1. Jeju Serendipity as Nature, Love, Fortune, Creativity, Science, and Culture

Today, serendipity as I, Here, and Now appears in diverse fields, and Jeju Island and Jeju culture are no exception. On Jeju Island, we will examine this on the basis of nature, focusing on love and fortune, creativity, science, and culture. In what follows, we will consider the circulatory structure of Jeju serendipity, centering on nature, love, fortune, creation, and science.

1) Jeju Serendipity as Manifested in Nature

The nature of Jeju shows us the law of circulation. Jeju Island takes the shape of the Milky Way and embraces Hallasan, which draws the Milky Way toward itself; like the cosmos, it is divided into yin and yang as North Jeju and South Jeju, and, like the 360 days of the year, it consists of 360 oreum (parasitic cones). Whereas, on the mainland during the Joseon dynasty, the whole country was artificially divided into 360 counties through analogical thinking correlated with heaven, on Jeju Island nature itself consists of 360 oreum, so that the island may indeed be called a miniature of the cosmos.

Just as the cosmos is composed of water and fire, Jeju Island too has a Path of Water and a Path of Fire. Jeju is famous for its Olle Trails, but the island also has a Path of Water and a Path of Fire that reveal the serendipity of nature even more than the Olle Trails do. On Jeju Island, the route Hallim Park → Sanbangsan → Yongmeori → Cheonjeyeon Falls → Jeongbang Falls shows the 'Path of Water,' while the route Jeju Folklore and Natural History Museum → Manjanggul Cave → Seongsan Ilchulbong → Sangumburi shows the 'Path of Fire.' In Jeju's natural serendipity, the Path of Water shows analogical thinking, and the Path of Fire shows empathy; for water reveals points of resemblance between two different beings and binds them tightly together, whereas fire arouses ardent empathy.

[Photo Ⅳ.1] Information board for Hyeopjae Ssangyonggul Cave[1]

[Photo Ⅳ.2] Interior of Hyeopjaegul Cave[2]

Looking closely at the Path of Water running from Hallim Park (Hyeopjaegul, Ssangyonggul) → Sanbangsan → Yongmeori → Cheonjeyeon Falls → Cheonjiyeon Falls → Jeongbang Falls, we find first that Hallim Park contains Ssangyonggul and Hyeopjaegul, lava caves that are also limestone caves, forming the Blue Dragon on the left and the White Tiger on the right. Inside Hyeopjaegul, there is a tiger pattern on the cave's ceiling. In feng shui, the tiger signifies the White Tiger on the right (右白虎), that is, the west, which analogically signifies righteousness (義). The reason the White Tiger appears at the entrance of Hyeopjaegul is that Hyeopjaegul is actually located to the west and Ssangyonggul to the east. In analogical thinking, the law of circulation resembles the feng shui configuration of the Azure Dragon on the left, the White Tiger on the right, the Vermilion Bird to the south, and the Black Tortoise to the north. It is said that the Azure Dragon on the left, which contracts within the law of circulation, is represented by crustaceans, while the White Tiger, which expands, is represented by wild beasts.[3] In the immediately adjoining Ssangyonggul, there is a form of two dragons facing each other. The dragon signifies the left (左), the east (東), that is, benevolence (仁). In this way, Hyeopjaegul and Ssangyonggul together show that the human mind holds both righteousness (義) and the empathy of benevolence (仁).[4]

[Photo Ⅳ.3] Cheonjeyeon Falls[5]

[Photo Ⅳ.4] Cheonjiyeon Falls[6]

The Path of Water proper appears at Seogwipo's three great waterfalls on Jeju. Cheonjeyeon Falls, located in the Jungmun resort complex at the center of Jeju Island, retains the legend that the Jade Emperor's seven fairies bathed there and ascended to heaven. The representative feature of Cheonjeyeon Falls is its three-tiered cascade. Because the three tiers of Cheonjeyeon correspond to heaven (天), earth (地), and humanity (人), they show an analogical relation to the astronomical notion of the Three Powers (三才) of heaven, earth, and humanity, and on the roof of Cheonjeyeon, figures of the demons that appeared when Tripitaka Master Xuanzang went to fetch the Buddhist sutras have been erected, with the meaning that such demons should not appear again. To observe the falls closely, one crosses Seonimgyo, the bridge said to be crossed by immortals. Here too stands Cheonjeru (天帝樓), a pavilion from which the three-tiered falls and Hallasan can be seen at a glance. Cheonjeyeon Falls shows, through the power of nature, a state unique to Jeju Island in which the problems of human society can ultimately be resolved by the Heavenly Emperor who presides over nature.

If Cheonjeyeon Falls shows the power of the Heavenly Emperor, Cheonjiyeon Falls shows the harmonious form of the cosmos. At Cheonjiyeon, not only the falls but the surrounding scenery is oval in shape, so that only sky, earth, and falls are visible. The oval is the shape of Jeju Island and the shape of the cosmic galaxy. As at Hyeopjaegul, trees grow out of the rocks on both sides of the path leading into Cheonjiyeon Falls, showing the harmony of wood energy (木氣) and metal energy (金氣).

Just as the name Cheonjiyeon (天地淵) carries the meaning of heaven and earth, the path leading into Cheonjiyeon Falls also takes the shape of the character eul (乙, "bird"), which itself is a figure of heaven and earth, so that one cannot see inside from outside, nor outside from inside. As in taeeul and taeil, the character eul is said to be the first character created by China's Cangjie, meaning "sprout" or "bird."[7] As seen in a sprout, eul possesses a power that is delicate yet admirable, and it figures the movement of cosmic generation and the wave-like form of water flowing across a surface.

Cheonjiyeon Falls, entered along the shape of eul, has a stream that flows into the sea; this stream, at only 600 meters, is in fact the shortest river in the world, and is called Cheonjigang. Though the smallest river in the world, in terms of meaning it becomes the greatest river in the world; from the Cheonji pond it ceaselessly sends forth the energy of water, and in the pond of Cheonjiyeon wild ducks play.

The watercourse that had wound its way through Cheonjiyeon and Cheonjeyeon Falls suddenly quickens at Jeongbang Falls. As for Jeongbang Falls: Qin Shi Huang, who dwelt 3,000 li to the northwest, sent his ministers to seek the elixir of immortality, having them search for the Three Divine Mountains said to lie in Korea — Hallasan (Yeongjusan), Jirisan (Bangjangsan), and Geumgangsan (Bongnaesan). In connection with Xu Fu (徐福), it is said that on the second panel of the left wall of Jeongbang Falls was inscribed the phrase "Seobok gwacha" (徐福過次), meaning that Xu Fu had passed this way. Tourists may surmise that Xu Fu had, by analogical reasoning, sensed that the elixir of immortality might be found among Seogwipo's three waterfalls.

Next, the Path of Fire, connecting the Jeju Folklore and Natural History Museum → Manjanggul Cave → Seongsan Ilchulbong → Sangumburi, shows the analogical relation between fire and humanity. At the Jeju Folklore and Natural History Museum, Jeju's customs, nature, and ecosystem are arranged so as to be easily understood. As if in analogical relation to heaven's Five Circulatory Phases and Six Qi (五運六氣), Jeju's soil is said to have five kinds of sand and six colors. Beside the museum is Sinsan Park, the place where the Olympic torch first arrived in Korea during the 1988 Olympics. In the analogical correspondence between astronomy and nature that appears in Jeju's natural landscape, tourists come to sense the possibility of cosmic problem-solving.

