Pyeong Hwa Gyeong
평화경平和經

BOOK 5

Absolute Values and a New World Order

 

1.   The Role of Unified Science in the Moral Orientation of the World   697
2.   Modern Science and Our View of Moral Values   705
3.
  Science and Absolute Values   709
4.
  Harmony among the Sciences and the Search for Absolute Values   714
5.
  God and the Limit of Science   720
6.
  Absolute Values and the Search for Peace for Humankind   724
7.
  Absolute Values and the Creation of a New World   729
8.
  Absolute Value Perspective   737
9.
  Unification Thought as the Basis of a New Cultural Revolution   744
10.  Professors World Peace Academy and Our Resolution   752
11.
 Absolute Values and the New Cultural Revolution   760
12.
 Leaping Forward and Gaining Momentum   764
13.
 True Love and the Unified World   770
14.
 Absolute Values and a Reassessment of Contemporary Society   776
15.
 Absolute Values and a Reassessment of the Contemporary World   781
16.
 Absolute Values and the New World Order   786
17.  True Knowledge, True Family and World Peace   792
18.
 Problems Confronting Society and the Responsibility of the Media   800
19.
 Media Credibility and Social Responsibility   805
20.
 The Responsibility of the Media in a Divided World   810
21.
 Media Standards and Journalistic Accountability   815
22.
 True Unification and One World   819
23.
  God’s Strategy for Victory   828
24.
 The Mission of the Media in the Twenty-first Century   836
25.
 Media in the Twenty-first Century: Focus, Roles and Responsibilities   844
26.
 Globalization and the Media: Looking to the Twenty-first Century   851
27.
 A United Direction for the Media in the New Millennium   857
28.
 The Life of Jesus from the Perspective of God’s Will and God’s Warning to the Present Age   862

BOOK 5

Absolute Values and a New World Order

1

The Role of Unified Science in the
Moral Orientation of the World

November 26, 1972
Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, USA
First International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

 

Distinguished chairman, notable scientists and welcome guests:

The emergence of Unified Science, with its tremendous potential for improving our world, is a very important and historic event. I want to personally thank all of you for the time and effort you have put into this conference to make this great beginning possible. I am grateful to offer the concluding remarks for this historic conference. I will speak on the topic, “The Role of Unified Science in the Moral Orientation of the World.”

No matter who they are, all people are always looking for happiness. To be happy is humanity’s insuppressible desire and ideal. During the past several thousand years of humankind’s cultural history, there has been no one who did not have this ideal of happiness.

Human life and a happy world

The ideal, of course, has never matched reality, yet human beings have constantly tried to achieve the ideal in their life. In this way, great progress has been made in every field of human culture, politics, economics, society, religion, science and so forth.

As you well know, humanity has established a highly developed, affluent society that cannot even be compared to those of ancient or medieval times, and there is no doubt that science has been the decisive factor in this development. If science had not developed, the economic prosperity we have today would not have been realized.

This fact suggests that the majority of scientists have made it their mission to aid progress toward a happy, ideal society—that is, scientists developed science and technology with a keen sense of mission to actualize the dreams of all people. Sometimes men of power misused the results of scientific research for unrighteous purposes, and still the fundamental spirit of scientists has aimed toward the fulfillment of an ideal society for humanity.

The unity of the sciences and a tendency for unification

In this way, the purpose of science is to realize people’s dreams. However, in the past, even when science made great strides, these advances could not always be immediately used to better the lives of all humankind because of national and racial barriers. This indicates that some people insisted on national boundaries for science. However, science belongs to all humanity and must not be monopolized by any particular nation or bloc.

This reminds us that many scientists with a strong sense of mission fought against the unrighteous forces that ignored the original purpose of science and hindered the realization of a true, ideal society.

Among all scientists there may also have been a few who forgot the spirit of serving humankind, becoming too involved in their own immediate interests. Nonetheless, the basic attitude of most scientists was to contribute to the peace and prosperity of all people.

In science there are many fields, yet there is none that does not aim at the realization of human happiness. Physics, chemistry, medicine, biology, geology, astronomy all have the same purpose. Of course, in the past several centuries, science due to its analytic method has become divided and specialized into many small fields. Recently a new and hopeful trend is appearing to consolidate and unify all the divided knowledge by the synthetic method. The emergence of Unified Science is the most conspicuous example of this tendency.

Up to the present time science, despite its many divisions, has worked toward one goal, in one direction. That is, each specialized field has worked for the realization of a happy world in its own particular way, and there is no doubt each field will continue toward the same goal in the future.

Yet when we look at the present world situation, there are many deplorable circumstances. Despite the development of science and economic prosperity, there is still so much tragedy throughout the world.

A good world, a happy world

Despite scientists’ deep desire and diligent efforts, poverty, illiteracy and disease still overwhelm developing countries. Various troubles, crimes and immoralities prevail in the advanced countries. And tensions, wars and hostilities continue among nations. Thus, humankind continues to suffer from sorrow, distress and pain even in the midst of our luxuriously developed cultures.

Many leaders are trying to eliminate this misery and to establish true peace and stability. Yet the world is filled with empty words of peace, and humankind is sinking deeper and deeper into unrest, anxiety and fear.

How has this come to be? The main reason is that the standard of value that regulates people’s behavior has been undermined. As ethics and morality have lost their power, the standard of goodness has almost disappeared.

The standard of behavior for human beings, which is based on God and Christianity in the West and on Confucian ethics in the East, has become lost. That is why humanity is in such a state of misery, despite great advances made by scientists working for the betterment of humanity.

What does this fact indicate? It shows that before the advances of science can be effectively enjoyed, it is first necessary to establish a world of goodness. A world of goodness means a world where the standard of behavior is clearly established. It is a world of morality and religion. However, it will not work unless this standard is newly established. There must be a new standard of behavior, which can ensure that the logical and practical scientific world will go in the right direction. This shows us that in today’s world, science has another mission. It is not enough to improve the standard of life through the application of science in the material world. Scientists must also be concerned with the state of people’s spirits.

Now I am going to explain why. No one can deny that every creature, including the human person, is a unified being with two natures, a material nature and an immaterial mind, as in the world of nature. The human being is a unified being of body and mind; animals are unified beings of body and instinct; and plants are unified beings of matter and directive energy.

From the standpoint of ontology, the cosmos is a world of effect, and it must therefore have an ultimate cause. Materialism says this ultimate cause is matter, and idealism insists it is spirit.

The cause and result of unity

However, because the world of effect is made of unified beings with two natures, the cause must be a monistic being with the essence of the two natures of matter and mind unified into one.

In other words, the ultimate cause must be an absolute, unified being with two natures that can create the attributes of mind and matter respectively. Only from a unified and monistic cause can a unified world of effect be brought into existence. That is, the unified effect must have a unified, monistic being as its cause.

Therefore, we must say that materialism, which takes matter to be the fundamental cause of the universe, is incorrect. The cause cannot be matter, for matter is an expression of only one of the attributes of the cause. This cause existed as non-matter prior to its expression in matter.

Humans are also unified beings brought about by the unified cause. Consequently, people cannot be considered only material beings or only spiritual beings. Therefore, the improvement of physical life or body alone cannot create happiness. Only by improving both the spiritual and physical life at the same time can true happiness be achieved. Science has put its efforts into improving material life, because its domain is limited to the material world. Therefore, in spite of the hard work and deep desire of scientists, humankind has not been able to escape distress and chaos.

Here we can conclude that scientists now must participate in the reformation of spiritual life in order to secure the true happiness of humanity and to protect the precious scientific work accomplished so far. The reformation of spiritual life means creating a world of goodness—that is, a society of new morality, by establishing a new standard of value.

Embodying love to resemble God

Then how can we create the spiritual reformation? For this we must set up a standard of goodness, and to determine goodness we must decide the center of love. This is because goodness is the practice of love. Then what can be the center of love?

It must be God, who is a unique, eternal and unchanging being existing since before the formation of the cosmos. Love is the flow of heart—that is, the outpouring of deepest heart.

Therefore, the essence of God is heart. This God is the unified being that is the fundamental cause of the cosmos dealt with in ontology. The formation of the cosmos by this fundamental cause is simply the creation of the cosmos by God.

Then how could God create the cosmos and human beings? God could do it because God has heart. Where there is heart, life appears; and where there is life, development and creation can take place. For creation, there must always be purpose. This is because heart directs toward purpose. The purpose of creation could only be joy, which fulfills the desire of heart. This joy comes when the creation, especially humanity, comes to resemble God. God’s goal of creation is to have human beings and the world of happiness, that is, the kingdom of heaven, reflecting the love and creativity of God, which relate to mind and matter respectively. We know this is true from the fact that humankind’s ideal is actually to realize such people and such a world.

The ideal is the world that was originally given to human beings as their home. The fact that people seek a joyful world as their ideal means a joyful world is the one God planned for them. Such a world reflects God’s love and creativity and thus becomes joyful.

Through our amazing scientific progress we have begun to take after God’s creative power but not yet His love. In order to take after His love, we must practice love and lead a life of goodness, because the practice of love is goodness itself. For the life of goodness, man ought to make God, who is the subject of love, the center of his standard of goodness. Since God is both the center and the essence of all things, His love is unchanging and everlasting, even though His creation, the phenomenal world, is transitory.

Therefore, when we take God as our standard of goodness, absolute value can be established, and then the eternal world of peace and happiness will be realized.

The world desired by God and humanity

Since the ideal world is the realization of God’s purpose of creation and is the world that reflects God, people always seek to have a harmonious and peaceful life filled with God’s love and also seek to improve their environment by continually creating new things.

Here creation does not mean mere production; rather, it includes all creative actions, such as originating new ideas, planning and improving as well as producing.

Since God is a unified being, human beings and societal life must also be unified. This means people must love while they live a creative life and must live a creative life while they love. Such people are unified people, and the world they live in is the unified world. As repeatedly mentioned, people have come to reflect God’s creativity through outstanding scientific progress yet so far have not learned His love. So this world is still filled with sorrow, pain and distress.

Since harmony is the essential nature of love, harmony cannot exist where there is no love. Likewise, peace and happiness cannot exist where there is no harmony. Thus, humankind’s present suffering continues because of the lack of love.

Therefore, it is natural that both God and humanity have been longing for the ideal life and world that would resemble God. In other words, the ideal human being sought by God and people’s original mind is a creative and good person practicing God-centered love. The ideal world is the world filled with creative actions to improve the environment and is one filled with love between individuals and between nations.

When this new type of person comes to live in this new, unified world, all the sorrows, pains and hostilities that have plagued humanity throughout history will be eliminated forever.

The direction for all humanity

Human beings and the world were originally supposed to have been good, resembling God’s nature, but to date humanity and the world have not realized their original nature. Therefore, to save humankind from distress and chaos, we have to restore the original state of human beings and the world and manifest it in our actual life. For this we have to find the absolute standard of goodness and practice the life of goodness. The standard of goodness is the center of love, which is God.

The fact that all humankind is struggling so hard to escape the reality of pain and chaos and is longing for peace and freedom shows that people’s original mind is seeking the standard of goodness and the center of love. To find the center of love and to establish the eternal world of happiness on earth is the universal desire of all humankind.

Now, I mentioned that the world both God and humanity desire is the unified world in which creativity and love are practiced. In this world the desire of both God and people will be fulfilled, but to practice love human beings must first find the center of love.

To practice love a norm must be set up, because a true life of love requires order. In a society where order has been destroyed, a life of love cannot be practiced in harmony. That is to say, a life of love needs order, and for order, norms are required. Norms are laws and principles that regulate people’s behavior, and these are embodied in morality and ethics. Therefore, to live a good life centered on love, humanity must set up sound morals and ethics and must practice them.

The morals and ethics that apply to the unified world must be clear and applicable to contemporary people. The reason past morals and ethics have been undermined lies partly in today’s tendency toward materialism. It also comes from the fact that the standards of value no longer satisfy the present expectation for reasonable answers. From this, the establishment of a new expression of morals and ethics based on the absolute standard of value becomes inevitable.

Establishing a completely unified world of goodness

Then how can this absolute standard of value be set up? It can come only from an elevated, unified system of thought that can unify all past philosophies and religious doctrines.

Each of the philosophies and religions of the past had their own views of value and ethics, with strong points that are still beneficial. However, people have for the most part left them behind, because they could not harmonize these views with the coming age. Therefore, to establish the absolute standard of value, we have to absorb the strong points of past views of value and develop new expressions that can meet the needs of contemporary society.

Thus, because the past views of value and ethics were based on the philosophies and religions of their respective ages, a new system— Unification Thought—has to appear, by which we can unify the past philosophies and religions.

When the new expression of morality and ethics emerges, based on the Unification Thought system, we will be able to create a unified world of goodness never seen before. We can create a moral orientation of goodness never seen before. The moral orientation of the world, then, which is the very theme of this conference, calls us to share this new expression of value with the world in order to build the new, unified world.

In conclusion, I’d like to say more about the role of Unified Science. First, I am very grateful to the organizers of Unified Science for their efforts to synthesize the subdivided knowledge of science. The divisive specialization of science, just like the dismantling of a machine, ultimately paralyzes the unitary functioning of the whole and keeps science from fulfilling its mission.

Unified Science should unite with Unification Thought

Here today, some pioneer scientists are systematically integrating and unifying the truths of past scientific discoveries into a new system of philosophical science. I think this is noteworthy, worthy of high praise. It corresponds to the historic emergence of a new system of Unified Thought that unifies past philosophies and religions and establishes a new view of value for the modern age. As I previously pointed out, the main mission of science is to improve humankind’s material life. I expect Unified Science will contribute with a new effectiveness to that end.

However, just as an original person is a unified being of spirit and body, true social life unites both the spiritual and material, and the ideal world unites love and creative action. Therefore, the true world of happiness cannot be realized by the improvement of material life alone. By this we can come to the conclusion that Unified Science has to unite with Unification Thought in order to accomplish its mission.

When this unification is accomplished, the long-standing problem of uniting science and religion will be resolved and finally the unified world of prosperity, happiness and goodness will be established. The outdated systems and ways of thinking will pass away, and the ideal, unified world with new-age systems and ways of thinking will be established on earth.

2

Modern Science and Our View of
Moral Values

November 21, 1973
The Imperial Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
Second International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Allow me to extend my heartfelt congratulations to you on the very successful Second International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, which has convened eminent scientists of our contemporary age. I am greatly honored to have the opportunity to make some brief remarks at the close of this conference held in the Orient’s most modern city, Tokyo, Japan.

First of all, my deepest admiration and gratitude go to the eminent professors of the executive committee who rendered such painstaking efforts to hold this conference and make it a success. Please allow me to express my profound respect and appreciation to this committee, who decided to adopt the subject, “Modern Science and Moral Values,” as the theme of the conference, and especially to the professors who in response to the invitation have deeply researched the respective topics that have been brought forth and discussed with enthusiasm.

The common welfare of humanity and the way of science Once again, I want to extend my deepest congratulations to and appreciation of the participants in this epochal conference. I am going to express my views regarding the theme under the topic, “Modern Science and Our View of Moral Values.” I suppose that the conference adopted and dealt with the question of science and moral values because the situation in today’s society urgently demands that we address such issues, which, I am sure, have been thoroughly discussed here. I am not alone in the awareness that modern science now shows undesirable side effects, even though, so far, it has contributed tremendously to the welfare of humankind with unceasing and exceptional discoveries and innovations. Men and women of today are losing their subjectivity concerning science and technology. It looks as though the agents of the rapidly accelerating scientific discoveries and its myriad applications are gradually losing the ability to control and guide their scientific work with a universal ethic and pertinent moral values. If this situation persists, it could lead to undesirable and destructive consequences and circumstances in the near future, which will be difficult for us to remedy. I will explain the situation of how our subjectivity has been lost.

Science, it seems, is apt to allow scientists to exclude the questions of ethics and moral values in the process of scientific development. During the history of science, scientific fields have gradually split into sub-disciplines, each becoming more and more specialized. Today, science has become increasingly more analytical and materialistic, utterly ignoring the questions of ethics and moral values. The influence of our existential subjectivity over science seems to have weakened and even evaporated. I am sure that ultimately the most important among the many possible motivations for scientific research is the desire to realize humanity’s common welfare, prosperity and peace.

Considering the enormous progress of science and technology, we originally expected and anticipated that it would facilitate the arrival of the common welfare and happiness of humanity, that it would enhance our subjective position over our natural as well as sociological, economic and political environments. On the contrary, even though scientific achievements so far have focused on improving and developing the environment and on offering new technologies for living, our original desire for science to achieve the welfare, prosperity and peace of humanity is being sidelined and even undermined. Our original desire is for science to achieve the welfare of humanity, which is the subject partner. Although scientific achievements have improved and developed the environment, which is the object partner, science has not taken responsibility for the negative outcomes disturbing the spiritual, mental and physical well-being of individuals, families, societies and nations, and our natural environment. This misalignment and discrepancy between our desire and our scientific and technological achievements finally has caused the weakening and even loss of our subject position concerning the scientific and technological enterprise.

However, it is desirable for science to deal with both the ethical questions arising from our human subjective nature as well as objective problems, such as the improvement of the environment and the development of new technologies for living. I fervently call on all scientists to develop their respective fields on the basis of a solid ethical view of moral values, thus exalting human dignity by adopting a spiritual and unifying methodology as well as a materialistic and analytical one. If we had focused the underpinnings of science on human dignity, the formidable problems of environmental pollution could have been prevented. Here arises the question of human beings’ original image, that is, the design of our human nature.

The establishment of a standard of value

My view is that our original design is intended to achieve the harmonious oneness between mind and body. The original human being was supposed to be a being of unity and harmony between his or her spirit and body centered on the purpose of goodness. I view the original purpose of science as embodying the aspirations of both aspects of our existence, spirit and body. This means that such a unified science also incorporates the fields of ethics and moral values.

It may be appropriate to request of science to synthesize rationality and spirituality, to call for a commitment of science to actively pursue the betterment of the world’s cultures and peoples. However, in order to integrate ethics and moral values into science, the question of what needs to be the standard of value arises. In general, the standard of value has changed according to historical age and environment. There is a vast difference between the standard of value in ancient times and that of the contemporary age. Also, the standard of value in the Orient differs from that of the Occident. Therefore, to establish a true standard of value for the common benefit and welfare of all humankind, we can only set up as the standard a universal and absolute element that can apply at any time and any place.

The establishment of this absolute standard signifies the establishment of a new view of ethics and moral values. The essence of this absolute standard must be the love that forms the basis of the ethics of the family system. True love in the ethical relationship of the family is an absolute love, agape love, which emits heartwarming joy to all humankind just as the sun emits its light to all creation. This love alone has never changed throughout history, whether in the East or the West. At this point we can think of the one Absolute Being as the one subject of this absolute love. I believe it is most desirable for this Absolute Being to become the ultimate standard of the new view of value.

This Absolute Being is not a conceptual being but is a substantial entity who has revealed Himself throughout human history. We know that in history, many sages and saints, including many religious leaders, have appeared at different times and in different places. Without exception, they appealed to the human conscience and heart, urging the practice of love. When men and women responded and followed their teachings, the peoples and nations enjoyed peace and prosperity; when men and women were obstinate, the nations fell into confusion or decline. Even today the whole of humankind is in confusion and chaos waiting either consciously or unconsciously for the appearance of modern sages and saints to make this love real. Considering all these facts, we can conclude that history has taken a direction of development to realize this love. Therefore, we can only recognize that there has been one central axis functioning in history, consciously and in a certain direction.

I want to identify this substantial being who has played the role of the axis as the Absolute Being. We can see that behind the scenes of human history, this Absolute Being has planned to establish the world of moral values by actualizing love through saints, righteous people and conscientious leaders. Accordingly, my conclusion is that if the whole of humankind will accept this Absolute Being as the axis of human history, the world of moral values will be realized without difficulty.

Finally, I extend to you my heartfelt wishes that the valuable presentations of your research and discussions at this conference will produce epochal results that contribute to the true peace and prosperity of humankind.

Thank you very much.

3

Science and Absolute Values

November 22,1974

Royal Lancaster Hotel, London, England
Third International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Honorable chairman, distinguished scientists, eminent professors and scholars:

I sincerely welcome all of you who are attending the third International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, sponsored by the International Cultural Foundation.

As I am sure you are aware, two previous conferences have been held, the first in New York City in November 1972, and the second in Tokyo in November 1973. As the founder of the International Cultural Foundation, I have desired and done my best to create and maintain throughout these conferences an atmosphere in which an open and unreserved exchange of opinions could take place. And I have been greatly pleased with the fruitful results of these conferences and with the participants who have contributed so much to them.

The development of science and the issues now facing humankind

At present, ever more serious problems continue to develop and confront humankind. The solutions to these challenging problems call for and indeed require both localized approaches and a global approach. Therefore, we demand the wisdom and knowledge of the many distinguished scholars who are gathered here at this conference.

As a scientist myself, I have been observing with keen interest the development of science and technology. I know that science and technology and what we call the “scientific method” have had a far-reaching impact on human life. Through observation and study of the world of reality, science has extended and expanded our perception of this reality beyond our physical senses.

For example, we are now cognizant of bacteria, which we can detect using a microscope. Some of us journey to the moon, directed by computers whose astronomical speed of calculation baffles the human mind, while others talk about making such travels an everyday possibility.

To our naked eye, the earth still appears flat, but science has compelled us to admit that it is round. A diamond appears to be solid and we were once amazed to know that in fact it is a scattering of particles in mostly empty space. On a more abstract level, the transition from reality to extended reality is illustrated by the transition from classical to quantum mechanics and from the deterministic model to the probabilistic model, both of which are equally confusing to non-scientists.

Although the progress in science has provided us with a tremendous amount of information, we still suffer from our inability to internalize this information and our inability to fully comprehend its deeper implications. This inability has led to much anxiety, confusion and uncertainty as we lose our firm reference points. As a result, we feel we are in a state of imbalance with scientific progress due to the suddenly expanded reality.

The necessity for cooperation, with a global worldview

Meanwhile, when we think of the strong probability of our finding in the spirit world the answers to the disharmony and imbalance that attend the limited human function of thinking, it does not seem accidental that Zen meditation and its practice recently have become controversial objects of scientific research in the West as well as in the East, where for centuries they have been practiced and valued. The study of extrasensory perception has drawn the attention of quite a number of scholars in the academic community. The discovery that a dolphin can intelligently communicate with human beings deserves notice. Along the same lines, it has been observed that plants respond to the love and other emotional states of human beings. These discoveries suggest that our present view that the animal and plant worlds are lacking in consciousness and reason may be flawed.

Thus, we may now envision a universe in which a harmonious coexistence is brought about between human beings and other creatures, a universe where human beings, the center of all things, turn the whole universe like a wheel in ultimate harmony and oneness. Other issues worthy of notice are the roles of the educator and the medical doctor. They may be drastically affected by the ability of the computer to process enormous amounts of information accurately and promptly. Some scientists have hinted that the future study of elementary particles and cosmology may alter our concepts of space and time.

A study conducted by the Club of Rome informs us of potentially disastrous events in the near future due to pollution, population growth, scarcity of natural resources and rapid industrialization. Recently it has been found that atmospheric ozone is on the decrease, caused by repeated nuclear testing. As you all know, the presence of ozone in the upper atmosphere is vital to the survival of life on the earth, since damage to cellular molecules by the sun’s ultraviolet radiation occurs in the absence of the ozone layer. Solutions to these problems cannot be arrived at through the efforts of scientists alone or by the efforts of any particular individual, group or country. The Club of Rome study clearly indicates the finiteness of the world’s resources and ecosystems, and also makes clear the absolute necessity of a global approach and cooperative effort for proper and complete solutions to the world’s problems.

These problems call for a worldview, accompanied by an attitude of sacrifice and cooperation among all peoples of the world, transcending the interest of any one community or nation. Such a spirit of cooperation will be attained only when all human beings come to view themselves as members of the same human family. This revolutionary change in human consciousness to embrace such a worldview has long been needed and is vital to humanity’s survival today. In many educational systems throughout the nations of the world, the merit of competition and the survival of the fittest, achieved only by the winners in the competition, has been overly stressed. This has long been a plague undermining the healthy human endeavor to lead humanity into a world of peaceful coexistence by bringing them to feel themselves as members of one human family.

Now humanity somehow has begun to feel that in educating people the emphasis needs to shift and that cooperation has to be taught as vital for survival. In light of this viewpoint, the goals and philosophies of education will have to undergo a profound transformation.

In the past, we have accepted the contribution of science and technology to the enrichment of human life without deep reflection. Now we begin to wonder. Some disquieting questions come to mind. Are we happier in our technology-enriched world? Are we more sound ethically? Are we becoming more humane with love and concern for one another? Answers to these questions are not found simply by analyzing statistics, because the human being has many aspects that are not discretely quantifiable.

In any discussion of quality of life, these non-quantifiable factors play a major role. As illustrations, let me cite love, ideals, the joy of creating, belief in God and numerous other value areas. The question of the preservation and development of these humane aspects of life remains the greatest theme of our research.

The way for science to meet today’s challenges

In light of this theme the question of interpretation and proper use of the vast amount of information generated through scientific research and discovery becomes a profound and serious one. Our attitude that tends to overemphasize the value of science may need reexamination. After all, any scientific truth is tentative—the truth in one generation can possibly be invalidated in the next. Consistent experimental results, derived from a model built on the basis of a limited investigation, constitute scientific truth. However, in the course of building a model we go through the processes of idealization, simplification and approximation. As a consequence, we may have an approximate understanding of truth and not the absolute truth. Science has grown so big that it sometimes seems beyond the realm of human beings.

Science needs to be strictly thorough, accurate and detailed in determining facts. In the process of utilizing its accumulated information and achievements, science needs to remain positioned as one of the areas of human creativity. It needs to stay within the human realm so it may be used, controlled and appreciated just like works of art and music.

When we reflect on the history of the human race, we see there have been new frontiers in every era, some culminating in the development of literature and others in the blossoming of medicine and the various sciences. Yet in the past, development of science and technology has been aimed mainly at the conquest and exploitation of nature.

Today this very science compels us to set up a new ethical standard. The new ethic ought to concern itself with the problems of love for nature and a reexamination of human values and the need for cooperation among human beings. It must attempt to set a new view of value and a new ethical norm that can bring about an ideal world of harmonious coexistence among all creatures on earth.

The development of science and technology has certainly raised issues that invite us to reflect seriously on what is essential for us to remain human and to preserve humaneness in our lives. I strongly believe that the aforementioned ideal world can be made possible only when every field of science and technology is mobilized for the benefit of humankind and when a cooperative spirit of human activity guides those who work in those fields.

I ardently desire and expect the answers to come from you. This will surely be realized by assembling the results of your respective researches together with your opinions and wisdom. From the very bottom of my heart I beg you to play the role of the bridge that will connect and lead the present world toward a world of higher dimension and absolute value.

Thank you for your attentive listening!

4

Harmony among the Sciences and
the Search for Absolute Values

November 27, 1976
Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC, USA
Fifth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Honorable chairman, distinguished scholars and scientists:

I would like to extend my sincere welcome to all of you on this occasion of the fifth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences. I would especially like to welcome those of you who have participated in these conferences regularly. For the past several years, participants at these conferences have been discussing the subject of “absolute values,” and this year you will deal with the specific theme of “The Search for Absolute Values.”

The origin of humankind and all creation

To discover absolute values, one needs to clarify the origin of the existence of human beings and the universe. Here we run across the question of whether the universe originated from something in existence or from nothingness. As you well know, natural science, social science, philosophy and religion have not been searching for truth in the world of nonexistence. Instead, they have been trying to locate a causal being in the world of existence, and to discover the principles that have led to the existence and operation of the universe, including human beings, all proceeding from the origin itself. Ultimately, they have wanted to discover the reason for and value of any existing entity by clarifying its content or nature and by understanding the relationships between different existing entities.

If we consider the smallest unit necessary to constitute matter with a chemical identity, we may call it an “atom” and describe it as something in existence. If so, it would be logical to say that the atom definitely originated from something in existence, not from nothingness.

Modern science provides the view that the origin of the atom is a certain type of energy, which again must have had an origin. We can then draw the conclusion that this energy is also derived from some ultimate existence.

If we consider the vast universe as an amplification of the infinitesimal atom, and therefore also a result derived from an ultimate cause, we can clearly come to the realization that a human being is a resultant being and not the causal existence. Then there also needs to be a causal existence for human beings.

It is reasonable to set up a system of logic whereby all things were generated from an absolute causal existence and developed into more complex and higher beings. This system would need to refute the systems of scholars who insist that existence was generated from nonexistence. Thus, we can say that a certain Absolute Being that has existed from the beginning is the cause of the universe, resulting in all things from the smallest to the largest, connecting them and causing them to interrelate organically and initiating a variety of actions.

From this viewpoint, the established theory of evolution needs to be reexamined. In order for anything to progress to a higher level of being, some activity has to occur; and activity always requires energy. Can extra energy be created in the process of this activity? No, because during this activity, energy is being consumed. Therefore, it would be absolutely impossible for more energy to be generated, which could be used to give birth to a being on a higher level. If, theoretically, energy is consumed in the process of activity, then why have living things evolved, instead of deteriorating? And why has the general tendency of evolution been directed toward the development of things of greater value and higher dimension? This is the question.

The development of the universe through interaction and counteraction

The theory of evolution seems logical, but the process of the stage-by-stage progression of all living things can never be convincingly explained by the theory of random mutation. Without the addition of energy from outside the system, this progression toward beings of greater value and higher dimension is absolutely impossible. The evolution of animals has culminated in human beings, and we can say that human beings are the ultimate purpose of creation by the first causal Being. Here again we can establish the logic that the first causal Being existed from the beginning.

Next comes the question of which was first, existence or energy? No being maintains its existence or activities without energy. There is energy that operates within an individual being and energy that enables the interaction between different beings.

The question now is how this energy is produced. It is impossible to produce energy without the prior existence of a complementary pair consisting of a subject partner and an object partner. That is to say, the relationship between a pair of subject and object partners is indispensable for energy to be produced. In the case of an atom, for example, both the proton, which is the subject partner, and the electron, which is the object partner, have to be present before they begin to interact. There can be no flow of energy until there is the purpose of uniting the pair of subject and object partners. Therefore, if the question is raised whether energy or the subject-object pair comes first, the answer is clearly the subject-object pair. Energy is the phenomenon resulting from the process of the two becoming one.

According to the variety of relationships between subject and object partners, the energy generated differs in degree, intensity, direction and objective. This results in the variety of beings in the universe. The reason why the particular actions of subject-object pairs have directions and objectives is that the first causal Being includes a fundamental subject-object pair that acts with a certain direction and objective.

Consider a being that has attained perfect unity between the subject and object partners within its individual self. For that being to form a relationship with another being, it needs to take either the subject partner or object partner position to and unite with that other being. Thereby, the two beings progress to produce a greater form of being with a direction and objective of higher dimension. When a being in the subject partner position wants to interact with a being in the object partner position, they have to share a common interest or purpose. Then, by interacting, they can produce the higher form of being.

The universe provides protection against disease

The formation of this vast universe is the common purpose shared by all subject-object pairs. Thus, the universe protects itself and at the same time protects and promotes those beings that have attained unity between subject partner and object partner. Furthermore, it causes repulsion in those beings that lack harmony and repels those that try to invade the beings that have attained unity.

This is how perpetuity becomes possible. One may call the protective force the “correspondence force,” and the other, the “repelling force,” or action and counteraction, respectively.

This is true in both the nonhuman and human worlds. When our mind and body are united in oneness, we receive the protective power of the universe and consequently experience happiness. However, when our mind and body are not united, the repulsion leads to suffering.

The suffering experienced in illness is produced in a similar manner. When the subject and object components in our body fail to attain unity and harmony, they lose the protective force of the universe, and the repelling force causes suffering. The medicine administered after a doctor’s diagnosis is a way to restore the harmonious relationship between the subject and object components. The same principle governs the individual and the family.

For instance, before marriage, a man and a woman enjoy being with friends of their own gender. After marriage, as subject and object partners, they eventually attain perfect unity and form a family, and thus receive the protective or helping power of the universe and become happy. At this point, as soon as a third party, another man or woman comes, potentially interfering with their marital relationship, some repelling force starts to act, lest the perfection of the relationship be hindered.

The repelling power is not necessarily harmful to the third parties because it serves to indicate that they too can act constructively to find subject or object partners, attain unity with their partners, and thereby receive the protective power of the universe and become happy. In other words, the repelling power also serves as a stimulant for the third parties to attain perfection.

All existing beings resemble the First Cause and multiply

For an electric current to flow and complete its circuit, a harmonious interaction between positively charged and negatively charged entities is needed, corresponding to pairs of subject (plus) and object (minus) partners. However, if two entities have the same type of electrical charge, namely, a plus and another plus or a minus and another minus, they will repel each other. When all beings find their counterpart and form a proper relationship, they experience stability and happiness under the same law.

When a pair of subject and object partners become one as a result of give-and-receive action, according to the theory mentioned above, they come under the protection of the universe. Since all the actions we observe in this universe are resultant actions derived from the first causal Being, we can state that there exists a central Being that is both causal and active. Just as children take after their parents, results take after the cause.

Let’s look now into the seed of a plant. We find that there are two complementary parts in perfect unity within one coat. They interact with each other by their give-and-receive action, and by doing this alone they can produce another living organism. The development of a chicken egg is based on the same principle. Each egg has a yolk and a white, with the embryo between deriving nutrition from them; and they are all united in one shell. The human fetus develops in a similar manner.

