A university rector brings this reality to the attention of the readers in an opinion column in the Catholic Times. We see this in individuals who become overnight millionaires but also true of a country-- immaturity, confusion and anxiety.
Koreans he says are absorbed with the myth of success. Society does look down upon failures which promotes the myth of success. Sadly, this thinking has entered the world of religion. Imported from the States in the last decades is the power of positive thinking, the ideology that has moved much of Korea: personal development, happiness evangelizers, and the feel good understanding of life.
Like a flood this enters our businesses, our churches, and even the academies of learning. Much of this positive thinking has worked. Like a panacea--we are dealing with the placebo effect. What is the object of the positive thinking? Positive thinking is the motivating force that energizes one to overcome difficulties and moves the will and gives hope, but it can also be the driving force for ambition and the spirit of greed.
'Feel good' understanding of religion can be pervasive in society. The power of positive thinking is important but it is not religion. Life is not the thirst for continual prosperity and health. This religion of prosperity is not the longing for the eternal but attachment to the transient and ignoring our follow citizens and matters of justice. God is often used as a tool and as a means to attain success and prosperity.
Newly rich do not realize they are being controlled by an inordinate emotion. In their new culture of wealth they do not realize they are not being 'more' but losing what they were made to be. Consequently, the uncontrollable passion for education, extreme competition, and many of the abuses that we have in society.
We need to have a win/win understanding of culture, with the teaching of wisdom enabling us to live together with others, and he concludes that this should be the aim and duty of Christianity.
