"The siru is the very symbol of Jeung San Do's truth." Ahn Gyeong-jeon Jongdosanim started his dao talk with this pronouncement. The venue was a reception hall on the 9th floor of the Jeung San Do Education and Culture Center in Jungni-dong, Taejeon City on the morning of April 21, 2008. The above sentence was his first remark when this interviewer brought up the subject of the character Jeung (甑 which signifies the 'siru' or 'rice steamer').
Sangjenim's honorific dao name is Jeung-san, jeung and san signifing 'siru' and 'mountain' respectively. Sangjenim, Ruler of the Universe, incarnated into this land and personally adopted this honorific dao name.
The term siru contains a great many meanings. First, the highest peak of a mountain is called a sirubong in Korea. There are numerous peaks known as sirubongs around the Korean nation, and each are typically major mountains in their regions. Beakdusan Mountain, the highest in the Korean Peninsula, is furthermore a sirusan.
According to Sangjenim, there is no vessel as large as a siru in terms of size and capacity. It is a vessel large enough to hold the universe's three realms-heaven, earth, and humanity-and more. Therefore, I say that the siru symbolizes a culture possessing the greatest of capacities-the capacity to embrace not only all of humanity's history throughout the East and the West, but also all the diverse cultures of the world. Sangjenim's honorific dao name, jeung [siru], speaks of the spirit of Jeung San Do's truth.
As people little by little come to understand Jeung San Do, they gain the ability to relish its true nature and realize, "Aha, this is indeed a genuine truth.'
Q) The name Jeung San Do is now widely known to the public [throughout Korea]. Yet, there are still many who have no idea what Jeung San Do seeks to announce to the world. What is the message that Jeung San Do intends to convey to the public?
Whenever I have a dao talk with those who know little about Jeung San Do, the first questions asked are, 'What is Jeung San Do? What is its aim? Explain it to me in a few words.' That is most difficult because few of the world's truths or religions can be summarized in a single line. Jeung San Do's truth, in particular, is further complicated by its profound knowledge of topics ranging from cosmology to humanity-clearly, not a truth easily summed in 'a few words'!
But if you insist, the core is this: 'The cosmic season is giving way to autumn. The Autumn Gaebyeok is coming. Jeung San Do is a truth which aims to save people by spreading across the world the supreme dao of Gang Jeung-san Sangjenim, who incarnated as a human at his time of the age of the Autumn Gaebyeok. At the time of the Autumn Gaebyeok, when all are faced with inevitable death, what must be done to save others and oneself? This is the core message of Jeung San Do's teachings, which are uniquely different from all the religions and philosophies of the past. Therefore, Jeung Sang Do can be considered 'a truth that transcends religion.'
Q) Many people regard Jeung San Do as a religious organization. What are the reasons behind your declaration that 'Jeung San Do is a truth that transcends religion'?
Existing religions either establish a certain god to whom the faithful dedicate themselves, or they focus upon meditation to awaken the divine nature within the individual mind. The real truth, however, cannot be obtained by relying solely on a god or spiritual awakening. Let me provide an example. Let us imagine that we have gained a certain degree of spiritual awakening by praying to a god or by practicing meditation, but then an earthquake abruptly heaves up the ground- at that moment, is that simply the end of us all? Or at that moment when a department store building collapses and the people trapped within and do they find themselves simply helpless to escape the disaster? Then, what is good for any truth?
The greatest overarching order of our existence is heaven and earth. The coming Autumn Gaebyeok will overturn this order of heaven and earth and replace it with a new one. At such a time, one's spiritual awakening or blind faith in God cannot save one's life, which is actually more valuable than heaven and earth to the individual. Therefore, the first step in learning the truth is to know how the order of nature, within which you yourself reside, evolves. How strong an individual's religious faith or spiritual awakening is, there is nothing that a person can do when heaven and earth are shaken and the universe itself enters into upheaval. Humanity's myriad problems cannot be resolved by merely praying to heaven or attaining a certain level of awakening of the mind.
Furthermore, the history is a product of the spirits' preceding deeds and humans' consequent actions based on the law of heaven and earth's principle of creative change, that is the overarching order in which humans resides. Heaven and earth's principle of creative change, the spirits' preceding deeds, and human following actions-these three elements intertwine and interplay. Therefore, the genuine truth should unveil these three understanding of the relationships between them. To be specific, the real truth should provide these three answers: first, in terms of cosmology, it should explain what the original order or principle of heaven and earth is and how it operates; second, in terms of spirits, it should explain the way of spirits and their realm; third, in terms of humanity, it should explain what the origin of humanity and human civilization is. Jeung San Do's truth can provide those three answers. The universe's principle of creative change, the roles and creative power of the spirits’ laboring in the universe, and their impact on the human world- these three profound considerations are knitted together into the principle of “Li-Sin-Sa” ("cosmic principle, way of spirits, and human affairs"). So, the principle of the world's creative change in Jeung San Do is summarized into these three syllables; “Li-Sin-Sa”.
Jeung San Do does neither merely trumpet a monotheistic god nor merely emphasize the awakening of the mind. Instead, Jeung San Do does comprehensively examine and learn; the principle under which the universe operates its creative change; the way of spirits and their preceding efforts by which the human world has been evolved; and the proper human actions for saving our own and other lives in Gaegyeok time.
For all of these reasons, Jeung San Do cannot be categorized simply as a religion, but rather as a truth that transcends religion. However, we also have religious aspects such as conducting religious rituals and services and spreading teachings to the world, but those are just a small part of Jeung San Do. When it considered as a whole, Jeung San Do certainly is a dao that surpasses any other religion.
Q) Having listened to you, I feel that perhaps it's fitting to expand our discussion to talk about nature and heaven and earth, to create a clearer understanding of Jeung San Do. In Jeung San Do, the term 'heaven and earth' is used very often. Why so?
Taesabunim [another title for the Taesang-jongdosanim] once said, "Truths are not necessary the genuine truth which is invariably founded upon a framework. What is this framework? It is the principle of nature." What he meant is that 'great nature'- the earth and the universe in which we reside- is the framework of the truth, and we can find the fount of truth only by examining heaven and earth. Really, when we begin our study of the truth, our study must begin with an inquiry into the principle of nature that underlies all change.
Sangjenim taught that before we start learning truth, we must first be able to understand the framework- the very framework of truth that is heaven and earth. To understand this framework of truth is to discover answers to fundamental questions such as: 'How did heaven and earth come into existence and for what purpose?' 'Why are heaven and earth the way they are?' 'Why are human beings born within heaven and earth, and what is the purpose of human life?'
