Author: Charles Shiro Inouye
Title: The End of the World, Plan B: A Guide for the Future
Greg Kofford Books, 2016
Reviewed by Christopher Angulo
In August, partly inspired by Christopher Blythe’s book, Terrible Revolution: Latter-day Saints and the American Apocalypse, and partly driven by the hottest and longest heatwave Las Vegas has experienced in recent memory, I went on a quest to read as many end-of-days books related to Mormonism that I could. I tried to cover a wide spectrum from the whacky to very conservative. It was a fun, but an exhausting experience. There were many takeaways from the quest, but the one that stood out the most was the justice driven destruction that would befall this world we leave in. Prophets and authors alike looked to the apocalypse with joy, because the righteous would receive their rewards (peace and rest) while the wicked would get their just dues (gruesome death and suffering).This is Plan A for the end of the world. Out of the 12 books that I read, only two mentioned any alternative to the cataclysmic conclusion of this world, and one in a small sentence in passing.[1] The prophets and author’s lived experience may fuel many of these catastrophic views, but it does not make them true. I saved Charles Inouye’s, The End of the World, Plan B, for my last book because his view on the apocalypse is unique. Inouye stands as a lone voice in the wilderness, crying out with hope for a future void of destruction and filled with justice, sorrow, compassion, and peace.
Charles Inouye is a professor of Japanese literature at Tufts University. In Plan B, Inouye draws on many faith traditions, with a central voice focused in Mormonism, to discuss the dangers of a justified destruction-focused end of the world. To me, Inouye’s commentary on this subject hits hard and deep. Inouye challenges the present effects felt by Plan A. “As a practical matter, if belief in a violent end to the world is prevalent, what will prevent such a catastrophe from actually happening? What will stop the bombs, bullets, and judgments of the faithful if their faith is not in our future happiness but in our inevitable decline and destruction?” (p. 9). I had read Plan B a few years ago, and this question was in the back of my mind as I read the various scriptures, visions, and explorations of apocalyptic events. While I was excited by the awesome events that may precede the coming of Christ, I felt despair because these tragic, world altering events seemed inevitable. Visions of a cataclysmic future did not motivate me to make Zion now, except for the self-serving fact that obedience would prevent burning. “Ironically, we find ourselves in a situation where our hope for a better life makes our world hopeless.” (p.9). Plan B is the alternative to Plan A, and looks to save humanity from the impending dooms by expanding one’s heart.
Plan B is a cyclical process that requires our blood, sweat and tears to create a Zion-like society. Inouye argues that many of us are currently in a metaphorically burning house. The trick, however, is that we do not know that the house is burning. Once we are enticed to leave the house, we see that it is burning, and that our lives are in danger. We leave the house and danger to find something better, like truth. On this path we encounter justice. Justice is indispensable to obtain truth, but it has its limitations. As we grow in truth from our interactions with justice, we are led to a state of sorrow. If we endure the pains of sorrow and keep moving forward, our hearts expand, and we obtain compassion. At the end of this journey, we return to the burning house filled with compassion and a desire to create peace. Instead of sitting passively as a spectator, watching the house and its inhabitants burn to the ground, we enter the burning edifice and rescue those that are trapped inside. Inouye walks us through this cycle over and over throughout the book. This repetitive nature of Inouye’s instruction drives the point home that the cycle is not a one-and-done performance, it is a cycle that we will need to engage in over, and over again throughout our lives to achieve compassion and maintain peace.
One of the greatest strengths of this book is Inouye’s explanation of the limitations of justice. “To put it simply, the problem lies in the way that the equilibrium of justice rarely heals, even when it is fair.” (p.30). Inouye references Kill Bill, Game of Thrones, The Road and other contemporary works to help us understand the danger that a strictly justice focused mind could create. These references made me reflect on the current obsession with comic book heroes and the blind eye we turn towards the atrocities they perform in the name of “right.” Justice is a necessary component, but by itself it is insufficient to make peace.
While it is true that justice may create temporary peace for a group, alone, justice could never create world peace. “If the world ends, everyone will be destroyed. How can that not be abhorrent? If life becomes perfectly just, all will be condemned. How can that not be fruitless? We might be valiantly fighting to create a society in which there is ‘liberty and justice for all,’ but a world in which everybody gets what he or she deserves is not kind; neither is it really free nor beautiful. No one but a tyrant would ever want to live in a totally just society.” (p. 53). In our pursuit for “justice for all” we create blanket judgments and stamp out the power that diversity generates. Differing viewpoints enable, not disable progression. While Inouye makes it clear that he is not advocating an end to activism, he does make a compelling point that we are “better off when suffering with rather than fighting against those who challenge our notions of peace.” (p. 93). I think this is timely advice that should be pondered by all. In the war of words and political ideologies that are waged on social media every day, this simple statement could create a more productive resolution, one that does not end in ostracization, violence, or destruction.
Plan B is a short read, but dense and full of many ideas that will require the serious student’s attention and time. The book is scholarly in nature, but written in a way that a non-scholar could follow and learn. Inouye illuminates a path to peace through his many wonderful stories and examples. At the conclusion of the book, I no longer felt despair for the end of the world, I felt enabled and hope that I could create a better world now.
[1] Robert Millet’s, Living in the Eleventh Hour, which focused on spiritual preparedness for the second coming, only briefly mentioned in passing that the catastrophic events could be avoided if humanity were to change their hearts to God.