★Recommended by Na Tae-joo and Lee Hae-in★

The "Forest Philosopher" who suddenly left the city in search of a full life
This volume contains the culmination of over 20 years of thought.

A life where things don't go as planned and unexpected hardships come,
The wisdom of the forest for those passing through the rough and dry heart of life.

The author, who has explored the secrets of a better life with the forest as his teacher for over 20 years, invites us through this book to a forest we have never walked through before.
Since ancient times, people have treated forests as 'Mujacheonseo', meaning 'a book without words written by heaven'.
Because the wisdom of a proper and abundant life is engraved right there, and the order that moves the world flows.
However, because it was always there, we were so used to it that we took it for granted and failed to learn from its teachings.
If you face the forest with a new perspective and a long breath, you can find the strength to love yourself and others.
If you delve deep into the forest, you may be able to reach the truth of the world.
If you are looking for clues to the big and small questions that shake up your life, this book is the first place to open.

Kim Yong-gyu, the 'Forest Man', dreams of a world where, by learning about the forest, a condensed form of the vast and mysterious universe, individual lives are transformed, a sense of community is restored, and all living, breathing beings become vibrant.
The author teaches the adage, "Never postpone or avoid the life tasks given to all beings," and "Never give up on the potential and possibilities we are born with," through stories of grass, trees, and seeds he encounters in the forest.
The forest interpreters and forest instructors he has trained are spreading the wisdom of forests to people all over the country.

But where is there a season that comes without twists and turns?
The leaves that sprout in spring bloom with dazzling flowers and quickly bear fruit, but drought, heavy rain, and typhoons inevitably come with each season.
Only those things that have been endured and barely managed to hold on to can mature.
This is one of the truths of life I have learned from leaning against the forest.
Only after enduring all kinds of hardships can a time of peace come.
Diffusion again leads to convergence.
Perhaps all the principles that govern life are so simple.
--- From "Chapter 1: An Invitation to the Forest That Makes You Love Life"

Life is alone, but it cannot be alone.
No living thing can draw its own pattern of life.
Therefore, if we wish to experience the mystery of life and gain wisdom from the creatures of the forest, we must expand our perspective from 'individual life' to the scale of 'all life.'
--- From "Chapter 2: Language of the Forest"

All life has a story.
There is no life without a story.
But today, we are increasingly losing the desire to understand the circumstances of beings other than ourselves.
Is it because we've come to view the effort to connect the stories of others with our own hearts as cumbersome or worthless? Is this why we abandon the life-giving instincts of openness and connection, opting instead for isolation and disconnection? If so, perhaps it's a misunderstanding stemming from experiencing only a part, not the whole.

--- From “Chapter 4: Every Life Has a Story”

A willow tree can be happy living as a willow tree, not pretending to be a pine tree.
A thorn does not imitate a rose.
Every flower that blooms on a plant is an expression of its nature.
We are amazed and moved when we encounter the beautiful expression of that nature.
It's for the same reason we're captivated by beautiful works of art, and moved by the stories of people who have truly created (or are creating) their own worlds.
--- From "Chapter 6: Encountering the Wisdom of the Forest"

The insight reached through the life of a flower, 'Hwamusipilhong', is very concise.
The saying, "There are no red flowers for ten days," captures important clues about the order and rhythm of nature from flowers, and then suggests the immutable truth that there is an inevitable limit to the desire to expand.
The proverb, ‘power doesn’t last ten years’, may have also been found that way.
Lao Tzu's words about 'the best medicine' can also be said to be an example of abstracting the ultimate principle of goodness by comparing it to water after deeply examining it.

--- From "Chapter 8: The Germinating Universe, Its Possibilities"

Where there is sky, there is land, where there is ridge, there is valley.
Just as there is an equator because there is a North Pole and a South Pole, just as there is a day when we are born, there is a day when we die, and just as there are clear days, there are days when it rains or snows.
While there is asceticism within us, lust also takes root within us.
If you live once, you must die once.
That is the strict order of yin and yang that permeates all things and life.