One of the main reason that Jeung San Do's truth attracts the intellectuals and the young in particular lies in our cosmology. Jeung San Do's cosmology can satisfy the thirst for truth in a way that religions or grand theories of philosophy or science simply cannot. Once a person gains an awareness about the order of heaven and earth's change as taught by Jeung-san Sangjenim, that person develops a discerning eye capable of comprehensively understanding world politics, religions, and even the evolution of the various cultures of all times and places, as well as the distinctive characteristics of these cultures.
Q) How does the universe evolve?
The earth, compared to the boundless universe, is a tiny dot. Moreover, we human beings residing on earth are all the tinier. It is indeed an arduous labor for beings as tiny as humans to fathom how all the universe-including the earth-undergoes change.
Then what is the overarching concept that must be understood for one to understand the universe? It is this: the universe observes a cycle. Just as breathing and the circulation of blood repeat within the human body-which is regarded as a small universe - heaven and earth observes a cycle, just as does the universe itself. Not only nature undergoes a cycle; time does so as well. The East has held this belief, that the world observes a cycle, since ancient times.
Q) What do you mean, specifically, when you say that the universe undergoes a cycle of change?
The universe, or heaven and earth, undergoes change during the cycle of four seasons. Just as time observes the cycle of spring, summer, autumn, and winter on earth, cosmic time observes the cycle of cosmic spring, cosmic summer, cosmic autumn, and cosmic winter. One complete cycle of the cosmic seasons constitutes a cosmic year.
By the way, time is not the only thing governed by a periodic cycle. All life in heaven and earth also repeat a certain pattern of actions. Sangjenim named these actions using four words: birth, growth, harvest, and rest. He proclaimed, "I wield the fourfold principle of birth, growth, harvest, and rest."
His proclamation declares that heaven and earth-and all life residing therein-evolve in accordance with the principle of birth, growth, harvest, and rest.
What, then, is the dynamic of birth, growth, harvest, and rest? It is a series of processes through which the universe gives birth to all life, cultivates all life, harvests them, and finally brings them to rest, marking the end of the cycle. The assertion that the universe evolves means that it repeats the cycle of birth, growth, harvest, and rest. The arrow of time flies from spring, to summer, to autumn, to winter, and then it cycles back to spring again. The days and nights of humanity are also cyclic: people work during daytime, rest at home at night, and then work again when another day begins. The principle of birth, growth, harvest, and rest governs all: in terms of time, this cycle presides over the cycles of day and night and the four seasons; in terms of space, it governs everything within the solar system, the Milky Way, and in fact the whole universe. The principle of birth, growth, harvest, and rest is a universal principle under which all things-from the greatest to the smallest, from the tangible to the intangible, from a human to the universe itself-progress and repeat themselves.
To summarize, time observes the cycle of spring, summer, autumn, and winter; and just as time circulates in this manner, the universe and humanity repeat the process of birth, growth, harvest, and rest endlessly.
Q) How long is the cosmic year?
In fact, a person discovered the length of the cosmic year using Eastern cosmology. Discoursing upon this very subject, Sangjenim said that there was one person who revealed the cosmic timeframe with which He rules the universe: that person was Shao Yong (1011-1077), a scholar during China's Song dynasty. Hado and Nakseo are ancient Eastern numerology, and Shao Young was a scholar who immersed himself in their study and learned of the cosmic cycle. According to him, a cosmic year, in which the universe completes a cycle of spring, summer, autumn, and winter-completes the process of birth, growth, harvest, and rest-spans 129,600 calendar years.
Surprisingly, the figure 129,600 is the number associated with many cycles of change found in a variety of contexts ranging from the small universe of the individual human to the limitlessly huge universe. Sum the number of a living person's average daily breaths and their pulse beats and you arrive at the figure 129,600. The same number is found in the cycle of a calendar year: the earth rotates 360 degrees daily on its axis and revolves round the sun 360 degrees yearly, and 360 degrees times 360 degrees equals 129,600 degrees-the total degrees of the earth's annual rotation is hence 129,600 calendar years. The principle upon which heaven and earth proceed is no different. Extrapolating from Shao Yong's scholarship, 360 calendar years amount to one cosmic day. Repeating a cosmic day 360 times yields a cosmic year, which is 129,600 calendar years. Western scientists examined the glaciers and discovered that an ice age occurred every 100,000 years on average. Is their conclusion not close to the span of a cosmic year?
Q) Why does the universe observe the cycle of four seasons?
The universe does not blindly follow a cycle; it has a definite purpose. This purpose is the cultivation of the human being. Consider a calendar year. What sort of changes occur on earth in accordance with the four seasons? Plants are born, raised, bear fruit, and then rest. Likewise, the universe-based upon its cycle of the four cosmic seasons-gives birth to, grows, and harvests humans, and then rests. In other words, the universe cultivates people.
But why do heaven and earth cultivate humans? Because humans are heaven and earth's very reason for being, human beings are born in the image of heaven and earth. It is said that humans are the most majestic of beings, and as a matter of fact, humans possess all five elements as do heaven and earth, and humans also possess the ability to travel wherever they wish. Therefore, humans are the lords of all creation. Moreover, humans are the offspring of heaven and earth, they carry out heaven and earth's vision, and they shall build a paradise on earth. Why do heaven and earth give birth to humans and diligently cultivate them? Because heaven and earth will have humans build a harmonious and ideal world at the time of cosmic autumn. It is for this reason that humans are called 'the fruit of heaven and earth.' Just as farmers raise plants every year to sustain a household, heaven and earth cultivate humans continuously throughout the process of birth, growth, harvest, and rest for the purpose of enabling humans- the noblest beings in the universe- to exist forever.
Heaven and earth cultivate humans- this is the starting point of Jeung San Do's cosmology.
Q) It is hard to conceive of humans as the fruit of heaven and earth. Could you explain it more?
In spring, farmers sow seeds in the field and grow them throughout summer. Do these plants not bear fruit in autumn? The farmers then harvest and store this fruit. This fruit serves as 'seeds.' When the winter passes and spring arrives once more, the stored seeds are sown in the field, and thus the annual cycle of farming starts anew. In this way, farming continues year after year.
The cultivation of humans by heaven and earth is the same. Human beings are born in cosmic spring and continue growth and development through cosmic summer. When cosmic autumn comes, heaven and earth harvest them. Just as in farming, heaven and earth select only the 'ripe' when harvesting humans. These 'ripe ones' are mature beings who have attained an awareness of the cosmic principle and have led their lives in accordance with this principle. Only those chosen by heaven and earth are allowed to enter into the coming world of cosmic autumn, the world of the Later Heaven. When cosmic spring returns once again after the winter and the ice age, heaven and earth sow the 'seeds' and start anew in another cosmic year's cycle of birth, growth, harvest, and rest. What would happen if there were no human seeds? That would mean that heaven and earth could not cultivate people and that the prior cosmic year was a mere waste of labor.
