Peace on the Peninsula

In the Reconciliation and Unity column of the Catholic Times, the writer gives us her thoughts on Coup d'état and Slander.

Listening to the news of the coup in Myanmar, she sees how dangerous the military is without civilian control. Aung San Suu Kyi, a national adviser, was detained and the military declared martial law. Their decisions lack democratic legitimacy, it is nothing more than violent coercion. In fact, the military has illegally captured the state, and the reason why this situation arises is that the military has weapons that can kill people.

An ideal condition of a democratic system is when the military is not able to exercise arbitrary control because of state legislation, justice, and the administrative control of the military by the government.
 
If the government doesn't have sufficient control over the political influence of the military it can stage a coup at any time. At times the military comes to the forefront of politics or in alliance with certain forces to support the government. In Thailand, which advocates constitutional monarchy, royal power is close to the military, and it is often in the background of coups.

Importantly, the absence of control over the military increases the political instability of a country. When the military pursues its own interests, rather than protecting the nation and its people from external threats, internal problems arise.

In this regard, there are more than a few times that South Korea has said "Good Heavens" in our view of the North Korean military. It is easy for the North Korean military to stage a coup and bring down the regime. This is often found on North Korea-related news comments from the South. Beyond the playful expression of the opinion, there were also suggestions that the government should foster opposition forces that oppose the current regime in North Korea. This opinion has no concern for stability in the North Korean region, the phrase "Those who use gossip are fools" (Proverbs 10,18) comes to mind.

North Korea, which is in contact with South Korea, is an authoritarian regime dominated by the military and by its leader, Kim Jong-un. Even if the nuclear development level is greater than we think, it can be interpreted as a relatively better situation for the present to achieve a stable inter-Korean relationship and peace on the Korean Peninsula than a North Korea, where military control is weakened and warlords are raging. This is because, at least now, the targets to negotiate the North nuclear issue are limited to leaders. A situation difficult to predict who controls the nuclear weapons and the subject of nuclear negotiations changing from time to time would not be a way of bringing peace to the Korean Peninsula.

The Grace of Humor

 

These days, because of Covid-19 we are familiar with non-face-to-face classes and meetings. A college professor writes about the importance of humor at this time in a column of the Catholic Peace Weekly.

She met an  acquaintance in person after some time, with the words: "You look good". The  acquaintance's reaction was unexpected. When she saw her not saying anything while touching her face, she felt she said something that wasn't proper. Even if it was meant well it was interpreted as evaluating her appearance. 

 

We don't like to be judged by another. "You look good." "You look like you lost weight." "You look pale."Careful attention should be paid to such greetings.

 

For media with multiple targets, careful attention to the language used is essential. Many are the cases in which the cast of the broadcasting program received administrative censure from the Korea Communications Standards Commission for making remarks that mock other people's appearance. The negative effect on viewers is magnified by subtitles, sound effects, and background music when used.

 
The Korea Communications Standards Commission is asking for caution in the use of language reproduced in broadcasting and video content with the "Broadcasting Language Guidelines." 

 

In detail, entertainment programs stipulate that "even considering the characteristics of programs to induce laughter, the use of expressions that demean the other's appearance, personality, age education, occupation, disability, class, region, race, and the like are pointed out. It is often necessary to check our society's perception of humor.
 

Therefore, even if the purpose of the statement is to induce laughter, if the content is to mock or disparage the appearance or character of others, it will be an attack on the other party, not humor.

Broadcasters who are sensitive to ratings are likely to be sensitive to the language that viewers usually use. In particular, it may be a survival strategy to borrow so-called YouTube and Netflix  grammar, speech methods, abbreviated words  that speak to the viewers. Good broadcasts are also made by good viewers. Let us all experience the grace of humor through good language and dialogue in everyday life.

The Boundary Between Life and Death

A doctor has a meditation on the boundary between life and death in the Catholic Digest, seen as a medical person and not a theologian or scientist.

