2020/12/05

관세음보살 - 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전

관세음보살 - 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전

관세음보살

위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전.
둘러보기로 가기검색하러 가기
관세음보살
1025년경 중국(북송)에서 제작된 관세음보살 목상
1025년경 중국(북송)에서 제작된 관세음보살 목상
산스크리트어अवलोकितेश्वर 아왈로키테슈와라
중국어聖觀音
일본어聖観音しょうかんのん 쇼칸논[*]
한국어관세음보살
몽골어ᠨᠢᠳᠦ ᠪᠡᠷ
ᠦᠵᠡᠭᠴᠢ
 미그지드 잔라이식
태국어พระอวโลกิเตศวรโพธิสัตว์
티베트어སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ 스퍈 라스 그직스
베트남어Quán Thế Âm Bồ-tát
숭배 정보
종파대승불교밀교
속성대자대비

관세음보살(觀世音菩薩, 산스크리트어अवलोकितेश्वर avalokiteśvara ‘모든 것을 내려다보시는 지배자’)은 불교의 보살 가운데 가장 잘 알려진 보살 중 하나로, 석가모니의 입적 이후 미륵이 출현할 때까지 중생들을 고통으로부터 지켜주는 대자대비(大慈大悲)의 보살이다관자재보살(觀自在菩薩), 광세음보살(光世音菩薩), 관세자재보살(觀世自在菩薩), 관세음자재보살(觀世音自在菩薩), 또는 줄여서 관음보살이나 관음(觀音) 등으로도 불린다. 중국에서는 남해관음(南海觀音), 남해고불(南海古佛)이라고도 불린다. 모든 부처의 연민(compassion)이 구체화된 화신이며, 티베트에서는 달라이 라마를 관세음보살의 현신으로 보고 그를 받든다.

설명[편집]

셀 수 없는 항하사겁(恒河沙劫)전에, 관세음(觀世音)부처님이 세상에 나오셨을 때, 관세음보살에게 '듣고 생각하고 닦는 지혜[聞思修]로 삼마지(三摩地)에 들어가라'고 가르쳐주었다. '환술(幻術)처럼 듣는 성품을 훈습하여 듣는 성품을 수행하는 금강삼매[如幻聞薰聞修金剛三昧]'라고도 한다.(대불정여래밀인수증요의제보살만행수능엄경) 여환문훈문수금강삼매는 여환삼마지, 여환삼매라고도 한다.

각 언어별 명칭[편집]

산스크리트어한국어한자비고
Aryavalokitesvara관세음보살觀世音신성한 관세음보살보살의 기본형태
Ekādaśamukha십일면관음十一面얼굴이 11개인 관세음보살모든 것을 가르침
Sahasra-bhuja Sahasra-netra천수천안千手千眼천개의 팔, 천개의 눈을 가진 관세음보살모든 것을 보고 모든 일을 도와줌
Cintāmani-cakra여의륜관음如意輪소원을 들어주는 관세음보살여의주를 가짐
Hayagrīva마두관음馬頭말의 얼굴을 가진 관세음보살화난 모습
Cundi'준제관음准提어머님을 상징하는 준제관음보살여덟개의 손이 있으며, 깨끗한 모성을 상징
Amoghapāśa불공견색관음不空羂索중생을 건져 제도
Bhrkuti
Pāndaravāsinī白衣
Parnaśabarī
Rakta Shadaksharī
Śvetabhagavatī
Udaka-śrī

관련서적[편집]

  • Alexander Studholme: The Origins of Om Manipadme Hum. Albany NY: State University of New York Press, 2002 ISBN 0-7914-5389-8
  • Kuan-Yin: The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara (2001) by Chün-fang Yü, ISBN-13: 978-0231120296, Columbia University Press
  • Buddha in the Crown: Avalokitesvara in the Buddhist Traditions of Sri Lanka (1999) by James P. McDermott, Journal of the American Oriental Society119 (1): 195-

외부 링크[편집]

2020/12/04

Interview – One Light Healing Touch

Interview – One Light Healing Touch





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An In-Depth Biographical Interview with Ron Lavin, MA

by Rev. Ann Emerson, March 7, 2002
“I first studied mystical teachings in Southern Mexico with a Zapotec Shaman in 1970. I learned ‘Out of Body’ work, ‘channeling’ of the Spirit Keepers of the pyramids at Monte Al Bon, and about the many uses of sacred plants. Later in 1981, I became a student at the Berkeley Psychic Institute in California, where I learned the mysterious Rosicrucian teachings from a brilliant master, Rev. Lewis Bostwick, with many spiritual insights, techniques and teachings ”



Ann: In what spiritual tradition were you raised?
Ron: I was born Jewish; my parents were second-generation Americans and didn’t put much emphasis on religion. My father became interested in Science of Mind. He worked hard, had a business and traveled regularly. And he loved his gardens. He raised irises, tulips and roses. We had a huge garden in our back yard. We lived in the northern suburbs of Chicago, in Highland Park, IL.

My maternal grandmother wanted us to follow the Jewish faith, so my mother agreed to send us to Hebrew school and Temple. I went a few times and saw that the rabbis didn’t even believe in what they were saying. As I watched them, their auras would vibrate radically, I instinctively knew they were just mouthing the teachings. And because these messengers were not faithful to the message, I couldn’t believe in it either. I became disenchanted and stopped going. When I was younger however, I had a very unusual and beautiful spiritual experience.

In youth I was kind, sweet and gentle. I had always seen auras and felt in harmony with the sacredness in people and liked and respected them. But I was also a big guy and my passive nature led me to become an obvious target. I got into a couple of fights at school; but never understood why people wanted to fight. I didn’t appreciate the possibility of hurting people or of getting hurt myself. I really believed in peace, joy and in the sacred and had an inherent love and respect for people. I often went for long walks in the woods and asked Spirit to please tell me, why I was so different? What was I missing? Was I on the right planet? And how could I better understand and get along with some of the strange behavior of others.

On one particular day, I was walking in the woods. As confused as any eight year old could possibly be, I asked God, “What is this all about? Why can’t I understand people? Why am I so alone? Why can’t I be normal like others?” It was all so weird and strange. People said one thing but I knew they believed in something completely different. And in an unforgettable moment, I had a communication from ‘Spirit’. The voice said to me, “You are not alone, for I am with you. I have always been with you and I will always be with you. You are loved, and whenever you want the truth, you have only to look within, and there you will find the Truth.” I stopped, breaking out in a cold sweat and thought, “What was that? What is happening to me?” Because the voice was both inside and yet outside of me at the same time, I said aloud, “Who are you? Who is this?” After a pause, the words fell out of my very own lips, “Jesus.” Then I said, “Oh, my God” as I felt warm tears leaking from my eyes and sliding down over my cheeks.

Being Jewish and very young, the only thing I knew about Jesus was what I was told. The Jews killed Jesus. The Russian pogroms, the World Wars and the Holocaust were all retribution against the Jews for His death. I had no real understanding of what was what. And as this Lightening bolt experience struck, splitting me in two, rushes of shifting perspectives washed through me, changing me forever. I had Jesus inside of me! I could never tell anyone or they would think that I was insane. And I felt totally estranged from Judaism. It was very strange being Jewish, but I knew where to find my source of truth!! Thank you God! This great gift has guided me through my entire life. Religion became a dry something that was taught out of books, with dogma, by messengers who didn’t truly believe. I looked at other religions, and I saw and felt the same sort of strange dryness in them all. But in spirituality I felt a real living connection to the Creator and since that moment, this in dwelling spirit has been my guiding light.

