A Second Wind: Navigating Uncharted Scholarly Waters

Lately, I have experienced a second wind as I venture into uncharted waters. I am immersing myself in the study of the mind through the lens of biblical scholarship—a path that demands interdisciplinary exploration across psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience. Throughout my career, my focus has remained constant: gaining critical, practical insights into ancient texts and their enduring relevance to contemporary life.

I am hopeful of reigniting my dormant scholarship and propelling it into a renaissance through pioneering study that incorporates all I have learned. I have always believed I am capable of more than I currently am—not due to inherent greatness, but because I am flexible, creative, and receptive to new energy from the divine. Consequently, I am reborn every day, every minute. This continuous rebirth also implies a frequent "death": a period of allowing my work to rest and evolve. While I strive to be authentically myself, I am never static. For this, I am grateful. 

With more than twenty published books, I am now focused on the full realization of my upcoming works. I currently have ten projects in development, including two completed manuscripts, with the remainder well-positioned in the proposal stage.

I do not know how my future will further unfold, but I remain joyful amidst all circumstances. The reason is simple: life is inherently good and worth living fully, regardless of external outcomes. For me, the true worth of life does not lie in the volume of my output, but rather in how meaningfully I engage with my studies in a world where my small scholarship will make an impact. I pray that I continue to be molded by the touch of the divine potter.

 

Book Projects (perceived and ongoing)

Yung Suk Kim

• The Lord's Prayer through the Lens of Cognitive Science: Renewing the Mind
• Embodied Kingdom: Luke's Mindful Theology of God's Present Reign
• The Fourth Horizon: The Mental World as a Critical Lens for Hermeneutics and Homiletics
• The Intersecting Life: Autobiographical Inquiry and Biblical Interpretation (multi-authored or edited)
• The Fourth Gospel and the Fragile Earth: Incarnation, Salvation, and Ecological Responsibility
• Wisdom Across Traditions: Biblical Wisdom Literature and East Asian Traditions
• Mind Matters: Cultivating Resilience through Acknowledgment, Acceptance, and Assurance
• The Double Embrace: A Theological-Psychological Framework for Self-Integration through the E.F.A. Protocol
• A Fourfold Approach to Mental Health: Biological, Psychological, Social, and Spiritual
• Rethinking Jesus: The Embodied Mind and the Art of Radical Empathy

My Seal

Through AI, I was able to create my seal that will be impressed in my work. The letters denote a stone-mountain scholar.

I like stone. It is strong and hard to break, but it breaks. It is everywhere, used for construction and pavement, and its usefulness is prevalent. I want to be that kind of a scholar—a Stone Mountain Scholar. For me, the mountain symbolizes something big, calm, and beyond myself, yet profoundly important for all of us. Indeed, the image of a stone-mountain has stayed with me since my youth.

Possess your mind

Possess your mind. Feel alive always.

Faith

"Faith is great, but it cannot change facts or create a single fact. It can change people's perspectives and lifestyles. That is faith's potential; it is not a panacea." --Yung Suk Kim

 

Life is practice

Life is practice. It needs focus, strength, confidence, and relaxing.

Podcast: "The origin of the gospel"

Life is like a river

Life is like a river. A scholarly life flows, mindful of its end.

Life is like a river. A scholarly life flows, mindful of its end.
Here is a look at my upcoming book projects. As someone who is naturally organized, I’m constantly refining and updating my work—staying open to changes and progress in hopes of a "harvest" someday.
There is a clear trend in these works: a critical study of the mind at the intersection of biblical studies and other related fields.

I have made a promise to myself: I may not achieve everything, and that’s okay. I’m not going to burn myself out. I do this work simply because I love it.

"Thinking Meat"

Quote from "Mind" by Daniel Siegel

 

-Yung Suk Kim, PhD

I was struck by the concept of "thinking meat," a term quoted in The Mind & The Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force by Jeffrey M. Schwartz and Sharon Begley (p. 21-23). This phrase originated in Terry Bisson's 1991 Omni magazine article. The idea presents a profound paradox, yet also a fundamental truth about our reality. We are meat that thinks. This implies that the thinking part is not separate from the flesh. This is, indeed, a radical notion; it challenges various forms of traditional dualism, notably Cartesian dualism. It also complicates a purely materialistic interpretation often associated with scientific positivism. When we consider the mind, it is not merely a separate machine, often equated solely with the brain, as some scientific views propose. Contemporary scientific understanding suggests that the mind represents the totality of our being. In this integrated view, mental elements interact with the entire body—including the brain—and the external world, encompassing spiritual dimensions. In this sense, neuropsychiatrist Daniel Siegel's observation is particularly apt, as he defines the mind (Mind: A Journey to the Heart of Being Human, Norton, 2017).

"By mind, I mean all that relates to our subjective felt experience of being alive, from feelings to thoughts, from intellectual ideas to inner sensory immersions before and beneath words, to our felt connections to other people and our planet. And mind also refers to our consciousness, the experience we have of being aware of this felt sense of life, the experience of knowing within awareness." (1)

"Mind is the essence of our fundamental nature, our deepest sense of being alive, here, right now, in this moment." (1)

"Yet beyond consciousness and its knowing within awareness of our subjective felt sense of being alive, mind may also involve a larger process, one that connects us to each other and our world. This important process is a facet of mind that may be hard to measure, but is nevertheless a crucial aspect of our lives we'll explore in great depth in the journey ahead." (1)

"Though we may not be able to quantify in numerical terms these facets of our mind at the heart of the experience of being here in this life, this intrinsically felt subjective phenomenon of living, and the ways we can feel our connections to one another and the world, are subjective phenomena that are real. These non-measurable facets of the reality of life have many names. Some call this our essence. Some call this our core, soul, spirit, or true nature. I simply call this mind." (1-2).

The idea of “thinking meat” also resonates with Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics and ethics, both of which take the location of the flesh seriously. He emphasizes that our genuine understanding of something does not arise from thinking alone; it must emerge through our bodily experience in the world. See his work Oneself as Another (University of Chicago Press, 1995).

The points above highlight four pillars of mental health: biological, psychological, social, and spiritual. This implies that a robust mind requires balance across all four: the body, the psyche, the social, and the spiritual.

The Double Embrace

I progressed to a refined book proposal. It has been on my mind for months. What remains is a matter of quality research time.

Hebel