Everyone lives a limited life: Meaning of Life, Choice, Spiritual Civilization, Materialism

Life is limited. In terms of time and space, everyone lives a limited life. If one lives without knowing the limits of that life, recklessly, then that life becomes meaningless and worthless.  Although all lives seem the same, the person who spends their limited life most meaningfully is the wisest, and the person who spends it most meaninglessly is the most foolish.

Between the best and the worst, there are countless variations.  Looking at the final outcome, with everyone having lived one life, no two people have the same quality of life. Only the fact that they came into this world and left is the same; the answers and formulas of their lives are infinitely varied.

What kind of answers and formulas are you using to live this limited life? These answers and formulas can be broadly divided into two categories, or more specifically, three. The two categories are good and evil, and there is also a middle ground where one can become either good or evil, thus making three categories.

However, in any case, everyone is the same in that they come and go without leaving a trace or scent, living a limited life. This is what it means that from non-being, being arises; from being, the One is born; from the One, the Two and the Three emerge, and thus all things under heaven and earth proceed along the same course. This is life itself, and in this regard, all beings share the same condition.

There are many people who think that since we are here and will eventually leave, we should just live as things flow, without worrying about good or evil.  The current trends in the world, whether capitalism, communism, or countries following a middle path, all benefit from the same material civilization, so it seems that realists and pragmatists are the most numerous. This realism and pragmatism have reached such an extreme that people live without hesitation, doing whatever they want, thinking that it doesn't matter what they do in life.  Currently, all of humanity is living this way.

The cause of this lies in material civilization. The shortcomings of material civilization are being directly expressed in our current lives. Ancient civilization refers to the spiritual civilization of the East. In spiritual civilization, emphasis is placed on the spirit rather than matter, and even though life is limited, people strive to live a life faithful to the natural order and flow of the universe. Although the physical body is limited, the core of spiritual civilization is to have the attitude that the spirit is one with the universe, existing eternally from before the beginning of creation to after the next creation. Even while in a constantly changing physical body, one does not forget the eternity of the spirit, and cannot commit the dishonor of sacrificing the spirit for the sake of the body. This is the path of spiritual civilization.

However, the material civilization of our time is biased towards realism and pragmatism, ignoring the principles of the universe and living a life no different from that of animals. Few people escape this bondage. This is the biggest cause of the destruction of humanity's noble life.  If spiritual civilization takes root in all of our lives, then, in principle, no one would sacrifice their life for a limited physical body whose value is insignificant.

The current world has reached the extreme of materialism, and idealism has fallen to the ground. People treat discussions about spirituality as if they were listening to some ancient fairy tale. However, the universe operates on the principle that "when things reach their extreme, they inevitably return to their opposite," so the world will soon return to a spiritual civilization. To achieve this, we must quickly awaken from the current trend of being captivated only by the visible world, failing to acknowledge the invisible world, and recognizing only the preciousness of the limited physical body while neglecting the preciousness of the infinite spirit.

<Announcement to the Baekdoosan Mountain tribe> written by Master Bongwoo Taehoon Kwon>