Ann: I know you’ve studied the mystical traditions of many cultures. Did you study Kabala and many of the other mystical teachings?
Ron: I first studied mystical teachings in Southern Mexico with a Zapotec Shaman. I learned ‘Out of Body’ work, ‘channeling the Spirit Keepers of Monte Al Bon’ and about the many uses of sacred plants. Later in 1981, I became a student at the Berkeley Psychic Institute in California, where I learned the mysterious Rosicrucian teachings from a brilliant master, Rev. Lewis Bostwick, with many spiritual insights, techniques and teachings. They included Eastern psychic and spiritual healing, accessing and using Kundalini, Out of Body work and much more. Years later, I met and took refuge and experienced empowerments with Kalu Rimpoche and learned some of the vast Tibetan teachings. And still later, I worked with Native American Shamans, Harley Swiftdeer, Sun Bear and African Shaman, Elie Hein, and then I met and learned from Dr. Brugh Joy and Dr. Richard Moss. I then studied a range of in-depth esoteric teachings and the chain of learning continues.

Ann: Could you see a harmony working at the spiritual level through any of them? At the religious level they seem to just bump into each other, but at a spiritual level?
Ron: Absolutely, all the spiritual systems, all the spiritual teachings of all the different societies on our planet dovetail. They all have the same beliefs. They all have and point to the same infinite love and respect. The Koran, the Tibetans, the East and Western Indians all honor the same beings, Christ, White Buffalo-Calf Woman, and the great sages and seers. Living spiritual reality on this planet is one. It is the theme of this planet. The religions are dry and old and in many cases the texts are so archaic that there are many different translations, none of which is perfectly clear. Even with the Bible-and its many translations-the Council of Nicea altered and removed so many things in the Bible, and therefore, much confusion exists with each version. Now, with finding the Dead Sea Scrolls, many things are being seen more clearly and change is upon us. So, as far as religions, I think they are very young, whereas spirituality is the grandfather teacher on this planet. The essence of life, truth, free will and unconditional love are the reigning realities. The laws of God are clear, if not easy to follow, it’s the laws of man that make life so difficult.

Ann: Do you have any spiritual heroes in your background, somebody you’ve read about or somebody that you actually worked with
Ron: I have many…. In my healing work, I almost always align with the Christ energy and/or the Archangelic energies of Gabrielle, Uriel, Raphael and Michael. I invoke their presences and literally work with them. Another of my ‘heroes’, perhaps not so well known in America is Sri Ramana Maharshi. He lived in India and had a spiritual awakening at age thirteen. He was born in the late eighteen hundreds and had a near death experience realizing that he was not his body, but that he was spirit! He traveled a thousand miles across India-from the north to Tiruvannamalai in the South. Just outside of the town of Tiruvannamalai is a huge, sacred red mountain called Arunachala. He first lived in town where he was continually in a trance state. People abused him because he wasn’t physically conscious, so eventually he moved into a cave on the sacred mountain, Arunachala. While in this cave, the tigers and the giant cobras came and befriended him. So to came a woman, who in her mercy or grace began to care for and feed him. Later the town began to know there was a boy living in this cave and people started going to look at him. He would say these incredibly sage things, and he later became one of the ruling spiritual guardians of India from 1900 to 1950. Everyone came to him, businessmen, Vedic scholars, those who wanted healing or the truth of the sacred Indian texts. He gave them enlightening answers and people would heal in his presence. They built an ashram for him, and he sometimes came down from his cave to the ashram and gave audiences. So Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo another great Indian sage became the spiritual guides of India for half a century. Indian leaders such Disraeli and Mahatma Gandhi were his students. I stayed at his ashram, visited his cave and I had several very beautiful experiences of his energy. When I went the first time, I sat down and I thought, “Okay, I’m going to meditate.” I didn’t get a chance to do anything! The cave meditated me! I went into this altered state, and I had a “Unity Consciousness” vision, which led my wife Penny and me to sell our condo on the ocean in Long Beach, NY and to move here to Rhinebeck, NY.

Ann: So he had already died, but his energy was still there?
Ron: Absolutely, he died in 1950, but his energy lives in the cave that he occupied for many years and continues to hold his remains. His energy is so pronounced, that anyone who visits his cave will have an experience that will delight and change his or her life. That’s what happened to me in 1993. When Penny and I returned home in 1994, we sold our home and moved to Rhinebeck, because of my experience of his presence and of the powerful vision it evoked. So he ranks as one of my spiritual heroes.

Another who comes to mind was called Daskalos, which is Greek for teacher. His name was actually Stylianos Atteshlis. I went to Cyprus and I spent some weeks learning from him. He was a master healer who taught me many wonderful things, which had a powerful impact on my life. He could and did many of the things that Christ was said to have done.

I was made aware of him by some of my students in Paris and Brussels who had met and studied with him. My students told me that, in some way my energy was like his. OK, I thought, “I’ll keep that in mind”. On a subsequent trip to London I met one of his long time students and was led to an astrologer who had done readings for many of those in Daskalos’ inner circle, but I still didn’t know whom he was. There are always lots of tall tales about healer’s accomplishments, but one never really know to what extent they are true. The astrologer suggested that the coincidence of our meeting and my reading itself indicated that I might be being guided to meet him. He then recommended that I read three books on Daskalos by Kyriacos Markides. I read the books and was so blown away that I went to see him. It took me several years to carve out the time to visit Cyprus, but I did, and I thank spirit for the grace and gift of our meeting. About a year later he died and was ushered into the next dimension by his beloved spirit guide St. John and continues his good works in their company.

I feel that Daskalos was a great man. And when I think of Daskalos and Jesus Christ I have the same sort of feeling-that here were two great men (obviously, not exactly the same) who walked the earth and did only good. Both taught by example, and honored people and left them better than they found them. I find these people great models for ways of living. They opened themselves and their hearts to allow the highest energies come through them. These men stand out for me and I call them my spiritual heroes.

Ann: I’ve heard stories that another Christ that is on the earth at this time. Have you heard stories like that?
Ron: Well, the Casey readings (and he was another great man) tell us that this is so. Edgar Casey predicted that the new messiah would be in place on Earth in 1997, and I have a knowing that this “energy” has come to the world. I don’t know whether the messiah is an individual or an energetic. It certainly could be a Christ Consciousness brought to us by the grace of God, from the Van Allen Belt, by way of a hole in our ozone layer. But, I personally feel that the second coming of Christ is an energetic that all people will open to and receive directly from God. And by virtue of being on this planet, we all have the opportunity to embrace, hold and grow with this energy. I know that the Christ Consciousness is here and as I continue working with it and unfolding, while traveling along this path I’ll continue to embody more and more of the Christ Consciousness, for it is most assuredly here now. And as we embody it, it remains our gift directly from God forever.

Ann: Are there any spiritual teachers involved in hands on healing that you want to study with that you haven’t yet?
Ron: Not in this moment. I’ve always felt that direct experience with the Christ energy, my own higher self, my Archangelic guidance and life itself is my pathway. I took Sanyas, which is pledging my spiritual troth to God, many years ago

Ann: What is Sanyas?
Ron: Sanyas is a Sanskrit word from India. It is a pledge that one takes to follow the path of Light and spiritual unfoldment. When I first began teaching One Light Healing Touch in Berlin in 1985, I met a lot of followers of Osho, then known as Bhagavan Sri Rajneesh. They appreciated my work, and were all pleading with me to take Sanyas with Rajneesh, because he was a true enlightened guru or spiritual guide. I thought about it, but it didn’t feel right. As my students continued to try to convince me, I asked my higher self what to do. I was told that I had already taken Sanyas and didn’t need to take it again. I had found my “inner guru”, which was my own inner Source of Truth or higher self. So when I hear about someone that I want to experience, I go and work with them. But I don’t feel the need to seek out another teacher.