[Photo Ⅳ.5] Seongsan Ilchulbong, which looks like a great tortoise heading toward the sea[8], and Sangumburi[9]

Next, at Manjanggul Cave we can see an analogical correspondence between Jeju Island and the tortoise. The tortoise is called Hyeonmu, and Hyeonmu symbolizes water. Yet, just as the rock formed by lava, the energy of fire, is called basalt (玄武巖, Hyeonmuam), the tortoise carries the energy of fire within water. The freelance writer Park Soo-dong says that the holes running into basalt resemble Menger's sponge.[10] Plato, working within earth-water-fire-air — analogous to yin-yang and the Five Phases — represented earth geometrically as a cube. Jeju's basalt seems to show the point of contact between the Western earth-water-fire-air and the Eastern yin-yang and Five Phases. Jeju Island is an island shaped like a tortoise, and even Jeju's coastal ring road shares that shape. Its length, too, is 13.42 km (1+3+4+2=10, the largest of the yang numbers among yin and yang). At the 60-meter point from the second entrance of Manjanggul, there is likewise a stone tortoise form, and at the 1-kilometer point a lava column rises, connected to Gimyeongsagul Cave. Traces of flowing water (lava) are also clearly visible. In feng shui, water shows the root number 1-6 (一六水). And the temperature there stays at 16 degrees year-round.

In Manjanggul, at the 2.8-kilometer point where Hyeonmu (the North, the tortoise) sits, a phoenix with clearly formed wings appears in the southern chamber; with the Azure Dragon on the left, the White Tiger on the right, the Black Tortoise to the north, and the Vermilion Bird to the south all present, the cave shows the very foundation of the cosmos. The Vermilion Bird to the south, in contrast to the Black Tortoise, symbolizes fire. The fire energy of Manjanggul appears all the more vivid set against the water. Water, represented by water droplets, seeps down 40 meters from the surface of the earth and gathers there. Tens of thousands of bats live there, called sinseo (神鼠, divine rats) or cheonseo (天鼠, heavenly rats). The form of Manjanggul is like a passage shaped like the character eul, leading toward the symbol of harmony.

Next, looking at the rocks atop Seongsan, the peak of Seongsan Ilchulbong, there are rock formations of a sheep (洋) descending and an ox (牛) climbing toward the summit. Seongsan Ilchulbong emerged from beneath the sea, and, as the legend tells, it seems as though ninety-nine animals are there making wishes. The sunrise seen from Seongsan makes one feel a correspondence with a new world. Watching the sun rise over Seongsan Ilchulbong, formed by volcanic activity, tourists find themselves, without realizing it, feeling their bodies filled with the energy of fire.

Finally, as for Sangumburi: it was formed when Hallasan erupted with lava; its interior spans 90,000 pyeong, the crater is 100–140 meters wide, its rim stands 438 meters high, its circumference is 2,070 meters, and 420 species of plants grow there natively, among which strawberries are said to ripen even in winter. Inside Sangumburi, north and south are clearly divided as yin and yang, and the distribution of plants differs accordingly. The red strawberries ripening in snow-covered Sangumburi show Jeju's power to bring culture into bloom even amid hardship.

2) Jeju Serendipity as Love and Fortune

Serendipity draws people's attention mostly because of the simultaneity and shared pattern of fortune and love found within it. The American film Serendipity, released in 2002, dealt with a love brought about by chance, centered in New York. The film Serendipity won broad sympathy from audiences on the theme that love must arise by chance in order to be accepted as one's destined match. The Serendipity café in New York that served as the film's setting is said to be perpetually packed. Although not titled "serendipity," most romance films, beginning with My Sassy Girl, treat serendipity as the central element of love. What people wish for on their travels is serendipity as destined love. Today, now that God has vanished, it feels as though serendipity has come to take God's place.

In much of popular culture, serendipity appears as spontaneity, or, in other words, as adlib. Such spontaneity is found in talk shows, acting, singing, comedy, and the like. Spontaneity requires chance, and chance must be led to success — yet this is possible only through ceaseless effort and preparation. These days, as if in competition over spontaneity, only what is spontaneously produced tends to be regarded as true and profound. Is this perhaps why the singer Lee Sun-hee named her commemorative album Serendipity?

[Photo Ⅳ.6] The café from the film Serendipity

[Photo Ⅳ.7] A Western principle of circulation — Schulze_method

Although serendipity is a popular subject today, research on serendipity remains rare, because the chance-quality inherent in serendipity contains an element sharply at odds with modern culture. Serendipity has two faces: it is regarded as something like the fantasy found in films or songs, while in the corporate environment it is regarded as an element that must necessarily be achieved in order to attain one's goals. This wide gap has arisen because of a deep-rooted bias against chance in both East and West. Jeju culture, too, will be able to have its true value recognized only once it is freed from this bias against chance.

The sense of chance felt in serendipity has in the past been called déjà vu, and Jung called it synchronicity. Jung's synchronicity held that when one ponders a problem, its answer appears at the same time; and in a sense, The Secret, popular until recently, inherited that same reputation. The Secret held that if one earnestly desires and strives, the thing will surely come to pass. And because it was said to have been used by the upper classes, it set off a worldwide boom.[11]

Jeju Island's serendipity as nature naturally links onward to serendipity as love and fortune. From the standpoint of serendipity, the reason Jeju Island became a mecca for honeymoons is that the island's very topography holds the yin-yang principle of Hallasan's fire and the Pacific's water, of North Jeju and South Jeju, and possesses a Five-Phases circulation surrounded by the four seas, so that honeymooning couples who visit Jeju can carry the harmony of nature home with them, filling their hearts. One foreign observer, who viewed Jeju Island as a Neo-Confucian ideal land steeped in the principles of the Book of Changes, held that this was because the people of Jeju, from birth, feel in their own skin the Neo-Confucian natural principle of yin and yang, and thereby fashion an Eastern-style romance.[12] The circulation of analogical thinking shows that, just as water and fire circulate, the love between man and woman likewise circulates. Just as anyone who sees Geumgangsan becomes a poet, so too there can be no one who, upon seeing Hallasan and the sea of Jeju, does not become a romantic of cosmic circulation.

Though chiefly known as a honeymoon destination, Jeju also became the fountainhead (濫觴) of the thaw in the Cold War, when Russia's Gorbachev, America's Bush, and China's Yang Shangkun all visited. This gave Jeju Island a new title as an island of fortune and peace. The serendipity of love and fortune known on Jeju Island may be found in Samseonghyeol and Honingji, both associated with Xu Fu, in the dol hareubang (stone grandfather statues), in Grandmother Seolmundae and the Yeongdeung-gut ritual, and in the horse. All of these beings symbolize love and fortune in other regions as well, but Jeju is exceptional. In fact, Jeju has had no beasts of prey since ancient times, so that hunting could be carried out without weapons. And though it was in the past the region hardest to live in, today it is the place in Korea with the highest income from farming and fishing. Among these, the haenyeo (women divers) in particular earn especially high incomes. Jeju's haenyeo have even been analyzed as an exemplary case of management, comparable to Genghis Khan in the excellence of their management skills.[13]

On Jeju Island, the serendipity of love and fortune begins with Xu Fu, in connection with the legend of the Three Divine Mountains. Because Xu Fu came to this land seeking the elixir of immortality, Jeju is not merely a land of eternal life and longevity. Xu Fu's story also contains love and fortune together. It is said that the island of dreams spoken of in Avatar is connected with Jeju Island, and nowhere in the world is there a more beautiful love story than the story of Xu Fu, bound up with Samseonghyeol and Honingji.

