Education for Wisdom Rather than Knowledge

"Mom's ability to gather information, and grandfather's wealth…" Have you ever heard these words before? This is a prerequisite for getting your child into one of the prestigious colleges. A priest college professor in Eyes of the Believer column of the Catholic Times wants to reflect on the mysterious like faith in education, which promises success only after entering a prestigious university.

In a traditional Confucian society, the enthusiasm for education is evident in the proverb:  孟母三遷之敎
(The mother of Mencius, a saint in the East, moved three times to educate her son.) When living next to a cemetery the child imitated the wailing sound of music, they moved next to a market and the child was initiated in commercial affairs; moved near to a school he began learning about the classics. One needs to be interested in the education of the child is the meaning.

Enthusiasm for the education of their children by Korean parents shows readily in this proverb. It is said that there are many parents who make fake documents to help the selection process and seek ways of receiving preferential treatment for their children as well as moving for their children's education.

By studying well, he became a judge, doctor, professor, and entrepreneur faster than others and succeeded in high office, but he closed his eyes to his neighbor's pain and lived only for his own success. There are a lot of 'responsible intellectuals' in our society who don't smell human.

The purpose of education and learning is to become a true human being, however, today, education seems to aim at success— to have a high position and a good salary.   Human life and death, and all that this comprises are of little concern. Studying with the head without acquiring its broader and deeper meanings and values is to win in competition with a cold heart.

Since the 500 years of the Joseon Dynasty, examinations and the emphasis on one's educational background was the royal road to success. Those of our older generations who lived in poverty and with sorrow were not recognized simply because they lacked formal education.

However, at the end of one's life, it is not the lack of learning and not being appreciated that is the problem but a life without love. Whatever the educational background of ourselves and our children, if we can break out from the cultural bonds that bind us and experience love as a child of God, the self-esteem that faith conveys to our children is a greater asset than any prestigious college can give.

The purpose of true education and learning is not to accumulate knowledge as in a warehouse, but rather to learn 'wisdom', which allows us to expand our vision to the world and reflect and learn from our lives. Indeed, the training of Mencius' mother was successful in all three moves, rather than only in the third place after two failures!

Mencius learns the 'dynamics of death' the limits of human existence and the vanity of life while living by the cemetery. In the marketplace, he encountered the fierce  'dynamics of life' in the buying and selling competition of life. And by the school, he learned the universal value ​​and meaning of life from the pursuit of learning.
 
Even though his own mother's level of education was not high, the words that his deceased mother, left the writer have remained vivid."What if you don't have a Ph.D.  Do not try to be popular but one recognized by God."

Korea Human Rights Sunday

In the recent issues of the Catholic Weeklies, editorials and articles on Human Rights and a message from the bishop who chairs the human rights committee were prominent. The second Sunday of Advent is Human Rights Sunday and from the 8th to 14th of Dec. time is set aside to reflect on human rights and our participation in this revolution of love.

In his message the bishop quotes from Pascal (1623-16662) a 17th-century philosopher who thought deeply about life and wrote in his book Pensées: "Man is a Thinking Reed" weak and often miserable but because he thinks and is conscious of his situation he can transcend it, which makes him great.

However, our social reality is not looking hopeful. The poor are not seen, the oppressed despair and dream of justice and equality, and the socially weak moan in the shadow of indifference, rejection, and disgust;  politicians seem to show no interest in the citizens but are keen on how to defend their vested and political interests.

 Women, handicapped, sexual minorities, migrants, irregular workers, young workers, elders, and many others are living out of sight.  As believers, there is no way we can overemphasize the fact that we are all made in the image of God and worthy of respect. 

The Peace Weekly on the front page had an article on Vincent Yun who was in prison for 20 years and finally in 2009 was paroled for good behavior. He was accused of murder which he adamantly denied but since he had no new evidence those close to him advised against it. The murderer recently, who was in prison for another crime, did confess to the killing.

 "While under examination, they questioned me for four straight days without sleep so I confessed. I was afraid of the death penalty. I asked for another examination of the evidence but was refused. At that time a lawyer would have cost me 15.000 dollars, the money I didn't have so they gave me a lawyer who only saw be three times in all and at the trial, he hoped that all would be done well."


