본향
[bonhyang]
本郷
Etymology
本 (본) [bon] – source, origin, root郷 (향) [hyang] – hometown, village
Everyone on earth has a homeland. When you were born, your birth was immediately registered in your homeland. You have proof that you are the child of such a family and a citizen of such a country. As long as that country and parental record exists, that registered child cannot be evicted or expelled from his or her homeland.
The homeland is where love lives. It is where the blood from our arteries merges with the flow of history. It is all about the fact that we have grown and matured through the elements of these places. This place pulses to the same rhythm as our cells, our blood, and the beat of our heart. Homeland is where our deepest feelings of love are rooted. We miss the embrace of our parents so much! That is why we return to our homeland.
Earth is the birthplace of our body, and the spiritual world, where God dwells, is the birthplace of our soul. The spiritual world is where we will go at the end. If you go back to the eternal homeland empty-handed, you would be ashamed, wouldn’t you? To live there, we need to train while still on earth. Only on that condition will we not have to endure hardship after we pass away.
Everyone strives for the ideal. In fact, people are looking for the original homeland. What kind of world would that be? There are people will not be hostile with one another, jealous of another’s success or annoyed when others rejoice. In that world, the success of one will mean the success of all; the joy of one will be the joy of all. The original homeland is a place in which the joy of one brings joy to all, and if one is satisfied, all others are also satisfied.
The original homeland we yearn for is not the place each of you habitually thinks of as your homeland. The original homeland is the comfort of the heart, where the soul rejoices. It is the home of our heart.
Our ideal homeland cannot be restored by individuals. It must be restored by families.