As historical facts related to Qin Shi Huang have gradually come to light, new theories have emerged concerning Xu Fu's relationship with Jeju Island. New interpretations of the origins of Jeju culture and of Xu Fu likewise seek to connect the myth of Samseonghyeol with Xu Fu.[14] The existing interpretation that reads Samseonghyeol as an extension of legends found across all of Northeast Asia[15] paradoxically shows that the love story of Xu Fu and Samseonghyeol was a love shared by the whole of Northeast Asia. According to one new interpretation of Xu Fu, the three surnames of Samseonghyeol—Go, Bu, and Yang—existed only in China at that time, and these three surnames belonged to the three men who fell behind before Xu Fu departed for Japan on his first expedition. Woo Gyu-il of the Seogwipo Xu Fu Cultural International Exchange Association, who continues the research begun by Hong Sun-man, former president of the Xu Fu Society and the first to link Samseonghyeol with Xu Fu, holds that Xu Fu succeeded in a second expedition planned as a full-scale collective migration, and that on this occasion he sent three princesses from Japan to the three men left behind on Jeju—an event that became the legend of Honinji.[16] Woo Gyu-il published a paper in the April 2012 issue of *Geumgyo* (金橋), the organ of the Chinese people's government published in Korea, after which a Korean-Chinese-Japanese joint production of a TV historical drama on Xu Fu, centered on the legend of Honinji, was underway; it is said to be currently suspended, however, owing to an international dispute over Japan's remilitarization.

[Photo Ⅳ.8] Xi Jinping's visit to Xu Fu Park [Photo Ⅳ.9] Xu Fu Park in Japan

China and Japan treat Xu Fu's arrival in Jeju as an established fact and have produced numerous studies analyzing Northeast Asian culture as falling within Xu Fu's sphere of influence.[17] It is said that the Samseonghyeol myth in fact coincides with the story of Xu Fu, both chronologically and textually, as well as on the basis of the history of Korea, China, and Japan and the testimony of his descendants; the Korea-China Friendship Association, which has studied Xu Fu's eastward voyage, commemorated Xu Fu together with his descendants in China and Japan in 2010, marking the 2,220th anniversary of his journey eastward. It is widely known that after visiting Xu Fu Park on Jeju Island in July 2006, Chairman Xi Jinping—having overcome earlier hardships—was rapidly promoted to Party Secretary of Zhejiang Province and subsequently rose, through outstanding achievements, to the position of General Secretary of the Party. In Japan, it is said that Xu Fu's clan was a major clan of ancient Japan, and that among Japan's successive prime ministers today there are descendants of Xu Fu.

If Samseonghyeol is indeed connected to Xu Fu, then Samsinsan [the Three Sacred Mountains] becomes the icon representing the serendipity of love and fortune on Jeju Island. Moreover, if Samsinsan is combined with what the West calls the trifunctional system, it could become an icon for the century. Even if the three surnames left by Xu Fu are not in fact the protagonists of Samseonghyeol, the three divine figures of Samseonghyeol can still be understood in connection with the trifunctional system. The trifunctional system regards the sovereign in charge of ritual sacrifice in human society as the first function, the warrior in charge of war as the second function, and the god of abundance as the third function.[18] Go, Bu, and Yang may thus be said to have carried out the trifunctional system, a spirit that was in turn inherited in the spirit of the Island of Three Abundances (Samdado).

Jeju's Samseonghyeol can also be interpreted in terms of an educational function. Professor Hyeon Yong-jun of Jeju National University suggests that Goeulna may be interpreted as "the lofty one" (nobility), Yangeulna as "the benevolent one" (goodness), and Bueulna as "the bright one" (brilliance).[19] The cultural significance of Jeju's Samseonghyeol and Samsinsan calls for further clarification through continued research.

From ancient times, the trifunctional system regarded the cow and the snake as symbols of love and fortune. Jeju culture, in turn, bears a close relationship to the culture of the cow and the snake. The cow and the snake are animals symbolizing the number three, representing the wisdom of the cosmos. The cow forms an inverted triangle and the snake an upright triangle; combined, the two form the flag of Israel, and in this way the cow and the snake have left many traces throughout the world.[20] Since legends of the cow and the snake are found everywhere on Jeju, the logic of Samseonghyeol can offer Jeju new opportunities. The legends of the numbers three and seven found on Jeju are also central formulas of Campbell's hero narrative, which has become the standard script of Hollywood films.

[Photo Ⅳ.10] The black cow of Jeju myth[21] [Photo Ⅳ.11] The dragon, associated with the snake in East Asian myth[22]

The serendipity of love and fortune held by Samsinsan on Jeju Island expands to a cosmic dimension when it reaches the dol hareubang [stone grandfather statues]. Giving the impression of guardians and messengers of the cosmos, the dol hareubang show that Jeju is a place where gods and humans bring each other good fortune, and that nowhere else in the world is there a region as close to the divine as Jeju. The divine is no longer taboo here. Jeju becomes a place where even death can be approached with familiarity, a place where one can see the sky one most wishes to see before dying. Since ancient times, sky and earth have been the representative embodiments of the yin and yang by which the cosmos and nature operate. Those who love the sky can never forget the sky of Jeju. Anyone who visits Jeju once and comes to understand this logic is sure to return.

Let us reinterpret Jeju once more in relation to the sky. Jeju in fact has legends and place names connected to the Milky Way, the cosmos, and the Taegeuk [Great Ultimate]. Because Hallasan, in its connection to Samsinsan, links Jeju to the mainland, Jeju Island has also been likened to a chick. Looking at an actual map of Jeju, Marado, together with Sanbangsan in front of it, forms the chick's beak, while Seongsan Ilchulbong and Udo form the chick's tail. Jeju is indeed the special production area of rapeseed flowers and mandarin oranges, both the color of a chick. That Jeju takes the shape of a chick shows that the island is connected to the function of ascending to the heavenly utopia associated with Geumgangsan, the elder brother, so to speak, of Samsinsan. The dol hareubang of Jeju are also icons of love. The dol hareubang of Jeju are also the lovers of Halmang, who represents Jeju.

Jeju's countless gods and shamanic practices, once regarded as mere superstition, are being reinterpreted today as icons of love and fortune. The appearance of ancestors in Western accounts of the "near-death experience (近死體驗, NDE)" is being highlighted as an occasion for clearly demonstrating the scientific validity of Jeju shamanic belief today.[23] The near-death experience, formerly called the imsa cheheom (臨死體驗), refers to what roughly 10% of people who biologically reached a state of death and then returned have commonly experienced. Through diverse investigations and rigorous verification involving more than 20,000 subjects,[24] the near-death experience is regarded as a far more reliable field of study than reincarnation experiences or New Age[25]-style mystical experiences. Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a psychiatrist named one of the ten leading thinkers of the twentieth century by the New York Times, found that regardless of nationality, race, or culture, those who had near-death experiences commonly reported encountering the dead, especially their ancestors.[26]

The icon that comprehensively demonstrates that Jeju is an island of the serendipity of love and fortune is the Jeju horse. Since ancient times the horse, called the "heavenly horse" (cheonma), has symbolized the sky. Although the Jeju horse originated from Mongolia, Jeju came to produce even better horses than Mongolia. The horse has changed history at the very center of world history. Together with the bird, the horse symbolizes circulation, and among the twelve zodiac animals it responds most sensitively to change. The Chinese character 島 (island) used for Jeju Island was likewise coined because an island resembles a mountain (山) as seen by a bird (鳥).

