In-Yun is a Korean word and means “providence” or “fate”. But it’s specifically in connection with relationships between people. There is not real equivalent word in English, although I did recently blog about a welsh word – Hiraeth which has a similar meaning.
The word expressed the idea that you can feel a strong connection to someone you have only just met, perhaps because they are part of your soul family or you have known them in a past life. While South Korea is a fairly secular society, one of the main religions is Buddhism which has the idea of rebirth and reincarnation.
I think Stanislav Grof (Czech-born, American psychiatrist) summarised it well when he said, “Many cultures have independently developed a belief system in reincarnation that includes return of the unit of consciousness to another physical lifetime on Earth”.
Often the idea of reincarnation also includes the concept of learning lessons over many life times and sometimes with the assistance of other related souls (your soul family). The idea of In-Yun is you recognising that you know this soul and that they may a role, albeit perhaps a small one, in your life.
Annie Besant (British Philosopher) put it quite well then she said, “The soul grows by reincarnation in bodies provided by nature, more complex, more powerful, as the soul unfolds greater and greater faculties. And so the soul climbs upward into the light eternal. And there is no fear for any child of man, for inevitably he climbs towards God”.
In September 2023 a Korean film called Past Lives was released that explores this idea. The film is about two childhood friends (Nora and Hae Sung) who part due to one of them immigrating with her parents to New York. In their case, it is thought that they might have connected and reconnected with each other countless times in their past lives.
I am an award winning Past Life Regression specialist. If this is something you are interested in then contact me.