[이태상 칼럼] 노인과 코스모스

이태상

 

그림은 그 속에 빛이 있을 때까진 완성되지 않는다.  a picture is not done until there’s light in it.”

매년 노벨문학상 후보로 거론되는 노르웨이 작가 욘 포세Jon Fosse(1959 - )의 세 권으로 나눠 최근 완간된 연작소설 주인공 늙은 홀아비 화가가 하는 말이다. 

7부작 연작소설 (노르웨이어로 된 원작을 다미온 설스 Damion Searls가 영문으로 번역한) ‘셉톨로지 I-II: 다른 이름 THE OPTHER NAME:  SEPTOLOGUY I-II(2019)/셉톨로지 III-V: 난 딴 사람 I IS ANOTHER: SEPTOLOGY III-V(2020)/셉톨로지 V-VII: 새 이름 A NEW NAME: SEPTOLOLGY V-VII(2/22/2022)’ 에서 이 노화가는 그의 삶과 인생 삶 그 자체 그리고 신神에 대해이해할 수 없는 걸 이해해보려고 to comprehend the incomplensible’ 한다.

언제나 그 언제나 그렇지만 그림에서 가장 어두운 부분이 가장 빛나는데 내 생각에는 희망 없는 어둠 속 절망 상태에서 신이 우리에게 가장 가까이 근접해 오지. 하지만 어떻게 그런지, 어떻게 내가 분명하게 빛을 그림에 넣을 수 있게 되는지, 난 알지 못해.  어떻 게 이런 일이 가능한지 내가 이해할 수 없지만 그래도 이런 일이 생긴다고 내가 생각하게 되는 건 좋은 것 같아. 마치 사람들이 말하듯이 한 겨울 날, 크리스마스에 한 사생아가 외양간에서 태어나자 밤 하늘에 뜬 별에서 지상으로 신의 밝은 빛이 내려 비췄다고 하는 건 아름다운 생각이라고 나는 생각해.  왜냐면 신이라는 단어 그 자체가 신이 실제로 존재한다고 말하고 있는 거라고 난 생각하기 때문이지.  우리가 신이라는 단어와 아이디어 생각을 갖고 있다는 사실이 신의 존재 실존을 의미하는 거라고 난 생각해. 그 진실이 무엇이든 간에 단지 생각일 뿐이라 해도 그런 생각을 할 수 있다는 것만으로 가장 어두운 상태에서도 빛을 볼 수 있다는 것 , 다시 말해 어둠이 가장 빛날 때, 그래 적어도 내 삶에서 어둠이 제일 심할 때, 내가 그리는 그림에서도 마찬가지로, 어떻든 그렇기를 나는 희망해.

It’s always, always the darkest part of the picture that shines the most, and I think that that might be because it’s in the hopelessness and despair in the darkness that God is closest to us, but how it happens, how the light I get clearly into the picture gets there, that I don’t know, and how it comes to be at all, that I don’t understand, but I do think that it’s nice to think that that may be it came about like this, it came to be when an illegitimate child, as they put it, was born in a barn on a winter’s day, on Christmas in fact, and a star up above sent its strong clear light down to earth, a light from God, yes it’s a beautiful thought, I think, because the very word God says  that God is real, I think, the mere fact that we have the word and idea God means that God is real, I think, whatever the truth of it is it’s at least a thought that it’s possible to think it’s that too, even if it’s no more than that, but it’s definitely true that it’s just when things are darkest, blackest, that you see the light , that’s when this light can be seen when the darkness is shining, yes, and it has always been like that in my life at least, when it’s darkest is when the light appears, when the darkness starts to shine, and maybe it’s the same way in the pictures I paint, anyway I hope it is.”

 

7부작 연작소설은 빛이 들어가 비로소 완성되는 한 사람의 초상화로 끝난다. 이 연작소설의 내용은  괴테의 말 한마디로 요약될 수 있을런지 모르겠다.


빛이 가장 밝은 곳에 어둠이 가장 짙으리. Where the light is brightest, the shadows are deepest..”

어떻든 서양문명이 흑백논리의 이분법이라면 동양문화는 음양조화의 공존/상생이라 할 수 있으리라. , 이제 지난해 2021424일자 코스미안뉴스에 올린 우생의 칼럼 우리 되새겨 볼거나.

