Historically, many societies have had classes or groups of people who were extraordinary in ways that made them famous or notorious or both, in their own time as well as today.

The largest and probably the most famous of these classes of people were the samurai of feudal Japan-the professional warrior class that ruled the 먹튀폴리스 country from 1192 until 1868, during which time they made up from ten to twelve percent of the population.

The strengths and profound influence of the samurai on Japanese culture and society were based on concepts adopted from a number of philosophical and religious beliefs, particularly Shinto, Zen Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.

One of the most important of these concepts was the fragility and briefness of life. Of course, all rational individuals become aware of death at a young age, but the urge for life is so powerful that most people suppress this knowledge and behave as if they are going to live a very long time, if not forever. Not surprisingly, this deeply ingrained behavior has extraordinary consequences that are mostly negative.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all refer to the inevitability of death and use this fact in an attempt to persuade (and frighten!) people to behave in a certain way. It goes without saying that these attempts-often irrational and inhuman-have not been successful.

As contrary to common sense as it might seem today, the only large group of people who fully recognized and accepted the fragility and briefness of life and based their way of living on this knowledge were the samurai warriors of feudal Japan-both famous and notorious for their incredible martial arts skills, their ruthlessness in war, and the equanimity with which they faced death.

Members of the samurai class were taught from childhood that life is as fragile as a cherry blossom that can be wafted away by the slightest breeze, and that they should live their lives accordingly, obeying all of the obligations that made up their world so that they could die at any moment without remorse for having failed to live up to their responsibilities.

Samurai warriors generally followed this philosophy of life with profound diligence for two very simple reasons. First, they were subject to being killed, or having to kill themselves and sometimes their families as well, at a moment's notice. And second, they believed that if they failed to behave according to the precepts that controlled their class they and their families would be disgraced forever.

The samurai knew that if people were always aware that they could die at a moment's notice they would be far more likely to follow what became known as the Shichi Toku (She-chee Toh-kuu), or "The Seven Virtues."

These seven virtues, which were taught as the moral and ethical guidelines of the samurai, became the code of conduct prescribed for them (their "commandments" if you will). They covered virtually all of the areas and topics of human interest and needs, especially those that involved appearance, personal relationships, and living a well-ordered life.