Strength In Weakness

In the Catholic Peace Weekly, a seminary professor gives us some thoughts on weakness and the spiritual life in his weekly column.

We know from our own life experiences how difficult it is to live holy as children of God. The same experience is reflected in the following words of the Psalmist:

“How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word.” (Psalm 119:9)

The only thing we, weak as we are, can rely on is the word of God. However, it is not as easy as it sounds. What is clear is that faith, which is a relationship with God and the overall plan of life, penetrates human weakness. Our weakness cannot be denied and should not be. If that is the case, isn’t it God’s will that we continue to move toward perfection while embracing weakness, rather than a perfect faith without weakness?

However, in reality, not only faith but also our entire life is marked by weakness. This is especially true in human relationships. How many wounds and pains have we experienced due to betrayal? How weak is the love we have experienced? And yet how beautiful and strong is that love? Pope Francis said in Amoris Laetitia 113:

"We all need to realize that we are intricately intertwined with light and shadow. (⋯) I do not claim that love must be perfect to know the true value of the other person’s love. The other person loves me to the best of his or her ability. However, just because love is not perfect does not mean that it is false or untrue. Even if it has limitations and is worldly, it is true. (⋯) Love is living together with imperfection, forgiving, and living together."

The limitations,’ ‘imperfections,’ and ‘imperfections’ contained in the Pope’s words are something that everyone experiences. This applies not only to couples but also to religious and priests. Each person experiences their own limitations, imperfections, and weaknesses as they live their faith. However, they can live because of the prayers and encouragement of the believers who walk the path with God, who sanctifies us, who are imperfect. If we do not forget that our faith and love are not false but true, even if they are weak, we can continue to move forward. We all move forward little by little, embracing our weaknesses.

God recognizes such human weakness and accomplishes His salvation through that very weakness. God never gives up on us. He always announces a new beginning and suggests that we walk a new path.

When we look at our weaknesses with a positive perspective, our lives will be completely new. How disappointed we have been in ourselves so far. And how much energy have we expended to hide our weakness? God tells us that we don’t have to do that. He tells us that our very existence, our weak and limited existence, is good and beautiful, and precious in God’s eyes.

We are weak. We are easily hurt. However, it is okay for us to be weak. This is because God exists, who embraces our existence with love, heals us, and walks with us. That love is a love that creates anew, a love that makes everything possible, a love that risks being hurt. It is a love that creates the world and saves humanity. Since everything is done in the Lord's providence, and since God is always starting anew with His children, we just need to entrust ourselves to Him take courage, and step forward. God will fill in the rest.

Suicide — Not Only a Personal Problem

The two Korean Catholic Newspapers have been giving the readers the tragic news of those giving up on life and committing suicide. The Catholic Times in its recent editorial reviewed some of the sad statistics.

In Korea, which has the highest suicide rate in the world, the number of suicide deaths increased by 10% this year compared to the previous year. From January to May, the total number of suicide deaths was 6,375, which is a 10.1% increase compared to the same period last year. The number of suicide deaths is not just a statistical figure. If the number of suicide deaths over the past five months is converted to a daily average, it is 41.9 people, meaning that one precious life was lost every hour.

The government sees social isolation, economic difficulties, depression, and anxiety after the COVID-19 pandemic influencing the increase in suicides. It is also said that the influence of copycat suicides following celebrity suicides is significant. No matter how you analyze it, the meaning is the same. Many people live in pain to the point of choosing death, and they cannot find anyone to share their pain.

Is it because it is so common that we carelessly overlook the issue of suicide? This was the question asked in a recent column of the Catholic Peace Weekly? Are we so insensitive to the news of suicide that pours in almost every day—victims of real estate fraud, civil servants and teachers suffering from malicious complaints, ordinary people suffering from financial difficulties, and socially isolated youth? Although we seem to ignore suicide, somewhere, even now, those who attempted suicide are silently crying out for their voices to be heard.

The main cause is the excessive competition in Korean society. Korea starts medical school entrance exam classes from elementary school. Korea’s long working hours, which are famous worldwide, are still the same. Competition without a second chance, those who fall behind are buried in society. There is no social safety net for the underprivileged. We are the ones who tell young people who are struggling: "Youth is painful" and that "effort is lacking". The people of a country where each person lives for himself are suffering from extreme mental conflict and loss of hope.

The political divide adds fuel to the fire. More than half of the population says they don’t want to date if the political vision differs. It doesn’t seem like an exaggeration to say that we are already in a state of civil war. Politics should help resolve this problem but rather amplifies the conflict. We have a failure to accept diversity which divides people in battle between good and evil over every issue. They fight desperately during the election period as if they will never see each other again.

