Memories

Hyo Jin Moon February 11, 2007 7:00 am Belvedere

Here are my notes from Hyo Jin nim’s speech Sunday 11 February 2007. My ability to convey what was actually said is limited. These, at most, convey some sense of what Hyo Jin nim said and are not a verbatim record. Hyo Jin nim’s website is: www.canaanstation.com/ To see two of the projects that Hyo Jin nim is working on log on to: definingmoment.tv/ and definingmoment.eu/ Joe Kinney

Rev. Andrew Compton is the MC. All welcome Hyo Jin nim and offer a bow.

Hyo Jin nim bows to the audience as he approaches the stage.

Good morning!

Another week has passed.

For most of us a couple of thousand things happened last week. I guess we have to prepare ourselves for the next level.

Let me ask you a question: Do you have more good memories or do you have more bad memories when you look back on your life? (Good.)

I guess it’s up to you right?

(A small boy sitting next to his mother on the front row says "bad memories" and the room is filled with laughter.)

You’re just a kid, man, I don’t think you’ve lived yet.

(Hyo Jin nim is amused.)

OK, at least you’ve got an opinion and you’re honest.

(The laughter finally dies down.)

I guess that memories are the building blocks of the thing that we call intelligence. If you look at the animal kingdom, memory is a survival mechanism. It’s very, very important. Animals have a greater acute sense than we do because they have to survive based on that. Memory is very important. Right from birth they have to learn how to survive to catch prey and find food sources, navigate from point "A" to point "B," all that depends on memory and their life depends on it.

For us, too, memory is very important because that’s pretty much how we build our lives. If you don’t have many good memories, I guess that you have to build them to find it somehow.