[An Essay from My Heart]

The Path Learned in the Spring Mist

In the faint spreading light of dawn, I stand quietly by the window and gaze outside. A delicate spring mist gently embraces the world. The bare branches that only yesterday seemed lifeless now appear to hold a tender breath, and within the once-chilled air a subtle warmth begins to stir. Spring does not arrive with loud proclamation. Like mist, it comes softly, yet unmistakably, and stands beside us.

Spring mist does not reveal things with sharp clarity. Instead, it blurs every boundary, turning the world into a wash of ink painting. Within a landscape that surely exists yet resists firm grasp, I sense a deeper reality. Perhaps when clarity fades, essence begins to rise. The mist is not concealment but a veil that grants us time for reflection.

Our confused world resounds each day with clamor. Right and wrong intermingle, and speed is often mistaken for justice. Yesterday’s standards collapse today, today’s convictions tremble tomorrow. Yet nature does not waver amid such noise. It quietly follows its own path, carrying the seasons forward.

However long the winter, spring inevitably comes. Snow melts, ice loosens, and the hardened earth breathes again. This simple order endures regardless of human calculation. Standing before such order, we grow humble. Events that once seemed like towering waves revealed themselves as mere ripples before the steady breathing of nature.

Spring offers us gifts. Not only blossoms of brilliance, but the possibility of beginning again, the assurance that frozen hearts may thaw, the promise that darkness is not eternal. In the sprouting of a single pale-green leaf resides the resilience of life. Nature teaches without words: even if now feels like winter, life does not cease.

Within this spring mist, I learn gratitude. A ray of sunlight, a trace of wind, the scent of soil—once taken for granted—now appear precious. More miraculous than the many problems we grasp and contest is the simple fact that we are breathing at all. Gratitude may not be a grand resolve, but a quiet acceptance of existence itself.

Even in a world that seems harsh and inverted, we must learn our way from nature. A tree does not force its blossoms; it blooms when the time arrives and lets go when the season passes. It does not resist its course. We too must lay down impatience and persist in asking what the right path truly is.

When the hopeful spring arrives, everyone wishes that all things would melt away like snow. Yet snow requires sunlight and time to disappear. Warmth must gather and gather again before solid ice becomes flowing water. So too with social conflict and personal wounds. When reason and rationality shine like light, extremity will gradually soften.

I dream of a world where people listen to one another to the very end. A society that builds bridges of reason over waves of emotion. A community that believes in the slow and steady path of righteousness ultimately travels farthest. Spring does not demand speed from us; it gently reminds us of direction.

As the mist slowly lifts, morning sunlight illuminates the earth. The landscape becomes clear, and the day’s work begins. Yet within my heart, the stillness of the spring mist remains. In that quiet, I make a vow: no matter how chaotic the world may become, I will live humbly and gratefully, like the steady order of nature. And like a warm spring day, may I too become a small source of warmth to someone else. ***

February 27, 2026
 
 

At Sungsunjae (崇善齋)

{Solti}

한국어 번역: https://www.ktown1st.com/blog/VALover/348508