(written in 2002)
Our life is filled with stories of change or transformation. The process of the development of human personality reveals how change happens. We are constantly growing and changing from childhood into youth, and from adulthood into old age.
When I was a child, I often cried. Especially when my elder brothers and sisters left my home after visiting for a holiday, I wasn't able to see them off because of tears. I wept standing against the door. I used to express myself in tears when I wasn't satisfied with a given situation. I was moved to tears because I missed my family and sometimes because I was immature, and ridden with jealousy and envy. I also cried when I couldn't achieve what I wanted and when I felt sorry for my wrongdoings.
During the initial formation period after entering the Congregation, I had to face myself with a shower of tears. Accepting myself as I was demanded shedding tears. Such tears washed and purified me. I could smile more often only after a considerable time weeping. In fact, because of my childhood experiences of crying a lot, I look rather serious and melancholy. Nevertheless, I like to give a big smile. Now, I'm happy to smile. I have been truly changed.
It's interesting to see the impressive signs of change in the Bible. The water comes out of the rock, and the sea is divided to reveal the earth. Moses' staff becomes a snake, and a thorny thicket is suddenly in flames. The blind are awakened, the dead are heard, and death brings about resurrection.
Mary Magdalene becomes a new person who truly longs for the presence of the truth. Zacchaeus is no longer selfish after meeting Jesus. St. Paul is thoroughly transformed into a spiritual apostle with a charismatic vision. In this way, the Bible tells us stories of change. Everything changes from one state to the other. Changes happen as we grow and renew ourselves day in and day out.
Look at this world full of touching and serious stories. The wall between the north and the south is falling down little by little, and many of us are aware of the conflict and crisis due to mutual confrontation. Changes go with a clear perceptive vision. This new vision opens our inner eyes and lets us accept reality as it is. In this very reality, we can find out the hidden treasure and be joyful to the full.
Let's take a look at Taegu. I like Taegu because of its movement of change. Taegu has a goal and plans to be a cozy and convenient place for all citizens. I had been there in 1993 and again in 2001. It was really a surprise to see how Taegu has been improved because of the city plan for environmental infrastructure. It has become a city of the forest; it's easy to find out lots of trees along the streets as well as in the parks. It has become cool. Being Korea's third largest city, it aspires to be an international city with culture, hi-tech industries, and an ecological environment. With this goal, Taegu is expanding its dimension toward the whole world. Taegu has been changed in many ways.
Change is inevitable and necessary in our lives. All of us are changed into something else because we challenge ourselves to be something more. No one would deny this deep longing to be better than before. So, we are continuously blooming, changing, and growing. We are changing ourselves because our soul has ‘many motions,’ as Theodore Roethke says in one of his poems: “In a dark time, the eye begins to see.” It's because we go far to find out what we are. This attempt brings about changes in our lives. So, we become spiritual travelers with a yearning not to be flesh-bound or a sense-ridden self but to be a soul harmonized and integrated with the body.
The one who yearns grows gracefully and beautifully like a flower because of their hopeful dream and vision. The spiritual traveler goes far to find out what the inner self is. The inward journey of the spiritual traveler goes through several steps of change: from departure or separation to initiation and finally to return in a mythic way; from the ego to the shadow and finally to the self in a psychic way; and from the awakening to the purification and the illumination through the dark night of the soul and finally to a united life in a mystic way. And these inevitable processes are undergoing various experiences of transformation. So our world is filled with many stories of change.
All of us want to be something else. We want to have something different and new. We want to change the world. Each of us is invited to do so. Let's walk hand in hand to build a better society. When changes come true, let's welcome them with all our hearts.
The Korea Times/ Thoughts of The Times/ July 31, 2002
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