삶의 철학 19- 인생 계절(English)
외국 사이트에 올렸던 인생 사계절이란 영문 에세이
평상시 보다 2배 정도 많이 고민하고 2배 정도 더 일하며 살았던 시간들이 있었습니다.
그 땐 일주일에 80시간, 하루에 최소 15시간, 주 6일 정도를 일했었지만 성취한다는 기쁨에 즐겁고 행복한 시간들이었습니다. 무엇보다 나의 노력들이 세상에 공개되고, 많은 대중에게 흔쾌히 받아들여지는 것을 보면서 느낀 성취감은 무척 컸었습니다. 그러나 성취란 가치가 영원히 지속될 수 없다는 것을 깨닫는 때가 찾아왔고 잠시의 휴식기를 통해 삶을 되돌아볼 기회가 찾아왔습니다.
바쁨을 멈추고 과거를 뒤돌아 보면서 인생의 가치를 재평가하는 숙고와 명상의 과정속에서 우연히 머릿속에서 "LIfe Seasons(인생 사계)"란 개념이 떠올랐습니다. 그리고 바로 외국의 한 에세이 사이트에 그 내용을 올렸는데, 당시 원문이 영어로 작성되었던 터라 따로 번역은 하지 않았으니 양해 바랍니다.
요약한다면 "각자의 인생은 4계절로 나눌 수 있으며 각 계절은 다시 24절기년으로 나눌 수 있다. 그리고 인생의 4계절은 1. 성장의 시기 2. 성과의 시기 3. 사색의 시기. 그리고 4. 휴식기로 설명된다." 입니다.
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Our old Asian philospophy could say that human life is interpreted as a simple principle of 24 times 4 years
In retrospect, I, for a long time, seemed to have lived and consumed my own time and energy twice harder and faster than a normal life. Casually I spent 80 hours of work per week and soaked in a flood of thoughts about the whole boundaries of business. During the time, I couldn’t have any spare mind to look back, and even look around me. What on earth did happen to me? Ironically, I’ve never meant to dream of being rich nor being famous.
On a bright sunny Sunday, I stopped myslef and traced back on my past. Something was surely going wrong. Thereafter I decided to change what I have commonly done in the past. I realized that I need to take enough time for meditation and deep thoughts. I slowly put down, from my complex mind, tons of problems and issues in the business world and, instead, fulfilled with thoughs of human and nature. While traveling my lonely but brain-brightening journey to find the wisdom of life, I happened to capture an intresting idea of combining a human life into 4 seasons of nature.
In nature, there are 4 seasons in a year and human civilization quite long ago understood and followed this rule of nature to create a concept of year and season. Althought a 4 seaons doesn’t mean a full lifetime of human, our life has been balanced with this seasonality of nature. Besides, some Asian countries including Korea also have long been used 24 terms for the division of a year. I started from there.
Having thought deeply, I conceptually expanded the 4 seasons and the 24 terms of a year to a lifetime of human. This simply means that I multiplied 4 by 24. The result was 96 years. I set-up this number as lifetime of well-lived humanbeing. Then I tried to explain what it meant to be in our real life. Derived from the meaning of 4 seasons of a year, the concept surprisingly well explained 4 seasons of life. let me explain how it goes.
A 96 years of human life can be divided into 4 life seasons. Every life season consist of 24 yeras. The 4 life seasons are defined as 1. Growth 2. Fruit 3. Meditation 4. Resting.
Firstly, growth season is the time of nurturing and nourishiment by the devotion of family and society. Young children are generously permitted not to be responsible for many social activities. However, they should learn and learn for a long time to prepare and to adapt to the real human world. They just dream and imagine what their future could be.
Secondly, fruit season is the time of ripening and birth by participating in the real world. During the season, people get a job, get married, give a birth, and experience many social activities. Some of dreams became realities, while others resulted in to live just under the given condition of life However, during the season, people live vigorusly and are fulfilled with futuristic beliefs for the upcoming fruits.
Thirdly, meditation season is the time to build the wisdom of life. At this time, not many new fruits remained. People have already enjoyed and tasted most of fruits of life which have been grown from one’s own farmland. He or she now slowly starts to think of the meaning of life. Most of learning happens not from the outer world but from one’s inner mind. Energy of physical is silently melting down while the wisdom is rising up.
Fourthly, the season of resting is really a time to take a rest. Life and death come and go everyday unconciously by the hearing of news about friends and family just next to me. Religious belief can generally be a strong support to the mind of all living human beings. Jealousy, desires, and even regrets all look like just a reminiscence of life.
Finishing my contemplation, I could find a pathway to love my life in a different but boader aspect. Everyone’s life is just a circulation of 4 seasons which brings a pack of opportunites to spend and enjoy on one’s own.