The longevity index of every living being is recorded in the Telomeres of the gene (the length may serve as a biological clock determining the life span of a cell and organism). With time the Telomeres decreases and disappears arriving at death. 

However, depending on our lifestyle there is a difference in the time that it will disappear. The dog's life span is from 8 to 13 years. The smaller the dog the longer the life. A cow feeding naturally in pastures will live about 24 years those that raised in the usual way, live from 10 to 14 years. Dogs and cows that live a natural life without stress the Telomeres take longer to disappear.

The instructions in the Telomeres of the gene indicate that life should reach 125 years—living a healthy life and returning to the Creator. However, death gives humans great fear. What is death? Many religions have death as their foundation.

If we return to the basics we get an idea of what is entailed. Life's organism, life's activity, and life's energy will give us an understanding of life and death.

What is a living organism? Something alive. What is life movement? The movement of life. As a doctor, he has been at the death of many and has made out the certificate of death which at times is difficult to determine.

 

The energy of life comes not from the inside but from the outside which communicates with the living organism. When the living organism receives the energy we have movement when it ceases we have death—TV when connected to electricity we have a picture.

For the living organism to have movement three things are necessary: water, dust, and energy from the universe.

"A flood was rising from the earth and watering all the surface of the soil. Yahweh God fashioned man of dust from the soil. Then he breathed into his nostrils a breath of life, and thus man became a living being." (Gen. 2:6-7) 

 

The scientific explanation is similar except for God breathing life into man. First of all the living organism is made up of 70% water. A plant on the verge of dying given water begins to flourish.

Secondly, all material objects are made up of dust which the scientist calls Quarks. 

Thirdly, the astrophysicist Georges Lemaitre declared

the universe beginning was like fireworks in the 'Big Bang'. At first, many considered his ideas too much like the Scriptures since he was a Catholic priest and ignored him but it finally did become the accepted thinking.

With the 'Big Bang' time and space began; the making of dust, all matter, and life. I am one with all of  matter with all of creation. Loving you and all nature I am loving myself.

The energy from the mass, formed matter, with the disappearance of matter, energy returns to mass. This is Einsteins' famous equation E = mc2— energy and mass (matter) are interchangeable; they are different forms of the same thing. 

I live as a human organism when I die and disappear Almighty God and his power returns me to the energy where my empty space remains.

 

How much do we think of the Holy Spirit, the energy of the world, working in our souls? Do we ask ourselves this question? From the time of conception to the hour of death we live in our soul with the energy of the world which for the believer is the Holy Spirit, but we don't acknowledge this for the most part and end up as walking corpses.

True health is possible when spirit and body are in harmony. Death is the beginning of another journey to the home of the energy that made us. Life is a gift. Death is a return to our creator a happy journey.

Some Thoughts for Ash Wednesday

The advancement of science is extraordinary but not always for the good of humanity. So begins an article by a Catholic priest, Catholic University professor, in the Kyeongyang magazine asking the readers to be alert and discerning.

Material comforts have not made us more human; the longer life span has not made us happier; nor has the information age decreased loneliness and alienation. Biochemistry can fashion a new human; a need to face new questions on morality and life. The Coronavirus because of the progress in transportation within two months the virus spread throughout the world.

The information age has influenced our society greatly. We can't say it has all been for the good. We have false news, not always helping us to draw nearer to the truth. Hate speech, desires, and divisions in society have increased. How do Christians in the flood of information find their way?

The word 'infodemic' is an overabundance of information, both online and offline. It includes deliberate attempts to disseminate wrong information to undermine the public health response. Many cognitive scientists have said the multitasking may have improved but our attention span has decreased, memories shortened and what is worse our ability to go deeper into issues has been blocked.  

The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu holds that modern means of communication especially television exploits our passion and works against democracy.

The amount of information that pours out befuddles our minds. In one way or another, it is for the most part slanted—it is not objective or neutral. This bent of the news is accepted by those with the same inclination, reinforces their ideology, and becomes like a religion. At this stage, anything that agrees with their ideology is accepted, that which is contrary disregarded.