Ann: You don’t need to be a disciple?
Ron: Disciple is a very interesting word. Being a disciple means taking Sanyas to God and allowing a person who has an enlightened God-sense about them to help guide you. That’s basically what a guru is and does. Although, it’s very difficult for any man to hold that high space and in some way not mix it with his own thoughts, confusion’s and human imperfections. That’s where many gurus go astray. And so I honor the connection to my own higher self, and I like the radiant energy that I can call in when I call in Christos, (Greek for Christ) Allah or the energy of Eloheim or Brahman, etc. I invoke these energies and they lift me, so going out to find a Guru is not really on the agenda right now. The important thing for me is sharing the practices and techniques with people who need them, so that they can learn to open, strengthen and to receive their own inner guidance and know their higher truth.

Fall in Brewster, NY – Robin Lavin©2010



Ann: You were talking about when Christ comes again, that it might be an energetic and not a person. Even in the time of Jesus, if Jesus was on the side of a hill, and he was talking to three thousand people-and that was just counting the men and not the women and children, so it might have been five thousand people-he definitely did not talk to them directly, because they couldn’t have heard him. So I’ve always seen it as if the Holy Spirit fell on everyone, or the Spirit fell on them and they were lifted, and they knew that something profound had happened.
Ron: Just so! It’s interesting that you should say that. At the Sermon on the Mount, people could not possibly have heard Him speak. When I saw a reenactment of that sermon on TV I said, “Aha! That’s why I was given the column of light as a healer and teacher.” As you know, the Column of Light is the result of invoking spiritual grace or the Holy Spirit. This invoked energetic, or light column can encompass a huge area and that energy would lift all the people to a place of wholeness or bliss consciousness. We replicate this energy in our OLHT Schools, as you know. I don’t know if it has reached the intensity of what Christ did, but god is accessible to us all and I know that in our groups, when that energy is running, people reach a very high and pure state. They’re not thinking about their laundry lists, the rent or their physical bodies. A very powerful force brings them into a place of open heartedness, and warmth of being and of feeling profoundly connected to themselves, one-another and the universe. If that was what Jesus was doing on the Mount I would not be surprised. This is a beautiful healing tool that has been given to all of us by Spirit. It may be that this energetic is the vehicle of the Second Coming.

Ann: Have you had any profound spiritual experiences connected to a great sickness or connected to the death of someone you loved or to seeing death?
Ron: In 1981, I had a 103-degree fever and did not sleep for eleven days. It came on spontaneously and every time I closed my eyes, I saw either past-life death pictures (pictures of myself dying in one or more of my past lives) or I was with a fifteen-foot-tall Blue Angelic Being, flying past the planets, through the universe, with intense speed, accompanied by light streaks and light shows. I later learned that my kundalini had been activated. This kundalini energy would shoot up my spine and I would shoot out of my body and would be out there flying. While watching Jodi Foster’s movie Contact, where she’s flying through these light streams was exactly like my experience in 1981. Seeing the movie, I got cold chills saying, “Yes, that’s what it really looks like.” I had my kundalini turned on and had a supreme energy clean out for eleven days. That was a spiritual ‘illness’ related experience. When it was happening, I remember thinking that instead of a life review before death, I was having a ‘past life’ review before death. And I thought I was either dying, going crazy or both. I had a few other experiences with internal winds (intense sounds in the ears) and with heat and fire, flying and so forth, but that eleven days, ranks one of as the most incredible experiences ever and it resulted in my loosing twenty-five pounds!

All my friends thought that I was really crazy in that time, and I couldn’t help but agree with them. That experience came on spontaneously and I treasure it as a spiritual gift, an epic cleansing that would take me through the rest of my life, less encumbered by past-life energies in my kundalini channels. It was an extraordinarily interesting and deep, deep cleansing.

Ann: Did you feel a difference in your own life after that?
Ron: Everything was energetically lighter; my face looked a bit different. I felt more relaxed. Many things were different. I cleared out the residues of hundreds of past lives.

Ann: Did you go to a doctor?
Ron: I called a doctor that I knew to get some pills to help me to sleep or to find out if I was dying or what. I started telling him my story and saw by his face that there was nothing he could or would do for me, so I thanked him and left.

Ann: I know that you practice meditation on a regular basis. Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Ron: I think the greatest gift anyone can have is a daily meditation! Meditation is learning how to come into a very silent place and listen to the indwelling God-that was Edgar Casey’s definition. Casey said, ‘Meditation is listening to God, and prayer is talking to God”. In our OLHT School that you have attended, I created a process to teach ‘practices’ that strengthen and clear the energy field, leading us into a place of meditation. Grounded meditation allows us to feel our entire body and our connection to the Earth. I also strongly recommend doing daily practices. The six sacred healing practices include, meditation, visualization, sound-work, breath-work, movement and sacred ceremony. Any practice that brings us into a deep and quiet meditative place is a good one. Listening to our heartbeat, and watching our breath move in and out, while sitting in the space between the breaths, called Vipassina, is an excellent practice. Chanting, breath-work or movement gets one into the silent space too. Getting into the silent space is the primary goal. And spending time in “Silence” is a powerful place of deep receptive personal healing and spiritual information and/or guidance.

The other day I had a student here and was teaching her the practice of whirling and I spontaneously jumped up and started whirling too. The energy was so strong I couldn’t help but whirl. Sometimes in the morning I’ll whirl for about ten minutes, then move into a sitting meditation. Ten minutes of whirling is especially good when in a hurry. In fact, it’s very beautiful. I also very much like using a series of breath techniques. Harley Swiftdeer, a Native American shamanic teacher of mine taught a series of 10 beautiful breath techniques. I’ll often do five or six of these different breaths. This also ushers me into that wonderful place of silence. It’s important to get into that special space every day and the tools we use may include a wide range of practices to hold our interest and keep us fresh. As long as we do something that we love, something that brings us into that connection with God the creator, opening our heart and bringing us into that flow, that’s golden!!

Ann: You dance and do movement; I was wondering-if somebody is really into basketball or something like that, and they are just going full out, they must be opening every circuit in their body, right?
Ron: Absolutely right. If you can get into the rhythm, into the dance, that’s it! I’m sure many athletes get into that place, especially runners. Runners get into a space where they are feeling like they are flying, talking to their legs, setting various paces. It’s an amazing space. Can you tell that I was a runner? I’ve guided the energy through every part of my body, developing an energetic flow where all becomes silence. I was a runner for many years and that was the something that was most incredible. Also, bicycling-I would bicycle into Armstrong woods, and other redwood forests in Northern California, moving into a deep meditative space, riding the bicycle and smelling the pine scent, seeing the shafts of light coming through the trees. Magnificent! All of these things are meditative practices. The most important thing is to connect with that very deep, beautiful meditative level, allowing God’s messages to come through to us. Whatever we’re told to do, do it! It’s important to come to a place of “beingness”, and beingness is developed and evolves through meditation and connecting to Spirit on a daily basis.

