📖 INTRODUCTION
Fear often appears suddenly.
Sometimes it seems to arrive without warning, without explanation, and without any obvious cause.
For Professor Deok-joo L., an internationally respected aerospace engineering professor, that fear took the form of severe claustrophobia.
Ironically, the condition developed in a man whose career depended on frequent international air travel.
Despite decades of success in aerospace engineering, research, and academia, he found himself struggling with overwhelming emotional burdens, panic attacks, and a fear that medication alone could not fully resolve.
Through the meditation method taught by Master Woo Myung, he eventually discovered something unexpected:
The true source of his fear had been hidden deep within his own mind for decades.
This meditation testimonial reveals how a scientist uncovered the root cause of his claustrophobia, overcame it through self-reflection, and transformed not only his emotional well-being but also his approach to science, creativity, and life itself.
💬 MEDITATION TESTIMONIAL: “I OVERCAME CLAUSTROPHOBIA BY FINDING ITS ROOT CAUSE”
By Deok-joo L. | Professor of Aerospace Engineering, KAIST
I have spent more than twenty years researching aircraft noise, aerodynamics, flight stability, and aviation safety.
For me, aerospace engineering has never been merely science and technology.
I have always believed:
“The principles of science are the same principles of life.”
“Science itself is philosophy and art.”
Yet despite my academic career, there was a period when my own life began falling apart.
And eventually, I developed severe claustrophobia.
✈️ “LIFE RISES AND FALLS LIKE THE CURVE OF AN AIRPLANE”
Over the years, I published hundreds of research papers, served on international journals, and became the first Korean associate editor of the American Helicopter Society journal.
People often viewed my career as successful.
But I often explain life through aviation.
“An airplane does not rise fastest by going straight upward.”
Strangely enough, it must first dip downward before it can climb higher.
Human life follows the same principle.
We rise.
We fall.
Yet even our downward moments eventually become the energy that lifts us higher.
Meditation helped me understand that principle far more deeply.
🌧️ “MY LIFE SUDDENLY BEGAN FALLING APART”
Until my late thirties, my life seemed to be moving steadily upward.
After graduating from Seoul National University, I earned my doctorate at Stanford University and later worked as a researcher at NASA.
In 1988, I became a professor at KAIST.
Everything appeared successful.
Then my father passed away.
At the same time, I attempted to manage the family business while continuing my teaching and research responsibilities.
The pressure became unbearable.
Eventually the business failed.
My family lost nearly all of its assets.
I accumulated overwhelming debt.
And by 1993, my marriage ended in divorce.
Emotionally and physically exhausted, I began experiencing frightening symptoms.
😨 “SUDDENLY THE AIRPLANE FELT TOO SMALL”
My first major claustrophobic attack occurred while returning from Russia on a flight.
Suddenly the airplane felt unbearably narrow.
I couldn’t breathe.
Cold sweat poured down my face.
I felt completely trapped.
After that experience, elevators became difficult.
Even hearing stories about confined spaces could trigger anxiety.
For someone whose career required constant international travel, flying became a nightmare.
I took psychiatric medication continuously.
But the symptoms never completely disappeared.
That suffering continued until I began meditation in 2001.
💡 THE CHILDHOOD MEMORY HIDDEN BENEATH THE FEAR
Then something extraordinary happened.
During meditation, a forgotten childhood memory suddenly resurfaced with remarkable clarity.
“I remembered being trapped inside a small cement doghouse when I was about five years old.”
The scene appeared vividly, almost like a photograph.
At that moment, I realized something profound.
That forgotten experience had become the root cause of my claustrophobia.
The memory itself had remained buried deep inside my unconscious mind for decades.
As I repeatedly reflected upon and released the emotional burden connected to that memory, the fear gradually disappeared.
Looking back, I realized what had happened.
When my life later became overwhelmed by loss, stress, debt, and emotional devastation, that buried fear resurfaced and manifested as claustrophobia.
🔬 “EVEN AS A SCIENTIST, THE METHOD FELT REMARKABLY PRECISE”
As a scientist, I value evidence, verification, and logical reasoning.
What impressed me most about this meditation was its remarkable precision.
The central idea resonated deeply with me:
Human suffering originates from accumulated mental images, memories, and emotional experiences that shape our identity, fears, habits, and reactions.
As those burdens accumulate, suffering increases.
When they are removed, the mind returns to its original, freer state.
Interestingly, I began connecting this idea to physics and cosmology.
The universe is mostly empty space.
Before stars, galaxies, and black holes existed, there was simply space itself.
Likewise, human beings originally exist in a much simpler and freer state.
But as our minds become crowded with emotional images, fear, anger, sadness, and stress, suffering naturally follows.
🌱 MY ENTIRE LIFESTYLE BEGAN CHANGING
As meditation continued, many things began changing naturally.
I let go of:
• The need to constantly prove myself
• Attachment to achievement
• Pride and ego
• Resentment from debt and divorce
• Obsession with success
Unexpectedly, my daily habits changed as well.
I stopped drinking.
I quit smoking.
I became more punctual and focused.
My thinking became clearer and more organized.
Most importantly, I became humbler.
“Before, I mainly saw myself.”
“Now I recognize how many truly remarkable people exist in the world.”
💡 MEDITATION OPENED MY THINKING AS AN ENGINEER
Eventually I remarried and rebuilt my family life.
Later, Boeing invited my family and me to the United States after reading one of my research papers.
For two months, I helped analyze unresolved aircraft noise problems.
Interestingly, meditation also improved my academic creativity.
When discussing research with students, solutions sometimes emerge naturally.
Once fixed ideas disappear, thinking becomes more flexible, open, and creative.
I often tell engineering students:
Innovation requires freedom from rigid thinking.
And meditation can be one practical way to develop that freedom.
🌎 AIRPLANES, LIFE, AND THE MIND FOLLOW THE SAME PRINCIPLE
I often tell my students:
“Even if you remove just one deeply rooted mental burden, you discover that real change is possible.”
And after that realization, the possibilities become endless.
Today, conversations about aerospace engineering often lead naturally into discussions about philosophy, life, and the human mind.
Sometimes I joke with my students:
“Perhaps someday I’ll become a philosophy professor instead of an aerospace engineering professor.”
But in many ways, I believe science, life, and the mind have always been connected.
Meditation simply helped me see that connection more clearly.
