Only What Is Necessary

In the Kyeongyang magazine, a psychiatrist writes about the black hole of greed and its antidote: temperance and the golden mean. Lessons learned from life.
 
He begins with a short story by Tolstoy: How Much Land Does a Man Need? Briefly, it's about a farmer told he could have cheaply all the land he could encircle by sunset. He began early in the morning but realized in the late afternoon that he would have difficulty returning to his starting point before sunset. In that case, he loses everything. He started his return trip but was so exhausted when he arrived that he dropped dead. Tolstoy gives us the answer to his question of how much land does a man need. He needs enough to be buried.
 
We can't see beyond the horizon. We don't have permission to enter this area. Our life is limited by the horizon of time. Time beyond the horizon does not influence us. It is the great unknown. Is this concept too difficult to understand? Time goes beyond the horizon never to return. Today's rice cannot fill the hunger I had yesterday.
 
He gives the example of a student who had the opportunity to take an exam for a job. He didn't feel that he was prepared and didn't take the exam. He did come to a time when he felt he had the knowledge to pass the exam, more so than anybody else, but the second opportunity never came. Time went beyond the horizon. Once the time is gone it never returns.
 
The word moderation and temperance are often used with food and drink but not limited to that. Wordly gain, carnal desire, lust for power, and many other cravings we need to control. Our cravings are many. When not controlled the wise both in the East and West have always emphasized misery and sadness will follow.

Controlling greed is no easy task. Problem is solved if we desired the necessary amount then temperance would not be necessary But the reality is a person who desires only 1,000 dollars when received goes on to desire ten times that sum, the person who says only one room would be perfect goes on to desire a penthouse.

Life begins with acknowledging time is limited and we don't know how much. We can make a guess. Nobody will remember reading these words in a few years. If we made a graph of our time on earth it would disappear into the horizon.

We crave as if we will live here on earth forever. We don't know when life will come to its horizon. It's not given us to know. If I knew I was to die tomorrow I would use my possessions in a most significant way since nothing goes beyond the horizon. If at that stage what would we crave what would we abandon? It will be different for each one of us but we will not be craving anything materially.

Do we fret about having something? It may be a shining sports car, a beautiful face, or even the praise of others, a nice house for the family or money to have the family live in comfort. To achieve these aims we have to understand the time needed for their acquisition and weigh them against the time left before the horizon. A person in his 50s these are not something to crave.

Moderation is not something to endure. We don't know how much time before the horizon but a need to live wisely. Once we realize that time is limited, at that moment, we will want only what is needed—only what is necessary.

Awareness of Our Mission In Life

Our society continues with unrest and conflicts:  discontent, candlelight demonstrations, and 'hate speech' increases. Facing the difficulties that come with the uncertainties in life, tied to our own experiences and beliefs, especially in political matters. In democratic societies, the constitution guarantees the right of the people to freely express their views and opinions, but it is necessary to reflect on truth and the righteousness of our claims. In the Eyes of the Believer column of the Catholic Times a priest, sociology professor, gives us his thoughts on the subject.
 
Democracy in modern society has been formed in solidarity and struggle by the citizens to voluntarily and independently create a "better society" against the inhuman repression and exploitation when the king alone ruled. Therefore, 'citizen consciousness' in modern society has grown along with progress in  society towards the universal values of freedom, equality and fraternity.
 
If we are caught in the web of ideology from the past: cold war, anti-communism and remain with what was imposed from the past and afraid to leave the failed formulas and old time mistakes we are not citizens with public awareness of our present reality. What is it that we mean by free citizen participating actively in society?

First, do we follow truth and sincerity in freedom?  Manipulation, distortion, and forced news spreading on SNS or YouTube is not 'truth'. "Yes  if you mean yes, no if you mean no" the words of Jesus have something to tell us in these times when truth seems hidden.

Confucius said— If a person disobeys the dictates of heaven, the words he uses will be tainted, and will spoil the work done— When we look back on our history and without proof blame the problems here in the South on the North and spread this and use it in what we say and write we are giving up our freedom as responsible citizens.

Second, are we seeking the "common good"?  Does self-interest, political party concerns, undermine our concern for the common good. The Korean Christian Association's own historical interpretation wants the president to retire, they want to make a Protestant President in their not all objective understanding of the present situation. According to the study of sociologists, social conflicts have been amplified because of the religious polarization when the Protestant was president in Korea.
 