[Photo Ⅳ.12] The horse, one of the Ten Scenic Views of Yeongju[27] [Photo Ⅳ.13] A Jeju horse pulling a carriage[28]

The horse, which lives well in groups, is connected to Jeju culture's practice of a culture of sharing. Love and fortune can be said to derive from the fact that Jeju culture is a culture of sharing. According to records, in Onpyeong-ri on Jeju there was something called "hakgyo badang" (school sea), where elderly people living alone, women divers (haenyeo), and girls serving as heads of households were also accepted as members of the haenyeo organization and given a share of a fixed income. Jeju's sunulleum is a communal culture unique to the island. The fact that there were no beggars on Jeju means that, in the absence of large landlords, there was also no exploitation, and hence neither beggars nor tenant-farmer disputes. Since the land was poor and small—what in Jeju dialect is called "dollaengi" (nothing but stones)—it is said that there was neither yangban [aristocrat] nor commoner, and everyone farmed and lived well together.[29]

3) Jeju Serendipity as Creativity

What great discoveries, problem-solving, and humor have in common is that they begin by discovering a shared pattern between two things previously thought to be entirely unrelated. Given the human tendency toward laziness, the common pattern between two seemingly unrelated things has generally been discovered under crisis conditions. Humor, too, shines brightest in awkward situations, and great discoveries have always been more valuable the more unsolvable the problem seemed.

Today, with the development of computers, most labor has been computerized, and the added value of labor now arises from creativity. A person can earn a salary by doing what only humans, and not machines, can do. One such capacity is discovering common patterns among unrelated things through analogical thinking.

The tradition of solving problems through common patterns was important in both East and West. In the West, problems were solved by discerning the common pattern of all things through Earth, Water, Fire, and Air [the four elements]; in the East, through yin-yang and the Five Phases (wuxing). Bachelard, who is credited with laying the foundations of modern French philosophy of science, lamented, while researching the philosophy of science, that although both Western science and poetry originated in the imagination of the four elements, science education today rejects that very imagination.[30] Indeed, after Bachelard, French philosophy of science discovered that the four elements constitute an anthropological structure of the imaginary and a common pattern underlying all things. The claim that the four elements are the common pattern of all things, established since Aristotle, was transmitted to the Islamic world before the rise of modern science and remained a Western tradition for more than 2,000 years.

What resembles nature's common pattern even more closely than the Western four elements is the East Asian system of yin-yang and the Five Phases (eumyang-ohaeng). Yin-yang and the Five Phases, together with the Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches, the twenty-four solar terms, and the sixty-four hexagrams derived from them, are all methods that make use of this common pattern. In nature, the principle of yin-yang's "growth, maturation, decline, and storage" (saengjang-yeomjang) is consistently applied throughout yin-yang and the Five Phases, the Ten Stems and Twelve Branches, the twenty-four solar terms, and the sixty-four hexagrams.[31] For example, the reason the Year of the Rat is called the Year of the Rat is that, in the old countryside, at the dead of midnight when everyone else was falling asleep, only the rat would begin to stir on the rafters overhead—and the ancients marked this same principle, by which yang energy begins to stir at the winter solstice in the circulating cosmos, with the sign of the "rat."

This shows that the twelve zodiac signs were not named by chance alone, but were named according to a thorough problem-solving principle. Jeju Island, being a natural heritage site representative of the world's mountain-and-sea landscapes, and having a culture specialized in nature, is extremely well suited to being a site of serendipity. Jeju's natural environment itself, with its 360 oreum [volcanic cones], displays the common pattern of the cosmos.

Indeed, contemporary creativity theory has achieved many results by applying problem-solving methods that use the common patterns of nature. Common patterns created in the East, such as the sixty-four hexagrams or the Thirty-Six Stratagems, have been reborn in TRIZ, the most successful creativity theory of the West; scholars such as Michel Serres cross the boundaries of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences through the four elements; and Korea's Kim Dong-ryeol has derived patterns through structurology.

[Photo Ⅳ.14] The 2014 Seoul World TRIZ Conference

[Photo Ⅳ.15] A Western serendipity laboratory[32]

The serendipity of "I, Here, Now" as it appears in Jeju's creativity is well shown, first, in the Neo-Confucian character of Jeju, which representatively exhibits Jeju's circulatory creativity; second, in the various theories that reveal the diverse creative relationships Jeju has formed with its environment; third, in the creativity of Jeju as observed by nearby East Asians such as the Japanese; fourth, in the roundness displayed by Hallasan and in the wisdom of the aegigudeok [baby cradle] and of wedding customs; and fifth, in the new face of a thousand-year-old Jeju as seen in the Olle trails and the wind.

We have located Jeju's starting point in the serendipity of "I, Here, Now." This is easily understood when compared with the fact that, in the eyes of one foreign observer, the distinguishing feature of Jeju represented the most advanced form of Neo-Confucian thought. David Nemeth regarded the Jeju landscape—composed of countless gods and shamanic practices, the dotongsi [pig toilet] of farmhouses, the deureumdol [lifting stones] of villages, and the ancestral graves in their eumtaek [burial sites]—as the very embodiment of a people's sincere effort to harmonize with the cosmos.[33] And Jeju may form the finest contrast with the West, which has led civilization through the 'love' between man and woman.[34] The dotongsi, meaning "pig toilet," reflects the wisdom of Jeju people in circulating environment and economy,[35] while the village deureumdol, used as the implement for strength-testing contests among village young men, served as a medium for preserving village harmony. The ancestral graves, surrounded by sandam [stone walls], can likewise be seen as the preserver of spirit—together, these three served respectively as the guardians of heaven, earth, and man on Jeju.

[Photo Ⅳ.16] Dotongsi[36] [Photo Ⅳ.17] Sandam[37]

The images above show the dotongsi, considered a model example of environmental recycling, and the sandam amid the silver grass. The dotongsi of farmhouses, the deureumdol of villages, and the ancestral graves in eumtaek can be said to be the origin of the "B-grade culture" with which Korea has today moved the world,[38] and each of them can also be said to represent, respectively, the discovery of common patterns, empathy, and existence that make up serendipity.

In the early Joseon period there was much conflict on Jeju between shamanism, Buddhist faith, and Confucian orthodoxy. Yet when Jeju is compared with the Korean mainland or Japan, both of which experienced similar conflicts, it can be said that Jeju is where Neo-Confucian communal culture appears in its most developed form. Although the Joseon court neither favored Jeju nor provided it with proper educational services, Jeju chose to develop Neo-Confucian cooperation and creative thought even further than the mainland, rather than remain in conflict with the court. Even though Yi Hyeong-sang, who took office as Jeju magistrate in 1702, burned 130 Buddhist temples and sent 400 shamans home, Jeju still today has 252 shrines among its 500 villages, where 18,000 gods are worshipped.[39] By making use of the synthetic character of Neo-Confucianism, Jeju achieved a culture of its own through a people-centered "enlightened underdevelopment."

Various theories exist concerning the creative relationship Jeju has formed with its environment. Broadly speaking, there are two currents: one that emphasizes Jeju culture as intermediary trade, and one that regards it as a maritime culture. Ju Gang-hyeon, who emphasizes intermediary trade, holds that, as shown by the case of Xu Fu, Jeju has existed since early times as a stepping stone within the maritime world. He further holds that Jeju was a small state that even dispatched envoys to Tang China. Song Seong-dae, who emphasizes maritime culture, regarded Greece and China as the respective models of continental and maritime culture, and held that, because Jeju was a maritime society, it emphasized individual ability and freedom and equality as Greece did, whereas the mainland emphasized the spirit of the seonbi [Confucian scholar-gentleman]. Other theories include the East Asian Mediterranean theory (Yun Myeong-cheol), the Asian Mediterranean theory (F. Gipouloux), the maritime world theory (Takeshi Hamashita), and the port-city network theory (Masashi Haneda).[40]

Jeju also shows, in the eyes of Japanese observers, the creation and practice of the lifeworld. Whereas Koreans tend to place great value on origins and are reluctant to change, Jeju has shown, situated between Korea and Japan, a talent for improvement.[41] Debate has accordingly been abundant. Research on Jeju culture, beginning with Seok Ju-myeong during the Japanese colonial period, refused unconditional idealization. Since the 1980s, Jeju has largely been contested among the theory of particularity, the theory of substance, and the static theory. In addition, the Japanese have tended to view it through the theory of the creation of the lifeworld.[42]

Jeju Island's creativity is also evident in the names of Hallasan. Because it resembles a steamer, Hallasan was called Jeungsan (甑山), Samsinsan, and Yeongjusan. It was also called Mudusan (無頭山) or Dumuak (頭無岳) because it appears headless, Wonsan (圓山) because it is round, Buaksan (釜岳山) because it resembles a cauldron, Dansan (丹山) because it is famous for the red hues of its royal azaleas and Korean azaleas, and Yeojanggun (Female General) because it has dignity yet is capricious.

