The launch of my latest book, The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart, was a special time for me. I would like to share that event with you through these video recordings:

The main part of the event began with powerful tradition Korean drumming by Sedona’s Rhythm.

Hansori Keliikuli and Yolessa Lawrinnce carried the power generated by their drums into their hula-inspired modern dance to a Hawaiian song followed by “I See You,” by Leona Lewis.

Bob Coates, who has taken photographs of me on several occasions, read the Introduction to the book.

Reverend Janet Kingsley of the Center for Positive Living Sedona graciously read a poem from the book titled “Sedona Message.”

I also gave a talk, and though I could have talked for several hours, I was limited to about forty minutes. So I shared as much as I could in that amount of time.

The emcee, Shondra Jepperson, asked me a couple of questions after my talk.

Then she asked me to play a flute, so I obliged her using my walking stick that is also a flute.

After I talked, local diva Jeanie Carroll sang “The Power of the Dream” with all her might. Sedona is a place where it is easier to find your dream.

Finally I signed the books of anyone who wanted. A local duo called Meadowlark played music in the background to entertain the crowd waiting in line.

I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who participated in the book launch and signing event last Saturday in Sedona for my new book, The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart. I am especially grateful to my fans who came from as far as California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Phoenix to participate in this event. I offer special thanks to the local Sedona artists and guests who graced the evening with the honor of their presence.

More than anything, through this event, I was so glad to celebrate the messages that this sacred land gives each of us, and to have a chance to express how much I want to share the gifts I’ve received from Sedona with more people. I believe that the main messages Sedona gives us are to awaken the greatness within us so that we can love more and share more often, to make each moment given to us the best it can be, and to make the Earth on which we live a better place.

The monsoon season is in full swing in Sedona right now. After a quick, hearty fall of rain, Sedona always has beautiful rainbows hung across its sky.

Although at times it rains, or the wind blows, or storms break in our lives, to a person who has become the true master of their life, even such wind and rain become fertilizer for blooming beautiful flowers. The juniper trees of Sedona that endure the dry weather and harsh wind, put their roots down into the red rock, and stand tall and majestic toward the blue sky show us never to lose hope no matter what the situation. They tell us to be hope for ourselves and to become hope for other people.

Let’s use the precious life and inner greatness that has been given to each of us, for the happiness of all people and all creation.

I will make an effort to provide more opportunities in the future for people to experience the gifts and spirit of Sedona firsthand. See you in Sedona.

By the Editor

Most Sedona residents are aware of the Sedona Mago Healing Center, Mago Café, Sedona Mago Retreat, Sedona Story, Dahn Yoga, and the BR Clinic, but most have not had much exposure to the man Ilchi Lee, who founded and inspired these local Sedona businesses and nonprofit entities. Last Saturday, August 20th, over 240 people took that opportunity in Sedona at the Creative Life Center as Sedona-based publisher BEST Life Media launched Ilchi Lee’s latest book, The Call of Sedona: Journey of the Heart, with a book signing event.

Besides a large audience of Sedona residents, guests traveled in from Phoenix and from the neighboring states of Nevada, New Mexico and California to meet the man himself. The event included a wide variety of some of Sedona’s most popular speakers, entertainers and musicians who graced the stage throughout the evening. The lineup included music duo Meadowlark, power drumming by Sedona’s Rhythm, singer Jeanie Carroll, and dancers Yolessa Lawrinnce and Hansori Keliikuli, while it was emceed by Shondra Jepperson of the popular entertainment duo Tom & Shondra. Sedona-based photographer and voice talent Bob Coates was on hand to read a few excerpts from Mr. Lee’s new book, The Call of Sedona, to the audience, and later Rev. Janet Kingsley of the Center for Positive Living Sedona took the stage to read one of the poems in the book. Dean Patterson, a spokesperson from Yavapai Big Brothers Big Sisters was featured with his own congratulatory message to Ilchi Lee. The program culminated with a music performance and talk given by Mr. Lee himself with his translator by his side. Directly afterward, Ilchi Lee took his seat on stage to sign books while the audience formed a line that extended all the way out into the lobby. He did not leave until he signed the books of every person in line.

During his talk, Mr. Lee expressed his love and gratitude for the gifts he has experienced in Sedona, a place to which he feels a true connection. Because he has a desire to give back to the greater community, it was announced that he is donating 30% of the proceeds from his book sales to three Sedona nonprofit organizations.

Lee stated that many people have come to Sedona drawn by its magnificent beauty, but they didn’t have enough opportunities to experience Sedona at a deeper level. He wished everyone could experience the true spirit of Sedona he has encountered here. Mr. Lee announced that the current Sedona Mago Healing Center at Jordon Road in Uptown Sedona had decided to become the nonprofit Sedona Meditation Center to provide a place where anyone can come freely and meditate in order to open themselves up to the Sedona spirit.

Jiyoung Oh, the publisher of The Call of Sedona said, “Sedona’s nurturing and restorative environment inspired much of Ilchi Lee’s art and philosophy and he wants to give back to the larger Sedona community that he considers his home.”

The Call of Sedona will soon be available at local bookstores and gift shops, and is currently available on the publisher’s website, www.bestlifemedia.com, and at Sedona Story and the Sedona Mago Healing Center.