To solve the problem of suicide, society must first change its attitude toward suicide. We must not view suicide as a personal problem. There is no such thing as personal suicide. All suicides are social murders. We must realize that this is a problem for all of us. Not only religion but also education, local governments,  health institutions, and all groups related to suicide must work together to overcome it.

Above all, we must restore our community. Our country has the lowest birth rate in the OECD. On top of that, with the suicide rate at number one, the Korean community is now self-destructing. We must look back and see if the formula for success that created today’s Korea is no longer working. If you want to go fast, you go alone, but if you want to go far, you must go together. We need a community embodying a new zeitgeist beyond industrialization and democratization.

Difficulties of the Self Employed

In the  Eyes of the Clergy  Column of the  Catholic Peace Weekly, we hear some of the problems of the self-employed, Korean CEOs— Chief Executive Officers— of small businesses. 

When people start a business, they say they are finally happy to hear the word “CEO”, but in reality, most are self-employed people trying to make a living. They are people who quit their jobs early in their 40s or 50s due to corporate restructuring and started a business to make a living. Out of the 5.6 million self-employed people, 2 million are over 60 years old. 

Since they quit their jobs and jumped into business without preparation, most of them start jobs that do not require any special skills. However, the startup market is saturated. There is a chicken restaurant next to a chicken restaurant, and a convenience store next to a convenience store.

You have no choice but to sell cheaper than other stores to survive in such a situation. This means that you have to maintain a low-profit margin. However, even the money you earn ends up being used for bank loans and franchise royalties, so there is nothing left. Recently, rents have increased and delivery service fees have increased, adding to their problems. It would be a blessing to just keep the store open, but often you add more debt to debt to stay in business and when unable to repay the debt the business closes.

According to the National Tax Service, the number of business owners who reported closure in this way was close to 1 million last year alone. It is an increase of 120,000 compared to the year before last, recording the highest number since statistics were compiled in 2006. This is the highest since the IMF (International Monetary Fund). 

The self-employed business closure rate will reach 10% as of 2023, meaning that one in 10 self-employed businesses will close every year. Self-employed people who held on even during COVID-19 are no longer able to do so. People often say that self-employment is the core of the common people's economy. The common people's economy is now collapsing. 

The biggest reasons for store closures are high interest rates and high prices. The number of people who cannot repay their startup loans and are delinquent on their payments is increasing. The details are serious. 50% of individual business borrowers are multiple debtors. Half of the self-employed are paying off their debts with debt. In particular, the delinquency rate of vulnerable self-employed people with multiple debts and low incomes is over 10%. On top of that, there are skyrocketing rents and franchise royalties. It’s not because the owner is sick, but having to live in hell.

The restaurant franchise industry is large and recently we have heard about a conflict between the head office and franchisees because of the collapse of the self-employed.

Self-employed business owners are having problems not due to part-time workers who earn the minimum wage of 10,000 won or delivery riders who earn high fares, but rather because of a bigger structural problem. They start franchises with low skills using personal business loans, but in the end, the money is not earned by the self-employed business owners, but by others. That’s why the self-employed are crying out not only to franchise headquarters, but also to building owners, the government, and delivery platforms.

The government needs to check if companies are monopolizing information or abusing their power. The political world needs to stop fighting with hatred and dividing people and look after the people’s livelihoods. They need to wipe away the tears of the self-employed with real actions, not empty promises. Just as Jesus did, we, as well as the church, must be with those who cry out that they are sick. We must hurry.

The columnist hopes this will all change in the future and we will be seeing more smiling self-employed CEOs.

Nonviolent Communication and Observation

A religious sister in the Kyeongyang magazine gives the readers a brief look at  Nonviolent Communication (NVC). A way that helps us understand our behavior and deepen our connection with ourselves and others, changing our responses in life. 

Sister, however, possibly because of the difficulties that arise from explaining (NVC) in a short article, only mentioned the first component which was observation, the other three were: feelings, needs, and requests. 

Marshall B. Rosenberg an American psychologist developed the concept in the 60s and 70s. He wanted a way for people to communicate without judgment or blame.

The article begins with a quote from the  Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis: Christus Vincit #292—

"The first kind of sensitivity is directed to the individual. It is a matter of listening to someone sharing his very self in what he says. A sign of this willingness to listen is the time we are ready to spare for others. More than the amount of time we spend, it is about making others feel that my time is their time, that they have all the time they need to say everything they want. The other person must sense that I am listening unconditionally, without being offended or shocked, tired or bored. We see an example of this kind of hearing in the Lord; he walks alongside the disciples on the way to Emmaus, even though they are going in the wrong direction (cf. Lk 24:13-35). When Jesus says he plans to go farther, they realize that he has given them the gift of his time, so they decide to give him theirs by offering their hospitality. Attentive and selfless listening shows our respect for others, whatever their ideas or choices in life."

