• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
• /
• v.38 no.1
• /
• pp.112-160
• /
• 2023

This study examined the Korean folklore "Borrowed Fortune from Heaven" from the perspective of Analytical Psychology, considering it a manifestation of the human psyche, and tried to gain a deeper understanding of what happens in our mind. Through the exploration, the researcher was able to re-identify the ongoing psychological process operating in the depths of our mind, pertaining to the emergence of a new dimension of consciousness. Particularly the researcher was able to gain some insights into how the potential psychic elements for the new consciousness are prepared in the unconscious, how they get integrated into the conscious life, and what is essential for the accomplishment of the process. The tale begins with a poor woodcutter who, in order to escape from poverty, starts gathering twice as much firewood. However, the newly acquired amount disappears overnight, so the woodcutter gets perplexed and curious about where it goes and who is taking it. He seeks to find out the truth, which leads him to an unexpected journey to Heaven. There he learns the truth concerning his very tiny amount of fortune, and discovers another big fortune for an unborn person. By pleading with the ruler of Heaven, the woodcutter borrows that grand fortune, on the condition that he must return it to the owner when the time comes. After that, the woodcutter's life undergoes a series of changes, in which he finally becomes a wealthy farmer, but gradually is reminded more and more that the destined time is approaching. In the end, the fortune is completely transferred to the original owner, resulting in a dramatic twist and the creation of a new life circumstances. The overall plot can be understood as a reflection of the psychological process aiming at the evolution of consciousness through renewal. In this context, the woodcutter can be considered a psychic element that undergoes a continuous transformation in preparation for participating in the upcoming new consciousness. In other words, the changes brought about by this figure can be interpreted as a gradual and increasingly detailed foreshadowing of what the forthcoming new consciousness would be like. Interestingly, as the destined time approaches, the protagonist's anguish in conflict reaches its climax, despite his good performance in his role until then. This effectively portrays the difficulty of achieving a new dimension of consciousness, which requires moving past the last step. All the events in the story ultimately converge at this point. After all, the resolution occurs when the protagonist lets go of everything he has and follows the will of Heaven. This implies what is essential for the renewal of consciousness. Only by completely complying with the entire mind, the potential constituents of the new consciousness that should play important roles in a renewal and evolution of consciousness through experiencing, can participate in the ultimate outcome. As long as they remain trapped in any intermediate stage, the totality of the psyche would develop another detour aiming at the final destination, which means the beginning of another period of suffering carrying a purposeful meaning. The tale suggests that this truth will be applied everywhere that renewal of consciousness is directed, whether for an individual or a society.

• Lingua Humanitatis
• /
• v.1 no.2
• /
• pp.179-196
• /
• 2001

According to Formalist theory, form is not separate from content. Form does not merely convey or express content but can itself produce meaning. The close correlation of the narrative structure, more specifically the time structure of the narrative, and the narrative style of Kim Seung-Ok′s short story′"Travel in Mujin" provides a good example of this argument. The story opens with the first-person narrator, currently living in the bustling city of Seoul, back in his small provincial home town Mujin, where he brings up memories that had been hitherto suppressed. The revived memories are ordered into the narrator′s present thought structure, in effect bridging the vast psychological rift between the lost past and the present. The narrator′s travel in Mujin thus becomes a psychological journey, and Mujin becomes a psychological space where the narrator can experience the continuity of his own being. The "narrating I" excludes the principles of reality from his narrative, concentrating on the inner thoughts, recollections, psychological experience, and the level of consciousness of the "narrated I." This narrative attitude or style expresses the narrator-protagonist′s acceptance and affirmation of the thoughts and actions occur in Mujin (which he had till now been resistant to). It is also an affirmation of the narrative act itself. Before the travel back to Mujin, the narrator-protagonist′s thoughts about his home town was ambivalent-an attitude originating from nostalgia, together with the narrator-protagonist′s ambivalent attitude toward his youthful past. It is a reflection of the narrator-protagonist′s desire for purity intermingled with a disdain for his enervated existence in Seoul. This ambivalence is resolved by the "I" of the narrative present, and Mujin enables him to come to a renewed affirmation of his life.

• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.73-121
• /
• 2017

Disaster is externally an incident that causes enormous damage to society and humanity. Disaster also internally stimulate a variety of personal and collective complexes in the human mind. The sinking of Sewol Ferry in 2014 was a disaster that took away countless lives. People not only in South Korea but around the world were deeply affected by the incident. While directly taking part in disaster mental health support and meeting with people who were sunk in sorrow and helplessness and feeling the collapse of conceit against modern technological civilization, I realised the need to conduct study and research on the conscious and unconscious response from the viewpoint of analytical psychology. This research investigates the response and management of disaster in prehistoric times mainly through myths and petroglyphs. This study aims to consider the problems and improvements of disaster response in the modern times by finding the distinct cultural characteristics and the universal, fundamental, and archetypal human nature inherent in the concepts of disaster and responses to disaster and discovering their meaning and wisdom. Creation myths around the world show that in the beginning there was a disaster as part of the universal creation. Humanity has understood disaster as a periodic renewal of the world by the oppositeness between destruction and creation and had the idea that violation of taboo to be the cause of disaster since prehistoric times. Disaster could be interpreted as the intention of the Self that renews the fundamental consciousness through the externally appearing destructive action. Various rituals performed by man on earth renovates the human consciousness during a mental crisis situation, such as a disaster, and corresponds with the unconscious to create an opportunity for psychological regeneration that seeks harmony. Modern society has neglected the importance of internal dealing and the suffering human soul and concentrated on the external, technological and administrative actions related with disaster response. We cannot determine the occurrence of a disaster, but we can determine how to deal with the disaster. While developing external disaster response, we need to ponder on the meaning of disaster and conduct internal disaster response that care for human mind. Through this, we will understand the meaning of pain and have renewed mature psyche.

• Sim-seong Yeon-gu
• /
• v.31 no.2
• /
• pp.113-150
• /
• 2016

Chobun refers to a temporary grave covered with straw thatch that contains a corpse until its flesh is gone. When all the flesh has rotted away, the straw grave is disassembled and only the bones are retrieved. Therefore, Chobun is an example of a secondary burial custom (German : Doppel Bestattung) that is composed of a first temporary funeral for processing the corpse's flesh, and a second permanent burial of the final remains (bones or ashes). The duration of the temporary burial is determined by the time needed for decomposing the flesh of the deceased. Building a Chobun progresses putrefaction and reduction to bone. In the literature of alchemy, putrefaction and new life occur simultaneously. The purpose of rotting is to make the flesh disappear, leaving only its essence. It is making the physical body enter a spiritual state, so that the dead can enter into a different world. One must endure the unstable rotting process until the smell of flesh has faded. The rotting process is the attitude of accepting the terrible, polluted aspect of the corpse, while maintaining a helpless, passive posture, in order to allow new possibilities. When we try to approach an archetypal aspect of the unconscious, it is often experienced in threatening, aggressive ways. In the individuation process, the unconscious offers us the blessing of a new spiritual awakening and renewed sense of life, only when we have the courage to see this terrifying and contaminated side of our psyche. This is exactly what putrefaction means. Bone and skeleton symbolize the indestructible, imperishable, and essential elements of life. Bone is the minimum unit and foundation for regeneration, where new life can grow. Reduction to bone is moving back to the origin of life, to the womb. Psychologically, it means discarding one's ego-centeredness and allowing the Self to lead the entire process of individuation. Going through the painful process of reduction to a skeleton for the purpose of further development is a declaration of the death of the ego, aiming at the liberation from perishable flesh and acquisition of the spiritual, regenerative, and immortal elements of life. Chobun also denotes the yearly decay and revival of life, especially of vegetal life. In Chobun, this symbolic meaning of the vegetal cycle of life is emphasized to represent the part of life that survives even after death. Vegetation related to Chobun deals with the continuity of life and psychologically with the Self. Images of vegetation are closely related to the existence of life beyond death, which is the existence of the Self, the source of energy that constantly renews and rejuvenates the consciousness.