Introduction

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A Guide to Coexistence with Life and Non-Life, and the World

Is there anyone in this world who hasn't experienced pain due to a relationship? Neither adjusting to new people nor maintaining good relations with familiar figures are easy.
There is a saying that the person who gives you the hardest time is not anyone else but yourself, so even your relationship with yourself is not easy.
How can we, who cannot survive without forming relationships, resolve the conflicts and difficulties we face with these numerous beings and coexist?

Author Hong Seung-eun has listened to the stories of people living colorful lives, and has rejected the world's perspective that "flattens" existence and relationships.
Going beyond the common sense that only exclusive, one-on-one relationships are romantic, and that only families formed through marriage are normal, we live together with two lovers pursuing polyamory.
We are opening writing studios and lectures to meet with people with disabilities, youth, sexual minorities, and women, and tell their stories that are still unknown.
The author, who has written and spoken to express the colorful lives of such diverse individuals, says that N beings have N lives and N relationships.


"Words of Relationship" contains sentences collected by the author while contemplating how to build better relationships, realizing that there is no such thing as a "correct" relationship in this world, and that we must therefore perceive each other's existence more intensely.
We examine our relationships with all beings we encounter in life, including friends, family, and lovers, as well as our own bodies, plants, animals, and the systems created by society, as well as the conflicts and confusion that arise between them.
So this book is about how we treat ourselves and others, what true consideration is, and how to deal with feelings of loneliness and pain.
This book, which contains the author's experiences and thoughts on how to maintain a certain attitude and posture in relationships at every moment, will serve as a useful "relationship guide" for us to refer to at any time.

When we respect each other, we can be together.

Author Hong Seung-eun lives with a family that is quite 'strange' by worldly standards.
Lovers Jimin and Woojoo, younger sister Carly, and four pets and four companion plants.
All twelve creatures live under one roof.
What is the secret to this author, who longed to be alone and believed freedom was paramount, being able to live with such a large family without major conflict? It's a simple truth, yet one we often overlook.
“One person is one world.”

The author is not a relationship expert, but he never forgets that one person is as vast and profound as the world.
So, I try not to give advice to others without context, to call them by their name rather than saying "we," and to not deify or sympathize with them just because they are sexual minorities or people with disabilities.
Even though we are a family sharing the same space, we all have different personalities and try not to invade each other.
Simply gazing at and acknowledging the uniqueness of each person is the secret to Hong Seung-eun's relationship with the world.


We all live with different relationship issues.
There is no single answer to relationship problems.
But if we remember the clear truth of relationships—that to live well together, we must first be able to live well apart—wouldn't we be able to cultivate more harmonious relationships with all beings in the world? As you read "Words of Relationship," I hope you'll reflect on whether you've been simplifying and flattening the countless beings you encounter, and gain the opportunity to deeply understand yourself, you, and them.