The name Jeungsan (甑山), given because the mountain resembles a steamer, suits Hallasan well, since "Hallasan" means a mountain vast enough to hold even the waters of the Pacific Ocean without overflowing, and thus able to draw down the Milky Way. Baengnokdam seems to symbolize the Milky Way. Because a steamer preserves the character of the rice grains while still turning them into a single mass, it aptly explains the character of the Korean people. Moreover, although National Route 99 — the highest national road in Korea — runs across the mountain at an elevation of over 1,100 meters, the mountain's broad embrace gives people a feeling that is both lofty and comfortable, like that of a sage (聖人).

[Photo IV.18] Hallasan's mountaintop flower garden colored with azaleas[43]

[Photo IV.19] Hallasan, cozy like a steamer[44]

Perhaps it is because Hallasan is a mountain that is high yet gently sloped, unhurried and at ease, and gives the feeling — like a steamer — of the whole becoming one, that it became known not only to Jeju but to all of Korea, and even to China, as one of the Three Spirit Mountains (三神山).[45] In fact, Yeong (瀛), the name given to it because of the mystery of the Three Spirit Mountains, when its water radical is removed becomes Yeong (嬴), which also carries the meaning of "releasing one's han (恨)."

At the Jeju museum, one can see the creativity expressed in the daily life of Jeju. Eastern thought has long expressed the changes of time as corresponding to the stages of a human life, and the Jeju museum likewise presents the changes of time clearly through the stages of a human life. In Jeju, the stages of human life are expressed through the Gija mountain spirit (奇字山神), the aegigudeok (baby cradle), child-mindedness (童心), and wedding rites. This follows the same logic as Eastern thought's classification of human life into podae (胞胎), the conception of a child; yangsaeng (養生), its growth in the mother's womb; yokdae (浴帶), the bathing of the newborn child; and gwanwang (冠旺), the marrying of the grown child. Here, the aegigudeok best shows the wisdom of time distinctive to Jeju.

[Photo IV.20] An aegigudeok in the field[46] [Photo IV.21] An aegigudeok indoors[47]

The pictures above show an aegigudeok taken out to the field, faithfully serving as a portable nursery, and a scene of the cradle being rocked to lull the baby to sleep.[48] Because Jeju mothers, unlike those on the mainland, were always busy, special devices had to be attached to the aegigudeok. A device found only in the Jeju aegigudeok let the mother work while rocking it with her foot, and a matchbox holder placed at the head end made the father tend to the baby whenever he wanted to smoke. The fact that dongsim (童心), the innocent mind of a child, is homophonous with dongsim (同心), meaning "one mind," shows that a child's growth requires empathy with the parents.

Wedding rites, on the other hand, show through their ritual implements that marriage holds the greatest weight in a human life. Jeju is not the only place where traditional weddings are held, but Jeju has the distinctive feature of "gopang separation."[49] In the wedding rite, bamboo and pine symbolize eternal companionship, and the rooster symbolizes the Five Virtues. Its comb symbolizes holding office; its talons, unyielding strength that never retreats; its small head, fearless courage; and its clucking, the loyalty of calling to its companions when food is found. Because it announces the time by crowing "cock-a-doodle-doo" with diligence, the rooster is never absent from a wedding. Rice cakes show the importance of cooperation, in the sense of sharing good fortune. Furthermore, unlike on the mainland, Jeju households had the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law use separate gopang (food storerooms), which fundamentally reduced conflict between them. In Jeju, the principles of separating time and separating space are well applied to daily life.

[Photo IV.22] A Jeju gopang (storeroom)[50]

[Photo IV.23] A Jeju thatched house with the father's and son's quarters separated[51]

Jeju's creativity is also revealed in the fact that Jeju holds a thousand years of history. Few people know that Jeju is a thousand-year-old city. Unlike Gyeongju, the fact that Jeju is a thousand-year-old city is hidden in places such as its thatched houses. Every time one looks at a Jeju thatched house, one senses the fingerprint of Jeju people's lives. Rather than the slightly artificial feeling one gets from a folk village, the basalt walls — seemingly on the verge of crumbling yet solid as they are — convey the Jeju people's strong endurance, the lattice-bound straw ropes of the roof convey their sense of community, and the roof's low slope conveys their humility before nature.[52] Perhaps that is why Lee Jung-seop, like Picasso, sent his wife and family to Japan while he himself remained in Jeju, living in a Jeju thatched house, and spent the peak of his artistic career there.

[Photo IV.24] Lee Jung-seop's birthplace [Photo IV.25] The Olle Trail

The picture on the left is Lee Jung-seop's thatched house in Jeju. Lee Jung-seop's paintings and the Jeju thatched house suit each other well. The picture on the right shows a box of free picture postcards on Olle Trail Course 7. Along Course 7, the village provides picture postcards so that visitors can send the beauty of Seogwipo to their friends and family.

Jeju now offers people a new leisureliness of life under the name of the Olle Trail. Jeju's time is primeval time, but precisely because it is primeval time, it is also the path to the brightest future. That Jeju's time seems even longer is also due to Hallasan possessing every climate — temperate, subarctic, and subtropical. Hallasan has a thousand faces, holding organisms of every climate zone and every altitude. Because Jeju possesses a thousand times, people from all over the world can visit and feel the serendipity of finding 'I,' 'Here,' and 'Now.'

Another place where creativity can readily be found is Jeju's agriculture. It is said that farming thrives here because the entire island, being a volcanic island, was once burned by fire. Jeju, once an abandoned land of exile where only han (恨) accumulated, has now turned into fertile soil and is celebrated as a tourist attraction, including being named one of the New7Wonders of Nature.

Jeju is an island of wind. Wind has, from ancient times, symbolized change. Wind, one of Jeju's Three Abundances, shows that Jeju is a region accustomed to change. Wind is the beginning of all things. Just as Hamel's arrival on Jeju became the occasion for Korea to become known abroad, in Jeju the wind is said to have turned into stone and into resilient women.

But Jeju's change is a change that embraces everything. Jeju is shaped like an overturned conical straw hat, and also like the shape of the Milky Way in the sky. Jeju has soils of five colors — black, red, yellow, and others — and its stones, too, are diverse. Thus, like 'I,' 'Here,' 'Now,' Jeju possesses the wisdom to have its own individuality while knowing how to harmonize with the diversity around it.

4) Jeju Serendipity as Science

Ancient science was satisfied with the idea that the world possessed an analogical system, but by the modern era this was no longer satisfactory. In order to conquer nature, modern science broke the taboo of nature's analogical system. Yet, although modern science set out from atomism, which denied the common patterns found in ancient analogical thinking, it paradoxically now proves analogical thinking to be true.

