A good example of “losing jeong” would be how people act in January when the holidays are over.

Jeong is also seen in people after tragedies. After 9/11 in New York City, the jeong came back very strongly.

Older American will say jeong was big in the 60s. People picked up hitchhikers, kept doors unlocked and helped out one and other. There are similar words in Indian culture (I wish I knew them) which point to a “love and a service to humankind” and of course, is be something people have all year long. Maybe “character” is another word in English used. This is goeunjeong.

I love that you call jeong sticky, but (as an American) I can’t quite figure how that is a good thing. I would tend to look at it more as a light… because light is hard to hide and even harder to hide from. But also because people who are full of jeong have a certain “glow” about them.

Thank you very much for this beautiful word.

LaLa

Thank you for the lesson!

“정이 들다” 말하면 혹시 우리 형이랑, 다른 친구들과 괜찮을 수 있을까요?

불행히도 이제까지 경험이 없었는데 앞으로 주의할거에요.

There are two more Balinese concepts that might be relevant, I’m guessing: “masekaa” and “gotong royong”. The concept of “masekaa” (which is rather poorly translated as “club-hood”) results in the fact that many activities that could be done alone are in fact done in groups. There are sekaa tuak (palm wine associations), sekaa layangan (kite-flying associations), sekaa paosan (religious text reading associations), among others, each with its own charter with regulations and fines for non-attendance! (Can you imagine a 소주 클럽 with fines and regulations for members?!)

“Gotong royong” is found throughout Indonesia, not only Bali - it usually involves a large group of people (in most cases, the whole village or neighborhood) being called upon to engage in a project, such as fixing a main road, clearing brush in a village, and so on. Usually, there are more people than are needed for the job, but that’s irrelevant - everyone who is called upon for service must attend, or else face rather grave social consequences.

Ed, I don’t think someone not having 정 would be such a serious offense, but just a person’s opinion of that person. When someone says “그 사람이 정 없어요” (that person doesn’t have jeong), it’s not an attempt to insult someone, but rather a serious comment about that person’s character. But the concepts that you listed sound very similar to 정! Thanks for sharing

Emily - I think Korea’s group centered culture is extremely key in the concept of 정. Korean’s traditionally consider the “group” before the individual… and that’s where all the sharing and caring for other people come in. Do you have any experiences you can share with the Korean people in your life?

Shena - I think Asian cultures have similar concepts, they’re just worded differently or have different nuances.

Maxie - I know you have a lot of Korean people around you. Do you experience 정 in some way with them? And I glad you can even feel the 정 over the internet!!!!

Thank you everyone for sharing!

We can also include “pakikisama” in this as well, right?

BTW, “(ka)pwa” and “(pakiki)sama” are very ancient concepts in insular SE Asia. “Pwa” used to refer to “two of something together”, while “sama” may have come from Sanskrit, meaning almost the same thing.

Doesn’t the term “pakikisama” also apply here?

BTW, “kapwa” and “sama” are very ancient words/concepts in insular SE Asia. “(Ka)pwa” originally used to refer to “two” entities together, while “sama” possibly comes from Sanskrit.

perhaps it has something to do with korea’s group culture? it seems to go hand in hand.

I mean, can someone accuse another person that “그 사람은 정이 없어…” or “정이 안 들어요” and then use that accusation as a reason for not helping (or acting civil to) that person?

In Bali, this would be a serious charge (if a person did not help out in communal activities or obligations). If a person does not fulfill his social obligations, s/he and his/her family can be kicked out of the village, therefore becoming socially “dead”. This would mean that they could not get any assistance for cremation, or even be interned in any village cemetery - it basically leads to public shunning.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/07/15/world/asia/INDO_FUNERAL/index.html

In fact, the best one for a non-Balinese to hear is that they are manyama or masemeton (literally ‘like family’), meaning that they understand not only how to behave in an appropriate manner on their own, but they also understand how to relate to other people.

But the most important for the Balinese themselves is suka duka, which basically means ‘We share in your happiness; we share in your sadness’. Suka means ‘happiness’, while duka means ’sadness’. This is the ultimate way of saying that you fully empathize with your fellow human being. In Bali, the ultimate expression of suka duka is a cremation: families, while saddened by the fact that they have lost loved ones, are happy that their souls are to be released from their earthly shells (i.e. bodies, remains). Such an undertaking requires entire villages to help out. And everyone around, and I mean everyone (even tourists) is welcome to attend.

Just check out one of the biggest cremations (i.e. of a royal family) that Bali has hosted in a long time - it just happened last week:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/world/asia/16indo.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

I think an example of “bad” 미움정 is when we break up with a lover/spouse. Most of the time, we want a fresh break from the person, but at the same time, we can’t help but want to hear all the latest news about that person (preferably bad… )

At least, that’s my (possibly very incorrect) impression of 정 from this very interesting podcast.

응 It’s 情 - it’s the same 漢字(한자) in the word 감정(感情 - feeling), but it has a much wider meaning as you know

And I didn’t know it, but apparently I have developed 정 with some of my students. A few of them wrote about it in letters to me. I’ll try to find some examples and post them later on… give me a day or so!

ah i see!