In order to realize the world of peace

Rev. Sun Myung Moon

February 6, 2003
Lotte Hotel, Seoul, Korea
World Summit Conference Banquet

Respected former heads of state, religious, political and academic leaders who have gathered from around the world, diplomatic representatives, and eminent leaders from Korea.

I would like to begin by congratulating you on the results you have achieved for world peace through the Summit Conference, and I would like to convey deep appreciation for your many expressions of congratulations on this occasion of President Hak Ja Han's and my birthdays. I would like to offer all of this glory to God who has protected us until today.

On this meaningful occasion, I would like to share with you my convictions about realizing a peaceful world. In view of our hope for world peace, there has never been a time when understanding between religions and reconciliation between religious people were more urgent than it is today. The precious teachings of our religions are the source of the wisdom that has brightened human history. But religious people of all faiths tend to have three weaknesses. One, they are not realistic but are oriented toward the hereafter; two, they can be narrow-minded and sectarian; and three, they can be fanatical.

Religious leaders must be able to embrace all people with open minds. The real duty of all religious people is to overcome the lines of division crippling the human race, in particular the walls between religions. Religions do not exist for the sake of their own success or for the salvation of their believers alone; they exist in order to accomplish the Will of God. Religious people must never be narrow-minded or seek their own gratification. When one lives with a loving heart, all walls are broken down. The great founders of all the religions understood this and tried to accomplish this ideal. God is the origin of true love. Because the generic character of true love unconditionally seeks to live for another, true love always seeks a reciprocal partner.

It is in relation to this point that we can properly understand God's motivation for creation and purpose of creation understood. God brought forth the created world as His reciprocal partner for true love. In all the creation, human beings were set apart as His closest reciprocal partners of love; that is to say, as His children. The first person, Adam, was not just an individual; he was also to have been the origin of the family, tribe, people, nation, world and cosmos of true love. God's ideal of creation was an ideal of harmony and unification in which each person lived for a reciprocal partner in a realm of true love. But before this ideal of true love was realized, the ancestor of humankind disobeyed God during his time of growth to maturity and fell through false love.

Through the fall, trouble began between God and humankind. Confrontations and conflicts ensued between God and Satan, between people and Satan and among people. The fact that there have been many different nations and many conflicts bears witness to this truth. We can find the beginning point of an ideal world only through a movement that is able to overcome and go beyond the origin of these myriad conflicts. The way to resolve conflicts and struggles is altruistic and sacrificial love, that is to say, "life for the sake of others."

The realization of the ideal nation of God begins with individuals who think they should love their enemies. The way to win over enemies is not through superior strength. It is only possible through the power of true love which embraces even one's enemies. If you plant soy beans, soy beans grow; if you plant red beans, red beans grow, and if you plant the seeds from red flowers, red flowers blossom. In the same way, if you sow the seeds of Satan which seek revenge, a tree of revenge will grow, and if you sow the seeds of goodness which loves its enemies, a tree of goodness which loves its enemies will grow.

If a nation that consists of people who have a mind to love their enemies comes into existence, that nation could become the ideal land that God desires. It could become the ideal model that humankind could follow. For the last thirty years, without resting, I have been devoting myself completely to solving the problems of America such as the breakdown of the family, sexual immorality, the decadence of youth, the fall of morality, and the decline of Christianity. In spite of my many efforts, Americans, including many Christians, misunderstood me, persecuted me, and even imprisoned me. The negative attitudes and vicious slander against me continued unabated. But I refused to be caught in negative feelings of hatred or resentment, and I have continued to live a life of love in which I gave consistently to those who persecuted me.

No matter what situation I may be in, in the deepest part of my heart, I consider God's love and will as most important. Because of this, as time passed, more and more Americans and especially Christians realized anew the value of my teachings and life, and I can see that they are changing their minds about me. In a public speech I directly told them, "Christians must respond to their mission to realize the will of God who is their true root." Christians must change their attitudes and their ways of life. The founder of Christianity taught, "Love your enemy." If Christians fail to fulfill this basic principle, the only path for them will be one of decline. If that happens, it will be because they left the sacred laws in the teachings of Jesus that give us true freedom.

If the Muslims and the leaders of other religions as well are able to realize a higher level of love in terms of morality and in terms of living for others, their enemies could be subjugated through the mighty power of true love rather than through external strength. I have always told the leaders of the Western world that they must not disregard or overlook the 1.3 billion Muslims or the 3.4 billion Asians, or the people of other religions throughout the world. If America fails to understand the meaning of the existence of these parts of the great human family, how can we anticipate that America will build a better future and realize a world of peace for our descendents?

For the same reason, how can the Islamic world or the people of other religions look down upon or overlook the importance of the Christian culture in the West? If we look down on each other or disregard each other, then there is no hope for us. All the religious leaders must become leaders in a worldwide movement to realize a higher love that embraces other religions and societies. This is the lofty teaching of the founders of all religions. What is the direction that God's will and history is calling for? The ultimate ideal of God is a world that is peaceful and unified through true love, a world transcending religion, race, and nationality, in other words, the realization of "one family of humankind."

The goal of God is not the victory of one religion or one ideology; it is the realization of a world of love in which all people live in peace, unity and joy. In view of the external tendency towards unification through the technological and physical development of modern society, it is the responsibility of the religions to lead the way to the realization of an internal harmony and unification.

Religions should take the lead and provide the example in this work. History is calling for the harmony and cooperation of the religious world. This should not be delayed. It is the holy will of God. If that is not accomplished, religions will decline. Throughout my whole life, I have taught based upon my direct experience of the heart of God and the will He hopes to accomplish.