[Figure IV.26] The Western formula of serendipity[53]

[Photo IV.27] The Japanese formula of serendipity[54]

In fact, even the ancients wondered why the world was an analogical system, though they held that it was. In the East, the common pattern of this analogical system was expressed as i (理), meaning the grain of jade. Here, "grain" and "pattern" may be said to share the same meaning. Learning in the East was precisely the discovery of this grain of jade, the common pattern of things. Hence it was said that learning meant investigating things and extending knowledge (格物致知) in order to fathom the principle of things through gungni (窮理).[55]

In fact, extending a common principle from a thing one already knows to other things was a highly efficient method, and when it succeeded, it could even lead to a state of enlightenment. Moreover, those who reached this state of enlightenment left behind cipher-like texts such as yin-yang and the Five Phases, the Ten Heavenly Stems and Twelve Earthly Branches, the twenty-four solar terms, and the sixty-four hexagrams, but it may be said that their meanings only began to be deciphered in the modern scientific era.

The West, too, carried on an analogical system of thought through the mystical tradition that continued the legacy of earth, water, fire, and air. This mystical tradition of earth, water, fire, and air, beginning with Orpheus and Pythagoras, lies deeply in the background of the works of Plato and Aristotle as well. Western analogical thinking appears in the thought of synchronicity. In the modern era, the figures who may be said to have made a scholarly discipline of synchronicity and analogical thinking are, representatively, Jung and Bachelard.[56] Jung, opposing Freud's causal psychoanalysis, created analytical psychology grounded in the theory of synchronicity. For example, when a person suffering psychologically encounters, on the way to work, a yellow car and a bird they had never noticed before, or has an unusual dream, that dream and new discovery generally provide a profound answer to a problem the person is carrying. In fact, Archimedes's discovery and the discovery of the benzene ring, both named as instances of serendipity, can be explained through Jung's principle of synchronicity.

The difference between East and West is that the East is more systematic than the West. Using this principle of synchronicity inherent in serendipity, many new scientific theories have emerged. Representative among them are hologram theory, the synthesis of fractal science,[57] synchronization theory,[58] Nassim Haramein's mini black hole theory,[59] and Korea's Sasang (四象) theory together with Oh Gwang-gil's law of circulation, which applies it.

Serendipity as 'I, Here, Now' appearing in Jeju's science is well shown, first, in Jeju's leisureliness; second, in Jeju's science of earth, water, fire, and air — the Samda (三多, Three Abundances) and its extension, the Oda (五多, Five Abundances); third, in Jeju's nature and astronomy; fourth, in the magpie; and fifth, in the silkworm.

[Photo IV.28] Drying galot (persimmon-dyed clothing)[60] [Photo IV.29] A Jeju islander wearing galot[61]

Jeju has always been a place that solved problems through the science of leisureliness. The pictures above show a scene of Jeju galot being dried and a scene of people wearing galot while singing folk songs.[62] Jeju galot shows how much a leisurely, easy-fitting garment can make a person wise. Yun Byeong-ha, though a mainlander, always wore Jeju galot even in ordinary daily life, and thereby made known many values of Korean culture that even Koreans themselves did not know.[63]

Jeju's Samda (三多, Three Abundances) curiously coincides with the earth, water, fire, and air that Bachelard spoke of. Within Jeju itself, it is not called Samda but Oda (五多, Five Abundances), adding drought and horses. Jeju's Oda forms a closely interlinked system, much like yin-yang and the Five Phases.[64]

Looking first at stones: because there are many stones and much wind, there are stone walls; because there are many stones and many women, there are many stone Maitreya (dol mireuk) statues. Because there are many stones and many horses, there are many field walls (batdam); and because there are many stones and much drought, gireumjakji (oiled pebbles), pebbles laid down to hold in the soil's moisture, came into being.

[Photo IV.30] A teuri (herder) wearing a jeongdongbeollip (rain cape)[65] [Photo IV.31] A teuri driving horses

The photograph above shows a Jeju herder (teuri) wearing a jeongdongbeollip, a rain cape made of reed straw, and a teuri driving horses in autumn.[66] Because Jeju has much wind and drought, the soil's fertility did not last long, and so the practice of "baryeong" arose. In Jeju, fields were rested for a year in a practice called "swidollim," during which the horse- and cattle-herding teuri had the animals' dung — the "baryeong" — spread on the fields to restore their fertility. When baryeong was applied well, the soil's fertility could last as long as ten years. Also, because there was much wind and many horses, seeds simply planted would be blown away by the wind, and so the practice of batbolligi arose, in which cattle or horses trod the seeds into the ground.

Because there are many women and much wind, Jeju's wind deity became Yeongdeung Halmang. And because of the frequent droughts, women went to the sea instead of the fields to work, becoming haenyeo (women divers). Also, because there are many women and many horses, Jeju women became the largest producers and the most skilled craftswomen of Korean manggeon (horsehair caps).

Finally, looking at drought and horses: because there was much drought and there were many horses, Jeju came to use dung as fertilizer, raising the Jeju dung pigs and developing the dot-tongsi, an eco-friendly farming method unparalleled anywhere else in the world.

[Photo IV.32] A field wall dividing rapeseed flowers and a barley field[67]

[Photo IV.33] A field wall with wind holes[68]

Jeju has even built a cyber museum of the Samda called Samdagwan (三多館).[69] The photographs above show a stone wall crossing between yellow rapeseed flowers and a barley field, and a field wall with wind holes. Because Jeju's Samda coincides, as it happens, with the West's earth, water, fire, and air, there is room to interpret Jeju, according to Western earth-water-fire-air theory as well, as the homeland of humankind. Just as Bachelard's theory rediscovered earth, water, fire, and air as the origin of Western science and art,[70] Jeju's own earth, water, fire, and air have also made a genius artist such as Lee Jung-seop even more of a genius. If Barcelona produced European artists such as Picasso, then Jeju, with its earth, water, fire, and air, may well earn a place as the mecca of cultural content for East Asian artists.[71]

Jeju's Oda is a way of life unique to Jeju that no one ever taught. It also embodies the primordial environment of earth, water, fire, and air. It was precisely because Jeju never abandoned this distinctiveness that it could be linked to today's success.

Jeju, drawing on Neo-Confucian thought, long held a scientific worldview that regarded the island itself as a symbol of the cosmos. The name Hallasan is interpreted as "the peak that draws down the universe,"[72] and the dol hareubang can be interpreted as guardian deities protecting the cosmos; in this way Jeju possesses a natural philosophy that transcends a peninsula-centered view of nature. The guardian stone statues, like the dol hareubang, that stand in pairs at every dwelling site in Jeju are said to correspond to the two stars near the Pole Star during China's Han dynasty, which may be traces of regarding Jeju as the Pole Star — that is, as the center of the universe.[73] The two stars near the Pole Star are also the origin of the term bopil (輔弼, "to assist"). Jeju's oreum, too, number 360, symbolizing a year, in keeping with the Neo-Confucian worldview — that is, the numerology of the Book of Changes. It is said that Joseon at the time likewise had 360 county magistrates (gunsu). Jeju may thus be said to have long thought of itself as the center of 'I, Here, Now.' The name 'Jeju (濟州)' has also been criticized as not a self-determined name but one used from the mainland's perspective, meaning simply "land across the water."[74] But if Jeju is seen as a microcosm of the universe, the name Jeju comes to mean "to save the universe." Indeed, Jeju is the only place in Korea with a protagonist of a creation-myth shaman song (巫歌), Seolmundae Halmang.[75] And Yi Neung-hwa, well known for his Study of Joseon Shamanism (『朝鮮巫俗考』), states that "eulla," in the name of Samseonghyeol, means "king."[76]

Jeju could not help but develop its own science. As shown in the photograph below, water in Jeju seeped into the ground, and it is said that people even twisted straw around trees to collect and drink rainwater. Just as Korea's ondol culture has swept the world market, Jeju has the latent power to send the wind of Korean scientific culture, concentrated within Jeju culture, blowing across the world.