Third, does our love for our fellow citizens especially the "marginalized and poor" have priority?  The people under the monarchy took for granted hierarchical governance and structural inequality.The privileged paid close attention to maintaining their ownership and vested rights. Despite the collapse of the Catholic Church, which represented the order of the ruling class in the French Revolution, as the religion of the country: God did not forget the poor and marginalized citizens but  progress continued in pursuit of love of humanity. Today, as polarization and the gap between the rich and the poor gets worse, the way to pursue solidarity so that the dignity of the poor is respected in the social structure becomes a compass for civic consciousness.

Fourth, people often like to return to the  past which they think was  full of honor and pride. Today, young people are not tied to the nostalgia of the past, and when grown-ups admonish them they are considered out of it and bullies.Without the proper understanding of the times it is difficult to access the agony and need of the young people, the protagonists of the future. We will be a citizens of a heavenly country when we take a step away from the comfort and convenience of the old generation and acquire the future-oriented values and the viewpoint of the future so that our children and future generations will live happily and fully in the common house of mankind.

The Second Vatican Council proclaims the people of God as the center of ecclesiology, ahead of the hierarchical church. However, the people of God are not only those who obey the orders of the state and the church but also the children of God who actively perform their roles as priest, prophet and kingly roles in everyday life. In addition to the Holy Spirit, it is the 'citizens' who contribute to building of God's kingdom. "Let all Christians appreciate their special and personal vocation in the political community. This vocation  requires that they give conspicuous example of devotion to the sense of duty and of service to the advancement of the common good" (Pastoral Constitution, #75)

Listening And Silence in Prayer

In a bulletin for priests, a retired priest writes about his experience with prayer in the pastoral life of a parish. One of the families in the parish community prayed for the promotion of their father and husband, an army officer. Everybody united in their efforts to secure a promotion. Unfortunately, the next year the husband failed to advance, disappointment was great, and the attendance at church stopped.
 

One young mother was depressed because of the illness of their young son. It was not a serious problem but she prayed the rosary and became a member of the Legion of Mary. She did not find the praying easy and was hoping it would help her son. However, after many months and no results she gave up her prayers. Surprisingly many people who are disappointed in their prayers of petition abandon  their faith life. 

When everything goes along smoothly believing is easy. However, difficult things happen and life has its 'shocks', "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune," which for many can help the faith life grow and for others a reason for distancing themselves from God. God is no longer present.

We need to live the life of prayer, communicating with our heavenly Father; faced with difficulty we ask for help. However, God is a God of love and is always giving and it doesn't depend on the words we utter and the way they are said but our disposition in receiving. The belief that God is a personal God is important. Prayer is a conversation with God and  conversation requires speech but it is important to listen. We talk and listen to what God will say to me in this situation. Think about God's Word in the Bible and seek to find and accept God's will. Some say in great pain, they were grateful because they gained strength through prayer to overcome difficulties.
 

Followers of Jesus have confidence and faith that God loves them and is leading them. Faith means confidence in God without giving up even if we are in difficult straits and unable to understand.

"My thoughts are not like your thoughts, and my ways are not like your ways" (Isaiah 55.8). God loves. We are often trying to live according to the material and worldly values with which we daily encounter and forget the direction that God has for us. God wants us to enjoy life to the full. We often misunderstand what this means. We don't try to change God's will but to change our wills so that we can receive all that he wants to give. Prayer is mostly to change ourselves so we can receive.

When there is no interest in the spiritual values that Jesus teaches, and stay only in the asking mode for blessings— 'give me' religion— and not concerned with giving there is no difference from the faith in shamanism and superstition. A child, in the beginning, knows only to ask from parents, gradually the child grows and learns the love and the spirit of the parents and becomes mature. Our faith must also develop and mature.

Don't Steal the Future From the Young

On May 24, more than 500 youths protested simultaneously in various places throughout the country. "We can't exercise because of the fine dust"— Mathematics is important but we have a right to be educated about climate change"— "Please don't gamble with our future"— signs held high in demonstrations. So begins an article in the Catholic Peace Weekly by a member of the Bishops' Committee on the Environment.
 
Greta Thunberg, a Swedish schoolgirl, who at age 15, began protesting outside the Swedish parliament for immediate action to combat climate change and will boycott classes until she sees efforts to bring change.
 
