SPEAKING FREELY Red neon cross lights up Koreans
By Taru Taylor
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JECHEON, South Korea - One quite easily decodes the Taegukgi, South Korea's
national flag. It signifies a nation encompassed by the Tao. One has only to
read I Ching as well as the Confucian and Taoist classics, to understand
the civilization designated thereon. But what to make of the red neon cross
that now haunts South Korea's skylines and roadsides?
It's a fundamental question, because the red neon cross rivals the Taegukgi as
symbol for the Republic of Korea. It is everywhere at night, more ubiquitous
than the Taegukgi is by day. It seems to be South Korea's nighttime symbol even
as the Taegukgi is its
daytime icon - the darkside to the Taegukgi's lightside. And so it is.
At
face value, the red neon cross is easy enough to
decode. The Latin cross adorns every Korean church
as the symbol for Christ's
crucifixion. Red neon
crosses are everywhere because Christians are everywhere, upwards of 15
million, or 35% of the South Korean population. There are over 50,000 churches
around Korea, over 10,000 in Seoul alone. That means some 50,000 red neon
crosses.
The red neon cross denotes Constantine the Great's vision of the cross just
vbefore the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. In hoc signe voces,
or "By this sign, conquer!" are the words that spurred him on to victory. He
subsequently Christianized the Roman Empire.
The Council of Nicaea, over which he presided in 325 AD, established the
priestly religion that is the Roman Catholic Church. Raphael's painting
adorning the wall of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, The Vision of the
Cross depicts the same red cross - though not neon - that we see all
over Korea. Or does it?
No, it doesn't. "Poguk anmin" is the proper incantation, that is, "defending
the country and providing welfare for the people." In 1860 AD a peasant mystic
named Choe Cheu, the "Most Venerable Suun," founded Korea's indigenous
religion. He named it "Tonghak," the "Eastern Learning" as diametrically
opposed to the "Western Learning" of the Roman Catholic Church. The Most
Venerable Suun thought that being Korean and being Roman Catholic was
hypocrisy.
The red neon crosses echo "Poguk anmin," Choe Cheu's mantra. They connote
Tonghak, later called Chondogyo, or "Society of the Heavenly Way." For the red
neon crosses suggest Christianity as disciplined by the Eastern Learning, as
opposed to propaganda. Here I speak literally, for "propaganda" begins with
Pope Gregory XV's establishment of the Congregatio de propaganda fide (Congregation
for propagating the faith) in 1623 AD. It was his command and control center
for missionary activity. Thus, propaganda is a Roman Catholic concept,
precisely the Western Learning rejected by Choe Cheu. Tonghak can be seen as
the fountainhead of Korean protest, even as Martin Luther's 95 Theses launched
European protest.
Tonghak names the hard peasant wisdom commanding Korean democracy. It affirms
the peasant as the center of gravity. Choe Cheu's egalitarian ethos inspired
the Tonghak peasant rebellion of 1894 as well as the March 1, 1919, declaration
of independence from Japan, for which 15 of the 33 signers were of Chondogyo.
Tonghak is the true constitution of Korea, north and south. Tonghak is the
heart of Korea, even as the Tao is the head. Chondogyo inspires morale;
Confucianism defines ethics. What are the red neon crosses if they are not the
Christian sentinels of Tonghak?
We foreigners feel so welcome when we look at the Taegukgi because the Tao,
which it denotes, is generic to human civilization. The Tao, the principle
overlying and underpinning human civilization, is born of identity. Aristotle
formulated identity thus: "A is A" is necessarily true. The Tao is one, yin and
yang but tautological transformation. The Tao is true to the psychology of
every human being, just as every page of "Gray's Anatomy" is true to every
human body. The Taegukgi thereby invites all humankind into fraternal embrace.
The Tao defines human dignity by recasting Aristotle's formula: "human is
human." The Tao admonishes our hosts, in the words of Confucius, to treat us as
honored guests.
But we don't feel so welcome when we gaze at the red neon crosses at night.
Tonghak, which they connote, is specific to Korea. They symbolize Korean
cultural integrity. If the Tao is born of identity, Tonghak is born of
contradiction, which Aristotle formulated: "A and not-A" is necessarily false.
From the Most Venerable Suun's point of view that means that Korean
civilization and Western civilization conjoined is hypocrisy. If Tan-gun is the
mythological god of Korea who founded it in 2333 BC, then Choe Cheu, to my
mind, is Korea's supreme cultural hero; its Adam naming Korean culture
"Tonghak" just as the Tao names the human civilization of which it is a part.
To "In hoc signe voces," he responded "Poguk anmin." Korean Christianity, as
opposed to Roman Catholicism, heeds his call.
Archimedes, the ancient Greek mathematician, once said that he could move the
earth, given a place to stand on. Tonghak seems the Archimedean lever with
which the Korean peasant and the Korean proletarian move the world by
democratic process. Tonghak defies the yangban, the chaebol, the
pope, the samurai, the mandarin, as well as the Yankee. Tonghak defies the
would-be authoritarian in the name of democracy.
And perhaps we witnessed another Tonghak rebellion these past three months with
the street protests against the import of American beef.
Taru Taylor is an American teaching English at Semyung University in
Jecheon, South Korea.
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say.
Please click hereif you are interested in contributing.
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crucifixion. Red neon
crosses are everywhere because Christians are everywhere, upwards of 15
million, or 35% of the South Korean population. There are over 50,000 churches
around Korea, over 10,000 in Seoul alone. That means some 50,000 red neon
crosses.
