Episode 19 :: When a House is More Than a House

Eventually the American Dream proves itself to be otherwise. For Sung and Myra Sohn, arriving in the States from their native Korea, what awaited them was getting established in architectural studies (Sung—quite a renaissance man) and starting a career in pharmacology (Myra) and then joining with the usual frantic and disjointed rhythms of American life. Eventually they found that life not to their liking as its demands took a toll on family identity and cohesion. Sung envisioned an alternative housing arrangement based on shared life and spiritual practice, not just for his own family but for other residents and guests.

Sung’s later doctoral level theological studies, coupled with his ability to design a living space, helped him to articulate and build according to his vision for a household open to interfaith and ecologically friendly living at Myra House where the land was treated with loving respect and the entire property was viewed as one organism. But even the reality of his revised dream was quite a thing to get a handle on. Facing dire financial straits, even the Sohns’ alternative was in jeopardy for a while. Instead of meeting crisis with panic, they dreamed some more and found out how to go into business using the same values as those that governed life back at the household; the new store Ecoterra was the perfect marriage of Sung’s theologically informed approach to living and working space and Myra’s emergence as a pharmacist working in a similarly earth- and health-friendly holistic way. 

Myra House and Ecoterra point the way toward how to do housing in a way that leaves the land and community in a better state. Their contemplative and collaborative practices reflect excellent ways to build family and community rooted in deeper stuff, in a richer dream.

• Visit Myra House on the web.
• See Sung and Myra’s profiles.
• Read Sung’s exceptional and thoughtful curriculum vitae.
• Read Ed’s account of Myra House experiences.
• Listen to the unedited source recording with many extra details. (22mb mp3)

House of the Earth