Veins of Goodness

Distortions of Modern Society

Our surroundings are filled with products and services that stimulate desire, encourage consumption, foster competition, and cause exhaustion. Plutocracy. Lookism. Service design dependent on approval-seeking. Efficiency fundamentalism. Blind faith in results-based evaluation. And the thinking that "everything should be commodified." Medicine, industry, IT, education, entertainment. All modern technologies continue to become increasingly sophisticated far beyond necessity, in order to fill the desires of people who have lost the ability to wait and forgotten how to be satisfied. While a material society once gained "productivity" through slave labor, our modern desires have similarly generated the exploitation of fossil fuel extraction. Veins of Goodness distance itself from this noisy current.

What This Initiative Values

Immediate gratification, infinite scrolling, endless notifications. Many web services are designed to amplify humanity's inability to wait. Even brief moments of free time are filled with information, and the space for self-reflection is lost. Living does not require the amount of money society suggests. If we live within our means, there is no shortage. The very concept of "normal life" is an illusion created by the media. "Three meals a day" is not a prerequisite. It is merely a sign of great fortune. Even if there are days without food, this brings neither immediate misfortune nor shame. In such circumstances, we discover we are blessed in some way, and through the help of others, we experience the happiness of human kindness. When we become aware of our own desires, examine them from various angles, and feel their texture, we realize that desire is not necessarily something to be immediately suppressed. Humans can live through mutual aid and gratitude. Both happiness and suffering exist within ourselves. This is not the subject of any particular religion, but rather the ordinary way of life: first cultivating oneself, building good relationships with those around us, and creating a good nation.

What This Initiative Does

Veins of Goodness concentrates on one thing: creating goodness without being influenced by "society," based purely on idealism. None of these things have practical value in modern standards, so private companies could never create them. Approximately 100 years have passed since Meiji-era luminaries lamented the rapid spread of materialism, and those of us living today are born into capitalism. However, capitalism is ultimately merely a compromise to reduce thinking when exchanging value with people who are geographically distant and have weak connections. It is not a prerequisite for living. What is produced in this initiative is something that generates no money, something inefficient. But it is something that enriches the human spirit. In any era, what matters is "how to live."

Governance

The operator has a primary occupation and thus has no need to monetize this initiative. Advertisements are unnecessary. The services created in this initiative do not seek to manipulate those seeking approval. This initiative itself uses electricity and computers born from fossil fuels. In other words, it is not completely "clean." However, if we use this property not for efficiency but for low-cost distribution to spread "goodness," we hope it is somewhat permitted. We are grateful to utilize the free tier of web infrastructure services.

Closing

Refinement does not provide immediate benefit. But it becomes the foundation that quietly, deeply, and enduringly supports one's life.

古之学者 為己 今之学者 為人

The scholars of old studied for themselves. The scholars of today study for others.