When the subject and object partners of any species of living things, whether human, plant or animal, become one through give-and-receive action, they multiply beings that take after the form of their cause and eventually achieve that original form.

If we acknowledge that all these beings take after the ultimate First Cause, we come to the conclusion that the first causal Being is the basic model for all of them, having the perfectly united subject-object pair within itself. Then the first causal Being takes the subject partner position to all other beings.

The purpose for creating all beings of creation on different levels

The objective of the progressive creation of all things in the universe is the human being. A human is the fruit, microcosm and model of the existing world. A human is the highest being and contains elements from the mineral, plant and animal kingdoms. Yet since humans are also resultant beings, one must conclude that they were made to take after the image of the first causal Being.

In other words, there has to be an absolute subject Being that takes the human being as an object partner. Since humans are beings of personality, with intellect, emotion and will, that absolute subject partner also must be a Being of personality in order to relate with them. That Absolute Being is called “existence” in philosophy and “God” in religion.

Today the world is filled with confusion and contradiction in regard to evolution, dialectical materialism, epistemologies, idealism, materialism and so on. Our immediate historical task is to reexamine all of these and to find and establish absolute truth. Only then will we be able to form a world of absolute value. The Being of absolute value is eternal, unchanging and unique. Then, what principle in the universe is eternal, unchanging and absolute? It is the cause-and-effect relationship, which involves the relationship between subject partner and object partner.

When you apply these principles to human society, the heart of the matter is the parent-child relationship and the husband-wife relationship. The former may be termed a vertical relationship, and the latter, a horizontal one. The unity of the subject and object partners on the vertical plane plays the role of a greater subject partner to the object partner that consists of the unity of the subject and object partners on the horizontal plane. They conduct perfect give-and-receive action to create harmonious spherical movement.

This action is centered on love, forming the model of an ideal family, which is the basic unit of human society. In this sense, one can recognize love as the most valuable thing.

The world of eternal happiness under absolute values

Since the ultimate source of love comes from an absolute, unchanging and causal subject Being, and not from human beings, the family of love that maintains the causal Being at its center is the basic unit for realizing the ideal in human society.

To realize an ideal of absolute value, we need to begin with this family of love and expand in scope to the nation and the world, thereby reaching the ideal world of unity where eternal happiness rooted in absolute value is promised.

I sincerely hope that this conference will contribute to providing solutions for the various problems present in human society and to straightening the path to the future. I urge all of you to bring the results of your research freely and fully to these meetings and discussions, so that the general welfare of humankind might be better served. May your efforts become a decisive, contributing factor toward the realization of an ideal world of peace, happiness and love.

Thank you.

 

5

God and the Limit of Science

November 25, 1979
Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, USA
Eighth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Distinguished chairman, eminent scholars, ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you all very much for attending this eighth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences. Each year this meeting has become increasingly important because of your participation. This is gratifying to me as the founder of the conference.

In connection with this year’s theme, “The Responsibility of the Academic Community in the Search for Absolute Values,” I would like to express a few opinions on the topic, “God and the Limit of Science.” As science developed in recent years, humankind had great expectations and believed that the advancement of science and technology would bring relief from both spiritual and physical difficulties.

Scientists who have a sense that theirs is a crucial mission as contributors to humankind, have continued on the one hand to pursue ultimate scientific truth and, on the other hand, to apply technology in almost every field of human endeavor. The resulting benefits have been fantastic economic growth, material affluence and physical well being such as humankind has never before known.

However, for all its great merits, today’s technology has equally great demerits, generating such problems as pollution, resource depletion, depersonalization and accumulation of formidable weapons of thermonuclear destruction. Thus, the very science that originated with the intent to realize happiness for humankind has, with its successes, brought fears and instability as well. What is the reason? The reason is that science, in adhering to its position of scientific neutrality, has excluded considerations of purpose and value.

I wish to proclaim that human beings have value from their very origin. They are creations of God. They are created to lead life with a definite value perspective in accordance with the purpose of creation. In spite of originally being creatures of vast value, people have disregarded this value perspective and, believing in the omnipotence of science, taken it as a panacea. Consequently, technology has become a source of increasing damage.

For human beings, science can only be a means; it cannot be an end. The purpose of human life is to realize God’s purpose of creation. Each person is a unified being of both physical and spiritual entities. Hence, on the foundation of physical life, we are to lead a life of value—a life of love, truth, goodness and beauty. Science and technology are needed for the sake of allowing physical life to become a proper basis for spiritual life.

Therefore, the science that disregards or fails to emphasize the life of value actually brings about the destruction of value perspective in human beings, leading toward today’s reality of fear and insecurity. The deliverance of humankind from this unfortunate reality can be achieved only by searching for and discovering the true value perspective. Science, in turn, must abide by this value perspective, which must be based on absolute value.

Where could this absolute value be found? It could only be found in God’s love. In fact, the union of truth, goodness and beauty based on God’s love is indeed this absolute value.

Accordingly, it stands to reason that humankind’s liberation from the harms caused by the misuse of science and technology can come only when science itself recognizes God, and guides and applies its technology in the same direction as God’s love.

Next, I would like to suggest that there is a limit to science in its search for truth in the field of nature. In this twentieth century, science has finally found itself pushed into the realm of philosophy in its own search for truth. It has had to take upon itself the question of the origin of the universe, just as did ancient philosophies, both Eastern and Western.

That is, science itself, especially physics and biology, has been confronted with various long-disputed and unresolved questions of ontology. Indeed, certain experiments in quantum physics and molecular biology have been performed for the purpose of exploring these ontological questions.

Thus, using theoretical and experimental approaches, physics has dealt with the study of ontology, with the question, “What is the true nature of matter?” The first answer was “the atom.” A second was “elementary particles.” Finally, quantum mechanics delivered an answer in which the elementary particles of matter are related to energy itself. In the same way, biology approached a similar ontological problem, “What is the true nature of life?” Eventually, the answer suggested was, “The secret of life lies in the properties of DNA!”

Thus, in its search for the truth about the universe, natural science has uncovered many facts and accumulated an astonishing body of knowledge. However, these are hardly ultimate solutions to man’s questions.

Even though quantum physics affirms that the true ground of matter is energy, we do not know from where energy comes, what the previous stage or state of energy is, or why and how energy transfers from its previous state to the existing state. Why did a variety of molecules come into being? Why does each molecule have its characteristic pattern of positive and negative charges? There are many questions yet to be clarified.

Similarly, molecular biology maintains that the true nature of life is bound up in DNA coding, yet significant questions remain. How did the four units of the DNA code come to bear information? How did DNA come to possess the ability to replicate itself?

In its pursuit of truth, even though science has developed to a surprising degree, it still leaves many of its own problems untouched. What is the implication of this? It can only mean that these remaining scientific questions are not within the direct realm of current natural science.

Up to now, although science in its quest for truth has investigated immediate causes of particular phenomena, it has not taken up the search for motives or reasons for existence as a whole. Thus, the final challenge that science confronts is this question of the ultimate reason for existence. The unexplored problem in the question, “What is the true nature of matter?” is that of the reason for its existence, and again, the untouched problem in the question, “What is the true nature of life?” is that of the very reason for life itself.

I propose that, in clarifying reasons, one must first admit purpose. Before admitting purpose, one must first recognize the Will that made the purpose, namely, the cosmic and universal Will that transcends all things. When you call this cosmic Will “God,” then the initial step in clarifying unresolved questions is first to apprehend God’s purpose of creation. The second step is to perceive that, along with the physical or chemical factors in all material and life phenomena, there exists a causal motive directing each thing toward a certain purpose.

In short, the very science developed for the happiness of humankind is today a cause of difficulty or even harm. The only way to be freed from these harms is to bring science under the true value perspective that centers in God’s love. As more and more scientists find themselves reaching the limit of science, they will find that the key to transcending this limit is to regard that, behind all material and life phenomena, there is a purposeful motive working in accordance with God’s purpose of creation.

It is my considered and confident belief that the points mentioned here are the most important and pressing matters facing today’s science. It would be most fortunate if they could serve as a reference for the topics to be discussed by all the distinguished scholars who are taking up the theme of this year’s conference.

In conclusion, I wish all of you success in your research and pursuit of truth in relation to the absolute truth. I am sure that the fruits of your efforts expressed in the presentations at this conference will contribute in a significant way toward world peace.

Thank you all very much.

6

Absolute Values and the Search for
Peace for Humankind

November 27, 1980

Fontainebleau Hilton Hotel, Miami Beach, Florida, USA
Ninth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Honorable chairman, distinguished scientists and scholars, ladies and gentlemen:

I sincerely welcome you to this ninth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences.

During past years this conference has repeatedly dealt with the theme of science and absolute values and has achieved great results. Furthermore, I feel that the conference has made many contributions to humankind’s long and fervent search for peace.

The theme of this year’s conference is, “Absolute Values and the Search for Peace for Humankind.” In regard to this theme, I would like to share with you my view of how world peace can be achieved.

Today’s world yearns for peace

As you are no doubt already aware, the more chaotic the world becomes, the more human beings thirst for peace.

Then how can peace be achieved? In today’s world, orderliness is increasingly being disrupted in many countries and cultural regions. To establish peace means to restore a true order. To restore a true order, subject partners and object partners must find their positions and establish mutual, harmonious relations.

People desire peace not only on the world level but also on the level of nations, societies and families. Even individuals yearn for peace between their mind and body.

Of these various levels of peace, which should be established first?

It is easy to think that if world peace were established first, then on that basis the peace of nations, societies, families and eventually individuals would also be established.

But this is wrong. This is actually the reverse of the sequence necessary to establish peace. It is individual peace that must first be realized. Then family peace can follow, and only on that foundation can the peace of societies, nations and the world be expected. This is because individuals are the basic unit of families, and families are the basic unit of societies, nations and the world.

Frequently leaders believe that through outstanding organization and superior policymaking they can restore the order of society and create world peace. In reality, however, the peace of humankind can never be realized through these two means alone. International organizations such as the United Nations and thought systems such as communism and democracy have all tried to realize world peace in their own ways, but peace is still far from our grasp, and the world is experiencing more confusion as the days go by.

True peace is achieved only when people unite through absolute love

Unless the quest for peace starts from the peace of the individual, it is bound to fail again and again.

Then how can the individual achieve peace? It is by becoming a person of absolute love and then practicing this love. This is true because love is the precondition for all unity. Unity can be established on the basis of love, and peace on the basis of unity.

Both relative love and absolute love exist. Relative love changes according to time and place, but absolute love is unchanging and eternal. Because the former is self-centered, it changes according to the interests of the moment. On the other hand, because absolute love always exists for the benefit of others and serves the whole, it is unchanging. Absolute love, because it is absolute, must flow from an Absolute Being. Therefore, that love must be God’s love.

Through relative love, unity can never be achieved. It is only through absolute love that unity becomes possible. The mind and body of an individual can come into unity only through absolute love. Then such feelings as tranquility, joy, satisfaction and a sense of worth can be experienced. Only from such an individual can a standard for peace be drawn.

When the parents and children, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters of a family all practice absolute love in a way appropriate to their own family position, the unity of that family will be achieved. That family will be full of happiness and harmony—and above all, peace.

Accordingly, the society formed by such families of peace will be a society of peace. If the families within a society become harmonious and help one another, the society will undoubtedly be bright and peaceful, because order will be established and unity attained. The nation formed by such societies of peace will also surely become a nation of peace.

World peace based on God’s love

Moreover, a nation is not merely an assembly of many societies. It is an organic organization composed of and based on individuals and families of love. Within it, perfect order and unity must be established, and then the true peace of the nation can be realized.

In other words, even a nation needs God’s love in order to realize and maintain peace. Even though the families that are the basis of the nation may be centered on absolute love, the nation as an organic body must also be able to practice absolute love as a nation, on the national level.

The government and people of the nation should attain unity internally, and the nation externally should unite with neighboring countries, thereby realizing true peace.

Needless to say, the peace of the world comes into being only on the foundation of the peace of all nations. When each nation ceases to place all its emphasis on trade and other ways to secure its own national interest, when each nation begins to serve other nations and the world with absolute love, and when each nation maintains such an international posture consistently, the eternal peace of humankind will have been secured.

The pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty leads to world peace Thus, it becomes apparent that world peace begins with individual peace and expands through families, societies and nations to ultimately cover the world.

At this point I would like to mention the relationship between absolute love and absolute values. Love is the foundation for the values of truth, goodness and beauty. For example, when a person practices love of others, society calls it goodness. Therefore, it follows that when a person practices absolute love, which is God’s love, absolute goodness results. This is to say, the actions of an individual practicing absolute love for the sake of peace are absolutely good. Likewise, the actions of a family practicing love for the sake of peace are also good. The same is true for societies, nations and the world.

In other words, in order to realize true peace, the individual, family, society, nation and world must all practice absolute love and thus realize the absolute values that are absolute truth, absolute goodness and absolute beauty. The world today most especially and urgently requires the practice of absolute goodness to deter the interference of evil that begets chaos.

Love, absolute truth, absolute goodness and absolute beauty cannot be realized without knowledge of absolute love—God’s love—since love gives rise to the spiritual values of truth, goodness and beauty. And where these absolute values are not realized, there cannot be true peace.

Thus, for the true peace of humankind, we need to practice absolute love. But before we can practice absolute love, we first have to understand it.

I have already stated that absolute love is love that acts for the benefit of others, that serves others and that is unchanging and eternal. Then why does absolute love serve the whole and remain unchanging? And why can peace be realized only through love? These questions require answers.

To achieve true peace, we need to understand the Absolute Being For these questions to be completely answered, the Absolute Being and His motive and purpose for creating the universe and humankind must first be fully clarified. The motive and purpose for creation particularly serve as indispensable standards for the practice of love and the establishment of peace. Before any plans can be put into action, there must first be a definite purpose. Any action without purpose is meaningless.

If the Absolute Being created humanity and meant people to practice His love, then it is certain that there is a motive and purpose for the creation of human beings. In order for that motive and purpose to be clarified, an explanation of the Absolute Being, that is, a correct concept of God, must first be established. Establishing the correct concept of God will clarify His motive and purpose of creation .and, on that basis, the reason we must practice the Absolute Being’s love in order to realize peace.

Thus, I submit that for the true peace of humankind, it is necessary to understand the Absolute Being correctly so we can practice His love and finally realize His absolute values.

These points conclude the ideas I wanted to share with you. In closing, I would like to wish you all great success in this conference, and I hope you will contribute greatly to the search for the peace of humankind.

Thank you very much.

7

Absolute Values and the Creation of a New World

November 10, 1981
Sejong Cultural Center, Seoul, Korea
Tenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Honorable chairman, committee chairs, distinguished professors, ladies and gentlemen:

I am deeply grateful that you have come to Korea to attend the tenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences.

Korea is my native country. Here in Korea you may find reminders of the sacrifices made by the sixteen nations that participated in the Korean War. As Korea is divided into North and South, it is a sorrowful country, but one of great significance. I sincerely hope that you will take a deep look at Korea and Asia and come to understand them well. I also hope that the contents of the speech I am about to present will be understood in a profound religious context and not in a political context.

Unity between all classes of society

There are many confrontations and struggles in the world today. While confrontations exist between what people cast as “higher” and “lower” races, nations and cultures, the most serious problem of all is the confrontation between the upper and lower social classes formed by differences in terms of wealth and poverty.

About eight hundred million people living mainly in the Northern Hemisphere may be considered the upper class of the world. On the other hand, in China, India and other Asian nations, there are three billion people who form a middle class. Finally, there are some five hundred million people residing in Africa, Latin America and Oceania who comprise an economically poor, or lower class. This difference in wealth presents a most serious problem in today’s world, and it is dealt with repeatedly under the rubric of the North-South problem by various international organizations, including the United Nations.

I believe that the best way to solve the North-South problem is to unite the upper and lower classes through the Asians, who can mediate between the Euro-American societies and the Latino, African and Polynesian societies. All the important issues of the twentieth century must be solved globally. To do this, however, the greatest challenge is how to motivate the people of the upper class to humble themselves of their own free will.

Throughout much of history, various efforts have been made to diminish this gap between the upper and lower classes. Communism is the most prominent example of this trend. The ideal of communism is to eliminate exploitation by the upper class and to construct a classless society. However, the biggest problem with communism is its atheism, in other words, that it seeks to create an ideal world upon a foundation that denies God. A further problem with communism is that in practice all things take place according to the private will of a few dictators.

To overcome these problems and find a new solution, we must go beyond the humanism to which we have been clinging tightly. The unity we seek requires a new God-centered philosophy and a new central point. The only medium that can enable the upper and lower classes to unite is religion. Religion’s original purpose was the salvation of the world, not just the salvation of individuals or families. To accomplish the task of uniting the upper, middle and lower classes requires a new religion, one that can serve as a nucleus for global unity.

Then what is the Unification Church? It is nothing less than the new religion destined to carry out this historic mission. I have been pioneering the path toward that goal, and it is inevitable that people of all races will want to meet me on that path.

The Korean Peninsula from the standpoint of civilization

The globe on which we live is divided into land and ocean. If we look geographically, we can see that peninsulas connect continent and ocean. Accordingly, since ancient times peninsulas always have been significant sites for the formation of civilizations. The ancient civilizations of both Greece and Rome, as well as those of Spain and Portugal, began and flourished on peninsulas. Today a new worldwide civilization combining the civilizations of the East and the West needs to emerge. This is happening now in Asia, on the Korean Peninsula.

World civilization has developed as it has spread around the globe. The continental Egyptian civilization was succeeded by the Greek and Roman peninsular civilizations, which gave way to the island civilization of England, and eventually to the continental American civilization. From there, civilization blossomed across the Pacific, with the island civilization of Japan, from which it has extended to East Asia, concentrating on an emerging Korean Peninsula civilization. The civilization focused here in Korea is one of a high dimension, and it will play a central role in creating a new world.

Japan, an island country, was the first to allow Western civilization to establish itself in Asia. The next age will be that of a peninsular civilization, focused on the Korean Peninsula, where the Eastern and Western civilizations are merging. The historian Oswald Spengler pointed out that civilizations, like the four seasons of a year, go through cycles of rising and falling. Today the age of the Atlantic civilization is passing and the age of the Pacific civilization is emerging.

If we look at Korea’s geopolitical situation, we see that this small country is located between the four great powers of the United States, Japan, China and the Soviet Union. The United States is currently expending great effort to counter the expansionist Soviet Union. In Europe, the Soviet Union occupies half of a divided Germany, and in Asia, it has split Korea into North and South, keeping the North within its sphere of influence.

It is primarily in Asia, especially in Korea, and not in Europe, that these four great powers are confronting one another. Because of this, America is obliged to pay attention to Asia, a continent far larger than Europe. Considering this situation, Korea will play a basic role in determining the outcome of the confrontations between East and West and between North and South.

At this point, let us take a look at the practical possibility of this occurring. Koreans have a strong sense of justice and are quite religious by nature. They display their capabilities in many different fields. If they reach a deadlock in any situation, they cope with it and if necessary change direction boldly, courageously and adaptively. These are some of the traits Koreans use to achieve their objectives.

I was born among these Koreans. The Unification Church has developed from such a background. We of the Unification Church believe that, as the fruit of such a history, we are to accomplish the worldwide mission of bringing the world’s upper and lower classes closer together, with Asians as intermediaries. The Unification Church has sufficient spiritual attributes to fully accomplish this purpose. To this end, I am determined to do my best in all fields of endeavor and in all regions of the world.

God’s love is the absolute value

To bring unity between the people of the upper and lower classes, we must encourage those of the upper class to embrace those of the lower class and then to be elevated together. In order to accomplish that, a central point of absolute value is needed. That central point is God’s love.

What, then, is the nature of God’s love? It can dwell with members of both the upper class and the lower class. It is never one-directional. It is a force that moves in a spherical manner, capable of revolving freely from the highest point to the lowest. Wherever God’s love appears, it is welcomed by all people everywhere and it creates harmony in all places at all times.

God’s love always possesses absolute value, whenever and wherever it appears. If we have God’s love, we are happy; we feel secure and fulfilled. With such love, though one may be in a low position, he or she still can love those in the upper class, and those who are affluent can love those in the lowest positions. In this way God’s love is infinitely free.

The people who have His love receive a great welcome wherever they go. This is the reason people willingly and wholeheartedly follow Unification Church members wherever they are.

The Unification Church is proclaiming salvation through God’s love. As soon as people come to realize that the new thought the Unification movement is introducing is far more compelling than that of either communism or capitalism, and that the kingdom of heaven on earth will be made a reality by the love of God, all people will be only too happy to accept it.

In order to comprehend truly the situation of the world today, we need to understand the situation of Korea, where God has a special Will, and we need to recognize that within Korea everything exists in a condensed form. For example, the two main trends of contemporary thought, democracy and communism, exist in Korea, and the four major religions, Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam, all have firmly established themselves.

As I said earlier, the four greatest nations of the world are confronting each other here in Korea. Thus, everything exists, or at least is represented, within Korea. In God’s dispensation, Korea is responsible to harmonize and unite all these aspects.

In conclusion, Korea is called to accomplish four great tasks, centering on the Unification movement. They are:

Uniting religions through an ecumenical movement

Uniting thought by overcoming materialistic communism through a “victory over communism” movement

Uniting cultures by establishing a new lifestyle combining the cultures of the East and the West

Uniting economy through a new teaching

With God’s love as the absolute value, we of the Unification movement will love all the people of the world even more than our own parents, brothers and sisters, thereby establishing a united world and realizing the kingdom of heaven on earth. With this, the creation of the new world that God and humankind have been longing for will be perfected. Only with God’s love can we achieve true and lasting peace and happiness.

The future of Asia centering on Korea

Through the Unification movement, Korea is capable of bringing about unity in the four areas just mentioned. Of them, the first three are well under way, and we now are focusing on the fourth area, the economic problem. Korea is developing economically at a rapid pace. Nevertheless, Korea still is striving to realize an advanced international level in regard to its economic relationships.

How can this be achieved? To see Korea accomplish this goal is also the mission of the Unification movement. For this purpose, I intend to initiate cooperation between Germany’s high standard of mechanical technology and the industries of Korea. Spiritually, Korea and the Unification movement already have linked Japan and the United States successfully. The United States and Europe already are linked culturally.

God especially blessed and helped Germany and Japan to recover economically after World War II in order to accomplish His dispensation. In particular, Japan has become a gigantic economic power. Even Germany has come to feel threatened by the economic success of Japan. The only way for Germany to protect itself is to join with Korea, produce superior goods at reduced cost and market them in Japan and other places. Likewise, Germany needs to allow the Third World to participate in equal profit sharing. Then if Japan is included in the partnership, the road to global economic unity will be opened.

Realistically, as long as the hegemonic policies of communist forces continue to exist in the world, there can be no such thing as the advent of world peace, and economic unity is also impossible. If Korea, the United States, Germany, Japan and China could unite as one, they could stand against possible invasion by the Soviet Union on a global level. Though it is a communist nation, at present China wishes to maintain friendly relations with Japan, the United States and Germany in the hope of modernizing itself as quickly as possible. Furthermore, viewed historically, China never would choose to get close to the Soviet Union.

The United States is strengthening its military preparations quickly to fight against the Soviet Union. It also is trying to join forces with Japan, Germany and China. However, Japan does not show any desire to build up its military capabilities, due to its past circumstances and internal situation.

On the other hand, from a national perspective Korea is currently very enthusiastic about building up its military forces. The United States is considering whether Korea could function as the axis. Because Korea is too small by itself, America would consider creating an alliance between Korea and China so that together these countries could serve as the axis in the defense against the Soviet Union. However, China desires the development of its heavy industries. Because its foundation is rather weak, such development will require a long period and will not happen until some time in the future.

Even if China tried to adopt the advanced industrial technology of a country like Germany, this feat would be beyond its capacity because it is geographically too far away and the differences between the two cultures are just too great. However, there is a better way that China could choose at this point, which would be to employ the service of the three million Koreans living in the northeastern parts of China.

In this way, China could make extensive use of the technologies of Korea and Germany, and this is why the Unification Church is trying to connect it to Korea and Germany. Korean residents living abroad link China, Japan and the United States. Based on Korea’s historical record, showing that it never once has invaded another nation, China would accept without difficulty Korea’s proposal to act in concert with it. So even if Japan does not desire to strengthen its own military preparations, these weapons could be produced by China, because it possesses the technology and skills to make weapons.

We can now arrive at a definite conclusion. If Korea could fulfill this role together with the Unification Church, it could strengthen our defense against the Soviet Union by transferring the technology of Japan, Germany and the United States to China. Further, it could link the highest technologies to the Third World, helping to pave the road to world peace.

All these countries will realize that it is mutually profitable for them to join with Korea as a mediator. The three East Asian countries could form an economic alliance, with the United States and Germany connected to them. In this way, I believe we can prevent the threat of Soviet communism and also pave the way to victory. In this sense, Korea is becoming a new base for an East-West civilization, and it is emerging as the center of the Pacific civilization.

My proposal

In conclusion, I would like to make a proposal. It is to construct a Great Asian Highway zone that would run through China, Korea and Japan and eventually link the world by constructing a Great Free World Highway zone to connect the whole world. This would be a great international highway, around which freedom would be guaranteed. The highway would go through Mainland China, down the Korean Peninsula from north to south, through a tunnel or over a bridge to Japan, and north through the four main Japanese islands.

If this highway were constructed, the three Asian countries would be linked through the highway and become one. The economic and cultural exchange between them would be so robust that it would enable them to form an Asian Common Community. China also would agree to this, as would Korea and Japan, without a second thought. Then the United States and Germany would come to take part in it automatically.

If this plan were carried out according to the framework suggested here, free exchanges would become the norm among all the people of the East Asian countries and, as a result, North Korea would give up any thought of unifying the peninsula militarily. It would come to embrace peaceful ways of unification. Thus, by uniting the Asians in this way, eventually it would become possible to connect the upper and lower classes of the world, with Asians serving as mediators.

In order to realize such an ideal concretely, the Korean diaspora in Japan, the United States and China could be connected to form a technological development group. This automatically would align the policy direction of Japan and the United States. Based on this new economic partnership, a highway that guarantees freedom could be extended worldwide. Through completing the unrestricted Asian highway and realizing the long-cherished ideal of uniting the upper and lower classes, people could migrate freely.

With Asia as its starting point, a realistic, united economic sphere could be established, connecting the East and West, North and South, in a new civilization. This would result in peace and a new world centering on God’s love, which is the absolute value. In this transitional age, when Western civilization joins that of the East, meeting in a new Pacific civilization, I sincerely hope that all of you distinguished participants, coming from more than one hundred countries to this memorable International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences in Korea, will gain deep insight into these matters and offer your concrete cooperation.

Thank you very much.

8

Absolute Value Perspective

November 25, 1982
Franklin Plaza Hotel, Philadelphia, USA
Eleventh International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Distinguished chairman, eminent scholars, ladies and gentlemen:

We have now come to meet for our eleventh International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences in the historic city of Philadelphia. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to our chairman, Dr. Morton Kaplan, to the committee chairmen and group chairmen, to the International Cultural Foundation secretariat, and to all you distinguished professors and other ladies and gentlemen who bring your insights to this conference.

The world in chaos and the need for an absolute truth

If we are to characterize today’s world in one phrase, we can say that it is a world of enormous confusion. Whether we look to the Orient or the Occident, the North or the South, the advanced world or the developing world, all societies are filled with contradiction, injustice and corruption. There is endless repetition of conflict, collision and rebellion. While people in advanced nations enjoy material affluence, many in the Third World, especially Africa, are suffering from hunger and even dying from starvation. If this state of confusion worsens and accelerates, humanity will face the danger of perishing, a danger from which it will be difficult to escape.

What could be the reason behind such worldwide confusion? The cause could be attributed to many factors, but the ultimate reason lies in the conflict of value perspectives. Confusion arises because standards of truth, goodness and beauty differ from person to person, nation to nation, race to race, and one thought system to another.

If, in the opinion of person A, an action is good, but person B considers it to be bad, A may persist with the action at any cost, but B would oppose it strenuously. In such a situation, we see confrontation and disharmony, and conflict will certainly arise. I cannot help but conclude that today’s confusion stems from conflict and disagreement between value perspectives.

What, then, is the basis for differences in value perspectives? It stems, first of all, from egoism. Almost without exception, each individual is a prisoner of egoism, and each nation and each race is selfishly pursuing its own interests.

Secondly, the differences in value perspectives stem from differences in thought systems. The world abounds with various thought systems, and each keeps many adherents captive. Most significantly, communism and democracy have, through their ideologies, now divided humankind into two major blocs.

Accordingly, we cannot help but state that the way to save humankind from certain destruction is, first, to eliminate egoism and, second, to solve the problem of differences between thought systems. To liquidate egoism, we first need to know why people fell into self-centeredness. Before we hope to resolve the differences between thought systems, we have to discover how and why humanity came to have these differences.

The origin of our differing thought systems is that humankind, because of the Fall, lost God, thereby losing both God’s love and God’s words. God’s love is the source of values—truth, goodness and beauty. Accordingly, God’s love is the basis of absolute values, and absolute values form the basis of all religious virtues. They are the unifying values. God’s truth is the basis of all truths and therefore of absolute truth, which is the unifying truth. As a consequence of the Fall, humanity lost God and lost absolute values, including absolute truth, thereby losing unifying values and unifying truth.

Absolute values, including absolute truth, are the foundation for an absolute value perspective, where “perspective” refers to viewpoint and theory. Accordingly, we arrive at the conclusion that the way to resolve worldwide confusion is to find the absolute value perspective.

God established religion to convey His love and truth to humanity, in order to save humanity. He established various religions, each in its own time and place. For example, He founded Buddhism in India and Confucianism in China about twenty-five hundred years ago, and Christianity in Judea about two thousand years ago.

We can confidently affirm that the absolute value perspective can be established only through religions, which revere God. In other words, it would be valid to claim that no solution to today’s confusion is possible through those thoughts and philosophies that are not founded on God. It follows logically that only through God-centered religion is it possible for humanity to be saved from confusion. In history, we have such examples as Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Each one, in its own time and place, dissipated social insecurity and confusion and, on the foundation of peace and security, brought forth a flourishing of culture. This was true of the role of Confucian culture in the Han Dynasty of China, Christian culture in medieval Europe, and Islamic culture in the Saracen civilization of the Middle East.

Today, unfortunately, religion is no longer able to dissipate confusion and lead the human spirit. Religions today are gradually losing life, and faith is progressively becoming a mere form or habit. With few exceptions, people are increasingly losing interest in religion, and their original enthusiasm in faith is waning. This is a grave situation, because if religion, which is supposed to lead the human spirit, eventually loses its function, the world will turn to complete lawlessness, and humanity will sink into an abyss of violence and murder. Today, indeed, such phenomena are increasingly evident.

All this can be readily termed a phenomenon of the collapse of the religious value perspective. What then is the cause of this collapse?

First, with the development of science and technology and growth of the economy, the human spirit is drifting into a materialistic value perspective. Second, various atheistic and materialistic ideas are spreading rapidly and widely. Third, under national policies separating education and religion, religion is being excluded from school curricula, resulting in the rise of atheistic thought. Fourth, communists are using a strategy of intentionally destroying even the fraction of the religious value perspective that remains, to promote their own goal of communizing the world. Fifth, there is a woeful lack of ontological theory adequate for supporting the religious value perspective.

The lack of an ontology regarding the Absolute Being

Of these five causes, the last one, the lack of adequate ontology, is the most significant. By ontology, I mean the theory of Absolute Being. Each religion has an Absolute Being as a basis for its theory. The Absolute Being of Judaism is Jehovah; that of Christianity, God; and of Islam, Allah. Generally, no Absolute Being is specified in Confucianism or Buddhism. However, “benevolence,” which is the basis of teaching in Confucianism, is linked directly with heaven; therefore, “heaven” may be seen as taking the place of the Absolute Being in Confucianism. In Buddhism, phenomena are transient; truth, however, can be discovered from jinyo, which lies behind all phenomena. Thus, jinyo may function as an Absolute Being in Buddhism.

However, the explanations of all these Absolute Beings have been consistently deficient on such issues as the characteristics of the Absolute Being, the manner of creation of things, and the motivation for creation—or whether God or an Absolute Being exists at all. Each religion has been uniquely unclear on these points, and therefore unclear about the basis for all religious virtues. Thus, religion today has little persuasive power.

In order for the virtues, precepts, commandments and teachings of all religions to be appropriately honored, we need to have enough knowledge about the existence of the Absolute Being, the characteristics of this Being, the purpose for which this Being created things, and so on. In early times, people were not so analytical or theoretical, and thus were willing to blindly obey such commandments as, “Love your neighbor as yourself” or, “Be loyal to the king and filial to your parents.” Today, however, such maxims are questioned. The unfailing response to a “Thou shalt” is, “Why?” Unless and until these questions are answered, the teachings remain unconvincing.

Such fundamental questions as, “Does God really exist?” are raised. There are challenges to descriptions of God as “almighty,” “omnipotent,” “omnipresent” and “Father of humankind,” and to such ideas as utmost goodness, utmost beauty, utmost love or absolute justice. Other fundamental questions include: Is there any way of knowing or proving any of these claims? Why did God create a universe when He does not have to do anything? What is His purpose for creating? By what method did He create all things? If God is of utmost goodness, why do strong-eat-weak phenomena prevail in His creation? It is being taught that the world became sinful because of the Fall, but how did the creation of a perfect God become capable of falling?”