[이태상 칼럼] 서양육갑: 살과 () 동양육갑: 코스미안 어레인보우

언젠가 나보다 위의 평생토록 도道 닦다 돌아가신 둘째 형님께서 서울에 있는 조계사에 들러 청담 스님과 여러 가지 토론을 하셨다고 한다한참 열띤 토론 끝에 이상 말로 이야기가 없자 형님이 스님보고 수고스럽지만뒷간에 가서 똥물 바가지만 갖다 달라 하시고는 바가지에 담긴 똥물을 천천히 쭈욱 들이키셨단다.

 

모르긴 해도 자리에 있던 스님들은 하나 같이 옛날에 원효대사께서 해골바가지에 고인 빗물을 마시고 크게 깨달음을 얻으셨다는 일화를 생각하게 되었으리라윌리엄 세익스피어가 ‘선도 악도 없다사람의 생각이 선도 악도 만든다 했다는 것처럼 형님도 세상에 깨끗한 것도 더러운 것도 없다는 것을 대신 행동으로 역설하신 모양이다.

 

그러고 보면 세상에 절대적인 선도 악도 없는데 사람이 제멋대로편리한 대로형편 따라선이니악이니 하며 아전인수식으로 억지 부리고 우겨 같다.

 

특히 서양의 기독교에서 악마니 천사니흑이니 백이니선민이니 이방인이니기독교 신자가 아니면 죄다 구원받지 못하고 영원히 저주받을 이교도로 낙인찍는가 하면하나님이 인간을 위한 제물로 다른 동물과 자연 만물을 창조하셨다느니정말 말도 되는 천하의 얌체 같은 소리를 벌써 몇천 년째 해오고 있지 않은가?

 

기독교인들이 식탁에 앉아 일용할 양식을 주셨다고 하나님이나 주님께 감사 기도할 식탁에 오른 제물들 입장에서 보면 얼마나 가증스러울까이는 마치 해적이나 강도강간범들이 실컷 노략질강도질계집질해 놓고 저희들 운수 좋았다고 저희들이 섬기는 귀신한테 고사 지내는 것과 같지 않을까.

 

어디 그뿐이랴서양 사람들이 예수의 상징이란 양고기를 즐겨 먹으면서 동양 사람들이 개고기 먹는다고 야만인이니 동물 학대니 떠들어대는 것이나저희들이 믿는 것은 종교요 신앙이고다른 사람들이 믿는 사교邪敎나 미신迷信이라 하는 것은 어불성설 語不成說이다.

 

프랑스 작가 빅토르 위고가  ‘레미제라블 주인공 장발장같이 배고파 훔쳐 먹어도 받는 세상에 세계 땅덩어리를 거의 훔치고 약탈하며 천하의 못된 짓을 자들이 대속代贖한다는 예수의 피로 속죄贖罪 받아 지옥에 가고 천당 가겠다는 발상부터가 너무너무 뻔뻔하고 가소로운 서양 사람 기독교인들의 ‘육갑’ 아닌가.

 

그보다는 우리 동양의 음양오행설陰陽五行說의 이치가 훨씬 자연스럽고 무리가 없는 같다어두운 밤은 밤이고밝은 낮은 낮이지어떻게 어둠은 악이고 빛은 선이라 있으며산은 높아 좋고 계곡은 낮아 나쁘다 수가 있나그래서 하늘 천天 자字천국이니 지地 자字 지옥이란 말이 생겼는지 몰라도남자는 선이고 여자는 악이란 말인가세상에 어둠이 없으면 빛도 있을 없고여자가 없으면 남자도 있을 없지 않은가.

 

둘이 서로 보완하고 서로에게 절대불가결絶對不可缺인 동전의 양면격인데어쩌자고 이쪽 아니면 저쪽 아니면 백이 아니면 흑이라 하는가어런 유치무쌍幼稚無雙한 억지놀음인 ‘서양유갑 ‘골빈당처럼 맞장구치지 말고 우리 동양 고유의 ‘육십갑자六十甲子’ 떠는 것이 천만억만 낫지 않을까.

