This is actually a chapter in the book The Way to Light Up Your Divinity by Ilchi Lee (then using his given name of Seung-Heun Lee…Ilchi is his spiritual name meaning “One Finger Pointing The Way”). I was flipping through it again today and I saw a part about the white uniforms. Most members in Boston actually don’t buy or wear the white uniform, unless they go attend Dahn Healing System, they didn’t have something comfortable to wear when they joined, or they’ve been a member for a while. In fact, one day I had a class where everyone except one person wore all black So here is what Ilchi Lee says about them:

The white uniform we wear at the beginning of our practice symbolizes the clearing of our desires and emptying of our minds. We need to empty our minds. If we come to the Center just with desires, no matter how great a Cosmic Energy pours in, it only inflates our desires.

…I don’t deny the desires of people. So for those who have illnesses, I teach how to get better. But that’s not my real intention. The desires of people have no end. That’s why they say an ocean can be filled up, but not the desires of people.

What I want to tell you from the bottom of my heart is about the True Nature of a human being, the potential of every living being.

On our path to the Way, health is important. But too many have their final destination on health, living only to satisfy their body. But the body we train, polish, and serve with too much trouble is perishing and dying out with time. Most of us live to please the eyes, ears, tongues, or thoughts, but the real master of us is not one of these. The true entity of us is not like that.

…When we learn things and make them ours, our True Nature is covered more with those things. So this Practice is doing it in reverse; unlearning, so to speak. The learning of the world is to acquire and accumulate in our brain and body. In the learning of Dahnhak we cleanse out and throw away…But as long as we hold onto the desires, even the best teachings can’t penetrate through us.

…For this practice we need to compose ourselves. That’s why we’re wearing a white uniform. The learning of the world will produce greater success the more we want out of it. But the learning of Dahnhak requires emptying of the mind.

Pretty interesting. Here’s my summary: We need to take care of our body. But it’s a good investment to take care of the part of ourselves that will live on past it, our True Nature. Our True Nature is always there but it gets covered by the other things we pay attention to– all of the desires of our body and mind, all of the food, information, etc. that we accumulate. So if we want the deepest level of health, we need to keep cleaning out everything we accumulate the way we clean out our house. Otherwise we get heavy and/or sick physically, emotionally, and mentally. As an outward action to create the mindset of cleaning and purifying, we wear white uniforms. In my experience, what I wear and my environment definitely affect my mind.