Reflection on 2022

“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

2022 was a challenging year for the world. The Russian-Ukraine War erupted taking many by surprise and continued on far longer than many expected. The global finance downturn and inflationary pressures cast a long shadow across the world. US-China tensions and the east-west bifurcation continued unabated. As if these global maelstroms were not enough, Providence faced another wave of unfounded accusations orchestrated by the same person who had more than 10 years ago done a similar act.

Regardless of these circumstances, Providence gives thanks to the Trinity and Jesus Christ for giving us the power of prayer and the word. We learnt to count the many blessings we have beyond the fear-mongering headlines. We grew to become even more united and harmonious with our brothers and sisters, to shine the light of Christ to the world in an unstoppable manner. Our founder, Pastor Jung, continues to lead by example. Even though he faces tremendous hardships, he continues to pray and write God’s words for all His people.

We are tempered by the waves and storms, like pottery glazed in the furnace, to produce the finest masterpiece. Our path may not be a bed of roses, but a journey of thorns and thistles. Yet, it is in these difficulties that true character, faith and love for God is forged. We remember Job’s story in the bible. We remember the lives all the prophets and people of God. One strange thing in common, was that they all walked the path of thorns.

We also just celebrated the Christmas with the theme “The Christmas of loving God and Jesus.” How apt. The true meaning of Christmas is God and Jesus, and what better way to celebrate than to love them. Even baby Jesus was born in a manger, not a comfortable hospital or even a hotel room. Certainly not a bed of roses.

“Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres… Love never fails.” 1 Corinthians 13:7-8

As we wrap up this eventful year, we wish for everyone to remember the power of God’s love, that touches each and every person and every part of creation. Love always perseveres and never fails. With that, truly give thanks no matter what circumstances you are facing, for that is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ. That you may always rejoice in Him, come what may.

The writer is a longstanding Providence member of 20 years, and is happily married with 3 beautiful children of God.

[CC Herald] My Hometown Wolmyeongdong, the Valley of Signs

Special interview by Chungcheong Herald Correspondent Kim Gwang-mu / Reporter Kwon Seong-ha, with CGM President Jung Myung Seok.

Reporter Kwang-moo Kim, 15 July 2021

Interview with the President of Christian Gospel Mission Jung Myung-seok

‘Wolmyeong-dong’ in Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do is a holy place where 1.1 million people from 73 countries make pilgrimages every year in search of faith.

[Special interview with Chungcheong Herald Correspondent Kim Gwang-mu / Reporter Kwon Seong-ha]

“Sometimes he appears shining like a star.. At other times he appears as soft as the moon.. At other times he appears as dazzling as the sun.. He told me to write a poem. He made me a poet”

– From the poem ‘Who made me a poet’

It started with a saying that sounded like a legend. “There are so many beautiful flowers over that mountain.”

The young poet’s heart was filled with overflowing dreams. Secretly, I ran out of hope, gasping for breath. The poet’s life flowed like a river, and flowed like a drop of water on a blade of grass. As the snow melted and flowed on a spring day, the clouds flowed by. The place where the poems flowed is Wolmyeongdong, a mountainous village in Geumsan, Chungcheongnam-do.

The original name of Wolmyeongdong is ‘Dalbitgol’. Even though it was a mountainous area where less than ten households lived, the moon was exceptionally bright. 月明洞 is the name of the village in Chinese characters.

The beautiful flower that the poet dreamed of bloomed as the ‘gospel’ in Dalbakgol.

Wolmyeongdong (144-1 Seokmak-ri, Jinsan-myeon, Geumsan-gun, Chungcheongnam-do) is a mysterious place. At first glance, it looks like any other mountainous area with a thick pine forest. However, when viewed from the sky, it looks like “Miwon Ja” took off her jacket exposing her red skin and navel.

Buildings such as stones and trees, water and waterfalls, lawns and temples evoke a passage from Dr. David Hawkins’ Homo Spiritus.

“It’s best to just keep doing your job and leave the rest to Providence. Then, God takes the last step.”

Another name for Wolmyeongdong is the Natural Temple. This is what the people of the Christian Gospel Mission (CGM) call it.

As Dr. Hawkins personally saw and wrote, Wolmyeongdong’s huge three-story building is beautiful and majestic. It is mysterious to see megaliths, which are likely to weigh several tons, standing vertically. Did God really move it?