Ann: I know when I talk about spiritual things, people say, “How can you tell the difference between listening to your ego, and having a mystical experience-like hearing something that is both internal and external, that you know is not your ego?” How can you help people to discern the difference?
Ron: Well, that’s one of the most difficult things to do. I would say that when we are thinking about what we need to do, it’s our ego talking. But if you get to the place where the voice is coming to you and gives you information that your mind does not know, then it’s Spirit speaking, not ego. We have to go to the place where the information is flowing from a higher source than our intellect. Our intellect is the dominator of the ego. Because the intellect is based on empirical experience, saying, “Do this or that will happen, and I can prove to you that if you don’t do this, that will happen.” This is the intellect saying, “I know what life is like, I can replicate experiences, so trust me.” When you wake up in the middle of the night, and our inner voice is saying, “Take action on this!” it’s energy coming from Spirit telling us what we must do. When it’s an absolute directive and we’re compelled to do it. That’s Spirit guiding us!

Ann: Is a spiritual community important for you personally?
Ron: Yes, it is, but not the way spiritual community has been expressed up to this point. I have friends who run communities, and I’ve visited many other communities. What I’ve seen is that there are often pecking orders, from the top down, whether a community is centered on a yogi, an agriculture project or a guru or other focal points. I visited the Da Love Ananda community in Calistoga County, CA, in 1985. Da Love preached celibacy, yet he had ten wives! He told his people they couldn’t look one another in the eye with feeling, because that feeling was to be directed only to him. I heard this, felt the un-ease within the community and knew, “I don’t want to live here!” What I seek in a spiritual community is still in process of development. I see need for community as a network of people across the country or the world, who hold certain ideals and levels of energy, and work with putting their love into action making things happen. This rings of spirituality and community. I don’t feel that living with a group of people works for me, because I need to be close to nature, and to work, practice daily meditations, teach, give healing sessions and to develop an array of projects in my own time and at my own pace, without being disturbed. I find traditional community difficult, but it certainly works for many. I spent time teaching at Rajneesh Humaniversity in Holland and saw and felt how that ashram worked. I visited the Mukdananda ashram in Northern California and Sri Ramana Maharshi’s and Sai Baba’s Ashrams in India too. To me, spirituality is having a continual direct communication from a Living Spirit and developing an ever strengthening and growing commitment to following this inner guidance. Surrendering to Spirit and following ones destiny and bliss, with support, networking, creativity and love is my idea of community.

Ann: Do you believe that when you come to the earth you come because it is a school? Because there is some teaching that we are doing on our spiritual journey?
Ron: Oh yes! I first heard that concept from Bucky Fuller in the late 60’s. He called this place “Starship Earth”. I do believe that this is a schoolhouse. I just answered e-mail to a student in Berlin. She’s been having dreams of Nazi persecution in a past life. She was told by a fellow student that she signed up for this sort of experience in this incarnation, and that she knew about it, as spirit, beforehand. She said she was sick of hearing this kind of nonsense. She asked what I had to say about it. I said that as spirit, we make choices to incarnate to learn life’s lessons on Earth. We don’t choose the specifics of the life or the way that the lessons are going to be given to us. We choose the number of essential lessons and the potential extra credit lessons that we may have opportunity to learn before this life is completed. We have no control over the mechanics. Most interestingly, in spirit we have no contact with earthly emotions and so, decisions on what we choose to take on in life may be bolder before we experience incarnation. We do know that our life lessons will facilitate our growth and movement along our unfolding spiritual path. Yet we don’t know if our lessons make us potential concentration camp inmates, or that we may become abused children, etc. All we know is that we have free will to make our life choices. When we get into the body and start having to deal with emotions, it makes it much more difficult to deal with life’s tragedies and problems. As St. Paul said, “It’s not what you say that kills you, it’s what you withhold.” Life lessons have great emotional costs, releasing emotions allow us to integrate life lessons more easily, so that we can move on and grow spiritually. This is easier said than done. However, this is a schoolhouse and we are learning how to bring the perfection of Spirit into the physical form.

Ann: So you believe in past lives and then what? When you die, if you had a good life do you go on a certain way, or if you’ve been a miserable person do you have to come back as a dog?
Ron: I think dogs are great! A friend of mine said he wanted to come back as a pink poodle in Miami on the end of a diamond leash.

When we get to the point where we’ve learned all the lessons we’re ready to learn in this lifetime, we decide, “Enough, I’m done. I’m tired out.” Then we give it up and have a life review and see how many people we’ve helped, how many people we’ve hurt and what’s next to learn. We then make the choice about whether we want to come back and attempt to heal the parts that haven’t yet been healed. And we are the ones who judge ourselves! When leaving the body, we are one with God and we, as God’s instrument, as God’s extension, see what we need to heal and improve. Later we make the choice, “Yes, I want to go back as the doctor, the dancer, the whatever or not.” That’s the cycle of coming back. “I’m going to come back as a football hero and be carried on the shoulders of all my teammates. I’m going to right the wrongs of what I saw happening in this lifetime.” The problem is that we still have to make our choices on earth, and we have another opportunity to screw them up. When we are out of body we see two people with whom we have spiritual agreements, our future parents. We have an agreement or contract, with one or the other, and we see that they can teach us something and that we can help them with something. So, we then come back through the cycle of reincarnation.

Ann: Where does a new soul come from?
Ron: Different planets or star systems. Perhaps a particular soul hasn’t been on this planet before. There are lots of galaxies with lots of solar systems, and Beings matriculate through them. If they decide they want to come to this planet to learn earthly lessons they come here. They’re first timers-they’re not quite sure where their bodies are; they’re not quite sure how everything works on their bodies or their minds. Old souls are beings that have incarnated on this planet many, many, many times. They’ve been in different parts of God’s kingdom and choose this one. And not all lives are material, flesh and blood. Some forms are non-physical others have different chemical bases. This is the planet of the golden mean and the number 5, meaning we have two legs, two arms and a head and a carbon chemical base. Different planets have different systems, and coming into this kind of a “body” is new for new souls-often it’s a little awkward. Perhaps you know someone like that?

Ann: Are you getting a sense as you travel?
Ron: I really do believe so yes. What I am sensing is that the infrastructure for instantaneous, worldwide communication and change is in place, and people are starting to avail themselves of it. The cruelty and the dictators still exist and still play the same old games. But this way of being is changing. There are many souls attempting to live their lives in a way that will help the species to evolve. The old ways of being, where the individual considers himself the center of the world are fast disappearing. We are all evolving towards the embodiment of the pure unconditional love and goodness of the creator energy.

Tracy McMillian - 業/karma에 대해 생각할 때면 어김없이 떠오르는 한 사람이 있다. Tony...

(14) Tracy McMillian - 業/karma에 대해 생각할 때면 어김없이 떠오르는 한 사람이 있다.


Tracy McMillian
6 November ·



業/karma에 대해 생각할 때면 어김없이 떠오르는 한 사람이 있다. Tony Schwartz 이다. 

오래 전 <What Really Matters> 를 도서관에서 빌려 읽기 시작했을 때만해도 나는 그가 <The Art of the Deal>의 ghostwriter 인 줄 몰랐다. 게다가, 그가 왜 책의 첫머리에서 The Art... 의 성공을 기뻐하기는 커녕, 출판기념 파티에 참석도 하지 않은 채 씁쓸한 기분으로 미국의 구루를 인터뷰하기 위해 떠났는 지는 당췌 이해가 가지 않았다. 

하지만 내가 책을 읽을 당시만 해도 트럼프는 그냥 부동산 재벌/리얼리티쇼 호스트의 이미지에 국한되어 있었고, 빨리 본 내용을 읽고 싶은 마음에 슈와르츠와 트럼프와의 관계에 대해 별 관심을 두지 않았다. 더우기, 당시는 트럼프가 이후 미국 대통령이 되어 끝을 모르는 미친 짓의 향연을 펼치리라곤 꿈에도 생각지 않았으니깐.