It's easy to see the blind spots and prejudice involved in this case. We let culture, personal habits and discrimination control our thoughts and behavior often to the harm of others. It is difficult to empathize with another, walk in their shoes and open ourselves up to seeing what is before us and not only what is in our heads.

We are in a time where the mission that we have to evangelize requires we understand the social gospel; our duty with the prophetic call of our baptism to make known the injustices and our responsibility to do something to remedy the situation.

"The Church is present among mankind as God's tent of meeting, “God's dwelling place among men” so that man is not alone, lost or frightened in his task of making the world more human; thus men and women find support in the redeeming love of Christ. As minister of salvation, the Church is not in the abstract nor in a merely spiritual dimension, but in the context of the history and of the world in which man lives. Here mankind is met by God's love and by the vocation to cooperate in the divine plan." (Compendium of the Social Gospel #60)

The GoldenTime To Save the Earth

A member of the bishops' committee on the environment in the Peace column of the Catholic Peace Weekly gives us her thoughts on the recent International Forum on Air Pollution and Climate change in Seoul, Korea. She wants to make known the cry of the  Korean youth expressed during the forum in her article.

A promise without practice is an empty cry. At this moment, we are at a Golden Time. What is the fate of a seriously injured patient? Treatment right away is the short but precious time necessary to survive.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in 2018 that "to prevent climate change, we need to make unprecedented massive changes in 12 years," but there are no huge, significant changes. The next decade will be the last chance to reverse the climate change we have made. We have talked this over and over many times. If we live like this, one day, the earth will be harmed irreversibly and is approaching daily.

Korea has suffered from fine dust for decades, and more and more people buy air cleaners, believing that machines will make their homes safer. But the nature of the fine dust problem lies in cars, factories, and power plants that can't be stopped by a few small machines.

The more we buy and throw away, the more factories will need electricity, and power plants need to burn fossil fuels. As a result, the air gets worse and people live with their faces covered with masks. These one-time disposable masks will remain in landfilled areas for 500 years. Although the size of the family is getting smaller, the refrigerator is getting bigger; we are so used to thinking the bigger the better.

Our youth would like to thank you for what you have done for them. Your efforts have given them a world full of food, clothes, shelters, welfare, education, and less war and hunger. But now they want to face reality. "Faster! Higher! Stronger!" These once magic words no longer give joy to the young.

We need to change our lifestyle by reducing excessive consumption. One might say that such practices hinder economic development. But beyond the narrow framework of mass production and mass consumption, there are endless possibilities. Already, people in the world have seen the future of sustainable industries through the growth of shared cars, second-hand markets, and natural agriculture.

The earth is ours. There is no time to blame or ask whose responsible because we are all responsible for climate change and environmental degradation. The fate of our planet and our human race depends on our actions for the next 10 years of Golden Time. Our 10 years is the hope of the earth. Let's make a change together.

Universal National Interest and Strategic Peace in Korea

What is peace? Is peace recognized as the universal goal of mankind compatible with Korea's national interests? Can we work for peace for our national interests? We often think that peace and national interests are opposite concepts. People who advocate peace are often considered leftists, blindly pursuing universal values, while those who emphasize national interests tend to be on the right and we divide society into two camps. A university professor gives us these thoughts on the situation in Korea in the Peace Weekly 'Current Diagnosis' column.

International politics and national interest is a zero-sum game between nations. Put simply the expansion of national interest based on the economic and military power of one country cannot coexist with the national interest of another country. In other words, when one country grows stronger another gets weaker. It is not a win/win situation.

According to this logic, it is unlikely that a universal concept of peace and a nation-centered national interest can be combined without conflict. There is the possibility of an abnormal situation where the greater power gives peace to a weaker country, or where they have allied with the stronger power to make peace possible.

For this reason, South Korea's aid to North Korea is often criticized as a naive pursuit of peace that misunderstands reality. Regarded often as a mistake of amateur liberals, criticized for the expansion of the North Korean regime, and ignorant of international politics.

