King, Warrior, Magician, Lover (The Four Devas in Korea)

2009-05-20T22:55:00.000-07:00

The one thing that may unite all people is our psychology. We seem to look different across cultures and ethnicity, we seem to do things differently, we seem to have different habits, taboos, and traditions. But, our inner-world is strikingly similar. So similar that throughout history people have gone half a world away to become assimilated to a foreigner culture within a few years. During the Mongol Empire of the 14th century, Marco Polo and his crew, German engineers, Russian missionaries (among others), worked and lived in China. On a mural of a Buddhist cave is a 14th century painting depicting Chinese and white foreigners mourning the death of the Buddha, the only difference in attire being the color of their skin. In the 16th century European settlers in what is now North America met Indian tribes people and were said to join in on their sacred rituals, hunt with them, and adopt their clothing and language. Even though the people came from "different worlds", they could identify the humanity in their way of life.

This idea brings me to a powerful and magical aspect of psychology: universal archetypes. The champion of this idea in the West was Carl Jung, who described pre-programmed ways of being within people that they project onto the world or develop withing their selves. There is the archetype for the ideal Mother, Father, Old Wise Man, Divine Child, etc. But, when it comes to mature men (and women), there are four archetypes: King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. A balance of these four powers (and there are female counterparts with similar strengths) creates a complete, true, masculine man. Before a person can develop these masculine powers, they must experience and overcome the childish forms of the King, Warrior, Magician, Lover. So it is, people speak of the boy becoming a man (or, the girl becoming a woman). Becoming a man or woman has little to do with how your body changes, but with how your mind changes. Unfortunately, in today's world, the rituals and traditions that would raise boys into men and girls into women have disappeared. In our politically correct and materialistic world, many people follow immature archetypes for much of their lives - living without control of their emotions and with latent internal powers (which have stayed dormant for a long, long time).

In Korea, there is a strong Buddhist tradition. Although Korea is also affected (ever more strongly) by globalization and the adverse cultural affects of it, Koreans hold on strong to their traditional culture for an identity and knowledge, which is evident in that their largest department store in Seoul (Lotte World, which includes a humongous indoor theme park) has a "Traditional Cultural Heritage Museum" inside. I didn't have time when I visited to buy a ticket to the exhibit, but I did become overcome by four large statues near the entrance, which are recreations of the Four Divas (or Guardians) from Buddhist mythology, and whose statues may be found in Buddhist monasteries and temples throughout Korea. Before I saw them I knew nothing about them. But, when I took a look I was mesmerized and filled with joy about this discovery. There were four statues of the same figure, showing four different personalities. Immediately, I knew what I was looking at: the King, Warrior, Magician, Lover archetypes. I read the description (in English near the statues), and it said that in Buddhism, these Four Divas stand at the North, South, East and West of a mythical Buddhist mountain. I person that is guarded by these Four Divas reaches the top of the mountain --- the person that identifies with the four mature archetypes become a complete man.

In the past, for many centuries, before the affects of colonialism by the Japanese, the restructuring after the Korean War, and the rapid movement into Globalization after the iron curtain fell, Korean Buddhists studied and worshipped the Four Divas. They learned about their character, prayed to them in their minds, and peered at their images in temples for hours, impressing their qualities into their minds. In effect, they prepared themselves to become like them, and eventually, with age and maturity, reach the top of the mountain and have the ability to see above the whole world.

In the West we had similar gods or idols that would help people with their inner-development. When civilizations used to disintegrate and topple over, people were immersed in worshipping gods that supposedly controlled earthly phenomena, as in the Olympian Deities, rather than focusing on their own internal powers given by mature archetypes. The powerful tales which resonated strongly with people (the ones which characters or situations that resembles their inner archetypal make-up) were no longer told, and instead, superstitious stories which provoked fear and ignorance, or plays which exhibited the natures of immature archetypes, were the basis of people's reality. Before the fall of Rome, many Roman citizens were given a daily portion of bread and were allowed to sit in theaters all day and watch dramas. Many people were vagrants and took their plays and bread from the government, and others had small jobs but would retire at a theater or go and drink wine and gossip with others. In effect, people were born watching immature archetypes played out, and learned how to bring that drama into their own lives. For lack of bringing-up mature masculine men (and mature feminine women), the Roman Empire could not hold its grasp, and it fell to powerful leaders (men and women who ignored the fabricated and deginerate culture of Rome, and developed their own inner mature archetypes and) who were silently building their own kingdoms, preserving/progressing in their own cultures, and uniting within their own slum languages (such as proto-French, Spanish, German, Italian, which were all slurred forms of Latin).