President Jung Myung Seok (76 years old) said, “To say so would be a lie. Mowing grass in the valley, making volleyball courts to play with, and making potato fields have become training centers that come from all over the world. God works in secret. However, he gave only the words to make it beautiful, magnificent, and mysterious. I entrusted it to famous landscaping experts and they did the landscaping for my home. It was beautiful and grand, but it was not mysterious to anyone looking at it. So I asked him to stack several tons of stones vertically. Then he shook his head and left. It has been raining for a full week, and in prayer, I heard the words, ‘You should build it up.’”

Wolmyeongdong’s huge three-fold image is beautiful and majestic. It is ‘mystical’ as if the gods had moved it to see the megaliths, which are likely to weigh several tons, standing vertically.

“I didn’t know how to build it, so it kept falling apart. As amateurs, we only knew how to put stones on the soil, so there was no way it could be done. But after it collapsed five times, it was built on the sixth. Even though the rocks have collapsed, our hearts have not. It was accomplished as God’s Providence had envisioned. So, in the end, God moved it.

I was curious about the word “Providence”. It seemed to mean something beyond the principles and laws that govern our lives and phenomena in the natural world.

“Providence is God’s will. My humble hometown, my humble and pitiful hometown was created according to the plan (as it is now) because of God’s will. Now, everyone who sees it admires it, and a lot of people come to see it. I am stunned when I see everyone (laughs).”

In fact, Wolmyeongdong is a training center that gathers all kinds of missionaries.

For over 10 years, President Jung Myung Seok and his followers took shovels and carried soil and stones to complete the project. The paths in each valley of the training center are all paths created by God’s will.

At that time, President Jung said, “To pave the road (길) is to pave the way (도). It is difficult to make a road on a mountain, but how difficult would it be to create the ‘true road’ of life?” This proverb is still being talked about.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 1.1 million people visited Wolmyeongdong training center annually. Devotees and visitors naturally come into contact with Geumsan’s special product, ginseng.

In fact, the memories of the three World Geumsan Ginseng Expo held in 2006, 2011 and 2017 are vivid in the minds of the people of Geumsan. At that time, a whopping 30,000 members of the Christian Gospel Mission from home and abroad traveled all over the Ginseng Expo.

At the 2019 Geumsan Ginseng Festival, many believers promoted the effect of ginseng and purchased it. The economic ripple effect estimated by the Geumsan-gun Office amounts to 100 billion won. It was also beautiful, majestic, and mystical that the people of Geumsan were the same.

Professor Max Weber’s ‘Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism’, who emphasized that religion has a great influence on the protection of individual freedom and property rights, comes to mind.

The Christian Gospel Mission in Wolmyeongdong is active not only in revitalizing the local economy, but also in community service activities to relieve the suffering of Geumsan residents, such as recovering from various floods.

Wolmyeongdong is very similar to Christian Gospel Mission. For about 10 years, CGM’s founder President Jung Myung Seok was imprisoned, but CGM grew bigger.

He spread the gospel to 73 countries around the world, including Japan, Taiwan, and the United States, and established megachurches in 200 cities across the country. This is unusual in the context of the decline of the Christian generation in Korean society.

The answer was concise. It is explained that this is because they preach and follow God’s ‘Absolute Word’ as it is. He also cited an increase in the number of logical young believers.

“People see the same thing differently. Even when Judas Iscariot died, some say that he was hanged, and in other Gospels, his intestines burst and he died. The same is true of the old debate about heresies. The Bible is 90% parables. Even if a new religion emerges, God is the same. Whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, it is God’s will that Jesus was born and preached the gospel, and that is the Word of the new age. If those words are right for the times, then we have to follow them. However, many religious leaders and theologians failed to do so. It is said that teaching according to the Bible is wrong. The younger generation is different. Religion and science must match. If God said it took only 6000 years to create the heavens and the earth, would the youth go to church? Students believe that something is true only when it is logical. It is difficult for the younger generation to accept the saying that salvation comes only by believing in the church. Everyone can be saved, but it is God’s Will that we are saved according to our deeds. God is not the only God of religion. He is the God of science, philosophy and art.”

In the same vein, this is the design that Wolmyeongdong and the training center will show the future. It is CGM’s calling to create a platform to develop the talents of the younger generation based on their faith.

God is not only a God of religion, but a God of all fields of society, culture, and art.

