4. Jeungsan's Reconciliation and Coexistence as Manifested in the Aesthetics of Huingeuneul (White Shadow)
What Kim Ji-ha—who felt theoretical difficulty in the theoretical unfolding of Jeongyeok into Yulryeo thought—presented as an alternative may be seen as the aesthetics of Huingeuneul (White Shadow). The beginning of the aesthetics of Huingeuneul is said to be the "Yeongdong cheonsimwol" (影動天心月) of Yeondam Yi Un-gyu, who gave Kim Il-bu the occasion to create Jeongyeok. Kim Ji-ha interpreted "the shadow moves the heart-moon of heaven (cheonsimwol)" as "the shadow changes the cosmos."[39]
The "shadow" (geuneul) of which Kim Ji-ha speaks is similar to the "fold" of which Heidegger spoke, and is used in very diverse senses. The white shadow (huingeuneul) was the unification of the contradiction of yin and yang that is light and darkness, and was also the harmonization of the shadow of the life possessed by human beings with the brightness of the light possessed by God. The white shadow was also the resolution of long-standing rancor (won), and was also the harmony achieved by mutually different things, like the syncopation of the Red Devils.
In the aesthetics of the white shadow, Kim Ji-ha develops even into a cosmic science of life (uju-saengmyeong-hak).[40] The cosmic science of life was introduced as Kim Ji-ha interpreted Jeungsan thought and interpreted the countless miracles and transformations that Jeungsan showed.[41] That Kim Ji-ha called Jeungsan thought a cosmic science of life is because Jeungsan, by actually applying to history and life the theory developed in Jeongyeok, realized the original purport of Donghak, which is to save life. Indeed, Jeungsan called his own thought Cham-Donghak (True Donghak), and a study of Jeungsan thought from the perspective of Cham-Donghak has been carried out by Go Nam-sik. Although Kim Ji-ha explained the white shadow in diverse ways, if Jeungsan thought is viewed from the standpoint of a cosmic science of life, the meaning that the white shadow holds can be better summarized from Daesoon thought, which interprets Jeungsan thought in sixteen characters.
First, the white shadow, in which the contradiction of yin and yang that is light and darkness appears as unification,[42] can be explained by the expression "the mutual accord of yin and yang" (eumyang habdeok). What Kim Ji-ha, as a thinker of reconciliation and coexistence, wished to say about yin and yang as the basic principle of all things manifested in traditional thought, through the aesthetics of the white shadow, can be expressed as the mutual accord of yin and yang.
Next, the white shadow, which expresses the shadow of the life possessed by human beings and the brightness of the light possessed by God, can be explained by the expression "the harmonious creation of God and humanity" (sinin johwa). What Donghak mentions with respect to Catholicism is that, although equality is good, the vertical relationship between priest and believer is more unequal than that between the yangban and the commoner of the Joseon period, and so Seohak (Western Learning) cannot be accepted. What Kim Ji-ha wished to express about the God-human relationship through the white shadow was the harmonious creation of God and humanity, in which God and human being each bring their strengths to life—as in Donghak, where anyone who merely recited the incantation could become a priest.
Third, the meaning of the white shadow—that long-standing rancor is resolved—can appear as haewon-sangsaeng (the resolution of grievance and mutual coexistence). That which not merely resolves grievance (haewon) but leads all the way to coexistence—haewon-sangsaeng—can be expressed as the thought of reconciliation and coexistence that Kim Ji-ha pursued.
Finally, the aesthetics of the white shadow that can become the standard of a new civilization—just as mutually different things achieve harmony, like the syncopation of the Red Devils—can be expressed as dotong-jingyeong (the true realm of attaining the Way). When grievances are resolved and all mutually coexist, this can proceed to dotong-jingyeong, in which paths are mutually connected to all places. In Jeungsan thought these four are mutually and organically connected.
What makes Kim Ji-ha's white shadow noteworthy is the point that these four are mutually and organically connected. These four correspond also to Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Christianity, and, as Professor Hong Yong-hui elucidated, are also connected with the Five Phases manifested in Kim Ji-ha's poetry.