악몽의 4년 세월을 보내며 가끔 슈바르츠를 생각했다. 트럼프가 유명해지기 시작한 계기, 그가 유능하고 성공한 사업가란 이미지를 미국인들에게 심어준 계기는 바로 <The Art of the Deal>의 출간에 있었다. 슈바르츠가 트럼프란 한 인간을 거의 거짓에 가까울 정도로 윤색하지 않았더라면 수십년 후 트럼프가 과연 미국 대통령이 될 수 있었을까? 라는 질문에 나는 단연 NO 라고 답하겠다. 그런 차원에서, 슈바르츠의 거짓은 수많은 사람에게 비극과 분노와 좌절과 절망의 씨앗을 뿌린 것이다. 자신의 조그만 출세와 돈벌이를 위해 거짓말을 한 그 결과를 The Art.. 를 저술할 당시 그는 과연 상상이나 했을까? 

그가 양심이 있는 성찰하는 사람이라면, 미국의 현자를 찾아다닐 정도로 the spiritual aspect 를 생각하는 사람이라면 지난 4년간 엄청 괴로워했을 것이라 짐작해 보았다. 자신의 업보를 생각하면서..

아니나 다를까.. 2020년 9월 <Dealing with the Devil: My Mother, Trump, And Me>란 오디오북이 나왔다. 아마존의 책 소개에 다음 구절이 나온다.

"... He confronts the shame that arose after he helped craft a persona for Donald Trump in The Art of the Deal that 30 years later aided in his election as president.."


그는 이후 좋은 일을 많이 한 것으로 알고 있다. 하지만 죽을 때까지 선한 일을 열심히 할 지라도 그가 지은 악업을 다 상쇄하지는 못할 것이라 본다. 그 괴물이 남긴 상처는 너무나 깊고도 넓어 도대체 몇년이 지나야 힐링이 될 지도 모르거니와, 그 괴물을 기점으로 또 다른 괴물이 나올까 하는 두려움도 사람들 마음에 심어주었음을 부인할 수 없다.

지나보면 짧다고 생각되는 것이 인생이다. 정말 순간이다. 이 순간의 시간에 What really matters 를 생각지 않고, 자신의 양심을 팔아 타인을 속이면 그 업보는 당대, 아니면 next life에 필히 갚게 된다. 업이 크면 클수록 두고 두고 갚게 된다. 슈바르츠를 보며 반면교사로 삼아야 할 것이다. 죽을 때 regret 없이 죽을 수 있도록 끝없이 자신을 점검해 보아야 할 일이다.



Tony Schwartz (author)
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Tony Schwartz
Born May 2, 1952 (age 68)[1]
Alma mater University of Michigan
Occupation Journalist, advocate, professional speaker
Known for Ghostwriting Trump: The Art of the Deal
Spouse(s)
Deborah Pines
​(m. 1979)​[1]


Tony Schwartz (born May 2, 1952)[1] is an American journalist and business book author who is best known for ghostwriting[2] Trump: The Art of the Deal.


Contents
1Early life and education
2Career
3Books
4References
5External links
Early life and education[edit]

Schwartz was born to Irving Schwartz[3] and Felice Schwartz, the founder of the nonprofit organization Catalyst, Inc., which works to build inclusive workplaces and expand opportunities for women and businesses.[4] In 1974, Schwartz graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan,[3] where he majored in American Studies.[citation needed]


Career[edit]

Schwartz began his career as a writer in 1975 and spent 25 years as a journalist. Schwartz was a columnist for The New York Post, associate editor at Newsweek, reporter for The New York Times, and staff writer at New York Magazine and Esquire.

In 1985, Schwartz began interviewing Donald Trump to ghostwrite Trump: The Art of the Deal (1987), for which he was credited as co-author.[2] According to Schwartz, Trump wrote none of the book, choosing only to remove a few critical mentions of business colleagues at the end of the process.[2]

In 1995, Schwartz wrote What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America. In 1998, he co-authored Risking Failure, Surviving Success with Michael Eisner, then the CEO of The Walt Disney Company. In 1999, Schwartz joined LGE Performance Systems, a training company, where he served as President until 2003. In the same year, Schwartz co-authored The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy Not Time with LGE chairman Jim Loehr.

Schwartz founded The Energy Project in 2003 and launched The Energy Project Europe[5] in 2005, with headquarters outside London. This is a consulting firm that focuses on the improvement of employee productivity and counts Facebook as one of its clients.[2] In October 2007, Schwartz's article "Manage Energy Not Time: The Science of Stamina", co-authored with The Energy Project's former COO Catherine McCarthy, was published in the Harvard Business Review (HBR). The article described the impact of The Energy Project curriculum at three Fortune 500 companies. In June 2010, Schwartz published another article in the HBR called "The Productivity Paradox: How Sony Pictures Gets More Out of People by Demanding Less", covering Sony Pictures's implementation of Energy Project guidelines. He has blogged in the HBR.[6]

Schwartz's book The Way We're Working Isn't Working: Fueling the Four Needs that Energize Great Performance, co-authored with The Energy Project Europe's chairman Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy, was published in May 2010. It later was republished under the title Be Excellent at Anything: The Four Keys To Transforming the Way We Work and Live for a short time. Now, the book can be found under its original title.

Schwartz began writing a bi-weekly column for The New York Times financial news report, DealBook, titled Life@Work in May 2013.[7] In 2014, Schwartz co-wrote the article "Why You Hate Work"[8] with Georgetown University McDonough School of Business Associate Professor, Christine Porath[9] about a collaboration between Harvard Business Review (HBR) and The Energy Project to find out what makes people productive and engaged at work.

In July 2016, Schwartz was the subject of an article in The New Yorker in which he described Donald Trump, who was running for President of the United States at the time, in unfavorable terms. Schwartz said he came to regret writing The Art of the Deal.[2][10][11] Schwartz repeated his criticism on Good Morning America, saying he "put lipstick on a pig", and again on Real Time with Bill Maher.[12][13]

In mid-September 2020, Schwartz discussed a preview of his forthcoming book with MSNBC's Ari Melber, saying that 'Trump “is a prisoner of his lies” and questions who he’ll destroy first: himself or his country'.[14]

Books[edit]
  • Trump: The Art of the Deal with Donald Trump (Random House, 1987) ISBN 9780394555287
  • What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America (Bantam, 1995) ISBN 9780553093988
  • Work in Progress: Risking Failure, Surviving Success with Michael Eisner (Random House, 1998) ISBN 9780375500718
  • The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal with Jim Loehr (Free Press, 2003) ISBN 9780743226745
  • Be Excellent at Anything: The Four Keys to Transforming the Way We Work and Live with Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy, Ph.D. (Free Press, 2010) ISBN 9781849834322 – also published under the title The Way We're Working Isn't Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance (Free Press, 2010) ISBN 9781439127667
  • Dealing with the Devil: My Mother, Trump and Me (Audible Original, 2020)[14]


References[edit]