In fact, in Wolmyeongdong, various cultural and artistic activities such as Korean traditional music, orchestra, musical, theater, cheerleading, jazz dance, martial arts demonstration, and magic show, as well as sports club activities such as soccer, volleyball, basketball, tennis, table tennis, swimming, skiing, horseback riding, and mountain climbing are held throughout the four seasons. Volunteer activities such as cultural arts volunteering, visiting Kkottongnae, and volunteering at facilities for the disabled, are also plentiful.

“While serving in the Vietnam War as a soldier twice, I contemplated the essence of religion and the eternal truth at the boundary between life and death. Religion is a life, not a theory. It is listening to the Word and putting it into practice by loving God. I think the mission of Wolmyeongdong and the training center is to convey to the world the victory of faith in Korea that has been achieved through pastoral activities for the past 43 years. We will make Wolmyeongdong, which God envisioned, into a world-class park that embodies the world of religious harmony and peace. This is why people from all over the world come to Wolmyeongdong to believe in God.”

Christian Gospel Mission is putting God’s love and word into practice through various volunteer activities.

Original Article in Korean | Archive |  Chung Cheong Herald

Testimonies of Ordinary Members

Taiwan’s EB TV network featured the testimonies of ordinary members in CGM (Christian Gospel Mission).

Through the Word of God, numerous members testified of how they were transformed into unanticipated successes through the teachings and personal example of Pastor Jung Myung Seok.

Taiwan’s BC TV network featured the testimonies of ordinary members in CGM (Christian Gospel Mission).

Through the Word of God, numerous members testified of how they were transformed into unanticipated successes through the teachings and personal example of Pastor Jung Myung Seok:

An unassuming man from a humble village background, achieved the nation’s Outstanding Electrical Engineer of the Year award.

A boy who lived in poverty later became a management consultant in the nation’s coveted Taiwan 101 at the age of 21.

An indigenous Taiwanese scholar from the Luantian tribe who testifies about his participant observation of Providence and Pastor Jung Myung Seok.

A female doctor who was healed of a rare immunity disease that debilitated her, after the prayers and personal guidance of Pastor Jung.

These testimonies reveal the truth of God’s working through Pastor Jung’s life, and the untruths of malicious media portrayals on CGM and Pastor Jung that exist today:

#providence religious movement, #providence church korea, #providence 30 lessons #jung myung seok

[Headline News] Christian Gospel Mission: “We actualize God’s ideal world on the Earth.” Pg 128 and 129

 

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The Sixth Global Peace United Cultural Convention

Spreading only God’s truth to the Earth

Within 27 short years of ministry, Christian Gospel Mission (CGM) has become a worldwide organization with 200,000 members from 400 churches throughout the nation and 50 overseas nations. A staff of CGM shared their secret to success: to remember that religion is not a theory but a lifestyle.

He also mentioned a distinct characteristic of CGM, “We have a goal: By actualizing God’s perfect truth and His Will of love, let’s make our world into a world of peace. And, with that goal, we have a theory of lifestyle and action: Instead of considering Heaven as a Utopia in a very faraway place that we go to only after we die, we can actualize it, God’s ideal world, here on this Earth. Based on that theory, we are carrying out religious activities.”

A small circle that is drawn with limited knowledge cannot reach a big circle that is drawn with vast knowledge. Furthermore, we cannot even begin to imagine what is beyond the small circle with the limited knowledge. In order to reach the big circle, where God’s ideal world unfolds in reality, CGM Chairman Jung read the Bible from cover to cover about 2,000 times, and he said that during the 30-year process of an extreme life of prayer and through the vast Word of Biblical truth, he realized the truth of God that completely unites religion and ideology.

The foundation of the new interpretation of the Bible – The 30 Principles

Since the Bible is the Word of God, it is beyond our comprehension. Unless God enlightens human beings, we cannot understand it through our own efforts or study. Chairman Jung advocates the foundation of the new interpretation of the Bible, The 30 Principles, which targets mainly young people or college students; CGM is evangelizing with the creed, “Take action upon the Bible and make it your lifestyle.”

One of the 30 Principles, “the Seven Steps of the Law,” explains that all the existing worlds are created strictly and absolutely according to the laws, and emphasizes that these worlds cannot be sustained if they don’t adhere to the laws. It says, “There is a law called the vein of ore in the mineral kingdom, there is a law called physiology in the biosystem, there is a law called physics in the physical world, there is a law called geography in the earth system, there is a law called principle in the system of the universe, there is a law called psychology in the world of human beings, and there is a law called the truth between God and human beings, whereby if people don’t adhere to that law, they will be unable to exist.