These are but a few examples of the numerous questions that are raised. Unless reasonable and consistent answers are available and given, today’s intellectuals are not willing to accept religions such as Christianity. Thus, most religious commandments remain unpracticed, and much of the Christian teaching of universal love, the Confucian code of family morals, the Buddhist code of conduct, and the Islamic teachings of the Qur’an are generally ignored or even rejected. The basic reason for the ambiguity of ontology is that in recent years Europe, which has historically been the cradle of Christianity, has given rise to materialism and atheism. We can cite the examples of Karl Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Nietzsche, who were all raised in Christian families but turned atheist and anti-Christian.

Even more lamentable is the fact that the very religions that were supposed to serve as the leading element of the human spirit and as the leading mediators between conflicts are themselves becoming the reasons for conflict, further diminishing religious dignity and authority. For example, there are clashes between Judaism and Islam, conflicts between Catholicism and Protestantism, and contradictions between Christianity and Buddhism. Even within a single religion, there are disputes among different denominations.

The fundamental reason for these religious antagonisms is ambiguity in the area of ontology. There is only one Absolute Being, not two, but when each religion advocates its own concept of the Absolute Being as the true one, it may seem that there could be many different Absolute Beings. This leads to the view that the god of each religion is only a god of relative status, and that there is really no such thing as an Absolute Being.

Here we can see that, although the absolute value perspective related to God’s love and truth was to be enhanced through religions, it has not been developed. It has remained relative instead of absolute. In other words, we can conclude that religion until today has been incapable of establishing the absolute value perspective that can dispel the prevailing confusion. This is the inevitable result of all religions having been unable to explain the Absolute Being clearly.

We can logically say that, under these circumstances, if an absolute value perspective is to be established, a new religion needs to emerge, with an ontology that can clearly and accurately explain the unique, absolute God.

We have said that because all religions are founded by God, their purpose has been to realize absolute value. However, when we observe that so much religious conflict prevails, we can confidently state that the god of each of the existing religions cannot be understood as the absolute God, and therefore the absolute value perspective cannot be established by these religions. Therefore, we conclude that a new religion needs to emerge for the sake of establishing the absolute value perspective.

A new religion and a new ontology

The ontology of the new religion needs to make it clear that the Absolute Beings of the various religions are not separate gods but are one and the same God. Since each religion has revealed only a part of God, making that part its religious perspective, the new ontology should make it clear that a complete revelation of God will show that all religions originated from the same God and pursue the same purposes, being like brothers. Furthermore, by explaining God’s characteristics, His motivation for creating, and the purpose and rules of creation, the new ontology needs to explain that purpose and law control the motion of all things in the universe. In addition, it has to show that the norms by which we humans should live spring from that same purpose and law, namely, the heavenly way.

The relationships between the sun, moon, planets and stars involve heavenly patterns of vertical and horizontal interactions. Likewise, in the family there are vertical relationships, such as between grandparents, parents and children, and there are horizontal relationships, such as between brothers and sisters. There are value perspectives corresponding to each of these relationships.

In explaining things, this new ontology should not contradict the knowledge that has become available through the natural sciences. At the same time, it needs to be in accord with the human conscience, and it needs to be in resonance with historical maxims such as, “Those who follow the heavenly way prosper, and those who go against it perish.”

The value perspective established through the new ontology is in the truest sense the absolute value perspective. By establishing, understanding and practicing absolute love, absolute truth, absolute goodness and absolute beauty, a new reformation of the human spirit will be accomplished and the confusion of the world will be dispelled.

After the new ontology clarifies our understanding of God, and after it is shown that there is one unique God common to all religions, each religion can retain its own name. In effect, however, the unity of all religions will have been accomplished, and all will be able to move forward together for the realization of heaven on earth, which is God’s ideal of creation.

The new ontology will remedy all the deficiencies and unresolved issues in religious doctrines, and that will eventually lead to the unity of all doctrines. In this manner, all religions will perfectly attain God’s very goal or purpose for establishing religions on earth.

The Unification Church has emerged to solve various problems by presenting the absolute value perspective. This value perspective can resolve the great confusion in the world. The Unification Church offers a comprehensive, logical and reasonable system of thought. Its teachings, known as the Unification Principle and Unification Thought, have the power to engender complete spiritual awakening in all people of conscience and intellect.

May your continued efforts and studies during your participation in this conference deepen your understanding of the absolute value perspective, and may God’s protection remain with you always.

9

Unification Thought as the Basis of

a New Cultural Revolution

November 25, 1983
Chicago Marriott Hotel, Chicago, USA
Twelfth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Honorable chairmen, committee chairpersons, distinguished scholars, ladies and gentlemen:

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to you for coming to Chicago to participate in the twelfth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences. Since the first ICUS, these conferences have progressed greatly. The ICUS achievement is a result of the coordination and dedicated work of many of you, performed in the face of enormous negative peer pressure and persecution. Your work has created in the ICUS a conference unsurpassed in the entire world. I would like to express my deepest appreciation for your efforts and contributions and at the same time congratulate you for what you have accomplished.

The new cultural revolution should be based on absolute values

The world is undergoing rapid changes that correspond to the remarkable development of science and technology. As a result the established values of society are being shaken to their foundation, causing confusion and conflict on every level. This trend has been accelerated by the growing influence of atheistic materialism. All of these factors have driven many difficult problems to beset our world today. Until now, people have not been able to find genuine solutions to these problems.

It is clear that neither democracy nor communism provides the means to cure the ills of society. Originally both democracy and communism developed from the desire to solve humanity’s common problems. Yet not only has democracy been unsuccessful at this task, it has proved itself unable to resist and overcome the destructiveness of communism. Communism on the other hand also is completely unable to solve the world’s problems and ironically creates even more woes for the human race. Thus the world is at an impasse; democracy and communism are faced with a no-win situation leading to a dead end. This being our present reality, the future of humankind seems bleak and unpredictable.

Why then are democracy and communism not the answer? A careful analysis of both systems shows that neither has a core of truth in the ultimate sense. Democracy may serve as the basis for a political system, but it does not provide a clear and comprehensive worldview. Communism offers an inclusive, systematic worldview, but it is one based on false assumptions and distorted facts.

What is needed then is a third alternative—a movement based on a new understanding of truth, one that gives hope by presenting a new vision of world society. This is in fact the Unification movement, with the Unification Thought system—a complete, systematic worldview grounded in truth and absolute values. A new cultural revolution is coming, and all scholars and professionals are called to participate in creating it.

Learning from the shortcomings of democracy and communism, we conclude that a new cultural revolution can come only on the foundation of absolute values. These cannot be relative values grounded in the changing world of phenomena. Rather they must be universal and ultimate values, grounded in the unchanging world of essence and cause, in the fundamental relationships between God, human beings and the universe.

We initiated the ICUS meetings for the purpose of resolving the present world problems and developing this third alternative worldview. When I founded the ICUS conferences twelve years ago, I established “absolute values” as their central theme. I did so because I believe that unchanging, universal values are the essential foundation for a true worldview. In addition to the ICUS meetings, I initiated many other conferences and projects in order to prepare for the building of an ideal society, society as it exists in the dreams and hopes of all people. The Unification movement’s purpose, for which I have been working all my life, is to create the new cultural revolution based on this new systematic worldview. Our movement has expanded to over 130 countries. As a result many conscientious people now seriously consider our guiding principles—the Unification thought system—as a new expression of truth.

Generally, there has been openness to the Unification ideology in the democratic world and great interest in its potential. The communist world on the other hand has been consistently hostile toward the Unification movement, and communist elements within democracies have used the democratic system as a tool to try to destroy us. Communist leaders regard us as their primary enemy and have opposed each and every project related to Rev. Moon. The ICUS organization is no exception. Communists know that Rev. Moon founded this conference and has always considered it to be of the highest importance. This is a major cause of the accusation and persecution ICUS has received since its inception.

The communists’ work against the Unification movement

Communists use deceit and terrorism to undermine the free world. You undoubtedly are aware of communist slander and sabotage in your own countries, just as I am aware of their work against the Unification movement. We cannot overlook this problem any longer. Therefore, I have chosen this occasion to speak to you clearly about the reality of the communist attack against the Unification movement and the entire free world. I think it is necessary for you to know these things for your own sake, for the sake of defending academic freedom and defending the free world as a whole.

As the Unification movement has developed worldwide there have been many incidents of hostility and persecution from communists. As a result we have suffered many setbacks everywhere. It originally was a mystery to us why we received such opposition when our activities were so beneficial to society. To discover the real source of the opposition, we began an investigation. Today I am going to speak about the information we have uncovered in Japan, where the Unification movement is successful and very well known. I believe this information will be useful to people in all countries, since the communist effort to destroy the free world as well as our movement is consistent worldwide. A more detailed exposition of what I am about to say will soon be published as a book, which I hope you all will read.

Like the United States, Japan boasts great freedom for her citizens. Few people realize, however, that in the midst of such an advanced society, the KGB and Japanese Communist Party are attacking freedom by instigating “deprogramming” actions against people who decide to join our movement. At times they even obtain help from the courts. Our investigation reveals conclusively that communists have organized to spread lies, distortions and unfounded allegations in a conspiracy to destroy the Unification movement and me. Through the systematic spread of disinformation, the communists work to mobilize allies and establish a “unified front” against the Unification movement. This creates polarization, conflict and struggle—a mix that communists always capitalize on in order to eliminate all possible opposition.

The Japanese Communist Party regards the Unification movement as its principal enemy. It has publicly declared that the struggle against our movement is more important than even the struggle against “Japanese capitalism” and “American imperialism.” At the Japanese Communist Party’s National Leaders Conference held June 5-7, 1978, Chairman Kenji Miyamoto stated that the destruction of the Unification movement is a “righteous battle that will be remembered in history.” Furthermore he urged all “democratic forces” to unite and launch an all-out effort to accomplish this “historic task.” The communists in Japan have mobilized several hundred groups to oppose us.

I founded the Unification movement for the purpose of realizing the ultimate ideal of God and humankind: the kingdom of heaven on earth. Ours is a movement to revive religion and to educate people in all aspects of human endeavor. It is historically inevitable that a spiritual movement such as ours encounter opposition from established forces with different interests and directions. All religious movements had to go through intense persecution and hostility at their outset. Only by overcoming those difficulties were they able to enter the mainstream of thought and become a guiding force for future generations. Judaism, Christianity and even democracy and communism are examples of this pattern.

We need to defeat communist strategies

Likewise, from the beginning, Rev. Moon and the Unification movement have endured tremendous misunderstanding, accusation, persecution and tribulation, not only in the area of religion but also in politics, economics, culture, science, technology, media and education. We have been opposed and persecuted wherever we have been by every segment of society, from the general public to governmental authorities. In a sense, therefore, all people in the world are directly or indirectly responsible for the fate of the Unification movement and are accountable for their actions in front of God.

The worldwide opposition, however, has been orchestrated in particular by communists. Their target is anything with Rev. Moon’s name attached to it.

For most people, it has been quite difficult to gain an accurate understanding of the Unification movement. Most of what people have heard and read about us has been the reflection of lies and sensationalism spread by our opponents and compounded over the years. What people tend to believe about Rev. Moon and the Unification movement derives mostly from the repetition of false allegations made long ago. Following Lenin’s teaching that “A lie repeated one hundred times will become a truth,” communists have repeated endlessly the same false rumors in order to lend them credibility. For example, in the past twelve years, the Japanese Communist Party has printed 1.6 billion pieces of anti-Unificationist literature in their propaganda organ Akahata and its affiliated publications. This comes to sixteen pieces of malicious propaganda provided to every Japanese man, woman and child!

This is but one of the many sources of disinformation put forth in the communist attempt to destroy our movement. Anti-Unificationist propaganda also flows unceasingly from countries such as China, North Korea, East Germany, the Soviet Union, Cuba, Nicaragua and Libya. These lies filter down to public officials, intellectuals, religious leaders and the media, and eventually to the general public. By then, the distorted facts have been heard so many times people believe them to be true.

The most despicable actions against us, however, are apparent in the inhumane treatment of those who join the Unification movement. It is clear that the so-called “deprogramming” movement is supported by communists. Judges and courts, the supposed custodians of human rights, often collaborate in this infringement of fundamental religious liberties. Ironically, the greatest violation of these rights takes place in countries that loudly proclaim their regard for human rights and the freedom of religion.

The methods involved in deprogramming are like those used in communist concentration camps. Using parents and relatives to entrap members, deprogrammers can commit grown adults to mental hospitals, citing our members’ supposed “illness” of holding a minority religious belief. Other typical deprogramming techniques include kidnapping, illegal detention, violence, psychological harassment, sleep deprivation, inducement to use alcohol and drugs, sexual seduction and rape. Through such threats, harassment and manipulation, professional deprogrammers force members to renounce their faith. Many victims are injured physically and psychologically because of this criminal activity. You cannot imagine the deep sorrow I feel when I see so many people I love suffer for their faith and ideals. Incredibly, the deprogramming movement accuses us of using the reprehensible tactics they themselves practice so wantonly.

You may wonder why communists have so much fear and hostility toward Rev. Moon and the Unification movement, and why they are trying so desperately to destroy us. As you know, the ultimate goal of communism is nothing less than a Communist Party dictatorship subjugating the entire world under the banner of atheistic materialism. Actually, Marxist theories—such as the labor theory of value, surplus value theory, dialectical materialism and historical materialism—are inversions of the truth, put forward only to justify violent revolution. Until now, nothing has existed that could give the world hope in light of the specter of communist global domination.

Unification Thought is the basis by which to overcome communism

The Unification thought system, however, exposes the fictions of communism. Communists know this and therefore are trying to exterminate Unificationism at its source. They are extremely afraid of anything that exposes their true identity.

Communists around the world have dominated millions of people because of their ignorance. Some are courageous enough to fight them, but because they lack a strong ideology and organization they are isolated, weakened and easily defeated. Millions of people have been slaughtered without mercy by communist regimes. Today hundreds of millions wait for liberation from communism with tears of desperation. I myself spent nearly three years in a communist concentration camp under the North Korean dictatorship of Kim II Sung. They sent me there to die, but I survived and eventually was freed by the United Nations forces during the Korean War. Part of my life’s mission since then has been concentrated on how to establish the absolute truth, a truth superior to communism that can bring about the world’s liberation from that ideology.

I now can speak clearly about the crimes I witnessed. I now have a substantial foundation on which to speak, to act and to surpass communism. Thus, you can understand why the communists are afraid of Rev. Moon and his organization.

What the communists find very difficult to understand is why Rev. Moon’s movement continues to grow so successfully in spite of all their opposition, persecution and slander. For instance, in Japan we have more than 3.5 million members in the International Federation for Victory over Communism (IFVOC).

First, communists do not realize God is alive and substantially working behind the Unification movement. Second, they do not understand the true essence of religion and the fact that human beings feel truly satisfied in their inmost heart only by God’s truth and love. Finally, they do not realize that God’s laws, which govern the spirit world and the universe, do not operate in accordance with dialectical materialism.

The Unification movement is sustained and motivated by the deepest religious experience and discipline, based on the fundamental truths of the universe. For that reason we can move the original essence of the hearts and minds of people the world over. For that reason our members can overcome trials and hardships no matter how severe. They have learned to forgive. They accept persecution and trials as nutrition for their spiritual growth rather than resenting those who persecute them. In short, the true members of the Unification movement have an unshakable faith and power to persevere through any opposition. This is proven by the fact that we have already established strong foundations throughout the world.

Lighting the fire of a worldwide cultural revolution

Rev. Moon and the Unification movement are involved in a life-on-death mission for the sake of God and humanity. However, this mission is not the monopoly of the Unification movement. The members of this movement desire to work with all people of conscience and ideals in the new cultural revolution. The people of the free world, especially Christians and all religious people, ought to be the greatest friends of the Unification movement. Tragically, these people have all too often been ignorant of the communist strategy and unable to distinguish friend from foe. As a result they frequently have attacked and subverted their true friends.

Lately, however, the situation has been changing. People are becoming indignant about the threats and injustices of communism. Recent events clearly expose the strategy and tactics communists have used ever since their beginnings. Conscientious scholars, professionals and religious leaders are beginning to join under the general banner of Unificationism as they become more and more concerned about the future of religion and the free world. Also, people are attracted to the Unification Thought system because of its power to combat moral decadence and its very potent counterproposal to communism.

Today you and I stand together confronting a common destiny. Let us work with each other to defend the academic world from communism and fulfill the task that history presses upon us at this time. My Unificationist family members and I are determined to meet this challenge. From this day forward, let scholars throughout the world join together to take leadership in every field.

On the communist side, Marxist scholars assume leadership roles to manipulate students and campus activities. In concert with labor and minority organizers they create a formidable ideological and social front, which works ultimately to the detriment of real human happiness. Thus, we are urgently compelled to establish a systematic social foundation through the responsible cooperation of professors and students. To my bones I have come to realize that a person who advocates righteousness in this evil world can be eliminated easily if he has no substantial foundation. Thus, a unified front of scholars and students must work together with Christians and all other religious believers.

Living at this most important time in history, we stand on the boundary of life and death. I cannot but fervently desire that you, as ambitious and righteous scholars and educators, will make substantial, constructive changes in the world. Let us work together in a unified front embracing all areas of life! Standing at the pinnacle of history, let us ignite the new cultural revolution reaching the four corners of the earth!

May God’s abundant blessing be with your countries, your families and every one of you. May God guide your discussions in this twelfth ICUS meeting.

Thank you very much.

 

10

Professors World Peace Academy
and Our Resolution

December 18, 1983

The Little Angels Performing Arts Center, Seoul, Korea
First International Congress of the Professors World Peace Academy

Honorable chairman of this international congress, distinguished PWPA presidents from seventy-two countries and respected members of PWPA- Korea:

I am pleased to have this opportunity to share with you some of my convictions on the occasion of this international congress of the Professors World Peace Academy.

First of all, I would like to express my gratitude particularly to those PWPA chairmen who accepted my sudden invitation, which I extended to you several days after the conclusion of the meeting in Chicago of the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS) at the end of November. I know that all of you must have been busy with previously planned schedules and itineraries at this time of year. Once again, I greatly appreciate your coming here, interrupting your busy schedules. Ordinarily, no one is able to respond to such an abrupt invitation, extended only a few days in advance. I believe you will come to realize the historic and providential meaning of this congress and why it was so urgent for you to come here at this time.

The ultimate goal of PWPA

I have long thought that, in addition to their scientific achievements, scholars need to be pioneers in the realm of conscience, inspiring humankind through their bold and determined actions. This is absolutely necessary in order to cope with the problems of human history and to fulfill humanity’s ideals.

With this in mind, I established the International Cultural Foundation in 1968 and convened the first annual ICUS in 1972, despite the difficulty of financing it at that early stage. Ordinarily, sponsorship of this kind of meeting is beyond the means of an individual or religious group. It ought to be held under the auspices of a government. Regrettably, no one seemed to be paying any attention to this very important need. Therefore, I determined to assume the responsibility and organized this international conference. Moreover, this year marks the tenth anniversary of PWPA.

Humanity today faces many dangerous problems. The greatest of these is the possibility of global war and nuclear disaster, which could occur only too easily amid the struggles, confusion and conflict of ideologies, owing to the absence of an appropriate value system. This threat results from the misuse of scientific knowledge by various political and economic interest groups, while religion, which is supposed to guide the human spirit in the right direction, is not fulfilling its appropriate role. Such dangers threaten the very survival of civilization.

I founded PWPA to be a trailblazing organization at this critical moment in human history, to mobilize those intellectuals who have devoted their lives to the advancement of human wisdom and to enable them to play a leading role in overcoming the dangers of the age and opening new pathways to world peace. The ultimate goal of PWPA is to help create a just and harmonious world order by encouraging scholars to search for new ideas and methods of achieving peace and prosperity. PWPA will provide scholars and other concerned leaders with the resources they need to solve the fundamental problems facing humanity.

Mutual cooperation and joint research transcending location

As you may know, my path to the twelfth ICUS was not an easy one. It was an enormous task to provide the extensive resources that were required. What was even more troublesome, however, was that I encountered so much jealousy, unjust accusation and persecution, although I was carrying out such a significant endeavor for humanity at great personal cost. I am happy to say, however, that the sight of so many distinguished scholars like you from throughout the world, who have responded positively to these initiatives and who understand my genuine motivation, comforts me.

Throughout history, all people have desired a peaceful world. Yet, conflicts persist. Unfortunately, dictators and unscrupulous political leaders have frequently misused the word peace, proclaiming their peaceful intentions but in reality exploiting, manipulating and oppressing people both within and outside of their own nations. The communists in particular are accustomed to using the word peace while constantly fomenting violence and war.

Often the appeal to peace has been employed as a tactic to achieve unrighteous ends, rather than being viewed as an ideal to benefit all. True peace does not depend on such tangible or external characteristics as intelligence, wealth, social status or political power. As long as there is no absolute standard by which to evaluate such worldly concerns, it will be impossible to forge a lasting peace amid the conflicts of interest among men and nations in a continuously changing world. Real peace can be built only on the foundation of true love, and loving relationships can be experienced only when we recognize the absolute values that place God at our center and bind us together.

I believe that PWPA will be international, multidisciplinary, future-oriented and action-oriented. No single discipline, no local prescription, can solve the problems facing all of humanity in this century. Mutual cooperation across national and regional boundaries and interdisciplinary studies that go beyond limited specializations are absolutely necessary.

Science today has become overspecialized. The challenges of our age can be met only by teams of experts from diverse disciplines, cooperating to examine problems from various perspectives. In light of the complexities of the modern world, the resolution of problems needs to be approached from a more holistic, universal perspective. Therefore, it is not easy to organize and operate a scientific body that can meet these needs. Unfortunately, scholars have widely accepted the disastrous notion of a scientific methodology that is somehow “value-free.” As a result, evil people have often schemed to misuse the findings of scientific research for their own selfish purposes, to the detriment of human welfare and humanity’s highest ideals. Deeply troubled by this, I have been trying to find alternative ways, with absolute values at their core, to solve the contradictions of our time through ICUS.

What PWPA should practice to realize peace

Absolute value is the axis of all sciences, as it is the standard of all other values. As long as the specialized disciplines are pursued using supposedly value-free methodologies, and as long as the standard of value differs from one individual to the next, where can we find the common standard necessary to attain the universal human community that human nature has long been seeking?

The concept of freedom also varies among individuals with different standards of value, among societies and nations, and among different economic, social and political systems. Then who will remedy the manifold injustices committed in the name of freedom? It is clear that human nature, in its pursuit of the good, requires a fixed standard of absolute goodness.

Moreover, the world is becoming smaller every day. As our world shrinks to a global village, the world’s peoples are challenged to overcome national, racial and religious barriers and learn to live together in harmony. Consequently, history demands that we establish an absolute standard of value as the only possible foundation for the unity of humankind.

If the world is to solve its many problems, it needs leaders. I sincerely hope that the member-scholars of PWPA will participate actively, not passively, in the search for and realization of universal human ideals. PWPA exists not only for the advancement of the sciences but also for the practical promotion of the well being of humankind, thereby differing from most other scholarly institutions. Its members need to become social activists, orienting their students in a positive direction, seeking to influence public opinion and playing a leading role in public affairs. I encourage you to grapple in a nonviolent manner with the most difficult and pressing social and philosophical issues of the age, in order to provide humanity with the leadership it needs to cope with the seemingly insoluble problems it faces. The goal of PWPA is to put ideals into practice by generating new ideas by which peace can be realized, and actively participating in their implementation.

I have long been planning to establish a World University Federation, based on the extensive network of contacts already created by the International Cultural Foundation and PWPA. The time has now come to accomplish this, by establishing first-class universities in seventy countries on six continents, where young people of all races and nations are educated as world citizens. I want to instill in them the ideal of a peaceful world, where all people live as brothers and sisters, by promoting regular and extensive international exchanges of faculty and students, and by sponsoring numerous collaborative research projects with international staff members.

I have already informed the senior consultants of the International Cultural Foundation of my plan to compile and publish a great international encyclopedia, based on a clear concept of absolute value. Although many encyclopedias already exist, this encyclopedia, based on absolute values, is an indisputable requirement for the younger generation. I fully expect that it will take more than ten years to complete. All members of PWPA chapters in the world are encouraged to contribute to this historic work.

A separate project I am planning to launch is a new monthly magazine, which is scheduled to begin publication in January 1985. Its purpose will be to give people the knowledge and guidance they need to lead better lives. Each issue of over one thousand pages will feature articles of lasting interest. It will not be thrown away after a glance, but it will occupy a cherished place on bookshelves everywhere, being frequently consulted as a wellspring of wisdom and advice on every facet of human life.

Another project, which is already being implemented, is the publication of large quantities of high-quality books to educate people about basic social problems. I understand that the number of books of enduring worth is declining, because publishers are more concerned with profit than with quality and content. This new project will cost an enormous sum of money, but I am determined to have more than three thousand books of the finest quality published in the next ten years.

The reason to host the international congress in Korea I will now explain why I invited all of you to Korea to observe the National Rallies for Victory over Communism and to attend the first international congress of PWPA. ,

First, Korea has often been the victim of foreign aggression during her long history. Located on a peninsula, her geopolitical situation makes her a bridgehead between the continent and the ocean, and a strategic point for expansion of the great powers. Even today, the Korean peninsula is a strategic area of confrontation between the Eastern and Western blocs and is playing a frontline role for the free nations by holding off impending invasion by North Korea and Russia.

Korea is a worldwide testing ground. The spotlight of world attention is focused on her, waiting to see whether she will become a casualty of communism or whether she will remain a member of the community of free nations. From the providential point of view, I see the situation of Korea as a sort of microcosm, reproducing in miniature the major developments and confrontations of the age.

Directly or indirectly, all the major currents of world affairs, past and present, are converging on this peninsula. Therefore, if these problems can be solved in Korea, they can be solved worldwide. The resolutions and proclamations made by the distinguished scholars from Korea and abroad on this occasion are related to each of your nations. Because they represent the interests of the entire world, they will certainly have international impact.

Second, Korea has a long tradition of culture and thought that honors God, and it has enjoyed a rich spiritual life for nearly five thousand years. Our ancestors created a brilliant civilization based on Buddhism and Confucianism. Today, a scant one hundred years after the arrival of Christianity, the Korean churches have astonished all of Christendom with the ardor of their faith. What is more important is that in Korea all the higher religions have been harmoniously assimilated by the original spiritual culture, resulting in a social climate in which all the different religions coexist and complement one another without conflict. Korea is unique in this respect. Considering all these facts, we cannot avoid the conclusion that it is impossible for communism to long maintain a foothold on this peninsula. I firmly believe that, as surely as God exists, He will teach a lesson to the world by destroying communism through the Korean people.

Third, Koreans are an energetic, keen-minded, righteous people. With such a national character, they surely cannot fail to grasp the significance of historical trends and respond appropriately. Once the Korean people come to realize clearly the evil of communism, they will immediately rise up and demonstrate to the whole world a model national movement for victory over communism.

Fourth, Korea is a meeting point of Eastern and Western cultures. I think you will agree with me that many leading scholars are rather pessimistic about the future of Western civilization and are awaiting a great era of religious and spiritual transformation to come. The increasing fascination that Oriental thought and Oriental religions have for Westerners may be taken as evidence that the harmonious unification of Eastern and Western cultures is an idea whose time has come.

Atheism and communism are obstacles to peace The very fact that distinguished scholars from around the world have come together here in Korea, with the objective of securing world peace and establishing an ideal world, illustrates this point very well. The very existence of PWPA and ICUS, following the inspiration of Rev. Moon, who was born in the Orient, would have been unthinkable in the past. This signals a major turning point in the intellectual history of humanity. It marks nothing less than the beginning of a new culture.

The best shortcut to achieving harmonious unification between East and West may be by means of a religious teaching that seeks to realize one worldwide family under God as our Parent. If the goal of PWPA is to realize world peace, and if all of us as brothers and sisters are truly serious about achieving this goal by uniting intellect with conscience, we now need a reawakening and a redetermination. A real and lasting peace for all humankind will never be achieved through horizontal relationships between individuals holding different values. It will be achieved only through universal recognition of the absolute values derived from God.

The fundamental obstacle in achieving this ideal of peace is atheistic communism. I have also clearly taught that capitalism is not the ultimate ideology desired by God. Communism, however, denies the very existence of God, and so it is the number one obstacle to a God-centered thought system.

I already proclaimed at the Chicago ICUS that scholars must actively protest against communist ideology. Some people may have felt that this proclamation and my advice on that occasion were expressed too strongly. Although one day may seem very much like the next in the passage of time, there comes a time that serves as a crossroads, watershed or crucial turning point in human history and God’s dispensation. There is a time that will never come again. There is a time for irrevocable decision and a time for crucial determination. That time is now. I give you this solemn advice based on my serious consideration of the future of humanity.

Urgency to educate our youth based on clear values The National Rallies for Victory over Communism that you attended in Korea can serve as a model that can be duplicated in each of your nations. If the leaders of the free world remain irresolute about communism, there will be no way to prevent the expansion and world conquest that communism dreams of. If professors do not confidently proclaim what is true and refute what is false, but remain aloof from the struggle with folded hands, to whom can we entrust the future of the next generation?

It is an absolute requirement in this era that education of the next generation be shaped by the firm moral convictions of their professors, who must communicate a clear sense of values. This needs to be the basic attitude of educators. From this point of view, the role of a professor is the same as that of a religious leader. We educators have to assume the responsibility of not only transmitting facts but also sharing with our students the meaning and purpose of human life.

I am convinced that a resolute determination on the part of the participants of this congress, grounded firmly on theistic beliefs, will enable PWPA to achieve its historic goal and assure a decisive victory over communism in your countries. Once again, I hope this congress will make a definitive contribution toward the construction of a strong international foundation for an alliance of all peoples for victory over communism.

May God bless each of your nations, and may He bless you and your families as well.

Thank you.

11

Absolute Values and
the New Cultural Revolution

September 3, 1984

JW Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC, USA
Thirteenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences
(Given on True Father’s behalf)

Honorable chairman, eminent professors and scientists, ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you for participating in the thirteenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences. Although we cannot be together physically, my heart is with you. For thirteen years I have addressed this assembly of distinguished scholars and have raised questions concerning the state of the world and the responsibility of the scientific and academic communities to solve global problems.

Although the specific contents of my addresses have varied from year to year, the underlying thematic focus has remained unchanged. This focus is essentially twofold: the need for unity of the sciences and of knowledge in general, and the need for science to be guided by absolute values and purpose to assure the welfare of humanity.

God is the source of religious truth and scientific truth. God is the first in preaching and the first in science as well. I firmly believe that this is a fundamental truth of the universe, and I have based my life’s work on this viewpoint. As a minister of the living God, I have sought to enhance, clarify and unite all aspects of God’s essential being as manifested in the whole of creation, both physical and spiritual. My lifelong work has been motivated by my search for the meaning of life and my desire to enhance the material wellbeing of human existence, despite the many obstacles that have stood in my way since I began my mission at age sixteen. One of the greatest tragedies now unfolding in the pursuit of knowledge is the fragmentation of academic disciplines. Such divisive specialization of science and knowledge, like the dismantling of a machine, ultimately paralyzes the function of the whole and prevents science from fulfilling its overall mission.

Whether we accept it or not, the world is one. It is erroneous to think that one discipline has a more complete view of reality than another, or to think that discoveries and advances in different areas are unrelated. All fields of scientific and academic study are intertwined, each having a unique yet partial view of the whole of reality. It is to the advantage of total human progress and happiness that all fields of study work together harmoniously to form an integrated view of reality. However, in my view of the unity of science and knowledge, I am not advocating that we simply reduce all knowledge to a single academic discipline. Instead, I am referring to unity grounded in a fundamental purpose. There are many fields in science; however, all of them are seeking for the realization of happiness for human beings. Although contemporary academic circles are confronted with the problem of acute fragmentation and divisiveness, human beings face an even greater menace: the lack of absolute values. Thus, we need to turn our attention to the ongoing theme of ICUS: “The Search for Absolute Values.”

Despite the fervent desire and serious efforts of most scientists and scholars to establish peace and prosperity, even in the most advanced nations problems such as poverty, illiteracy, disease, divisions and even wars are still persisting. Although science and technology are immensely developed in the modern world, humankind continues to suffer from sorrow, pain and diseases.

Many leaders are striving to eliminate this misery and secure true peace and stability. However, the world echoes only with empty promises of peace. Neither democratic capitalism nor communistic socialism has solved the world’s fundamental problems. Both have allowed secular humanism to degrade human existence to materialism and thus demean the value of life. The so-called free world brought this situation through its incompetence and lack of vision in leading people in the right direction; the communist world caused this condition through its materialism.

Confusion and anxiety grow as a sense of purposelessness permeates the world. How has this come about? The main reason is that the standard of value that regulates human behavior has been undermined. As ethics and morality have lost their power, the standard of goodness has almost disappeared. Part of this disappearance is due to a misguided foundation of science, namely its attempt to be value-neutral, which has led science to ignore questions of humanity and moral values in the process of its development.

Over time, science gradually has become fragmented, with each field becoming more specialized, analytical and materialistic, thus further ignoring the questions of morality and values. Hence human dominion over science has weakened to the extent that no one can be sure of the fate of human existence on this planet.