  1. ^ Jump up to:a b c Schwartz, Tony. "Tony Schwartz: About". Facebook. Archived from the original on July 23, 2018. Retrieved July 22,2018.
  2. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e Mayer, Jane (July 25, 2016). "Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Tells All". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on June 19, 2017. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b "Tony Schwartz Marries Deborah J. Pines, Editor". The New York Times. 1979-01-07. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-09-20.
  4. ^ Nemy, Emid (February 10, 1996). “Felice N. Schwartz, 71, Dies; Working Women’s Champion” Archived 2016-03-06 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2010.
  5. ^ "The Energy Project Europe". Archived from the original on 2014-02-08. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  6. ^ (an archived copy of the) HBR web page for "Tony Schwartz", HBR Blog Network
  7. ^ Life@Work - DealBook - NYTimes.com. 2013-05-17. Retrieved 2013-05-30
  8. ^ Why You Hate Work Archived 2017-02-16 at the Wayback Machine. The New York Times, June 1, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014
  9. ^ Christine Porath Archived 2016-08-16 at the Wayback Machine- McDonough School of Business Faculty Profiles. Retrieved June 11, 2014.
  10. ^ Mayer, Jane (July 20, 2016). "Donald Trump threatens the Ghostwriter of The Art of the Deal". The New Yorker. Archivedfrom the original on February 1, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  11. ^ "'Art Of The Deal' Ghostwriter On Why Trump Should Not Be President". NPR. July 21, 2016. Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  12. ^ Winsor, Morgan (July 18, 2016). "Tony Schwartz, Co-Author of Donald Trump's 'The Art of the Deal,' Says Trump Presidency Would Be 'Terrifying'". ABC News. Archived from the original on November 18, 2016. Retrieved July 18, 2016.
  13. ^ Bill Maher Live RNC Special Edition: July 20 on YouTube (Note: link to video is private and unavailable without permission)
  14. ^ Jump up to:a b "'Closing in on him': Trump co-author says he 'can't hide' from COVID lies". MSNBC.com. 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2020-09-11.


External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Tony Schwartz (author)

Tony Schwartz (author)
Jump to navigationJump to search
Tony Schwartz (born May 2, 1952) is an American journalist, business book author, professional speaker, and the ghostwriter and credited co-author of Trump: The Art of the Deal.

Quotes

I put lipstick on a pig. I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is. I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes, there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.
As quoted in Donald Trump’s Ghostwriter Tells All (July 25, 2016) by Jane Mayer, The New Yorker.

I wrote The Art of the Deal with Trump. He's still a scared child (18 January 2018),
 The Guardian.
There are two Trumps. The one he presents to the world is all bluster, bullying and certainty. The other, which I have long felt haunts his inner world, is the frightened child of a relentlessly critical and bullying father and a distant and disengaged mother who couldn’t or wouldn’t protect him.
Trump’s temperament and his habits have hardened with age. He was always cartoonish, but compared with the man for whom I wrote The Art of the Deal 30 years ago, he is significantly angrier today: more reactive, deceitful, distracted, vindictive, impulsive and, above all, self-absorbed – assuming the last is possible.
Even those closest to Trump recognise his utter lack of fitness to be president, even if they are too cowed and cowardly to do anything about it.
Fear is the hidden through-line in Trump’s life – fear of weakness, of inadequacy, of failure, of criticism and of insignificance. He has spent his life trying to outrun these fears by “winning” – as he puts it – and by redefining reality whenever the facts don’t serve the narrative he seeks to create. It hasn’t worked, but not for lack of effort.
Because the office Trump now occupies makes him the most powerful man on Earth, his fears, and the way he manages them, have necessarily become ours. We fear Trump because he is impulsive, irrational and self-serving, but above all because he seems unconstrained by even the faintest hint of conscience. Trump feels no more shame over his most destructive behaviours than a male lion does killing the cubs of his predecessor when he takes over a pride. Trump has made fear the dominant emotion of our times.

About the only thing Trump truly has in common with his base is that he feels every bit as aggrieved as they do, despite his endless privilege. No amount of money, fame or power has been enough to win him the respect he so insatiably craves. His anger over this perceived injustice is visceral and authentic.
The fearful divide Trump has exacerbated is not simply between his supporters and his detractors, the rich and the poor, or Democrats and Republicans, but between the best and the worst in each of us.

In the face of fear, it is a physiological fact that our most primitive and selfish instincts emerge. Control of our behaviour shifts from the prefrontal cortex to the emotionally driven amygdala – sometimes referred to as “fear central”. 

As we move into fight-or-flight mode, we become more self-centred, and our vision narrows to the perceived threat, which in the modern world is less to our survival than to our sense of value and worthiness. 

We lose the capacity for empathy, rationality, proportionality and attention to the longer-term consequences of our actions. ... It is when we feel safest and most secure that we think most clearly and expansively. It’s also when we are most inclined to look beyond our self-interest, and to act with compassion, generosity, consideration and forgiveness.

My own path over the past two decades – prompted in reaction to my experience with him – has been to help business leaders become more wholly human, and to humanise workplaces.
Whatever happens, may the worst of Trump inspire the best in us.

External links




===


What Really Matters: Searching for Wisdom in America
byTony Schwartz
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27 global ratings | 20 global reviews

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chokbarnes
5.0 out of 5 stars Great resource
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2012
Verified Purchase
This is the best book That I have read concerning finding meaning in life. Tony has not only written an excellent book about his journey to answer life's questions but has introduced me to several other wonderful authors and teachers. I like his no nonsense approach. This guy is no navel gazer but at the same time he genuinely makes an effort to find alternative and novel ways to look deeply at life. Through his journey he finds merit in many philosophies. I particularly like his "bottom line" at the end of the book. It really is simple after all.
2 people found this helpful
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Ladders
3.0 out of 5 stars It's ok but nothing groundbreaking
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2012
Verified Purchase
Essentially each chapter of the book finds the author observing the practice of another guru. He gets into the backstory of each guru's life, and also manages a few random examples of others who found virtue in each form of help. In each case, the author seems to go "whole hog" for the approach and rave about the success he perceives it has had. Typically, his introduction revolves around his particular neuroses: back pain, anger, malcontentedness and woeful tennis. Without getting into details about himself, he then provides a more extensive history of the practice.

Of course there's no controlled experiments in existence to support the helpfulness claimed by gurus - and the author adds no scientific process here in this book. "What Really Matters" is just one man profiling gurus and looking for a solution to his own vaguely described problems. It is frustrating that after observing and generally supporting each approach for pages and pages, he'll then choose to dismiss it with a few offhand comments at the end of the chapter: for example, the brain-wave chapter seems to find him relishing this dubious treatment throughout, until he casually mentions that the clinic wound up closed and the practice essentially discontinued. Given it's current status, it seems that reading the history of this practice wasn't even necessary.

In contrast to other reviewers, I found the final chapter to lack any focused conclusion. It even seems like Mr. Schwartz continued in the same vein after all of this research: flipping through the very same therapies with essentially the same problems he had before, albeit with an added sense that no one cure will eliminate them permanently.

