(115) Kim Gu, an activist in a turbulent era

The past few days have made us rethink the painful history of the division of Korea. This small peninsula located in far eastern Asia has survived in the arena of struggle among world powers throughout its history. Looking back on past world wars, Japanese colonization, the Korean War, and domestic ideological conflicts, there have been many independence movements ― but they have all led to the division of the country into North and South.

During this turbulent era of Korean history, there was one politician, educator and reunification activist who truly struggled for the real independence of Korea. His name was Kim Gu, and he went to such lengths as to even visit Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang for unification talks, although they failed in the end.

Let’s read the saju of Kim Gu to understand more about his life. He was born Aug. 29, 1876.

Kim was born with the energy of yin earth as a day master. Yin earth represents crop fields. People with yin earth energy are patient and have few words, because they conserve their energy to be used by others to plant and harvest. While people with yang earth are like mountains that impose magnificent views but lack intimacy, people with yin earth are close to everybody’s daily lives and try to be helpful to others.

Born in the month of metal, which denotes an expression star, Kim was an activist instead of just a spiritual leader. However, the metal combined with yin water in the year branch to emit a cold climate around the earth, needing the warmth of fire energy to harmonize the atmosphere and fulfill its calling to produce crops. There were conflicts between metal and fire in his month and day branches, but fire wins by melting metal, and he pursued an honorable life by pushing forward with actions and conviction.

There is a story about Kim’s childhood, related to saju and face readings.

After failing the state examination, Kim was extremely disappointed and started to read books about saju, feng shui and face reading. He and his father felt that he should give up the glory of becoming a government official, and instead make a living off his knowledge from the books.

After reading the books on saju and face readings, he looked at himself in the mirror ― only to find that his own face showed the fate of a beggar. He was so devastated that he almost gave up all hope but then, right at the novel’s conclusion, he read a sentence that changed his life: a good face reading never exceeds a good mind.

This lesson that all depends on how one looks at things, that one’s life is determined by what one makes of it, motivated Kim to change. From that moment, he did his best to act on behalf of his own beliefs.

As the last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, Kim once rejected the inaugural National Assembly of South Korea, because it meant creating a separate establishment from the North. There is a famous expression in his autobiography that shows his strong ambition that he held throughout his life:

If god asked me what my greatest wish is, I would reply without hesitating, “Korean independence.”

If he asked me what my second wish is, I would answer again, “My country’s independence.”

If he asked me what my third wish is, I would reply in an even louder voice, “My wish is the complete independence of my country, Korea.”

“Four Pillars of Destiny”? A special saju workshop is held Saturdays in Itaewon. For more information, contact Janet at 010-5414-7461or email janetshin@hotmail.com. The writer is the president of the Heavenly Garden, a saju research center in Korea, and the author of “Learning Four Pillars” For more, visit www.fourpillarskorea.com