Gaman: Japan's Philosophy for Unstoppable Perseverance
A lesson everyone needs to learn from the Japanese culture #49
You are in the busiest subway in the world. You go underground at the peak hour and the crowd is so big you can’t breathe. But instead of a dreadful crowd noise, in Tokyo, you might find yourself in silence. This is Gaman in practice: the Japanese philosophy of patience.
It is the same reason why the victims of earthquakes in Japan can just stand outside their destroyed houses for hours, patiently waiting for help. Some say gaman is a defining feature of Japanese society. So why is it so important and what exactly does gaman mean?
The Philosophy of Mental Strength
Gaman is a part of Zen Buddhism philosophy. It is centred around respect, patience, and perseverance. The philosophy helps to deal with things that happen outside of one’s control. Which is closely related to Stoicism.
Both philosophies believe that our lives are full of negative stuff. And it’s entirely our choice how we respond to it. We may not be able to control most things directly, but we are able to control our reactions to these events.
For example, when it gets cold outside, you don’t really blame or thank the weather gods, you just choose to be content and live with it. A person who hates cold weather, on the other hand, could yell at the sky, blaming, and begging it for better weather. The person might reminisce about the good times when the weather was better and envy people in countries with a better climate. But ultimately, both people ended up in the same place, with one of them just slightly more annoyed at life.
So what’s the point of being so attached to negative events? Both gaman and stoicism can help you understand how pointless it is to focus on the stuff you can’t control. It’s okay to be annoyed or regretful, but when these feelings get too big, you might be wasting energy on something that can’t be changed.
The only thing we can fully control is our thoughts, and it’s our job to make them positive.
The Difference With the Western Philosophies
This kind of self-control is different from the one we see in the West. If individualistic cultures practice self-control primarily for the sake of self-improvement, gaman is practised for the sake of the community. This gives you perspective on how mindsets and philosophies can vary across the world.
Gaman helps Japanese society through tough times. In post-war Japan, gaman was used in nation-building to cope with long working hours for an emerging middle class.
Gaman is the ultimate form of control over your thoughts and emotions. Which may seem extreme to people from the West. It suppresses a lot of feelings and requires people to endure for the greater good, like society’s respect or collective success.
Maintaining social order in the form of gaman is a sign of maturity. Not oversharing demonstrates strength and politeness. Under the assumption that others are going through something as hard or even worse.
The way gaman is focused on collectivistic values and harmony in society makes it similar to Chinese Confucianism. Unlike individualistic stoicism, gaman focuses on how to make society better through respect, discipline, and self-restraint.
It’s Not Perfect
Even though it helps Japanese society persevere and tolerate bad times, it comes at a cost.
There is a problematic side to taking gaman too seriously. Gaman means keeping your emotions to yourself and not appearing weak. This can have negative psychological effects if negativity piles up. Asking for help related to mental, and emotional problems is seen as unacceptable and weak. Suppressing your emotions is encouraged as it is a sign of maturity.
Gaman can also make women feel trapped in unhappy marriages because they are expected to be humble and quiet from a young age.
Philosophies like gaman can often help societies prosper because of a heightened sense of belonging, and respect for rules and authorities. However, this comes at the cost of personal freedom. You are expected to suck it up and keep going, like the generations before you.
If taken to the extreme, gaman can lead to blind obedience. Children can be raised without the understanding that they don’t always have to follow what others tell them and they can still have the freedom to stand for their interests. A toxic relationship or a workplace should not be blindly tolerated, and knowing your boundaries is an important trait to lead the life you want.
How you could use it
Just like Stoicism, gaman is a great philosophy for dealing with hard situations. Gaman can be practised anywhere. In times of struggle, your perseverance and willingness to learn from your mistakes are gaman. In relationships, when you are faced with conflict, having the patience to understand another person and work as a team is also gaman. It is a universal concept. Just remember to not take it too far and be patient towards anything. Sometimes, you need some self-awareness and not everything can be solved with blind perseverance.
Remember that suffering could be optional, pick your battles wisely and remember the power of patience.
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Great article, thanks for sharing! I find that modern-day psychology puts us in a position where we have to update what it means to control one’s self. Emotions are a natural part of the human experience, and you are right to assume that philosophies such as Stoicism or Gaman can be interpreted as emotional suppression, with all the negative effects mentioned here. However, I think control is more about allowing one’s self to experience emotions and let them pass, without them taking over one’s decision-making. It’s a similar perspective to how, during meditation, you are not encouraged to ‘quiet your mind,’ but rather to allow the thoughts to come and go, until they subside.
This makes me wonder if gaman was a part of samurai's code.