One morning the whole world looked up in surprise, when Japan broke through her walls of old habits in a night and came out triumphant. It was done in such an incredibly short time, that it seemed like a change of dress and not like the slow building up of a new structure. She showed the confidence, the strength of maturity and the freshness and infinite potentiality of new life all at the same moment. The fear entertained was, that it was a mere freak of history, a child's game of time, the blowing up of a soap bubble, perfect in its colouring, hollow in its heart and without substance. But Japan has proved conclusively that this sudden revelation of her power is not a short-lived wonder, a chance product of time and tide, thrown up from the depth of obscurity to be swept away the next moment into the sea of oblivion.
The truth is that Japan is old and new at the same time. She has her legacy of ancient culture from the east,-the culture that enjoins man to look for his true wealth and power in his inner soul; the culture that gives selfpossession in the face of loss and danger, self-sacrifice without counting the cost or hoping for gain, defiance of death, acceptance of countless social obligations that we owe to man as a social being;-- the culture that has given us the vision of the infinite in all finite things, through which we have come to realize that the universe is living with a life and permeated with a soul, that it is not a huge machine which had been turned out by a demon of accidence or fashioned by a teleological God who lives in a far away heaven. In a word, modern Japan has come out of the immemorial East like a lotus blossoming in an easy grace, all the while keeping its firm hold upon the profound depth from which it has sprung.
What does the ancient culture of Japan teach mankind? Choose the correct option.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → True power of human beings lies in the inner soul.
The passage describes Japan's ancient culture as one that "enjoins man to look for his true wealth and power in his inner soul". To enjoin is to urge or instruct, so this culture teaches that a person's real strength lies within, in the soul.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Man is omnipotent. — Incorrect. Omnipotent means all-powerful, having unlimited power. Not mentioned: the culture described in the passage teaches self-sacrifice and acceptance of obligations to others, not that man is all-powerful.
Example: Many faiths describe God as omnipotent.
Option 2: To believe in the power of infinity. — Incorrect. Misread: the passage speaks of the vision of the infinite in all finite things, a way of seeing life in everything; it does not ask people to believe in a "power of infinity".
Option 4: To believe in the divine power. — Incorrect. Contradicted: the passage in fact sets aside the idea of a God in a far-away heaven who fashioned the universe like a machine; the lesson it names is to look for power within the soul.