In particular, if the law of truth that exists between man and God is violated, the relationship between human spirits and God will break. Since human beings lost the truth, they ended up living in chaos, and because they didn’t know what the truth was, they came to ignore the law and weren’t afraid of God’s law and customs. Therefore, true freedom comes when human beings become one with the Original Being of truth. All mankind can become one with each other within the absolute truth.”

The staff member said, “CGM is an organization that takes action on the Word only out of love for God and because we want to resemble His nature. In addition, we consider culture and art as a gift from God to His beloved ones, so we put a lot of effort into culture and art activities as an expression of thanksgiving to God. Also, each member develops their talents according to their individuality and gives glory to God in various ways.”

Taking action on love and peace everywhere in the world

In 1978 when Chairman Jung started his ministry in Seoul, he bore the first fruit of lives in 1980. From that point on, CGM established Korean College Students MS Ministry in 1982, registered with the Korean Jesus Presbyterian Methodist Order in 1983, founded the Korean Jesus Presbyterian Methodist (Truth) organization in 1986, and appointed Chairman Jung as the director. In 1989, it was restructured as the World Youth College Students MS Union, and in 1996, it was re-organized and run as the International Christian Union.

In October 1999, with the theme, “The ministry that prays, the ministry that becomes one through the truth, and the ministry that has advanced to the world,” it was reconstructed as Christian Gospel Mission, which has been operating until now. They have 400 churches in 22 regional districts throughout the nation and have branched out to 50 foreign nations with a total of 200,000 members worldwide. They are expanding their religious influence as a worldwide ministry.

The founder, Chairman Jung, has been particularly supportive of loving lives and the peace of mankind, not only amongst next-door neighbors but also amongst various nations, beyond global ideologies and religions, with the mentality upon which he had founded CGM: “With love alone, peace will come.” In addition, he received great reviews for developing a cultural movement towards a healthy mind and body, as well as for fostering the appropriate guidelines for proper youth development and the healthy family model, while advocating household peace.

CGM sets building God’s Kingdom as its goal and has the vision and new challenge of sharing this with the world. To establish the new era, where the whole world will become one, CGM is embarking on a mission to raise and dispatch many missionaries to foreign countries, and through that, take the lead in not only in faith, but also in actualizing the world of peace by spreading the beautiful side of Korea throughout the world.

In the past, Korea learned Christianity from the West, but now, conversely, CGM is accelerating to spread the new Word and God’s plan to the developed western countries.

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Headline News Cover June 2005, Christian Gospel Mission News On Bottom Left


Headline News June 2005 Page 128, 129  Original Article | Translated

[News Wave] Poet Jung Myung Seok officially chosen as a poet in Korea’s 100 years of poetry

Introduced in ‘The Encyclopedia of Korean Poetry’, page 2717

‘Poet Jung Myung Seok is someone who has opened his eyes to the mysterious and profound wonders of the world created by the Creator. He discovered the law of creation, which states that nature is like human beings, and human beings are like God. In his poems, he ties together and connects a variety of difficult concepts [within this theme]. Then he gains the power to embrace both heaven and earth. He pursues an ideal world and at the same time, reveals [in his poem] his strong will to maintain his optimism and endure his difficult life.

Along with 3500 others, President Jung Myung Seok of Christian Gospel Mission is a believer of God who lives only for the sake of saving lives, and was recently recorded in a larger, revised edition of ‘The Encyclopedia of Korean Poetry,’ which represents 100 years of the history of poetry in Korea (1908 ~ 2010).

The book made the evaluation that Poet Jung views the essence of nature from the perspective of the Creator’s law of creation. He was also described as someone who binds the love of Heaven and Earth through his world of poetry.

Especially through the following appraisal [of Jung], it was acknowledged that he has penetrated both the world of God and the world of reality: ‘His sincere world of poetry expresses a love of praising Heaven and love of embracing the broken Earth. His literature creates hope and harmony for modern people whose lives lack a balance between reality and ideals.’

Poet Jung’s name was recorded on page 2717 of The Encyclopedia of Korean Poetry, published last March.

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Page 2717 of The Encyclopedia of Korean Poetry

In this book, Jung was introduced as a poet and ten of his poems were introduced, such as ‘Narrow mind,’ ‘Life,’ ‘Our love,’ ‘Movement of the cloud,’ ‘Never-changing heart,’ ‘Hope,’ as well as others.

