Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I'm in a chat room right now with a very enthusiastic Korean World Cup fan.

I forgot to mention that, right outside Yasukuni Shrine, there was a fleet
of those huge black vans with enormous speakers on top and nationalistic
writing all over the sides that circle government buildings and any concern
that's offended these ultranationalists.

While I was living in Japan, it was an abiding mystery to me not only why
these groups kept doing what they were doing, but also why the Japanese
people let them do it. The noise levels of those speakervans were physically
harmful, yet people walked past as if they heard nothing.
  

    
Yeah, i've heard that they don't dare to protest about it.  Weird 
that hyper-modern Japanese are so passive about being the victims
of these thugs, on & on.  I understand that's the reason that they
can't clean up their banking system too, as the ultra-nationalists
and allied gangsters own a lot of the properties that would be fore-
closed on, and nobody will stand against their wishes, even as the 
whole nation slowly sinks...

Right-wing gangsterism was an integral part of the government and 
society in Korea too, 1945-90.  But the last decade of democracy and
reform sharply reduced it's influence, something to be grateful for.

> I'm in a chat room right now with a very enthusiastic Korean 
> World Cup fan.

Is there any other kind...?  :-)

Lots of cross-cultural drama, with great political overtones, this 
Monday afternoon (11pm Sunday in California), when the USA & Korean
teams meet in Daejeon City.  1000 extra riot police are already 
ringing the American Embassy downtown.  Everybody keeps asking me 
which i'm gonna root for  ;-)

> The problem here is piss-poor coverage.  

That's what i heard elsewhere.  FIFA wanted high $ for broadcast 
rights, and NOboby in the USA market was willing to pay.

> Maybe if NBA & NHL championships weren't going on now 

An excellent example of how deliberately insultated Americans are
from the rest of the globe...

> Anyway, tell your Korean friends there's at least one American 
> who sends his congratulations.

I'm sure they'll thank for that.
  

    
Hey, if anybody's still following this:
up in #28 & #29 above i talked about the North Korean government 
permitting an association 600 S K shamans and supporters to come up
to the legendarily-beautiful-&-holy Diamond Mountains, and conduct 
a full-scale Mountain-spirit Ceremony!  and also a ritual for the 
Dragon-King of the Waters.

Finally, I posted photos of this historic event -- and from my own
trip there, on the next page -- on my web-site.  See:
http://san-shin.org/diamond1.html
  

    
Great photos, David.  Thanks for sharing them.
  

    
Are those gourds tied together in the first set of photos, David?
  

    

I love that there is a Korea Spirit-Respecting Association!
  

    
gourds, yes.  one of the fertility symbols.

yeah, it's nice to have a Spirit-Respecting Association...  
because, lawd nose, there are already so many Spirit-Disrespecting
Organizations in this world of ours...
  

    

Truly.
  

    
Hi, sorry I disappeared from the conversation -- got bogged down with some
emergency work for a while.

On the subject of Japanese nationalism --- I think Japanese are confused about
their own past, because of the complicated morass of symbols used by the
various post-Tokugawa governments.  Japanese are very used to the idea of
the "official" story being one thing and the "real" story being something
else, but this can come back to haunt you later on.  For example, when the
Meiji revolutionaries wanted to modernize Japan, they used the symbol of
the Emperor (restoring "Imperial" rule, which had been in eclipse for many
centuries by then).  However, the "real" thing they implemented was a
representative democracy, abolishing the class system (including their
own perks as samurai --- since most of the revolutionaries were samurai
themselves), further decentralizing government, etc.  This worked fine
as long as the Emperor Meiji lived ... Meiji was an astute and capable man.

My theory about what happened next (this is just my personal theory):
the next emperor, Taisho, went crazy due to a sexually transmitted disease.
Therefore there was essentially no one at the "top" so to speak.
The military used this to increase their power at the expense of the elected
goverment.  The militarists actually assassinated many elected officials,
including prime ministers.  By the time Hirohito assumed the throne,
the military was used to defying the prime minister.  I believe the
evidence is fairly clear that Hirohito wanted to support the prime minister,
but he was also a cautious and weak-willed sort of person, and he simply
failed to act strongly, and for a brief period even went along with
them.  In many ways, he was typically Japanese: not wanting to lead, rather
just follow.  Meanwhile the last remaining elder statesman, Saionji, from the
Meiji era, was bitterly, bitterly opposed to the militarists.  He could see
they represented the corruption of everything Japan was supposed to stand
for.