This is the inner meaning of the statement 'humans are the fruit of heaven and earth.'
Q) So, in what time of the cosmic year does current humanity live then?
People are not aware of the present era. They do not know the season. Their ignorance of the season in which they live is their fatal flaw. In short, they have no idea of the cosmic seasons or of the cosmic season in which they presently live. This is also the weak point of mordern civilization. Modern people rely on science and technology and live in an age when space travel is becoming possible, yet people are not even aware of the cosmic seasons. Speaking bluntly, human beings are approaching the dawn of the cosmic autumn. It is a revolutionary period when summer's division and growth comes to an end autumn begins, a season of maturity, unification, and convergence. The Later Heaven's world- the world of convergence and unification- is indeed drawing near, yet people do not realize this. They should know of the seasonal change and prepare for it, but yet they do nothing.
Q) You mentioned earlier the Early Heaven and the Later Heaven. How are they related to the cycle of the universe?
This theory of the Early Heaven and the Later Heaven is central to Jeung San Do's teachings. Recently, people who study Eastern philosophy-including I-Ching, Jeongyeok, or Confucianism, Buddhism, and Immortalism- have frequently mentioned the term 'the Early Heaven' and 'the Later Heaven.' What, then, are the Early Heaven and the Later Heaven? I mentioned earlier that four cosmic seasons comprise one cycle of a cosmic year, which spans 129,600 years. Of the four seasons, the period of the first two seasons (cosmic spring and summer), lasting fifty thousand years, is the Early Heaven; the next fifty thousand years (cosmic autumn) constitute the Later Heaven. The remaining 29,600 years is an ice age (cosmic winter), when all human activities are arrested physically.
What is important here is that the 'heaven' in 'Early Heaven' and 'Later Heaven' signifies the order of nature or the order of heaven and earth. Therefore, the terms 'Early Heaven' and 'Later Heaven' do not simply refer to the flow of physical time. The Early Heaven comprises the order and cultures of heaven and earth that occur first, while the Later Heaven comprises the order and cultures that manifest subsequently. Consequently, the transition from the Early Heaven to the Later Heaven marks a complete transformation in the order of heaven and earth and in the culture of civilization. People need to heed this fact. By merely understanding that the order and cultures of heaven and earth undergo a complete transformation, one can be said to already be halfway through the study of Jeung San Do's truth.
Q) As I listen to you, I am becoming more and more curious about what changes occur when the Early Heaven becomes the Later Heaven. First, what are the characteristics of the Early Heaven, in which we now live?
Humanity has lived through cosmic spring and summer so far, having struggled our way through the fifty thousand years of the Early Heaven. The central order of nature driving the Early Heaven has been, in a word, sanggeuk ("mutual conflict"). As I explained earlier, the essential theme of all lives at this time is that of division and growth. For plants to grow, cells need to divide constantly. As this new division continues, new flowers blossom. At this time, plants must triumph during severe competition with other life forms and overcome bad weather, or they cannot possibly survive.
In this way, in the world of the Early Heaven, all lives vie with each other fiercely, whether they desire to do so or not, because all of heaven and earth is dominated by the order of sanggeuk. Sanggeuk is the inevitable order of heaven and earth in the age of birth and growth.
From the standpoint of human civilization, the Early Heaven has been an era of creative competition, a time when powerful countries and the strong become influential and dominant. Minor powers, women, children, and the weak are dominated, oppressed, and disenfranchised. The weak fall prey to the strong. Therefore, human culture is clearly a culture of sanggeuk.
How, then, was the order of sanggeuk born? This, too is an interesting story. Sanggeuk exists becasue the axis of the earth is tilted 23.5 degrees. This slant causes the four seasons and gives each region a different amount of sunlight depending on their location. The tilt of the earth's axis has an effect not only on the natural environment but also upon the way all beings lead their lives. The tilt of the earth's axis has an effect not only on the natural environment but also upon the way all beings lead their lives. The tilt also spawns the imbalance between yin and yang. Moreover, the solar calendar precedes the lunar calendar by a month. Yang energy dominates yin energy, producing a culture of oppressed yin and revered yang-that is, a dominance of man over woman, of heaven over earth, and of the strong over the weak.
By the way, such an order of sanggeuk does not persist forever. Eventually, the growth process of spring and summer stops, and the time once again comes for the fruit to ripen. This is the time of maturity, the time of the arrival of cosmic autumn, or of the Later Heaven.
Q) Does that mean sanggeuk gives way to something else at the arrival of the Later Heaven?
That is correct. When the Later Heaven dawns, the slanted axis will straighten, the order of sanggeuk under which one could survive only by vanquishing others will disappear, and the order of sangsaeng ("mutual life-giving") will be established, the order in which one lives well by saving others first.
A new culture of equal yin and yang- of equality between man and woman- will blossom, replacing the culture of oppressed yin and revered yang, the culture of the dominance of man over woman.
Instead of the weak falling prey to the strong, all will coexist in harmony, and each and all beings will be treated well without any discrimination. The Early Heaven's order of heaven and earth and culrue of civilization will totally differ from those of the Later Heaven.
Q) What are some specific characteristics of the Later Heaven under the transformed order of sangsaeng?
The great many things will change, and as a result, the Later Heaven's world will possess new and varied characteristics. First of all, the order of the world will be reestablished as a culture of one family. The global world will become one family. The numerous problems besetting the world cannot be solved within the existing national structures or individual society. Issues such as the global environment, regional disputes around the world, and the debasement of humanity defy the solution by a single country or regime. The United Nations cannot resolve such problems by itself, either.
In the Later Heaven, as the earth and the universe evolve into a unified order, all such problems will be resolved in a single effort and the global village shall become unified. This is Jeung-san Sangjenim's supreme dao. We call this future civilization 'the civilization of dao mastery.' The age of science and technology is about to give way to a civilization of dao mastery. As a matter of fact, the world has been moving in this discretion for a long time.
Secondly, in the Later Heaven's world, prodigious longevity shall become the norm. In the Early Heaven, the human life-span is typically a hundred years at most. For this reason, people deplore the transience of life and become frustrated. However, according to Sangjenim, in the Later Heaven, even people of meager longevity will live seven hundred years or even more. This means that in the Later Heaven, human beings- existing in communion with heaven and earth- will enjoy longevity as sublime immortals. At that time, generations of ancestors and descendants will live together. Although three or four generations of some families live together in the present, this cannot compare to the Later Heaven's world.
