Shamanism: Matrix of Religion in Korea

Religion and spirituality arise from our human inclination to search for ultimate answers to our problems or, another possibility, because of humanity's search for wholeness, says a professor in a Catholic Research Institute. He went on to note that some scholars of religion, when discussing the origins of religion, believe that humans have a disposition for religion without  religion. His comments were in an article in the Peace Weekly.

Looking at the whole of Korean religious history, the professor details a plurality of religious inclinations that have been transformed and manifested in various ways. Religious spirituality is basic to our mental life, he says, and is not the result of our man-made cultures but is a primitive expression of mankind's innate religious feelings.

The religious sensitivity of Koreans has been influenced by shamanism, which sees culture, art and religion as joined together harmoniously with nature, resulting in a fusion with spirits from which  blessings and good fortune are received. This thinking, he believes, is at a primitive level in a Korean's psyche, with one's good fortune considered to be a safe, protected existence. This is like the "shalom" of Judaism and  Christianity, and not unlike the supernatural salvation from above.

Shamanism has fused together with the religions that have come in from outside Korea, such as Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Buddhism and Confucianism have mostly accepted this fusion with Shamanism. In Buddhist temples you can see the adaptations from Shamanism;  in Confucianism, it appears in the rice cake ceremonies. Christianity, though, has looked upon shamanism as something primitive and to be abolished, but there are those that see shamanism as the womb from which religion has grown in Korea.

Korea is unique as a country where religions can co-exist with respect for each other. This receptivity, the professor says, has a great deal  to contribute to establishing peace among the religions of the world. The basic religious sensitivity Koreans have for religion can be the reason, he speculates, for this ability to accept each other.

We should not condemn shamanism unconditionally, as being out of step with modern thinking because it was the matrix of religious life in Korea. But neither is it proper, he warns, to extol it. It's necessary to see shamanism's  limits and areas of dysfunction and have a proper balance in our criticism. When we look closely at the other religions, discounting their cultural expressions, seeing their common elements of truth, we will be able to see, the professor says, our own beliefs more clearly and live them more deeply.

The Common Good and Justice

 "I don't need your love, give me justice" were the words on a poster on a wall of a convent of sisters whose apostolate was helping workers. It's not difficult to grasp what is being said, but though love goes beyond justice, can there be love without Justice?

In the Catholic Times, a priest who works with the poor refers to Matthew 6:33, "Set your heart on his kingdom first and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well."

St. Joseph, the husband of Mary, was called a  just man because he didn't want Mary's condition to be known to the world, conscious of what this would mean to Mary. He was thinking of Mary more than himself. This is what a just person does, and Jesus, the supremely just person, wanted everyone to fully participate in society. We see this repeatedly in the New Testament. 

One of the basic principles of Catholic social teaching is the common good.  "The principle of the common good, to which every aspect of social life must be related if it is to attain its fullest meaning, stems from the dignity, unity and equality of all people. According to its primary and broadly accepted sense, the common good indicates 'the sum total of social conditions which allows people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily'" (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church #164).

The common good is difficult to achieve, the priest says, when city life is all we know. He believes living in the city is unnatural and he expresses this in rather strong language. He compares city dwellers to animals living in a zoo. Is it not a place where we have covered over the earth? he asks. So that one does not find it easy to step on a piece of real earth, but walks daily on cement, asphalt, colored sidewalk tiles. Even when there are flowers and trees, it is more like a large flower pot filled with dirt, rather than living earth. We are protected from hearing anything against this kind of life, he says. We have become parts of a social machine and the busy life it fosters takes the mind off reality. There is a sufficiency of food, pleasure and comfort, and those who speak out on the problems this creates within society find themselves at  the periphery. For those who have no place in this so called 'good life', what meaning would justice have for them?

The gap between  the rich and the poor is increasing, though Korea does not have the same gulf between the haves and have-nots as do many other developed countries; this is a blessing.  In the past, 20 percent of the population were in the upper segment of society. Today, he says, it has decreased to 1 percent. In a factory, for instance, the one who assembles the wheel in the front of the car may not get the same pay as the one who puts on the back wheel--if one is a regular worker and the other a temporary. People are fired for the good of the company, students are judged by the marks they receive, and those who have a handicap are seen and treated differently. In a word, he says, the society is not just.
 
"Among the numerous implications of the common good, immediate significance is taken on by the principle of the universal destination of goods, 'God destined the earth and all it contains for all men and all peoples so that all created things would be shared fairly by all mankind under the guidance of justice tempered by charity.' This principle is based on the fact that the original source of all that is good is the very act of God, who created both the earth and man, and who gave the earth to man so that he might have dominion over it by his work and enjoy its fruits (Gen 1:28-29). God gave the earth to the whole human race for the sustenance of all its members, without excluding or favoring anyone" (Compendium # 171).

Mission Sunday

Today being Mission Sunday, the desk columnist of the Catholic Times recalls a trip to Ireland two years ago to trace the history of the  monasteries of that country.