The rest is history.  Essentially I believe that Japanese were confused by
the propaganda.  Though people like Saionji understood that the "restoration"
of Imperial rule was just a symbolic device --- he and the Meiji folks didn't
realize that this symbol was taken literally by the mass of Japanese people.
The militarists used this symbol and many others to bolster their anti-
Japanese cultural and political program --- a program that took much more
from European fascism than it took from any Japanese cultural source.
Even now people in Japan don't understand what happened.  My family was
different -- we were samurai and not so easily fooled by propaganda.
But most Japanese were fooled.

I think this was a danger of the rapid introduction of Western ideas ---
Japanese had traditionally had a system of official and real differing,
which is fine when you have a small inner circle of people who know what
is "really" going on.  But that inner circle decided to open things up to
democratic rule --- a good idea in principle, but this also meant that
folks like Saionji lost control.  When you use symbols in a democracy,
the symbols have to correspond more closely with reality than they do
in a feudal system.

Which is all to say: I think Japanese have justifiable pride in their 
culture, but they don't understand that militarism was an anti-Japanese
propaganda-created set of nonsense and that this ought to be rejected.
Part of the problem is Japanese have failed to examine the war period.
So although it is a minority in Japan who are right wing, they still exert
too much influence, because people are confused about what happened.
How  can they argue against it?  So relations between Korea and Japan
will remain difficult for a while.  For the sake of international
relations they should reexamine all this --- but also for their own
sake.  Japan has lost its soul to a large extent, and they know this, and
some of them think they can find it in the propaganda of the wartime era.
No.  They need to look deeper.

I hope the North Korean government agrees to your plan, David.  Sounds
very exciting.
  

    
> the "real" thing they implemented was a representative democracy,
> abolishing the class system (including their own perks as samurai

I think you're overstating the case there, considering both the 
historical realities and the nature of most all political societies.
Let's say that they established a democracy which represented more 
of the people in a better way than ever before; that they ameliorated
the rigidity of the class system and dramatically increased chances 
of class mobility; that they *reduced* their own perks as samurai.
This was a rare thing in the history of human affairs -- not a real
revolution, but an elite giving up some of its power and privileges
in favor of a broader based, more open, more stable, more modern and
potentially prosperous system.  I think that in that way it compares
well with the establishment of the American government 215 years ago.

By contrast, the old Korean elite of the Joseon Dynasty was violently
destroyed by outside forces and internal revolution.  But what just 
happened here in Korea in the late '80s and the '90s is similar to
what I'm talking about here: an established elite class of military
officers and industrialists permitted the rapid evolution of a more-
democratic system in which they lost out but the nation as a whole
was a winner (rather than face a real revolution and cause massive 
bloodshed).  Smart, broad-minded, forward-thinking decisions; escaped
from the trap of narrow self-interest.  They deserve great credit for
this choice, as do the Meiji Japanese and America's founding fathers.
Not too many other examples of this in all world history.........?

> My theory about what happened next 

These are good ideas; I hadn't thought of it that way.  

> I think Japanese have justifiable pride in their culture, but they
> don't understand that militarism was an anti-Japanese propaganda-
> created set of nonsense and that this ought to be rejected.

Korea's case is in contrast -- they have always been a peace-&-non-
violence-scholarship oriented culture (getting their ass kicked by 
their violent neighbors for 1500 years!), and have never accepted
militarist governments as legitimate.  No samurai phenomena at all.
The only 2 times that Korean military men were lifted out of the 
despised lower classes to run the government were 1140-1276 & 1961-
87, and both were considered illegitimate (although the latter one
is highly praised for its economic and social-order successes!).   

> Part of the problem is Japanese have failed to examine the war 
> period.  So although it is a minority in Japan who are right wing,
> they still exert too much influence, because people are confused 
> about what happened.  How can they argue against it?

Well, the quality of history education in Korea is also astoundingly
low.  It's always been amazing to me how blatantly propagandaized 
they are and how little they actually know about what has happened
on this peninsula for the past 2000 years...  All the distortions 
just help to feed the anti-Japanese fervor, which i'm sure is very
much in the profit/interest of the Powers That Be.