What I teach is by no means a speculative theory. God is alive and working in history. It is just that through the fall, human beings lost their original position, and without being able to perceive God completely, they have lived in sin and strife. Although God is omnipotent and perfect, when He has no appropriate reciprocal partner, He can not fully express His omnipotence. After our first ancestor disobeyed God, God lost the foundation of goodness to which He could relate. Accordingly, His goodness and absolute power could not be expressed, but history nonetheless went forward.

God is carrying out the providence to restore His position and heavenly will by restoring humankind to its original state. To restore the ideal of true love, true parents, and true family that the first ancestor of humankind could not accomplish, God is carrying out the providence by establishing people with missions as the second Adam and the third Adam. I was called early by God, and my mission as the True Parent, is connected to these kinds of providential conditions.

Respected leaders!

I would like to ask you to take deep interest in the prophecy that I am about to make. Humankind is at a turning point. This era is that long-awaited time in which the power of God will become manifest in our lives, even though He is invisible and has seemed almost powerless and nonexistent in the past. The time has come when the absolute power of God, who is the Lord of the holy order and laws which really do exist in all things and in the universe, will manifest in amazing ways and be experienced by people in their daily lives.

This is a miraculous event that is possible because a solid reciprocal foundation of goodness has been established based on the sacrifices and unconditional love of God, True Parents and righteous people throughout history. From now on, humankind will gradually come to perceive God and to understand the spirit world and the works of spirit people. People will become conscious of their internal person which is called their spirit self, and their spirituality will develop.

In this way, humankind will naturally experience the laws of the universe, and become true people through a clear change in character. Through this, people will learn that the existing order of the universe and the relationships of humankind were not made to be centered on oneself or self-interest; rather, they were made to live for the sake of others altruistically. God's ideal of peace in the original creation is an ideal of unification. The existing world itself is made through an ideal of reciprocal partners. It is based on the premise of harmony and unification. No ideal of peace can be realized by neglecting or giving sorrow to one's reciprocal partner.

When the relationships extending above and below, front and back, right and left throughout the spirit world and physical world all realize harmony and unification and realize the ideal of true love that works by living for the sake of others, complete peace will be realized. Accordingly, God's happiness and joy will be attained together with the happiness and joy of his reciprocal partners, human beings. Furthermore, the individual purposes of all created entities are to be realized in relation to a larger purpose, that is, a public purpose. The order of the entire universe is set so that through the connection of these dual purposes a great harmony and unity is to be established.

But through the fall, human beings, who betrayed God and fell into ignorance, have lived disobeying the original order of existence under the dominion of selfish greed which is the fallen nature. People have lived stressing their private things more than public things, and their own private purposes more than public purposes. The result is self-evident. They could not guarantee continuing freedom, peace or happiness. People who have gone forward struggling with and confronting others while pursuing enjoyment centered on themselves, on physical things and on external strength, are now miserably bogged down in unhappiness.

Now is the time when people must reflect on themselves and listen to the voice coming from Heaven. Through the benefit of the providence, the living God has now drawn near to us. From now on, people will have many spiritual experiences that they could not have earlier. That is to say, they will communicate with the transcendent world. Through these frequent spiritual experiences, people will be influenced directly and indirectly. Especially people who experience the inspiration of God and good spirits will have their spiritual senses developed centered on God, and they will experience major changes in their personalities. People who change their personalities in this way to fit the way of heaven are the true people for whom God has been hoping.

We must all accomplish the true love that liberates us to love our enemies, become true persons who properly understand the spirit world, become true parents, and establish true families. This personal transformation is the starting point of the world of peace. This is the starting point of the ideal nation God desires. For the person who is not able to establish a harmonious, ideal family life by becoming an incarnation of true love, there can be no ideal world or ideal nation in which he can live happily, singing songs of peace and joy. The ideal fatherland that God desires will be realized through the way of loving one's enemies. It will be realized where the tradition of loving the enemies of one's self, of one's family, one's tribe, one's nation and the entire world is established. Many people are hoping that the United Nations will solve the problems of the world and be able to establish world peace. It is granted that the UN operated under some restrictions, but by failing to recognize the importance of religions and spirituality altogether, it chose a path that could not but compromise its influence. The result is that in analyzing the problems of the present reality and in trying to solve them, the UN has been leaning to one side. If this continues, the UN will not be able to realize the purpose for which it was founded, and its relevance will diminish in the future.

In order to realize the ideal of a world of peace in a fundamental and comprehensive manner, I once again advocate that the United Nations establish an assembly consisting of representatives from all religions. At that time, the representatives must implement the central ideal that their founders sought to realize, and they must do it with wisdom, exemplifying in their personalities a true love that can serve as a model for everyone. I hope that many leaders will take this matter seriously and continue to strive to establish an assembly of global religious and spiritual leaders within the UN.

I have worked without ceasing my entire life for the sake of realizing the one nation in Heaven and on earth that is the will of the true love of God. During that time I have taught the leaders not only of the religious world, but also of the worlds of government, philosophy, academia, business, media, and non-governmental organizations that we must "live for the sake of others." I did not teach concepts alone, but I led the way and provided the example.

On that worldwide foundation, I established the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace, and appointed Ambassadors for Peace throughout the world. That was in order to cultivate leaders who will realize the world of peace and harmony by eliminating the boundaries that cause conflict and struggle and by serving as living examples of altruistic true love. In addition, I am building "Peace Embassies" in every nation of the world as bases for our peace movement and our service movement, and as educational centers to teach and accomplish the vision and wisdom that our IIFWP advocates.

I earnestly request that you leaders recreate your families and nations through true love. I hope that you will support and help to accomplish the vision of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace, which is working so hard to establish the true, everlasting world of peace that God desires, a world without national boundaries.

Hoping that this conference has provided you with productive and inspiring experiences that will lead to the world of peace being realized even sooner, I conclude my address.

Thank you.