--- From "Chapter 10: Between Surrender and Overcoming"

Heaven, Earth, and Man, God is merciless.
Heaven cannot bestow its grace only on certain lives.
What would happen if God, seeing the pitiful life of bamboo in the forest, completely eliminated the dangerous winds or allowed only gentle breezes to blow? Without wind, there would be no breath, and all life would perish.
A gentle breeze alone will prevent seeds and migratory birds from making long journeys.
The sky is merciless, but it illuminates all things with order and rhythm.
Some people align themselves with God's order by emptying their hearts, others by becoming soft.
--- From "Chapter 11: How to Live by Grabbing the Sunlight and Following the Wind"

The reason our lives often feel like we're faltering or running away is because we often fall into the foolishness of viewing that mysterious truth in a dichotomous way.
That is, most people only want relationships that will save them, and not relationships that will stop them or bring them down.
Because it divides the world into two, which cannot be neatly divided into two.

--- From "Chapter 12: Only Relationships, Only Relationships"

Those who fully understand the finiteness of life only value the world and cherish it.
This fall, when he can see the red leaves again, is so precious to him.
So it's really a shame.
The new spring is precious and it's a shame to waste it.
He doesn't think that fall and spring will just come back every time.
Because I truly know that the autumn leaves I see now may be the last autumn leaves I see in my life.
So, the song of the migratory birds that I hear now is precious and a pity, and the laughter and cries of those young ones who have just begun to speak are precious and a pity.
We approach life with all its events and existences with great care, as if they were precious and precious to us.

--- From "Chapter 13: When I'm told to go forward, I go forward, and when I'm told to retreat, I retreat"

When I meet people who love life despite anxiety and uncertainty, I find one important characteristic in them.
The perpetrator does not live in their hearts.
People who don't love life live with the abuser in their hearts for a long time.
Their hearts are filled with resentment, resentment, and blame.
Even if you are a person who loves life, there are bound to be times when things get unfair.
But they do not allow the abuser to enter the room of their heart and live together with them.
--- From Chapter 14, “Even if I get hit in the eye, even if I am in a low position”

“May you only walk on flower paths.” This is a loving greeting we often hear these days.
But it is also the most vain greeting.
Because there is no world where you can only walk on a flower path.
As with all living things, trials and tribulations come to everyone.
Because the universe creates harmony and substance by adding adversity to prosperity.
Adversity comes regardless of age, education, wealth, level of education, or physical condition.
Everyone has days when they walk on a flowery path, but I can say with certainty that no one lives a life that only walks on a flowery path.
So, like the paulownia tree, we must cultivate the wisdom to deal with adversity and live.
--- From "Chapter 18: Facing the Storm on the Flower Road"

The forest is full of the dance of life, born, living its own path, and eventually reaching the sea of ​​death.
I encourage you to look deeply, touch it gently, and close your eyes and smell it deeply.
And I hope you can also imagine the life trajectory of that being.
I hope you will visit often and walk slowly until you hear the words of life and death.
If you do that, one day you will eventually come to know.
That all that has been achieved with effort, all that has not yet been completed, all that has not yet been fully quenched, all that has not yet been reconciled, all is meaningless in the face of death…

--- From "Chapter 21: Two Questions the Dead Must Answer"

Not all of us can undertake the grand self-transcendence of the characters in biographies.
But you can act according to the love and sincerity within you.
All we have to do is do that.
It doesn't have to be as huge as the heroes'.
Just don't give up on your potential, don't betray yourself.
Mencius's 'self-abandonment', as mentioned earlier, is the most rude and irresponsible attitude toward one's own life.
If a person does not strive to bring out into the world the bright light that is waiting to burst within him, then, unfortunately, he is a person who does not love himself.
--- From "Chapter 25: Like a Flower That Raises Other Life: A Sublime Life"

Perfection or completeness is neither the reality of life nor an illusion that runs counter to the truth of life.
Rather, the pursuit of perfection is a kind of pathological phenomenon observed only in humans.
The forest proves that there is no such thing as a perfect life, that it is a fictional world.
If we pursue this non-existent world day and night, we will waste or ruin our lives, which we can never recover.
If you want to live a little more fully, you shouldn't try to be perfect.

--- From "Chapter 26: Don't Try to Be Perfect: A Whole Life"