[Photo IV.34] Collecting water from a tree

[Photo IV.35] The sacred site of Seolmundae Halmang on Hallasan

The silkworm shows another characteristic of Jeju in terms of creativity. What is unusual about Jeju silkworms is that, unlike mainland silkworms, they do not molt three times but take their time more leisurely, molting four or five times. Mainland silkworms generally molt three times before turning into moths. The reason Jeju silkworms are famous for their high quality lies in the fact that they molt one or two more times than mainland silkworms. Perhaps for this reason, the Sigol Maeul agricultural cooperative corporation located in Mureung-ri, Daejeong-eup, Seogwipo City has recently restored the sericulture industry that flourished in Jeju during the 1960s–70s but had since disappeared, developing it into a new specialized industry — a development that has become a topic of considerable interest.

5) Jeju Serendipity as Culture

The history of world cultural change is full of the history of transformation surrounding serendipity. Both the theories that apply serendipity to creativity and those that apply it to science offer detailed examples drawn from history and culture. Nassim Haramein, who won the Best Paper Award at the 2009 World Congress of Physics held in Belgium for a paper on unified field theory using mini black hole theory, said that the globe beneath the lion's paw at Tiananmen in Beijing and the Osirian icon laser-etched on an Egyptian wall coincide with the sixty-four hexagrams of the Zhouyi (Book of Changes).[77] It is also said that the stone of the Kaaba, located at Mecca, the holy site of Islam, stands at the position of the Earth's golden ratio.

[Photo IV.36] The circulatory pattern of Tiananmen and the pyramids[78]

[Photo IV.37] The golden-ratio position of Mecca

A circulatory regularity can also be found in the geographic distribution of world cultures. Indeed, examining the distribution of the world religions that formed the source of global culture reveals this circulatory regularity. Just as the Luoshu (洛書) of the Zhouyi operates according to the principle of mutual overcoming, in the West, Western religion (西敎) — whose fire (火) energy overcomes west-metal (西-金) — became the dominant faith, while in the East, Buddhism, which overcomes east-wood (東-木), became the dominant religion. More specifically, in south-China (fire), water-Daoism, which overcomes fire, arose; in earth-China, Confucianism, which overcomes earth, arose; and in north-China, folk belief, which overcomes water, developed. The reason spring caused Confucianism to develop in China, its central region, is its active teachings concerning humanity, and the reason autumn — metal (金) — became Buddhism is that it severs all karmic ties of prior existence (先天) and enters nirvana into the godlike world of the Buddha.[79] In the study of the Book of Changes, it is said that those weak in fire energy do better with the devotional practice of Western religion, while those weak in metal energy do better with the meditative practice of Buddhism. Islam, like Daoism, has a water-like character, and so it flourished in the southern region of Arabia.[80]

[Figure IV.1] World culture viewed through circulation

Local culture can take the forms described above depending on the characteristics of each region. For example, regions with extensive plains, such as Jeolla-do or France, may show the summer-type soyangin (少陽人) temperament, or Type B disposition, while regions such as Germany or Gyeongsang-do may show the winter-type soeumin (少陰人) temperament, or the Type A dormant disposition (隱潛性).[81] World religions, too, can indeed be explained according to these same criteria.

This kind of circulation, with these characteristics, can also be expressed formulaically.[82] Islam and Daoism share a winter-like dormant disposition. Daoism (and Islam) possess an energy that, like the seed of a tree or like DNA, seeks only to condense and draw all things together. Daoism (Islam), which advocates non-action and naturalness (無爲自然) — Islam's *inshallah* — recognizes the contradictory sides of things and, without directly touching the opposite that stands against it, plans something new and seeks to remain hidden until the right time comes. Accordingly, if dormant disposition is expressed formulaically, X is -X, and -X is X. In Daoism, if the Way (道, X) is called the Way (X), it is not the Way (-X);[83] the strongest thing (X) is the weakest thing, water (-X).[84] Heaven and earth (X) are unkind (不仁, -X);[85] and friend (X) is enemy (-X), and enemy (-X) is friend (X).[86] Dormant disposition can accommodate every paradox as one. Just as Daoism, which most reveres the Way, accommodates every paradox, Islam accommodates paradox and takes submission to God — represented by 'inshallah' — as its highest virtue.[87]

If Daoism is like winter's dormant disposition, then Confucianism, which has stood opposed to Daoism, is like spring's outgoing disposition (發揚性). Just as deeply dormant creatures break through rock in spring, it accommodates every paradox. In spring, Daoism clearly distinguishes yang from yin and makes a new beginning. Unlike Daoism, which views everything paradoxically, Confucianism clearly distinguishes the realm of the human from that of the transcendent, creating an ethical world belonging to humans alone. Accordingly, in Confucianism, where the transcendent is human, X is X and -X is -X in mathematical-logical terms. 'To learn (X) and, at due times, to practice it (X) — is this not a joy?'[88] 'To have a friend (X) [with whom to discuss learning] come from afar (X) — is this not a delight?'[89] 'Let the ruler (X) act as ruler (X), and the minister (-X) act as minister (-X).'[90]

In Confucianism, to say that what one knows (X) one knows (X), and what one does not know (-X) one does not know (-X) — this itself is knowledge (X);[91] friend (X) is friend (X), and enemy (-X) is enemy (-X).[92]

The spirit that grew in spring becomes summer again and shows an outgoing disposition, pouring out all the energy within it. Like the Trinity of Western religion, summer integrates the three teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism (儒佛仙). Summer is Western religion. Western religion accommodates both Confucianism's distinction — the transcendent is transcendent, the individual is individual — and Daoism's paradox — the transcendent is the individual, and the individual is the transcendent. Western religion, whose status is that of one subordinate to the Father yet also equal to Him as the Son, pours out energy to its fullest, so that in mathematical-logical terms X becomes everything.[93]

Just as plants shed their leaves in autumn, the seed that grew in summer becomes fruit in autumn and shows a withdrawing disposition (引退性), falling away. When the seed becomes fruit and falls, the fruit is already complete, and so the distinction between the transcendent and the individual disappears. Buddhism, which denies the human, artificial distinction between the transcendent and the individual, can therefore be said, in mathematical-logical terms, to have neither X nor -X. It is said that 'with neither friend (X) nor enemy (-X),' everything is empty (空).[94]

Korea and Jeju culture relatively possess the cultural characteristics of 'earth (土).' Just as people's personalities can be distinguished by constitutional type, there is likewise room to understand local culture in a typified way.

Strategies that made use of serendipity actually held dominant power amid the changes of history, but, just as with 'the Secret,' serendipity was too important a secret, and so the ruling classes tried as much as possible not to disclose it.[95] The history of both East and West is punctuated by a history of concealing serendipity. In the East, the study of the Book of Changes (易學), a representative theory of serendipity, was called 'the study of emperors' and restricted to kings alone.

In the West, as shown in Umberto Eco's novel *The Name of the Rose*, there is a history of extreme control over empathy, represented by laughter. While the four major religions that arose in the East consistently take empathy as the source of ethics, the Western tradition, originating in the Old Testament, regarded empathy as an emotion to be thoroughly rejected. This exclusion of empathy, or resonance (感應), was linked to the ascetic principle of Christianity.