In a  lecture held in Stockholm last November, Thunberg said, "Why should I study when the future may disappear? You say you love your children, but you are stealing their future." She emphasized the urgency and importance of developing climate change measures.
 
The main contents of the demonstrations conducted by the Korean youths following Greta's lead are to put environmental education into the curriculum. Which reminds us of the fact that unlike other countries, Korea lacks basic efforts for dealing with climate change.
 
The educational climate of Korea is focused on entrance examinations to college; lack of education for survival is a painful point. Unlike adults who feel discomfort because of climate change but do nothing, the young people are demanding we do something with the continued abnormal temperatures, fine dust, etc., youths are demanding we face the problem and urge resolution.

According to the Climate Change Countermeasures Index (CCPI) 2019, Korea is ranked 57th out of 60 countries in terms of the climate change response index and has the stigma of 4th place among carbon dioxide emission countries of OECD.
 
This generation is borrowing the use of the planet from future generations, and conscious only on how to use and develop the earth? 27 years ago, at Rio's UN Climate Change Conference, despite the serious warnings of climate change and dangers ahead, is it not only the young people who are conscious of the problems ahead?

We know there is something wrong with our planet, but don't know it has anything to do with me. It's a Chinese problem, a foreign matter, the earth is a strange place, and it doesn't register that the problems are caused by me. It's convenient after all to use delivery services for ordered goods, power plants need to operate, environmentally harmful substances are produced, disposable items such as packaging materials and containers are used, waste generated. How much awareness do adults perceive our actions and habits cause pollution and that these things are interconnected and cause climate change? Yes, it will bring about a new world order which we find difficult to accept.

Unlike adults who think admission to college, Korean language study, English and Mathematics are what's important, young people want the right to receive climate change education. Young people's values and environmental sensitivity from childhood can lead to action. Adults desire for comfort and abundance is it destroying the future of the children they love?

She ends the column with these words of Thomas Friedman:"Destroying the tropical forest is like burning the masterpieces of the Louvre to make dinner."

Fake Science

A professor in research and teaching writes in the Kyeongyang magazine about fake science.  He goes back to his years as a child of five and remembers a trip he made from Pusan to Masan on a steam engine. Everything was new to him. He had all kinds of thoughts on how the train was moving along the tracks with not one of his thoughts correctly understanding the situation and seeing everything with the eyes of a young child. Understandable, but is this not the situation in society with many seeing reality with the eyes of a 5-year-old?
 
YouTube is a vehicle in which all can make their views known to the whole world; much of it helpful, much harmful, for watching untruth does great harm to our ability to judge matters of life when seen as true.
 
Not long ago he was talking to his colleagues about a YouTube group asserting that talk of a round earth was a lie and publishing this on YouTube. The professor a curious person, knew it was a waste of time, but curiosity was so strong he went to the video and quickly went through the video at a quick pace. Despite knowing all the facts and all the voyages in space they maintained the earth was flat. What is more of a surprise is to see the followers that the YouTube presentation received, and the many positive comments?

When he was a child he remembers reading an article where a priest using a forked branch from a tree to look for underground water, wrote about learning this from a French foreign missioner. In the summer months, we have long dry spells this was an effort to alleviate the problem.
 
This method, dowsing, was in use in Europe. The person using the forked branch and responding to the surrounding environment searched for underground water. Since the farmers saw this being done they were awestruck and the method continued to spread. The writer tells the readers that in Korea anywhere you dig the chances of finding water are good. Although in Korea dowsing has been shown not to be scientifically based, it continues.

A similar bogus 'quantum resonance system' using the same reasoning is sold with a high price tag. They add a fancy scientific name and even though they don't understand they are impressed with the scientific name.

A priest in one of the parishes in which the professor lived in a sermon said the stars do not give their light but reflect the light of the sun. He was mixing up the stars with the moon which reflects the light of the sun and extending it to the stars which like the sun with nuclear fusion give off their own light.
 
In the past, the planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn were considered stars but since they are giving off reflected light they are called planets. The professor was concerned that when the children heard the sermon and knew what they had been taught in school would have less concern for their faith.

Our ancestors for the most part, understood the earth to be flat and the sun and moon to move around the earth and this was the thinking of the many writers of the Scripture. But the Scriptures are not teaching science but a way of life and adapting the teaching to the thinking of the readers of that time.

