Anime Lectio: The Heike Story

                                                             1. Why do Anime Lectio? 

Anime Lectio is a time for us to stop and take a breath. Between work, activities, family life, and social media, our minds are always moving. We rarely take time to contemplate and ask, why am I watching this anime? What’s the point of all this? And, how is this making me feel? 

2. Put away all distractions 

(phones, work, etc.)

We are so enslaved to things that stimulate our minds. Let this be a moment for us to free our minds, look inside of ourselves, and be at peace.

3. Deep Breathing

Take several deep breaths. Let your mind relax. If you’ve had any questions, desires, or struggles that you’ve been hiding or stuffing away, let them rise up to the surface. 

4. Open yourself to God’s Presence

Remember God places all our thoughts and desires inside of us, and He uses them to draw us closer to Himself. God gives us a community to help us understand who we are and what He is calling us to do. The faces of other people you know and don't know are like signs of God’s presence.  

5. Think About What’s on Your Mind in Relation to the Anime

Think about what’s been on your mind in relation to the anime.  The following is an example of such thoughts written by me.

Everyone has their own story. It could either be directly or indirectly part of the stories of other people, but everyone also has their own story. These stories also change over time based on what happens in them, who is involved in them, and why what happens in them happens. There are other reasons for change, like responding to changes caused by outside forces, but the point is that change in stories, whether they be personal, communal, and/or both, happens. Responding to this change is what matters, which is something that we all have to do and is something that I am thinking about a lot more now since my monastic community has to elect a new leader soon after having the same leader for a long time (48 years).

6. Brief and written explanation of the anime

Pay attention to how the brief and written explanation of the anime seen on this blog, or seeing the anime for yourself since that's better than any explanation, might “speak” to you or shed light on the things that have been on your minds.

The Heike Story is an anime series that tells the story of the Heike, a clan of Japanese warriors, specifically their struggle for power. A girl who has nothing to do with the Heike, but got involved with them due to an incident of her disrespecting the Heike, which got her father killed, tries to help them. She also has the ability to see into the future due to one of her eyes, but she can only do that without helping in any other way. After spending some time away from the Heike to look for her mother, she goes back to them and realizes that she can tell the story of the Heike and their struggle for power.

7. Reflect on the anime

Has this brief and written explanation of the anime, or seeing the anime, shed any light on what's been on your mind? The following is an example of a reflection on the anime from me.

Getting involved in the story of other people while having your own story is a choice. It takes time to both realize and make this choice, but a choice needs to be made for the sake of not only yourself, but also for the sake of the other people you are thinking of getting involved with (and others?). Helping in a certain way with what you can do is a good thing, but wouldn't helping in any other way also be a choice? If you think you can only help in one way, then aren't you choosing to not help in other ways too? Anyway, whatever choices are eventually made, they need to be made.

8. Final Prayer

Please voice any prayer intentions for friends, family, or people around the world that relate to this anime. The following is an example written by me.

Let us pray that we can make the right choices for ourselves based on what's happening in our lives, as well as based on understandings of it, and realize that there's not just one way we can help other people.