The word 'Ireland,' she says, is enough to bring to mind the Missionary Society of the Columban Fathers, which this year is commemorating their 80th year in Korea. They have been valiant workers in the missionary work of Korea and helped in setting up the scaffolding for future missionary endeavors in Korea.

Curious about the beginnings of the Society of St. Columban, she traveled to the Columban headquarters in Dalgan Park, Navan, about one hour from Dublin. The building is on a large stretch of grassland, and from 1960 to 1970 was the home to over 200 seminarians; today only 40 are living there, including missioners who have retired and returned to their homeland. The missioners who had worked in Korea were deeply moved by the visitors from Korea. It reminded the desk columnist of what a girl after marriage might experience when returning to visit her family after many years. The visitors were treated to a Mass celebrated in Korean, which was appreciated.

Fr. Brendan Hoban, who spent many years in Korea, led them on a ten minute walk to the Society's cemetery, where he went to the grave sites of those who had worked in Korea, putting a white ribbon on their graves. When it was time to go, Fr. Brendan sorrowfully bid goodbye to the visitors, telling them that during his years in Korea he received more then he gave.

The Columban missioners did a great deal to help build up the community  of Christians in Korea, and for the last 30 years our own missioners have been sent throughout the world in gratitude for what they have received. However, she feels that although the Korean Church knows the importance of mission, it is still thought to be, she asserts, a task mostly left to other countries. The Church as a whole, she believes, has not taken the work of mission to heart and prepared a viable structure to promote the work financially and with educational programs. "The task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church" (#14 of Evangeli Nuntiandi).

Mission will enable the Korean Church to expand our vision, she says, and at the same time be the dynamic force for a more fruitful faith life. Let us remember the many missioners that have come to Korea to help in the work of evangelization, and in gratitude do our share to evangelize, knowing that with the energy that comes with the new evangelization, we will grow in maturity and vitality.


 

Need to Pray for his Parishoners

Being pastor of your first parish is usually your first priestly love. It usually happens when one finally lives the ideals presented in the seminary, putting into practice what had been learned and briefly experienced as an assistant pastor, says a pastor after two years in a small country parish.

Writing in a bulletin for priests, the newly assigned pastor reflects on his two years as pastor and his resolutions to give life to his ideals of how a pastor should interact with his new community. He was told by his seniors in the ministry that his first parish would be happy years, but what he found was far from what he expected. 

He knew that regardless of the circumstances he should find joy in his work. However, he soon learned that the Gospel  message and the reality of church life were often at odds, dampening his spirit.

In his area, plans were underway to build a nuclear power plant, and though knowing nothing about nuclear plants and their problems, even after the Fukushima disaster in Japan, he was aware of the protests, on three separate occasions, against the use of the area for nuclear waste disposal. However, though many were against building the plant, the economic benefits, despite the Fukushima disaster, made the plant attractive to some of the citizens.

A person of faith should be able to speak out and express his opinion, but most of us are not able to do this, he maintains, without being quickly ostracized by the community. Civil servants, especially, are in favor of the plant, and because he believes his community would not welcome what he would like to say on the subject, he too remains silent.

He also has to be careful about talking  about radiation levels in the sea water because many of his Christians are in the fish business.  A  priest, like all Christians, has the duty to  speak the truth, he says, as part of their prophetic calling received at baptism, but Christians in his area of the diocese, he's learned, don't want to hear that kind of talk--the truth he would like to speak. Many of them have not been baptized long, and many would have a traditional conservatism, making it difficult for them to hear what he would like say.

He confesses to being  more afraid of the people in his community than of God. He is embarrassed, he says, to read about the prophets who were not afraid to speak out , even to kings, and he continues to respect their courage. Why are Christians more intent on doing what the world wants, instead of following the words they hear from Scripture? He finds this difficult to understand and accept. However, he is coming to the realization that he should spend less time asking why and spend more  time praying for them. The prophetic calling demands courage, he admits, but he has concluded there exists, more importantly, a need to pray for his people.

Holistic View of Life

Participating in society is the mission we have received as Christians and as Church. It is the way to live an authentic Christian faith life and to carry out our responsibility to society. A dualism that separates the sacred from the world and is concerned only about the afterlife separates our daily life from the religious life. The biggest obstacle that nourishes this kind of thinking is by seeing the spiritual as distinct from the material. Scriptures do not make this division but gives us a holistic view of life.

A column in the Catholic Times, written by a theology professor, reminds us of this reality which is, he says, a stumbling block to many Christians.  Scripture does not separate the spirit from the body. They are one. "The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and  blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being" (Gen. 2:7). The soul is not imprisoned in the body as Plato believed. Scripture points out the problems that can arise from this understanding.

St.Paul addresses the conflict between the spirit and the body:  "The tendency of the flesh is toward death but that of the spirit toward life and peace"(Rm. 8:6). They are to work together.  From the beginning, Gnosticism and Neoplatonism  have stressed the dualism of the spirit and the material. Materiality was considered the shadow side of the spirit.