Existing religions preach that people should behave well while living if they want to reach heaven after death, but what is the use of going to heaven after death? It is not a blessing to practice religious faith in order to journey to heaven after death. To enjoy blessings while still alive is the true blessing.
Q) What other characteristics does the Later Heaven possess?
Another characteristic of the Later Heaven's Paradise of Immortality is that the earth's landmass will exceed that of the sea. The energy that governed the Early Heaven can be expressed as 'three yang-two yin,' meaning that yang has been stronger than yin. In the Later Heaven, this will convert into 'three yin-two yang,' and with this conversion, the earth's surface will transform. The land will become larger than the sea. People will be able to spread out as much as they desire because the number of people will sharply decrease while the size of the land will drastically increase. There will be no need to struggle over land.
Moreover, in the Later Heaven, a new children's culture will be established. The Jeung San Do Dojeon depicts two children, a girl named Ho-yeon and a boy named Bok-nam, as examples of the mature human beings of the Later Heaven.
Bok-nam's spiritual eye opened when he was still a baby. At age three, he began to leave home, claiming, 'There is someone I must find.' Eventually, when Bok-nam journeyed all the way to Gaengmang-ri Village. Sangjenim tested the boy by treating him coldly for a month and commanding him away, but Bok-nam did not give up. Finally, Sangjenim granted the boy the name Bok-nam, and henceforth He took Bok-nam on travels throughout His life. Bok-nam typified the way men shall be in the Later Heaven; he was the model of the human beings of the cosmic autumn.
And there was also a girl, Ho-yeon. When she reached age nine, Sangjenim had her begin intensive meditation. He ordered a tent built for her in the front yard of her family's home, and He had her seclude herself inside for four months and meditate day and night. Like Bok-nam, Ho-yeon already possessed some spiritual awareness, and Sangjenim strengthened her spiritual awareness all the more by initiating her intensive meditation. By the time her meditation came to an end, she had acquired the ability to see the spiritual activities of heaven and earth. For example, on one occasion, a baby mouse wanted to eat a boiled rice crust left in a water-filled bowl, but could not do so because there was too much water. The mother mouse told the baby mouse to knock over the bowl and eat the crust, but when the bowl scrambled to clean the mess, Ho-yeon burst into laughter, for she had witnessed the entire scene. Her spiritual awareness allowed her to understand everything that animals and spirits said, to read people's minds, and to even see the invisible world.
Bok-nam and Ho-yeon epitomized the spiritually advanced nature of all children of the Later Heaven. In the Early Heaven, poeple's minds have been closed, but in the Later Heaven, people's minds will open wide. With their minds thus opened, people will become one with heaven and earth. People will be able to look upon a flower and know its thoughts, and they will be capable of conversing with a tree.
What kind of a world will that be? Since people will be able to read each other's minds, they will be unable to harbor false minds at all. Naturally, a world free of falsehood and quarrels will arise- it shall be a world of knowing the mind. People's spiritual awareness shall blossom when they are still young, and hence sentiments like agony, greed, hatred, and strife shall never come into being. Sangjenim said, 'In the Later Heaven, those of the highest level of cultivation will require but seven days to attain enlightenment; those of the middle level, fourteen days; those of the lowest level, twenty-one days.' How wondrous!
Concerning the saints, Confucius is said to have led seventy-two followers to enlightenment; Shakyamuni Buddha led five hundred; and Jesus led twelve apostles. But in the Later Heaven, all shall open their spiritual eye and attain enlightenment. In the past, it was thought that attaining enlightenment was a precious but exclusive gift from heaven to a certain rare few spiritually awakened ones; but in the future, everyone will attain enlightenment and hence enjoy the life of an immortal. That is, an age will come to pass in which enlightenment becomes a universal phenomenon.
Q) Will humanity naturally cross from the Early Heaven into the world of the Later Heaven in accordance with the principle of heaven and earth's cycle?
That is correct. After the Early Heaven of cosmic spring and summer comes to an end, the Later Heaven of cosmic autumn shall dawn, a time when all things will become mature, harmonious, and unified. The coming of the Later Heaven is both cosmic providence and a necessity.
When cosmic autumn is about to commence, all-encompassing changes will take place, overthrowing the old framework and order of heaven and earth. Such drastic changes in heaven and earth shall befall humanity as rigorous tests and ordeals; and, since these changes are nature's providence, human beings will not be able to avoid them. Only after humans surmount the changes and accompanying ordeals will they be able to enter the Later Heaven's world. The overall changes that shall occur in the transition of the old framework and order into the new framework and order of heaven and earth at the dawn of the maturing autumn- these are gaebyeok ("renewal," "transformation," or "a new beginning").
Q) The term 'gaebyeok' (開闢) is also used outside Jeung San Do. The term's meaning, as other people use it, is: 'to be drastically changed or overthrown.' What is Jeung San Do's gaebyeok?
As a matter of fact, those who study the book of Change, Jeongyeok (正易: "Right Change"), Eastern philosophy, or who are interested in Eastern Learning, do indeed mention the term gaebyeok and then advance their own explanations of the term. Although they assert that gaebyeok signifies that the world will be altered, their explanations nevertheless lag far behind the original meaning of gaebyeok as demonstrated by Jeung San Do. Their conceptions of gaebyeok typically omit the aspects of the Early Heaven and the Later Heaven. One should know of the Early Heaven and the Later Heaven if they are to understand the true nature of gaebyeok. For example, the term 'Later Heaven Gaebyeok' (or 'Autumn Gaebyeok') must be clearly recognized to denote the transition that will bring forth cosmic autumn; so far, however, none of the previously mentioned groups have advanced any such explanation. Some scholars who study gaebyeok nevertheless possess no understanding of jeongyeok and do not even recognize its value. The problem with such people is that when they are informed, "In the future, gaebyeok will occur and the time of Jeongyeok will arrive," they simply dismiss this pronouncement as nonsense.
Such commentators on civilization show little interest in the profound nature of gaebyeok or in the coming change in the order of heaven and earth. They simply devote their attention to issues such as changes in cultural structure as they discourse about a new civilization or a new paradigm of culture. They are simply incapable of conceiving of so vast a concept as the transformation of the very framework and order of the universe, or of changes in the framework of cosmic time. If we in Jeung San Do to explain gaebyeok from such a standpoint, they hold firm to a prejudiced view that we are spreading morbid doomsday stories and not well versed in the true nature of gaebyeok.