 

그리고 고양이가 사랑하듯 이웃을 사랑하는 대신 이웃을 존중해 있으면 얼마나 좋을까기독교에서는 하나님의 형상대로 사람이 창조되었다고 하지만 생각에는 인간특히 서양의 백인그중에서도 유대인들이 저희들 형상대로 저희들 하나님 여호와를 만든 것이 분명하다저들서양의 단군신화를….

 

어디 그뿐이랴우리 가운데 가장 천대받는 사람으로 창녀가 있다하지만 그런 창녀조차도 예수의 벗이 아니었나신약성서 누가복음에 나오는 막달라 마리아 말이다동서고금을 통해 저지른 필설로 형언할 없는 잔악무도하고 천인공노할 남성들의 ‘마녀사냥 온갖 만행蠻行이 정복이니 승리니 하는 영광된 훈장으로 장식되어 왔다.

 

창녀는 몸을 판다기보다 몸으로 서비스를 제공한다창녀의 서비스는 다른 많은 직업적인 서비스보다 솔직하다 가리고 야옹 하지 않는다그리고 자선적이고 자비롭기까지 하다예를 들어 직업적인 날강도날도둑날사기꾼이라 있는 일부 정치인실업인종교인이 부리는 농간에 비하면 말이다.

 

파는 것으로 말할 같으면 창녀나 장사꾼만이 아니다우리 모두가 좋든 싫든 뭔가를 팔아먹고 산다육체노동이든 정신노동이든 감정노동이든 노동을 파는 자가 노동자라면 예술을 파는 자가 예술인이고법률지식이나 의료기술을 파는 자가 변호사나 의사라면하나님이나 귀신 또는 성인성자예수석가모니 등의 권능과 이름을 파는 기도 장사꾼이 종교인이라고 있지 않을까.

 

어디 이름뿐이랴기독교와 천주교에서는 성찬식으로 예수의 살과 피를 상징한다는 빵과 포도주를 나누지 않는가그렇다면 예수야말로 인류의 대속代贖을 위해서이든 아니면 그의 과대망상증에서이든 또는 예수 자신의 꿈보다는 기독교인들의 이기적인 ‘해몽解夢이든 간에 어떻든 몸을 누구보다 많은 사람들에게 오래도록 팔아 남창男娼 중에 남창이라고 수도 있지 않을까.

 

우리 생각 해보면 단군 할아버지와 곰할머니의 후손이든아니면 아담과 이브의 자손이든또는 닭의 알에서 태어났다는 신라 태조 박혁거세의 후예이든동정녀童貞女 마리아에게서 태어났다는 예수의 제자들이든 어떻든 간에우리 모두 따져 보면 일종의 창녀나 남창들이 아닌가.

 

다만 우리 보통 사람들은 살과 (붉은 피든 피든 간에) 즐기는데 성인聖人/性人 도사導師/道士들은 껍데기 털까지 좋아하나 보다예수는 눈물로 발을 적시고 자기 머리털로 씻고 발에 맞추고 향유를 부은 막달라 마리아의 죄罪(?) 용서 사赦하여 주었다 했고한때 우리 사회에 물의를 일으켰던 용화교龍華敎 교주敎主 서백일 徐白日(본명은 서한춘 徐漢春 1888 또는 1893-1966) 수많은 여신도들을 농락 겁탈하고 그들로부터 뽑은 음모陰毛로 만든 음모방석陰毛 方席을 즐겨 깔고 앉았었다 하지 않는가!

 

서두에 언급한 나의 도道 닦던 형님 이야기와 우리 모든 코스미안의 분신分身이자 soulmate 어레인보Arainbow와의 (가상假想대화 일부를 지난 2019 가을 영문으로 출간된 우생愚生의 졸저拙著 ‘Cosmian’ By Lee Tae-Sang (AUSTIN MACAULEY PUBLISHERS, LONDON, CAMBRIDGE, NEW YORK, SHARJAH)에서 발췌해 아래와 같이 옮겨 본다.

 

I might tell you, Arainbow, about another weird dream I had about my brother Myung-Sang, who was ten years older than me.

 

Again, while we were living in England, in my dream one night he came and went without saying much as usual. The next day, I got the news that he passed away. It must have been a ‘goodbye’ from him in my dream.