But national interests and peace can both be pursued as a strategy in complementary relationships. The UK and Northern European countries have redefined their national interests in a universal sense in which their own interests are expanded in helping to solve global problems. The concept of peace can also be reexamined as an asset in solving problems based on Korea's international political peculiarities.

Universal national interests together with strategic peace interests are more likely to provide a wider range of communication, provide constructive solutions, and legitimacy with the international community than putting the national interest first.

Centering everything narrowly on the national interest is not conducive to the peace process pursued by Korea; the wider the scope of Korea's national interests the wider the opportunities for international norms and principles to be linked to peacebuilding on the Korean peninsula.

In order to plan and promote such universal national interests, the obstacles to peacebuilding on the Korean Peninsula should be made into strategic assets, and policy emphasizing that peace on the Korean peninsula is directly related to peace in East Asia and the global village.

Therefore, it is in the national interests of the two Koreas, and furthermore, the international community, that the special circumstances of the Korean peninsula, such as sanctions, denuclearization, and peace treaty between North Korea and North Korea should lead to peace on the Korean peninsula. It is time for a social consensus to ensure that strategic peace and universal national interest are the foundation of Korea's foreign policy and public diplomacy.

Liturgical Time And Its Importance

Time is not merely a physical measurement we experience daily but a factor in what we undergo, situations, the people we meet, all melt into this thing we call time. So begins an article in the Kyeongyang magazine on 'Liturgical Time' by a liturgist who is now a parish priest. On Sunday we begin the new liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent. A new beginning.

In the liturgy, we enter a new time 'zone' going from our earthly limited time into God's dimension of unlimited time. Liturgical time brings us into eternal time and the article precedes to show us why.

As believers, we realize we are here because of the love and grace of God but with finiteness. We are restricted by time and place. That is the situation we are in as human beings. However, Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection calls us to another dimension of life which we have accepted. This new quality of time we entered, with the help of the Holy Spirit, is found in the liturgy.

"The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time, it is the fountain from which all her power flows" (Const. of the Sacred Liturgy #10). Salvation is already here in faith but not complete, and are drawn daily into its fullness by living the liturgical year. During the year we wait for the coming of Jesus, his birth, his life, passion, death, resurrection, the descent of the Holy Spirit, the whole mystery is laid before us, church life is centered around this cycle of events.

Liturgical time is both horizontal in that it sanctifies our daily life and the sacraments are the verticle element that enters our daily lives especially the Eucharist where the past just doesn't disappear nor the future something distinct, but both reconciled in the here and now.

In living the liturgical life, we are one together with Christ, we are no longer limited by the finiteness of time but participate in the eternity of Jesus; the finiteness of time melts into the eternity of God which continually calls us to a new life in God. Looking at it in this way the believer is not just repeating another year but entering into the life of Christ. We are already living in God's kingdom in faith.

Thus, through the liturgy, the finiteness of man participates in God's eternity, gains strength in it, and returns to his finite time to walk in pilgrimage by living through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ. In other words, the finiteness of humanity and eternity of God come together in liturgical time as a hermeneutic cycle, that presents us with meaning— Any time is the right time for God.

"In the age of the Church, between the Passover of Christ already accomplished once for all, and its consummation in the kingdom of God, the liturgy celebrated on fixed days bears the imprint of the newness of the mystery of Christ" (CC #1164).

Whether in the liturgy or in life if we lose the full meaning of time, that God in his love and grace is always coming and we need to be awake and waiting, otherwise will I not be ill-prepared for the encounter?

Good Child Syndrome

Both Catholic weeklies had reviews of the book: Stop being a Good Person, a title that shocks, by the director of the Catholic Spiritual Counseling Office, Fr. Hong Sung-nam.

A person with a 'good child complex' externally all looks nice but on the inside, you are dealing with something petty with little ability to give and take.

The 'good child complex' finds it difficult to accept other people acting differently from those with the complex. They haven't had the freedom of the healthy child, being accepted and loved even when they don't act virtuously. 

Parents who compliment their child for being good unconsciously desire to control the child. The child than suppresses behavior that will upset the parents at the same time preventing the child from developing normally their child-like nature. The results are often a neurosis.

