| MC |
I
guess the revival of the Tao tradition
would have much significance to the
solution of problems of modern civilization. |
| RHEE |
It
would be the ultimate solution of all
the problems of modern civilization
for the sake of the whole world as well
as of our country. As Dr. William Barrett,
an American philosopher, pointed out,
the Tao tradition will help Western
thinkers to liberate themselves from
the conceptual prison provided by Plato
that has been binding them.
As of the modern scientific civilization,
we used to confuse scientific technology
with science proper. When we say "science,"
we used to mean "scientific technology."
The Western tradition of science in
its essence has been an effort to understand
nature, and has shared some common ground
with the Tao tradition. But that original
feature of science is forgotten now.
Science as mere technology is a method
of conquering, not understanding, nature.
To conquer or rule over somebody, you
don't have to understand that person.
You just need to know his weak points.
If his weak point is that he is never
able to refuse money, then you offer
him money. Then you can conquer him
without having any understanding of
his true nature at all. That's exactly
the way of scientific technology. It
inevitably entails destruction. Since
quite a while ago, there has been efforts
to humanize science in the West. Humanization
of science is equivalent to realization
of the Tao in science. That would be
the ideal relationship of science and
the Tao. |
| MC |
As
a conclusion, would you please give
advice to the audience, especially the
youth? |
| RHEE |
Several
years ago, over the period of about
three years, I gave lectures on the
national identity(subjectivity) to diplomats
as a part of an educational program
in an institution. What I've found is
that the old generation has less confidence
in the national identity(subjectivity)
than the young. It's a remnant of the
effect of Japanese colonial education.
When it comes to the youngsters of around
twenty, about seven out of ten show
strong confidence in the national identity
(subjectivity), while the other three
are still the same as the old generation.
Our young generation should be aware
of the hazardous remnants of the Japanese
colonial education that the old generation
carry with them, make efforts not to
be contaminated by them, and never inherit
their groundless hatred of our own traditional
culture. It is much encouraging that
nowadays many young people are eager
to learn our tradition, especially because
I think our tradition is all about the
Tao. Tan'gun mythology is a good example.
It is a story of the Tao: the bear practiced
the Tao and thus became human female
so as to beget Tan'gun, the founder
of Korean nation. Therefore we may say
that our tradition of national identity(subjectivity)
started with the Tao. Another example
is T'aeg?kki (Tai Chi Flag), our national
flag. A college professor said that
its design is too complicate and thus
should be replaced with a new simpler
one. His idea is totally due to his
ignorance of the deep meaning of T'aeg?k.
T'aeg?k represents the Tao. Many foreigners,
once learning about its meaning, express
their jealousy of our national flag.
The Tao is peace and harmony. Hence
the ideology with which Tan'gun founded
the first Korean nation: "To benefit
all human beings." Concern in human
prevailed our tradition all through
its history. I hope our young generations
keep this deep in their hearts in order
to be the creators of a new human civilization
that will be based upon meeting of the
Far East traditional culture and the
Western scientific culture as Prof.
Reischauer predicted a few years ago. |
| MC |
I
think we young generation people can
now feel pride in our tradition. If
we make efforts to stay always awakened,
checking and reflecting on ourselves,
laziness will never be able to intrude
into our lives. But it is not easy to
always keep away from all the temptations
that surround us. Therefore it is said
that life is a process of practicing
the Tao. Good night. |
