Chapter 1: Theory of the Original Image
Unification Thought begins with God. Its fundamental postulate is that God has created humankind and the universe in God's own likeness. Accordingly, it holds that in God there can be found the standard for solving actual problems of the individual and society.
Consider the example of a watch, which is a man-made object. When a watch is broken, a jeweller repairing it takes as the standard the condition of the watch when it was made. For another example, a doctor wanting to cure a patient's illness can do so by using the condition of a healthy person as the standard. Something similar cancan be said about saving fallen humankind and society: Human problems can be solved only through knowing the standard of creation when God first created humankind and the universe, and then pursuing solutions in that direction. Since God created humankind and the universe in His own likeness, in order to solve actual problems, we must ask what kind of being God is; in other words, we must start with the attributes of God.
God, humankind, and all other creations are "beings," but they are not on the same level. God is the Creator, whereas humankind and other creations are created beings. Thus, in Unification Thought, God is referred to as the "Original Being;" human beings and other creations, "Existing beings." When questioning what God is like, we are actually asking about the attributes of God. We call the attributes of God the "Original Image," and we call the theory concerning those attributes the "Theory of the Original Image". The question of what God is like is generally connected with that of the origin of the universe. The theoretical field that deals with the origin of the universe is called "ontology," which forms the very foundation of a thought system. Thus, a thought system, in most cases, has an ontology that is unique to itself, and upon that basis, it deals with the problems of human beings and society.
God and the origin of the universe have traditionally been important topics of discussion in religions and thought systems. Yet, the traditional views of God and the universe provided by existing ontologies have not been able to put forward fundamental solutions to actual problems of human beings and society. This means that the traditional ontological views of God and the universe have themselves been insufficient, that is to say, they have not conveyed a correct understanding of God and the origin of the universe. Therefore, the need for a new view of God, and a new ontology, has arisen.
1. The Divine Image
Our study of the attributes of God focuses first on their content and then on their structure. Content concerns each of the attributes, whereas structure refers to the mutual relationships among those attributes.
The content can be further divided into those of Divine Image and Divine Character. Divine Image refers to the aspect of form among God's attributes, whereas Divine Character refers to the aspect of nature and ability. First, I will deal with the Divine Image.
From the statement in Genesis that "God created man in his own image" (Gen. 1:27, Rsv), we can learn that God, though invisible, has the aspect of form. These are the dual characteristics of Sungsang and Hyungsang, the dual characteristics of Yang and Yin, and the Individual Images.
A. The Attributes of Sungsang and Hyungsang
Among God's attributes, we find the characteristics of Sungsang and Hyungsang. God's Sungsang is the cause of the internal, invisible aspect of created beings, and God's Hyungsang is the cause of the external, visible aspect of created beings. In God, Sungsang and Hyungsang form a harmonized body in the relationship of subject and object. Forming a harmonized body means that Sungsang and Hyungsang are not separated, but exist as a union, since they are united. In order to distinguish God's Sungsang and Hyungsang from those of created beings, God's Sungsang and Hyungsang are sometimes called Original Sungsang and Original Hyungsang.
1. The Original Sungsang The Original Sungsang, or God's Sungsang, is the part of God corresponding to mind and represents the fundamental cause of the invisible aspect, or functional aspect, of all created beings. The invisible aspect of created beings correspond to mind in human beings, to instinct in animals, to life in plants, and to physicochemical character in minerals.
God's Sungsang is manifested in the created world in various dimensions, forming the different levels of invisible aspect. To specify, in minerals, God's Sungsang is almost dormant and manifests itself only symbolically. In plants, God's Sungsang manifests itself on a higher dimension. In animals, it manifests itself on an even higher dimension. In human beings, God's Sungsang manifests itself to the fullest degree.
A further analysis of the original Sungsang shows that it contains the aspect of function and the aspect of form, which are called Inner Sungsang and Inner Hyungsang, respectively. The Inner Sungsang has the faculties of intellect, emotion, and will; and the Inner Hyungsang contains ideas, concepts, original laws, mathematical principles, and so forth. The Inner Sungsang is the subject part within the Sungsang and the Inner Hyungsang is the object part within the Sungsang.
The intellect is the faculty of cognition; the emotion is the faculty of feeling -- the faculty to feel joy, anger, sadness, comfort, etc.; and the will is the faculty of volition the faculty to desire, to intend, to determine, etc. Furthermore, the intellect has the faculties of perception, understanding, and reason. Perception refers to the ability to receive representations, or images, triggered by an object. Understanding refers to the ability to make judgments by using concepts. Reason refers to the ability to infer by using concepts and to comprehend universal truths and the essence of things.
For example, consider the incident that allegedly took place when Isaac Newton (1642 - 1727) discovered the law of universal gravitation. Through the working of his perception, Newton learned that an apple had fallen from the apple tree. Through the working of his understanding, he made the judgment that the apple had fallen because it had been attracted by some force. Finally, through the working of his reason, Newton inferred that the reason the apple had fallen was that there exists universal gravitation.
In saying this, however, I do not mean that God engages in logical thinking by His understanding based on His perceptive recognition, and further, based upon that, engages in comprehensive thinking by His reason.
