Special / Column
Through the ways and events of the visible world, you come to deeply think about the invisible world and the will of God.
A Steadfast Person
Ten days at sea, with relentless waves pounding the hull. Upon disembarking at the port, an arduous 80-ri (19.5-mile) journey over rugged stone paths finally led to a small thatched-roof cottage in Daejeong, Jeju Island, Korea. This was where Chusa Kim Jeong-hui, caught in unforeseen political strife, would spend his exile. During the late Joseon Dynasty of Korea, Kim Jeong-hui was a descendant of a prestigious family and one of the era’s most revered scholars and artists. He held key government positions, including Seongkyunkwan Daesaseong (Headmaster of Seonggyungwan, the highest educational institution similar to a national university) and Ijo Champan (Vice Minister of Personnel in the Ministry of Personnel), and as a diplomatic envoy to China, he actively exchanged knowledge…
Trust Score
During the intense struggle for maritime dominance from the 15th to 17th centuries, the Netherlands, despite being a latecomer, emerged as a leader in global shipping, controlling nearly 80 percent of Europe’s merchant fleet. One of the key factors in surpassing Spain and Portugal was the strong trust placed in Dutch merchant vessels—trust that was deeply rooted in the legacy of Captain Willem Barentsz. In 1596, Captain Barentsz embarked on his third voyage to discover the shortest sea route to Asia via the Arctic Ocean. Determined to surpass rival nations’ well-established routes, his expedition set sail with high hopes. However, their journey took a tragic turn when the ship became trapped in ice. Stranded in the frozen wilderness, the crew…
Immortal Telomeres
In the 14th century, the average life expectancy in Europe was a mere 38 years. With the advent of soap in 1790, disease incidence significantly decreased, leading to a ten-year increase in life expectancy. By 1928, with the discovery of the antibiotic penicillin, life expectancy rose to 58 years, making another ten year leap. In the 21st century, the average lifespan has reached 80 years. Experts anticipate a further increase to 100 years in the near future—a twenty-year gain. The term “Homo-Hundred” is already understood and acknowledged by the public. Scientists have identified telomeres as a crucial factor in aging and human lifespan. Telomeres, derived from the Greek words telos (end) and meros (part), are protective caps at the end…
The Homing Instinct Contained in Heungbujeon
At Heungbu's house, a pair of swallows built a nest. Before long, baby swallows began to appear in the nest. Then one day, Heungbu discovered a baby swallow lying on the ground. Heungbu took care of the baby swallow with great care. The swallow, nurtured by Heungbu, grew up healthy and flew to a warm country in the autumn. The following spring, the swallow returned to Heungbu's house, carrying a seed. When the seed given by the swallow was planted, a box full of treasures opened up. Heungbu, who always lived kindly and even took care of the injured swallow, lived happily ever after with his family. This is the plot of the classic Korean folktale Heungbujeon. But how could…
History and Prophecy
The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty meticulously document the 472-year reign of the Joseon Dynasty, spanning from the inaugural monarch, King Taejo, to the twenty-fifth ruler, King Cheoljong. Comprising over 1,800 volumes, these annals offer a comprehensive and objective account of Joseon’s politics, diplomacy, education, economy, industry, military affairs, religion, transportation, art, and cultural practices. Authored by dedicated officials who maintained constant vigilance over the monarch, the annals chronicle every facet of royal activity with painstaking detail. In a testament to their cultural significance, UNESCO recognized the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty in 1997, enlisting them in the prestigious Memory of the World Programme. Such historical treasures, including these annals, hold immeasurable value as they encapsulate centuries of invaluable historical…
The Power of a Partner
In international competitions, a Judo athlete who returned home with a medal credited their training partner as a key supporter. It was through countless practice sessions with this partner that the athlete mastered the techniques needed to secure victory in the semifinals. The training partner endured being thrown to the ground over and over again, always rising back up—ultimately helping the national team athlete reach the podium. Training partners work one-on-one with national team athletes, helping them refine their techniques and sharpen their skills. They endure long hours of intense training, standing by the athlete’s side through every hardship. Like a shadow, they remain close, moving in sync, becoming one with the athlete. Even if they do not stand on…
Power of Cleaning
