Looking two decades ahead...

Few hours ago, I read an article on The Kyunghyang Shinmun, one of the mainstream media in the Republic of Korea about a female student of the future, who was created in 1995 by. According to the article, her name is Eun Bee Ko. Twenty years ago, a research center in the Republic of Korea made various prediction about the future and published their works through Kyunghyang Shinmun's Magazine X, a page read by the younger generation at that time. "Eun Bee" was one of their creation and prediction. This year marks the target year that the researchers of that time picked to make their predictions. This branch of study is called futurology. Even though there were some exaggerated materials, I was able to recognize familiar objects with similar functions.

For her 20th birthday (2015), Eun Bee supposedly receives a device called PCS, which is an acronym for Personal Communication Service that has the same functions as a smartphone. Through this device, Eun Bee is able to receive personal messages and the device also comes with various application software like "personal fashion system" that gives suggestion for clothes to wear depending on the weather and her interest. Although the terms are different, I was able to see that the generation twenty years, who in the present day would mostly be adults, thought and imagined about things, which would create the culture today.

I guess every generation has a common interest on future. I do not imagine that the issue and the interest among the young generation twenty years ago would be different than the young generation today. Occasionally, I imagine the future world, when I think about my personal future and also whenever I watch films about future, which are usually about a dystopian world. Sometime, I do agree that these types of films have huge effect over our impression about future.

Some of the predictions are incorrect, but some predictions turned out to be true. Even though their imagination did not come true completely, I think if we are able to maintain a healthy culture, just like the heavenly culture, I believe that this mentality will be reflected in the later years. I would like to imagine where the spirit of the heavenly culture and the work for world peace will bring us twenty years from now on. Dr. Ian Pearson, a futurologist, says that "Anyone can predict stuff, but only a few get it right." But, also I think we also hold the key to the future, because the prediction will follow the trend of how this world flows. If these futurologists or anyone, who gains an interest to make a prediction about the future, they will look at the trend of the world and how it is reflected over culture. 

When they see continuous wars and films about the end of the war, they will probably predict something similar in that direction. But, what if they start seeing movements of peace and see films about peace winning awards and gaining the most viewers and fans, even before they make that their prediction, I think I would be more excited to see a different world, when wars would only be a fantasy in my dream, while peace will become a reality. What kind of world do you see twenty years later? What kind of world do you think is being created through the peace movement of HWPL and Chairman Man Hee Lee?

Essay: The Allegory behind the Restoration of Light

It is obvious that the name, Restoration of Light, carries an allegorical meaning. The world is not actually covered with physical darkness and HWPL is not a science organization, which plans to shine the world with physical light. The name, Restoration of Light, carries a separate meaning.

The physical light that we see is provided by the sun that shines every day for a certain number of hours. We call this day. The explanation for the sun's activity can be provided by scientific theories, however, this post ventures to understand the relationship between light and its allegorical position in creating World Peace. In a day, after a period of time, the light disappears as the darkness slowly cover the surface of the earth. This is a natural process that has been repeated for countless numbers of years. Then, what kind of representation does light have in terms of restoring peace in the world?

Surprisingly, the Korean Independence Day is referred as the Day of Restoration of Light. The restoration is definitely referring to darkness. Before its independence, the Koreans refer that era as a period of darkness. Similarly, when the name, Restoration of Light, is included in working towards achieving world peace, it implies that it is the period of darkness for the world. It is not limited to an individual nation, but to the whole global period, we are facing darkness. However, based on the natural order, light must come. And just as the entities of heaven move their position to provide light and darkness, Mr. Man Hee Lee is also advocating that we must now work to bring back the light.

If we are living in a period of darkness, what could darkness represent? It could represent the terrible conflicts and wars around the world. Why are these used to represent darkness? It is natural to us to identify darkness with negative connotations. There could be many reasons of darkness' representation with such evil or terrible acts. One reason that I would like to share is, the essence of darkness does not truly exist.

Darkness is the absence of light. This is how darkness is defined. It does not center around itself, but it centers around the presence of light. The light is the center and the subject. Darkness is only an object that reacts to light. It is only created when light is absent. This is why we are restoring light. The light that once existed, disappeared and now it is the time to return. Darkness cannot be restored or return, because it essentially reacts to light. I think this is why heavens provided light. Light is given by the heaven. On the other hand, darkness is not. This fact supports that war could have not existed since the beginning, if we identify war with allegorical darkness.

Then, now, what is light? What does it symbolize? I think the light can refer to many things, which are opposite of darkness. It can be the individuals, who work for peace, or it can be a world of peace. Just as the slogan, "When Light meets Light, there is victory", as we gather our strengths together, we will be able to triumph over war and conflicts in the world to start a new time period of peace. Even a small spark of light can be seen in darkness just like the stars in the sky can be seen in the deepest night. Each person's hope for peace can be seen in the world, especially in the eye of the divine creator.

WARP Summit: Press Conference

"I would like to share with you about the peace activities I have been doing.
I was only a youth during World War II.
And I lived through 12 different administration of the president of Korea.
Over the years, I have seen and heard many things.
The reason for hosting the WARP Summit is as I told you.
We have to reenact an international law and must sign on the international law.
I do not wish for other things. If peace can be fulfilled, I firmly believe that those, who do the work of peace will be remembered as peace advocates in history and our future generation can enjoy the peace that we achieved."