Are we able to hear the words of the other correctly? Am I able to listen to the words of the other without conditions and the other able to sense this.  Am I hearing only with the ears?  Am I hearing also with my eyes, with all my senses? The first step for the founder of (NVC) was observation that wasn't mixed with evaluation or judgment in the hearing.

Observation is Listening closely, seeing all carefully, and expressing what you hear and see exactly as it comes to you. This is extremely difficult to do.  Our experience, learning, and inherited history include preconceptions, misconceptions, inferences, and falsehoods along with the truth and wisdom of the ages.

What is necessary from the start is to separate our internal thoughts from what is being observed. There is a need for the evaluation of what is observed to not take control at that time. J. Krishnamurti  the Indian  philosopher said: "The ability to observe without evaluating is the highest form of intelligence."

We are conditioned to see right and wrong, true or false, good or bad, normal or abnormal, and judging according to the values we have which can distort what we observe and prevent us from hearing correctly and at times, this will end the conversation. There is a need to not mix observation and evaluation in our listening to the other.

She mentions one of the common replies from Rosenberg on the subject: He has no difficulty with evaluations but he doesn't want observations mixed up with evaluations in conversations.

Judgments are a part of our life but they don't necessarily have to appear in all the conversations that we have unless the other wants to hear them. They can prevent one from hearing what the other wants to say if we are not sensitive to the problems that may follow. She concludes the article with a prayer.

But did you know? The automatic thoughts that we take for granted, judge, and evaluate are the ‘anger triggers’ that cause anger within us. So we really need prayer. Compassion is our nature. She prays before she enters the path of temptation due to her weakness.

Misunderstanding of Love

In View from the Ark of the Catholic Times, a college humanities professor gives us her thoughts on Love and Age in Korean marriage society.

"The number of couples with a significant age difference is increasing, and the trend of older women dating younger men is also rising. The age difference may exceed ten or even twenty years. It's commonly thought that people of similar ages get along better, but these perceptions are changing. If two people choose to love each other and can take responsibility for their relationship, age is not an issue."

However, if the object of your love is love with children or teenagers, you need to think again. Especially in a male-dominated sexual culture, younger women are interpreted as valuable and pretty, and men who date or marry younger women are envied. The United Nations bans child marriage in member countries under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. However, child marriage still remains a custom in poor developing countries. Parents marry their girls to middle-aged or elderly men to solve poverty. In addition to the violation of the girl's human rights, the parents' attitude arouses public indignation.

However, not being able to send their daughters to school and having to survive in poverty along with conservative sexual norms that require women to be modest cannot be blamed solely on ignorance. When girls are not physically mature, get married against their will, become pregnant, and give birth, this can lead to deterioration of health or even death. Their marriages are not respected and prone to violence from husbands who have an economic and age advantage in an unequal relationship.

The movie ‘Priscilla’ (directed by Sofia Coppola, 2024) deals with the relationship between singer Elvis Presley and Priscilla, his wife. Priscilla met Elvis as a fan when she was in middle school. Her first love led to marriage, but their relationship was not romantic.  Her friends were immersed in their studies, had dreams, spent their school days with friends, while she was courted by her idol, Elvis, and believing she loved him,  married him. However, after her marriage, she was hurt by her husband's infidelity, violence, and lies, and realized that her love was not mutual and left him. This was not easy because her love can be interpreted as grooming sexual violence.

Grooming sexual violence is when the perpetrator tames, neutralizes, and dominates the victim by making her dependent on him. Such sexual violence occurs in relationships of respect and trust. In other words, because sexual abuse occurs after forming a psychological bond with children and adolescents who are vulnerable in terms of age, economics, and intelligence, it is difficult for the victim to escape, let alone recognize the violence. Grooming sexual violence occurs in relationships between teachers and students, clergy and believers, counselors and clients,  between adult men and children, women and adolescents in digital space, and offline, causing serious damage.

The position that recognizes the sexual self-determination rights of female adolescents has given a free pass to perpetrators by interpreting relationships with adult men as love. The sexual fantasies of men who prefer young girls and believe that these girls like them have overlooked the sexual victimization and suffering of female adolescents. After the Nth Room incident ["Nth Room" case is a criminal case involving blackmail, cybersex trafficking, and the spread of sexually exploitative videos online]  regulations were established to punish sexual relations between adults and adolescents aged 13 to under 16. ( 'Youth Protection Act').