 

Myung-Sang dropped out of school in his adolescence and went on a life-long journey, seeking after ‘the way’ or ‘the truth,’ whatever it might mean.

 

From then on, he was never concerned what to wear, what to eat, or how to make a living. He wandered around the country, always on foot, visiting different spiritual teachers and reading books about different philosophies and religions of the world. He stayed in caves of the mountains, for days, meditating and nibbling uncooked grains and pine nuts.

 

Like a tramp, he was dressed in rags with his hair grown long, a disgrace to his family. To his widowed mother, he was simply a crazy and lazy bum, irresponsible to no end but not quite irredeemable. So she got him married so that he could have a family and wake up to reality on earth, off from his highfalutin mumbo jumbo, once and for all. But it was no avail, and he was a vagabond all the same, spreading words of love and peace.

 

Although he was written off as good-for-nothing bum by his family, he was regarded by some people as a guru and a healer. He was even credited for having cured some in-curable, by prescribing herbal medicine, such as pine needles brewed in honeyed water for coughing, asthma, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. But he was saying that what- ever he suggested worked only for those who believed in its efficacy, and that our body has the built-in self-healing mechanism.

 

Although he was deemed and dismissed as insane, I was curious about what he was saying about many things, especially about ‘chukjibop’-축지법 in Korean alphabet and 縮地法 in Chinese characters-‘a method of making a long distance close in by the magic of contracting space.’

 

One day, I asked him how I could do it. He took me to a small brook. Holding his hand as I walked backward from the water, the width of the stream grew narrower to the point of appearing to be a silvery line. Then I was told to run toward the edge of the water, and then to jump. He forewarned me that as I came closer to the water, its width would look wider.

 

“Don’t look at the widening stream of water. If you just fix the image of that silvery line in your mind and focus on it, you can easily jump over the brook.”

 

Once he was debating metaphysical issues with top-ranking Buddhist monks at Jogyesa, the head temple of Korea. When they got to the point beyond which they couldn’t discuss further with words, he politely asked one of the monks to fetch a gourd-full of night soil from the outhouses. When his request was obliged, he swallowed it to the last drop. All those Buddhists were reminded of the well-known episode of Wonhyo, I was told later by one of these monks who had participated in the debate.

 

The story ‘Water in a Skull’ goes like this:

 

About fourteen hundred years ago, there was a famous monk named Wonhyo (617-686) in Korea. He thought he would become a better monk if he went to China to attain more knowledge about Buddhism. He embarked on a long journey with his fellow seeker/student, Euisang.

 

He continued his journey on foot and, one day, he was passing through one region in Baekje (one of the three kingdoms: Koguryo in the north, Baekje in the middle and Silla in the south of the peninsula). They faced heavy rain, so they sought some shelter. They took shelter in a very safe-looking cave and decided to stay the night inside the cave.

 

While he was sleeping, Wonhyo woke up and felt extremely thirsty. He was searching, in the darkness, for something to drink. He found water in a gourd and drank it without hesitation. The water was cool and refreshing, and quenched his thirst. He fell asleep again.

 

Next morning, Wonhyo and Euisang woke up and were frightened by the skulls scattered around them. The shelter they had spent one night in was not a cave but an old grave. Also, Wonhyo realized that the fresh water in the gourd that quenched his thirst was actually some stagnant water in a skull. The moment he realized this, he threw up.

 

Through this experience, Wonhyo attained a big enlighten-ment about how important one’s mind was. He then reflected and realized that he had been trying to become a good monk by attaining more knowledge about Buddhism. Wonhyo then cancelled his plan to study in China and relinquished his position as a monk. He became a laity again and reverentially devoted himself to meditation throughout his entire life. He gave inspiration to many laity.

 

Arainbow, don’t you think my brother Myung-Sang paraphrased by his action, not in words, what William Shakespeare said?

 

‘There is nothing either clean (good) or dirty (bad) but thinking makes it so?’

 

Arainbow, I should add that no matter how ill-treated by some people, I have never seen my brother Myung-Sang speak ill of anybody. I believe that he literally practiced all his life this famous phrase: “With malice toward to none, with charity for all,” as quoted from Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address.

