Speeches of Hyo Jin Moon 2006-2008
Delivered Sunday at Belvedere Estate in Tarrytown, New York
Hyo Jin Moon Speaks on Something In the Middle Called Life, Page 33

Some episodes may contain explicit language. Reader's discretion is advised.

Something In the Middle Called Life

February 19, 2006

Good morning. (Good morning.) You guys like it short, right? No? What does that mean? What's a good life? I guess I have a demand for a specific quantity of time. Okay, anyway. Today's topic is, "Something in the Middle Called Life."

Did you know, if there is anything you have no choice over, I guess that's birth and death, right? It's all based on birth and death and between there is something called life. People can say, "Ah, because we have a lot of technology and science, you know, you can literally create babies!" They have in fact, through in vitro fertilization; you can literally create something in a Petri dish. But there's an argument, you know, because all your fame that you achieved in understanding how things work, it's all knowledge. But the nature of the knowledge is knowing what works based on a blueprint of how things work. That is all it is.

So you know, you can't really take credit for that. Think about it. What about the kid who's born out of that circumstance? Did he have a choice to become that kind of person? Without a father or mother, going through those natural processes of becoming a child? That's why this causes a moral issue dilemma. When you take certain things out of context just because you have certain knowledge, therefore power, just because you know how to manifest a certain thing that does not always mean you come to a good conclusion, right? So.

But the same is true with death, too. You can kill yourself, right? Honestly if you go, if you prepare that moment of departure, you know, get rid of whatever problem by committing suicide, there will be no more lonely children. Or even people if they're old they're doing it because they want to separate from a kind of humiliation, and indignity that comes from, I guess, social pressure or rejection. So you pick your time and you know exactly how you're gonna depart. But what does that mean? It means that you can argue that even in birth and death you can have control. But even so, there are still certain things you have no control over.

But that funny thing is called life. We think we have something in control. That's where all sorts of interesting stuff happens. Many times it can be good but many times it can be completely different from how you want it to be.

Let's talk about that stuff, that stuff in the middle. That something in the middle that gives you that power, that control shown by the ability to make choices. So, you know, when we talk about that choice making stuff, you start from a young age and you move up and mature and get older and older and older. Then you are faced with a lot of challenges and the pressures that come from having to make the right choice. Let's think about just the pure practical, physical level. Just try to define life in itself.

Let's say you live 90 years. Most people basically sleep off one-third of it, okay? So, if you sleep off 30 years, you got 60 years left to work with. Another third, 30 more years, you use it to put stuff in your body and pass it through your body, and clean it. And then there's waiting for things, you know, move your body from point A to point B trying to be somebody. So basically out of 90 years you're left with about one-third of stuff to try to prove yourself. What is this proving and defining who you are? If you are defining yourself, obviously you have to define it against your limitations. You have to know your limitations. You have to know your capabilities in order to do something.

So think about what most kids go through before they enter so-called society. That takes, I guess, like 20 years or something, 18 years, 16 years, in what I would call educational institutions. This is how they prepare themselves, learn how to act, learn things. Learn a trade, learn some skills so that they can know how to make a living, take care of yourself and ultimately find your quest in life. Defining yourself and becoming something that's good, and [doing something] that you want to do, whether it's taught or comes from inside yourself—that's pretty much the process that everybody must bear. And I don't think there's an exception to that rule. Somehow, some way, you have to meet that measure in order to be something in society, to make a difference. Let's not even talk about making a difference—just starting. Let's look at that as the kind of challenge you have to face. Based on those challenges, you have to make choices. Who's the biggest employer? I guess it's the government. That's the biggest employer in any kind of nationalistic setting, right? And then after that I guess, the market now, the biggest corporation in the world is Walmart, right? That's a pretty sad start.

But of course there are bigger corporations. You know, corporations that have military contracts. They do a lot of technical things. These are for the most part engineers who work for government-owned agencies. In engineering, these government-controlled agencies control pretty much anybody who's anybody.

But even those people know that without government support, systems, and necessary things they cannot succeed. They cannot compete with the rest of the world in technical, technological, and engineering areas. They need to, the government to, create a competitive product. You can't make it without government support. It takes tremendous time to make a meaningful discovery, development, and innovation.

Yeah, I know all about this free market stuff, but I think the free market gets overrated. I don't think the desire for money is the fuel of human effort. Creating is the basic essence of betterment. Competitive people know how to take certain things and apply them. Quantity, quality, and speed matters. The market is based on supply and demand, you really need to churn, that's why you take whatever knowledge there is that is out there, that is meaningful, and then somehow apply and implement it into your product. That's how to make money.

But even when you talk like this, what happens? What's the end? Whether money is the most important thing or whether it's because money can give you a lot of personal stuff. I guess it's indulgence, and also at the same time money can translate into power. So, what does that mean? That power and money is everything? No, I don't think so. Because when you talk about power and money, power is only good when you understand how the power system works. Why is that? Why does it exist? Power exists because you want to move a greater self into a certain direction, that's about it. That's all it is.

But people abuse it. How many people in power, in high places really like to spend time with people at the bottom, eh? Do they really care about common people? Do they want to live with them? I don't think so. What about people who want money? Let's say you have all the money in the world. Then what happens? You buy stuff for yourself. But if you do have something of a good nature, then I think the best investment at the start is investing in people.

How many people want all the knowledge and all the money and to control the entire universe right off the bat, as their initial goal? People don't do that. That's why it is smartest to strive for the basic stuff just what you need to make a living. People don't want everything all at once because ultimately they want to climb up. They want to be something and then through something called desire, move up, up, and up and up. Without properly defining why we have things and why we need to use these things in certain proper ways, for the sake of something greater, and to maintain right standards. Unless we have clear benchmarks to identify higher standards it is very difficult to achieve a greater society. Why? Because definition gets lost, and then everybody is either on their own, or else will start to define their own standards. When that happens it becomes very difficult to come together and unify. Even just a single leaf, never mind the world.

The biggest employers are governments, then who's next? Walmart in America? Oh my goodness. You walk into Walmart and what do you see? A bunch of clothes. Sam's Club is also part of Walmart. You walk in there and you see a bunch of TVs, clothes, food stuff. I guess that it's all about just putting something in your body, putting something on your body, and just kind of keeping this body occupied, preoccupied with something. That's all it is. And they're the biggest employers, next to the government. That's a sad commentary when you look at it, when you look at a nation of this magnitude.