This kind of thinking sees only the goal of the present life as being the glory achieved after death, the professor says. This thinking rationalizes our earthly pain and oppression, believing that our economic  and social  structures are justified.

However, Scripture, referencing the foundational experience of slavery in Egypt, speaks about liberation, and not only from sin but from all that enslaves us. Scripture does not see only a spiritual liberation but an integration of  spirituality and materiality.  The reduction of everything worthwhile in the world to Spirit is a concept that is far from the teaching of Scripture, says the professor. Consequently, our individual piety and our community worship cannot  be separated from the structures we find in society.

Scripture invites us to fight for life and freedom by integrating our body and spirit for well being, peace, justice, and the integrity of creation. The dualistic mind will separate the spirit and the body and this will lead, the professor warns, to many difficulties in living the spiritual life. There is a need, he says, for a greater loving gaze at all of creation, seeing it as an expression of God's love for all.

A Healthy Questioning of What We Believe

A priest writing in a diocesan bulletin mentions visiting an elderly priest relative he greatly admired. He lived a very organized life, following the guidelines to holiness he had learned in the seminary.  Before the time of the Second Vatican Council, he remembers hearing in seminary that "those who live within a rule live in God." Which seemed to him a perfect description of his priest relative.

Many Christians at that time felt that the goal of religious life meant only saving your own soul.  Rules and regulations were there to protect us from sin and to keep us from succumbing to temptations. After the Second Vatican Council, this emphasis is beginning to change.
 
He remembers a course he took in the Philippines a few years after ordination. The professor said to the class he regretted not stressing the Gospel message of love more rather than some of the other areas of the Christian message. The order of priority of the teachings was not clear, he said, when he looked back at the way he had taught in the past. He felt he was like the lawyers of the law Jesus had difficulty with during his three years of public life.

He recalls the words of a French bishop who said he had, unfortunately,  lived the teachings of the Old Testament more than he had the New. Jesus had stressed the importance of having a deep and wide love and of working to establish his kingdom but, instead, the priest said he got lost in the regulations.

We should always question what we believe, he reminds us. All of us believe a great many things that we have never bothered to examine carefully. This is not only in matters of religion but in all facets of life. We accept too quickly when someone we trust has said it, or because it is the common understanding or because we learned it in school. "Be ready at all times to answer anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have,  but do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:15).

The writer mentions how a sacristy priest is often described:  A priest who limits his pastoral work to the Mass and Sacraments. These are, he says, very important but when we forget the works of love and have no interest in the  problems of society something is missing. At times there is a lot of criticism of priests who seem to be too concerned about social problems, but we hear little about those who stay in the sacristy.

"The truth will make us free" (John 8:31). We should be searching for this truth in the will of God and by doing the works of love. Not only to save face and be concerned with regulations, but to  be a responsible person before God and a mature disciple.

Power of Words

 

Words have many different meanings and connotations. Often, for unworthy purposes, words are created to influence others, and sometimes used sarcastically.  A seminary professor introduces us to the Korean word 'jongbuk,' which can be taken to mean a sympathizer of North Korea or a North Korean slave. In most cases it's used as an abusive term for those who want a closer relationship with those living in the North.
 
People using language that is coarse and confrontational, he says, only helps to divide the country into different factions. Conservatives, "for lack of a better word,"  often see the liberal forces in society as "reds" and "commies." The appearance of the word 'jongbuk' to describe those who would like to see a closer relationship with the North is one manifestation of this conservative mindset. The far right have tried to make the opposition party, which lost the recent election, the 'jongbuk' party. 
 
What reason gave rise to the word? he asks. Is it the present division of the country? The persons who have suffered and continue to suffer from this situation are the weak of society, but this is not a sufficient reason, he says, for the appearance of the word. Is it the large number of pro-North Koreans in our society? Or is it the plan of those who are trying to instill fear and the bring about a more security-conscious government that encourages this 'jongbuk' thinking, resorting to charges, as in the past, of 'red' and 'commie.'

Because of the word 'jongbuk,' hostility and exclusiveness are being nourished in our society, the professor says. When we stop asking the question, why? words like jongbuk begin to spread throughout society. The abusive tone associated with the word, he believes is a sign that the ability to communicate has been lost and fear and irritation becomes the reality. It shows the poverty of our words and the thinking that is influencing our politics, media, history and academia.

When we cease to question the words we use and feel uncomfortable asking "why," the professor is convinced that words like 'jongbuk' will appear, used ignorantly. When this is done we are mercilessly doing harm to many. Looking at history we see  this kind of thinking repeated often. The life of Jesus is an easy example of the harm that arises from ignorance. They were not able to find anything against him worthy of death and yet because of ignorance and bigotry, death was the result.
 

This type of thinking develops into the crimes frequently committed in the past and in the present century. 'Why' is a word that comes easy to mind, says the professor. In a democratic society we are not restrained in its use; in the face of all kinds of power we are able to express our questioning. When this questioning attitude disappears, democracy, viable politics, history, academia and religion will not fare well. And our hope that the history of suffering of so many will be only a past memory will also disappear.