In his poem ‘Hope’, he sings of true happiness and hope that is gained only by someone who has overcome difficulties and has been trained in perseverance.  He also reveals the deep truth of life and initiates deep thoughts within the reader.

Happiness goes/even in a blizzard /life winter// Happiness goes/in the thorny field/even in a bone-aching life/of hardship and difficulty//Happiness/doesn’t want to give herself to anyone/she takes the painful road/that creates struggle//Hope too/doesn’t want to live with anyone/it looks for and goes to one/who endures and perseveres//

Poet Jung Myeong-seok’s book, ‘Spiritual Poem’, became a best seller in 1989. He officially became a poet through ‘the Munyesajo (Literary Movements and Trends) Writers Association’ in 1995, and had the spotlight shone on him in the world of Korean poetry and literature.

Since then, Poet Jung has never slackened in his writing of poetry as he releases between three to five poems every month. He has now released around 3,000 poems. He has written around 30,000 proverbs of wisdom that he received through his life of faith and, among them, 6,000 proverbs were published in six books (Heaven’s Words, My Words).

The large, revised version of ‘The Encyclopedia of Korean Poetry’ shows 100 years of the history of Korean poetry at a glance. It includes all the poets [of the 100 years], from the early poets in the history of Korean poets (Choi Nam-seon, Lee Yuk-sa, Lee Sang-wha, Jung Ji-yong), to the most recent poets (Jung Hyun-jong, Cheon Yang-hee, Hwang Dong-gyu). [The book includes poetry from] poets who have deceased, poets who were lost due to being kidnapped to North Korea or defecting to North Korea, and poets who are still alive.

Article published on Newswave, 7 June 2006 Original | Archived

2013 Seoul Literature Award: Poet Jung Myung Seok

Seoul Literature Publications

Report No. 305-2014-0000036

2013 Seoul Literature Award Winner: Poet Jung Myung Seok

Jung Myung Seok 2013 Most Beautiful Person Seoul Literature Prize Winner.jpg

Poet Jung Myung Seok has never given up his life of composition, even in his current most inadequate environment, but has sublimated his misfortunes into happiness by challenging himself endlessly with hope. That is why the board committee of The Most Beautiful People of 2013 from Seoul Education Broadcasting highly appraised his passionate creative writing activities and nominated poet 1178 Jung Myung Seok as The Most Beautiful Person of 2013. His heart for life beats and surges like a wave throughout his compositions and within the merit of his missionary works.

The Selection Committee of The Most Beautiful Person of 2013

How he was nominated: This year poet Jung Myung Seok published two volumes of the series, Poems of Inspiration– The Woman of Poetry and Speaking Through Poetry. Since he has a wide circle of readers, both of his books made records as weekly bestseller at Kyobo Book Centre. Despite being imprisoned currently in Daejeon prison, we found that his fervor for literary creative writing has transcended his confinement; he has been writing almost as many pages as one book every week.

There are many people who have different views towards Jung. However, from a literary point of view, the diction Jung uses in his poems is unique, and at this time when poetry is already being considered a dead literary genre, Jung has engrossed himself in only writing poetry instead of essays or novels and has written thousands of poems thus far. Among those poems, he selected some of his works and published them into two books. In the future, we hope that more budding poets will be born from many other places so that poetry will resurrect again from its current state of depression in Korean literature. With that anticipation, we have nominated poet Jung Myung Seok as The Most Beautiful Person in 2013.

Furthermore, Jung has established a very special theory on psychoanalysis. In contrast to Carl Jung’s theory of dream interpretation, he has proven the reality of dreams empirically. His theory is known as the soul entity theory, which uses psychoanalysis to interpret the way dreams reflect reality. Although dreams reflecting reality is already widespread, his theory of psychoanalysis is revolutionary. In his theory, dreams are the reality of the soul entity; just as we have a physical body in the physical plane, the soul entity of the brain surely exists.

Who is poet Jung Myung Seok?

Who is poet Jung Myung Seok? He was born in 1945, the year of the rooster. At that time, Korea was under Japanese colonial rule. Around the time when Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin were making an agreement on the 38th parallel at Yalta on the coast of the Black Sea in the Soviet Union on February 4, 1945, a boy was born in Wolmyeongdong (Dalbar-gol), Seokmak-ri, Jinsan-myeon, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea. At that time, the district was not called Chungcheong Province but Jeolla Province. Poet Jung Myung Seok was the third son of Jung Pal Seong.