Given that this was published over 15 years ago, some of this material is quite dated. It is too scientifically lacking to be a great resource, and too vague to be a first hand personal account. Frankly it is well written - perhaps it would have been better off as one or the other in total, rather than a weak pass at each.
7 people found this helpful
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Patricia L.
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent review of human potential movement people & philosophy from ...
Reviewed in the United States on March 17, 2017
Verified Purchase
Well written, excellent review of human potential movement people & philosophy from someone who reached a professional pinnacle and looked beyond.
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Jeanette J. Cook
4.0 out of 5 stars gift for a friend
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2013
Verified Purchase
This was a gift so can only go by their reaction it proved to be interesting and helpful will recommend it to others
One person found this helpful
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Peter Hughes
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in the United States on January 21, 2016
Verified Purchase
Too much looking at mystical things not spiritual truths.
3 people found this helpful
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Abner RosenweigTop Contributor: Writing
4.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, despite its excesses
Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2014
Schwartz's interviews of some of America's leading figures of wisdom in the 20th century make a compelling subject for a book, and some of his content is first rate. The ideas about health in chapters 3-6 are particularly fascinating, and it's tragic they are not more widely applied in the mainstream. In general, the book opened my mind to many thinkers and traditions that I might have otherwise overlooked. For example, I haven't been able to appreciate Ken Wilber--the image of his giant head on the covers of his books has given me a profound skepticism of the man--yet, the portrait of Wilber that Schwartz paints here piques my curiousity enough that I will now give him a try. What Really Matters is a bit overwritten at times, puffed up with a lot of stuffing about Schwartz's personal journey that does not add much value to the read. The work could have been much leaner and meaner if it lost 100 to 200 pages. Still, I highly recommend pouring through the excess to discover the pearls inside.
3 people found this helpful
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Gonza
3.0 out of 5 stars but the author made a really good job in researching and the part about the psychotherapy ...
Reviewed in the United States on May 17, 2016
I have read carefully only the parts that were interesting for me, as I'm not keen in some lateral thinking, tennis of yoga, but the author made a really good job in researching and the part about the psychotherapy are illuminating.

Ho letto attentamente solo le parti che mi interessavano, anche perché non vado matta per certe specie di pensiero laterale, tennis o yoga, a parte questo l'autore ha svolto un minuzioso lavoro di ricerca e la parte sulla psicoterapia é stata illuminante.
One person found this helpful
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Deb Nance at Readerbuzz
4.0 out of 5 stars Took away a bit of this and a bit of that from this book
Reviewed in the United States on December 28, 2011
I spent all last Sunday afternoon reading this book.

It's an older book, with a copyright in the 90's, so some of it comes across as a bit dated. I grimaced here and there, reading about some of the "wisdom" Schwartz sought, using the power of brain waves, for example, acts I've always tended to regard as hocus-pocus mumbo jumbo.

I carried away a lot of positive scientific evidence for meditation; I will seek more information about that. I also learned that one study found 75% of people have some sort of back problems but experience no pain. Curious.

I was especially interested in the chapters that touched on dealing with cancer. A study showed that almost all cancer patients had undergone an exceptionally tramatic event in their lives in the year before they were diagnosed with cancer.
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Tracy McMillian - I read Shiva Ryu's inspiring story,류시화 Shiva Ryu 대학 졸업반 때의 일이다.

(12) Tracy McMillian - I read Shiva Ryu's inspiring story, so...



Tracy McMillian
12 May 2017 ·



I read Shiva Ryu's inspiring story, so beautifully written that I was tempted to translate it into English.
______________________________________________________

I was a senior in college when my friend told me there’s a cheap room for month-to-month rent in the Gyung-gi province. Trusting him fully, I rented the room. Though part of a decrepit apartment building managed by some religious sect, the room offered a sunny, separate space once the door was closed. There was a narrow trail in the vicinity through the trees stretching out to the Han River, which seemed to be a gift from God given to a person who studied literature.

My happiness, however, didn’t last long. As a long-haired stranger who wore a long black coat in summer (well, the room was pretty cold) was strolling around on their sacred ground, mumbling nonsense like a lunatic (I was reciting poems), people started to cast a suspicious look on him. Then one day, several of the believers rushed into my room. As if touching on the floor would be an act of impurity they stepped into the room without taking off their shoes and demanded I should vacate the room right away.

I explained to them politely that I had a right to stay for a month as I’d already paid the rent. I also added – almost pleaded - I liked the place so much that I wanted to live there as long as possible. I also revealed that I was a poet, which only aggravated the situation. Mistaking a poet for a god, believing I said I was a god**, the agitated folks started to shout, “Shoo, you satan, go away,” one woman barking at me, her finger pointing upward, to fear God.

The word “satan” stabbed through the heart of a literature major whose only assets were just a few poems. Eventually I left the place without getting my refund back for the rent I'd paid. With their arms crossed, those people had watched me until I left. Though I was aware it was a mistake in the first place to plunge fearlessly into a religious community to take my residence, I nevertheless felt as though I were banished from the world.

Yet I was not completely forsaken. As I was trudging down a rural path, not knowing where to go, I ran into a friend who was also a member of the drama group I belonged to. He happened to live nearby. He seemed a bit alarmed by me who was wandering around with an army blanket and a bundle of books, which was pretty much out of place in his neighborhood. After listening to the whole story, however, he took me to his place, gave me water to drink, then went out to find a place for me to stay.

In the wake of his efforts, I could rent at a cheap price a warehouse situated in the middle of a field by the river. Living a good distance away from the village, I didn’t have to worry about being shunned by the locals. I even felt relieved at the fact that I had a friend living nearby. I had no problems living there save for my reliance on candlelight at night due to the absence of electricity. I spent my evening staring at the wick of a burning candle or writing something, and my daytime taking long walks.

The summer monsoon had arrived soon thereafter. Dark clouds hung over the slate roof of the warehouse before heavy rain started to fall in the evening. The din of the rain kept me from sleeping. I went outside in the middle of the night and got absolutely freaked out. At a little distance, the river was rapidly rising from the downpour, likely looking to sweep away the field and the warehouse any minute. The white water was gleaming frighteningly through the complete darkness.

Anxiety began to creep in everything in my life. With graduation approaching soon, I was dreaded by the uncertainty of my future, feeling that the life ahead of me would be as tough as the one I’ve already lived. Surprisingly though, fallen to the rock bottom of my life, amidst my extreme anxieties and despair, the person who had ultimately saved me was none other than myself. Standing in front of the warehouse, watching the river increase in height, I suddenly thought to myself, “ I am a poet, ain’t I!”

Indeed. What else would be more befitting for the poet than writing to the rhythm of the rain under the fluttering candlelight? Only the poet could face the unearthly light glimmering from the river in the depth of the night; only the poet wouldn’t mind being soaked in the rain without worrying about catching a pneumonia. In her book “Writing Down the Bones,” Natalie Goldberg defined the writer “a fool in the rain.” While others run away from the rain covering their heads with an umbrella or newspaper, poets foolishly think it’s no big deal being drenched in the downpour.

Santiago, the protagonist in Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist”, dismisses his parents’ advice to become a priest and sets out a journey after abandoning his goat herding to find the treasure he saw in his dream. When he arrived in Tangher, Morocco, a thief stole all his money, which he made from selling his goats. Penniless in the strange city, he woke up angry and devastated, thinking of him as a victim.

But after a moment, he was able to see the situation from a different angle and realized that he was not a victim of theft, but an explorer travelling about to discover the treasure. While traveling, anything - including being robbed - could happen, and upon accepting this premise he could regain his will to continue his journey. He did not deny the reality of being robbed; he only refused to have the robbery wipe out his own identity.

We might be the souls who were forced to land in a strange planet. And life often throws at us something more threatening than robbery. Then, what's the secret to a fulfilling life in this scary place?

That very night, standing in the heavy rain, I recited poems aloud with my whole being. The moment I thought of myself as a poet - not a person with no place of his own nor a devil banished from the community, the raindrops that fiercely pattered my face, the corn leaves wildly dancing in the rain, the windowpanes covered with candle drippings, all seemed to be the blessings from God. That place was the best study God had prepared for me to work and enjoy. Then all my anxiety had vanished away. It also seemed that such a sublime moment was not granted upon any poets. Indeed, to love oneself is to love the world.