But sometimes, the historical amnesia is a good thing!  On Monday, 
South Korea faces the USA in the first round of the World Cup, and 
victory is essential to both teams's hopes of gettin into the Second
Round.  Passions and tensions are very high on the Korean side; all
the many recent issues causing anti-Americanism arbor burbling at 
the surface.  But nobody but us foreign scholars seems to know or 
remember that Monday will also be the precise 131st anniversary of 
American soldiers first putting boots onto Korean soil --- the US 
Marines invaded Kangwha Island (just west of Seoul) on or punishment/
intimidation mission on June 10th 1871.  They routed and massacred
the Korean defenders, looted a fortress and a big temple.  See, we're
lucky that the youth of Korea is so poorly educated...   

> So relations between Korea and Japan will remain difficult for 
> a while.

As long as it's profitable for certain elites on both sides...

> I hope the North Korean government agrees to your plan, David. 
> Sounds very exciting.

I have no plan, really.  Just want to promote San-shin to the world
and to Koreans themselves, and see it play a vital role in future 
cultural development and re unification.  If there's some visible 
progress on that, I'll be quite happy...
  

    
(some very good news yesterday -- the president of my publisher now
seems willing to move ahead with the translated Korean edition of 
my book -- he had been reluctant and dragging his feet for a year 
now, but my recent emails telling him about this interview and my
lecture to the Seong-cheon Cultural Foundation seems to have changed
his mind...  :-)
  

    
Following on that last bit, I have a question for all of you reading
this: up in responses #120-127 I posted about the "Chapter 4 stuff"
-- the present situation and speculations on the future evolution of
mountain-worship and the Korean Mountain-spirit.   There wasn't any
response to this at all, but I think it's the most interesting, 
provocative and controversial part of my work -- all the rest is just
reporting on and summarizing what happened in the past.

So I'd like to hear some on what you think about what I said up there
-- do you think i'm on track, does it make sense, is it possible?
Can a traditional Shamanic/Folk spirit/deity become more of a symbol
with modern utility in this world, like how I proposed?  

Can you think any other examples where this has already happened...?
  

    
>ameliorated the rigidity of the class system

Well, naturally people with a samurai family background continued to be
respected for their lineage, etc., but formally speaking the class system
was abolished by the Meiji government.  The only remnants of the class
system, officially speaking, that is, were an upper house of parliament
(which they call the Diet for some reason) which more or less corresponded
to the British House of Lords, where membership was hereditary.  In all
other respects, however, official recognition of the different classes was
completely eliminated; former samurai, for example, were once the only ones
allowed to carry swords in public, and this right, among many others, was
revoked.  Samurai no longer had any official power, at least not solely
by virtue of their heredity.

Of course, due to the samurai ethic (i.e., eschewing the accumulation of
material wealth), most samurai were, ironically, quite impoverished by the
time of the Meiji Restoration --- and as a result of the democratic
reforms, many samurai went into business, something which was more or
less forbidden to them by custom before.  Many big businesses were started by
former samurai families.  So in some way the reforms actually benefitted
many samurai, at least materially speaking.

But the key thing to understand is that militarism of the sort practiced by
the wartime Japanese military was quite far removed from the military
traditions of real samurai.  Traditionally speaking, samurai did not
enjoy war, preferred to avoid it, fought reluctantly.  Of course, not every
samurai lived up to this philosophy, but it was at the root of Zen-based
warrior ethic, something quite missing from the behavior of the Japanese
Imperial Army (the Navy was much better run --- some think this is because
the Navy was based on the British model, and I believe the army was based on
the German model.)

Can San-Shin become a new symbol for a unified Korean culture?  I suppose
none of us unfamiliar with Korean culture could possibly imagine answering
this or commenting in it more knowledgeably than you.  I'd guess the biggest
impediment, off the top of my head, is the penetration of Christian thought,
and somewhat rigid versions of it, into the Korean intellectual class.  They
would surely resist this bitterly, and aren't they influential in Korea?
  

    
> Can San-Shin become a new symbol for a unified Korean culture?  
> I suppose none of us unfamiliar with Korean culture could 
> possibly imagine answering this or commenting in it more 
> knowledgeably than you.  