What kind of hope was there during the colonial period? Even at birth, Jung faced death. Because of his lack of immunity as a baby, he stopped breathing due to a certain disease. His mother-in-law kept nagging his mother to bury him quickly because it was an ominous sign, but his mother felt sorry for him. When she looked at her baby’s face, thinking that would be the final time she would ever see him, at that moment, he suddenly opened his eyes.

“Since he is still alive, let me have him for one more night…”

During that time, he had become unresponsive. His mother thought he had died after suffering from his high fever, so she laid him down at the corner of the room and covered him with a cloth. His mother was waiting for night to come so that she could try burying him discreetly at the back mountain. She wanted to see her son for the last time, the one whom she had given birth to with labor pains after 10 months, so she peered through the blanket. At that moment, he suddenly opened his eyes again. He wasn’t even crying. Jung spent three days like that. This miracle happened as his swelling subsided. That’s why his mom named him Myung* Seok because he seemed to have many lives. This is the childhood story of poet Jung Myung Seok.

(Translator’s note: Myung(命) is a Chinese character and means a life. However, later he changed his name to Myung(明), which means bright.)

Could the reason all his poetry is directly connected to life perhaps be because of what had happened in his childhood? Since he had experienced death at such a young age, during his adolescence, he often pondered deeply in solitude about life. Later on, while serving in the Vietnam War, he realized the value of life, the futility of life, and the fundamental world of God through first-hand experiences. He was able to live because of his mother’s love, which had compelled her to peer through the blanket to see her son’s face one last time, and so his affinity towards lives also stems from love.

The reason Jung’s poems are so good lies within their earnestness. His unquenchable earnestness towards what he is yearning for is carved deep into his poems like markings. When you see a flower, you can know about it by its fragrance. In the same way, all his poems give off a certain fragrance. Vol. 3 of his Poems of Inspiration titled, The Woman of Poetry, contained truly beautiful pieces. In order to understand the poet Jung Myung Seok, just as a work of art tells something about its author, reading his poetry yourself is the fastest and the most genuine way to get to know him.

Within Korean literary circles, there is a history book of literature known as The Encyclopedia of Korean Poetry. Poet Jung is officially registered in the 2011 edition of The Encyclopedia of Korean Poetry. On page 2717, readers can learn about him in a more detailed and genuine way. The fact that he is on page 2717 goes to show that The Encyclopedia of Korean Poetry is a very thick history book of literature. It presents 100 years of Korean poetry history.

The Encyclopedia of Korean Poetry was published by EJP Books, and Jung is in the 2011 edition. This book includes poems written by 3,500 poets who represent the history of Korean poetry from 1908 to 2010. The encyclopedia showcases ten of Jung’s poems; some of which include The Terrain of the Heart, Life, Good and Evil, Our Love, Operation, A Never-changing Heart, and Hope.

When you read his poem called Happiness is on Its Way, you can see how he depicts a deep aspect of life with simple yet meaningful diction.

Happiness is on Its Way (Full-version)

In life’s winter, where blizzards blow, there Happiness goes,

Even in a bone-aching life of anguish and suffering,

Happiness still goes on that thorny road.

Not permitting itself to just anyone,

It heads toward the path of pain, of man’s struggle.

Hope, also, not wishing to live with just anyone;

Seeking the one who endures, it goes.

Happiness and hope are surely abstract nouns. We cannot touch them and they don’t have specific forms. However, poet Jung describes happiness and hope as entities that exist and that are living. Happiness and hope are not abstract to Jung. He personifies them as entities that have a specific form. We wonder, how earnestly did he want happiness and hope to the point that he would portray their looks with such diction? When we look at his style of speech, the way he connects the verb, seeking, to the abstract nouns, we catch a glimpse of his bold transcendence of the existing grammatical rules in poetry. Of course, modern poetry is also highly influenced by free verse, so it is not bound by grammatic structure either.

Once again, we’d like to ask, who is poet Jung Myung Seok? Hearing from Jung directly about who he is would be the most genuine approach. However, written words are an expression of one’s heart. An art piece reflects the thoughts of its author, and an author speaks through his work. Likewise, Jung speaks directly through his work, one being The Woman of Poetry. What more words are needed? Who knows? During the times of our deepest despair, perhaps you will also be able to draw hope like finding an oasis in a desert through the words of his poetry.

Original | Archived | Translated


Related News Articles

Korea News System Reporting | News Today

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Sisa News on Jung Myung Seok

 

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