** Their misunderstanding can find its cause in the similar pronunciations of the two words: poet in Korean is pronounced as si-in while god as sin.


류시화 Shiva Ryu
12 May 2017


대학 졸업반 때의 일이다. 싼 월세방이 있다는 친구의 말만 믿고 경기도에 있는 종교 단체의 공동 거주지에 세를 들었다. 원룸 형태의 낡은 연립주택이었지만 방에 햇빛이 들고 문을 닫으면 완전히 독립된 공간이었다. 또 나무들 사이의 오솔길이 한강으로 이어져 있어서 문학을 하는 나에게는 신이 준 선물이나 다름없었다. 학교도 가지 않고 밤에는 시를 쓰고 낮에는 주변을 산책했다.

행복은 오래 가지 않았다. 장발을 한 낯선 자가 여름인데도 검은색 바바리코트를 입고(방이 추웠다) 자신들의 신성한 터전을 광인처럼 중얼거리며(시를 외운 것이었다) 어슬렁거리자 사람들이 의심스러운 눈초리를 보내기 시작했고, 마침내 이른 아침 신도 여러 명이 내 방으로 들이닥쳤다. 그들은 부정 탄다는 듯 신발도 벗지 않고 들어와서 나더러 당장 그곳을 떠나라고 요구했다.

나는 집주인에게 세를 냈기 때문에 한 달은 살 권리가 있다고 예의 바르게 설명했다. 그리고 이곳이 무척 마음에 들어 가능하면 오래 살고 싶다고도 간청하면서 나 자신이 시인이라고 밝혔다. 그것이 문제를 키웠다. 흥분한 그들은 '시인'을 '신'으로 잘못 알아듣고 급기야는 나에게 "마귀야, 마귀! 썩 물러가라!" 하고 소리치기 시작했다. 한 여성은 손가락으로 허공을 가리키며 하느님이 무섭지 않느냐고 윽박질렀다.

시 몇 편밖에 가진 것 없는 문학 청년에게 '마귀'라는 말이 비수처럼 꽂혔다. 결국 남은 월세도 돌려받지 못한 채 떠나야 했다. 내가 정문을 나설 때까지 그들은 팔짱을 끼고 서서 감시했다. 애초부터 잘못은 신앙 공동체 안에 겁없이 끼어든 이방인에게 있었지만, 세상으로부터 추방 당한 기분이었다.

그러나 신은 나를 완전히 버리지 않으셨다. 마땅히 갈 곳이 없어 시골길을 걷다가 연극부 후배와 마주쳤다. 그의 집이 그 동네에 있었다. 군인 담요와 책뭉치를 들고 배회하는 나를 보자 그는 약간 경계 태세를 취했다. 주변 풍경과 어울리지 않는 모습 때문이었을 것이다. 그러나 자초지종을 듣자 그는 자기 집으로 데려가 물 한 그릇을 먹이더니, 내가 세들 곳을 물으러 다녔다.

그리하여 나는 강변의 밭 한가운데 서 있는 창고에 싸게 세들 수가 있었다. 동네와 적당히 떨어져 있어서 사람들에게 또다시 배척 당할 일도 없고 부근에 후배까지 있어서 든든했다. 전기가 없어 밤에 촛불을 켜고 지내야 하는 것 외에는 큰 불편이 없었다. 밤에는 촛불의 심지를 들여다보거나 글을 쓰고 한낮에는 멀리까지 걸어다녔다.

이내 여름 장마가 닥쳤다. 먹구름이 창고의 슬레이트 지붕 위에 드리워지더니 저녁부터 비가 퍼붓기 시작했다. 빗소리에 잠을 이룰 수 없었다. 한밤중에 밖으로 나간 나는 기겁을 하고 놀랐다. 폭우에 급격히 불어난 강물이 금방이라도 밭과 창고를 삼킬 것처럼 저만치서 부풀어 오르고 있었다. 사방이 어두운데도 물빛은 무서울 만큼 희게 빛났다.

모든 것이 불안하기만 했다. 졸업을 앞두고 있었지만 살아갈 날들이 살아온 날들만큼 힘들게 느껴져, 무엇을 하며 어떻게 살아야 할지 앞이 보이지 않았다. 그때, 더 이상 밀려날 곳도 없는 극도의 불안과 절망 속에서 나를 구원한 것은 다름 아닌 나 자신이었다. 낡은 창고 앞에 서서 위협하듯 불어나는 강물을 보면서 나는 갑자기 생각했다. "나는 시인이 아닌가!" 하고.

그렇다, 빗소리를 들으며 촛불 아래 글을 쓰는 것은 시인에게 가장 어울리는 일이었다. 깊은 밤 홀로 강의 섬뜩한 빛과 마주하는 것도, 폐렴을 개의치 않고 비를 맞는 것도 시인이기에 할 수 있는 일이 아닌가. '작가는 비를 맞는 바보'라고 나탈리 골드버그는 <뼛속까지 내려가서 써라>에서 말했다. 폭우가 쏟아져 사람들이 우산을 쓰거나 신문으로 머리를 가리고 서둘러 뛰어갈 때 작가는 아무렇지도 않게 비를 맞는 바보라는 것이다.

파울로 코엘료가 쓴 <연금술사>의 주인공 산티아고는 성직자가 되라는 부모의 권유를 뿌리치고 양치기를 하다가 꿈에서 본 보물을 찾기 위해 여행을 떠난다. 그러나 모로코의 탕헤르라는 낯선 도시에 이르러 양 판 돈을 전부 도둑 맞는다. 낯선 시장에서 무일푼으로 잠을 깬 그는 화가 나고, 절망하고, 자신을 피해자라고 생각한다.

하지만 잠시 후 그 상황을 다른 각도에서 바라본 그는 자신이 도둑의 희생자가 아니라 보물을 찾아 여행하는 모험가라는 사실을 깨닫는다. 그럼으로써 그 상황을 보물을 발견하기 위해선 당연히 겪을 수 있는 과정으로 여기고 여행의 의지를 되찾는다. 도둑이 돈을 훔쳐 간 현실을 부정하는 것이 아니라 그 상황이 자신의 정체성을 흔들어 놓지 않도록 한 것이다.

삶은 때로 도둑보다 더한 것을 우리에게 선사하기도 한다. 우리는 낯선 별에 불시착한 영혼들인지도 모른다. 하지만 자신을 사랑하면 세상도 사랑하게 된다. 그 밤에 비를 맞으면서 나는 온 영혼을 다해 소리 내어 시를 외웠다. 신이 마련해 준 최고의 작업실이었다. 그렇게 생각하니 불안감이 사라졌다. 나 자신이 '오갈 데 없는 처지'라거나 '공동체에서 쫓겨난 마귀'가 아니라 시인이라고 생각하자 얼굴을 때리는 거센 빗방울이, 빗줄기에 춤을 추는 옥수수 잎이, 촛농이 떨어지는 창턱까지도 축복처럼 여겨졌다. 그런 경이로운 순간은 아무 시인에게나 주어지는 것이 아니라는 것도.


painting_Itsuko Suzuki



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류시화 Shiva Ryu I don’t know who you are, but your translation of my essay touches my heart. I appreciate it.
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· 3y

Tracy McMillian 깊은 메시지가 담긴 글이라 제 친구들도 읽었으면 하는 바램에서 영어로 번역했습니다. 결례가 되지 않기를 바랄 뿐입니다. 선생님의 영혼을 울리는 글들, 참으로 감사드립니다.
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· 3y
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류시화 Shiva Ryu 저의 페이스북으로 메시지 한번 보내 주시기 바랍니다.