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HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON

I always get emotionally nostalgic at holidays. I think of the great and fulfilling life I've had in years past, and that I'm having right now. I am so grateful to all of those whom I met and shared wonderful memories of the past.

As another holiday season is approaching to us, I have been wondering how we define our happiness. Then, I read a publisher KS Lee’s column in the November 2010 issue of the Beauty Times about a joint session of the Ham Forum and Myungdong Forum in October for the discussion of “the Epicurus happiness on the focus of the current Korean society.” The Ham Forum is the charity foundation of beauty supply businessmen in the United States for “the world to live together.” The story inspired me to read more about Epicurus.

Epicurus (341-270 BC) was a philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by peace and freedom from fear, and absence of pain, and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil, that death is the end of the body and the soul and should therefore, not be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, that the universe is infinite and eternal and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.

Epicurus' philosophy is based on the theory that all good and bad derive from the sensations of pleasure and pain. What is good is what is pleasurable, and what is bad is what is painful. Pleasure and pain were ultimately, for Epicurus, the basis for the moral distinction between good and bad. If pain is chosen over pleasure in some cases it is only because it leads to a greater pleasure. Although Epicurus has been commonly misunderstood to advocate the rampant pursuit of pleasure, what he was really after was the absence of pain, a state of satiation and tranquility that was free of the fear of death and the retribution of the gods. When we do not suffer pain, we no longer need pleasure and enter a state of perfect mental peace.
 
Genuine pleasure would not come from daily parties with lavish food, drinks, sex and luxury living. Pleasure is freedom to choose what is good over bad and abandon wrongful thoughts when a person is not clear in his mind. For example, those who want more money, political power and social recognition will be suffering without getting any satisfaction from what they already have while wise people refrain from an excessive greed and content with their reasonable needs.

Koreans achieved a status of world economic power in a very limited time period and seemed to enjoy pleasure to win competitions for more money and political power and social recognition. The spirit of winning by all means helped Koreans develop new technologies and entrepreneurship to be the leader in many fields. However they need to know what a genuine pleasure of life is and develop a culture of life to balance healthy mind and physical conditions. Koreans in the past developed a certain way of life as harmonious stage of mind from Confucius teaching and Buddhist meditation that should be revived for those who would like to have a genuine pleasure of life as prescribed by Epicurus.
 
Epicurus also believed that death was not to be feared. When a man dies, he does not feel the pain of death because he no longer is and he therefore feels nothing. Therefore, as Epicurus famously said, "death is nothing to us." When we exist death is not, and when death exists we are not. All sensation and consciousness ends with death and therefore in death there is neither pleasure nor pain. The fear of death arises from the false belief that in death there is awareness. 
 
“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” Epicurus didn’t deny the existence of gods. Instead, he stated that what gods there may be do not concern themselves with us, and thus would not seek to punish us either in this or any other life. The ancient philosopher also emphasized friendship as an important ingredient of happiness, and the school resembled in many ways a community of friends living together.
 

Dongee

운영자 註: 한국 연속극을 않보는 동문을 위해서; Dongee 는 東伊로서, 숙빈최씨(淑嬪崔氏 1670년~1718년) 이며, 이조의 영조(사도세자의 아버지)의 어머니이며 평민출신이다. 아시다싶히 이런 저런 복잡한 연고로 긴 스토리가 전개됩니다. 이조의 역사가 뒤틀리는 그 배경에는 東伊가 있는것이죠. 아랫글 읽기에 조금 도움이 되기를 바랍니다.

Korean alphabet Hangul was invented by scholars under the King Sejong, but the most scientific linguistic system was not used as the medium for the administration throughout the Chosun dynasty. The Chinese characters with their syntax were the official medium, which created enormously difficult situation for the majority of civilians.

However, the Chosun kingdom adopted an official policy to write the history of the kings by assigning history officials to the kings. The historians moved with the kings everywhere, even in the rest rooms and wrote everything without king’s interference or knowledge. We are fortunate to have an official history book, “Real History of the Lee Dynasty [李朝實錄],” which was written in Chinese. I could read only the translated version and found many interesting aspects of our country. Then, I watched a Korean historical drama, Dongee, which helped me understand the hidden origin of factional politics.

The Dongee, one of historical dramas of the Chosun Kingdom, was completed its 60 episodes by a Korean television broadcasting company recently. It is a fascinating story of Dongee, who became the main character around King Sukjong and the mother of the 21st King Youngjo even though she was born and grew up as an outcast.

The King Sukjong was only 14 years old, when he took over the throne in 1674. The period of ruling by Sukjong was the initiation of brutal fights among the political factions, which were created by king’s women. The king was married to Queen Inhyun (註: 인현왕후), who did not have any child, and the young king was attracted by another woman, Jang (註: 장희빈), who created the Southern Faction, fought to remove the Queen Inhyun, and became the queen. The Southern Faction under the powerful Queen Jang removed the Western Faction by killing or sending them into exile.

However, as history repeats, the Western Faction fought back to bring the former queen in the court and the most officials of the Southern Faction were killed or sent into exile. The Queen Inhyun lived only six years after her comeback, and the Western Faction was split into two factions; the Old Faction and Young Faction.

