Abstract

Shimcheong is a phenomenological reality for Koreans which plays vital roles in communications and interactions in everyday real lives. Shimcheong is different from primitive emotions which are rooted in biology and evolved according to survival mechanisms. Shimcheong is a cultural concept related with cognitive judgments and interpretations for psychological inner experiences. Koreans react very sensitively to other's Shimcheong as well as their own, and consider those contents of Shimcheong very important to define relationships. One of the major functions of maintaining relationships for Koreans is to develop and reinforce we-ness. Development and reinforcement of we-ness are achieved through Shimcheong communications. When Shimcheong communication is spontaneous, the parties feel their minds meeting each other and the relationship is greatly improved. Shimcheong as a Korean concept is unique in the following sense. First, Koreans are exclusively sensitive to Shimcheong phenomena and consider them very important for terms of the contents of Shimcheong, and thus have developed particular sets of communicative culture and society. The development of discourses based on Shimcheong means accompanying developments of the modes of thinking and feeling based on Shimcheong. Therefore, Shimcheong is the keynotes for Korean arts, music and literature. The most important keyword to understand Korean culture is Shimcheong.