Then since when have the Four Elements (地水火風) and yin-yang and the five phases (陰陽五行) commonly shared a system of analogical resonance? Although East and West appear very different today, scholars who study antiquity view them as having had almost the same culture in the age of Sumer.[96] At that time, it is said, the only habitable place was near the Aral Sea, so people lived there together, and their language and culture were consequently very similar.[97] It is said that East and West were divided only along the boundaries of mountain ranges and rivers. Because a tradition of believing in a god, as in Christianity, is also found in ancient China, Chinese history is said to begin with the feng and shan sacrifices (封禪), and Western history, too, is punctuated by a history of conflict surrounding the Holy Grail (聖杯).[98] East and West have exchanged culture through land routes such as the Silk Road, and at times through sea routes (海路).

Since the cultures of East and West started from the same root, the discovery of serendipity in culture — which has become key to success today — can begin with an analysis of the analogical thinking shared by both Eastern and Western traditions. Indeed, Kim Dong-ryul, a researcher of structurology (構造論), says that although director Kim Ki-duk is Korean, he was able to become a world-renowned film director precisely because he made use of the common patterns of serendipity.[99]

Serendipity as 'I, Here, Now' as it appears in Jeju culture is well revealed in, first, Jeju's myths; second, Jeju's culture of *gememassim*; third, the communal culture of mutual-aid labor exchange (*sunorum*) and collective grave-mowing (*modum beolcho*); and fourth, the sense of subjecthood associated with Sanbangsan.

[Photo IV.38] Jeju's *singugan* custom[100]

[Photo IV.39] The hole made by the toe of Grandmother Seolmundae on Bamseom (Bam Island)[101]

At 6 p.m. on June 17, 2013, the Mago Academy (director Hwang Hye-suk) and the Jeju Traditional Culture Research Institute (chairman Kim Sang-cheol) are said to have jointly held a women's mythology symposium titled 'Talking about Twenty-First-Century Myth!' at a bookcafé in Samdo 2-dong, Jeju City, as part of the Jeju Mago Myth Pilgrimage. At the symposium, it was reportedly assessed that Jeju's female Mago myth could establish itself as a myth of global significance.[102]

Jeju residents try to give special standing to the folk belief — represented by 18,000 gods and forming the core of Jeju culture — but to Koreans influenced by Western culture it appears merely as superstition. Perhaps for this reason, there is a tendency to hesitate to introduce it to Westerners, or to introduce it in a somewhat mystified way. Today, however, Western 'thanatology,' born from research on more than 20,000 people who have had near-death experiences, is scientifically corroborating Jeju's beliefs.

The relationship between Crete and Jeju Island has also given rise to theories, going beyond a mere comparison of maritime cultures, that the two are interconnected, as with Japan.[103] Regarding Scythian culture, special exhibitions have been held at the National Museum of Korea, and it has been introduced several times in documentaries such as *History Special*; yet even for Japan alone, research linking the origins of Japanese culture to distant Sumer has existed since the early modern period. Though almost entirely forgotten today, at the end of the nineteenth century in the West, Terrien de Lacouperie, then the foremost authority on East Asian history, argued that the Yellow Emperor came from Babylonia, and this claim won support from leading intellectuals in Japan and China.[104]

Jeju myths, which form the roots of Jeju culture, are being reexamined from various angles. The Three Divine Mountains (三神山) is a myth that appears across Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism alike, and the Mago myth, associated with Grandmother Seonmundae, is also being studied as a universal world myth, as the Mago Academy claims. In historical scholarship as well, Professor Park Yong-suk of Dongduk Women's University, a leading authority on Korean art criticism, meticulously demonstrated early on the commonalities between the *Samguk yusa* (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms) and Greek mythology,[105] and empirical investigations by Jeong Hyeong-jin and others have followed.[106]

The image of Jeju as reflected by foreigners also suggests that Jeju myths hold global potential. The records of Hamel and his party even hint that Jeju's people had abundant rice. Shipwrecked Christians, driven by a sense of missionary duty, sometimes called Jeju Island 'the island of thieves' or 'the island inhabited only by women,'[107] but foreigners who investigated Jeju closely saw Jeju culture as the very essence of Neo-Confucian thought.[108] David Nemeth held that Neo-Confucian thought succeeded on Jeju Island in mythic form.

In evaluating Jeju culture, some criticize Jeju residents for having a closed culture called *gememassim*. *Gememassim* is a Jeju dialect expression meaning 'that's exactly right, isn't it.' It is a representative expression showing how Jeju residents take a detached stance toward outsiders while uniting closely among themselves. However, if this culture of distinguishing insiders from outsiders cannot be changed, then accepting it as it is may be one way forward. In that case, the exclusive quality of *gememassim* could instead grow into a strength of Jeju Island.[109] Indeed, the fiercely proud village of Sinchon had no school at all during the Japanese colonial period, but immediately after liberation, in September 1945, the villagers pooled their money to build Sinchon Elementary School.[110]

On Jeju Island, everyone is related within just five degrees of separation, which is why it has been able to show the most unified spirit in Korea. The story of Jeju's Kim Man-deok, also dramatized on television, shows how well the value of 'I, Here, Now' is realized on Jeju Island. Even heroic mainland women such as Heo Nanseolheon, Im Yunjidang, and Shin Saimdang could not achieve results on the same scale as Kim Man-deok. In addition, the mutual-aid labor exchange (*sunorum*), collective grave-mowing (*modum beolcho*), and *gwendang* kinship culture are Jeju's own indigenous cultures — cultures which, like the Saemaul (New Village) Movement, the world may one day flock to emulate.

[Photo IV.40] *Gwendang* culture[111] [Photo IV.41] Collective grave-mowing (*modum beolcho*)[112]

The photographs above show, as in the film *The Mermaid*, the warm scene of neighbors sharing rice cakes like family, and the scene of the whole village mowing the ancestral graves together and then performing a joint ritual bow afterward.

Jeju Island's distinctive Neo-Confucian culture, which can thus also be evaluated as 'I, Here, Now' as empathy,[113] can be assessed as a serendipity culture for all humanity — one that goes beyond mere morality to become one with the universe.

[Photo IV.42] Yongmeori Coast, which seems connected to Sanbangsan by a vein of energy (血脈)[114]

The photograph above shows Sanbangsan on Jeju Island. Because Jeju Island was said to possess a strong power of transformation, neighboring countries tried early on to sever its vein of transformation. Among all of Jeju Island, Sanbangsan in particular embodies the principle of three. Sanbangsan's cave dwellings show a place of practice common to the tripartite-function-system countries,[115] and Sanbangsan's three peaks seem to gather the Three Divine Mountains into one place, combining Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism as if into one. Indeed, Sanbangsan even has Seongwan Rock, said to be where one becomes an immortal (神仙).

Sanbangsan has passed through extremes at the center of Jeju Island's transformation. That Sanbangsan, not far from Seogwipo — from which Seobul is said to have turned back west — stood at the center of history begins with the story that Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇), knowing that a future king would be born there, sent Ho Jong-dan to sever Jeju Island's vein of energy. Ho Jong-dan, who is even presumed to have destroyed Tamna — which began with the three surnames Go, Bu, and Yang left behind by Seobul — is said to have found here the vein of the 'land of the future queen' (王后之地) and struck it with a sword at the dragon's tail and back, severing it. It is said that bright red blood then gushed out and stained the surroundings, giving rise to Sanbangsan's present form. Having completed his mission, Ho Jong-dan is said to have tried to sail out toward Chagwi Island but incurred the wrath of the god of Hallasan and lost his life in a typhoon. Sanbangsan was later discovered again by Hamel and his party, foreigners who spread word of Jeju's mystery to the entire world. Sanbangsan is a spectacular scene even among Jeju's many spectacular scenes, so Ho Jong-dan's motive is understandable — yet the fact that the place where Hamel and his sixty-three companions happened to drift ashore was precisely Sanbangsan shows that time, like a vein running through the earth, possesses a tenacious power.