Jesus tells us to be children but this is in a spiritual sense. St. Paul tells us the relationship our faith should have with reason. "Surely I should pray not only with the spirit but with the mind as well" (I Cor. 14:15). "I would rather say five words that mean something than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brothers, you are not to be childish in your outlook. You can be babies as far as wickedness is concerned, but mentally you must be adult" (ICor.14: 19-20).
 
Jesus was not happy with those who were looking for miracles. Are we looking today for things that are not reasonable and desiring to see miracles? It is well to remember that God works also in nature and through our reason.

Eco-Friendly Activities

In the parish bulletin this past week we had a list of 19 activities that will help us to return to a healthy relationship with our environment. They will lead to a simple, and minimal lifestyle for the brave of heart.
 
1. Use with restraint vinyl bags and plastic containers
 
2. Carry along a bottle of water 

3. Planned shopping—carry along a bag
 
4. Don't use disposables
 
5. Knowing and practicing on how to sort the trash

6. Restraint on using home delivery services and  request little packaging
 
7. Reduce the amount of meat and dairy products used
 
8. Increase the eating of vegetables
 
9. Eat food in season and buy locally
 
10. Restraint on ordering food to eat
 
11. Eat all the food on your plate
 
12. Prepare only the amount of food you need
 
13. Put the Frigidaire in order regularly
 
14. Refrain from buying bottled water
 
15. Taking a shower put the water waiting for the hot water to come in a pail to use on plants
 
16. Save the water you use in  washing dishes,  brushing teeth and washing
 
17. Walk short distances
 
18. Use public transportation
 
19. Wise use of electricity 

We Need to Fight Fake News

In the  US presidential election (2016), the world was shocked by the fact that fake news was viewed on the Internet more than real news. Experts in the world at that time said the number of clicks would be directly linked to money, and that fake news would never disappear because of the "confirmation bias", people are looking for news that suits their tastes. They also predicted that this would only expand with the expansion of digital capitalism. So begins the column In the Eyes of the Believer in the Catholic Times by a media expert.
 
The English Oxford dictionary calls this the 'post-truth' era.  Pope Francis continues to point out the evils surrounding  "fake news," calling for countermeasures since fake news undermines community spirit and democracy.

Over the next few years, the problems will be magnified. The digital media platform has taken its place in people's everyday life and continues rapidly to develop and 'false truth' will also spread. Fake news is a malicious variant of hate content that is harming human society.

In March, 51 people were killed in a shooting incident in Christchurch, New Zealand. At that time, the perpetrator shocked the world by broadcasting the crime scenes through the Facebook streaming service.

Extreme and violent hate speech is mainly about race, nationality, religion, and sexual identity. In India, where societal and cultural conflicts are serious, fake news and hate speech is spread in social media,  assaults, and murders continue. It is no exaggeration to say that the general election in India, which took place on April 11th with the participation of 900 million voters (10% of the world's population) for six weeks, was a war against hate speech.

In Europe, anti-refugees and anti-EU right-wing extremists are raising their voices, and racial expressions of aversion are common. In Germany, foreign hate crimes and anti-Semitic crimes are increasing.
 
In Korea, we have the same problems. The number of requests for the correction of harmful information (hate speech, discrimination, abuse, and profanity) has increased from 1,982 in 2015 to 3,900 in 2018. When you enter YouTube, there is a lot of extreme hate speech about Yemen refugees, Chinese compatriots, social underdogs, and sexual minorities.

In this regard, YouTube is more dangerous. This is because it is tailored to 'taste and beliefs' rather than objective facts. Nowadays, media users are showing great use for YouTube, and Koreans are especially enthusiastic. In this respect, our country can not say hate and crime are not related.

The legal restrictions on the expression of hate speech don't come easy because they can violate the 'freedom of expression' ( almost sacrosanct in the United States). However, Germany, which knows the results of hate speech has enacted the Network Implementation Act and is implementing it strongly. Singapore and Australia, and a growing number of other countries are responding. In Korea, which has been dealing with defamation changes in the penal code, there are more opinions on cracking down on fake news, repulsive expression and the regulating of digital platform companies.

Above all, media literacy (education) is essential. Fake news became more and more urgent as it became a malicious variant of hate news. Like the old battle against illiteracy, media literacy education must be carried out by the government, as well as by various institutions and organizations. Reading the signs of the times we all need to confront hatred in the media. The church, which has no related programs yet, should also get involved in the work.