"The worship of the ancient golden calf has returned in a new and ruthless guise in the idolatry of money and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy lacking a truly human purpose. The worldwide crisis affecting finance and the economy lays bare their imbalances and, above all, their lack of real concern for human beings; man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption" (Joy of the Gospel #55).

How are we Christians to live in this uncontrollable world with infodemic and false news? We can't be without the media but he recommends that we distance ourselves in some way from immersion. If we dissociate ourselves from social media we will deepen our thinking and judgments,  have more time for prayer.

We need also to change our style of living and intentions. To have more and live more comfortably will not help us change the world where pandemics will be fewer.

St. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises mentions the importance of discernment. We have the two banners, one of Jesus and the other of Lucifer. The banner of Jesus has poverty, embarrassment, humility, the one with Lucifer has riches and honors. The more we empty ourselves the more we will be filled with light. The less the world attracts us with its abundance, development, efficiency profit, and the like, freed from a  strong attachment to possessions and power, the better we will see the poor, and those hurting and feel closer to them. We need to distance ourselves from the many idols in society. "We should not be sleeping like the others, we should be awake and sober" (1Thes. 5-6). 

Japan —Close but a Distant Land

It's difficult to see the whole picture of any single issue that we face and Japan and Korea's relationship is one of these; the reasons are many. As is well known Korea and Japan have had a complicated history. They were at war off and on for hundreds of years.

In 1910 Japan annexed Korea making it their colony. In the late 1930s, it mobilized for war and forced Koreans to work in factories, enlist as soldiers, and sent many women from Korea to work in brothels to service Japanese soldiers, these victims became known as comfort women. In an article for a priest bulletin, a writer expresses the feelings of many on the situation between the two countries and what he sees as the right-wing in Japan.

At the center is South Korea's demands that Japan pays what they consider to be appropriate reparations for atrocities committed during the Japanese occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, particularly the use of forced labor.

But Japan considers the issue to be settled since they gave Korea at the time of President Park Chung-hee hundreds of millions of dollars in loans and grants; Japan considers this to have settled the matter.

Japan is the country that modernized our country. Japan is an important country for Korean security. It is also important economically. We are grateful to Japan for giving Korea money. We need to emulate Japan. Why are you fighting against Japan and criticizing the Japanese administration? This is not what pro-Japanese seniors say, but young people in their 20s and the writer finds this shocking. Of course, not all of their words are wrong, he admits.

He wants to analyze whether Japan contributed to our modernization. Elementary school children also know that the various facilities installed by Japan were not for the development of Korea, but for the use of Korea as a base for entering China. Far from modernization, the Japanese right-wing is afraid of our development and just wants Korea to remain a subcontractor.

Also, Japanese rightists want to use our country. This is because the South will serve as a defense against the communist state only when the division continues.

The Japanese right-wing has a deep unconscious fear that the two Koreas may reunite and retaliate for the harm done during the colonial period. Therefore, they instill a sense of inferiority in our people. In particular, brainwashing with words that hurt Korean national self-esteem.

To host the Tokyo Olympics, the government is pressing residents to return to Fukushima, which is still polluted. Nevertheless, the majority of the people suffer from the tyranny of the right-wing government because they do not have a sense of social consciousness or history. Moreover, it is said that the phenomenon of hiding Japan's unique inner thoughts is making psychological problems worse.

I think it is the job of our young people to help Japanese citizens break away from their feudal past and make Japan a democratic society. The young people of Korea should be wary of the vague envy, admiration, and glorification of Japan's colonial era as it sympathizes with the Japanese right.

Spirituality/Personality

A priest columnist working in the field of spirituality gives the readers of the Catholic Times his understanding of spirituality.

For a long time, the writer has been obsessed with the subject of what spirituality is. He met many different religious people, and visited many holy places in different countries to find answers. When it comes to spirituality, many think it's something sacred, something completely different from the ordinary life of people. It's something special, for people who live in the deep mountains or remote areas of the world, living very strict lives. 