 

One thing I still cannot comprehend by any sense and wits is how he could have predicted the outbreak of the war exact-ly one year ahead of time. One day he came home to tell our mother to stock up some extra supply of provisions in preparation for the hard times to face. After dismissing his warning as a ‘madman talk,’ she nevertheless prepared just in case. We were surprised that it indeed did happen as he had prewarned. What would you say about this? Was it a kind of prophecy, or a case of clairvoyance?

 

Tae-Sang, you must understand, stand under, or underlook, look under, to realize there are much more than what’s audible, tangible, and visible to our senses. You may call them supernatural phenomena, but they are really and truly extra, or rather ultra-scheme of things. Mind you, there’s the first principle of the so-called General Semantics: Nobody knows everything about anything.

 

Arainbow, while clearing a blocked gutter under the edge of the roof of our house in a suburb of London, I found some- thing strange growing there. I couldn’t tell if they were plants or mineral deposits. They were hard, in the shape of tiny stars; strange objects of curiosity, wonder and mystery. I gave some of them to my children so that they could show them to their teachers and friends.

 

Whatever their substance might have been, I thought, they must have come to bear an uncanny resemblance to the stars. They were singing and whispering through the night and the day. It recalled a fairy tale of a hunchback Persian princess who became straight and tall by stretching herself daily in front of her straight-backed statue.

 

I had a sudden awakening to the natural phenomena common everywhere, in the air, on land and beneath the ocean, with sunflowers and starfish serving as constant reminders. We all know that sunflowers look for the sunlight. But what I didn’t know was that on a cloudy day, they looked at each other, looking for the energy they give one another, standing high and tall. How better it would be, if humans could do the same!

 

One summer day, years ago, my family vacationed in the Caribbean. Early one morning, I went out for a walk on the shore. It just so happened that I spotted a tropical fish jumping up and down, unable to return to the water after the ebb tide. I quickly scooped the fish up in my two hands formed into a bowl and let it go back to the sea. The next morning, I found a beautiful conch shell at the same spot where I‘d rescued the fish. To me, the conch shell seemed to be a ‘thank-you gift’ from the fish.

 

As someone said, ‘to be certain about anything in life was the privilege of a fool, because there was only one thing to be certain about: that there was nothing to be certain of.’

 

What decided how you started in life and how you developed? Was it happenstance or heavenly providence? Be that as it may, there is no denying that you are a product of birth (love-making, that is, isn’t it?) and circumstance. If you were eagle-born, how could you laugh at a snail for being so low and slow? It might have been possible that the snail dying to be an eagle became a frog after trying so hard for so long, just as animals wishing to be godlike developed into humans.

 

Yes, Arainbow, there’s our ‘froglike’ self-portrait. I can’t recall whether I saw this lyrically unflattering and un-grammatical portrait, drawn by somebody, of humans from the swamplands in a dream or in my waking hours:

 

What a wonderful bird

The frog are!

When he stand, he sits

Almost.

When he hops he fly almost.

He ain’t got no sense hardly,

He ain’t got no tail hardly,

Either.

When he sit, he sit on what

He ain’t got, almost.

 

Arainbow, when I first read this famous poem “The Rainbow” (1802) as a boy, I felt my own soliloquy was voiced by a kindred spirit by the name of William Wordsworth (1770-1850), the celebrated English poet laureate, about one hundred fifty years earlier.

 

My heart leaps up,

When I behold

A rainbow in the sky;

So was it when I was a Child

So is it now I am a Man

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!

The Child is Father of the Man;

And I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each

By natural piety.

 

Truth to tell, Arainbow, I wasn’t satisfied with this poem, just looking up to behold a rainbow in the sky. So I created you to be right on The Rainbow, ‘upgressing,’ or rather ascending on top of the Rainbow (of Love). Hence, you were born of me!

 

아울러 (어서 모든 진짜 미신迷信과 우상偶像들을 타파하고 우리 모두 '하나님'으로 거듭나 아우르기 위해지난해 가을 영문으로 출간된 우생愚生의 졸저拙著 <COSMIAN PHAPSODY> By Lee Tae-Sang (Published in 2020 by AUSTIN MACAULEY PUBLISHERS, LONDON, CAMBRIDGE, NEW YORK, SHARJAH) 실린 다음과 같은 공개 편지 'An Open Letter to Ms. Liane Moriarty' 'How to Be Cosmian' 사족蛇足아니 사족思足 또는 오족悟足으로 옮겨 보리라.