Another reason for the undermining of values and morality is that many contemporary men and women no longer find past expressions of value and morality to be convincing. A new expression of morals and ethics needs to arise out of a new expression of values that contemporary individuals will find clear and compelling. Only a transcendent, united system of thought that unites past and present, secular and religious thought can provide such a new expression of values and morality.

I have long been interested in the relationships between the aims of religion, philosophy and science. As I have stated on earlier occasions, these conferences I have initiated stem from these concerns. While religion has concerned itself with metaphysical and moral questions, science has marginalized this area, limiting itself to understanding the regularities of nature and the structure and behavior of matter and energy in the framework of space and time. It is true that science has contributed to the tremendous advances in knowledge during the last few hundred years. Nevertheless, science without a standard of value to guide it could lead to global destruction. In my view, the whole range of knowledge from theology to science has no meaning without a well-understood purpose and a standard of value directing this knowledge. I believe this direction and standard of value can come only from a radically God-centered religion. This perspective ought to come as no surprise to those in the scientific community who are familiar with the philosophical writings of many great scientists.

In my earlier addresses at ICUS, I have proclaimed that the Unification Principle and its associated theology can be the foundation for a new, united thought system that is radically centered on God. This teaching states that human beings have value by nature of their very being. Each person is meant to have a unique, parent-child relationship with God. Hence all people are created to lead life in accordance with a definite value perspective and God’s purpose of creation, which is the establishment of relationships of true love. In fact, I propose that the absolute values we seek are grounded nowhere other than in the absolute, true love of God. Absolute beauty, truth and goodness can be realized based on the foundation of true love. It is my ardent desire that all scientists and scholars advance their respective fields on the basis of a solid viewpoint of moral values, and enhance human dignity by adding a spiritual dimension with a comprehensive approach to bring unity to the currently materialistic and analytical approach.

Solutions to the world’s fundamental problems can come about only through such a holistic approach to human existence. I call upon the many distinguished scholars gathered at this conference to engage in a joint effort to create harmony and unity through the guidance of collective wisdom and knowledge, rather than engaging in clashing and fragmented approaches to the ideal of humankind.

I sincerely wish and hope that this conference will contribute toward realizing the ideal that God had envisioned in the beginning of creation. I pray that your endeavors will become decisive factors in the realization of a revolutionary new world, a world based on a culture of heart that culminates in building a world of true love, goodness, peace and happiness.

12

Leaping Forward and Gaining Momentum

November 29, 1985
InterContinental Hotel, Houston, USA
Fourteenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Honorable chairmen, eminent professors and scientists, ladies and gentlemen:

As we begin this fourteenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS) meeting here in Houston, I would like to express my appreciation to each of you for your commitment to and support for this conference and its theme, “Absolute Values and the New Cultural Revolution.” Since I was unable to be with you at last year’s ICUS in Washington, I am particularly moved to stand before you this morning.

The need for a great awakening and breakthrough for humankind

As you know, I was recently released from prison, on August 20, 1985, having spent thirteen months in confinement in the United States. I thank you again for being concerned with my situation caused by unfair treatment, for visiting me in prison, for writing letters to comfort me, and for your tremendous efforts in advocating justice and fairness on my behalf.

Those who were so eager to fabricate a crime and have me imprisoned invested a great deal of money, time and effort in the attempt to block the work God has called me to perform. However, despite opposition, the Unification movement prospers worldwide. Contrary to the expectation that my imprisonment would break up the work of our church, people from all walks of life, including Christian clergy, have expressed their understanding and supported us in an unprecedented way. Through such an experience I have learned once again, as I always maintained, that victory comes through persecution countered with God-centered righteousness.

My experience in prison has sharpened my awareness of the critically dangerous state of the world. It let me feel the urgent necessity of a worldwide great awakening and of a new breakthrough. As a result, I have come out of prison with a renewed sense of urgency and determination to commit myself and the Unification movement to give everything for the cause of world peace and global prosperity.

In today’s world, millions of people live in miserable circumstances in spite of tremendous scientific progress, efficient technologies and economic abundance in many places. Many nations live in constant strain and even in a state of war. In most of the world such problems as poverty, illiteracy, disease, violence and crime, drug addiction and mental disorders, social discrimination and inequity, broken families and teenage immorality threaten the future of our planet. Why do anxiety and agony increase constantly, even though many leaders—especially conscientious, distinguished scholars—have been devoting themselves toward realizing a pleasant and peaceful world? The reason is an ethical, moral and spiritual crisis that brings with it mental exhaustion. Traditional value systems are now inadequate for societies that are changing with unprecedented speed. Time-honored ethics and morals are no longer persuasive. Criteria for goodness have been disappearing. At a time when these problems are causing self-contradictions, conflicts and disunity both in individual lives and on the societal level, it is difficult to speak of moral standards or of eternal life.

Leaping forward through persecution

If in such a reality there is no room for God, then we cannot expect to fulfill our ideals or to substantiate happiness. We could conclude that to continue in such a fashion would bring about our eventual demise. Nevertheless, if the absolute God exists, we can be confident that He will conduct a providence for changing this destructive reality. He will advance toward a universal standard of ethics that establishes a reality of mutual joy and prosperity. God is our Parent with only true love for all humankind. The purpose of any calamitous events in God’s providence in the past was never to destroy humankind. Such effects were part of a process for dramatic leaps ahead; the unfortunate effects were to be followed by new and hopeful things to come.

Throughout history there have been numerous moments of leaping forward; there have been numerous people contacting the transcendent God at moments of severe oppression by the contemporary society and then leaping toward a better future. Ordinary moments are not likely to be a springboard for such transformations. Pioneers, through positively digesting paradoxical moments, have been able to surge forward and create new ways of living.

Loving your enemy, as Jesus practiced on the cross, may not be easy to understand. But Jesus showed us God’s providence by dramatically changing that moment of being completely denied by the world into a leap of complete positivity. As a result, a new page of resurrection providence was opened.

I think the Unification Church has set a new record in the history of persecution. However, such persecution has never been detrimental for the Unification Church. When the Unification Church is not overwhelmed by suffering but overcomes it and lives God’s Will through advancing with this momentum, the suffering itself becomes a preparation for eternal life centered on the Absolute. By practicing such faith, we recognize that the reality of today’s world is not a cause for despair, but can provide momentum that permits God to advance us toward a new world.

The initial motive for humans to develop science was the desire to realize world peace and prosperity. However, the methods employed in the specialized fields of science have not brought results that meet that original expectation. Though our expectation of science was focused on the well being of humankind, science has mostly been concerned with developing the material environment, which is the object partner of human beings, who are its subject partners. The scientific pursuit of higher living standards and the application of theories of politico-economic equality have not produced true happiness for humankind. Therefore, scientists should become newly aware of their mission.

Contemporary men and women ought to look inside the depth of their being and establish a universal ethic built on the natural order of existence. This new ethic requires us to love nature, to reconsider the dignity of human beings, to seek love among all humankind, and to search for God as the origin of love. Scholars need to take on the mission of accomplishing a cultural-spiritual revolution, which ought to realize ideals such as human perfection and world peace, along with the external, technological revolution.

Creating a new culture centered on God’s truth and love

Long before the first ICUS, I became convinced that scientists should play a decisive role in building a good and hopeful future society. My support and enthusiasm for ICUS for the past fourteen years has come from my respect and my expectation for scholars’ potential to solve the world’s problems. I hope that such a potential can be developed and mobilized through ICUS and that responsible scholars will actively contribute to the realization of the new cultural revolution.

This is the fourteenth ICUS. The number fourteen is twice the number seven. According to Unification theology, the importance of the number seven, like the number three, is that it signifies perfection. Up until now, ICUS has been committing itself to relating scientific studies to the discovery and realization of absolute values. In addition, it has been concerned with the integration of knowledge, that is, with an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to the understanding of reality. Yet an integrated approach is not possible without establishing absolute values, and the criteria for absolute values come from God, the origin of absolute love. Many people have now come to recognize the necessity of absolute values. I am grateful that the chairmen and the members of the planning committee have resolved misunderstandings and become pioneers on this new path.

From now on, where is ICUS supposed to head? Should we be satisfied with annual conferences carried out just as before? My answer is based on my recent emphasis on the new cultural revolution. I think that the potential and foundation for realizing the original ideals and happiness of humankind are greatly endangered, because evil is now challenging humankind most seriously and essentially.

We, as the ICUS family, should stand up and take on the great mission of creating a new culture in this world. We need to invest everything for its establishment. The exploration of absolute values for its own sake is meaningless. Truth has eternal direction, and the ideal world founded on absolute values must be concretely realized. This realization requires that we act determinedly and rise above the difficulties we encounter in the present reality.

Today, the world should change. Now is the time for scholars to responsibly come to the forefront, advancing a new cultural revolution based on God’s truth and love. We orient this new cultural revolution with God’s ideal for humanity and all creation. In order for this ideal to be accomplished, each of us needs to fulfill our responsibility in realizing true love, not only knowledge, as an absolute value.

Humankind should now leap forward. The creation of a culture of new dimension, enabling us to overcome the limits of our present reality, is necessary. We should wake up from the illusion wrought by arrogant beliefs that the power of human reason alone can bring about the perfection of individuals and the world, and the laxity it engenders. Our effort will remain in vain if we fail to relate to God’s expectations for the original human character and to God’s providence behind the turmoil of human history. Humbly recognizing our limitations as human beings, we are called to fulfill the ideal of unity with God through leaping forward, in sync with the historical momentum introduced by God’s providence. God’s ideal for the creation was meant wholly for human beings. We naturally conclude, therefore, that the ideal has to be fulfilled through our human response to God’s comprehensive concern.

Let us become pioneers who practice absolute values

Respected scholars! I have been committing my whole life to fulfilling God’s Will by fulfilling human responsibility. As a pioneer, I never tried to avoid even the most rugged path. For instance, I determined to offer an alternative to the existing biases of the news media. I have closely watched the process of how the news media offer information, the good points and bad. I know through my experience, as many of you know, that the misuse of the news media’s power can undermine and destroy the foundation of goodness. Therefore, for years we have been sponsoring at great cost The Washington Times. Recently, I inspired the publication of the weekly news magazine, Insight. Further, in this coming month, we are going to release a monthly magazine called The World & I. These projects will offer alternative media for education and mass communication that will contribute to the promotion of truth and the common good.

I ask you to become pioneers in a new cultural revolution through participating in the continuous pursuit of truth, and by contributing articles about your findings to The World & I. Furthermore, I envision the publication of dictionaries for the different specialized fields of science, with the help of our worldwide Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA) and Paragon House Publishers. All this is in preparation for the publishing of an encyclopedia of human events, which will, under the guidance of absolute values, contribute constructive educational material based on keen insights into original human character.

Respected scholars! We would not fulfill our leadership and social responsibility by remaining indifferent to the existing world of contradictions and presenting no alternatives. We have to show a new standard, not missing this precious historical and global momentum. It has come not by chance; God has granted it to us. We should set an example by leaping ahead and firmly awakening all people to fight against injustice. Leaping ahead involves risks and adventure. A full-fledged adventure on a false foundation would result in greater difficulties. However, where there is truth, practice is always bound to follow in its wake. We need to become champions in the practice of absolute values and actively lead the world.

I hope this conference will not only become a forum for free and open discussions, in which useful conclusions are reached, but also a historic event through which we determine to energize this suffering world, that it may give birth to the world of a new culture.

I deeply thank the members of the planning committee for their very hard work for this conference. May God bless all of you and your families!

 

13

True Love and the Unified World

November 28, 1986

JW Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC, USA
Fifteenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Honorable chairman, committee chairmen, distinguished professors, ladies and gentlemen:

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to you for coming to this, the fifteenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences. Thank you for accommodating it in your busy schedules.

My topic on this occasion is, “True Love and the Unified World.” The fundamental cause of confusion in the world today is the conflict between idealism or spiritualism on the one hand and materialism on the other, which is the conflict between the side of goodness and the side of evil. This conflict in turn can be expressed as the confrontation between the good God and the evil “god.”

The hope of humankind is peace, and peace can be realized only through unification. This means unification not only on the world level but on many other levels as well: unification within each nation, within each family and within each individual. Of these, the most important is unification within the individual. In considering all current unification movements of the world at any of these levels, I would like to invite your careful scrutiny of my contributions.

In order to realize the world of peace God desires that the following must be accomplished. First, the unification movement must achieve preeminence in the realm of human thought. It needs to challenge and surpass all narrower philosophical and religious views.

Second, this unification movement must rise to the summit of technology and then distribute that technology evenly throughout the world. Up to the present day, technologically advanced North America has dominated

South America, while Europe has held sway over Africa. In order to correct this, the level of technology needs to be equalized among all countries.

Third, this movement must resolve global economic problems. Today the world is confronting an international monetary crisis. This can be managed if numerous conglomerates buy stock in and establish a supranational bank.

Fourth, it has to become preeminent in the realm of media. With The Washington Times at the core, we are rising toward preeminence among the American print media, a field of more than 1,750 American newspapers. By doing so we can become peerless in all fields of information gathering. Today we have surpassed the liberal New York Times and Washington Post in this area and are continually gaining important and sensitive information not only from America but also from governments all over the world.

However, even if the ultimate unification movement stands on the summit in all the realms of thought, science, technology, economy and media, there remains yet another problem: how to guide through education people who can go beyond their nation and race. The problem is illustrated by the fact that, for example, when an American takes responsibility for a project, he tends to employ all Americans for the task; if the manager is English, he tends to employ only English people; the French employ only French people, and so forth.

Therefore, before the peace and unification of the world can be contemplated, one must know how to educate people so they can completely overcome their own sense of nationality in favor of embracing the world. Even communism, which rules half the globe, cannot rid itself of its own nationalist and racist inclinations, and is reduced to “racist communism.”

Turning to the question of God, in the latter half of the twentieth century much of the world’s population has inclined toward a humanistic outlook that denies God and has turned toward the worship of mammon, while much of the rest of the population has fallen under communism, which is mere materialism. Philosophy, whose task it is to find God or absolute truth, has failed, and religion, which is supposed to connect humankind with God, is now on the verge of losing God and becoming spiritless.

In the unification of the world, the crucial problem is the individual person. Before the unification of the world is possible, we must achieve the unification of the nation and the unification of the family, and the unification of the family must be preceded by the unification of the individual person— which means the unification of mind and body. When the individual suffers inner conflict, the family suffers. When the family suffers, the nation cannot help but suffer; and when the nation suffers, the world cannot but suffer.

After all is said and done, a true person must be found, a true person whom humankind and the universe can cherish and whom God can trust. People like things that do not change. Hence they like jewelry. People value the hardness of diamonds, the luster of gold and the iridescence of pearls, all because of their unchangeableness. This is also true of people. The unchangingly good person is precious and true. Therefore, all people want unchangingly good parents, unchangingly good teachers, unchangingly good leaders and unchangingly good nations.

Today, the increase in the number of people who do not recognize God is disturbing. This is because as individuals their minds and bodies are in conflict. But if even those who do not recognize God realize that something must be wrong in human beings, they will come to have a different outlook and see that there may be a God. Then, encountering such religious concepts as the Fall and salvation, they may discover God.

When we discover God, it becomes clear to us what is public and what is private. That which is public means that which is for the whole, and that which is private is for the self. When we reflect on ourselves objectively, we find ourselves in a quandary over what is public and what is private. Because of this, religion teaches us restraint through spiritual practices such as fasting, sacrificial service, modesty and humility in order that the body, which is very much inclined toward the private way of behaving, may be restrained in favor of the mind, which is more public. ,

God certainly exists. True people are those who resemble God. To realize the world in which true people abound, not a social or political revolution but a revolution of character must take place in human beings. This character revolution is to transform people into true people who will come to resemble God. This character revolution is to uplift human beings’ character and bring it closer to God’s own character. God, who is already omniscient and omnipotent, does not need any more knowledge or power, but even He needs His object partners of love, man and woman.

The sixteenth verse of the third chapter of the Gospel of John says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” (John 3:16) This means that God sent Jesus for the sake of all humankind, not just for one particular denomination or segment of believers. Therefore God embraces sons and daughters who love the world with their very life, as does He Himself. What God loves most is a culture of love. What He wants every man and woman to be is not a person of wealth or a scholar but a person of love. In the Bible we encounter innumerable teachings concerning love: “Love your enemies,” “Love your neighbor,” of “faith, hope and love, ... the greatest of these is love,” to name only a few.

Do wives truly love their husbands? Do students truly love their teachers? Do citizens truly love their countries? Ladies and gentlemen, do you know what is most precious to a man? It is a woman. Likewise what is most precious to a woman is a man. The purpose of life for a man is a woman and for a woman is a man, and we are all born into it. Man and woman are born to live for each other. The harmony of their body shapes and of their organs of love reflects this.

If you truly understand this, you have mastered more truth and precious wisdom than an entire encyclopedia. Reflecting this mutual preciousness of man and woman, God, the great King of wisdom, has placed our reproductive organs in each other’s custody. Thus the true master of the reproductive organ a man or woman possesses is not the individual at all but his or her loving spouse. Those husbands and wives who are ignorant of this and misuse what they have in an indiscriminate way will surely meet judgment.

By realizing this truth, husband and wife can attain harmony, and their children will develop filial piety. The children of such a marriage will grow up to be loyal patriots and faithful husbands or wives. Such couples will grow further to become saints and eventually will become holy sons or daughters who are one with God.

Without finding mutual love between husband and wife, which is a horizontal relationship, we cannot receive God’s love, which is a vertical relationship. If humankind had not fallen, heaven would have begun in a family, and all the people populating the world would be the expansion of that family. Thus the family is the training ground of love to qualify men and women for heaven.

Only those who possess God’s love can inherit the right to heaven and earth. In this regard, which comes first, life or love? The answer is love. Love is the universe’s first existence, and life, which only begins as a result of love, is the second existence. In a family, children are born out of the love of their parents. Thus children inherit life from their parents, having been a part of their parents’ love.

Once two parties are bound together in a relationship of love, they come to stand on an equal level. Since love comes from the other, “live for the sake of others” is the highest philosophical principle. God created human beings to be His own object partners; thus He created them for the sake of the object partners, human beings themselves. God likewise made humanity to exist for the sake of Himself. However, as a result of the Fall, people have become self-centered, living for the sake of themselves rather than for the sake of others.

Today’s human society is growing corrupt, and philosophies are becoming self-centered. To sweep away these philosophies, only God’s love, true love, can suffice. True love is the love to give and give without expecting anything in return. Thus we have to give and then forget what we have given.

Once we actualize such a relationship of love with God, He gives us the privileges of dominion, independence and inheritance. When we establish God’s realm of the object partner and realize the glory of unchanging love, we can establish an eternal ethic centering on human love.

God, who is truly in a miserable and pitiful position, is still seeking His realm of the true object partner. I am humbled to say that God has recognized me as such an object partner of love, and most recently visited me in prison, out of so many clergymen in this country of America, to tell me to work on Nicaragua’s crucial situation.

The unification of the world, including that of divided Korea, can never be accomplished by military power. Unification becomes possible Only with God’s love, a love that embraces enemy countries as well.

I have practiced this ideal up to this day. In my ministry in America, I have been teaching people of the mutually hostile countries of World War II to love each other—Japanese and Korean, Japanese and American, and American and German. Without establishing a firm tradition of being able to love the people of enemy nations more than our own countrymen, the unification of the world will not become a reality. Only God’s love will enable us to love enemy countries more than our own.

To repeat, before the unification of the world can be achieved, the unification of the country, the unification of the family and the unification of the individual must take place. The unification of the individual, as I mentioned before, means unity between the mind and body in love. On this foundation husband and wife can achieve unity in love—and the unification of the country and the world will follow. Also, this is the only way to realize a world with a new civilization.

It is therefore my fervent wish that all you professors gathered here will also strive for the unity of your mind and body. Love your wife or husband deeply, and thereby contribute to the unification of the world and the building of a world of new culture.

In closing, I hope this conference will be a very fruitful one for you.

Thank you.

14

Absolute Values and a Reassessment
of Contemporary Society

November 27, 1987
Stouffer Waverly Hotel, Atlanta, USA
Sixteenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Honorable chairman, committee chairs, distinguished professors, ladies and gentlemen:

As founder of the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS), I sincerely welcome you to the sixteenth meeting of ICUS. This year our theme for deliberation is, “Absolute Values and a Reassessment of Contemporary Society.”

Why reassessment of the contemporary world is necessary

Today there is a real need to reassess the world in every field. I do not know any group better suited to make such a reassessment than ICUS— this gathering of distinguished scholars representing all fields of knowledge as well as all cultures, religions, races and nations. I think that among all academic groups in the world, ICUS alone is striving to discover, on a fundamental level, the true purpose and unity of the sciences. You should know that, among all gatherings of scholars in today’s world, ICUS has a historic mission.

The complicated problems of the world cannot be fully understood simply within the narrow perspectives of individual fields of knowledge. Their solution lies beyond the capability of any single specialized society of scholars. This is because the problems of the world are essentially problems of the human being. Each person has both a physical body, with material desires and physical senses, and a spiritual self, with spiritual desires and spiritual senses. The world is nothing but an extension of the human being with these twofold aspects. In other words, the interrelationships between people with their twofold aspects determine the order within societies and among nations. This is the reason why multidisciplinary research to solve the world’s problems needs to give significant consideration to such factors as religion, culture, art and so on.

Reassessment of the contemporary world by ICUS should certainly include a reassessment of the systems of the eastern and western blocs and, at the same time, a reassessment of what the role of science in these two blocs has been and how close the sciences have come to attaining their ultimate ideal. Today, regardless of how many excuses the leaders of these two blocs make, no one can deny that the world’s existing systems and orders have failed to guarantee the true happiness of humankind. They have already reached their limit, and they are going to decline.

A unifying standard and its central position in reassessing the world

For ICUS to reassess today’s world, there should be a unifying standard with a central position. This central position should relate with the desires of both the physical body and the spiritual self of the human being. I recognize that, in the Middle Ages, God-centered thought and religious dogmatism blocked scientific exploration and limited human fulfillment in the physical realm. Yet, since the Age of Enlightenment, humanistic thinkers have made the major error of maintaining that religious belief is inferior to human reason and that a person’s spiritual needs are in conflict with human reason.

The emphasis that the Enlightenment or humanism placed on rationality has been the great driving force for the sciences as they have pursued the discovery of rational laws in nature. With reason alone, however, we become separated from the ultimate purpose of the human being, who has a twofold nature. Without this ultimate purpose, a person cannot stand independently or even discover the right direction. While ignoring spirituality and being satisfied with reason and intellectual accomplishment, people have not been concerned about solving the urgent problems connected with their own ultimate purpose. As a result, they have become enthralled by materialism and consequently have lost their dignity.

There is only one ultimate truth, and it is a principle governing both nature and the human world. In nature, this principle is the root and source of all things of the universe. In the human being, this principle is the absolute value of love, which guides us to complete our personality by harmonizing our spiritual and physical aspects, realizing truth, goodness and beauty.

I do not believe that the claims made by theism, humanism and materialism have been in irreconcilable conflict with one another. Rather, I think they have been partial, not-yet-mature expressions of one principle. They are not-fully-accurate claims about this principle, which is the basis of absolute values. In order to solve, on a fundamental level, the various problems faced by people in the modern world, we should identify the set of absolute values, or the one principle that can cope with the whole, transcending all existing ideologies and claims.

Absolute values bring us ultimately to the fundamental inquiry about God. To accept that God does exist is to recognize that there exists a universal principle that operates consistently in nature and the human world. On this foundation, values that appear to be relative can be understood as interrelated with one another on the basis of absolute values.

Not absolutism but God’s love

I know that “absolute values” is not a popular theme among scholars today. But I hope, first of all, that scholars do not make the mistake of confusing absolute values with absolutism. I have emphasized at several ICUS meetings that absolute values are based on God’s love. God’s love is not sectarian. It reaches deep into human hearts and becomes the source of true love gushing out into the everyday lives of people. Therefore, God’s love is the fundamental element needed to form one harmonious realm, based on a heart that embraces all people and encompasses all relative values. Thus, absolute values based on God’s love are deeper, broader and more enduring than values based on rational presuppositions or relative ideologies or beliefs.

Absolute values do not contradict rational thinking. Rather, they enable the discovery of its ultimate purpose. It is not merely our faculty of reason that makes us human. Intellectual analysis is deficient if it does not fully value emotion, will and spirituality in human life. Rational exploration will contribute to the true happiness of humanity only when guided by absolute values based on true love.

I urge ICUS to begin a comprehensive reassessment of today’s world. Conventional mental habits and attitudes have been inadequate to deal with the profusion of problems in our world today. Furthermore, the solution of problems faced by contemporary society will not come from a consideration of human factors alone. We should also consider that human history has been proceeding toward the fulfillment of God’s Will. Therefore, the contemporary world should be reassessed from viewpoints based on absolute values, which transcend nationalism, ideology and even global perspectives, and which originate from God’s love.

Unity of the sciences is possible when we discover absolute values As long as today’s intelligentsia is swayed by relativistic viewpoints, there can never be unity of the sciences, nor can there be unity and harmony among races, cultures or religions. Courageous pioneers are needed who, in promoting the absolute values perspective, are willing to take risks and receive bitter persecution. Difficult and daring decisions are necessary if the many existing limited viewpoints are to be unified into one coherent principle.

Today we should acknowledge that scientific and philosophical approaches have failed to solve the world’s problems. The great promise of natural science has too often been used for evil purposes, not for the true happiness of humanity. The fields of social science have often been corrupted under the influence of egoistic, sectarian political power and so have played a dysfunctional role on many occasions. Philosophy, too, has given up its great pursuit of the ultimate ideals of human beings and hence has lost its life. Such a trend is becoming increasingly serious because of the passive attitude of most scholars. I think that scholars should not be satisfied merely with the outcome of their research but should respond to the call of the world, which is in need of active guidance.

The world requires responsible action by scholars who enlist their capabilities for the good of humankind, in accordance with a proper perspective on values. Conscientious intellectuals should protect the fruits of scientific research from being misused. Furthermore, the sciences should not serve only relative values that are limited in scope, but they should concentrate on absolute values for the benefit of the universe and all of humanity.

The urgent need to promote discussion of the unity of the sciences

Scholars should not be passively influenced by political, economic or social currents, but they should play an active role in leading society with wisdom gained through historical insight and with the feeling of mission. The contemporary world, more than ever before, is burdened with problems that can be solved only though cooperation among nations and races. In international and pluralistic societies, cooperative action by many intellectuals is no less important than individual research in specialized fields.

Among the many scholarly conferences in the world, ICUS alone has as its theme the ultimate issues of absolute values and unity of the sciences. No issues are more urgent than these. Without identifying absolute values, unity of the sciences is not possible. I have entrusted this mission to you. Therefore, I hope that this meeting will lead to a proper reassessment of contemporary societies and to the accomplishment of the historic task of opening the path to creating a new culture.

May God’s blessing be with your work and your families!

15

Absolute Values and a Reassessment
of the Contemporary World

August 24, 1991

Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel, Seoul, Korea
Eighteenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences

Honorable chairman, vice chairmen, committee chairmen, distinguished scholars, ladies and gentlemen:

It gives me great pleasure to greet you again in my home country of Korea. Already ten years have passed since we held our discussions here in Seoul on “The Creation of the New World.” At that time I proposed the building of an international highway system extending from East Asia and connecting all regions of the world. We also began a project to publish the results of your research in a manner that would influence constructively the younger generations around the world. Ten years ago such plans seemed like impossible dreams. Today, however, we have established the necessary foundation for their realization, and we can see that they are beginning to take shape. For example, preliminary plans have been completed for an undersea tunnel connecting Japan and Korea, and an exploratory tunnel is now under construction.

For the publication of your papers and books, we now have the publisher Paragon House and the magazine The World & I. In addition, the Federation for World Peace and the Interreligious Federation for World Peace are to be established here in your presence. I proposed these two organizations last year, and I believe you later received mailings with further information.

Esteemed scholars of the world! The world around us is in a period of transition and is in need of critical reassessment. In hindsight, the consistent emphasis on values in past ICUS conference themes seems prophetic. Today the cry for a new expression of values can be heard around the world, and the work of this conference has become an important means for dealing with current realities. The dramatic changes occurring in the Soviet Union and in Eastern and Central Europe underscore this fact.

Following the collapse of the communist world, there are those who speak with self-assurance of the superiority of the West’s existing values and institutions. We must critically examine, however, the societies of the free world and other non-communist countries that until recently stood in opposition to the communist bloc. Where are these societies going? Does their progress reassure us that the future happiness of the world’s peoples is guaranteed?

We can see that even after the collapse of the communist bloc, many problems remain in our world. To develop the necessary solutions, we need to look for the deeper origins of these problems. Our task has to be a fundamental reassessment of all the institutions and lifestyles of our contemporary world. Such a reassessment will enable us to identify those aspects of our world that can be considered suitable and fitting for an enlightened and awakened humanity possessing a renewed consciousness.

Fundamentally, the confusion in the value systems of today’s societies derives from a break in the original vertical order between God and humanity. The various institutions and values we have today lack clear direction and are inherently unstable and mutually contradictory. This is because they are devised by humans and established only horizontally, that is, without a vertical axis connecting them to God.

The universe does not exist merely on the basis of the individual material substances that are its component parts. Our world is not a mere sum total of isolated individual substances. Material substances derive their primary existence from the energy created through their relationships with other substances. And societies exist, develop and prosper within the context of mutual give-and-receive relationships. Behind such relationships, that is, behind each relationship between material substances and behind each give-and-receive relationship between individual beings, there is a preexisting vertical order of a higher dimension that endows these substances or beings with a common motivational drive and purpose. For example, the Creator has endowed human beings with free will in order that we may experience the highest levels of joy and love for God and for our fellow human beings. Thus, if we are to fulfill the purpose of our existence, we need to inherit first the true love of God.

In an ideal human society, true love, which involves living for the sake of others, is the basis for all relationships. For each individual, such true love is motivated by the experience of true love from one’s parents. The true love of parents, which in turn is rooted in God’s true love, is the means to nurture children to become perfect, that is, fully mature in their individual character. Then, a man and a woman who have become fully mature in character are to form a family as an ideal husband and wife and convey true love to their children. This is the original order of God’s creation. The ideal world on earth is built when one individual who is fully mature in character is able to expand true love to form a family, society, nation and world based on true love.

However, our world today is different in its origin from the ideal world I have just described. It is a world in which human beings departed from the proper order of true love, the most important principle for God’s creation. Having turned against the order of God’s creation, our world today places value in human-devised organizations and structures and in the order of law. Such a world cannot produce ideal individuals, families and peoples. If that is so, how can we secure a truly bright future for all humankind?

Respected scholars, you are highly educated in fields dealing with the developmental aspects of nature and human society. The natural world around us and our social order are suffering violence and injury every day. With each passing day the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat become more polluted. Despite advances in science and technology and the increasing conveniences added to daily life, we find growing cause for despair. If humanity in the twenty-first century continues to place itself outside the fundamental principles of God who created the universe, we never will be qualified to be stewards of planet Earth.

Closer human relations, even if some may not want them, are necessary for the future of humankind. We are entering the age of one global family, in which we will have no choice except to live in much closer proximity to those whose religion, nationality and skin color are different from our own. In such a world we will need to develop a genuine appreciation, as opposed to simple acceptance, of the wide variety of religions, cultural traditions and lifestyles around us. It will be impossible for any individual or group to selfishly choose to withdraw to a separate haven. Society no longer can be allowed to despoil nature for its own selfish purposes. It needs to husband and develop nature in accordance with the larger purposes of the world community and future generations.

What will be the underlying order of this new age and new society, and how are we to raise up constructive members of such a global society? This question can be answered only in terms of the order of God’s creation, with the discipline of love as its central axis.

Respected scholars, perhaps the points I have raised here will help explain why I, as one who has sought consistently to realize God’s Will, have sponsored eighteen sessions of the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences for a period of almost twenty years. Decades ago I foresaw the future toward which society was heading. Despite the inability of some to appreciate my efforts, I have maintained my spiritual and material support for this series of conferences with conviction. It is because of this ardent desire to serve the future of humankind that, beginning with the first session in 1972, ICUS has had an unconventional structure that brings together scholars in the natural sciences, humanities and social sciences in a common forum that emphasizes interdisciplinary harmony and unity.

I recognize that each academic discipline has its own specific characteristics, and I understand the need for specialization in research. However, research conducted in the various individual fields ultimately needs to be brought together through mutually cooperative and complementary relationships in order to serve more fully the common good. This is also the reason I have continued to place the term “absolute values” in the theme of each ICUS conference, although scientists frequently find this concept objectionable. So I am grateful that you and many other scholars around the world have come to share my vision and are cooperating to organize and continue the work of this conference.

The time now has come for ICUS to develop to a new level. With absolute values continuing as our central axis, we need to begin an aggressive effort to teach and apply the results of the comprehensive research of this conference in ways that will benefit the future of the world. With this in mind, the ICUS structure already has served as a medium for establishing branches of the Professors World Peace Academy in ninety-five countries, in order to involve scholars in these countries in a worldwide cultural effort.