However, there is a backlash against this in the male-dominated sexual culture. It is necessary to recognize the structure that makes female adolescents vulnerable to sexual violence and to have mechanisms in place to prevent and protect them from suffering and victimization. Their human rights must be prioritized. Furthermore, beyond legal punishment, there is a need for criticism and reflection on the male-dominated sexual culture that objectifies female adolescents and sees them as something that can be bought and sold instead of treating them with dignity.

Chronos and Kairos Time

 

A sociologist, author, and member of the Future Society has an article on the Here/Now Catholic website where he gives the readers some interesting information on the Kairos and Chronos' understanding of the future and what artificial intelligence can do.

Last May, an interesting video was posted on the YouTube channel TED-Ed. It was a 5-minute video titled ‘Can AI predict someone’s breakup?’ posted by a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The video shows that artificial intelligence (AI) analyzes couples' data from an online search history, spending habits, marriage and divorce history, etc. can tell you the probability of divorce. The Professor says the probability of being correct is 95 percent. As the accuracy rate of artificial intelligence predictions continues to increase, more people may rely on artificial intelligence predictions unless they are willing to risk the expected failure. 

Artificial intelligence for predicting life, as a whole, rather than just specific aspects such as divorce, has also been released. At the end of last year, a joint research team from the Technical University of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen developed an artificial intelligence model that predicts the human lifetime. The joint research team trained artificial intelligence on daily data, such as education, health, income, and occupation, of 6 million people in the Danish national data center to predict key elements of life such as future health and personality traits. This program was found to be particularly effective in predicting early mortality from ages 35 to 65 and also showed high accuracy in predicting personality changes.  Researchers predict that this program will lead to a system that accurately predicts a person's entire life in the future.

Now, we have entered an era where when we wonder about the future or decide something, we ask artificial intelligence instead of going to a religious leader or shaman. As people use artificial intelligence, more data is accumulated, and the accuracy of predictions increases. Then, a question arises at this point. In the future, will artificial intelligence take the lead in predicting the future and will the role of religious leaders and shamans end? The writer was curious about how artificial intelligence answers this important question.

Artificial intelligence can predict events that are likely to occur in the future by analyzing past data and current trends. However, these predictions are not always accurate and involve uncertainty. For example, in fields as diverse as the stock market, weather, and economic trends, artificial intelligence uses predictive models to try to predict the future, but its accuracy is affected by data quality, model complexity, and external factors, etc. However, predictions are always probabilistic, and since all variables and volatility cannot be perfectly controlled, the results are always accompanied by a certain degree of uncertainty.

The important keyword in artificial intelligence is ‘data.’ Predictions are only possible if there is data, and predictions vary depending on the data. However, the predictions of religious leaders and shamans are not entirely dependent on data. Now he asks the second question.

What is the difference between future predictions made by religion and future predictions made by artificial intelligence? Both of them use fundamentally different methods and approaches. The difference between the two approaches can be explained as follows: Religion is based on spiritual and mystical experiences, and artificial intelligence is based on scientific data and statistical models. [Methodology: Religion relies on faith and intuition, but artificial intelligence relies on empirical data and algorithms.]

Religious predictions pursue religious and moral goals, while artificial intelligence predictions pursue practical and scientific goals. 

Chronos and Kairos. 

There are two words for time in ancient Greek. They are chronos and kairos. Chronos is chronological time. It is a general time concept such as day, month, year, etc. The word used to record events by date is chronos. Chronos is the promised time created by socialized humans. Kairos is quality time, a time of hope. Kairos is the good times that appear in life.  Good times don't come at a certain time or on a certain day of the week. It may come suddenly like a thunderbolt. It can be created against the social order through human will. 

There are two paths to the future. Kairos and Chronos. There is a future mentioned by religious leaders and shamans, and there is a future predicted by artificial intelligence based on data. The two solutions are not completely separate. Sometimes they overlap and sometimes they appear separate. The two paths coexist within an individual or within a group. There are times when one stands out more than the other. It is not the future predictions of artificial intelligence that give hope to life when you are economically poor and things are not getting better. The future presented by artificial intelligence is bound to be bleak. However, the future offered by Kairos is a message of hope. You can create your future through prayer or through faith that seems groundless but will come true. In this way, humans have two ways of reckoning time and two futures. We have a future that artificial intelligence does not have.

—The Whole Is Greater Than The Parts—

 

"A priest researching Catholic humanities and religion at the Korea Institute of Christian Thought, on the Here and Now website, provides readers with interesting information about the 'post-truth' society we have entered."