OK, OK  ;-)   but i'm still hoping for some discussion of the
possibilities of this sortta thing (#127 above) happening -- and
not just in Korea.  Can you think any other examples where this 
sort of evolution of an ancient deity has already happened...?
Do shamanism and its spirits have any place in 21st-Century global
culture?  (as the "major religions" that have dominated the past 1
or 2 millenia seem to be decaying, fraying...)

> I'd guess the biggest impediment, off the top of my head, is the
> penetration of Christian thought, and somewhat rigid versions of 
> it, into the Korean intellectual class.  They would surely resist 
> this bitterly, and aren't they influential in Korea?

Sure they are, and sure they would.  They have already resisted 
quite bitterly, and even violently, as descibed above.  Even in 
my current business, tourism.  

More than a year ago I met with a high official of the Korea 
National Tourism Org, which sets tour-programs and conducts the
regular promotions.  I showed him my book and made a pitch for
some tours & promotions that included San-shin art and traditions,
arguing that many westerners would be interested.  He loved the 
idea (and my book), but said "no way", that there are Protestants
in high places in that Org who don't want any such thing shown to
foreign guests, lest they look down on Korea as backwards...
  

    
>look down on Korea as backwards

It's strange how little Koreans seem to understand about the reactions of
Westerners --- they seem to have built a whole complex of ideas about what
would appear "backward" to us, without really asking us ourselves.  If
anything appears backward to Westerners, it would be the suppression of
religions, particularly ancient shamanic traditions which were once so
central to Korean culture.
  

    
   >Do shamanism and its spirits have any place in 21st-Century global
    culture? 

I think so. I studied shamanism for several years in the 80s, mostly with 
a Native American shaman who was especially interested in the phenemenon 
of "shamans with PhDs" -- the growing number of people with a foot in both 
worlds, ancient and modern. She also emphasized the sophistication and 
complexity of shamanic thought, especially regarding psychology. 

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a celebration of three women's receiving 
their PhDs from California Institute of Integral Studies, and the 150 or 
so people there -- maybe one-third white, one-third African American, 
one-third Latin-American, Native American, and Asian-American from several 
cultures -- would probably all agree that the insights of shamanism are 
very relevant (or even crucial) to 21st-century culture.

Also of note is the work being done by Michael Harner's Foundation for 
Shamanic Studies to assist with the reestablishment of shamanic traditions 
in several parts of the world; also some of the material published in the 
magazine Shaman's Drum, which has had several articles over the years 
about Korean shamans.

It seems to me that one strength of a shamanic approach is that like 
Buddhism, it's nontheist and not faith- or dogma-based, but instead rests 
on a series of discoveries and insights about the world that are 
attainable through practice and are continually questioned and tested.
  

    
That's very interesting to me, Felicity, thanks much.  I'd like to
talk with people like that, that come to Shamanism with more than
just an anthropological approach.  I never have had the chance...

I wonder if they would be interested in my work, tho, as it's not 
about the Shamans themselves, nor about what happens psychologically
or socially during the spirit-contacting rituals, but about one 
particular spirit-- its symbolism and connections to other religions.

> Native American shaman who was especially interested in the 
> phenemenon of "shamans with PhDs" -- the growing number of people
> with a foot in both worlds, ancient and modern. 

Yeah, that's someting quite new, and with fascinating possibilities.
I studied with Brant Secunda and other Native-American-Shamanism 
types in the '79-85 period.  A "spirit quest" trip in 1980 is where
my "Mountain Wolf" login comes from -- 2 years before i even heard
of Korea or was introduced to its San-shin...

> also some of the material published in the magazine Shaman's Drum,
> which has had several articles over the years about Korean shamans.

Oh, that's good -- on Shamanic web-sites & such i've seen, Korean
figures are noticably absent -- which is weird, because it must be
the most active & widespread & open Shamanic tradition on earth now!
A million practioners & participants in this small nation, colorful
rituals happening every single day, incl on a mountain i can see 
clearly from my building right in the heart of downtown Seoul... 
who else has that?   Most folks "into Shamanism" seem to love to 
focus on some 98-year-old bear-shin-clad guy in a remote Siberian 
village who's the last of his kind and now has one real "client" per
year (as his tribe dwindles), while ignoring the real-world right-
now stuff going on so openly here...