Many have expressed great hope in such a practical movement of conscientious scholars. For intellectuals such as yourselves, who form the most respected group in our society, taking the lead in conveying proper values to young people of the world is no less important a task than your work as researchers and theorists in your specific fields. I believe it is important for scholars from around the world to form teams that visit various countries to give instructions on a wide range of topics. A program of this type already has been conducted with significant success in Japan and Korea. There is a need for the worldwide participation of scholars in a movement to give new vision to the people of our contemporary world, particularly young people, in order to save them from the snares of drugs, hedonism, violence and war. Given your ingenuity and practical experience, and using ICUS as the parent body, I know we can build a new world culture.

Finally, let me say I am confident that many valuable discussions and conclusions will emerge from this conference being held in my home country. I am proud of Korea for the fact that it has maintained a beautiful culture, including a robust family tradition, in spite of its long history of suffering. I also believe that Korea can be commended for having risen from the ashes of successive wars to rapidly achieve its current level of economic prosperity.

I hope you will have a fruitful stay here, and I pray that God’s protection and blessing will be with you and your families.

Thank you very much.

16

Absolute Values and
the New World Order

August 20, 1992

InterContinental Hotel, Seoul, Korea
Nineteenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences
and Fifth International Congress of the Professors World Peace Academy

Honorable chairman, distinguished scholars, respected guests, ladies and gentlemen:

It is my pleasure to speak to you at this opening plenary session of the nineteenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences and the fifth international congress of the Professors World Peace Academy. I wholeheartedly welcome you to my homeland Korea.

God is the origin of the principle of the universe

Last year, in addition to the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS), we had two very special conferences: they were for the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) and the Federation for World Peace (FWP). These two organizations were inaugurated to establish a new order for the world. The Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace, in particular, will devote itself to bringing unity among the world’s religions for the purpose of establishing world peace.

In the recent Gulf War we witnessed how the world came to be involved in a religious war. Such global disasters caused by religious differences will continue taking place in the future as well.

Up until the present, many politicians have exploited religious conflicts for their own selfish purposes. Faiths have been powerless and confused, not clearly recognizing their responsibility in relation to world peace. Now, through the IRFWP, leaders of the world’s religions will cooperate harmoniously and become leaders for world peace.

Religion must be the conscience of every culture, setting the standard of public righteousness. Each religion takes pride in upholding its own traditions without ceasing. Every person believes their own religion to be better than all other religions. However, religious teachings not only have universal factors, but also they all stem from God. After all, the one God is the God of all religions. Therefore, religions need to emphasize their universal principles and, by doing so, purify and elevate themselves. The central value in each religion is God’s true love, which can be described by the teaching, “Live for the sake of others.” According to this teaching, the individual lives for the sake of the family, the family lives for the sake of the community, the community lives for the sake of the nation, the nation lives for the sake of the world, and my religion lives for the sake of other religions. This principle is so very true.

The source of the universal principle is God. In creating the universe, God invested Himself totally for the sake of His creation. Throughout history, it is God who has been continually sacrificing Himself in order to save fallen human beings, who have been living just as they pleased. The prophets, saints and sages who knew God’s Will have followed His principles in their own lives.

Not content to keep the truth to themselves, they walked the way of sacrifice in order to teach others. Moses, Confucius, Buddha, Muhammad, Socrates and Jesus are saints who suffered hardships and were persecuted, even as they taught many other human beings. They sacrificed themselves in order to enlighten and liberate humanity.

The Federation for World Peace is a cooperative federation of politicians and governmental organizations. Today’s world cannot be maintained by nationalism. The current flare-up of ethnic violence in Eastern Europe only demonstrates nationalism’s destructive nature. National pride and self- determination are good and right only when they are dedicated to serving the world community. Patriotism that places one’s own nation first, while promoting enmity toward other nations, goes against the universal principle of living for the sake of others. All such “isms” that go against the universal principle are destined to decline.

Now we are seeing a trend in which nations are joining to form multinational associations, such as the European Economic Community. This trend will intensify in the coming years. Throughout the world, nations will unite in regional communities, such as the European Union, the East Asian community, the community of Islam, the community of African nations and the community of North and South America.

Religious harmony and unity are necessary preconditions for peace

In order that politicians may transcend their own national self-interest, they must share the common values upon which they can unite as nations. Then, what can unite the European nations? Economic policies alone are insufficient. Many conflicts still exist between industrialized nations and agricultural nations. Even in the European Union, social policies are another source of contention. If we are to find a single common factor to unite all nations in Europe, it is that they are based mainly upon the Christian cultural sphere.

When compared with people from the Middle East or Asia, it is evident that Europeans share many things in common: a common culture, common social customs and, most important, a common way of thinking and worldview. The root of this common European culture is the Christian spirit. Christian culture is the foundation for the intellectual, social and political life of Europe.

However, throughout history European Christianity itself has struggled with serious divisions. As can be seen from the strife in Northern Ireland and in Yugoslavia, we can realize that their conflicts stem from unresolved religious struggles among Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox Christians. Therefore, religious harmony and unity are the necessary preconditions for political and social peace and unity.

A future ideal world will consist of communities of nations, with each community bound together by a common religion and culture and united through economic and political relationships. I foresaw this trend many years ago. That is why for more than forty years I have been promoting interreligious activities, pursuing dialogue and harmony, despite the many sacrifices I have had to make.

For an ideal world to be realized in the future, we need to be able to prevent religious war. To solve this problem, I have been laying with painstaking care the foundation that can embrace all religions. Before I began my ministry, I took the Principle that was revealed to me and presented it before Jesus, Buddha, Confucius and the Prophet Muhammad in the spirit world, and they attested that it was true. Leaders of every religion now recognize that, to realize a world of peace, all religious people must focus on their faith’s universal teachings and take positive steps to generate harmony with each other. It is my God-ordained mission to bring the world into unity under God.

The Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace and the Federation for World Peace will work together as do mind and body. To this day, fallen people have allowed the body to dominate their individual life, creating a world of selfish individuals oppressing others for their own pleasure.

This is hell on earth. Only a few people have followed the voice of conscience, emanating from the mind, which spurs them to pursue religion and to resist the temptations of the body. Only these people can meet God and find heaven on earth. Likewise, few national politicians have listened to the voice of religion. Amid the clamor of politics, the voice of moral and spiritual values has been heard only faintly.

In the West as well as the East, politicians have tried to establish prosperity on economic and political policies without God. Their efforts have been and will be in vain. No nation can prosper without God’s blessing. God blesses those nations practicing faith, morality and the principle of living for the sake of others.

Yet politicians still look only to the earth, blind to Heaven’s influence. Communist leaders tried for seventy years to establish prosperity without God, and now their nations are bankrupt. Likewise the West is plagued by recession, crime and social decay.

However, these problems will not be resolved until religious leaders open their eyes and discover their true cause. When religious leaders unite for the sake of world peace under God, the politicians will obey the teachings of religion. Then and only then will we be able to solve our social and economic problems. Only then will the nations of the world naturally unite on the path of peace. The Interreligious Federation for World Peace and the Federation for World Peace will succeed where the United Nations and many other organizations have not, because these federations are based on the foundation of the Principle.

The greatest task of our generation

Respected scholars! The role of scholars in developing the future ideal world is exceedingly important. This role is necessary to ensure a well-rounded education for all the world’s citizens and dynamic communication between all segments of society. People learn to build their character through their families, churches, schools and social organizations. These need to cooperate with one another continuously in order to raise individuals of integrity who can nurture a civilized society. The greatest task of our generation is how to implement this well-rounded education in our pluralistic global village. You scholars are the treasure house of knowledge in society. However, your students learn more from the person you are than from the knowledge you teach.

Students imitate the teacher’s habits, inherit the teacher’s attitudes about society and are influenced deeply by the teacher’s sense of values. You should always stand in the position of a teacher and strive to be inspiring examples for the future. Your mission, which is to set up a new cultural tradition rooted in the absolute value of true love, which originates in God, is precious indeed.

As you know, this conference has been organized as part of the first World Culture and Sports Festival. This is a historic event that is endeavoring to guide the spiritual culture of humanity, search for true values for humanity’s happiness and lead the way to a new world of peace and harmony among God, people and nature. It is a festival that is gathering key members of the global community, scholars, religious figures, journalists, politicians and youth leaders, and combining their collective wisdom and practical experience regarding the unity of humankind.

On August 25, approximately thirty thousand couples from all regions of the world will receive the holy marriage Blessing, pledging to establish a new family tradition centered on God. The family is the most fundamental building block of society. The solution to all social problems begins with the solution to problems in the family. The ideal of “one world family in true love,” transcending races, is related directly to the fulfillment of a peaceful world. People pledging to become exemplary, God-centered couples, creating blessed families, will provide a substantial model of ethics and morality. In this way, ideal families, societies, nations and an ideal world, representing the fruit of true love, will be realized. The fact that sixty thousand people of the world are gathering to receive the Blessing symbolizes unity under God and True Parents.

I invite all of you to attend this historic Blessing ceremony. In conclusion, I would like to introduce to you three projects that I am planning and promoting. The first is a book of scriptures, which I already have published, that strives to unite ideologies and the religious world. The second is an encyclopedia bringing together the wisdom and cultures of humanity in the twenty-first century, which the International Cultural Foundation has begun composing. Third and last is the University of Bridgeport, which I acquired for the World University Federation to promote the exchange of knowledge and the worldwide exchange of professors and students. These three new projects will contribute greatly toward creating and advancing a world of the new culture in the future global village.

Once again, I want to express my gratitude to all of you for attending this meaningful conference in Seoul. I am grateful especially to Dr. Tor Ragnar Gerholm, who has worked very hard as the ICUS chairman, and to Dr. Morton A. Kaplan. May your discussions at this conference be extremely fruitful. I pray that God’s protection and blessing will be with you and your families.

Thank you.

17

True Knowledge, True Family
and World Peace

August 22, 1995

Sheraton Walker Hill Hotel, Seoul, Korea
Twentieth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences
and Sixth International Congress of the Professors World Peace Academy

Respected scholars from 120 nations across the world, distinguished guests from home and abroad, and ladies and gentlemen:

Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon and I are delighted to welcome you to Seoul, Korea. You are gathered here to discuss the most serious problems our world faces today.

Development of science and the human crisis

The twentieth century has seen tremendous improvement in the conditions of human life, made possible through remarkable advances in science. However, it has also been a century of worldwide conflict and moral confusion.

The development of scientific knowledge and civilization has on the one hand allowed people to enjoy an abundant life. On the other hand it has resulted in such global problems as the abuse of nature, global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer. Serious problems have also arisen in relation to the human condition. Industrialization and modernization are destroying the family, and serious problems such as drugs, AIDS, violence and crime warn us that humankind is facing a crisis.

People have continued to pursue peace and happiness in many ways, but satisfaction remains elusive. World peace has not come even through the worldwide efforts of the League of Nations and the United Nations, established to prevent further conflict following the First and Second World Wars. Nor has a world of happiness been realized through the efforts of religious organizations. The ideals of international communism and the dreams of fascism have likewise failed to bring about an ideal world. Even the highest levels of technical skill and political effort have failed to bring peace and happiness to humankind.

Even now, tragic conflicts rage in many areas of the globe. A few recent examples include Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chechnya, Somalia and Laos.

Peace and human happiness depend on the moral and spiritual development of individual people. This is because a world or nation of peace is composed of individuals and families. Science and technical skills can be used for good—for the improvement of human life—only when they are utilized by good individuals.

Throughout history, the saints and great teachers have devoted themselves to guiding families, societies and nations toward a peaceful and happy world. But to take on the challenges of the twenty-first century, we need to go a step higher: we need true parents of humankind, true teachers and true owners who can raise impeccable leaders on the basis of morality and spirituality.

It is my absolute belief that, since God exists as the original embodiment of true love, He created this world and humankind to be the substantial object partners of His love and joy. God is the Parent of humankind. Human beings are God’s children. God, as the Parent, shares their joy and suffering. So God wants human beings to inherit true love.

God’s true love is the source of joy for humankind. Human beings are meant to become perfect through experiencing this true love—which happens through our life experience. The growth period for human beings on earth, then, is a precious time of experiencing this love, stage by stage.

Human beings come to know God’s love through stages of growth. First, they experience the heart of children; second, the heart of siblings; third, the heart of husband and wife; and fourth, the heart of parents.

The smallest unit in which God’s love can be realized is the family. Accordingly, the family is the foundation for human happiness, ideals and life. Throughout my life, therefore, I have taught the importance of the family and have held marriage Blessing ceremonies around the world for the sake of forming ideal families.

Today the world needs a model for an ideal society where people can peacefully coexist, embracing all nations, cultures and religions. In March and April of this year I issued the Sao Paulo Declaration and the New Hope Farm Declaration. With these, I initiated the establishment of a model society in Brazil and I will work toward its gradual expansion to other nations.

A community of true love and coexistence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values

Representatives from forty nations have begun the task of building this model society. In a harmonious society, there is a balance in the quality of life among its citizens. Such co-prosperity develops naturally through love on the basis of mutual responsibility. There can be no crime, discrimination or corruption in an ideal family. The realization of this comes about only on the basis of the practice of true love. This is a historic movement of people with different nationalities, skin colors and traditions, with the goal of establishing communities of true love.

Our world today is facing a serious environmental crisis. Abusing the natural environment desecrates the beautiful and holy world God created. People who lack true love simply regard the natural world as something to be used for their own selfish purposes. A serious result of the Fall is that Adam and Eve could not inherit God’s true love and people could therefore not properly love each other—or love the animals, plants and the earth. All things of creation are longing for the true love of human beings. Therefore I would like to establish this model, ideal society in South America—a model demonstrating the right relationship of love between human beings and nature.

I am working toward the realization of a world with no starvation. In these days of scientific advancement, we cannot just be observers or remain indifferent when we see something so terrible as millions of people falling victim to famine. In the past twenty years, I have allocated tens of millions of dollars for the development of ocean-related enterprises, through which we have developed a high-protein fish powder. Through our International Relief Friendship Foundation, we are helping countries in areas of Africa and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, the earnings generated from foodstuffs produced by our farms in Brazil and Argentina will be invested into solving the problem of starvation worldwide.

I have advocated the establishment of a society of coexistence, mutual prosperity and the common good. An ideal world means coexisting politically, prospering together economically, and creating an ethical society of goodness.

The essence of the ideology of coexistence is co-ownership based on God’s true love. By co-ownership I do not mean ownership merely in relation to material possessions but ownership based on God’s love. For example, in a family, which is the basic unit of a society of coexistence, even though all property is legally held in the parents’ names, in practice it is jointly owned by the whole family—parents and children alike—but each family member would have his or her own room, clothes and personal money. In this way joint ownership among family members is based on love and trust in the family, with individuals still responsible for their own property. Thus the purposes of the whole and the individual are harmonized. In a system of co-ownership, this ideal, love-based pattern of ownership in a family expands to the society, nation and world. This is the type of ownership that exists in an ideal society.

Ideal world based on true love

The original relationship between God and humankind is based on true love. There are many instances of co-ownership between God and the individual, between the whole and the individual, and between the neighborhood and the individual. When co-ownership is based on God’s true love, therefore, it is something for which we can be grateful.

In an ideal world realized by humankind having perfected God’s love, the purposes of the whole and of the individual would be naturally harmonized. As human beings have the desire and need for material things and a natural inclination toward love, an ideal society would permit individual ownership and individual purpose. Even so, citizens would not seek to have unlimited personal belongings or to fulfill an individual purpose detracting from the whole purpose. Human beings perfected in true love would wish to own an amount of property commensurate with their conscience and original nature.

In particular, economic activity by ideal human beings who have become true owners of all things based on true love would manifest love and gratitude. There could be no greed or corruption. Similarly there could be no emphasis on national or regional interests inconsistent with the purpose of the whole. The aim of economic activity would be the overall welfare, rather than the mere pursuit of gain.

This worldview based on mutual prosperity is rooted in God’s true love.

Mutual prosperity allows mutual participation in society and pursues a politics wherein the ideals of freedom, equality and happiness are realized.

Public participation in politics is for the purpose of electing representatives. However, when we understand that the ideal political model is an extended form of the love-based family, we realize that antagonistic relationships would not exist between candidates for public office. Their candidacy would be rooted in a calling to serve others. Groups of neighbors who attend one God and Parent, and relate to each other as brothers and sisters, would field candidates.

After a due electoral process, voters would accept the final decision as being the Will of God. Improper considerations would not influence the result. Citizens would choose a representative through prayer and solemn deliberation. As people would see a representative as having been elected according to the Will of God and heavenly fortune, everyone would come to accept the decision with gratitude and joy.

Important organizations and ministries within a nation of the ideal world would harmonize through reciprocal give-and-receive action centered on a common purpose. This is similar to the organs of the human body, which work together for a common purpose according to the direction of the brain.

The ideal of the common good characterizes a society in which people, under the absolute values of God’s true love, observe universal ethics and morality centered on true love. All members of such a society pursue a life of goodness and righteousness. An ideal world would exist on the basis of ideal families and perfected human beings. The harmony of ideal parents, ideal husband and wife, and ideal sons and daughters all practicing true love is the indispensable condition for an ideal family. Furthermore, a perfected person is one whose mind and body are harmonized through true love.

When perfected people practice goodness and righteousness voluntarily within the family, on the foundation of true love, they will realize the society and world of the heavenly way and of righteousness—that is, the ideal world.

However sophisticated our knowledge might be, when compared with true love it is found wanting. We need to know that human beings are truly happy when they understand the Will of our omniscient and all-powerful God. True knowledge is the knowledge of God’s Will. We need to understand and see world history and humankind in the way God understands and sees them. It is wrong for a scholar to be arrogant or to behave as if he were God and take control over others by means of his partial knowledge of the world God has created.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, your goal cannot be just to discuss the latest discoveries in physics, biology and chemistry. You need to understand and discuss how such discoveries and academic achievements can benefit each individual and society as a whole, and how harmonious relationships among people, countries and the things of creation can be realized.

Too often, new scientific knowledge has been misused for the gain of one individual or for one nation’s conquest of another or to secure a country’s own prosperity. Academic knowledge and innovation are great blessings that God has bestowed on humankind. God has given these blessings for the sake of the entire human race and the world. But if the academic achievements resulting from such blessings are used only for selfish purposes, a potential good actually becomes an evil.

Expectations of the Professors World Peace Academy

Professor Gerholm, I would like to thank you sincerely for the efforts you have devoted to the twentieth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences. You have worked together with ICUS since its founding days and have come to represent the highest level of the ICUS vision.

For this conference we have assembled experts from around the world to discuss the latest research in genetics, the biological sciences and the issue of human aging. These areas of research have opened new possibilities for humankind, but they are accompanied by new moral and social challenges. I will be praying that the ICUS conference discussions will be fruitful and will have a positive impact on our world.

The Professors World Peace Academy was established in 1973 to serve the academic community in the quest for world peace. In particular, PWPA has tried to create opportunities on university campuses for active research and concrete activities for the sake of world peace. The accumulated problems of the world are waiting for the guidance of conscientious scholars.

Professors not only teach theory but also instill character and values in students. As academics have an important influence on the character formation and development of their students, they need to actively guide and help them onto the path of goodness.

Through PWPA, my wife and I have established the World University Federation for the purpose of educating the young people of the world to become excellent leaders of a future society that reconciles nation with nation and religion with religion. I believe this vision can be realized centered on Sun Moon University in Korea and the University of Bridgeport in the United States, under the discerning guidance of President Se-won Yoon and President Richard L. Rubenstein respectively.

Through the activities of the World University Federation, students from around the globe will have access to the teachings of the world’s preeminent scholars, and professors will be able to guide many students—beyond nationality—to make a greater contribution to the future of humanity.

While professors have a great deal of influence on young people, students are influenced even more by their parents. It is the family that exerts the most influence on the formation of an individual’s character.

In life, the family is the most important school of love. Through education in love and spiritual sensitivity, which only parents can accomplish, a child develops his capacity of heart. This is the cornerstone of the formation of the child’s personality. Moreover, the family is the school for the education of children in virtue. The heavenly way is for people to receive academic education, physical education and technical education on the foundation of having received education in heart and virtue. Even though parents may not be aware that they are true teachers, children naturally learn from and resemble their parents. The role of parents is that important. Children’s loving personalities and spirituality develop as they emulate the true love and loving lifestyle of their parents.

Throughout the world today, the family is changing. The traditional family is being challenged from all sides. With the acceleration of industrialization and modernization, the value perspective of humankind is being eroded and standards of ethics and morality are being shaken. Furthermore, individualism, hedonism and materialism are destroying human character. Free sex and immorality are being promoted and the family is being corrupted.

We need to take the lead in establishing true families

Respected scholars, what a miserable trend this is! If it continues, humankind has no hope for the future. Therefore to whatever degree social conditions may change, the parent-child relationship and the family must not waver. I will say again that love is the source of human happiness and peace, and the family is the foundation for that love.

The historic Blessing ceremony of 360,000 couples that I will officiate in a few days is one result of my lifetime of teaching about the ideal family. Those who attend the Blessing ceremony are people who have already vowed to God they will realize an ideal family, and through the Blessing they receive the grace of unchanging love. They are people who will become true husband and wife and true parents centered on God’s true love and who will build ideal families.

The Blessing ceremony is not merely the marriage rite of a particular religious organization. It is the ceremony to give new life to a sick humanity, restoring the order of love and saving families from crisis. That is why the Unification Church chose “World Peace through Ideal Families” as the motto of this Blessing ceremony.

I am grateful for Professor Morton A. Kaplan’s leadership and hard work in convening this sixth International Congress of the Professors World Peace Academy, which will examine the future of the family. Scholars participating from 120 countries need to establish the parameters of what is a true family and challenge this modern era of corruption and immorality.

You must not only clarify and analyze the problems but also take responsibility to actually create and guide ideal families. It is my hope you will guide society toward building ideal families and help realize a glorious future.

Thank you.

18

Problems Confronting Society and
the Responsibility of the Media

October 4, 1982
Lotte Hotel, Seoul, Korea
Fifth World Media Conference

Honorable chairman, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

I am very pleased and deeply grateful that you have come to Korea to attend this fifth World Media Conference.

This conference brings together prominent communications professionals from all parts of the world to seek a greater understanding of the responsibility of the media in today’s society.

The Korean Peninsula is the microcosm of the world

The scope of the conference is global, and the understanding we seek is international. It is, therefore, particularly appropriate to hold this event in the nation of Korea, for it was here, thirty-two years ago, that twenty-one nations of the free world joined forces to turn back the unprovoked North Korean communist invasion of the South. This is certainly one of the noblest examples in history of unselfish international cooperation. The people of Korea will never forget the tremendous service the United Nations rendered in the face of such a serious violation of international peace.

It is also particularly appropriate for this gathering to take place in Korea, because it is here that the great cultures of the world are coming together today. Korea is unique among Asian nations. Here the ancient culture and ways of life have been preserved largely unchanged for five thousand years. The purest Asian culture in the modern world is to be found here. At the same time, many of the major religions of the world came to Korea and flourished here. Christianity, the spiritual core of western culture, took deep root and thrives in Korea. While Christian churches stand empty in many parts of the world, Korean Christian churches are alive with prayer and worship at all hours of the day and night.

Korean Christianity bears the fruit of the western tradition of Hebraism. Hebraism consists of the tradition of spirituality and faith in God, passed down from the Hebrew prophets through the Christian saints and into the world of today. This Hebraic tradition confronts the external, Hellenic tradition in its most extreme form, materialistic and God-denying communism, across the thirty-eighth parallel of Korea. A world that denies God is opposing a world that accepts God, and Korea is the place where these two worlds collide.

The Korean War was the embodiment of the clash between these two worlds. It was not merely a local conflict; it was global war involving the forces of world communism and the forces of the United Nations. Thus the Korean Peninsula is a microcosm of the world. It could be said that the problems of the world are encapsulated in the Korean Peninsula. This being the case, the solutions developed and successfully applied in Korea are not merely local solutions; they become solutions for the world.

What type of solution is necessary? The struggle between communism and the free world is a struggle of ideas—a struggle of belief, philosophy and ultimately of ideology. If God exists, then atheism must be wrong; if there is no God, then materialism must be correct. Since two contradictory beliefs cannot both be true, there must be a showdown in which the truth will prevail. We believe God exists. It is therefore our most important duty to make that God real in our lives and make that God indispensable in our world. By doing so, we bring the ultimate solution to the problem of communism. I established the Unification movement for this task. Korea is the logical place for this movement to have begun.

Solutions to social problems and the responsibility of the media

I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the experiences that led me to establish the Unification movement. When I was sixteen years old, living in the northern part of Korea, I began to have a series of extremely significant experiences. It is difficult for me to describe these experiences to you in words. I can say that the spirit world was opened to me, and I was able to freely communicate with the saints of that world. In the solitude of the mountains of northern Korea, I communicated many times with Jesus and with God Himself. The truths revealed to me at that time now constitute the core of the Unification teaching.

Recently, in a United States courtroom, I testified that I met with Jesus, Moses and Buddha. The media of the world were shocked, and found it difficult to believe, but I must tell you that these were my true experiences. I want to proclaim that the spirit world does exist and that human life is eternal.

After having these experiences, I established the Unification Church, the inspiration for the Unification movement. This movement will bring solutions to the gravest problems facing humanity today.

The Unification movement will bring about a positive solution to the problem of communism. To solve communism, a spiritual awakening must occur. This spiritual awakening will provide the necessary foundation for the solution to the physical problems that people face worldwide.

The Unification movement will bring about cooperation among the religions of the world, and the unification of all religions into one God- accepting family. The original mind of humanity recognizes the common Creator and Father. Under this common Father, we can and must unite into one human family.

The Unification movement will bring about a moral world. This is especially important for today’s young people. In the absence of an absolute moral standard, immorality is becoming rampant. A greedy, self-centered way of life, now approved and even encouraged, sees others merely as something used for personal gain. If this continues, it will certainly lead to the destruction of society.

To bring about the establishment of a good world, an absolute standard of universal value must be recognized and understood. Such a standard can only be based upon the eternal and unchanging Creator, God. God must become a daily reality in human life. When men and women live in daily communion with God, there can be no immorality.

This is the truth, and I am sure that no matter what, the truth shall ultimately prevail. Truth’s destiny shatters all lies, even if there is great economic, political or social power behind them. Lies cannot overcome truth.

In my bringing the unique message of Unificationism to the world, I realize that the media has often misunderstood me. If anyone could justifiably feel unkindly toward the media, it would certainly be me. I feel, however, that rather than be offended by the attacks of the media, I ought to be flattered that you have given me so much attention. Of course, I have consistently provided the media a most valuable service: I have given you a lot to write about. Keeping track of Rev. Moon, the media has never had time to become bored.

In fact, I bear no ill will toward the media, for I have great faith that the tremendously good potential of the media will ultimately be fulfilled. Up until this time, I have not been properly understood. Ignorance invites misunderstanding, and misunderstanding invites distortion. The reason why I am speaking to you today is to improve understanding between us. I don’t avoid speaking to you because it is my duty to communicate the truth, no matter how impossible this task may seem.

Purpose for making the film Inchon

Most recently, there has been a great surge of interest regarding me and the movie Inchon. The film cost almost $50 million to make and features a cast of famous Hollywood stars. Many people ask why Rev. Moon, a religious leader, would focus on producing a Hollywood movie. I would like to give you my own personal explanation.

I had two reasons, and neither one of them involved making money. The first was that I wanted to document the historical fact that the North invaded the South in the Korean War. Over the course of the past thirty years, communists have persistently worked to cover up this historical fact. Their deception effectively convinced many young people to believe that the United States and South Korea were the aggressors in the war. Yet in fact, the North Korean communist aggressors, backed by Soviet Russia and communist China, attacked millions of innocent victims. This must be clearly portrayed, and the true nature of the communist aggression must be documented. Inchon does this.

The second reason is that I wanted to pay tribute to Douglas MacArthur. Gen. MacArthur loved God and loved humanity, and he understood and hated atheistic communism precisely because it is the cruel enemy of God and all people everywhere. In the desperate moments following the North Korean invasion of 1950, the very existence of Korea and of the Korean people remained in great jeopardy. Gen. MacArthur fought, motivated by a deep desire to do God’s Will and to stop the communist aggression.

Through remarkable faith in God, he planned and executed the Inchon landing, a masterpiece of military strategy, and an impossible mission became a great victory.

Gen. MacArthur was not just a military genius; he was a great humanitarian as well. Following Japan’s surrender, Gen. MacArthur was in the position of supreme commander of the conquered empire. He could have been a tyrant, but instead he ruled postwar Japan with benevolent, fatherly care.

Gen. MacArthur had a clear vision of how to gain victory in the Korean War, and how the problem of communism in Asia could be completely solved. If the free world had followed his advice, there would not be a divided Korea today, and communism would not have caused the suffering that it has caused throughout Asia. There need not have been a defeat in Vietnam, a defeat that brought complete disgrace to the free world.

I want the young people of today to understand the greatness of Gen. MacArthur. I would like to see them take him as a hero and give themselves as he did, for the sake of God and the world.

There is also a very personal side to my involvement in making this film. When the Korean War broke out, I was being held in a communist prison camp in North Korea. I cannot begin to describe the horrible conditions of that camp. Most prisoners died within six months, but with the help of God I endured the life in that camp for almost three years. Following the Inchon landing, as the United Nations’ forces were fighting northward up the peninsula, the communists began to execute all the prisoners in the camp. Just hours before I was to be taken out and executed, I was liberated by the U.N. forces. Inchon is my way of expressing gratitude to Gen. MacArthur.

1 never had the opportunity to meet Gen. MacArthur, but this morning we have the good fortune to have his nephew, Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II, with us as our keynote speaker. I feel the general’s presence in the person of Ambassador MacArthur, and I am very happy to have him here.

The participation of Ambassador MacArthur, Chairman William Rusher, and the others here at the head table, as well as that of all of you, gives me the highest hopes for this meeting. Please work hard these next few days, and when the conference is over, I want you to have a chance to relax as my guests. I would like to show you my country and have you feel, when it is time to leave, that what you want to do most is come back for another visit.

Thank you for coming and may God bless you.

 

19

Media Credibility and
Social Responsibility

November 20, 1984
New Otani Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
Seventh World Media Conference
(Given on True Father’s behalf)

Honorable chairman, distinguished co-chairmen, ladies and gentlemen:

It is my pleasure to welcome you all to the seventh World Media Conference here in Tokyo, Japan. I am sorry I cannot be in Tokyo to welcome you in person. However, please be assured that my spirit is with you.

I hold the Japanese people and their nation in the highest esteem. They are setting a standard of excellence in the modern world. I am sure that everyone can learn a great deal from this Asian nation, which has achieved an economic miracle in our time and has become one of the great powers of the world.

As members of the electronic and print media, you represent the most powerful, influential and select group on the face of the earth today. In contrast to every other comparable profession in the world, most free nations have very few laws governing the conduct of the media—and that’s good.

People who are blessed to live in freedom know that a free press can be the strongest deterrent to dictatorship. More than political, economic or academic measures, the impact of the press is the most immediate in our society. This is certainly the belief of the World Media Association. But when there is little outside control, the only person standing between yourself and the abuse of your power is you.

Freedom is indeed one of the most precious gifts of the Creator. Human beings are created to be free spiritual beings, but when God created human beings free, He also gave them responsibility. Freedom requires self-discipline and self-control.

Freedom is bound by law. There are natural physical and spiritual laws at work in the universe and they are the ultimate limits of freedom. You are free to go to the top of the New Otani Hotel and jump off. That is your freedom, but your free act will bring your own destruction because you are going against the laws of nature. You are free to go into the ocean and breathe water instead of air, but the laws of nature will again be operating. Your lungs cannot bear it, and your life will be destroyed. No one can dispute this fact.

Spiritual laws, however, are not so obvious, yet they are as absolute as the laws of nature. To recognize spiritual law, we must recognize human beings as spiritual beings, created by God, the first spiritual Being in the universe.

God alone, being the Creator, determines the purpose of creation and sets the spiritual law. All value begins with God. God has already determined the purpose of human life and how human beings can fulfill that purpose. This is the foundation of absolute value. From this absolute value foundation, moral principles emerge and these moral principles comprise the spiritual law.

Human beings, created as spiritual beings, are bound by this spiritual law. We are here on earth to fulfill the fundamental human purpose as determined by the Creator. Our spiritual well-being is served as we fulfill our individual purpose in accordance with the moral law established by God. When we violate this law, we invite self-destruction, just as we do when we violate the laws of nature.

All of us, before we are journalists or any other kind of professional, are first human beings. The first responsibility of a human being is to exercise freedom in accord with basic moral principles. For the journalist, freedom of the press must be exercised according to certain moral standards .that are the common ground for all free men and women. This is where the importance of responsibility in media comes in. For this reason, as founder of the World Media Association, I emphasize and fight for freedom of the press as well as the moral responsibility of the media.

Thomas Jefferson wrote, quite correctly: “The press is the best instrument for enlightening the mind of man and improving him as a rational, moral and social being.” Jefferson went so far as to say our very liberty itself depends on freedom of the press, and that press freedom could never be limited, not even a little bit, without being lost entirely. There is a great deal of truth in this.

Yet, how can we become an instrument for enlightening the mind of man and inspiring him as a rational, moral and social being without ourselves first being rational, moral and social beings? We must understand the basic principles determining what is moral and what is immoral. We must come to a basic understanding of the spiritual law of God.