The concept of gaebyeok in Eastern culture is related to the creation of the universe. It was in explaining the origin of the universe- the birth of heaven and earth- that the idea of gaebyeok was itself born. When we use the term in the context of the creation of the world, gaebyeok means 'heaven opens; earth opens' or 'heaven and earth are born.'
What, then, is the gaebyeok discussed by Jeung San Do? First of all, this gaebyeok embraces the changes that take place in the world at the transition of the cosmic seasons. When discussing gaebyeok, the Early Heaven Gaebyeok and the Later Heaven Gaebyeok must be clearly differentiated.
Q) First, what is the Early Heaven Gaebyeok?
[Within the context of a cosmic year,] the Early Heaven Gaebyeok occurs at the beginning of cosmic spring. In the Early Heaven Gaebyeok, heaven and earth are violently shaken, giving birth to all life including humanity. This provides momentum to the beginning of the cosmic cycle. Human beings, in accordance with the aims of heaven which gave birth to them, scatter across the earth to actualize heaven's goal. This goal involves growth and development: human beings, born on earth, impel growth and development, hence establishing civilizations and cultures. This era is characterized by being heaven-centered- that is, humans attain growth and development and establish cultures only by receiving teachings and revelations from heaven, or from God. We in Jeung San Do call this original culture 'Singyo ("Spirit Teaching") Culture.' For these reasons, this heaven-centered period is known as the Era of Heaven's Nobility.
Why do human beings, all born of a singular heaven, form different cultures and civilizations in each and every region as they grow and develop on earth? Because in the Early Heaven, the qi of all the many regions of earth where humans reside differ from each other, although heaven's intention remains forever fixed. The earth, which receives the life and qi conferred by heaven, leads human beings to establish unique regional cultures. It is for this reason that each region has different races, languages, and cultures. The tastes and colors of each culture vary depending upon the soil of the concerned region. The ancient Greek, Iraqi, Summer, and Inca cultures are good examples.
To sum up, the Early Heaven Gaebyeok creates the momentum for heaven and earth to give birth to life in cosmic spring and hence begin the cycle of a cosmic year.
Q) What is the Later Heaven Gaebyeok?
The Later Heaven Gaebyeok is, literally, the gaebyeok that occurs when the passage of cosmic time progresses through the transition from the Early Heaven to the Later Heaven- when cosmic summer gives way to cosmic autumn. When cosmic summer alters to autumn, not only the natural environment of the earth where humans reside but also the solar system to which the earth belongs and the whole universe undergo severe changes. At this time, the Early Heaven's order, nature, and era, which have dominated heaven and earth, are drastically transformed into the other, nature, and era of the Later Heaven. The Early Heaven Gaebyeok differs from the Later Heaven Gaebyeok in three main ways. First, the Later Heaven Gaebyeok is a huge gaebyeok entailing severe changes. Second, while the Early Heaven Gaebyeok gives birth to life, the Later Heaven Gaebyeok is a gaebyeok of humanity through which numerous lives are taken in an instant and seeds of humanity are selected. Third, the basic order of heaven and earth changes completely from the Early Heaven's sanggeuk (mutual conflict) to the Later Heaven's sangsaeng (mutual life-giving).
In terms of the first of these differences, why is the Later Heaven Gaebyeok so huge a gaebyeok entailing such severe changes? It is so because yin and yang energies are transposed. The yang energy that has been impelling growth throughout spring and summer transforms completely into yin energy that aims at ending growth and bringing about a return to life's roots as autumn draws near. As the yin and yang energies are thus transposed, violent changes strike the heaven, earth, sun, and moon. Therefore, unlike the Spring Gaebyeok, when life is born, as enormous gaebyeok occurs. Heaven and earth, nature and humanity, are all shaken and engulfed within a violent vortex of change.
The severity of the changes of the Autumn Gaebyeok can be demonstrated by the straightening of the earth's axis. At the time of the coming Autumn Gaebyeok, the earth's axis, which has been slanted 23.5 degrees, is to be straightened. This will constitute a gigantic change. Even a change of merely 0.1 degrees would suffice to spawn tsunamis and earthquakes, creating chaos. Imagine, then, that the axis moves 23.5 degrees at once, straightening- we cannot even imagine the chaos that will be caused by such a shift. Sangjenim revealed that at the coming of this time, some lands will sink into the sea, while new lands shall rise from the ocean; the three countries in the East (Korea, China, Japan) will become one landmass, and some countries shall disappear without a single survivor.
Next the Later Heaven Gaebyeok will slay life in a single stroke and select the seeds of humanity. While the Early Heaven Gaebyeok in spring gives birth to life, the Later Heaven Gaebyeok in autumn takes all life. In Jeung San Do, we say that the Later Heaven Gaebyeok is the 'gaebyeok in which human seeds of those who should live will survive, while multitudes of human beings shall perish like falling leaves. This is a major characteristic of the Autumn Gaebyeok. His holiness the Taesang Jongdosanim of Jeung San Do explains this as the principle of 'birth in spring and death in autumn.' Although humans are born in cosmic spring and are raised throughout cosmic summer, the growth process is abruptly brought to a halt in cosmic autumn. Just as the heavy frost of a single autumn morning kills grass at a single stroke, in autumn the autumn energy takes away many lives in a single stoke. 'Death in autumn'- this is a providence of nature which nobody can oppose. All shall perish in autumn, save for the seeds of humanity selected by heaven and earth. This is why the Later Heaven Gaebyeok is known as 'the gaebyeok of humanity.'
After all, while the Spring Gaebyeok, or the Early Heaven Gaebyeok, births and nurtures life and cultures, the Later Heaven Gaebyeok is a process of grand cosmic change in which those lives and cultures are sorted and harvested. The gaebyeok now approaching humanity is the Autumn Gaebyeok.
Q) What is this gaebyeok, which shall transform the order of the Early Heaven’s world into that of the Later heaven?
That is indeed Jeung-san Sangjenim’s view of gaebyeok. Briefly expressed, gaebyeok signifies the disassembly of the order of heaven and earth that has governed the Early Heaven and the reconstruction of a new order befitting the Later Heaven. As a matter of fact, only this could be called the genuine gaebyeok.
As I mentioned earlier, the order of nature that has governed the Early Heaven is sanggeuk (mutual conflict). Sanggeuk is the order of creation in which all beings are born and develop. The problem is that the order of sanggeuk breeds numerous problems in addition to this growth. Under the order of sanggeuk, even the relationship between heaven and earth is inharmonious: yin is oppressed by yang. As a result, a heaven-centered, biased order has been maintained, one in which the earth has been oppressed. Since the fundamental framework in which all beings reside is itself biased, all existence within this flawed order cannot avoid harboring bitterness and grief. That is, since the order of heaven and earth is itself distorted, all beings existing within it naturally become twisted as well.
