Recent News and Developments
In mid-August of 1999, Neale travelled to Korea. He was invited by Grand Master Lee and had extraordinary experiences on this journey.
Here is a letter from Neale, distributed via Will Richardson to friends of CWG, about this trip to Korea.
Neale writes:
My dear and wonderful Family-
I am sending this note to be read by all of you, from the deepest place in my heart, in the land of South Korea, where miraculous and wondrous things are occurring.
When we arrived here, we were received with open arms by a starved and hungry people - a people looking for spiritual and political leadership and a way to merge the two. Everywhere we went, cameras went. Movie cameras, TV cameras, still cameras, carried by anxious photographers in fast mini-vans, which followed us from one place to another, racing to keep up so that the photographers could jump out and scurry to capture my every move and utterance. Print media reporters were found, too, at every turn, and I am giving one interview after another. As a consequence, the South Korean public has been, in a sense, with us every step of the way here.
Brought to our hotel room shortly after we checked in was a set of beautifully tailored ethnic Korean clothing, an outfit for me and one for Nancy, as a gift from Grand Master Lee, who had, of course, invited us.
On the plane over, I asked our translator, Jason Kim, to teach me how to say a few key phrases in Korean-"thank you very much," "How do you do?", "I am so honored to meet you," etc.-and I used these six or eight phrases wherever I went. The people would light up and smile and their eyes would twinkle with delight. They felt I had done them a great honor by showing up in their traditional clothing and speaking their own language.
I also asked Jason to bring me every English language newspaper on the peninsula, so that I could read up and know about everything that was currently happening in this place. This was a master stroke, because, as we drove by a Wal-Mart, for instance (yes, they have Wal-Marts here!), I could comment on the government's recent decision, taken only the day before, to take this American company to court for its refusal to allow Korean customers to use credit cards in their stores here, even though Wal-Mart stores in other countries do accept credit cards. My listeners were all amazed that I could comment on something so relatively trivial and so very recent in Korean affairs, and again they told me they were honored by how I had chosen to know, and show such interest in, their experience here.
I also read history books on Korea, and asked to be briefed on the major events of the past fifty years, so that I could understand the context within which I was meeting these people. That, too, has come in handy.
I am telling you this for a reason, and as a reminder. It is a wonderful illustration of a very big life secret. People are not nearly so interested in you as they are in your interest in them. This is very natural and understandable, and the person who actualizes this understanding changes the world. For, once people know that you are interested in them, they then do become interested in you-in what you have to say, in what you have to tell them.
It is with them in this state of receptivity that I have brought all Koreans my message: We are all One. Help me bring an End to Better. Help me reunited the world.
I talked with media, I talked with white-bearded elders, I was even given a chance to sit down at a military installation and speak with four 2-star generals in the South Korean Army. Shockingly, they were actually familiar with my book (they had each been given it as a gift from Master Lee-who, by the way, is our greatest salesman here), and the commanding general at the installation asked me for a private talk over tea, during which he leaned forward and earnestly said, "I am interested in this concept of Oneness about which you speak in your book. Tell me, do you think we can ever actually achieve that as human beings? And if so, how?" He then listened for 20 minutes as I replied, and he took copious notes.
Can you imagine? We are bringing the message to the South Korean military! We talked about the DMZ (the demilitarized zone) that separates North and South Korea, and about Reunification, the topic of the century here.
Everyone wants North and South Korea reunited, but no one has been able to achieve it.
The North Korean regime can't seem to make the points it wishes to make in a way which can be heard outside of its borders, and, likewise, the point of view of the South cannot be heard in the North.
During lunch with Grand Master Lee one day here, I spoke of the sorrow I felt among the Korean people-who are normally happy and smiling and joyous-whenever the subject of N. Korea, and reunification, came up.
Many have families there that they have not seen in 30 years. Then, of course, I opened my big fat mouth and said that there must be SOME way that North Korea would be willing to at least TALK about all this. I asked if there was any way that WE could talk to them, and bring some spiritual dimension to the discussions, and Grand Master Lee's eyes lit up, and he said, "You would really be willing to go in there and do that?"
"Of course," I said, and with that he smiled, "Then it is done. We will be doing that someday-perhaps soon." I then said, "I think we should go further.
I think we should invite the spiritual leaders of the world to a World Conference on Harmonious Living in Geneva in September, 2000, which will create a Set of Instructions to give to the world as we embark on the 21st Century, inviting governments and their people everywhere to comment on them and, if they could agree with them in principle, to follow them.
Again, Master Lee's eyes lit up. "You would be willing to do this?" he asked once more. "Yes," I replied, "and I will put up $100,000 to help make it happen."
"Then so will I," he snapped, and put out his hand to shake mine. We agreed to immediately set up a task force with offices at his foundation's headquarters in Los Angeles, with a ReCreation staff member assigned to work on this, and a new person hired by ReCreation to coordinate all of our interactions with Grand Master Lee. (We have already selected that person, a woman named Young Hee, who will be arriving within 30 days to begin work.)
Last night, Nancy and I attended the closing ceremony of the annul meeting of one thousand Dahn masters (as you know, Dahn Hak is the physical and spiritual discipline that Grand Master Lee has founded in Korea. He as one million participants here, many hundreds of centers, his own 4-year-college, and a massive nationwide program, which he has had his aides showing us since we arrived.)
At this huge gathering of masters, Grand Master Lee stood up and held up a beautiful deep blue and gold folder. Opening it, he read a certificate inside, appreciating me for what he called my "global work to bring spiritual truth to the world." He called me "our angel from heaven," and said to the group that he was, then and there, bestowing on me the honorary title of Grand Master in Dahn Hak. The place cheered and applauded wildly for many minutes, standing and smiling and waving as Lee gestured for me to come to the stage. Then, when I was there, a silence fell over the room, and all 1,000 masters suddenly looked very reverent, very solemn, as they bowed to me in unison, as their newest Grand Master.
It was one of the most touching moments of my life. Nancy was standing off to the side crying, and my heart was bursting. They then gave me 30 minutes to speak, and I shared with them an ancient Korean story about Grandmother Margo and the kindly and wise ruler, Tangun, and its relevance to today. Again, the entire audience was shocked that I knew so much about their culture that I could be reciting this traditional tale verbatim, and relate it so profoundly to today's experience all over the world.
When Grand Master Lee spoke once again, he said, "We have had a Westerner come here today and teach us the wisdom of our own history-a wisdom he sees, and that so many of us have forgotten. We are blessed." And again the cheers and the applause was deafening.
Now, my dearest family, I am telling you all of these things for a reason. Not to shed glory or praise upon my own shoulders, but on yours. For that applause was for you, and that honor was bestowed upon each and every one of you. It is you who have made these things possible, you who have co-created this extraordinary worldwide vision, you who have undertaken this mission.
[Neale Donald Walsch]