Democracy cannot be exercised without a free press. And a free press cannot be truly free unless exercised with moral responsibility. I believe that a free press is a moral press. We who are media professionals take special pride in this. This is why we can say that journalists hold a special place in our society. They are the guardians of freedom and fighters against injustice.

In recent years, however, has our press been a moral and responsible press? Let us take the example of the press in the United States. The United States is considered to be the best example of a democratic system. The United States Constitution guarantees freedom of the press. Nevertheless, it is clear that the media’s credibility and esteem are declining.

Studies show that in increasing numbers, people do not believe the newscaster as much as they used to. There seems to be floating through the fabric of society a growing perception of media arrogance and untrustworthiness. Last year, when United States troops were sent to Grenada, journalists were excluded from the scene. An NBC Nightly News commentator said what many members of the media were feeling. He said, “The American government is doing whatever it wants to, without any representative of the American public watching what it is doing.”

The response that quickly poured into the offices of NBC in the form of letters and phone calls was that viewers supported the government’s action five to one. An ABC newsman said that 99 percent of his mail supported President Reagan’s decision to keep the press out of Grenada. Time magazine received many letters on the issue, running eight to one against the press.

In 1976, the National Opinion Research Center conducted a poll, which determined that only 29 percent of the American population had “a great deal of confidence in the press.” Public esteem was already low, but eight years later that number has fallen even lower: to 13.7 percent in a recent survey, and it continues to decline.

Why is this? Why is the public refusing to believe the media? The public suspects selfish motivation behind news reporting, and people see that media practice has become increasingly irresponsible, sensationalistic and unprincipled.

The media cannot be apathetic to the trend of decreasing credibility. We cannot close our eyes to our responsibility for the future of the world. We, as founders, owners, writers and broadcasters of the media, must squarely face the judgment of public opinion, the judgment of history and the judgment of God.

Our job at the World Media Conference and the World Media Association is to restore declining media credibility to a wholesome level of trust and confidence. This is why our theme this year is, “Media Credibility and Social Responsibility’’ We must recover the public trust, draft an accurate account of history, and gain the approval of God, the Creator and final judge of us all.

The media, along with the future of the free world, is at a crossroads. On the one hand, if you try to limit press freedom by legal means, you will most likely destroy it altogether. On the other hand, a media that can rampage at will, out of control, will always be in danger of losing its sacred public trust, with the same resulting loss of press freedom.

The only workable answer to this dilemma is self-imposed integrity and discipline. You have to be strong and free enough to resist tampering on the part of governments, and you must be moral and righteous and stand up for justice, or you will abuse the faith of the people and eventually lose press freedom. The lesson of history is that the result of the abuse of power is the loss of freedom. To be a great journalist, you must be a great human being, living in accord with the moral law of God. Therefore, the challenge of journalism starts from the challenge of being a moral and righteous person.

At this seventh World Media Conference, I propose to begin the work of a Media Ethics Committee as a way to help bring about a greater media awareness of the need to be our own watchdog. This type of committee must be free from any government influence. It must be made up of distinguished representatives of the world press to serve the following purposes:

To monitor specific cases, issues and prevailing trends in journalism.

To seek realistic standards of practice from representatives of the media that could be explored for adoption into the media’s common ethic.

To speak out strongly on specific instances of abuse by the media, to call into question our own actions before the public does, and to recognize contributions by individuals and organizations to the cause of journalistic responsibility.

To create the Media Ethics Award, to be given at each year’s World Media Conference to the person or organization anywhere in the world whose work best embodies the highest ideals of journalism in action, and whose work contributes the most to elevating public trust in the media profession.

If this conference can become the birthplace of this new endeavor, which will contribute to the protection of the free media and promote and enhance media responsibility, then we will have done a monumental good in history.

It has been my firm belief that the media is the guardian of freedom and upholder of the truth. There is no better way to fight totalitarian systems than by promoting free and responsible media. I echo the historical maxim, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” In our modern day, this includes the microphone and camera as well.

I know that the gathering of the World Media Conference is a gathering of the mightiest forces on earth. I am confident that with this mighty force properly exercising its power, we can secure freedom for all humankind and peace for the entire world.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am writing this message to you from the United States federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut. More than anybody else, I understand the preciousness of freedom but I cannot bend my principles for the sake of my own freedom. I am fighting against injustice and government encroachment not only on my freedom, but also on the freedom of millions of oppressed people on the face of the earth.

May God bless you and your conference in Tokyo.

Thank you very much.

 

20

The Responsibility of the Media

in a Divided World

September 21, 1987
Lotte Hotel, Seoul, Korea
Ninth World Media Conference

Distinguished chairman, esteemed guests, ladies and gentlemen:

Thank you for traveling such great distances to attend the ninth World Media Conference. I am grateful for the opportunity to address this gathering once again in my home country of Korea. I should tell you that I have a special personal interest in bringing you to Korea, one that goes beyond the World Media Conference.

As you know, we are preparing to host the Olympic Games here exactly one year from now. This is the first time this honor has come to Korea, and every Korean citizen is busy cleaning and preparing everything in anticipation of a great many visitors who will be arriving soon, most of them for the first time.

It was my recommendation that the ninth World Media Conference be held in Korea, because I wanted you distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the press to see our Olympic preparations ahead of time and be eyewitnesses to the world. We Koreans are a very determined people who are doing everything possible to assure the success and safety of the 1988 Olympic Games.

Given that our conference theme this year is, “The Responsibility of the Media in a Divided World,” it is appropriate that Korea be the location for this conference. Just thirty miles to the north, democracy and freedom confront the communist dictatorship of Kim II Sung—the most repressive, regimented society existing anywhere in the world. Two separate worlds, one that accepts God and one that denies God, stand face-to-face in adversarial positions.

There is no better place to find such striking and vivid differences than Korea. The peninsula of Korea is a microcosm of the worldwide struggle between freedom and tyranny, good and evil, democracy and communism.

Today, whether we like it or not, these two worlds are already at war. You might call this the Third World War. Although it is an entirely different form of warfare from the previous two, it is nonetheless a total war.

This is a war between two ways of life, or two worldviews. Two conflicting value systems confront each other on every level of society. It is a war in which everything takes on strategic importance, not only militarily but also in the realms of politics, economics, culture and sports.

One side advocates every individual’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness—sacred rights endowed by the Creator. The other side holds that man’s destiny is determined by the state. One side holds human life as sacred and sees every human being as a child of God. The other side sees a person as no more than matter in motion. One side recognizes eternal existence and absolute values. To the other, all things are material—temporal, transient and relative.

These two worlds are locked in a deadly struggle, like ancient gladiators fighting to the death. Many people believe these two worlds can coexist peacefully. I am afraid I cannot share their optimism. I wish I could, but I know that some things simply cannot coexist.

Light and darkness cannot coexist. Light dispels darkness. Truth and lies cannot coexist. Truth must prevail. A person cannot be both alive and dead. The dead need to be buried and the living need to continue with their lives.

The worldwide conflict today between democracy and communism is a fight between light and darkness, truth and lies, life and death. As you know, in its brief, seventy-year history, the death toll of communism has exceeded 150 million. The killing continues even today, in North Korean concentration camps, in the Soviet gulag, in the jungles of Southeast Asia and in many other parts of the world.

I experienced the cruelty of the communist system when I was imprisoned in North Korea before the Korean War. More than a prison, it was a death camp, where the average prisoner survived only six months. It was only by the grace of God that I was liberated from this terror by Gen. MacArthur’s forces on October 14, 1950—the day before my scheduled execution.

During my two years and eight months in the camp, I experienced the evil of that system to the depths of my soul. I saw the worst of the inhumanity of Marxism in action, and I knew it could annihilate the world if left unchecked. From that time, I dedicated myself to fight and be victorious over communist ideology.

An ideology can be defeated only by another ideology, fighting fire with fire. Therefore, the deadly struggle we are engaged in today is a war of ideas.

This war cannot be fought by military means alone. Furthermore, the communists cannot be bribed into giving up. Communism can be confronted and defeated in only one way: the false idea must be overcome by a true idea in the way light overcomes darkness.

In my search for truth, I came to realize that the core evil of communism stems from its militant denial of the very existence of God and a denial of the eternal life of man. When you deny God, you are responsible to no one. You can take the law into your own hands. The ends justify the means. Man tries to take the place of God. On the basis of a complete denial of God, the doctrine of communism was born.

When we identify militant atheism as the very essence of communism, it becomes clear that the superior ideology that can put an end to communism has to be a God-affirming one. We call this ideology Godism, or headwing thought. As an absolutely God-centered worldview, Godism is the most effective weapon in the war to liberate people from communism. God alone overcomes godlessness.

The communist world, based on atheism, has failed to fulfill the human dream. Likewise, the free world has become materialistic and has forgotten God. It is falling into the same pit as communism, and it is helpless in the face of this great world crisis. In a world that is dark with confusion, Godism brings a new vision. '

Many have noted that my teaching and movement have made a constructive impact on the world—not just in religion, but also in every area of society.

I believe it is the duty of free people everywhere to unite together with compassion to liberate the people suffering under the yoke of communism.

Our goal, then, is not just anticommunism but liberation of the communist world. In 1976, we held a rally of three hundred thousand Americans at the Washington Monument. This was the culmination of my public speaking in America. The very next day, I announced that the next rally of this type would be held in Moscow. It is compassion and love for humanity that motivates us. We are committed to the freedom of all people—to let freedom ring in every corner of the world.

I know that nearly 2 billion people living under tyranny are waiting for this day of liberation. While free people hesitate, uncommitted and ambivalent, many perish today and every day.

In this war, the media is a crucial factor, maybe even the deciding factor. As journalists who express ideas, you play a major role in the struggle between democracy and totalitarianism. Those who recognize this can make a huge difference in the outcome. Those who do not can be manipulated. More than ever before, the pen is mightier than the sword; and the mightier the power, the greater the responsibility as well. The enormous power of the media carries with it the enormous responsibility to be a guardian of the ideals of an open and free society.

I have always believed that the media should be free, and that a free press should also be a responsible press. And a responsible press is a moral press.

What do we mean by a moral media? We recognize that human beings have God-given rights and dignity. The preservation of human rights and human dignity needs to be the standard of all ethics and morality. Therefore, the media should stand at the very forefront in the defense of freedom and the crusade against injustice. The media must lead in the fight against totalitarianism. Furthermore, in the service of morality, the media should oppose corruption and racism and vindicate the unjustly accused. A moral media needs to lead the fight against drug abuse, pornography and many other destructive vices of our society. A moral media forms the conscience of society.

I founded the World Media Association to promote free expression in the media wherever there is oppression and to encourage responsibility in the media wherever freedom of the press already exists. Furthermore, I founded this important organization to promote the spirit of truth so that all media professionals can become uncompromising champions of truth.

We have held this type of conference annually and have conducted numerous fact-finding tours with media professionals all over the world, including the Soviet Union, China, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Cambodia and Central American countries.

These tours are a search for truth, giving journalists an opportunity to experience the world firsthand. I am proud of what the World Media Association has accomplished in the past nine years.

Many of you may be seeing me in person for the first time, although I am sure you have seen many stories about me on television and in your own newspapers. You might agree that some of the more exciting stories about Rev. Moon have even helped sell more newspapers or attract a larger audience to your newscasts.

So, because I have helped you all these years, I would now like to ask you for one favor. Find out what I am teaching and what kind of life I am living. Conduct your own open-minded, thorough investigation, and draw your own conclusions. Korea is a good place to begin.

If our deliberation here can make substantial progress toward the realization of a free world, then we should commit our total effort, our resources and even our lives toward that end.

I wish you well in this worthy project.

Thank you for coming, and may God bless you.

21

Media Standards and
Journalistic Accountability

 

March 23, 1989

Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC, USA
Tenth World Media Conference

Distinguished chairman, esteemed guests, ladies and gentlemen:

It is my great pleasure to welcome all of you to the tenth World Media Conference, in Washington, DC.

It was reported to me that the participants and speaker selection this year are by far the most distinguished in the history of the conference. I am delighted to meet you all, many of you for the first time. I hope you are as happy to see me as I am to see you.

As you all know, I am primarily a religious leader. And yet my work has not been limited to the field of religion. I have a tremendous interest in the media. Since 1975, I have created many newspapers and publishing enterprises in different parts of the world. In 1975, I established a daily newspaper, Sekai Nippo, in Tokyo. In 1976, I founded the The News World (later renamed the New York City Tribune), in New York. I have started a chain of Spanish-language dailies, called Noticias del Mundo, in several major cities of the United States. In 1981, I began the daily Ultimas Noticias in Montevideo, Uruguay. In the Middle East, I started The Middle East Times.

But I am best known as the person who provided the alternative voice in Washington, DC, the nation’s capital. After the demise of the 128-year-old Washington Star, the city was left with only one newspaper.

The Washington Times in less than seven years has become a respected newspaper and has won many awards for design and editorial content. It is recognized by the Associated Press as one of the three most-quoted newspapers in the United States. The Washington Times Corporation also publishes a weekly news magazine, Insight, and a monthly academic journal, The World & I. Furthermore, I have just returned from Korea, where we launched a new major daily newspaper, The Segye Times, which has achieved a circulation in excess of 1 million in less than two months. In addition to these publications, in 1978 I founded the World Media Association to explore issues related to media ethics and responsibility.

The question arises, why does a religious leader expend so much effort and resources in media enterprises? My reason is quite simple. It is because I recognize the power of the media. The latter half of the twentieth century is an age dominated by communication. The electronic and print media are the most powerful and influential means of communication the world has ever known.

In a world of conflict and differing ideologies, the media play a large role in determining whether we live in peace or at war. My ultimate goal and desire is to achieve lasting world peace—a peace based upon a system of true values. The achievement of this goal is far more likely to be determined by the work of the media than by military might. So perhaps it is accurate to say that this room contains the most powerful people on the face of the earth—those who have the power to shape, for better or worse, the future of humankind.

In spite of the media’s great power, most free nations have very few laws governing the conduct of the media—in contrast to the great majority of professions in the world. Given this situation, when one considers the tremendous power wielded by the free press, it is clear that media professionals must continuously exercise their own powers of self-examination. We created the World Media Association as a forum for that self-examination. Our purpose is to promote the free press wherever freedom of expression does not exist and to promote responsible exercise of the media where the free press is already established.

Freedom is one of the most precious gifts of God to humanity. Human beings are created to be free—and also to be responsible for how we use our freedom. To use freedom properly requires self-discipline and self-control based on a fundamental understanding of right and wrong. When asked to define right and wrong, the answer is often given that anything is acceptable as long as it causes no one any harm. But clearly, even to determine what constitutes harm requires an absolute standard—a standard that must derive from the purpose of life itself.

God, being the Creator, has already determined the purpose of human life. We realize our spiritual well-being as we accomplish our life’s purpose in accordance with the moral laws established by God. When we violate these principles, we invite self-destruction, just as we do when we violate the laws of nature. I say this because, before one is a journalist or a scholar or a clergyman, or even a husband or wife, each person is a child of God. We are the sons and daughters of our Creator. This is where our sacred nature and unique human dignity originate. The first responsibility of a human being is to exercise freedom to preserve our God-given value. In order to do this, we must live in accord with basic moral principles given by God.

America is a nation that has put a high value on individual liberties. Americans and anyone living in America may worship as they wish, assemble at will and print or speak just about anything. At the same time, the American founding fathers stressed the concept of self-government. In America today, we find an abundance of freedom but a shortage of self-government.

Certainly the media must be free and self-governing. But self-governing media must also be moral media. What do we mean by moral media? Moral media use their freedom to protect, preserve and promote God-given human rights and dignity. The preservation of human rights and human dignity must be the standard of all ethics and morality.

Therefore, the media has to stand at the very forefront in the defense of human dignity and freedom and in opposition to all forms of injustice. Doing this is the best possible way to cultivate world peace. The media has to lead the fight against all forms of oppression. Furthermore, in the service of morality, the media needs to oppose corruption and racism and vindicate the unjustly accused. Moral media must lead the fight against drug abuse, pornography and many other destructive vices of our society. Thus the media has to become the conscience of society.

At this year’s conference, we have two firsts: delegations of journalists from the Soviet Union and from the People’s Republic of China. We are very pleased to welcome you. The communist world is rapidly changing. I encourage the new policies of glasnost and perestroika in the Soviet Union and the reforms being enacted in China. The media of both countries are playing a leading role in these changes. The World Media Association, in its commitment to free and open discussion, is happy to serve as a forum with your participation.

Both the democratic and communist worlds are searching for solutions to the problems of corruption, greed and exploitation. And both worlds are still far from achieving the ideal. As I see it, there are fundamental problems with both societies. They are both excluding God from their search for solutions. God has been forgotten.

Forsaking God is the most serious problem of this century. When you forsake God, either in the name of totalitarianism or a godless secularism, the result will be the same: self-destruction. Both East and West are struggling with this fundamental issue.

As I said, I founded the World Media Association to promote free expression in the media wherever it is suppressed and to encourage a responsible media wherever freedom of the press already exists. Furthermore, I founded this important organization to promote the spirit of truth so all media professionals can become uncompromising champions of truth. We have held this conference almost annually and have organized numerous fact-finding tours for media professionals to important areas all over the world, including the Soviet Union, China, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola, Cambodia and Central American countries.

These tours are searches for truth, giving journalists an opportunity to experience the world firsthand. As an excellent old saying goes, “Seeing is believing.” Journalists must always have their finger on the pulse of the world in order to report accurately. The work we will undertake in these next few days is important—an examination of the performance of free and moral media.

Finally, I am sure you have seen many stories about me on television and in your own newspapers. You might even agree that some of the more exciting stories about Rev. Moon have helped sell more newspapers or bring a bigger audience to your newscasts. So, since I have helped you all these years, I would now like to ask you for one favor: find out what I am teaching and what kind of life I am living. Conduct your own open-minded and thorough investigation, and draw your own conclusions. This conference is a good place to begin.

I hope you will enjoy your stay in Washington and will enjoy the conference.

Thank you for coming, and may God bless you.

22

True Unification and One World

April 10, 1990

Sobin Center, Moscow, USSR
Eleventh World Media Conference

It is a great honor and pleasure to convene with you this historic eleventh World Media Conference in the city of Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union. The theme of this conference is, “The Advancement of Global Communication and Cooperation,” and I feel there is no place more appropriate to gather for these discussions than right here in the Soviet Union.

Furthermore, it is an added pleasure for me to open these proceedings because we are simultaneously conducting the third conference of the Summit Council for World Peace and a gathering of the Association for the Unity of Latin America. Both of these excellent organizations are also committed to the quest for world peace.

For me to come to Moscow is an emotional experience. I would like to express my appreciation to the Soviet government, especially the officials of Novosti Press Agency. You have welcomed us to your great capital in a most hospitable manner. My wife and I, and our entire family, are moved by your kindness. I am sure that all of the guests in this room, who have come from every corner of the world, including former heads of state and government, will join with me in expressing deep gratitude to our hosts in this country. Would you join with me in giving them a round of applause?

I was recently asked by members of the Soviet media regarding my views on the importance of a spiritual renaissance as a precondition to social, economic and political progress. I would like to take this opportunity to elaborate on some of those views. I believe that such a spiritual renaissance is vitally important. To achieve it, we need to deepen our understanding of the human condition. This calls for some reflection on philosophical and religious topics. It may not directly concern either communications or media, but for me it is the fundamental understanding necessary to secure true peace in our world. Furthermore, it is the essence of what I have discovered through my lifelong search, and the core of my teaching.

God’s original ideal

When we observe our universe, we recognize that every being exists through the union of paired elements. This is true on all levels, beginning even with the mineral realm. Molecules are produced from the harmonious interactions of positively charged atomic nuclei and negatively charged electrons. In the case of flowering plants, existence and reproduction require the union of male and female reproductive cells produced within the stamen and pistil.

The pair system is even more obvious on the level of animals. Fish, birds, mammals and other types of animals exist as male and female. Finally, human beings, the supreme creations of God, are either men or women. The first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve, were the original ancestors of humankind. What is the purpose of the pair system? Why did God create in this way? The Creator divided all things into male and female so that they might unite through their give-and-receive relationship of love. Through the action of love, each species multiplies and extends its lineage.

Human ambition is limitless and infinite. Then what is the true goal of this infinite desire of a human being? For woman, it is man. For man, it is woman. Man and woman can find true love only through each other. In history, differing views of life, the universe and God have presented unresolved problems. The solution to these problems can be found when a true man and a true woman unite with God in true love, creating absolute oneness. This is the source of absolute values. Man exists for the sake of woman. Woman exists for the sake of man. Each is to be the other’s object of love.

God is a being of absolute love. He wanted to create human beings as His object partners of love, to whom He could pour out His love. In so doing, He would naturally look forward to the return of that love from men and women. In this way, God would feel infinite joy. In order to become perfect objects of the love of God, Adam and Eve needed to be united in love first. Therefore, before Adam and Eve could stand as a mature human couple resembling God and receiving and returning His love, they needed to go through a period of growth and reach maturity.

The principle of true love is not one of being served; it is to serve others. When God Himself initially created His objects of love, He invested every ounce of His energy—100 percent of His being. This established the pattern of true love. In other words, God established the tradition of true love in the form of total investment. At that point, true love became the center of the universe, and even almighty God chooses to be obedient to it.

When God created, He totally spent Himself, creating a vacuum within Himself. In the earth’s atmosphere, when a low-pressure area is formed, air at higher pressure is automatically attracted to it. Whenever someone serves others to the absolute degree, energy rushes in to fill that person up. Therefore, all the love that God has given to create His perfect object partners ultimately has to be returned to Him by men and women.

Only love transcends all barriers. When you are united with God in true love, you have dominion over all of God’s creation, both physical and spiritual. When you live completely for others, you are reaching the very essence of God’s own being. God’s vibrations become your vibrations. God’s feelings are naturally transmitted to you. Living this way, you become a body in resonance with God’s heart and love. Just as two tuning forks can resonate together, you and God can always be in mutual resonance.

That is the ultimate, original state of the human being. When you achieve that state, the love of God becomes your love, the life of God becomes your life, and the lineage of God becomes your lineage. The world that God created becomes your world. We are to share the love of God with all things in heaven and earth. We are to be citizens of the kingdom of heaven, with the heart of parents.

Our separation from God

The law of cause and effect is clearly evident in history. Whatever you have sown, you will surely reap. Adam and Eve, the first human ancestors, abused love as they engaged in immoral sexual relationships while they were still growing. This was the human Fall. God wanted them to grow in purity until He blessed them in heavenly matrimony, to become the foundation of God’s true love, true life and true lineage. All people, having descended from this perfected and blessed Adam and Eve, would have naturally become the sons and daughters of God, enjoying the love of the Creator and living in the kingdom of heaven on earth and in the spirit world.

However, while Adam and Eve were still teenagers, before they had matured and received God’s Blessing of marriage, the archangel tempted Eve and engaged in fornication with her. In this way, the archangel became Satan. By engaging in premature sexual relations with fallen Eve, Adam also fell. This is how the beginning of human history was sown. Today, we are reaping the consequences. Immorality is rampant. Teenagers in particular are the victims of widespread sexual degradation. Modern society in advanced nations is virtually the same as Sodom and Gomorrah of biblical times. God abhors this immoral behavior. We need to fear the wrath of God. His punishment is imminent.

The struggle between good and evil

God is at the center of goodness. Satan is at the center of evil. The history of humanity has been the history of struggle between good and evil— between God and Satan—working through men and women. But the respective strategies used by God and Satan have been diametrically opposite each other. Satan, being arrogant and greedy, always attacks the side of goodness. God’s camp is always hit and suffers, but this gives God the opportunity to bring justice. The side of good is vindicated and occupies new territory. Satan’s side has to withdraw and decline.

For example, in World War I, the belligerent nations were ultimately defeated. The same was true in World War II, where the Axis powers, after initially attacking, were finally defeated by the Allies. Every exploiting power will ultimately decline, while whoever suffers persecution for the sake of goodness will ultimately be raised up by God.

My own life exemplifies this. I have been struggling for the sake of goodness and the cause of God, but the opposition has been relentless. Years ago, I was tortured and beaten, and I have been imprisoned numerous times. One would think that my movement would die out and be forgotten, but the opposite has occurred. I have built a worldwide foundation and have continuously advanced and prospered.

Conscience: teacher and parent

Within every person there is a most precious and lifelong teacher. That teacher, however, has been mistreated, trampled upon and abused. That teacher is the human conscience. Your conscience always speaks out for your own benefit, trying to connect you to true love. Like a parent, your conscience urges you to be a good, unselfish individual, and guides you to do the Will of God. But within each person there is also a rebel that always goes against the conscience. That rebel is the physical body.

The body has trampled on and abused the conscience miserably. When you become aware of this, can you take the side of your body, which has been the enemy of your conscience, and which has greatly damaged your life and personality?

Your conscience must be your constant internal teacher and parent, leading you to complete unity with the ultimate Parent of humankind, God. The conscience, then, is the agent of God within you and may even be called a second God. Do you think you need to be sympathetic toward and protective of your body, the enemy of your conscience? Or do you think you need to restrain and discipline your body in order to vindicate your conscience? Your body pursues only carnal desires. When it is hungry, it steals and satisfies itself. It always seeks comfort and wants to take advantage of others. The body has its own realm. To conquer the realm of the body is an awesome responsibility that every person needs to undertake.

When this is achieved, the mind as the vertical self and the body as the horizontal self are completely harmonized into oneness, and a person reaches perfection, united in love with God for eternity.

The role of religion

God is the source of true love, true life and true lineage. Since we humans originate from this source, we too must experience true love, true life and true lineage. However, because of the Fall, tragically, we never achieved the position of being God’s children. Instead, men and women have received love, life and lineage from Satan.

Due to the Fall, love today is basically self-centered. That self-centered love does not originate from the mind but is centered on the body. The body is where Satan’s activities are conducted. The body is Satan’s dancing place, his mooring post. The mind represents God’s position, or the plus position. The body, which ought to assume the object or minus position, tries to make itself another plus; continuously teasing or fooling the mind. In our lives, it is crucial to correct this relationship.

Therefore, God established religion to rehabilitate fallen people. Through religion, God is teaching people how to strengthen their God-centered mind and reverse the body’s dominion over their life and personality. That is why religion often demands fasting, sacrificial service and a meek and humble attitude. These are methods of reducing the body’s power and causing the body to submit to the mind. Normally, in religious life, it takes about three to five years to change from the habit of a body-centered life and create a new, spirit-centered way of life.

Furthermore, as the Bible says, you must pray without ceasing. This is vitally important because Satan controls the environment of the fallen world. Satan tempts and distracts fallen people from all directions twenty- four hours a day, while God is able to work from only one direction, the vertical direction of the mind.

The restoration of God’s ideal

In the eyes of God, the fallen world is a world of spiritual death. His Will is the restoration of that world of death into a world of life. Restoration is another way of saying salvation. When the original, ideal state has been lost, it needs to be restored. When a healthy person becomes sick, a physician has to come and bring the person back to original health. By the same token, the original, ideal condition intended by God was lost. Therefore, the work of God has been to restore this fallen world to the original, sinless state.

To accomplish that task, God sends the Messiah. However, before the Messiah comes, God prepares a chosen group of people to be ready to receive the Messiah. That is what the Bible calls an orchard of wild olive trees.

The orchard of wild olive trees represents a certain sphere in the fallen realm that God can still direct and control. After it has been prepared, the Messiah comes. The Messiah then cuts down all the wild olive trees in God’s orchard and grafts into them the true branch of life. In this way, all the wild olive trees become true olive trees. In other words, human beings are returned to their original state.

The religious people of today are these wild olive trees in God’s orchard. Even the most devout religious person must still seek the Messiah because he has not yet received the true lineage of God. The Messiah comes as the True Parents of humankind, restoring the positions of Adam and Eve. Therefore, to be connected to God’s true lineage, each person needs to unite with the True Parents and become a recipient of true love. By so doing, each person can become a true son or daughter of God. In this way, the Messiah brings salvation to humankind.

The Messiah, in the position of True Parents, must root out the trees that have grown from false seeds, subjugate Satan and connect humankind into oneness with God in true love, making all people true sons and daughters of God. In this way, the kingdom of heaven on earth can be created, where men and women will finally be able to enjoy true freedom.

What is the way of unification? Let us consider the first human family. First of all, there is God. Second, there are the human beings, Adam and Eve. Adam is masculine and Eve is feminine. They compete with each other to be the first to secure God’s love. If they are selfishly motivated, there will be no unity. However, if they are unselfishly motivated, Adam will say, “I want to reach God first solely for you, Eve.” The woman will be overjoyed. She, in turn, will say, “I want to reach God only for your sake, Adam.” Then the husband will be fully satisfied. There is no struggle; there is unity even in their competition.

That is not simply a way for a husband and wife to be happily united; it is more than that. It is the very key to the unification of all people.

God-centered worldview

Throughout history, God has been working through the human conscience. In spite of God’s efforts, however, every attempt made thus far to restore people to the original starting point—the heart of God—has failed. It still remains for someone to liberate humankind from this Satanic environment and lead a successful search for truth and true love. That is the mission of the Unification movement.

Godism is a God-centered worldview, the essence of which is the ideal of true love. Godism has two distinct missions: to bring unity between God and human beings, and to bring unity between mind and body.

Since I have discovered the solution to these two fundamental problems—the unity of mind and body, and the unity of people and God—I have to proclaim this truth as clearly and effectively as possible, without hesitation.

If you follow this teaching, I assure you that you can definitely conquer your body’s carnal desires. Your body can become 100 percent united with your mind. You will then be eligible to become the true object partner of God and establish a true love partnership with God.

Whenever two people are bound together by true love, they are entitled to three important rights: first, the right of inheritance; second, the right of dwelling together; third, the right of participation. Take, for example, the relationship between husband and wife. The husband might be the president of a great nation, while his wife might be a woman of very humble origin and little education. If they truly love each other, however, they are equals. They own all things in common, live together and participate on an equal level.

In the same way, when a man and a woman are connected to God through true love, they will also enjoy the rights of inheritance, participation and living together eternally with God. When you reach this depth of heart, you will constantly experience the presence of God, and God will truly dwell among people.

True Parents

True love always travels the shortest distance at the fastest speed. Therefore, true love coming from God to earth travels the shortest distance, forming a vertical line. The love between man and woman also travels the shortest distance, forming a horizontal line. When the vertical true love meets with the horizontal true love, the crossing point absolutely has to be at a ninety- degree angle. There is no other way these lines of love can intersect.

Who is God? God is the vertical True Parents, with true love at the central position. Being our vertical Parents, God is intimately close to each of us. When we welcome the perfected human ancestors—perfected Adam and Eve—as True Parents, we create a ninety-degree crossing point between the vertical true love of God and the horizontal true love of True Parents. We thus have two sets of True Parents. From them we receive true love, true life and true lineage. This creates one world that completely resonates with true love.

The Soviet Union

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very grateful to have the opportunity to share with you these reflections on the nature of God and humanity. I am also very happy to be here in the Soviet Union. My heart truly goes out to the people of the Soviet Union. Many of you have gone through unbearable suffering, and that saddens me. I love your country and your people very much. I clearly envision a moral and economic renaissance for the Soviet Union that will dramatically affect the entire world. I will do all I can to encourage and support that renaissance.

You are undertaking a new Soviet revolution, but this must be a revolution without blood or bullets—a revolution of the heart and soul.

I have been speaking about the importance of the family. But I want to tell you that in the depths of my heart, I feel that the Soviet people are a part of my family. I assure you that my wife and children feel the same. Also, I assure you that members of the Unification movement worldwide will do their utmost to work together with you for the future prosperity and wellbeing of all humanity.

I believe the Soviet Union will play a key role in God’s plan to build a world of true and lasting peace. This vast union of nations, which stretches from the Far East, bordering my country of Korea, to the very heart of Europe—the birthplace of western civilization—has a natural destiny to be a bridge between Europe and Asia. We have to regard ourselves as being members of one global family living in one global house.

May God bless the Soviet Union and all its people. Thank you for coming and participating in this historic conference.

Thank you very much.

 

23

God’s Strategy for Victory

 

May 21, 1992

Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, DC, USA
Tenth Anniversary of
The Washington Times

Distinguished guests, Freedom Award recipients, ladies and gentlemen:

As the founder of The Washington Times, I would like to extend my congratulations to the Freedom Award recipients.

You richly deserve recognition for your service in the defense of freedom. Tonight, as I look back, I remember the day in 1981 when I decided to create this newspaper.

A decisive role in the downfall of communism

I ask you to recall the situation at that time together with me. When The Washington Star collapsed, Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States of America and the world’s inspiration for freedom and democracy, was left with just a liberal newspaper, The Washington Post. That situation was completely unacceptable.

At that time, the idea of starting up a new, conservative paper to challenge the Post was unthinkable. I assure you that if I had sought political, influence, religious propaganda or personal wealth, The Washington Times would have been the wrong project indeed. The fact is that I have invested close to a billion dollars in this newspaper during the past decade. I founded this newspaper only because I understood that this enterprise was the Will and sacred plan of God, who loves America and its Judeo-Christian heritage.

God looks to America to assume the central role in saving the world from the collapse of traditional values and in defending the free world from the threat of communism. That is why I, who have dedicated my entire life to the fulfillment of His Will, created The Washington Times, to provide America with responsible leadership in fulfilling this providential role without any hesitation.

This tenth anniversary celebration commemorates the decisive role played by The Washington Times in the downfall of communism, and it anticipates the hope of America and the world for a bright future. In speaking of the future, allow me to share with you my hopes for a world of peace and harmony.