Everyone prefers a clean and tidy place to a filthy one. However, no place can be clean by itself. Dust piles up silently even though nobody brings it in, and trash is left from whatever we do. That’s why we clean. Throwing away, wiping down, and organizing . . . Cleaning does not seem so important, but the power of cleaning is even more amazing than we think. Broken Window Theory After we clean up, we feel refreshed though tired a bit. In fact, cleaning can affect not only our mood but also our mind and behavior. This is proven true by the “Broken Window Theory.” Philip Zimbardo, an American psychologist, conducted an experiment: He put two cars with the…
Let Us Have a Vivid Dream of the Gospel
A teacher, a painter, a singer, a police officer, a scientist, or the President of a country. . . In our school days, we might have written these dreams on our personality description forms as our future jobs. But when we graduated from school and started our life as social members, how many of us were able to fulfill the dreams that we had had in our childhood? There are not many who realize the dreams that they dreamed in their childhood as well as in their lives after childhood. People say that their interest changed or their circumstances did not allow them to realize their dreams. Under these excuses, people just keep their dreams in their hearts as unreal…
The Miracle of the Gospel Through Gratitude
“Thank you!” This may just be a courtesy that people usually say after we’ve purchased something at their store. Even so, every time we hear that, it makes us feel good and we feel like going to that store again if we have something to buy. It is the same when we say it to others; when we show our appreciation to the person who did us a favor or helped us, it makes us feel good. It is said that the simple gratitude practices in our daily life serve as a source of developing infinite potential within us. If the power of gratitude piles up, it may bring about a miracle in our life some day. The Power of…
By Respecting One Another
There is no one who hates hearing words of recognition and acknowledgment for their talents and styles. We feel good when we are spoken well of by others even in trivial things. It is because our “esteem needs”—the desire to be recognized and respected by others—are satisfied. It’s not too much to say that “respect” is an essential virtue for good interpersonal relationships. It has been considered as a basic human need and a virtue as well. These days, the word “respect,” which is nothing new to us, is on everybody’s lips. It’s because there is an increasingly loud call for self-examination and lamentation about the present situation where the culture of mutual respect is disappearing. An age when respect…
How to Break a Bad Habit
“I am a man of thirty with wrinkles and lines on my forehead that make me look forty.” A world-famous artist, Vincent Van Gogh, wrote to his brother Theo. As he suffered hardships of life and pain by creative work of painting, it left traces on his forehead. He was distressed because he looked older than his age. Is Gogh the only person who worries about that? When we are tired or frustrated, we show our emotions on our faces unconsciously. Appearance of wrinkles is a natural biological process due to aging, but our facial muscles can also stiffen as our habitual facial expressions; if we frown or raise eyebrows when things do not go our way, after a few…
Sowing Seeds
In January 2017, big forest fires broke out in various places of Chile, including Maule. The scale was so large that the country had to declare national emergency, and the disaster resulted in 11 deaths and over 7,000 victims. The forest fires swept across approximately 4,570 km2 [1,130,000 acres] of forest land and turned it into a heap of ashes. When everyone was devastated, seeing mountains that were covered in black soot and smoke, an assistance dog trainer came up with a special idea for restoring the destroyed forests. The idea was surprisingly simple. He attached specially designed bags onto the backs of border collies, which are renowned sheep dogs, and let them playfully run around on the devastated mountains.…
To Heaven with the Best Teamwork
A group of geese travels a long distance, flying in a V formation. There is a reason for their V-shaped formation. When the bird in front flaps its wings, it creates a vortex in the air, and the vortex creates uplift as it moves back. This allows the birds following behind to fly comparatively easily than the bird in front. However, it is too much work for the bird in front to keep its position the whole time in the V formation. The geese solve this problem wisely. Instead of having a certain leader, they take turns to lead. The secret to the geese’s long-distance journey without getting tired is their teamwork which is to help and encourage each other…
Pleasant Changes in Me
