In my yard, there was a garden with a big chestnut tree about 200 years old. It was very beautiful, and being born in the year of the monkey I often climbed that tree and climbed from one branch to another. Since I was fat, sometimes I almost fell down because the branch would bend too much. So I prepared to hang from the branch in such a way that if I fell I would get caught on another branch rather than fall to the ground. I even tried to go to the tip of the branch and see if I could reach the ground from it.

Sometimes, I stretched my hand out and picked a chestnut. Sometimes the chestnut cases had their mouths open. I tried to pick them before they fell to the ground. But sometimes I couldn't catch them, and they fell to the ground anyway. It was very interesting to try to pick chestnuts without letting them fall to the ground. I still remember how interesting it was. Only those who were raised in rural areas would understand this. There were many trees, maybe several dozens. The chestnut trees were very big.

There were also some large acacia. In these trees there were several magpie nests. The magpies always sang throughout all the seasons. In the large trees there were always several bird's nests. In Korea the magpies are regarded as birds of fortune. It is said that when the birds sing, "Ka, ka, ka," good news will come. In those days when I entered through the gate, they sang "ka ka ka" in the morning and in the evening.

I climbed the tree in which there were magpie nests in an instant. I kept climbing up and down until finally I was able to climb the tree in an instant. Observing these magpies was very interesting. By looking at their nests you can know, "This year the wind will blow from this direction to that direction." When it is likely that the wind will blow from the east, they make nests in that direction. I don't know who teaches them, but they produce magnificent works of art for their nests by gathering twigs.

Since their nests are made of small pieces of wood, they get wet when it rains. So what do they do next? They get mud and put it into the nest thus preventing the wind from getting in. And amazingly, when it rains they put small branches above the nest so that the rain cannot get into the nest. Do you understand what I mean? So in that way, by collecting small twigs, they make their nests rainproof. I wonder who teaches them that? It indeed is a great skill. If we human beings were to make such a house, we would have to learn for several years.

But the birds make their nest in quite a short time by bringing twigs. Then what happens after a while? After several days the nests are completed, and then we wait until the eggs are laid and hatched.

When I looked at these birds eggs, I saw that they have light blue stripes. They are mysterious and very beautiful. The size of the eggs is about that of a chicken egg.

Before they laid their eggs, they didn't chirp even when I climbed the trees. But after they laid their eggs, interesting things happened. When I climbed up to their nest which had eggs in it, the magpies made such a big noise that it was heard all around the neighborhood. Then all the magpies in the neighborhood demonstrated. It was very interesting. This is why I became quite familiar with them.

They usually lay from one, two, or three eggs up to 12 or 13. But no matter how many times I climbed the tree and went to their nests, they didn't harm me. They got accustomed to me, and when I got closer to them they looked at me and made a kind of quacking noise. They didn't do me any harm, and I didn't do them any harm. I just went up and watched them, and then came down. That's all.

When it rained I didn't climb the trees, and they sent me a signal by saying "kwa-kwa-kwa," meaning, "why don't you come?" I wondered why they were so friendly. This is not a lie. You didn't know that I had such a hobby. Now that I am old I cannot keep it up.

Then, what do the magpies do after the chicks hatch? They keep the little chicks in the small twig nests and bring food to them. When I observed how the parent birds fed their babies I learned many things about how humans should love their children.

Even as the baby birds grow old enough to fly the parents don't leave them alone yet, but continue to feed them. I let a baby bird fly alone once saying, "I will do what is best for you today." I bound a rubber band on the leg and let it fly. I was a bad boy. The baby magpie looked very happy. It tried to fly but couldn't. Then its parent came and tried to take it away, but since the chick was attached or bound by a rubber band, what happened? I did that, but after a while I let it go, and then its parent took it to another big tree in the forest.

When I saw those things I came to realize that the whole creation is based on emotion. Also, the heart of the parent bird when it loses its baby is the same as the heart of a human parent. Or rather, the human parents nowadays must be ashamed of themselves in comparison to the parent birds.

So seen from these points of view, where is the origin of all those feelings and love? What do you think? Where do they come from? Parent birds know how to love all their babies. Did human beings teach them? Whom did they learn those things from? Would it not be strange if birds fought instead of loving each other? Or caught and ate other bird's chicks? All parent birds love and protect their baby birds. It is a wonder.

In this way, I learned the heart of God and the situations of history. I am familiar with all the situations of the world. Father can predict how human beings will act, how a situation will develop in the future.

I have such vision. That is how I am different from others. In other respects there is nothing different. So you cannot be proud of yourself even if you have a good education. Also, you cannot be proud of yourself even if you are rich. The important thing is how big or how large is the emotional personality within your heart. (141-33)