The basis of peace and unity is true love

Ladies and gentlemen, what is the most precious thing in the world? It is true love, with God at its center. If there is anything that you cannot gain with money or power, it is true love.

True love is unique in that it cannot be actualized except within a relationship. A relationship requires giving and receiving between two beings, a subject partner and an object partner. Love between husband and wife, love between parent and child, and love between brother and sister are all experienced within relationships. In the same way, for God to fulfill the ideal of true love, He created the universe to be in the object partner position.

Among all of God’s creations, humankind, consisting of God’s sons and daughters, was created to be God’s primary object partner of love. It is only through true love that we can experience true unity between God and human beings, between men and women, and among all the creatures in the world.

True love is the ultimate center of all united and absolute values. This love originates from the act of sacrificing oneself for the sake of others. Give of yourself to others and forget your giving, then give again; this is the nature of true love. That is why when God created an object partner of love, He gave of Himself for the sake of that creation. He invested everything He had. God invested one hundred percent and then invested again and again.

In nature, when air moves, a low-pressure area is created. Then in a cyclical motion air rushes back to fill the area of lower pressure. In human life, when we give our love until we have no more to give, God’s unlimited love rushes back into our hearts to fill the void. This is the fundamental truth about the mind.

Absolute giving for the sake of others, therefore, will bring us unlimited energy. God stands in the position of subject partner, giving love to humanity.

God’s original nature of giving love again and again generates a perpetual dynamic motion characterizing God’s eternal existence. It is logical for this to occur. Thus, eternal life is the natural consequence of living according to the way of true love.

The special qualities of love include the right of inheritance, the right of equal status, and the right of participation. There may have been occasions when men who became presidents of the United States had wives who had not even graduated from high school. However, when a husband and wife are engaged in mutual true love, what belongs to the husband belongs to the wife at the same time. And since they live together, day and night, they both have the right to live in the White House as president and first lady, and both can participate in affairs of the state.

Since love has these three important qualities, if you can stand in the position of having God’s absolute and unchanging love, you can be where God is. You will have the right to live together with God all the time.

When you have accepted this true love of God one hundred percent into your body and mind, the roots of God’s love will begin to grow in your heart. Then you will be able to sense everything He feels, and your body automatically will resonate with that.

Therefore, filling yourself completely with the true love of God is the essential condition for uniting your mind and body and becoming the eternal object partner of God. If we, as human beings, resonate with God’s love and enter a sphere of oneness, then God’s love will be our love, God’s life will be our life, God’s lineage will be our lineage, and God’s creation will be our creation.

The life of human beings takes after the life of God. The core of His life is true love, which is living for the sake of the object partner. For this reason, God created us according to His principle of living for the sake of others. By living and sacrificing for others, we can realize the ideal of love.

With this in mind, we cannot expect world peace to result from the contemporary philosophy of individualism, in which each person lives for himself or herself. It is the intention of evil to destroy the sphere in which the individual dwells as God’s object partner. When that occurs, what remains is the individual living only for oneself. This is the fundamental cause of family breakdown, racial conflict, economic disparity and conflict between religions.

1 came to America to awaken her youth

America was founded on the Judeo-Christian spirit of love. Then how did it develop this culture of individualism? While fighting communism, I have tried continually to awaken America’s youth and I have repeated my warnings to people in the free world so that they would not be affected by this degenerating pattern. Yet America is still suffering from a variety of social ills. Drug wars, AIDS and increasing criminal violence still plague this great country. Even the considerable military, economic and intellectual might of America did not and cannot cure these diseases.

This is the very reason for my coming to America. I am like a doctor who has been called to treat a wound. Even when I was indicted wrongfully in America, I willingly came back from Korea to answer that summons. That was because I believed that the truth would prevail. I was indicted and imprisoned unjustly. However, I still wish to save America.

I even made the decisions that led to the creation of The Washington Times while sitting in the courthouse during my trial. Moreover, I gave instructions to start Insight and The World & I magazines while in Danbury prison. I am proud of the fact that The Washington Times played a decisive role in heightening America’s awareness of the threat of communism. Although this country has rejected me repeatedly, I have continued my best efforts to awaken America to its providential responsibility.

Insight magazine publicized the results of its polls on a weekly basis to inform the general public about the direction taken by the congressional leadership. And The World & I, by publishing words of guidance from world-renowned scholars, has attempted to widen the ideological horizon of the future of humanity.

It was while I was in Danbury prison that I helped to found the American Freedom Coalition, due to my anxiety regarding the decline of the United States. Through a nationwide network the American Freedom Coalition is educating the general public on building a better society. I also recently launched the International Christians for Unity and Social Action (ICUSA). This organization is carrying out the mission of awakening and uniting Christianity through the true love of God.

Although America continues to rebuff me, I have persisted in doing my utmost to awaken this nation to the realization that it bears providential responsibility. God’s strategy to save humankind is to absorb the first blow and suffer the loss but then, through the course of time, to regain even more than what was lost.

Evil, on the other hand, always strikes first and claims initial victory, but ultimately loses everything. As you know, during the First and Second World Wars, and even in the Cold War, the countries that struck first eventually lost. The life of Jesus is an example that best illustrates this principle. ’

Jesus was persecuted severely, and he died under wretched circumstances. However, as a result of that, billions of people have been following Jesus and returning to God. If righteous individuals endure persecution, their commitment to suffer for their faith plants a seed of respect and admiration in the conscience of their oppressors. Eventually, that seed will grow and transform the hearts of many for generations to come. This quiet revolution of the heart is Heaven’s secret weapon. I have undergone immense hardship in my efforts to pioneer the way to a world of true and just peace.

When I founded The Washington Times, very few people comprehended my intent, let alone offered to help. Nonetheless, because I knew God’s winning strategy, I went forward. I foresaw that this newspaper would be an instrument to save America and the world, even if it meant sacrificing the Unification movement and myself.

The love between God and humankind forms an axis that is a straight, vertical line. On the other hand, the love between Adam and Eve forms a horizontal axis that intersects the vertical one. Therefore, to inherit the love, life and lineage of the two sets of parents, God and Adam and Eve, humankind needs to serve God as the vertical Parent and Adam and Eve as the horizontal parents. Moreover, the mind, which is the vertical self, and the body, which is the horizontal self, unite through true love. At that point, humankind becomes the eternal object partner of God. God and human beings, like a father and his children, need to unite in true love.

Each person's mind and body also need to unite as one through true love, just like the mind and body of God. However, due to the Fall, humankind came to inherit the love, life and lineage of Satan. Therefore, even though our mind stands on God’s side, our body is under Satan’s control. Consequently, our mind and body are fighting ceaselessly on account of their internal contradictions.

Now is the time for us to awaken America

During our lifetime we have to fulfill the task of overcoming this situation. Knowing this, God established religion as the repair shop to repair us. Religion teaches us ways in which our mind can recover its natural control over our body. Herein lies the reason why the ascetic practices of believers—such as fasting, self-sacrifice and service to others—are always essential requisites among the various forms of religious penance.

The Bible says that Adam and Eve fell because they ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then what did Adam and Eve do after eating that fruit? Instead of covering their mouths or hands, they covered the lower parts of their bodies. This action signifies that Adam and Eve formed their family centering on Satan and not on God. The seed of evil was sown at that time, and it became the origin of the evil lineage that has multiplied generation after generation.

The first human ancestors drifted away from God and fell in their adolescence, before reaching perfection in His love. That is the reason why today’s youth in various parts of the world have continued to violate the morals of love, engaging in illicit sexual intercourse just as Adam and Eve did. That also was the cause of the inevitable destruction of obscene and immoral civilizations in history. From the historical viewpoint, Sodom and Gomorrah, and even Rome, were ruined because of immorality. If America follows this path, it too will meet with its destruction.

We need to awaken America now. In the next ten years, our task will be more difficult than ever. We cannot relax just because the fight against communism has ended. Look around you and see what is happening in the most advanced and civilized nations, such as the United States, European nations and major Asian nations.

Who can halt the surging wave of immorality that is sweeping the globe? This is becoming a world that worships hedonism and seeks only to stimulate carnal desires. The war against drugs in this country has been a complete and utter failure. The distribution of drugs is increasing continuously, flooding the world. This is not the way that the mind is seeking. It is the way pursued by the body. It is also the way that leads to death. Someone has to step forward and save humanity from this fallen environment and guide people to the path of salvation.

Ladies and gentlemen, do you know who the Messiah is? The Messiah comes as the True Parents of humanity. The True Parents are meant to eradicate the false roots originating from the false parents and build the kingdom of heaven, where everyone can be free in true love. True Parents are the ones who are coming to fulfill this important task.

When we have found the origin of God’s true love, when our mind and body are united as one, and when we truly wish to live for the sake of others, the eternal and unchanging world of peace will come upon us. That will be the day of glory.

Moreover, the riots that occurred in Los Angeles a few weeks ago confronted us with issues that cannot be solved merely with more police, more laws, more money or more political negotiations. Without the true love of God on earth, that is, without people living and sacrificing for the sake of others, we will not be able to solve such problems.

World peace through the true love revolution

What we need is a revolution, that is, a moral revolution. I call this the true love revolution. And this revolution is needed everywhere. My wife and I currently are establishing organizations to carry out this work in Korea.

Respected leaders! As community leaders, it is important to realize that giving and sacrificing for the sake of others is the only way to establish yourself as the true head of your family and society, and to become a true leader of your nation. When your family, society and nation follow you in practicing the great principles of true love, you will become a champion in the establishment of world peace.

As you may know, I visited North Korea in November of last year. That event shocked the world. It was considered impossible, due to my lifelong stand against communism. As early as 1985, I predicted and proclaimed the downfall of communism and the economic disintegration of the Soviet Union.

In many communist countries I was considered an enemy of the state. My trip, therefore, was a life-threatening venture for my wife and me. Yet I went to North Korea out of love for my country and out of a fervent desire for the reunification of my homeland. I met with President Kim II Sung, and we had a meaningful dialogue.

Even with differences of opinion, dialogue is always useful. Isolation is always dangerous. One outcome of the meeting was that he promised me to settle the nuclear issue to the satisfaction of the United States. The moment of truth on this issue is coming soon. All in all, I feel that my visit contributed tremendously to easing tensions in Asia and the world.

In that atheistic country I preached that God and true love must be the basis and spirit for national unity and permanent peace. The Reverend Billy Graham is well known for his great work, and he was the first to preach in several communist countries. This time, however, it was my privilege to be God’s instrument and to speak God’s words in communist North Korea.

Today, The Washington Times and its magazines begin another decade of service to America and to God. Even greater challenges lie ahead of us. To meet these challenges, I need every one of you to be a champion. In the next ten years, let us build a moral America, a moral world and a better world for our children. You can surely count on my support.

Ladies and gentlemen, The Washington Times is your newspaper as much as it is mine. Together we will make this great newspaper even greater. May God’s blessing be with you and your family.

Thank you very much.

24

The Mission of the Media in the
Twenty-first Century

 

August 22, 1992
Hilton Hotel, Seoul, Korea
Twelfth World Media Conference

Respected Chairman MacArthur, honored guests, distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the media:

I would like to express my deep gratitude to each of you for coming to my homeland, the Republic of Korea, to attend the twelfth World Media Conference.

Activities for substantiating world peace

This conference is a part of the World Culture and Sports Festival, which has been established to gather together all the projects and accomplishments of my lifetime and offer them as one to God.

Coinciding with this media conference, several other meetings are taking place. Scholars and scientists have come to attend the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, a gathering with a nineteen-year history; major religious leaders representing the world’s many expressions of faith have gathered at the Interreligious Assembly of the World’s Religions; and statesmen, including former heads of state and government, are here to attend the Summit Council for World Peace.

At the same time, woman leaders from around the world are here to attend a symposium of the Women’s Federation for World Peace, an organization headed by Mrs. Moon. In addition, young athletes from many nations are competing in a Sportsfest connected with the Convention of World Students, sponsored by the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP) to discuss the qualities required of future leaders in the twenty-first century.

The realization of world peace is the ultimate purpose of all I have tried to accomplish during my life. For the same reason, last year I founded the Federation for World Peace and the Interreligious Federation for World Peace. I have found that the center of world peace is in the family, and have consistently promoted world peace through ideal families.

Three days from now, on August 25, the largest international wedding ceremony in history will be held as a concrete expression of my philosophy of peace. Good men and women from 130 countries, transcending their different nationalities and races, are to be united in holy matrimony in the name of God’s true love. They are determined to build ideal families and become advocates for world peace. This solemn ceremony, therefore, signifies their dedication and commitment to a peaceful world.

I cordially invite you to observe this ceremony as special guests because I think that as journalists, you are eager to witness and report about this unique event. Since I am granting you an exclusive, a front-row seat for this most historic event, you may be thinking I might expect something from you in return. All I request of you, however, is that you not look upon this as a spectacle, the greatest show on earth, but that you seriously examine it as the creation of a force for peace, and that you extend your sincere congratulations to these couples.

The time has come for the media and journalists to completely understand and appreciate the comprehensive vision of peace I am outlining here, and become completely one with this vision, so that you may participate in fulfilling the ideal of world peace that is our common hope.

Last May, I traveled to Washington and spoke at a dinner commemorating the tenth anniversary of The Washington Times, which I founded. I was reminded that when I first announced the founding of The Washington Times in 1982, there were many people in America who ridiculed me. Some experts predicted, even if I founded a newspaper of acceptable quality, that I would run out of funds in six months. And even if that did not happen, the paper would degenerate into nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Unification Church and would end up as a marginal weekly, read by almost no one.

Now ten years later, among the 1,750 newspapers published in the United States, The Washington Times ranks among the top three papers in terms of influence. It is the first newspaper read by the president of the United States when he rises each day. On August 13, 1992, President George H.W. Bush gave an exclusive interview to Wesley Pruden, editor in chief of The Washington Times. It was President Bush’s first such interview with a daily newspaper during the presidential election campaign season.

Year after year, The Washington Times earns awards for its excellence in editorial design. In 1989, in the American Newspaper Society’s annual design competition in the United States, it received Best of Show honors, the award of highest excellence granted only by the unanimous vote of a jury of twelve judges. Furthermore, in the category of editorial writing, The Washington Times received the jury’s highest award for two consecutive years, something that had never before been achieved by any newspaper in the United States.

A decisive role in the demise of communism

During the past ten years, I have invested a billion dollars in this newspaper. If I were pursuing political influence or personal wealth, or if I were trying to promote my religious beliefs, I would not have invested such a sum in a newspaper. Simply put, I founded The Washington Times in order to fulfill the Will of God.

I know that God loves the United States of America. The United States is a center of traditional Judaism and Christianity. It is the cradle of the spirit of modern Christianity. God’s desire is that the United States maintain its traditional values, which have fallen into confusion in recent years, and play a central role in rescuing the entire world.

During the Cold War, God placed the United States in a position to block communism’s attempt to gain global dominance. In the context of God’s Will, it was most important that there be a newspaper that had the intellectual and philosophical capacity needed to strengthen the American people and political leaders. I certainly could not leave Washington, the capital of the United States, under the sole influence of the leftist Washington Post.

So where are we now, after ten years? The bells heralding the collapse of communism rang out loud on November 9, 1989, when the Berlin Wall was torn down. And on Christmas Day 1991, the Soviet empire founded on atheism vanished from the earth after having held the world in fear for seventy-four years.

I am not saying that The Washington Times takes exclusive credit for these developments. They were the result of God’s providence. God, however, works His Will on earth through human beings. I do not have the slightest doubt that the Times played a decisive role in bringing about the demise of communism. God used the newspaper as His tool to help bring an end to the most pernicious worldwide dictatorship in history and give freedom to tens of millions of people. Even if I had spent $10 billion instead of $1 billion, I could not have made a better investment.

The mission of The Washington Times, however, is not yet finished. The demise of communism does not automatically lead to the coming of world peace. Nor does it mean that the ideal society of God’s desire will establish itself without any further effort on our part. It is still too early for the free world to be toasting its victory, because the world is still faced with too many urgent problems that strike terror in the hearts of those who love humanity.

The spread of humanism

The societies of the free world today are exhibiting a phenomenon that is every bit as evil as communism: the spread of materialistic humanism and the extreme individualism and selfishness that are the offshoots of this philosophy. We find that money and material possessions have become the “gods” of our culture.

I do not condemn humanism altogether, but the humanism we see today is based on a thoroughly atheistic outlook. When we deny the existence of God and the significance of His creative acts, we reduce human beings to just a handful of dust. From such a perspective, human beings are considered no better than mere complex machines. This is precisely the fallacy at the basis of Marxism-Leninism. If we say there is no God and that human beings are no better than machines or animals, then there is no basis for morality. Without a belief in the spirit and eternal life, people take no responsibility for each other and can commit terrible atrocities.

In this context, let’s look at the situation of the advanced free countries of the world, which we would expect to be feeling a sense of victory over the recent downfall of communism. Extreme selfishness and individualism have given rise to hedonism. Corruption has pervaded all aspects of social life, and marriages and families are breaking up. The problem of political corruption is becoming worse, and economies are struggling.

Many young people, whom we normally expect to become future leaders, are losing touch with their conscience, swept away in a flood of immorality, drugs and crime, to such an extent that it is difficult for us to have hope in them as leaders of the twenty-first century.

I have said in the past that the next century is to be an era of spiritual civilization. The era of material civilization is nearing a dead end. If we are to turn back the darkness that is closing in upon our world and begin to live again, then we must first fill the void in the former communist countries that has resulted from the demise of Marxist-Leninist ideology.

Furthermore, we must bring about a revival of a spiritual culture that will rescue the free countries, which now seem to be heading for the day when they will either destroy themselves or receive the judgment of God. Thus, we need to produce a new thought system capable of bringing about a spiritual revolution in human society.

God is the Father of humankind

Ladies and gentlemen, during past World Media Conferences, I mentioned the providential mission that I have been called to fulfill. I have been called to be a pioneer of a new spiritual civilization for the twenty-first century. I have already declared to the world a system of thought for the new age that God has revealed to me. That system of thought is Godism, which is neither left-wing nor right-wing, but rather is a philosophy that could more accurately be called head-wing thought.

As scientists delve deeper into their areas of research, they find themselves increasingly unable to deny the truth of God’s existence. I proclaim His existence and teach a view of life in which we attend God and experience His reality in our daily lives.

God is not an abstract God. He is alive in each of our lives, and we can feel His touch. I am constantly hearing the beat of God’s pulse. I breathe as He breathes. I can feel the warmth of His body against my own. I have come to know the heart of God, and have shed rivers of tears from the knowledge that His heart is bursting with the sorrow of having lost humankind through the Fall. I also know clearly what God desires of His children in our era.

Most important, the almighty God is my Father. He is your Father as well. He is the Father of all people. The heart of God, as He looks down upon humankind, is the heart of the Parent. Even in human society, the love of the parent is the most passionate, the most ardent and the most unconditional.

The essence of God is true love. God’s desire is for all people to follow the example of His true love. He wants to practice true love and view the world with the love of a giving Parent. We can achieve eternal life only by practicing such selfless true love, a love that gives and then expects nothing in return. God invested himself one hundred percent when He created the heavens and the earth and then created humankind. He has never expected anything from us in return. The same is true of human parents. Because of our love, we want our spouses and children to become something greater than ourselves. That is why we can invest everything of ourselves in them and never expect anything in return.

Until now, human history has unfolded in the “era of brothers,” during which it was expected that brothers fight. Human history began with a fight between brothers, and ever since, it has been an era of struggle and war. Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam and Eve, the first human ancestors, fought each other until finally the older brother killed the younger. This was the beginning of sinful human history.

Up through the First World War, the Second World War and the ideological battle of the Third World War or Cold War, history has been a succession of fights among brother nations. Today, now that we have lived through these three world wars, human history is entering a new dimension. Now, the era of brothers has ended, and we have entered the “era of parents.” The era of parents is the era of true love. As God looks upon us and loves us with the heart of a Parent, so each of us needs to look upon every other person and love all people with the heart of a parent. There may be tears in such a love, but never a fight to the death. The concept of struggle does not exist in the context of true love. I am declaring Godism as the philosophy of True Parentism and the philosophy of true love.

New mission of the media

On November 30, 1991, I visited North Korea, a staunch communist country that considered me an enemy. The world was shocked that I, a person who has devoted his entire life to overcoming communism, had entered North Korea. I received a warm welcome from President Kim II Sung. We embraced each other heartily. Kim II Sung had always looked on me as an enemy. He had once imprisoned me for nearly three years and later even attempted to kill me.

This was the enemy that I embraced. I could never have done this, however, if I had held even the slightest thought that he was my enemy. I went to North Korea and embraced President Kim with the heart of a parent. I went to North Korea in an act of true love. In true love, there is no concept of struggle, only the heart of compassion. In true love, there is only the heart of the parent who gives continuously and then wants to give even more.

Godism and True Parentism, which I have declared here today, is the source of true peace that will lead the way into the twenty-first century. We can build a harmonious world in the twenty-first century by practicing Godism and head-wing thought. The core of this philosophy is the heart of the parent and true love. The twenty-first century will be the era of True Parents, the era when people will mature spiritually through the development of heart, to the point that everyone will become true parents.

I have always emphasized that we need a responsible mass communication media. I founded the World Media Conference to foster press freedom in places where this freedom has not existed, and to bring about a responsible press in places where freedom already exists.

Recently, I have identified still another mission for the media: The media needs to be a moral voice. I have given The Washington Times the task for its next ten years to contribute to bringing about a moral society. By fulfilling that task the Times will impact the world. The Times ought to cultivate family values, because a peaceful world is only possible based on harmonious families.

The media’s mission is to realize a world of peace

The media wields such power and influence that it is often described as the Fourth Estate, alongside the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. This power of the media must be exercised for the purpose of good. Through its influence, the media needs to contribute to bringing about greater understanding between cultures and nations.

You journalists are specialists in your field, but before that, you are all God’s children. You are all champions of peace, specially called by God to help bring a new ethical standard into the world.

The World Media Conference provides a forum for free discussions by members of the media with the ultimate purpose of bringing about a principled media. At this time, when all of humanity is advancing toward the ultimate, true world of peace, please understand that God is calling the media to fulfill an important mission in helping to realize this world. The media needs to add its efforts to all those who are working for peace, and it needs to exert its tremendous influence for bringing about the ideal of a humanity united as one family. The media needs to boldly lead the way in realizing an ethical world.

I hope that through your discussions and research over the next few days, you will have the opportunity to think more deeply than ever about the media’s mission.

In closing, let me assure you it is my constant prayer that God’s abundant blessings will be upon your work and your families.

Thank you.

25

Media in the Twenty-first Century:
Focus, Roles and Responsibilities

August 22, 1995
Shilla Hotel, Seoul, Korea
Thirteenth World Media Conference

Honorable chairman, Dr. Paul Johnson, distinguished speakers, conference participants, ladies and gentlemen:

I would like to extend my deep appreciation and welcome to all of you who have come from many different countries to attend the thirteenth World Media Conference, part of the World Culture and Sports Festival, here in Seoul, Korea.

I think this conference is both meaningful and timely, as it has as its main theme, “The Responsibility and Role of the Media.” In only five years, the world will enter the new age of the twenty-first century. As we usher in the third millennium, we need to understand it as a historic turning point.

An era emphasizing the role and responsibility of the media Throughout history, people have been striving to make their lives more comfortable through improving material conditions and seeking to create the best social system. However, the more people enjoy freedom and comfort, the more aware they become that these external developments are not sufficient. We need a new spiritual awakening. This is the time for humanity to turn its attention to discovering the fundamental value of human life and pursuing a new and deeper dimension of living.

Our era has been one in which the media’s role and responsibility have become highly significant in the following respects: First, as democracy has expanded throughout the world, freedom of the press has continuously grown as well. In the modem political system, which elects its leadership through the democratic process, the media’s role and influence are great, since organs of the media relate directly to the public at large.

Second, communications technologies that convey information throughout the world have become highly developed. Electronic and print media, especially, have developed technologies that allow far-reaching communication instantaneously. For example, communications satellites and the Internet, which connect all the countries in a global village, permit any individual’s idea, whether right or wrong, to be conveyed to everyone in the world. This free, high-tech environment creates countless channels for today’s media to influence public opinion.

Consider the impact on the political arena. The media at times can create an environment of public opinion in which a government can either be highly respected or be put in such a difficult position that it can collapse. Also, media can lead a society to maintain a high level of moral standards or mislead it into moral confusion and chaos.

Furthermore, consider the viewpoint that history is not an objective record but is a selective record of historical facts. In this light, the media, more than any other human endeavor as we enter into this historical transition period, has a significant responsibility to record the day-to-day facts of history objectively, as they occur. From this viewpoint, the media absolutely cannot separate its role and responsibility from its historical context. The media needs to conduct its various functions, ranging from factual reporting to review and criticism, based upon the proper understanding of the direction of history and our historical responsibility.

As a religious leader, I believe there is a definite direction behind human history. God created humankind and He has been seeking throughout history to accomplish His providential Will and purpose. Therefore you, as journalists who are recording the facts of history, need to clearly understand God’s providential Will and align with this understanding as you record history.

Honorable journalists, in this half-century following the end of World War II, the media’s role and responsibility have come to the forefront. During this time, the media’s first task was to expose the false doctrine and strategy of communism and awaken the free world to this threat. During this time period, however, most media practitioners were confused by a very liberal viewpoint. The fact that Washington, DC., the capital of the leading nation of the free world, had only the liberal viewpoint represented, led me, thirteen years ago, to make the very serious and important determination to create The Washington Times.

Since that time, I invested my entire heart, spirit and effort to overcome communism. As a leader of conservative journalism, I have borne enormous financial burden and prevailed against false accusations and persecution. I have even been called a false religious leader and suffered imprisonment in America over trumped-up tax charges. But the force of worldly concerns cannot overcome God’s Will. I’d like to praise The Washington Times highly for its decisive contribution to the collapse of communism and the protection of global freedom. I believe The Washington Times will be honored throughout history for this contribution.

The media should take the lead in uniting the world

In the past half-century, the media had another mission: to restore fundamental values and construct a moral society. In 1991, when the Cold War ended and the tension subsided between East and West, we all expected a period of peace. But in fact, since the Cold War ended, social conflict and instability have increased. In America, for example, sexual immorality in the form of free sex and homosexuality is threatening to destroy the family.

An increasing divorce rate is putting more and more young people on the street. These children tend to get into drugs and criminality. For too many it is a path to suicide. In fact, the teen suicide rate has doubled over the past thirty years. Sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS have their origins in a corrupt social life. Some states in America and countries in Europe have legalized homosexual marriages. We take seriously warnings from ecologists and environmentalists about the potential extinction of certain plants and animals, but the phenomenon of the destruction of the human species is not taken seriously. We have given little thought to ways of preventing the extinction of our society.

We are well aware that these problems are not limited to one area of the world. Further, this moral destruction is a crisis not only for us humans but also for God. Love, which is the most precious element of human life, is losing its foundation in the family. And as the family is destroyed, the very foundation upon which God’s love stands is also collapsing.

For this reason I emphasized the necessity of True Family Values at the celebration of the tenth anniversary of The Washington Times, and strongly urged the paper to focus on restoring the fundamental value of the human being. This advice was not intended only for The Washington Times; this was God’s revelation given to all the world’s journalists and leaders. The Washington Times is standing on the frontline to save America and the world by acclaiming and supporting, more than anything else, the need for a restoration of true families and a reconstruction of moral life.

This is a new spiritual revolution, of which The Washington Times has become the standard-bearer in America. People everywhere in the world consider the role of family values a very important and serious issue. It is not just a matter of changing some social statistics; it impacts the areas of education, religion, culture, politics and economics.

When I established the World Media Association in 1978, my purpose was to support the effort to solve these fundamental problems by providing a forum for the discussion of media ethics and responsibility. So I would also like to emphasize that the media must be in the vanguard leading the world into unity.

Modern developments in transportation and communication have allowed people to overcome the obstacles preventing human interaction. It is as if the world has been shrunk to the size of a basketball. It sounds reasonable to call the world a global village. However, even though science and technology have eliminated the spatial obstacles, it is premature to call humanity one global family. We human beings ourselves keep many barriers of our own design in place.

Every day we receive news of racial and cultural wars in parts of Europe. It is no longer unusual to see long lines of refugees leaving their beloved homes, sadly crying over their lost families and struggling with pain and disease. Even in small geographical areas, war and conflict arise out of differences in race, religion, languages, culture, and political and economic systems. Millions and millions of people die of starvation and disease every year, and we have no solution.

How can we overcome the many barriers rooted in self-created, conflicting interests that keep us apart from each other? The solution is to inform humankind that we originally come from one root. Even though we appear to be different by race, culture, language and other aspects, the root of humanity is one, and that root is God. God’s true love, true life and true lineage are the origin of all human beings. In front of God, we are all His children who can share our love together. All people are brothers and sisters having one origin.

The true family is the starting place of a truly peaceful world

Three days from now, on Friday morning, Mrs. Moon and I will conduct a worldwide holy wedding ceremony for 360,000 couples. The Blessing ceremony will be held in Seoul Olympic Stadium. This stadium is the largest facility in Korea, but can accommodate only one hundred thousand people. The other couples are gathering in major cities around the world to participate in this great event via satellite.

Since 1960, Mrs. Moon and I have blessed more than fifty thousand couples. So the holy wedding ceremony on Friday will be the largest by far. It is highly significant that so many people will gather in one place and, by transcending race, nationality, religion, culture and traditional customs, will bond together in this holy wedding. Marriage is the most meaningful event in a person’s life. The fact that so many people have come together for this purpose proves that it is possible to have one shared view of human value respected by everyone, rooted in the fact that everyone wants to have a true family centering on the true love of God.

Although the couples may come from different racial and cultural backgrounds, when they unite as one family centering on the true love of God, there cannot be any racial or cultural conflict between the children. If your father is black and your mother is white, or if your father is Arab and your mother is Jewish, can you as a child have any prejudice against one race over the other, or one culture over the other? Surely you will love and wish to protect both cultures and traditions even more than you love your parents.

When we expect to solve worldwide racial conflict through political or economic means, the inevitable result is failure. Racial distinctiveness is evident from the cradle, so without the ideal of true family centering on true love, the fundamental solution to the problem of race will be impossible. Thus even though the size of this holy wedding is huge, the central idea is focused on the creation of each true family experiencing the true love of the one God.

My dear distinguished journalists, if man and woman had united with God from the beginning, they would have established true families centering on true love. Further, these families would have expanded to create a true nation and a true peaceful world by realizing true love, which is continually giving for the sake of others. However, Adam and Eve, our first human ancestors, fell and united with Satan.

Ever since, God and Satan have been fighting over humankind. Within ourselves, our mind is always directed toward God while our body is on Satan’s side. Mind and body are always in conflict. Perhaps the world could have avoided World War I, World War II or the Cold War, but it cannot avoid the fight between mind and body. Conflict between mind and body has expanded throughout history from the individual to the family, society, nation and worldwide levels. In order to end the historical fighting, humankind has to return to God.

To do so, men and women have to form true families centering on God. They have to invite God back into their homes. A true family centering on true love will become the base on earth where God can dwell. This will become the starting point for the establishment of a true nation and a true, peaceful world. From this, the world of true freedom and true happiness will be opened.

Media people should be leaders in fulfilling their responsibility

Throughout history, humankind’s earthly dream has been to realize the ideals of freedom and equality simultaneously. But pursuit of the ideal of freedom makes the realization of equality extremely difficult. Similarly, under the banner of equality, the ideal of freedom has been limited in the extreme. This has been the lesson of history. However, neither ideal by itself can completely satisfy human desire. This is an ideological, fundamental contradiction that can be resolved only through the ideal of a true family centering on true love. Only by true love will true freedom be preserved. And only by true love will true equality be possible.

Therefore, we will realize a truly peaceful world of both freedom and equality only when we find God, the origin of love, and unite with Him. This fact ought to send a serious signal to atheists who claim there is neither a God nor a need for God. At this turning point in history, when the world is seeking a new dimension, it is extremely important for all journalists to emphasize God-centered values.

Today polls all over the world reveal a growing distrust of the media. This arises when practitioners of journalism and mass media stubbornly persist in thinking only of their narrow self-interest. They believe only they have the truth and fail to understand the value and importance of preserving the family and society. From this perspective, it is understandable that the public is critical of them. This implies that there is a big gap between the absolute standard of value humankind commonly recognizes and pursues, and the various perspectives typical of the media.

The true family centering on God’s true love, in which there is mutual respect, needs to hold sway as an absolute standard of value shared by the media and society. The true and peaceful world pursued by humankind cannot be created from the top down, nor can it be created from the bottom up. Rather, centering on God, all individuals can form true families and live together with God. Then at last we can establish an eternally free and peaceful world.

Respected world journalism leaders: a new history is dawning. This is the time for God and humankind, who have been divided since history began, to meet together in this ideal of the true family. I hope that you journalists will become the pioneers in this precious, historic period and take a leading role and responsibility. The future will be the age of a common life, common prosperity and common righteousness. I expect all journalists to come into accord with God’s Will, even ahead of others, and remain as historical victors. I hope this conference will be successful and most fruitful.

May God bless you and your families. Thank you very much.