I used to know Timothy White, a co-founder of Shaman's Drum; we
started and ran an I Ching Study Group in SF/Marin around 1979...
later he moved on from I Ching to Shamanism.  Are they on-line?
Wonder if they'd have any interest in what i do...

> It seems to me that one strength of a shamanic approach is that 
> like Buddhism, it's nontheist and not faith- or dogma-based, but 
> instead rests on a series of discoveries and insights about the 
> world that are attainable through practice and are continually 
> questioned and tested.

I hadn't really thought about it this way...  hmmmmmmm.  *I* look at
Shamanic deities as symbols of states or relationships, and so do 
some educated hip associated types, but real practitioners "really
believe" that they "really exist" (in their own realm which often
intersects with ours).  Shamanism hasn't got much dogma attached to
it, true, but doesn't it depend upon belief in the spirits, just as
much as Christianity depends on belief in God Jesus & etc, and other
religions depend on such...?  (with the famous exception of Zen).
  

    
> #165 of 167: Pseud Impaired (mitsu) Mon 10 Jun 
> It's strange how little Koreans seem to understand about the 
> reactions of Westerners --- they seem to have built a whole 
> complex of ideas about what would appear "backward" to us, 
> without really asking us ourselves.  

Yeah.  Although they do ask me sometimes (part of my job! :-)   Not
that anyone high up pays much attention to my answers, tho...

I constantly try to get across that if they go ahead and look/act
Korean, and project personal & social comfort, confidence and pride
while doing so, it'd result in increased respect and tourism from 
the world.  But most of them have spent several generations acting 
painfully earnest about "being modern", they stay in that rut.

When you see the countries where elite urban people still wear their
own clothing and display other ethnic customs, even tho they can
*afford* suits and ties (and werar them when visiting the West), 
like Malaysia, Indonesia, Butan, Arabia, etc, don't you feel more 
respect for them and their cultures...?  I think i do.  The movement
of wearing modernized (convenient) Korean-style clothing (which my
ex-wife helped to start!) has taken root here, but only slowly; you
still can't see it downtown except on artists and tea-folk and some
workers like bank-clerks.  Never on anybody powerful; they stay 
locked in their latest-American-fashion suits.  I don't wear a tie
to the office much, usually have a chinese I-Ching medallion or a
Korean Mask-Dance-mask bolo around my neck, a small gesture.  But 
i'm alone; all the Korean men in this big Tourism building wear ties.

> If anything appears backward to Westerners, it would be the 
> suppression of religions, particularly ancient shamanic traditions
> which were once so central to Korean culture.

Well, "Westerners like us" surely, but keep in mind there are plenty
of narrow-minded businessmen and missionaries and etc in America who
still base their respect for foreign countries on how closely the 
natives look and act "like us", discarding their "weird" beliefs &
practices and "funny-looking" clothes.  I meet plenty right here,
working for the Embassy or company branches or the US Army.  You
wouldn't believe some of the right-wing-yahoo comments they make...
  

    
>narrow-minded

True, to a large extent, though these days I think the attitude even among
the general public is quite different from what it might have been, say, a
hundred or even fifty years ago.  For example, I doubt there are lots of
Westerners who would say that the Dalai Lama is "backward" because he
practices a version of Buddhism (Tibetan) with many integrated shamanistic
elements (Bon).  I think Americans especially these days --- and perhaps in
most eras (except perhaps for some missionaries) --- tend to think what
truly makes for a modern nation is religious freedom, not suppression of any
specific religious tradition.

I just want to say, David, that I've enjoyed this conversation a great
deal, and I am glad to have had the opportunity to read your book and get to
know something about this Korean cultural tradition.  This is not to end the
conversation here, just to make sure this has been said.
  

    
Thanks for saying it!   :-)   I also have enjoyed this...  and will
keep the link to this permanently on my web-site, as it's a great
record of statements forming a context around my book.

I think you're right, too, that most Americans "tend to think what
truly makes for a modern nation is religious freedom", but also this
stands in contrast to and struugle with the American version of the
Taliban, who enjoy quite a bit of influence in the halls of Washing-
ton power and millions of followers nationwide.  Same as in S Korea.
I think this contrast/struggle is growing hotter all over the world
as the fudamentalist sorts feel backed into corners by "secularism"
and religious freedom.  It'll continue to be as much of a source of
political & bloody conflict as is economic issues are...  the future
of human society hangs in the balance.
  

