The Maum Meditation:
When I was in Las Vegas this past weekend, we went to a Korean Supermart with Omar and Angela's family. I picked up a literature that was being given free to shoppers. When I got home I read the literature and this is what I found:

This group is the latest Korean group of mystics that's beginning to be accepted even by western religious groups. This group was founded by Woo Myung, Author, Teacher, and acknowledged World Peace Ambassador. Woo Myung was born in the Kyeongbuk province of South Korea. In January of 1996, while meditating in the mountains of South Korea, Woo Myung became enlightened. He then founded Maum Meditation and has dedicated his life ever since to help others become enlightened through his method of subtraction and teachings. Woo Myung says, "People look for happiness outside of themselves, not knowing how to find it from within. They attempt to find happiness in their lives by changing their environment; they seek new relationships, change careers, try new hobbies, move to another city, or read self-help books. However, happiness has never been permanent because human mind changes as conditions are continuously changing,
True happiness can be found when the human mind changes to the infinite universe mind. Maum Meditation has a unique method of subtraction to discard the false self and the false world that oneself lives in. You will find unconditional happiness and live as the eternal never-changing mind of the true world."

Woo Myung continues: "The Maum Meditation comes out of the mind world of pictures through 7 levels of subtraction: Level 1: Subtracting the remembered thoughts. Level 2: Subtracting the images of myself, images of my human relationships, and myself. Level 3: Subtracting my body. Level 4: Subtracting my body and the universe. Level 5: Subtracting my body and the universe. Level 6: Self disappears by subtracting and become the universe. Level 7: Subtracting the illusionary world of pictures and myself living inside that world."

Woo Myung's equation looks like this: "The universe minus human, minus stars,sun,moon, and earth, equals original universe equals heaven."

Woo Myung has written several wisdom books and two of his latest books are "World Beyond World." The book answers the following questions: What is Truth? How can one reach the Truth? Why must we become Truth? In this book, Woo Myung's simple and straight-forward discourse of Eastern and Western philosophies and religion make it easy to understand why Truth is ultimately One and why inner and outer peace is inextricably linked.

His latest book is "The Way To Become a Person In Heaven While Living." Woo Myung's book of Truth restores hope for mankind with its message of cleansing the body and mind of the false self."

Woo Myung says they now have over 300 Meditation groups around the world, and still growing.

My comment: Woo Myung's spirituality sounds like Confucianism, or something close to Buddhism. What I like about this group is it is operating nontheistically, as opposed to theistic. Theistic believes in a deity outside themselves and is only found "up there," who comes down everytime believers pray for help. On the other hand, nontheistic worldview is finding that power, that good, that wisdom, that perfect "happiness," within each believer, just like what Woo Myung says about his group. No wonder many Christian professionals, businessmen, fundamentalists and liberals alike, are joining this group. As the saying goes, we'll see. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. I hope Woo Myung's group will not turn out to be another big money-making enterprise, like Joel Osteen's Ministry, or Pat Robertson's 500 Club Ministry, or the late Jim Bakker and Jerry Falwell groups, or Oral Roberts group. All of these founders have become multi-millionaires. And the irony is many people believed them.