26

Globalization and the Media:
Looking to the Twenty-first Century

November 26, 1997

JW Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC, USA
Fourteenth World Media Conference

Honorable chairman, distinguished speakers and participants, ladies and gentlemen:

I would like to express my deep gratitude to you for your participation in the fourteenth World Media Conference, which is being held as part of the third World Culture and Sports Festival here in Washington, DC.

Rapidly changing media environment

I find it particularly meaningful that you will be discussing various issues faced by the media as it seeks to respond to the age of globalization in the twenty-first century, which will arrive in just a few years.

We live in an age when the global environment is undergoing exceptionally rapid change. It is incumbent upon the media to respond to these changes more quickly and wisely than other sectors of society. Otherwise, humanity faces a future of even greater confusion and instability.

Right now, the most significant factor bringing about change in the world is that our means of communication increasingly function at the speed of light. Every day, new technologies are developed that seem to transcend time and space and connect even the farthest comers of the world in a matter of seconds.

In the past, newspaper editors would demand that reporters gather local news and publish it more quickly than anyone else. But what is the situation in 1997, just three years prior to the beginning of the twenty-first century?

Today, when reporters consider their local community, they do not think merely about the physical and geographical region in which they live. They also think about their associates and neighbors around the world with whom they are connected by e-mail.

When a reporter gathers information concerning this or that issue, he or she uses the Internet to find relevant material from around the world. For those who gather information, the local community no longer refers just to the region in which they live but to the whole world.

As recently as one hundred years ago, at the start of the twentieth century, news often traveled by train, ship or even at times by carrier pigeon. People had to wait days or weeks even for such important news as the battlefield situation in the First World War.

In the latter half of the 1990s, however, the Internet and telecommunications have made it possible to transmit news in a matter of seconds. The entire world can receive information about major news events almost simultaneously. It can be said today that the entire world is our local community and that local news has come to mean news about the whole world.

Because electronic communications technology is bringing the world together in this way, economic and cultural exchanges have already entered an age without borders.

The age has arrived when all the world’s citizens influence one another’s lives. The economy of any particular country or region cannot but be influenced by the world economic situation.

For these reasons, we need to think of the world as constituting a single community. We have to pose the question, What must be the content and form of the media in a global age?

Responsibility of the media in the age of globalization

I hope that in the course of this conference you will have a great deal of discussion on a variety of topics related to this question, and that you will obtain valuable results. Also, I would like to take this opportunity to present some of my views on globalization and the media in the twenty-first century.

First, I think the media in a global age needs to move beyond “functional journalism” and toward “value journalism.” The news media do not entirely fulfill their mission by simply giving their audiences a factual account of the news. Rather, through commentary and criticism, the media have to awaken their readers and viewers to an awareness of truth and lead the way in elevating society’s spiritual and moral values.

In the global information age of the twenty-first century, the citizens of different nations will exercise tremendous influence on one another across national boundaries. Thus, the immoral aspects of any one major country’s culture can easily have a corrosive influence on the people of other countries. The coming of the information age, which itself is a result of advances in industries that apply communication and information technologies, is the fundamental factor hastening us into a world in which information is shared by all humankind. In such a world, merely reporting the facts of the news will be much too simplistic. The media will have the important role of determining how to interpret and evaluate the facts, thus providing the direction that guides the audience.

Here it is important to examine the worldview, or the philosophical and historical outlook, held by media organizations and journalists themselves. In other words, journalists will need to share constructive and idealistic values regarding humanity and world peace and prosperity. In this manner, we need to develop a global perspective.

If the kind of media that satisfies people’s base desires and interests based upon purely commercial motives sets the trend, then the world will become an even gloomier and unhappier place in the twenty-first century.

We have been through the most difficult ideological war during the twentieth century. Isn’t it true that during the ideological struggle of the Cold War, communism’s dialectical materialism was on the ascendant in many parts of society? Only a few years ago, even many intellectuals and journalists in the free world came under its influence and were totally confused.

I met the challenges of that age with the greatest seriousness. Consequently, I was subjected to much misunderstanding and criticism. On the one hand, I led the Unification Thought movement and the campaign to realize ideal families. On the other hand, I worked to liberate the communist bloc and to teach students and intellectuals in its countries a system of values to prepare them for the world after communism.

In 1982, at a time when the free world was confronting its greatest challenge of the Cold War, I founded The Washington Times. It was a time when Washington, DC, which in many ways is the capital of the world, had only one newspaper, The Washington Post.

At the time, I observed the world not merely from the standpoint of the international power relations of the Cold War but from the standpoint of the history of God’s providence of salvation. I had already warned that the Soviet communist empire would soon come to an end. During preparations to hold the second international congress of the Professors World Peace Academy in Geneva in 1985, I told scholars from around the world that the theme of that conference must be, “The Fall of the Soviet Empire.”

The scholars, who viewed the situation from the perspective of U.S.-Soviet relations at the time, were stunned to hear this and were at a loss. In the end they were persuaded, and the conference was held under the theme I had suggested.

When the eleventh World Media Conference was held in Moscow in April 1990, I met with then-Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. I was accompanied by a group of free world journalists whom we had come to know primarily through The Washington Times. In my meeting with President Gorbachev, I told him that the future of atheistic materialism could be nothing other than self-destruction, and that he must repudiate materialism and attempt to revive spiritual values rooted in religion.

Within two years of that meeting, the communist Soviet empire collapsed. My prediction in 1985 concerning the end of the Soviet empire came true, and many scholars who were aware of that were again amazed.

The greatest problems will be immorality and corruption

Where do you think Rev. Moon gets this ability to predict historic changes in the world situation? I would like to tell you quite honestly the reason. Without any doubt it is that, as a religious leader, I stand in close communion with God. I have an absolute commitment to bring about God’s plan and God’s Will for the future of humankind.

I have consistently appealed to leaders in all fields of life—those entrusted by God to prepare to build the future world—so that they may fulfill their responsibilities.

The age of the Cold War is coming to a close. Humankind is at a critical point. We need to prepare for a new millennium in which we can live on earth as brothers and sisters under one God, based on the principles of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values. We need to ensure that the world of the twenty-first century and beyond will be a world of peace, in which all humankind will be able to live in freedom and prosperity, sharing in love and happiness.

The issue of ideological confrontation between East and West has ended. We now need to resolve the issue of the difference in economic standards between North and South. I have previously advocated the sharing of technology and the construction of the International Peace Highway. This arises from my insight that humanity needs to be united as one family and live in a state of interdependence.

Now, as the East-West Cold War has ended and science and technology are advancing day by day, the world can grow into a single community. But do you think that humankind will automatically live in peace and happiness? Absolutely not. During the twenty-first century, human society will face issues even more fundamental and more dangerous than those of the Cold War.

According to what I have perceived, the most serious problem that will beset humankind in the future world will be the issue of immorality and moral decadence destroying family values. Moral decadence is truly the original sin that pushes humanity into the abyss of suffering and despair. Whether the world of the future will resemble heaven or hell will be determined by whether we can establish a moral code that sustains the purity of the family and protects family values.

Is it possible that issues faced in common by many countries throughout the world—such as the moral decline of young people, endless drug-related crimes, rising divorce rates, family breakdown and the spread of AIDS and illicit sex—can be resolved by means of political power? Until now, we have been unable to solve these problems even through education in schools or religious instruction.

What good will economic prosperity and political freedom do a society if it is unable to resolve the issues that cause all its families to live in agony? Humankind has come to a point where it has to find a teaching that protects and uplifts family values, and a method to put such a teaching into practice. In the post-Cold War age, we need to protect and uplift family values.

This is the most important message that I would like to give to you journalists who are participating today, representing all journalists around the world.

The global Blessing movement is the twenty-first century revolution

Currently, the third World Culture and Sports Festival is taking place here in Washington, DC, and the international Blessing ceremony will be on November 29, at the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and around the world. Initially, it was planned that 3.6 million couples would participate in the Blessing event. Surprisingly, though, the number of participating couples will exceed 36 million, ten times the original goal and even a few million beyond that. This celebration, encompassing all humankind, will surely be the foundation for a magnificent beginning, encouraging all people of the world to determine to protect and uplift family values.

I ask you journalists assembled here, as well as the leaders who have been participating in this festival, to give us your enthusiastic cooperation on the national level. Let us develop this event into a global festival involving 360 million couples. Expanding and solidifying this movement for true families, so that it becomes a worldwide phenomenon, is surely the most important spiritual and cultural revolution for humankind in the twenty-first century.

Last June, in remarks commemorating the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of The Washington Times, I announced my intention to establish newspapers in 185 countries and to start a news service to link the entire world as a local community. This enormous project is founded on my conviction about the future that I described above. Springing from my dedication, it is a gift to the people who will live in that future world. I would like to request participation and cooperation in this project on the part of the many distinguished journalists gathered today from around the world.

I hope that you will have very fruitful discussions and debates during this conference.

Thank you very much.

27

A United Direction for the Media
in the New Millennium

January 15, 2001

Keio Plaza InterContinental Hotel, Tokyo, Japan 2001 World Media Conference (Given on True Father’s behalf)

Most respected present and former heads of state, leaders in the field of media, ladies and gentlemen:

We have all taken our first steps into a new age at the beginning of this new millennium. Only a decade ago, humanity was living in fear in the midst of the Cold War era. At the time, the entire world faced the threat of the annihilating power of nuclear weapons.

In the present day, however, barriers have been broken down in almost all fields, including politics, economics and culture, and the world now is transforming into a single global community. Through the development of mass media, which has collapsed time and space, we are experiencing a wider range of changes than ever before in human history. The relationship of the individual with the world, and the world with the individual, is closer than at any time in the past.

For example, the Internet, as you well know, is changing the way in which we obtain news and information. It allows anyone to convey the most trivial opinion to the entire world. In the same way, important ideas and global issues appear on everyone’s computer screen.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the power of electricity was the decisive factor in the development of science and technology. Nowadays it is the speed and capacity of the computer, and our access to a vast highway of information, that drives such development. The amount of information you can obtain in one day through the different forms of media—radio, television, newspapers and the Internet—is immeasurable. The problem is whether humanity has sufficient will and ability to digest all this information, and to use the power to convey it for a good purpose.

The world is overflowing with news and information, and at the same time we are witnessing a trend toward the expansion of commercialization. Information and images are being sold on the market as commercial goods. Rather than evaluating the ethical, social and moral influence of these “goods,” their producers emphasize marketability, that is, what consumers will pay for their information or images. We need a critical eye in order to rightly assess the influence of the information highway. We need to look beyond the external aspects of this era’s amazing development of science and technology and focus on the internal aspects, on what is being, or can be, conveyed through the media.

We need to examine, from a more essential and candid standpoint, how the information age is affecting the human mind and spirit, and evaluate whether it is a positive or negative influence. Now that we have ushered in the era of the global village, the time has come for us to ask ourselves what kind of media we desire. In the present age, we need to clearly perceive the responsibility of the media from a historical vantage point.

Let us reflect on the influence of the media on the essential aspects of human life: on our institutions, our families, our nations and our world. The core problem is who dominates the transmission of information. At present, the forces that utilize the ultramodern information technology most actively are those of commercial advertising, political propaganda and pop culture.

The fact that information technology has developed by leaps and bounds does not mean that we have become better people, or that our societies have become more sound. Though there are positive aspects in what has emerged, there also are highly negative aspects.

Parents often witness their children neglecting their studies and chatting all night online or accessing the Internet, which can be a very immoral and sexually corrupt environment. Violent and sensual recreational videos are found in abundance in the popular culture. They promote a world far removed from reality and make viewers insensitive to the pain and suffering of real people. They even make it impossible for viewers to engage in the original act of love in healthy relationships, as God intended.

In the twenty-first century humanity will face problems that are more fundamental and, in some ways, even more dangerous than those of the Cold War era. These problems will no longer involve confrontation between East and West; instead they will be a worldwide conflict of values. In short, there will be a global war between morality and immorality.

Excessive commercialization is already having a negative impact on our basic human dignity. It makes it difficult for God to be with us in our lives. The media is attempting to uphold its own standard of morality by emphasizing justice and fairness. However, those in the media are exposed to the temptation of succumbing to those with authority and power, who control the competitive media market and pursue their own business interests, with no regard for moral values.

Unfortunately, the contemporary social and cultural environment is already morally corrupt. The dignity of the family is being destroyed; in some countries whole families are being devastated due to the AIDS epidemic; in every nation on earth people are being driven into the swamp of suffering and despair.

If the mass media does not recognize its social responsibility to help avert these problems by upholding moral norms, how can it prevent our societies, especially our youth, from self-destruction? How will such blind mass media impact issues such as drug abuse, the increasing divorce rate, family breakdown, the AIDS problems, illicit sex and so forth? You already know the answer to my question without my saying it.

Modern communication technology expands our freedom of speech. The Internet turns everyone into a publisher. This may sound strange, but nowadays we have so much freedom of expression that we are drowning in it. Therefore, how we exercise our freedom of expression is a vital issue.

The main theme of this conference is, “A United Direction for the Media in the New Millennium.” I believe that among you there will be different opinions with regard to this subject, since you may think that freedom of speech means there is no need for a central principle to guide the media. However, what I mean by a united direction is that we need to consider the quality of the information we are disseminating, rather than striving for quantity for commercial purposes. That is, we must consider our responsibility to promote correct social norms based on human dignity, true families and faith-based values, rather than striving to expand our business in the name of free speech.

The value and dignity of an individual rise and shine all the more on the stable foundation of a true family. The family is the best place for a man and a woman to learn to respect each other and to live together in harmony. It is there that people learn about true love—which, with respect to family, is the most important factor in life.

Our parents and our brothers and sisters are the primary influences on our perception of values with regard to the world. The family is the first and best school for learning about love. The family is indeed the cornerstone of an ideal society and a peaceful world. That is why the media need to respect and protect the value of the true family.

A society may be affluent and free, and it may create an environment wherein every family can have computers with fiber-optic Internet access. However, if this society cannot prevent the breakdown of its families, it is not a sound society that can bring happiness to its citizens.

Where is the basis of human dignity? Humankind was created by God, originally as His children. This is the reason we commonly call Him our Heavenly Father. And our goal is to grow up as children that resemble Him, inheriting His divinity. When God-centered individuals come together as husband and wife, they form families that are also God-centered. When such families come together, they form the true human family in which everyone comes to inherit the life, love and lineage of God, our True Parent.

In human society the role of religion is important in that it advances the relationship between people and God. In this regard, having a solid faith is vital. Whatever religion you believe in, at its core is the relationship between you and God. When, through religion, humankind becomes one with the absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging God, our internal value also becomes absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging. That is why religion is indispensable in protecting the dignity of humankind.

In this regard, the freedom to believe, the life of faith, and activities based on faith are the pillars upon which the ideal society is built. Such religious values will guide humanity to the world of God’s true love through the practice of living for the sake of others. When all religions practice true love with faith as their basis, the world’s peoples will come together as brothers and sisters under God.

The World Media Association, which I founded in 1978, has made efforts to promote freedom of the press in regions where it is suppressed, and has contributed toward the responsible use of that freedom where it is guaranteed. I hope that during this conference you will all participate in coming up with guidelines for the responsible conduct of the media in today’s new environment.

Outstanding members of the press have sometimes displayed great courage in conveying truth, enlightening people about what is important in human affairs, and endorsing sincere efforts to realize world peace. Through your efforts as members of the media, you can ensure that the future will be a time in which the absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging dignity of humanity will be upheld; in which true families will thrive; and in which world peace will ultimately be realized.

From this viewpoint, today is a very significant day. I hope that you leaders in the field of media, from nations across the world, will engrave what I have said tonight deep in your hearts. The mission of constructing sound families, ideal societies and a peaceful world was not given to me alone. God desires that you also take part in this great enterprise.

In the information age, no matter where you are, it is possible for you to communicate instantly with anyone, anywhere in the world. However, in order to fulfill God’s Will for you, your nation and the world, you need to have a sense of responsibility about the values your communications convey, and the influence they have in the world. Moreover, you need to be bold in asserting true values in your own life, as an example to others. If you do so, you will return glory to God and bring hope and happiness to humanity.

I expect that your serious efforts at this conference will bear wonderful results. We already have secured the technology necessary for effectively conveying all kinds of news and information to the world. It is my hope that you now will take an interest in the values of the heart and the original nature of true human beings, and connect with God as you make use of this technology.

May God’s blessing be with you and with your families. Thank you.

 

28

The Life of Jesus from the Perspective
of God’s Will and God’s Warning to
the Present Age

May 21, 2002

Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington, DC, USA

Twentieth Anniversary of The Washington Times

Respected guests from America and abroad:

Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of The Washington Times has a particularly gratifying meaning for me. The memory is still fresh in my mind of how, in May 1982, I made the final decision to publish The Washington Times in response to Heaven’s direction. This took place while I was being unjustly tried in a New York federal court, in a prosecution motivated by both racial and religious bigotry.

At that time, communism was sweeping the world like a giant, angry wave. Even America had no effective means to deal with it. I followed the supreme Will of Heaven, which told me that America, the final fortress of the democratic world and a Christian country representing the Second Israel, must be protected from communism. It is also the Will of Heaven to build the ideal world of peace that God is seeking, the kingdom of heaven on earth and in heaven, through Christianity. It was certainly not my intention to set up a newspaper company to make money. More than a billion dollars has been invested in The Washington Times alone. I have never regretted this nor felt enmity toward anyone, because this is a way to practice true love toward God and humankind.

My final message to America

More than thirty years have passed since I came to America. I have reached the age of eighty-two years, and the time is coming for me to return to my homeland. Before leaving, I would like to clearly convey to America, the nation in the realm of the Second Israel, and to all humankind a message concerning the actual situation of God and the spirit world. This is not just a message given by me as an individual. Heaven is sending the message that humankind needs to receive in this age. Until now, humankind has been living in a state of ignorance about the Will of Heaven. First, humanity has not known about God, and second, we have not known about the spirit world, where we all must go eventually, whether we like it or not.

Now we have entered the Last Days of human history. In the spirit world numerous religious leaders, beginning with the founders of the four great religions, have accepted the Unification Principle, which is my teaching, as the truth of the highest dimension. They have mobilized their disciples and descendants completely and are returning to the earth to resurrect by bringing them to form new, true families through the Blessing of marriage.

Particularly for the sake of America, a Christian country that represents the Second Israel, the four great saints, centering on Jesus, have each chosen 120 of their historically eminent disciples in order to establish a united front. Now, through their spiritual return to earth, they are furthering the work of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace and the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations in order to bring about complete peace on earth.

They are proclaiming that humankind has no future unless we practice true love, or a life lived for the sake of others, which is the True Parents’ philosophy. Accordingly, I would like to take this opportunity to give a commemorative address today. It is a valuable message to America and humanity on the topic, “The Life of Jesus from the Perspective of God’s Will and God’s Warning to the Present Age, the Period of the Last Days.”

If we examine Jesus’ providence of the cross, we see that Jesus, the thief on his right, the thief on his left and Barabbas sowed the seeds of history. It is a principle that what is sown will be reaped. Thus, the right-wing world and the left-wing world have appeared, represented today by the democratic and the communist realms, reflecting the right-thief type and the left-thief type. After that, centering on Jesus’ cross, Islam, the Barabbas type, has appeared. Reflecting Barabbas, who received good fortune because of Jesus, Islam appeared as a force standing in an ambiguous relationship to Christianity.

History thus sown entered the age in which the form of the world was bound together in four major blocs. Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt dreamed of forming a united Islamic Arab state. Christianity, meanwhile, is leading a new worldwide trend proclaiming, “Let’s unite all religions.”

As we observe these currents, we see that history, which was sown in tragedy, now finally is appearing as a good fruit centered on God. In the Last Days such phenomena will become even more pronounced, as that which was sown in the beginning reaches fruition in its exact original form and is harvested. It is inevitable that this will come about, because of the laws of the providence. Unity will be accomplished in accordance with True Parents’ philosophy of true love.

The thief on the right and Christianity

If the democratic world is internal, then the communist world is external. If the right wing is internal, the left wing is external. The Messiah who is to come has no choice except to appear upon the internal foundation of the democratic world, which respects God. The Messiah will build a movement that absorbs the external environment and unites the various cultural spheres centering on the mainstream Christian cultural sphere. Such a movement is to be carried out at the end of history and cannot be looked upon as coincidence. Because such a motive was planted, it leads to such a result.

When Jesus was crucified, he died along with the man on his right, who was a thief and a murderer. If the thief had not been there, Jesus would have lost his relationship with the earth and humankind. Even though he himself was near death, the thief on the right defended Jesus. In human history, who was the last to take Jesus’ side? It was not Peter, not Jesus’ father or mother, not the nation of Israel and not Judaism. It was only one person: the thief on the right.

One individual alone maintained this relationship. While facing death, one man transcended death and placed all his hope in Jesus. That was none other than the thief on the right. You need to know that were it not for the thief on the right, Jesus would not have been able to resurrect and resume his providence on earth.

As Jesus was bringing to a conclusion four thousand years of history and more than thirty years of his own life, there was only one person who connected with Jesus and attended Jesus as the one who embodied his most fervent hopes, even as he accompanied Jesus on the path of death. That was the thief on the right. The fact that the thief on the right had this position means that he surpassed the disciples. He was superior to Peter.

Although the thief did not know Jesus’ teachings, his heart directed and empowered him to attend Jesus at the moment of death, until he breathed his last. Peter, James and others of the twelve disciples, by contrast, knew Jesus’ teachings and even pledged to become new persons. Ultimately, they were not able to achieve this. You have to know that, for this reason, the thief on the right became a central character in human history, a man who represented the earth and salvaged the future.

Is there any account in the Bible that depicts Jesus as having prevailed completely against Satan by setting conditions on the individual, family, tribal and national levels? He did not prevail completely on all these levels. That being the case, do you think Satan will submit to someone who believes in Jesus? Do you think that Satan, the supreme king of false wisdom who has accused God, violated His Will and ruined His providence for six thousand years, will go away just because he is told to do so? Those words need to be accompanied by the right of inheritance.

We need to gain the right to inherit this history. We must inherit the tradition and foundation of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jesus and beyond, and represent the historical sacrificial offering. Only then can we confront Satan, shouting, “In the course of history you lost to Noah; you lost to Jacob; and Moses subjugated you! I stand on the foundation of all their victories and have inherited the entire tradition of providential history. So be gone, Satan!” Only then will Satan retreat.

If you simply pray, “Be gone, Satan!” it will avail you nothing. Do you think that Satan, who has been accusing people for six thousand years and has trampled upon God’s providence and devastated the providence of restoration, is going to retreat just because you say he has to do so and that you believe in Jesus? Not at all. You need to have the ability to say, “I am without a doubt a person whom God has sought with a heart connected with His history. I am a person who has been grafted into the sacred and holy body of Jesus.”

You need your name recorded on the book of inheritance that Jesus received from God. God’s book of inheritance records those who inherited God’s heart as experienced through the four thousand years until He could send Jesus to this earth. Instead of defeating Satan on the cross, you need to be able to subjugate Satan and be victorious over him without being hung on the cross, take on a body of flesh and be resurrected in substantial form. Those who thus are recognized as substantial inheritors can enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus built the foundation for spiritual salvation

Until now, Christianity has not been able to pursue the kingdom of heaven both in the flesh and in the spirit. Christianity has had no choice except to yield the physical world and attend Jesus as the spiritual Messiah, setting spiritual salvation and a spiritual kingdom as its goals. The people of Israel had a nation and possessed national authority as the chosen people. Worldwide Christianity today is in the position of the Second Israel only as a spiritual nation and has no national authority. Christians have no country. We stand in the realm of the Second Israel with only a spiritual foundation, not a physical foundation. Because Christianity was not able to accomplish the original Will of God by bringing the kingdom of heaven on earth in both spirit and flesh, there is no other way except for the Lord to come again.

I want to make one declaration to you here today. The crucifixion was not God’s victory. Instead, it was Satan’s victory. You will remember that Jesus said to those who arrested him in the garden of Gethsemane, “But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!” (Luke 22:53). The cross was the place where the nation that God had prepared for four thousand years was lost, the place where the messianic calling of Israel was lost, and the place where the followers of John the Baptist, the twelve disciples, the thief on the left and everything else was lost.

Christianity was not there on the cross. When did Christianity begin? Jesus resurrected after three days and spent forty days meeting the disciples he had lost, who in his hour of passion had turned against him. The Holy Spirit descended on the disciples, and it was then that Christianity began. Christians for the past two thousand years have believed in Christian teaching without knowing that it came into existence not by the principle of the cross but by the principle of the resurrection. If you realize this fact, then you must repent. Because it began on the foundation of Jesus’ resurrection, Christianity has been strictly spiritual.

Let us consider this based on Jesus’ words. If God’s Will was to be fulfilled by Jesus’ death on the cross, the prayers he offered in the garden of Gethsemane would not have been appropriate in his position as the Messiah. This would be truly astounding. How could he, as the Messiah, pray three times, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what You want”? (Matt. 26-39) If Jesus had come to die, wouldn’t Judas Iscariot have been rewarded? How, then, will you interpret Jesus’ words, “It would have been better for that one not to have been born,” (Matt. 26:24) which he spoke in regard to Judas Iscariot?

What would have happened if Jesus had not died on the cross? The nation of Israel would have followed the teachings of Jesus and would have stabilized and endured. Judaism also would have remained. Jesus knew that if he died on the cross, multitudes of people in future ages would have to follow him on the way of the cross, and they would not be able to do so without shedding their blood. Many Christians would have to suffer and, even when the Lord came again, he would have to go the way of suffering.

This is the reason why Jesus had to pray as he did in the garden of Gethsemane. Christians today say that Jesus prayed for deliverance because he had a physical body and feared the pain of death. Was Jesus such a trivial Messiah?

Ladies and gentlemen! What, then, did Jesus mean by saying, “It is finished,” when he died on the cross? Jesus had come with the mission to save both spirit and flesh, although he realized that he could not complete the perfection of God’s Will in a world in which there was no foundation. He made of himself a perfect offering in order to establish a condition for spiritual salvation and allow that providence to begin. Having completed that, in the end he said, “It is finished.”

This is not the age of blind faith

You probably never even imagined this. Christianity and Judaism need to realize even now that the Lord who tried to demolish Satan’s nation and do away with Satan’s kingship, and who tried to accomplish God’s Will and restore humanity, died a tragic death. When they realize this, they will repent and become one. They must become one and prepare to receive the Lord on his return.

Truth must conform to reason. The time has come for all Christians to free themselves from the age of blind faith, move ahead into a new age united as one, sort out this world and bring it to salvation. Therefore, you need to know that the time has come in which the word unity has become necessary.

What does it mean that Jesus suffered pain during the three days following his death? Heaven, the earth and hell all remained in the realm of death. For Jesus to gain authority over heaven and earth, he needed to encompass the depths and heights of the realm of death. In order to pursue the connection of life and go the path that could comfort God, Jesus needed to prevail, even if it meant descending into the lowest environment in hell and suffering pain.

Because Jesus passed through hell, he prepared a path by which a new beginning toward heaven is possible. Though he was cast out and isolated on earth, and finally forced to go the way of death, he was able to leave a path of hope for future generations. That is the reason Jesus had to go on his three-day course.

Jesus did not go to hell for three days just to look around. He already knew about hell. He needed to go there, pass judgment and pave the way to rise from the world of death to the world of life. In this way, he laid a foundation of victory on earth, which is a hell-like world of death, and established a starting point from which it is possible to reach heaven.

In the eyes of the religious establishment Jesus was a heretic, and in the eyes of the nation he was a destroyer of the religious law. His own clan rejected him and chased him out of his home. The group surrounding John the Baptist rejected him. He went into the wilderness and there even Satan pursued him. That was not all. Eventually the entire country mobilized to force him to go the way of death on the cross, the path of Golgotha.

Jesus nonetheless shed tears for the nation that was rejecting him as a traitor. The religious establishment treated Jesus as a heretic, yet he shed more blood and tears for them than any priest did. Not a single person of that age would stand at his side, although Jesus was a friend of that age. He was rejected as a traitor, yet he was the greatest patriot. He was rejected as a heretic, although he was the most devout believer.

Jesus walked a wretched path, the path of the cross, where people ripped his clothing, drove him on, and forced him to the ground. That was not all. Evil men whipped and beat him. In this situation, if Jesus had been like Elijah, he might have said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord.” (1 Kings 18:22)

When Jesus left his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, he went to pray, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what You want.” (Matthew 26-39) This was his greatness. Though his own situation was dire, he understood that his body was a sacrificial offering for the nation, a sacrificial offering for humanity and a sacrificial offering for Heaven’s providence.

Jesus’ grief and God’s heartrending sorrow

Jesus understood his role and did not avoid his own suffering. He was more concerned about how great a sorrow God must have felt. Because Jesus had appeared for the sake of the nation, he was concerned for how great God’s sorrow was to see him rejected as a traitor. Jesus was the prince of heaven, the central person of the entire universe, and the Messiah. If he chose, he could have fallen prey to self-pity and asked why he had to go the miserable way of the cross. He could have set the entire universe in motion to breathe a deep sigh of despair with him. However, Jesus understood that his position was not to sigh in despair. Instead, he went so far as to feel apologetic toward God for having been rejected.

Jesus bore the responsibility to rally the religious establishment, rally the nation, build the kingdom of heaven and return the world to God’s bosom. Yet when he was forced to abandon that mission and walk the way of the cross, he did not feel enmity toward anyone. He did not pray, “Let this cup pass from me,” out of a fear of death. Rather, he prayed this because he knew that his death would add to the grief of the nation and to God’s grief.

Jesus knew that if he died on the cross, there would be an even heavier cross remaining for future generations of humanity. It would mean that the sorrowful history would not end. He knew that the path of Golgotha and the path of death would not end with him. He knew that if he went the way of Golgotha, those who followed him would have to go the same way.

Jesus knew that an even more difficult course lay beyond the cross. As he was made to wear a crown of thorns, and nails were hammered into his hands and feet, and his side was stabbed with a spear, Jesus knew that these events would have impact far beyond his own death. When he turned to Heaven and said, “It is finished,” he did not mean that the path of the cross for the world was finished. He meant that Heaven had received his heart’s tearful plea of concern over the cross. We need to know that Jesus comforted Heaven by taking upon himself all the mistakes committed by the prophets and patriots and offering himself as a living sacrifice.

What, then, would God’s heart have been like at this point in regard to Jesus? As He looked upon the dying Jesus, crossing the hill of the cross with concern only for Heaven, if He felt resentment toward the human world, His resentment would have been greater than any seen on earth then or at any time in the course of the four thousand years of the history of Heaven. However, as he neared death, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” (Luke 23:34) God had a mind to pass judgment immediately, judgment that was even stronger than that at Noah’s time. Jesus died holding on to the nation, holding on to the religious establishment, holding on to the cross, and for this reason God did not abandon humanity; He held on to us. Because this bond of heart existed between Jesus, the future generations of humanity and the remaining people of Israel, God has been unable to abandon the religious organizations and peoples of succeeding generations who turned against Heaven, and instead has clung to them.

God, who had been carrying out the providence of restoration for four thousand years, could not complete this Will in heaven and on earth simply by the providence of Jesus’ resurrection. God established His Word as the New Testament and through it worked to bring together His Will on earth as it is in heaven and establish the promised original garden, as you may well know.

Jesus said the bread and wine that he gave us were the promise and the new covenant. After Jesus departed the earth, we received his flesh and blood. These represent the life of perfected wholeness that we must accomplish and, at the same time, the providence in its entirety. What does the fact that we received Jesus’ flesh and blood symbolize? This is not just the flesh and blood of Jesus as one individual. In a larger sense these signify heaven and earth, and in a smaller sense they signify the core, the individual body. The flesh symbolizes the truth and the blood represents the Holy Spirit. Jesus gave us all of this without condition.

What has been blocked between God and human beings? Heaven’s Will must manifest on earth, and everything on earth ultimately must connect to Heaven’s Will. In this way, heaven and earth will move toward a single goal. However, that way is blocked.

Jesus established a new promise before he departed, the promise of connecting the spirit world and earthly world. That promise remained as a condition to be fulfilled by the disciples who followed Jesus. Had Jesus not died, heaven and earth would have been connected through him. Because he died as he did, Jesus came to represent the conditions in heaven and the Holy Spirit came to represent the conditions on earth.

Now is the time to establish God's kingdom of Cheon II Guk

Respected guests, the time has come. Heaven’s time, for which God has been waiting six thousand years and for which Christians have been waiting two thousand years, has come. It is the time to build the kingdom of heaven on earth and in heaven on an interreligious, international and inter-NGO footing. The time of heavenly fortune finally has arrived. Jesus, Peter, James and the other disciples, plus thousands and even tens of thousands of religious leaders in the spirit world, are now of one mind and one body, and they are descending freely to the physical world to attend True Parents. Without a doubt, Cheon Il Guk, the kingdom of heaven in which heaven and earth can be as one in eternal peace, will settle on the earth.

Now is the time for America, the Christian country representing the Second Israel, to stand in the forefront. I declare to the world that America has the responsibility to guide all the world’s people, not with weapons but with truth and love and by living for the sake of others upon the foundation of true love, true life and true lineage.

In conclusion, I hope The Washington Times, United Press International, and other major media outlets will accept this lofty command from Heaven and take up the task of educating humankind, taking a stance that transcends religion and ideology. Please note that I have distributed to you a pamphlet containing messages from leaders in the spirit world. I ask that you read this carefully.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.


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