In a science fiction film or novel, we often see a character who arbitrarily controls someone else’ will. What if this happens in reality and our will is controlled by an unknown power? Today, like every other day, Mr. Joyce is late about five minutes for work. He dozes off throughout the morning, and gets lively when the lunch break starts. After lunch, he stops at a coffee shop and drinks a cup of coffee that is as expensive as a meal. As soon as he arrives home after work, he flings himself down on the sofa and turns on TV. He watches TV till around midnight, having some snacks. Among his daily tasks listed above, how many things were…
Practice, a Channel for Change
At the beginning of every year, people make various plans to carry out for a year. However, until the plan is carried out successfully, there are many crises. Though they make a resolution easily, it is difficult to put it into practice, and it is more difficult to continue it though they practiced it once. So experts say that perseverance without giving up and repeated practice are the first priority to accomplish a goal. In order to fulfill what we want no matter what it is, we need the “unceasing power” to change commonness to uncommonness and failure to success. Effort rather than talent There is no one who sets up a goal and a plan, wanting to fail from…
The Condition to Complete the Gospel Harmonization of Leadership and Followership
In any group whether it is a school or a company or the military base or a sports team or a public office, there is a word that is often mentioned when something good or something bad happens. It is leadership. “They failed because of lack of leadership,” “They overcame the obstacle with an outstanding leadership.” The books about leadership always take the top sales in the bookstores. For the leadership education programs, people from different kinds of fields including CEOs and even young students gather together. Leadership is the essential and necessary ability for leaders who guide groups whether big or small. Then is it possible to lead a group only by good leadership? Good Leadership & Bad Leadership…
Science in the Dark Ages
In 1992, the Roman Catholic Church officially admitted to erring in condemning Galileo Galilei, a 17th-century Italian astronomer, who maintained that the earth revolves around the sun. Galileo Galilei observed the moon and Mars with the telescope he invented, and his experiment at the Leaning Tower of Pisa became a cornerstone of modern physics. He is called the father of modern science for his contribution to the new physical science. But he was brought to trial because he advocated the Copernican heliocentrism, and in 1633 he was condemned by the Roman Catholic Church. It took nearly 400 years for him to be reinstated. The Loss of Right and Wrong Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, the representative French Enlightenment…
My Family Is My Strength
“Though others said I couldn’t make it, my family believed me.” “The secret of my victory? It’s my family’s support!” “Without my family, I couldn’t have achieved a great success that people admire.” These comments are from the interviews with athletes who did a better job than expected even in poor surroundings, or successful figures in society. They say that they could overcome difficult times and reap the fruits of their efforts because they had their families beside them. Their stories bring smiles to our lips. Support From Family In February 2014, the Winter Olympic Games was held in Sochi, Russia. At that time, South Korean women's short track speed skaters brought joyful news to their country by winning gold…
Making the Best Use of Our Good Mind
In a hospital room, two aged men are writing down something on a piece of paper. ‘Skydiving, helping strangers, climbing the Himalayas . . .’ It is so-called a bucket list—things to do before you die. While doing things that they haven’t experienced all their life, they look back upon the past. Life is but a dream The movie The Bucket List is a story about how two terminally-ill cancer patients find the meaning of their lives. As they don’t have many days to live, even a trifle thing seem to have a special meaning to them. People usually take pity on a terminally-ill patient like the two men in the movie. Technically, however, every single person in the world…
People in Search of Mothers
Children’s short story, “Heart” (Italian: “Cuore”), published by an Italian author, Edmondo De Amicis, in the late 19th century, is evaluated as one of the world masterpieces. The beautiful story became the basis of the animation series, “3,000 Leagues in Search of Mother”: A nine-year-old boy Marco, who travelled about 12,000 ㎞ [7,500 miles] from Genoa, Italy, to Argentina in South America in search of his mother who went to work far away, moved many viewers to tears. It is thanks to the empathy of all time that the novel, which might be regarded as an old classic story, still touches our hearts. Marco is not the only one who needs a mother. All the people of the world, who…