    
Although I get the impression that Christianity was considered fashionable
among intellectuals and the elites in Korea, perhaps partly because it was
perceived as anti-Japanese, whereas fundamentalist Christianity is certainly
unpopular among intellectuals here, and those in the elites who practice
Christianity here tend to practice a relatively liberalized version of it.

Further, in the States, particularly in the last ten or fifteen years
or so, Buddhism and other "alternative" religious practices (Native American
spirituality, for example) have become fashionable among intellectuals here.
The Dalai Lama has a nearly perfect reputation among Americans, for example,
whether deserved or not --- even in mainstream popular parlance, to refer
to the Dalai Lama is to invoke a symbol of honesty, peace, spirituality,
etc.  I.e., one might say in everyday parlance something like "he's no
Dalai Lama" or whatever.

Or another example might be someone like Phil Jackson, whose Lakers recently
won their third championship --- his nickname is "Zen Master", and he is
well-known to have his team members meditate (yes, they actually do it),
and he is widely reported to be enamored of Native American spirituality.
Sure, some old-fashioned sports figures might make fun of him for this,
but the fact is, for the most part, the public and the press tends to
look at least bemusedly if not favorably on his "Zen" style of coaching.

Of course, Buddhism and other alternative spiritual practices might have
some currency among elites here specifically because of a reaction against
fundamentalist flavors of Christianity.  Whereas a subtly different dynamic
seems to be at play in Korea, based on what you've been saying here, although
you say it has been changing --- at least that's the impression I am getting.
What do you think of this?
  

    
Perhaps this a dumb question and/or the wrong place to ask it, but is Sun
Myung Moon's Unification Church of any influance in Korea?
  

    
> #171 of 172: Pseud Impaired (mitsu) Thu 13 Jun 
> Christianity was considered fashionable among intellectuals and 
> the elites in Korea, 

Was and Is.

> perhaps partly because it was perceived as anti-Japanese, 

Actually, that worked in a funny way.  The original Catholic/Prot
missionaries worked to help Korea keep its independence.  But when
that failed after 1905, the 2nd generation of missionaries counseled
just going along with the authorities, y'know, "Render unto Ceasar
that which is Ceasar's" etc.  After all, they were concerned with 
"saving souls" first of all, not politics, and they didn't want to
be kicked out.  It was the Korean believers themselves, with their
first generation of homegrown Korean ministers, who turned some 
churches into nationalist havens & activist-centers -- often against
the opposition of the local foreign missionary.

> whereas fundamentalist Christianity is certainly unpopular among
> intellectuals here, and those in the elites who practice
> Christianity here tend to practice a relatively liberalized 
> version of it.

North California and NYC/Boston certainly, but are you sure that 
this applies to St Louis & Atlanta & Chicago & Virginia...?
  

    
I don't know what Chicago is doing in that list.
  

    
Well, since i haven't lived in the USA for 17 years now, i was 
just throwing out middle-America examples....


> Of course, Buddhism and other alternative spiritual practices 
> might have some currency among elites here specifically because 
> of a reaction against fundamentalist flavors of Christianity.  

Yes, i think that's true. People look for a more practical, grounded
and effective (and maybe exotic) alternative.

> Whereas a subtly different dynamic seems to be at play in Korea,
> based on what you've been saying here, although you say it has 
> been changing --- at least that's the impression I am getting.
> What do you think of this?

Sure, it's very different.  Hard-line Neo-Confucianism left Korea
an extremely hierachical classist sexist -- and stagnant -- society.
Christianity was revolutionary in its radical equality of everyone
(incl women), the preference for the poor, etc.  That was extremely
appealing for intellectuals, progressive young generations, democ-
racy activists, etc.  Whereas Eastern ways of thought have been 
associated with the hidebound vested-interests conservatives.

It is only just now that equality and democracy are such a "given" 
for the new generation that they're not tied to any religion, and 
progressive activist 20-somethings can find much of value in Daoism
& Buddhism (zen psychology & 'Green' perspectives), and even in 
Shamanism & other "ancient" nationalisms (national identity, folk-
culture, nature-consciousness).