All the problems in human life, including confrontations, conflicts, wars, and disputes, arise inevitably from the order of sanggeuk. Human beings’ tribulations, pains, tragedies, and calamities are not caused only by flawed human behavior and immorality, they also derive from the fundamental order of heaven and earth: sanggeuk. Buddhism speaks of karma, the retribution for the deeds of a former life, and this is rooted in the order of sanggeuk, according to Sangjenim.
Life was originally bright, healthy, and harmonious, but the distortion of heaven and earth has belabored all life within heaven and earth with bitterness and grief. Due to the order of sanggeuk, heaven and earth have gown diseased, with the result that all who live within heaven and earth have also become diseased and now harbor bitterness and grief. As this bitterness and grief continued to accumulate, the disease of heaven and earth worsened all the more; this long and vicious cycle constituted the order of the Early Heaven.
Such being the case, humanity must, in order to survive, first and foremost overcome this order of sanggeuk that has been dominating the Early Heaven. Only then can humanity enter the world of new life. Sangjenim believed this, and He therefore proclaimed that He would renew heaven and earth, which had grown diseased, and build the Later Heaven’s Paradaise of Immortality with His dao of sangsaeng (mutual life-giving). His proclamation signified that since heaven and earth- the basis of all life- had grown ill, a new world could not begin unless the diseased heaven and earth were first renewed. Today, leading figures of the world in various fields as well as spiritually awakened people point out, in their own ways, the problems confronting humanity and discuss how to attain a peaceful world free of troubles. There is much talk but few solutions- yet, against this backdrop, Sangjenim presented just such a path in His proclamation. This is, human beings were born and have lived under a certain cosmic order, and since this cosmic order was that of sanggeuk, humans were fated to be miserable. Therefore, the diseased heaven and earth, which are the origin of human misery, needed to be corrected. For this reason, Sangjenim labored to disassemble and reconstruct heaven and earth, organize a new framework for humanity, and transform the order of heaven and earth from the Early Heaven’s sanggeuk to the Later Heaven’s new order. This is gaebyeok. In this regard, it is not correct to conceptualize gaebyeok as a mere result of cosmic seasonal change. I have Jeung San Do ilkkun memorize a passage from section thirteen of the Dojeon’s second chapter, which states:
The Early Heaven is dominated by the destiny of sanggeuk. The principle of sanggeuk has governed all humans and all existence, heaven and earth never knowing a single moment free of war… If all the bitterness and grief born of sanggeuk were allowed to explode, the universe itself would collapse into ruin. (JSD Dojeon 2:13:4-8)
This verse contains the core message of Jeung San Do. The Early Heaven’s order of sanggeuk afflicted heaven and earth with imbalance and disharmony, and the bodies and minds of all existence within that heaven and earth have hence become distorted and heaped with bitterness and grief; this accumulated bitterness and grief fills the universe, driving it to the brink of explosion. Therefore, if a new world is to be inaugurated, this state qi must first be cleared away. Cleansing such bitterness and grief, purifying heaven and earth, and inaugurating autumn’s new heaven and earth- this is the true meaning of the Autumn Gaebyeok of which Sangjenim spoke. In short, the Autumn Gaebyeok shall disassemble the order of sanggeuk and transform it into the order of sangsaeng.
During the Early Heaven, countless people died without attaining their life’s ambitions, and they therefore harbored bitterness and grief. But they did not die for all time- only their bodies perished, while their souls lived on. With so many embittered souls filling heaven and earth, what will befall heaven and earth? Heaven and earth have become profoundly exhausted by bitterness and grief. The significance of Sangjenim’s gaebyeok lies in the fact that gaebyeok resolves the bitterness and grief of not only contemporary people but also the bitterness and grief of the spirits, of our ancestors. The spirits subsequently strive together remedy the diseased heaven and earth and establish the order of genuine sangsaeng. Gaebyeok is profoundly meaningful.
Q) How does gaebyeok differ from eschatology?
People tend to fixate too much upon the fact that all will die at the time of gaebyeok. Strictly speaking, this is just a minor element of gaebyeok. It is not desirable to focus your attention upon the fact that gaebyeok shall 'destroy' the existing world, its order and culture, and human life; gaebyeok should instead be viewed as an inevitable process of reform or as a means of creating a new world. That is, gaebyeok is an indispensable stage in the advent of the Paradise of Immortality on earth, the Later Heaven's world. To reiterate, the Autumn Gaebyeok is, above all, a process in which the Early Heaven's order of sanggeuk (mutual conflict) is replaced by the Later Heaven's order of sangsaeng (mutual life-giving). It is also agebyeok of humanity in which the seeds of humanity are selected. In this matter, the fact that humanity is to die is of less important than the fact that the seeds of humanity shall be chosen for the Later Heaven.
In terms of civilization, the Later Heaven Gaebyeok is a process in which all things divided become united. During the Early Heaven, various forms of cultures and civilizations were established based upon the distinct regions and eras. These diverse cultures and civilizations are to unite following the Autumn Gaebyeok. Through this harmonious convergence of various existing cultures, a vast culture spanning the global village will form and the universe will become one family. All cultural barriers- whether based upon geographical region, political system, language, or any other factor- will completely collapse during the Later Heaven Gaebyeok, and a united, mature world will emerge.
To put it simply, gaebyeok is a process in which all that exist- ranging from the order of heaven and earth, to nature, to humanity- are transformed into entirely new forms. The process of gaebyeok must occur to clear away all the problems and stale qi that accumulated during the Early Heaven and blaze a path to the world of the Later Heaven. Only after the dissolution of the old order and the cleansing of all such pent-up problems will the Later Heaven advent. This is gaebyeok.
During these universal changes, those who do not overcome gaebyeok shall surely perish. The problems is that people who are not aware of the core of gaebyeok focus only upon the context of gaebyeok, which asserts that the whole world will be overturned and that all will die; as a result, they mistake gaebyeok for eschatology, or the Last Judgment and the like. Jeung San Do's truth is entirely different from the claims of people who threaten others with doomsday scenarios. Gaebyeok should instead be viewed as a process of creation; that is, as an impetus for the creation of that peaceful ideal world of which humanity has so long dreamed, a world that shall be obtained by reforming the outdated order of heaven and earth.
Q) I wonder exactly how so many lives will be lost at a single stroke when gaebyeok strikes.
