as the saying goes
Universal Wisdom
This proverb speaks to a fundamental truth about human existence – our essential solitude.
We are social creatures who normally live surrounded by many people. Yet at life’s most crucial moments, everyone must decide alone and accept the consequences alone.
Making money may seem like a cooperative effort on the surface. But ultimately, you cannot share the final profit with others.
The decision to take risks belongs to you alone.
Similarly, death is the ultimate experience that no one can share. Even surrounded by loved ones, no one can take that moment for you.
Facing this harsh reality doesn’t mean despair. Rather, it encourages the awareness that you are the only protagonist of your life.
The strength to stand on your own feet without depending on others – this sometimes brings loneliness, but it also brings true freedom.
Our ancestors didn’t tell us to fear this unavoidable solitude. Through this proverb, they taught us to accept it.
People are born alone and die alone. The life in between is essentially a dialogue with yourself.
By knowing this truth, perhaps we can finally connect deeply with others in a meaningful way.
When AI Hears This
The universe naturally tends toward disorder. This is the second law of thermodynamics.
Rooms get messy on their own, hot coffee cools down – everything follows this law. Yet making money and recovering from illness both defy this flow.
Making money means gathering scattered monetary resources into one place. Healing from disease means restoring disordered cells to normal order.
Both are attempts to “decrease entropy” – to reduce disorder – going against the universe’s natural flow.
Physics calculations show that to locally decrease entropy, you must consume many times more energy elsewhere. Like a refrigerator cooling its interior while releasing heat outside.
A single human has limited energy available. That’s why making money and healing from disease are overwhelmingly disadvantageous alone.
In business, people share information and know-how. In illness, they receive nursing care and medical help.
Cooperation increases the total energy you can invest, raising your chances against universal laws.
This proverb empirically recognized that human endeavors exist under physical law constraints.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people the importance of self-reliance.
In our era of constant social media connection, having your own true axis becomes even more crucial.
When choosing a career, considering entrepreneurship, or making major life decisions, you alone bear the final responsibility.
Others’ opinions are helpful references, but only you can live your life. This awareness actually makes relationships healthier.
You can build equal relationships between independent people, not relationships based on dependence.
When facing difficulties, this proverb doesn’t offer false comfort. Instead, it gives you courage to face reality.
Rather than lamenting that no one will help, you resolve to confront challenges with your own power.
That determination can actually attract genuine support from those around you.
Don’t fear solitude, but don’t become isolated either. Stand on your own feet while staying connected to others.
This proverb quietly teaches us such a balanced way of living.
Comments