The poor King Sukjong was faced with a number of brutal killings of one faction by another throughout his reign and did not work much for the kingdom and the country. As recorded, the Chosun dynasty was poorly ruled by the King Sukjong and others, and was invaded by foreigners 960 times with devastation while the country never had any opportunity to expand its territory.

The Dongee drama was focused on another King’s woman, Dongee, who was asked to be the queen, but she dramatically would not take the offer to be the next queen by telling the King that the previous factional fights were created by adopting a court (註: 後宮) woman as the queen and she begged the King to stop such factional fights. She remained as a high ranking court woman even though her son was to be the next king. Kings under the rule of the Chosun dynasty could have only one queen but could have many wives, as the King Sejong had eight wives under different ranking of the court.

The most notable episode was her choice of the future queen of her son, the King Youngjo. She tried to avoid any other factional fights and chose a family of a low ranking official. She visited the family house of Suh Jongje and told him his daughter was chosen to be the wife of the future king. Suh politely tried to decline the offer by saying the future King needed a powerful family to fight with other factions. Dongee dramatically explained that she would try to stop the politics with patronizing.

The drama recreated 350 years of old scenes very well, and touched the hearts of many Korean viewers as well as other people in the Asian region. And Dongee, the main character, performed so well in her role of an innocent child, thoughtful king’s woman, and the mother of the next throne.

After seeing the powerful drama, I cannot help but connecting the old factional politics with the current Korean political leaders at this time. It seems like Korean political leaders are only interested in gaining political power of their faction without considering what is good for the country. Korean people have been working hard to achieve economic development to reach the world class, while political leaders remain looking like 17th century politicians. I wonder how possibly such foolish political leaders had been reelected again and again by so smart Korean people.
 

좋은 구절들 (Subtitle은 운영자가 부쳤음)

I received the following prose in Korean from our neighbor friend JS Lee and translated into English as to show how much I enjoy my life in 70s.

인생 70 - 웃고 즐기는 사람이 으뜸이다.
At the age of 70s, the best person is the one, who cheerfully enjoys life. 
 
날고 가는 놈이 많다지만 계속 가는 사람을 이기지 못한다.
There are many flying fast runners, who cannot beat a continuous walker. 
 
노력해서 배우고 아는 것도 좋지만 그 으뜸은 말없이 즐기는 사람이다.
The best person enjoys life without a word while others enjoy learning more. 
 
인생 일흔 줄에 서 있어도 노인으로만 있어서는 안 된다.
Try not to be an old person even though you are in the 70s.

할머니 할아버지라고 헛기침만 하고 뒷짐지고 다녀선 안 된다.
Do not walk with your hands in your back as grandfathers or grandmothers do.

나름대로 일이 있어야 하고 경륜과 원숙을 펼칠 방법이 있어야 한다.
You need some works to find a way to practice your experience and maturity. 
 
평소의 실력과 능력을 살려 무엇을 할 수 있는가가 중요하다.
It is important for you to have a way to exercise your ability and learning. 
 
아니면 지금부터라도 무엇인가 배우고 갈고 닦으려는 노력이 필요하다.
Or, you need to work now to learn other subjects for your life.

새삼 이 나이에라고 망설임은 금물, 하지 않음보다 늦게라도 시작함이 옳다.
You need not to hesitate to start something now, even though your age seems to be high.

아무리 달관하고 초월했다 해도 삶과 능력을 즐길 기회가 없으면 쓸모가 없는 것 아닌가.
What is the use of your knowledge and ability, if you do not have the opportunity to enjoy?

많은 것을 알고 좋아하지만 즐겨 하지 않는다면 그 무슨 소용이람.
There is no use of your knowledge and love of your life if you do not enjoy it. 
 
참 삶처럼 풍요롭게 건강하고 즐거우면 된다고 한다.
A good life is to have a healthy body and to be happy to enjoy your life.

인품과 교양도 쌓아 정신적인 완숙기에 들었다면 노년의 아름다움을 즐기며 살아야 하지 않는가.
Should not you enjoy the beauty of old age, if you have a spiritual maturity with your education? 
 
노년의 즐거움은 단순 순박해야 하고 반듯이 소탈하고, 너그럽고 정다워야 한다.
However, the enjoyment of an old age needs to be simple, informer, generous and warm.

구름 같은 인생, 그 순간순간을 즐기되 탐욕적인 타락한 쾌락은 멀리해야 한다.
Our life is like clouds in the sky that shows and disappears. We refrain from greedy pleasure while we enjoy every moment of our life. 
 
자연을 벗하며 겸손을 배우고 따뜻한 눈으로 주위를 바라볼 때 정다운 사랑의 문이 열리고 우리들의 마지막 황혼도 아름다울 것이다.
When you are friendly to the nature and learn to be humbly watching your surroundings, you will see the beauty of your last stage of life. 
 
하나하나 잃어가는 상실의 시대 보다 단순하게. 아이들처럼 함께 웃고 살자.
We need to live with simple smiles just like children while we lose one after another one. 
 
가장 지혜롭고 행복한 사람은 남은 인생 즐겁게 웃으며 사는 사람이다.
 The happiest and wise person is the person, who enjoys with cheerful smiles for the remaining life.
 
--
Won H. Chang, Professor Emeritus
School of Journalism, University of Missouri
changw@missouri.edu
www.whchang.pe.kr


Webpage composed by SNUMA WM - November 28, 2010




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