The progression of gaebyeok is a complex topic, so I shall just touch upon several aspects of the nature of gaebyeok. The gaebyeok will strike the world in three stages.
First, there shall be a war. A war unprecedented in its scale will break out, a conflict of horrible brutality between peoples. The use of nuclear weapons will be considered, and there shall dawn a final battle that threatens the annihilation of humanity. However, this war by itself is not gaebyeok in its totality; and, for better or for worse, this fierce war will not end of its own accord.
The outbreak of war will be swiftly followed by the second stage of gaebyeok; a disease shall unexpectedly afflicts humanity, inevitably ending the war. This disease will be a mysterious one that humanity has never before experienced. No cure will be found among existing medicines, and the catastrophic disease will spread rapidly, slaying life. Yet, this disease still will not represent the end of gaebyeok.
The final stage of gaebyeok will shake the very earth, for it will entail the shift of the earth's axis. The axis, which has been slanted 23.5 degrees northeast during the Early Heaven, will be straightened. The order of heaven and earth will enter the era of the upright axis. The earth's orbit around the sun will naturally transform from an ellipse into a circle. what will happen if the earth's axis moves 23.5 degrees at once, when only 0.1 degrees of such movement would trigger earthquakes and tsunamis? Mountains will submerge into the seas, and new land shall rise from below the waves. Fire and water will be thrown together, and heaven and earth will be violently shaken.
In Jeung San Do, we call the Autumn Gaebyeok the 'three-stage gaebyeok.' There is little doubt that such tremendous disasters, taking place one after another, will leave few people alive on earth. In describing the seriousness of the ordeal, Sangjenim remarked that if only a single person survived in a whole extended family, that family would nevertheless rank as one of the most extremely fortunate of families. When people inquired how many would survive in Sangjenim's hometown, Gaengmang-ri Village, Cobu County, Jeolla-do Province, Sangjenim answered that not a single person would be left alive. You may surmise how severe gaebyeok will be if none will survive even in Sangjenin's hometown. A severe gaebyeok of this magnitude is approaching, the gaebyeok in which only a few of the world's seven billion people will survive.
Q) As a person who knows little about Jeung San Do, I would like to ask you directly: exactly when will gaebyeok take place?
When will gaebyeok occur? I am certain that the answer to this question is one which people would most dearly like to know. In fact, when I give lectures on gaebyeok to the general public, many people openly ask me when gaebyeok will occur. Yearning to discover the timing of gaebyeok - this is probably mere human nature. Before I explain when gaebyeok shall take place, I must first begin with the question of when cosmic autumn started.
Sangjenim incarnated into the world in 1871, and in Jeung San Do, we explain that this event marked the entry of the energy of cosmic autumn into human history. That is, Sangjenim- Ruler of the Three Realms, those of heaven, earth, and humanity- descended upon this world as a human being, and at the moment He entered human history, cosmic autumn actually began. Sangjenim established the framework of a new history in this world and soon afterward returned to heaven, on June 24, 1909, by the lunar calendar. The time that has since elapsed is regarded as the era in which humanity should undertake practical preparations for the Autumn Gaebyeok. In fact, we have been bracing for gaebyeok based upon the belief that the Autumn Gaebyeok will occur approximately a hundred years after Sangjenim ascended to heaven; by that time, all of humanity will have learned of the Autumn Gaebyeok. A hundred years after Sangjenim's ascension- that is approximately the present time. However, the exact dates cannot be neatly fixed. As Sangjenim declared, "The work of heaven and earth shall simply remain beyond the understanding of all people until the proper time... You shall behold! The world will reveal to you the tides of change" (Dojeon 2:42-2-4)
Consider the world as it is at this vary moment we are having this conversation about dao, and you may find the answer right before you. Consider the changes in nature and the weather. Avian influenza is breaking out across the world; the glaciers are continuously melting. Glaciers bigger than Seoul, some as large as the Korean Peninsula, are melting, releasing water; fish normally found in the south near Jeju Island have begun to be caught in the mid East Sea. The weather starts to sizzle as early as spring. Alaska, a cold region, has become temperate. How should we interpret such changes? Scientists explain these changes with the simple logic of global warming, but we in Jeung San Do regard these changes as signs that the cosmic season, the order of heaven and earth, is changing. What I can say for certain is that, judging by the state of the world, the Autumn Gaebyeok is imminent.
Q) If it is nature's providence that changes the cosmic seasons, and brings the Autumn Gaebyeok, then is it not true that there is little human beings can do for this event? Is it not the case that people should simply remain passive, entrusting themselves to the providence of the universe?
That is not true. The core of Jeung San Do's truth asserts that though the Autumn Gaebyeok shall come upon us, humans can overcome the Autumn Gaebyeok on their own and stride into the Later Heaven's world- anyone can do so. How splendid is this proclamation and it promises that humanity can surmount gaebyeok and gain the Later Heaven's Paradise of Immortality on its own! Humanity will not enter the Later Heaven's world- will not be saved- by the power of a certain god or by the spiritual power of nature, as certain of the Early Heaven's religions and beliefs preach. Rather, humanity shall, by itself, overcome gaebyeok and enter into the Later Heaven's world. This accords with heaven and earth's primary intention: to birth and raise humanity and allow humanity to build the autumn paradise. Humans are the main majestic beings who shall surmount gaebyeok on their own, build paradise with their own hands, and enjoy comfort and happiness in that paradise for generations.
The universe births and nurtures humans during cosmic spring and summer, the Early Heaven, and this process culminates with the bearing of fruit, with maturation, in autumn. The universe allows human beings to build a united world, an autumn paradise- this is why humans are knows as the fruit of heaven and earth. Heaven and earth construct the autumn paradise through humans, to whom they give birth, and this paradise is the autumn culture. The primary majestic beings in the preparation and ruling of the autumn culture will be humans.
Therefore, in cosmic autumn, human beings shall be the noblest beings, the most majestic beings in the completion of the autumn culture. It is none other than humans who are to complete the unified culture of autumn. Sangjenim proclaimed, "Humanity's nobility surpasses both heaven's nobility and earth's nobility, for now is the Era of Humanity's Nobility" (JSD Dojeon 2:1:4-6)
During the spring and summer, during the Early Heaven when humanity grew and developed cultures, human beings have never been a noble being on their own. They focused their faith and their hope of salvation upon heaven or earth, believing that only God could save humanity- that reaching heaven or the promised land after death was possible only through the grace of God. Such faith reflected an admiration only of the world, that awaited after death: heaven. A number of sages and philosophers who lived within this framework during the Early Heaven claimed that all spiritual problems could be resolved and the salvation of humanity could be achieved only by relying upon heaven and earth. Therefore, the Early Heaven was an era of heaven's nobility and earth's nobility, when heaven and earth were superior to humans.