As a result, many are the unfavorable social side effects of this thinking; the appearance of religious people who  wanted to attract people's attention—religious hypocrites wearing shabby clothes and a strict prayer life, as if they were transcending everything in the world.

By teaching fake spirituality, fake humility, and fake poverty they helped make many believers neurotic. Of course, believers had no choice but to serve them as pseudo-religious leaders. When he met such persons, he knew something was not right but it wasn't easy to determine the problem.

However, during his field consultation, he found the answer: spirituality is the making of a healthy  personality. This was the result of  listening to the stories of people who suffered psychological damage such as religious depression and anxiety over salvation.

There are many who  pray a lot, well educated  with high positions in society but whose character is greatly damaged. There are also people in our church who exploit people by turning them into spiritual slaves to gain respect by using their lives as weapons, They are wolves who are masked as sheep.
 

No matter how long a person has lived the faith life, no matter the degree of knowledge, those who have not matured properly have a messy personality. They are not able to relate properly with others.

 
Even though they are dressed in priestly or monk's clothes, some people don't want to approach them because of their personality. That's why the writer  acquaints spirituality with personality/character.

When he was a seminary student, he worked for a few days at at a garbage dump site, which is now a park. A few nuns were living with the residents there, they were covered with briquette dust, and they invited us to have a cup of tea.

The nuns laughed and were happy living in this environment. Most of the furniture in the house, even the teacups, were found in piles of trash, broken and cracked. It made him think: 'They had  to be spiritual to live with joy in such a situation when most people would be faced with irritation.

No matter whether a priest or monk, a scholar or a high-ranking person, if they are cynical, don't appreciate the humor in life, their spirituality is at rock bottom. It's best to avoid them because it's easy to get hurt if you get too close.

Corona19 and the Common Good

In a diocesan bulletin for priests the writer expresses his ideas on the common good and solidarity.

We have been trying to overcome the coronavirus for over a year with little success and rather than unifying us it has scattered us in our daily life. Keeping our distance from others and wearing masks has made the environment heavy, gloomy, given us mental fatigue and made us appreciate what has been lost. 

Getting together to pray and say Mass without any conditions was a great joy. To meet to have a meal, to laugh and enjoy each other's company was an important part of our life. To leave my quarters and to freely move around to other parts of the world and cultures gave great joy and we look back on those days with nostalgia.

The corona virus is a contagious disease that is raging throughout the world but somethings are not changing. The government and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency are daily trying to put an end to the pandemic, the results are one of the most successful in the world. However there are those in society who unconditionally are there to undermine what is being done. The political opposition and part of the media and others in society who are wedded to the past.They see the government winning points from the citizens for their efforts to control the contagion and search for ways to undermine the efforts with false news to bolster their position.

The common good is according to Catholic teaching:  the whole network of social conditions which enable human individuals and groups to flourish and live a fully, genuinely human life, otherwise described as integral human development. Solidarity is about valuing our fellow human beings and respecting who they are as individuals. 

These two principles need to be seen in our common battle against the virus. This is no time to try to win points for our side at the expense of the others who need our support in the common fight.

Recently in buses, post offices, banks you see printed material with warnings to the effect that any behavior that is disrespectful, bordering on the violent towards the one who is serving can be punishable with a fine. There is a lot of anger within society because of the virus and the resulting consequences. This is one example of how lack of civility in dealing with others appears in our daily life because of the virus.

It is always easier to tear down than to build up. We are familiar with these words. Criticism comes easier than words of praise. In our society many do not see those who are hurting, the poor, the marginalized who have a more difficult time than those who are well established within society and are not bothered greatly with economic worries.

The virus has done great harm to society and to many individuals. Is it not time to work together for the good of all? Korea has handled the situation with great success and we should  be thankful for the freedom from drastic lock downs that other countries had to endure. Hopefully we will be seeing the light at the end of the tunnel as the warm weather begins to lift our spirits and the appearance of the vaccine. Happy Lunar New Year!