Anime Lectio: The World is Dancing

                                                              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. The only device you need is the one you use for this blog.

3. Deep Breathing - Open yourself to God’s Presence

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. 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 people you

know and don't know are like signs of God’s presence. 

4. 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. 

What does it mean for something, not someone, to be good?  While it usually takes someone to make something happen, it's possible for someone to be considered bad while doing something that is considered good.  Good and bad are also subjective terms, meaning that they are words that can define someone's opinion of something that they see or hear about, which can also influence their thinking of whether something is good or bad.  An example of this can be seen in the series The World is Dancing.

5. Brief and written explanation of the anime

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

A young boy training to be a dancer in a certain group of performers often skips his practices in order to figure out if his dancing is good or not by seeing other people dancing and talking with other people about it, as well as about other things.  He eventually goes on a journey to figure this out that involves competing with someone else from another group of performers in a competition where the only judge is emperor.  While other people watching this competition have their own opinions of the dancing that they see, it's based on what the emperor wants to see them do.  This eventually includes the dancing of another performer that's considered to be the best, even though this performer also likes what this young boy when he's an older boy (teenager?) can do over time.

6.  Reflect on the anime

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

What makes this series interesting is that it focuses on whether a particular thing, in this case dancing, is good or not. What also influences this thinking is that the people dancing are living in a time and place without technology, so innovation is bound to happen based on how time works. Changes in dancing happen throughout the series, but it's mostly based on what some of the dancers want to do themselves in terms of their dancing. This is mostly influenced by what other people think based on their opinions of what is good or bad, which is mostly represented by what they want to see. It's obvious that people want to see something good instead of something bad, but what's not obvious is what that means to everyone since not everyone's going to think that the same thing that they see is good. And not good in the same way, or for the same reasons, either. Whether something is good or bad, or anything else that can describe what something is, it's important that we can understand what things are.

7. 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 understand what things are, meaning good, bad, or anything else that can describe what they are.