 

An Open Letter to Ms. Liane Moriarty, the bestselling author of <Big Lies>

 

Dear Ms. Liane Moriarty,

 

Reading your interview article with Ms. Belinda Luscombe of TIME, Nov. 26/Dec. 3, 2018, I'm prompted to take the liberty of writing this unsolicited open letter to you.

 

Please kindly understand my sincere intent to commiserate with all the poor souls including myself (in my early life), still imprisoned in the arbitrary dungeon of the Dark Age of the most inhuman and unnatural self-righteous religious dogma, full of falsehood and hypocrisy.

 

Asked in 10 Questions: “The main character in your new novel, <Nine Perfect Strangers,> is a genre fiction writer who gets little respect. Is she a mouthpiece for you?”

 

You answered: “A little bit. But I didn't want the book becoming a soapbox or preachy. But, of course, because this character was close to my heart, she has feelings that would be similar to mine.”

 

Further asked: “In some ways, <Nine Perfect Strangers> reminded me of the Stanford Prison Experiment, where 'inmates' did what they were told even when it seemed inhuman. Why do we do what we're told?”

 

You answered: “For this book, I read about Jonestown, so I did want to give that feeling of being in a cult. We're all basically obedient. I think that the desire to be someone new is so strong that it's easy to believe the most ridiculous things.”

 

Asked again: “This novel explores what people think about when they're facing death. Do you think that reflects your Catholic (uncatholic in this letter-writer's view) school education?”

 

You answered: “I don't like to analyze how much of myself goes into my books. The fact that little parts of myself might find their way into these books-it's mortifying, to be honest. But I definitely have that Catholic feeling of guilt; I feel guilty about my success. In the early days, I used to think, You're going to pay for this; something terrible will happen next. Nothing has yet. But if it does, I'll think, Well, there you go; you deserve it.”

 

Unlike, or rather in stark contrast to, the <Nine Perfect Strangers>, the 'Nine Ladies' of my book, <Cosmian>, published in 2019, I trust, will enlighten, inspire and uplift us all, originally blessed cosmically as ‘Cosmians Arainbow of Love.’

 

Sincerely,  

Lee Tae-Sang

 

How to Be Cosmian

  

Leftist or rightist, liberal or conservative, progressive or reactionary ideology; black or white racism; male or female sexism; right or wrong, good or bad judgment; the chosen or heathen, upper or lower class elitism; us or them mentality and mindset, etc.; all these divisive discriminations imprison us all earthlings, bound for self-destruction, forsaking the win-win solution, causing the current climate change and all sorts of other human-made calamities, catastrophes, conflicts, diseases, wars and what not.

 

If so, what would be more imperative and urgent than to be awakened to appreciate the magical and miraculous experience of being born arainbow of love through the union of our parents on this most beautiful and wonderful planet earth as brief sojourners to return to the Cosmos, to be aware of our true identity as Cosmians to share our common cosmic vision in living and loving during our short stay here on earth?

 

In order to come to this realization, every one of us has to be enlightened and inspired to learn that one is not separate from each other, being a microcosmos reflecting the macrocosmos, all that existed in the past, all that exists at present and all that will exist in the future. Thus we're all in it together, all on our separate, uplifting journeys to realize that loving someone or something is loving oneself and the whole of the Cosmos itself.

 

May each one of us be the Sea of Cosmos!

 

[이태상]

서울대학교 졸업

코리아타임즈 기자

합동통신사 해외부 기자

미국출판사 Prentice-Hall 한국/영국 대표

오랫동안 철학에 몰두하면서

신인류 ‘코스미안'사상 창시

1230ts@gmail.com

작성 2022.03.15 09:46 수정 2022.03.15 10:58
Copyrights ⓒ 코스미안뉴스. 무단 전재 및 재배포금지 전명희기자 뉴스보기
댓글 0개 (/ 페이지)
댓글등록- 개인정보를 유출하는 글의 게시를 삼가주세요.
등록된 댓글이 없습니다.
2023-01-30 10:21:54 / 김종현기자