The greatest Tao in this world is welfare. The Korean word for welfare is “bokji.” It combines the characters for “happiness” and “benefit” to mean “blessings upon blessings.” Welfare describes a happy life, and there is no Tao more ideal. That’s why I call it Bokji Daedo, or the “Great Tao of Welfare.”

There probably needs to be a shift in the awareness of welfare from the perception of it prevalent in western culture. The definition I associate with it, is welfare as “collective well-being,” which I feel must be the center of all values and take priority over all other values in the world. If you earn money, if you want to be famous, or if you attain power for the sake of collective well-being, then it is a beautiful and holy thing.

In order to actualize true welfare, everyone needs to have the right understanding of it. What the current material civilization sees as welfare is fundamentally different from a spiritual civilization’s take on welfare. In material civilization, welfare generally describes when those who are wealthy, or the country, provide people who can’t secure food, clothing, or shelter for themselves with food to eat, clothes to wear, and a place to sleep. Such welfare, given as charity, cannot be lasting welfare, causing people to lose their self-respect and at times even making them beggars forever.

When we herald the era of a spiritual civilization, however, welfare must essentially focus on the soul and promote dignity and real self-esteem, awakening respect toward people and restoring their conscience. A welfare nation of such a spiritual civilization has a high happiness quotient; it would be a country where all people are happy. More specifically, this means that it would be a country where at least 90% of the citizens declare for themselves that they are happy, and even the other 10% who say they aren’t happy can still find dignity and self-respect.

In order for this to happen, we need a shift in political culture from materialism to spirituality. In terms of legislation, most advanced nations are almost perfectly ready to actualize a welfare nation in an era of spiritual civilization. Because humanity has the “Hongik spirit,” we have the potential to actualize welfare nations with an advanced spiritual culture.

It’s time to create a model for pursuing real welfare, welfare that restores conscience and a sense of humanity. Welfare is essential for people to connect with what makes them humane and to follow their conscience, so that they can sustain dignity and self-respect.

Human beings are the driving force behind welfare. With true welfare, rather than simply becoming a recipient of charity, everyone works hard and is committed to their life so that they may also become, sooner or later, people who grant welfare. This precisely describes “Hongik”—serving the good of all. Pursuing success is a good thing if it’s for the sake of welfare as collective well-being and for the happiness of all people.

All of the work I have done for the past 30 years was done for the “Great Tao of Welfare” (Bokji Daedo) and welfare nations. For the sake of this great welfare, not small material welfare, the Hongik spirit is imperative. The first thing to do is communicate the value of the Hongik spirit. For this purpose, I have offered Dahnhak and Brain Education, LifeParticles and the MindScreen, and Younggamudo to the world. All of the organizations of the global Hongik community were made for the sake of greater welfare.

Welfare is the ultimate value that humanity must pursue, and it’s the only way to create heaven on Earth. Now, it’s time to actualize not an incomplete welfare of capitalism and socialism, but Hongik welfare, a complete welfare built on a foundation of spiritual culture. The messages of heaven, the reverberations of the earth’s soul, and the yearning of all souls to herald an era of spiritual civilization, actualize nations of true welfare, and create heaven on Earth are now sweeping towards humanity. Great blessings will come to the awakened souls all over the world who hear this message and work to fulfill their mission.

At 4 am, the day dawns at Lake Powell. Several carp that are up early flop above the surface of the water as they splash and play. The shadows of the red rocks reflected on the quiet lake shake are startled by the little guys’ mischief. I sit at the side of the lake, deeply breathing in and out. Along with my breath, heaven enters and leaves my body. The entire lake is gradually waking up from its sleep.

I first came here to Lake Powell 12 years ago. At that time, I saw the golden full moon rise above the lake. It was the biggest, most beautiful moon I’d ever seen. Since then, Lake Powell’s wondrous, majestic natural environment has provided me with great inspiration as I developed the Earth Human philosophy and worked to share Mago’s message.

When I visited this place again 5 years ago, drought had significantly dropped the water level. Even the plants around the lake had dried up or were rotting. It seemed as if the lake was dying. At that time, I felt the suffering of the earth’s heart from the reckless development and pollution committed by humankind. I also felt its profound mercy and compassion toward humankind. It was like the sad eyes of a mother looking with anguish upon her children who kept going the wrong way.

Humanity’s material civilization has inflicted tremendous harm to nature, yet it is human beings who become truly dwarfed when they stand before its magnificence. However, it is also human beings that are the principle figures with the ability to heal the wounds of civilization and herald a new future on earth. That’s why, as much as ever, people are the hope. People who realize that the strong sunlight, the rocks, the shimmering emerald lake, the carp that jump and play in it, and I myself are one life—such people are the hope of this earth.

At sundown, Lake Powell reflects the light of the diminishing sun, sparkling like a jewel. Even the surrounding rocks are stained with golden light. The lake that was shining a clear emerald even just a moment ago shifts to an intense jade. Going up and standing on a nearby rocky hill, I can look across the lake below and it looks wider and more refreshing.

At Lake Powell, I think of happiness for all people and the well-being of all creation. I think of true welfare that is sought by all people and all things together. It’s not the kind of welfare where the poor or socially disadvantaged get support; I dream of the kind of welfare  that grows out of a deep respect for life, that grows from conscience and conviction in the soul, and that is of all people, by all people, and for all people. A welfare world that is concerned with the happiness not only of humankind but of all life—that’s the kind of world that I want and that all people want. Heaven, Earth, and humans all want it together.