wfn.org | Taiwan - Commentary: A Stream for the Soul

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Taiwan Church News 2596   December 2, 2001

Written By The Rev. Dr. C. S. Song,
Translated by David Alexander

      There's a Western proverb that goes, "Art is long,
and Life is brief." That art is long  can be seen in the
cave paintings left to us by our ancient ancestors.
Even now, thousands of years later, they are able to make
us marvel.
      But is life really short?  If so, to what end?  What
is it about ancient artifacts that still moves us,
though they are not natural products, but human
manufactures?  It is the spirit of the artist that
continues to come to us even from long ago and far away.
Our material life is truly short, but our spiritual life
is "longer than the heavens and older than the earth."
I find this very stimulating.
      Sadly, we do not prize our spiritual life.  This is
something that weighs down even the courageous among us.
The wealthier we are in physical things, the more greedy
we become in spiritual things.  In the end, it results
in the sickness we see in modern Taiwan in both political
and religious life.
    Recently Yeh Chi-shiung, the General Editor of the
Taiwan Church News, called me to say that the paper would
soon include a weekly column on spirituality.  He asked
me to write it.  Every week a few hundred words to deal
with questions of spirituality for the paper's readers.
At first I felt that I would be too busy to accept the
invitation, and planned to decline.  But after some
thought, I felt that the spiritual problems in Taiwan,
even in the world crisis, must have some sort of
response.  So when a the title "A Stream for the Soul"
came to me, I accepted the challenges.  I will share
some of my thoughts about spirituality and a few
explanations and engage in dialogue with the readers.
That will be the aim of this column on spirituality.

For More Information:  C. S. Song c/o Taiwan Church News,
pctpress@ms1.hinet.net