Now, the order of heaven and earth is changing from the Early Heaven to the Later Heaven; the era of division in summer is giving way to autumn's era of grand unification. At this time, humans must resolve all their problems by themselves. With gaebyeok looming, all remaining problems must be overcome and solved by humanity's own efforts. The spirits and divine beings of heaven and earth no longer solve human problems; problems are not resolved by simply following the teachings of Buddha or of other spirits. The Era of Humanity's Nobility has arrived, the time when humans should become majestic beings and resolve all problems on their own. Heaven and earth will complete autumn's unified culture through humanity. Therefore, in cosmic autumn, it is humanity- not heaven or earth- who shall become the noblest beings, and humanity shall subsequently resolve all their problems. It was in order to prove that humans are noble and that they are the masters of their own destiny who will bring to completion the autumn culture of the Later Heaven that Sangjenim incarnated into the world as a human.
Accordingly, Sangjenim's incarnation into the world as a human signified that the Era of Humanity's Nobility had dawned. If He had simply proclaimed from heaven's throne, "The Era of Humanity's Nobility begins from this time forth," His proclamation would have been less persuasive. Similarly, if a saint had come forth to cry out, "The heaven-centered, god-centered culture of the past must immediately change into a human-centered one," as actually did occur in history, people would not have accepted the saint's declaration as reality. But Sangjenim, the Ruler of the Universe, incarnated into this world as a human being and proclaimed in person, "Behold, I have entered into this world as a human- truly, the Era of Humanity's Nobility, the autumn culture, and a new world have dawned." This is why He came to this world. Sangjenim symbolically demonstrated that the impending cosmic autumn will be an era in which human beings shall become central- shall become noble beings.
Q) If I summarize what you have revealed concerning humanity's predicament: first, the present season is cosmic autumn; second, gaebyeok is imminent; and third, it is the Era of Humanity's Nobility. Under such circumstances, what role are human beings to play?
Before I discuss the role of human beings in a historical context, let us review humanity's current situation. The global village in this early stage of the 21st century confronts enormous problems that daily challenge humanity. In contrast to the 19th and 20th centuries, huge and serious problems have now emerged- challenges that will eventually determined whether humans will be able to coexist or will perish together.
First of all, the weather is a serious concern. Earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis of unprecedented scale are afflicting humanity one after another. News reports daily pour forth from around the world declaring that the earth's temperature is continuously rising; already, Korea has become a subtropical zone, and all the glaciers at the poles will melt down within three years. Scientists cite carbon dioxide and fossil fuels as a cause, explaining that the abnormal weather patterns are side effects of industrialization and global warming. However, are all these diverse disasters truly explainable in terms of industrialization or warming? Do not view the abnormal phenomena and disasters around the world separately; instead, observe them as a whole. As I have already mentioned, everything is occurring exactly as Sangjenim had declared, "The world will reveal to you the tides of change" (Dojeon 2:42:4).
The changes now facing humanity are not the same sort experienced during the transitions from the ancient world to the medieval era and hence to modern times, for those were just transitions from one civilization to another. You must look upon the bigger picture. The order of heaven and earth is changing from the Early Heaven to the Later Heaven and from cosmic summer to cosmic autumn. Changes are taking place through which the era of division in summer is giving way to the era of maturity, the era of the great unification in autumn. Under these circumstances, it is critically important for us to recognize and boldly confront these changes in the order of heaven and earth. We should scrutinize the current situation with keen insight and hence understand that we are facing the Autumn Gaebyeok.
In the past eras of Heaven's Nobility and Earth's Nobility, heaven, or paradise, was important as the land where people journeyed after death. But in the present Era of Humanity's Nobility, what is significant is this world, this reality, the global village in which we dwell. At this time when the order of heaven and earth are transforming, we must focus upon the flood of changes and brace ourselves. The problems afflicting the human world cannot be solved by merely praying to heaven or by an extraordinary individual. Human beings themselves should become masters of their own destiny in order to surmount these changes and solve all problems. In the future, tsunamis- titanic ones- will strike, and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions will continue. If people recognize these events as results of the changes in the order of heaven and earth and prepare for them, the number of victims can be reduced by as many as possible. These immense changes and the mountainous challenges of the 21st century can be addressed only by humans, and nobody can aid us. We human beings must seek out and pioneer our means of survival by ourselves.
Q) Confronted with such enormous disasters, what can humans accomplish even if they do become masters of their own destiny and brave a path through these calamities?
If you focus solely upon humanity's present predicament- upon the approaching problems- you may become pessimistic. However, the proclamation of the Era of Humanity's Nobility, the declaration that humans should become masters of their own destiny to surmount all obstacles, is actually an optimistic statement full of hope.
Sangjenim declared, "Now is the age of heaven and earth's attainment of their purpose." (Dojeon 2:29:4). What did He mean by this? His declaration signifies that even if humans become masters of their own destiny and conquer the coming difficulties, it will also be an age when humans must attain the purposes of heaven and earth- humans must do so to attain a genuine achievement. People generally seek a true happiness and a genuine achievement that can last for ages. However, the wealth, fame, power and similar worldly goals which usually sought by people are not the genuine achievements. Sangjenim's proclamation is His definition of what constitutes a genuine achievement.
Since Sangjenim is the Ruler of the Universe, He judges all achievements attained within the order of heaven and earth, or within the progression of heaven and earth's history. In order words, heaven confers its seal of approval upon a person, recognizing them as an achiever of heaven and earth's purpose, and that person is henceforth recognized as such.
What, then, is the meaning of "attaining heaven and earth's achievement of their purpose"? It does not signify a single human's achievement at home, in society, or in their country; rather, it signifies an achievment in tandem with heaven and earth. This is a genuine achievement. In other words, this is an achievement for the purpose of heaven and earth. But what does "the achievement for the purpose of heaven and earth" mean? The phrase signifies that humans should become masters of their own destiny at this transition time from cosmic summer to autumn, proclaim autumn's culture, and participate in the harvesting of humans on behalf of heaven and earth.
In the midst of the innumerable disasters and mountainous problems that will come upon us, those who dedicate themselves to the work of spreading the teachings of Sangjenim and Taemonim and of saving many people will attain a genuine achievement. This is the very important thing that humans living in this era should accomplish as masters of their own destiny.
-Tao talk with His Holiness the Jongdosanim of Jeung San Do by Gim Yeong Hyeon-
