Shimjeong

Now we will talk about Korean culture, namely about such a concept as shimjeong (심 정). 

Table of Content

• What is shimjeong?
• A children's shimjeong is a shimjeong of respect
• Sibling shimjeong
• Spousal shimjeong — life for the sake of a partner
• Parental shimjeong is the essence of love

What is shimjeong?

Part of the NWET curriculum is the study of different cultures. We can always find in other countries something that can best complement our culture. 

shimjeong (Korean: 심정, Chinese: 에리) — consists of two characters, 심 (心) (shim) — soul, and 정 (情) (jeon) — original character, original nature. To put it simply, it is the heart, but let's take a more in-depth look at the shimjeong.

The heart, or shimjeong, is the emotional impulse for receiving joy, and true joy is impossible without love. Therefore, the emotional impulse for joy is the same as the emotional impulse to find love. Accordingly, shimjeong is an emotional impulse to receive joy through love. Then what is joy?

Joy arises if there is love for the object. If the object is similar to the subject, the latter feels even greater joy.

Shimjon is an irrepressible impulse, a powerful emotional force and desire that strikes a key from within. It is an impulse that actually consists of two types of impulses: for joy and for love. Every person has an impulse aimed at finding joy. People seek wealth, power, knowledge to gain joy; children play with toys because it brings them joy; martyrs sacrifice the life of the physical body, driven by the impulse to find spiritual joy. Therefore, everyone strives to receive joy. However, it is clear that even if a person earns money, gains power, or gains knowledge, the joy of achieving these goals will be short-lived.

How then to get true joy? The only way to find true joy is through love. More precisely, if we engage in economics, politics, or scientific activities, while at the same time loving others and being loved, we derive joy from the depth of shimjeong.

Love is an emotional force that the subject gives to the object. For example, the love of parents for their children is natural. There are many examples when parents, faced with a situation that threatens their children, aren't concerned about their safety and are ready to do anything to protect their children. This is because true joy can only be found in love.

We are not talking about worldly or self-centered love here. It means true, altruistic love. The joy derived from worldly love is relative and fleeting, whereas the joy derived from true love is absolute and eternal. True love seeks to give before receiving. True love tries to make the object happy firstly, because this is the only way to get joy for yourself.

Shimjon and love are the root of our soul. However, shimjeong is the emotional force of seeking joy, while love is the emotional force of subject-object connection. Shimjon, as an emotional force, flows from subject to object or from object to subject. This emotional force is love. Therefore, shimjeong is the source or starting point of love.

Where can we feel shimjeong and love the most? Of course, it's in the family. When we go through all four spheres of love (childish, sibling, marital, parental), we can experience absolute joy and true love.

A children's shimjeong is shimjeong of respect

The child has pure shimjeong. Children can receive different information from their parents and inherit any concept. We need to have such a shimjeong. Children want to be children and want to be loved. They would rather not think or care about anything.

If you understand your parents, then what should you do for them? You must be a respectful child. Furthermore, thanks to your parents, you should become a patriot of the nation. First you must become a loving family member, then a true brother or sister, then a respectful son or daughter, and then a patriot. 

Who is the respectful child? This is a person who, instead of his parents, will take all the difficulties on his shoulders and, fulfilling his responsibilities, will bring them joy. When the parents do ten things and the child puts in so much effort to do fifteen, then the parents will feel the joy of those five times. 

What should you do if you want to be a respectful child? To achieve this, you need to understand the soul of the parents and agree with them. A person who lives like a respectful child does not do anything that would alienate him from his parents. If the parents go to the east, then she should also go to the east, when the parents go to the west, she should also follow them. Even if they say go ten times and then turn back ten times, a respectful child should return and follow them. 

Sibling shimjeong

We can understand the shimjeong of a brother or sister through a direct relationship. Problems arise when we start comparing ourselves with others, in such situations we think firstly about ourselves. We are good with our parents, but we have difficulties with our siblings because we want to receive more love. When problems arise in relationships with brothers and sisters, we need to understand that the root of the problems is primarily “within me.” The same attitude should be towards parents. Who but they want harmony between their children? 

Our soul seeks to give, we cannot only receive. A good way to solve many problems between siblings is to look through the eyes of the parents. Then we won't hurt each other. 

Brotherly love is connected with love for the world. The family, in which many brothers and sisters are raised, embraces all humanity and is like a model according to which harmony is embodied. When the number of siblings increases, even one portion must be divided into two during meals. When there is only one portion, no one fights for it. Although there are many brothers and sisters, if they say, “Even if I remain hungry, I will give food to my elder sister.” Or: “I have to give the food to my younger sister.” If our loving heart is just like that, how wonderful it will be. 

Spousal shimjeong - life for the sake of a partner

A man and a woman who love each other, overcoming obstacles, experience a wide variety of feelings. A couple that strives to find true love, although a typhoon is raging, a storm is approaching, or a thunder is rolling, is much happier than one who lives together in a comfortable environment. The modern problem is that the number of people whose love is like fast food has increased everywhere.

Not money, not power, not fame unites newlyweds. The power that allows a man to control a woman, and vice versa, is love. A wife lives for her husband, and a husband loves his wife — in such an environment, they should create a harmonious family.

Why do men and women curse? Because they want to receive love from each other. A family in which everyone expects love from others is collapsing. In contrast, a family in which everyone loves each other, even if something has to be sacrificed, will never fall apart. Love that is directed at giving to others is eternal.

When a husband and wife are connected by the great power of love, then whatever the couple does, whatever they do, they should do it with joy and love. If the wife does not like the smell of the husband, and the husband does not like the gestures of the wife, it is because their love has not yet reached perfection. Because they are connected by a relationship that is aimed at receiving benefits. Everything will be fine only when you try to become one.

Only through love does something great emerge. Everything multiplies only in selfless love. Therefore, conjugal love, which is full of conflicts, gives life to a species which destroys the nation Whereas in selfless love, harmonious children are born and brought up who have absorbed the wisdom of their parents.

Parental shimjeong is the essence of love 

Parental love is the basis of children's love and happiness. Parents, having become united in true love, give birth to children and want to raise them in such love. The greatest responsibility regarding children is not only to give them an external education, but also to give them the vital elements of true love that will make their spirituality perfect.

Why do children miss their parents? Because parents are the home of their love. Why is parental love valued? Because she is sacrificial and does not need anything in return. She would rather not get anything. Thanks to parental love, everyone is satisfied, everyone is happy.

What is true love? This is love that lives for others, gives and simply forgets. Again he gives and does not remember. Even though she gives everything and fills herself, she is still not exhausted. Looking at their ten-year-old son, parents never get tired of saying: “Look, be careful!” Even after doing it for several decades, they still don't get tired of it, and they don't stop doing it.  Parents love children, they do not insist only on their own, they love children, forgetting about themselves.

Parents love their children not from a position of power over them, always demanding respect for themselves. They even sacrifice themselves, wanting their children to grow up to be good people. Parents have unchanging love. No matter how children behave, regardless of what they do, the parental soul remains unchanged in relation to them. That is why unchanging parental love is so valuable.

And in order for a person to experience all types of love, a family must include three generations, then all types of love can exist and be inherited. Such a family is a palace of love.