The Synod Church considers the process of church members living together and identifying church values ​​as important. An important goal of the Synod Church is to avoid the hierarchical relationship between bishops, priests, and religious, believers, familiar in the past, and move toward an equal and communicative method.

In the past, priests taught, sanctified, and guided believers. This method does not seem appropriate in today's liberal democratic worldview. Additionally, in the hierarchical church society of the past, the priest's leadership and will were considered important, not only in doctrine but also in spiritual life, community management, and people's lifestyles. However, today's horizontal relationship culture based on individual freedom places more importance on individual thoughts and free will than ever before.

Believers not only do not unconditionally follow the priest's thoughts and decisions as in the past but rather evaluate the priest based on their own thoughts and standards. It is not an easy situation for the priest. Therefore, there is no choice but to place more importance on the believers' position and community opinion not only in preaching and pastoral management but also in relationships. 

The Synod Church or Synodalitas (Walking Together) takes on the character of a church-wide movement to maintain church traditions while adapting to a culture of individual freedom and equality and to seek a church mission appropriate to the changing social environment. Nevertheless, in church life, if we respect and listen to the positions and thoughts of all believers, the community often falls into confusion. Didn’t they say that if there are many boatmen, the boat will end up in the mountains?

Common discernment is what the Synodalitas Church wants as a methodological element to avoid going to the mountains. In today's society, where individual subjective opinions, values, and emotions are important, it is not easy for everyone to agree on objective justice and truth. 

Philosopher Lee MacIntyre described this reality as ‘post-truth.’ Post-truth is defined as “a phenomenon  which appeals to personal beliefs and emotions which have greater influence than objective facts when forming public opinion.” 

The problem is that this is not simply a lie or a political tactic, but is recognized by people as such. Aristotle defined truth as follows: “If you say that something exists that exists and that something that does not exist, does not exist, then it is true.” For people today, truth does not exist objectively but rather exists within the framework of their subjective interests and cognitive biases. So people do not hesitate to subvert the truth in various ways.

Synodalitas (walking together) The method chosen by the church to avoid going to the mountains is joint discernment. 

This can be divided into four types. First, there are cases where one accidentally says something that is not the truth.  Second, there is intentional avoidance of recognition by pretending that information is true without checking whether it is true or not. Third, there is lying, which is making false statements to deceive others. Fourth, it is a case of falling into cognitive bias and delusions of self-deception and believing that untrue words and facts are sincerely true. Cognitive bias is particularly dangerous and widespread. 

Examples of the post-truth phenomenon can be easily found around us. Ideologically biased reports distributed through broadcasts and the Internet do not initially consider verification to determine whether they are true or not. Just as there is no need to explain in detail the propaganda used by former President Trump of the United States using voters' emotions and situations, or the public incitement techniques of South Korea's left and right politicians.

Humans tend to find a point of harmony between their beliefs and actions and experience anxiety when this harmony is broken. So, they either ignore the truth or justice that does not match their values ​​and thoughts, or distort it and accept it and act on it. This is where the so-called cognitive bias phenomenon comes from. The reason for joint discernment in the Synod Church is also because the truth and teachings of the Church can be distorted due to our individual cognitive biases. Especially when the decisions of those in positions of power in the church are absolute, the risk is bound to be great.

In the past, the opinions and thoughts of those who had power in society were the truth and justice. An example of a method of traditionally identifying right and wrong is the 'Wonnim trial'. The village councilor, who is responsible for the judicial and administrative affairs of the village, has the sole and absolute authority to determine whether there is a crime or not and what is reasonable. The magistrate drags the person he presumes to have committed a crime and makes him sit down, and then he shouts out loud, “You made your sin known!” With this cry, the person is already no different from a convicted prisoner. Due to the cognitive bias, the judge has regarding information about the person and the situation, he has already judged the person guilty in his mind even before the trial takes place. The next step is to check your own cognitive biases. In historical dramas, intimidation, torture, and cajoling are often used to get rid of the rumors. In this way, correct identification of the truth is difficult to expect in a structure with a person or group that monopolizes power at the top.

No one can be free from cognitive bias. That is why common discernment is important in synodal churches. Community members can exchange ideas with each other as they work, live, and interact together. This is because, in the process of talking to each other, we are inevitably exposed to diverse opinions, which naturally enrich our thinking and judgment. 

In his book "Infotopia", Cass Sunstein argues that when individuals interact, they can reach conclusions that they would not have noticed on their own. In other words, “a phenomenon in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” can occur, and this is the power of joint identification in the process of forming a synodal church.