In today's culture we have the peculiar habit of watching plays and stories, many of which have characters that are not developed fully are or good as role-models. Nowadays we watch other people living their lives within our civilization (reality TV) and the drugs that keeps people paying attention to the drama is complex emotional situations, whose roots are in their identification with immature archetypes. What will happen to our world if young children are watching adults who act like children instead of doing what they used to do---watch and study the characters of heroes or guardians, like the Four Divas? What kind of world will we live in when all the old people alive never developed to their true potential? Who do children have to look-up to?

Only time will tell.

First Post --- Views on Daejeon

2009-05-18T00:20:00.000-07:00

I live in a "small" (1.4 million), and relatively new city called Daejeon [대전]. It is well organized, clean, inexpensive, diverse in quality and type of neighborhood, and -often- incredibly beautiful. It is a big and humble player in both the contemporary and futuristic movements in Korea, including technological and environmental movements. Forever the city has been isolated from all other cities (Seoul and Daegu, which are within and hour by train) and even today it keeps its unique character.

My home is in what is called 태거노발리 [Techno Valley]. Less than a decade ago it was mostly farm land, and was effective at separating Daejeon from its closest urban neighbor, a small and old city called Sintanjin [신탄진]. Now, the land is home to a recently built small town with many 30 floor apartment buildings, and surrounded by an area with over 20 major research institutions and 40 corporate research centers (according to Wikipedia). These places specialize in anything from biotechnology to nuclear physics. So, when I used to go to HOFs or modern bars around my home, friends and I would often be pestered by drunk Korean scientists excited to talk with foreigners. It was kind of troubling because as I figured they were smart and intelligent guys, the broken English and stupid drunk humor didn't give off much of an impression. Recently I met an American scientist who has been helping Korea with their space program - trying to find the best place to send a ship to Mars for research. Apparently Korea employs loads of foreign PhDs to do work for the country's ambitions.

The city held an international exposition there in 1993, and the whole area made for the event was preserved and converted into a scientific theme park called "expo science park". The park contains moder architectural and engineering feats which are the first of their kind, and perhaps not even duplicated anywhere else. Next to the park is an attractive National Science Museum which contains a biosphere. But, for all of it (including a monorail connecting the two sites) it is usually barren of customers, except for on weekends when it is frequented by curious children and their families.

I suppose that since there is new money here - brought on by the technology industry - the city is ripe with natural and constructed beauty. Many of the apartment complexes around my home are in clusters and in between them are trees, playgrounds, sculptures, circular walking paths, and even traditional Korean style sitting areas in tree houses. In the "new downtown" area (maybe 20 years old) there is a square mile of young, 15-feet tall trees freshly surrounding the new government complex. Parks with traditional Korean buildings, walking paths, gymnastic-like exercise equipment and small sports fields are everywhere, and tree-lined streets are found in abundance. Maybe one of the only environmental (and large aesthetic) downsides would be the river, which is unusually shallow - but, I am not sure of why it is like that.

The city is surrounded by small mountain ranges and hills on all sides, and is comfortably remote from other urban areas such as the sprawling monster of Seoul or the smaller and more industrial Daegu. If you look on the green map to the right you will see Daejeon's province highlighted in pink (Seoul is the dark green area far above it). The fact that it is far isolated gives Daejeon a cultural distinctiveness from the "big city" and other parts of Korea. It is commonly held that people in Daejeon are simple and kind, while those in Seoul are often busy and a bit rude. All in all though, I think the differences are not that large, its just that Seoul had been contaminated by all the good and bad of cosmopolitan society, and Daejeon culture has maintained many Confucian and Buddhist ways of conduct within it. Certainly, it is a beautiful sight to see and meet many people who seem so comfortable where they are and are like a family. I am not sure if it has to do with people living and growing as families in the same city, but I do know that Seoul has so many displaced people that it seems to lack this quality. Even so, many people from other cities - and other countries, for that matter - come to live in Daejeon because the growing economy demands it. At least the tourists are few (despite the stares and looks I often get from people here, which I hardly ever get in Seoul).

Parts of the city are being built up and expanded quickly, so it will be interesting to see what the future will hold. Especially is the new continues to be unique and progressive, I imagine that Daejeon will continue to grow into one of those wonderful national but yet modern and internationally-playing cities.

Different Side of Korea

King, Warrior, Magician, Lover (The Four Devas in Korea)

First Post --- Views on Daejeon