The book shows ways of overcoming these problems. We have those who always want to be nice to others and can't express their opinion and become victims, feel injustice and built-up of anger—criticizing anger, creating a fake peace, as if there was no anger.

People with 'good child complex' make concessions because they want to be liked: the happiness that is determined by others is shallow, one needs to find other ways to be happy. 

Stop being good doesn't mean you don't have to be considerate. It's nice to talk in a way that expresses your intentions but doesn't hurt anybody. The book contains advice on how to live as a believer along with psychological theory.

The core of the Lord's teaching is happiness. Many religious people push believers into making them feel sinful. He wrote the book for those believers who are tainted with morbid teachings and spread this with their words. Churches can spread this kind of teaching and make those that accept their teaching rigid and push them into seeing themselves only as sinners.

Many religious people say: "Live according to God's will" but what is God's will? God wants us to be happy. If your not tithing you get cancer, you will fail in business and this fear of punishment is not helping the person's spiritual growth. Too many are those that feel that God will punish them as their main motivation in doing good and the clergy often make them sicker, healers are not doing their job.

In the book, he introduces healthy guilt, how to relax, how to overcome the virus of despondency and maintain health. He recommends laughing a lot when driving alone practice smiling broadly. When despondency enters respond with a laugh.

Korean society needs a large dose of laughter and the Catholic Church more so. The church at times gives one the impression of being a mortuary. He would like to see the laughing face of Jesus more often.

'Meaning Out'

A  Catholic University professor writes in the Current Diagnosis column of the Peace Weekly on the recent neologism in Korean society on letting it all show: 'Meaning out' (coming out ) the expressing of your tastes and values— an activity that reveals your beliefs through consumption.

In a collectivist society, one is careful when revealings one's ideas to others. For ideas and behaviors that differ from group norms, are often viewed as wrong rather than simply different. We often identify 'difference' with 'wrong' instead of just a different opinion. It is more natural to say "our school" instead of "my school" and "our country" instead of "my country".
 
However, with the advent of individualism, which emphasizes individual independence and responsibility young consumers are changing. They do not hide their own beliefs and opinions that differ from the group norm but reveal it through behaviors in consumption. This is called the 'meaning out-trend' a coming out that often reveals gender identity. 

They wear t-shirts with the slogan they want to share, buy bags, shoes, hats, and tumblers with their slogans, and develop their own personal logos. Some even tattoo letters or drawings on their bodies. In the early days, environmental protection, animal welfare, third world support and vegetarian practice expressed certain beliefs, but are now spreading to expressions on social, political,  controversial and personal beliefs.

Consumption behavior reflects the values and beliefs that consumers value in every society. Today, 'meaning-out trends' are often upgraded to active boycotts or buying campaigns to bring together people with the same opinions and values and to change the thinking and behavior of others through the media. 

The recent box office hit: Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 is a feminist film, mentioned by the writer as an example of a movement to get people to see the movie. Young women bring their boyfriends to see it and get people talking about the place of women in South Korea's male-dominated society. Movements of this type where you select what you want to support by apps and scanning bar codes continue to spread among the young.

The spread of the 'meaning out-trend' is positive in that the social acceptability of the 'differences' of a 'minority' in our society will increase. In addition, much of the personal media that can express the opinions and tastes of individuals, such as blogs now extends to SNS. This trend is especially focused on Millennials and Generation Z, (the newest generation born between 1995 and 2015) who have a strong desire for self-expression and are good at using the media.

Meanwhile, marketing using consumer's beliefs increases. A company that produced smartphone cases and bracelets to donate to comfort women grandmothers, was able to boost sales and increase brand awareness as stories of celebrity purchases spread. However, it was criticized as the situation was intentionally used for marketing purposes, and posed a problem for the CEO because of public criticism.

Consumers need products and services as tools to express their beliefs, and someone has to play the role of producing and selling them. In other words, companies and consumers need each other for each other's purposes. Companies should not forget that respecting consumer's beliefs and meeting their needs is the purpose of their social existence. If they abuse this relationship they will find that the consumers like ghosts will run to social media and make this known to all.