-Chairman Man Hee Lee

In these few simple sentences, we are able to see the devotion that one man made because of his life experience that would change the world. Imagine, one day you had an experience. This experience altered the course of your life in terms of decision and characteristic. This resulted something enormous that would be beyond your imagination at that moment of experience. Chairman Man Hee Lee was a regular soldier in the front line of the Korean War. He participated in many battles, experienced near death, and saw many of his fellow soldiers, who died protecting their country from those, whom they once referred as brothers. It is truly sad that a nation would be the scapegoat of an ideological turmoil. This experience probably altered Chairman Lee's personality. This resulted the WARP Summit, ironically in the same nation, where that war took place. His love for humanity gave him the motivation to travel and talk about peace. In his old age, he could enjoying to spend his life doing something else, however, he chose to work for peace. This is something extraordinary. He was an ordinary man, when he had his experience, but the thoughts and the beliefs that he chose to follow made him into an extraordinary man. I think the world started to recognize that also, as they are calling the WARP Summit hosted by HWPL and the Chairman, the work of the divine creator.

Essay: A War on War

There are many debates on the question of is history subjective or objective in nature. When wars happen in front of eyes, we experience the horror of its disaster. If there could be a heaven on earth, at the location, in which the war happens, can be described as hell on earth. However, when a certain war becomes a part of a history, it is objectified. Historians research the effect and the motive of the war. And some wars may be re-evaluated in the course of time based on different historians.

Could there be a war that broke out for the sake of justice? Some say that the Crusades was for the righteous cause to protect the land, where their savior took the cross for the sins of the world. However, the Crusades like other wars in the past turned into a cause for greed and wealth. So, is there a war that turned out to be beneficial? I think one example that could be considered to be necessary and righteous is the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln initiated the war in order to stop the secession of the southern states, who disagreed with the policies of their president. This was a war to stop secession. Although the war may be evaluated and observed in various aspects, it was a war to stop division. It was not a war to take a way something from one another, but it was to stop the division of a young nation. For some the Civil War was an effort to allow their freedom. This resulted the modern United States of America with the last words of its national anthem: Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Now, regardless of the positive effect that a war can offer, I do not agree with the idea of war at this era. When war is used as a solution, it will always leave something negative. Peace must be achieved through persuasion by exaggerating the importance of having peace, just like Mr. Man Hee Lee's proposal and the efforts of HWPL. So, from some perspective starting a War on War would be politically incorrect, but this war that we are starting is a different type of war, which would change the meaning inside the word, "war".

Essay: War and Peace

War. What is it good for? The song sung by Edwin Starr poses a question to its listeners. Each nation spend countless financial resources for the preparation of a possible war. Although some countries need military power, in order to protect themselves from neighboring nation, it is somewhat amazing to see how much funds we spend on to harm someone.

The investment that we make in the security of our nation is obviously not wrong, but it seems that it would be better to find a better solution. The funds that we use to develop the military could be used for something else, such as social welfare and for technical innovation that would improve our daily lifestyle. It does not mean I do not appreciate our veterans or current soldiers, who sacrifice their lives for the welfare of our nation. However, I think we could find a different solution that would help everyone to enjoy a safe and secure life.

HWPL proposes world peace and end of war. Since the WARP Summit, many people, especially in the religious world, have been making efforts to bring peace and unity in their own communities. And like many philosophers and great thinkers mentioned in their individual writings, peace must be achieved within ourselves. We need to want peace in our heart. Then, a change will happen naturally as we work to find a solution together. Our level of conscience needs to increase in terms of our treatment to our neighbors. This all returns back to the basic teaching of love.

The world is divided into so many different pieces. This does not mean the geographical separation of continents. Luckily there is a limit to how many continents we are divided into. However, we find a way to communicate and to travel to the different continents. Our separation does not stop us from reaching to different parts of the world. However, it seems harder to reach out to one another in terms of spiritual or ideological separation. There have been efforts to achieve ecumenical beliefs among the Christian denomination. However, still in addition to countless denominations of Christianity, from which started from only one man, many other religions exist in the world that claims to believe in the Creator.

We are divided into many nations with ideological differences and inside the individual nation, we are divided in many different ways in terms of values and beliefs on what should be truth. War is not specifically limited to an act to kill or harm someone physically. However, what is it good for? It only brings suffering and division in this small planet (compared to the whole universe) that we call home. Peace is when we start walking in the same direction under one guidance. This guidance comes from heaven. We all claim to have our own answers to truth, however, there is one heaven and one Creator. Thus, there is one answer. Our vision to discover this answer must be the banner that unites us together. We are common in this way, and nothing else matters. Our ego and motivation to seek the answer must not harm someone, who disagrees with us.

We are all walking in the same direction, only in different way. This differences does not matter, because we are eventually all walking in the same direction. The miracle in the WARP Summit 2014 was truly amazing, because even though it was a small number of people compared to the global population, people with different belief and answers agreed to achieve peace together under the Creator. And the spirit of the WARP Summit and the vision of HWPL is being carried out today through the establishment of WARP Offices in different countries of the world.

We invest in arms and weapons in fear of a war. However, if this fear disappears through the peace, imagine how much impact it could make in our individual lives. I hope for that day to come to us soon. The vision of Mr. Man Hee Lee inspired my friends and I to work for peace. We can all become a peace advocate in our community.

~Peace