Awareness, awakening, achievement

Writing and etymology in Korean
(sino-korean)
자각, 깨달음, 실적
[chagak, kkaedareum, shiljeog]
自覺, 覺, 實績
Etymology
自覺 – 자각 [chagak] – awareness
覺 – 깨달음 [kkaedareum] – awakening
實績 – 실적 [shiljeog] – achievement

Nothing in life is given simply. No matter what we do, people go through a three-step process in their personal development: awareness, awakening to action, and achievement.

Awareness has more to do with emotion. Awakening has to do with discovering something practical, based on action or achievement. Understanding or discovering something is a kind of awakening or enlightenment. For example, being awakened to the truth is not the same as simply having knowledge in the form of bits of information. It is a change of one’s essence.

To properly realize ourselves in life, we first have to be clearly aware of our reality, of our situation. Next, we need to be deeply and clearly aware of the goal and be imbued with it. It is important to understand what I am going to do and what I am living for. Then we have to go through embodiment and achievement.

We have to force ourselves out of our comfort zone and learn to do what we need to do to embody the goal, even if we don’t want to. And through such actions we will be able to develop the right habits. Only then will we be able to recognize our wrong culture and create a new one.