Archive → 2008
The Earth is not a private club
The Earth is not a private club; it is a universal club. Being born allows you to receive a membership card; you don’t have to do anything else for it. And it is the most beautiful club that you will ever find. Once you have realized that you are a member, don’t you want to keep it clean and comfortable for fellow members to use? And once you realize that you are a member, will you allow bickering or fighting among the members over silly things like dress code or the food that’s being served? And as a member, will you stand by, letting only certain members hog all the food or reserve all the tee times in advance without regard to other members’ needs? As a member. will you hoodwink the new members out of their rightful privileges as full members, hiding and co-opting their privileges for your own, or stand by while others do? Of course not.
Only by recognition of our Earth membership can we achieve a true and equitable peace. And for this realization to occur, in the most fundamental and unforgettable way, our souls need to become One with the soul of the Earth. First, we first need to free our soul of its burdens and set it free. A free soul… how do we achieve this? Many people pray for a free soul, filled with sincerity and earnestness. If we could achieve this through prayer alone, how easy it would all be. Humanity has been praying for thousands of years. We have prayed for freedom of the soul and for peace. We should now know that prayers alone are not enough.
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Brain education lessons
As you begin these lessons, Ilchi Lee says, it is important to remember that this is a non-traditional educational method. In the past, many educational curricula have focused on the development of specific academic skills, especially verbal and mathematical skills. Brain Education also seeks to develop skills, but many of these skills, such as emotional awareness, creativity, and cooperation, are not easy to measure or quantify in some way. For that reason, it is best to approach these lessons as guided play, rather than as compulsory homework. If your child really does not want to participate, please do not force him or her.
Also, this is not a competitively based educational method. Competitive strategies for student motivation, such as grading and contests, may have their place in certain educational settings, but these are best avoided in beginning Brain Education activities. In fact, many children need a break from highly competitive educational environments, so please allow your child will be more prepared for the competitive realities of life if first allowed to gain confidence and self-acceptance.
Last, try to remain positive and patient with your child at all times. Some of the exercises may be difficult at first. Avoid comparing a child’s progress to that of other kids, and focus on what he or she is doing well. The important thing is to keep trying! Also, the lessons are designed to be about one hour in length, but the amount of time an individual needs to master particular exercises will vary greatly, so be ready to improvise!
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Drastic educational revolution
As usual, I want to share another excerpt from Lee’s book (my favorite) Brain Wave Vibration.
“It is no wonder, then, that so many young people feel burdened by a sense of disillusionment as they reach adulthood. Teenagers, especially those who have grown up in very disempowering environments, demonstrate this in their self-destructive behaviors and attitudes. Feeling powerless, they turn to negative behaviors and thinking patterns as a substitute for real power. Youth should be a time of joyous self-discovery and development, but for too many young people, adolescence becomes a time of self-loathing and aimless wandering.
This is why I believe we need a drastic educational revolution. We need reform of a whole new kind—not the kind that has to do with test scores and grades but the kind of educational reform that will empower children to find their own happiness. The current system of competition and evaluation is unnecessarily disempowering, even for the few who excel within the system.”
This is why Ilchi Lee says he developed Brain Education.
“The objective of Brain Education is to give people the ability to use their brain operating system effectively. We get an owner’s manual when we buy a car, a computer, or any other technological gadget, but unfortunately we do not get an owner’s manual for our most complex technology—the brain. It would be great if we received one when we were born, wouldn’t it? It would be great if we could just look in a book to find out how to manage our emotions, how to maximize our abilities, and how to find peace in a hectic world"
—Ilchi Lee, Brain Wave Vibration
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Ilchi Lee on the Best Kind of Life
From a translation of The Power of the Brain
Parents are the sponsors of their child’s life story, not its protagonists. Most answers come out of the head of the child asking the question. When we have dreams through which our souls are able to inspire us, we can live lives that inspire others, as well. Such is truly the best kind of life.
As a youngster, Ilchi Lee was completely vexed by this predicament, but he had no way to solve it or to understand it. He could not concentrate, and his moods fluctuated wildly. He remembers a conversation with his high school roommate, a straight-A student who Lee’s parents hoped would have a good influence on him.
The model student always sat at his desk, as soon as he got home from school. One day, Ilchi Lee sat there staring blankly at the back of his head as he studied.
“What are you doing?” Lee asked.
“Can’t you see? I’m studying,” Lee’s roommate replied.
“Why are you studying?” Lee asked.
“A quiz is coming up. I have to get good grades to get into a good college.”
“Why do you want to go to college?”
“To be successful.”
“What are you going to do after becoming successful?”
“Live happily.”
“What is happiness?”
Finally, he turned around, perplexed by Lee’s question. Being the A student he was, he sincerely wanted to answer the question. He could not find an answer; he just started at the ceiling.
“What is the purpose of our life?” Ilchi Lee asked.
“Do you know?” he returned.
“I don’t. That’s why I am asking.”
“Let’s stop. There are so many other questions to solve.”
“But everything hangs on the answer to this. It is the first thing to solve.”
Not too much later, the A student requested to live in another dorm with someone else. It was no wonder, given Ilchi Lee’s obsessive behavior and his brooding nature. Most of his peers avoided him, his grades suffered, and he had no sense of direction. At the time, it seemed as if these questions that occupied his mind were haunting him like a dark specter, but now he have come to see them as a gift that allowed me to really get to the underlying nature of life, in spite of the pain involved.
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Ilchi Lee on the Future of Academia
From a translation of Ilchi Lee’s book The Power of the Brain
If children first learn how to use their brains, academic success will follow. In the future, our children will live in a world where imagination and creativity are more important than the ability to memorize or remember facts. The more complex society grows and the more rapid the current of change become, the greater will be the demand for integrated thinking that fully mobilizes knowledge, experience, and intuition, as opposed to the type of thinking that looks for a short answer.
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Ilchi Lee on Transmitting Positive Energy to Children
| Ilchi Lee on Transmitting Positive Energy to Children |
| From a translation of Ilchi Lee’s book The Power of the Brain
The words we speak, the emotions we feel, our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors are all transmitted to the brain in the form of energy. Human emotions themselves – love, peace, hate, anger, selfishness, jealousy, arrogance, etc. – are all energy. When parents embrace positive beliefs, a pure energy is transmitted to their own bodies and brains, and those of their children, as well. |