Within God's intellectual faculty, the three functions of perception, understanding, and reason exist in oneness, but when they manifest themselves in human beings, they come to be differentiated into the sequential stages of perception, understanding, and reason.
Next, I will discuss the Inner Hyungsang. The Unification Principle says that "though the internal character [Sungsang] cannot be seen, it assumes a certain form...."2 This indicates that within the Sungsang there already exists an element of form, namely, the Inner Hyungsang. The Unification Principle also states that "the Hyungsang may be called a second Sungsang." This means that the form within the mind (the Inner Hyungsang) appears as the external form (the Original Hyungsang).
When we see a flower, a bird, or a mountain, the images of what we see remain in our mind. From those images we derive ideas or concepts. In the case of human beings, the idea or concept of something appears in our mind only after we have experienced it. 4 God, however, already possessed ideas and concepts even before creating the universe. It is written in Genesis that when God said, "Let there be light," light did appear, and when He said, "let the dry land appear," dry land did appear. After God proclaimed that something should exist, "it was so" (Gen. 1:3-9, Rsv). This means that everything turned out exactly as God had conceived it or thought about it. Therefore, when God created the universe, He already had ideas and concepts, and according to those ideas and concepts, He created the universe.
Ideas and concepts here are images, or representations, within the mind. Ideas are concrete representations of individual created beings, and concepts are representations of the common elements abstracted from many concrete things. Plato (427-347 B. C.) claimed that non-material ideas are the true reality. It can be said that Plato grasped the ideas and concepts within the Original Image.
Original laws refer to fundamental laws. Laws discovered by humans have diversity and some aspects that change with the times. Original laws, however, are absolute. The laws that exist within God are original laws. When original laws manifest themselves ill the created world, they appear in two aspects, namely, the Sungsang aspect and the Hyungsang aspect. The Sungsang aspect refers to the norms in human society, such as ethics and morality; in contrast, the Hyungsang aspect refers to the laws of the natural world.
Moreover, God is a mathematical being. Within His Inner Hyungsang, God has mathematical content, such as an infinite number of mathematical values and formulas. Pythagoras (ca. 570-496 B. C.) considered numbers to be the root of the universe; thus, he was able to grasp the mathematical principles within the Original Image. Throughout history, scientists have discovered a great number of numerical formulas. Each of them has grasped the manifestation of some part of the mathematical nature that God possesses. Paul Dirac (1902- ), a British physicist who contributed to the formulation of quantum mechanics, said that God is a high level mathematician, and that one cannot but admit that God used high level mathematics in forming the universe. 5 In this way, Dirac testified to the fact that God is indeed a mathematical being.
Edmond Husserl (1859-1938), founder of the phenomenological movement, spoke of the structure of pure consciousness. According to him, pure consciousness is consciousness from which our judgment concerning beings in the external world is suspended. Pure consciousness, he held, has a functional part and an objective part in other words, a thinking part and a part to be thought about. He called these two "noesis" and "noema". These correspond to the Inner Sungsang and the Inner Hyungsang in Unification Thought.
Husserl dealt with human consciousness; but the reason for the existence of both a functional part and an objective part in human consciousness is that God's Sungsang is structured in that way, and human beings are created in the image of God.
2 The Original Hyungsang The original Hyungsang, or God's Hyungsang, is the aspect of God corresponding to body and the attribute of God that is the fundamental cause of the visible, material aspect of all created beings. Hyungsang corresponds to what is generally referred to as "matter." It is the material that forms all created beings, and at the same time, it is the potential that can manifest itself in a limitless number of forms.
God's Hyungsang is the fundamental cause of the material aspect of human beings, animals, plants and minerals. In other words, the human body, the body of animals, and the materials of plants and minerals are manifestations of God's Hyungsang in different dimensions. The visible aspect of all created beings consists of matter and form, the essential cause of which is the fundamental matter and the potential for a limitless number of forms within God's Hyungsang. As mentioned earlier, the cause of these forms lies in the Inner Hyungsang.
What is the essence of matter? The ancient Greek philosophers called the root of all things, or the fundamental matter, Archi. Thales (ca. 624-546 B. C.), of the Miletus school, identified archi as water"; Anaximander (ca. 610-547 B. C.) called it apeiron, or the "limitless"; and Anaximenes (ca. 585-528 B. C.) said it was "air." What Artaximander called apeiron could also be called chaotic, limitless matter.
Fleraclitus (ca. 490-430 B. C.) identified archi as "fire"; Enipedocles considered it to be the four elements of fire, water, air, and soil; and Dernocritus (ca. 460-370 B. C.) thought of it as the fundamental particle that cannot be further divided, that is, the "atom". On the other hand, the Chinese, from ancient times, had regarded chi to be the origin of the universe. Chi is something that can be described as matter filling the universe. The theory of yin and yang, which originated with Tsou Yen (305-240 B. C.), explained that the Great Ultimate (Tai-chi) engendered yin and yang. Yin and yang, in turn, gave rise to the "four images," namely, great yin, little yin, great yang, and little yang.
These four images produced the "eight trigrams" (Pa-kua), which, through interaction and multiplication, produced the universe. Later, the Great Ultimate was interpreted as being the fundamental monistic chi which engendered yin and yang. 6 Thus, in the theory of yin and yang as well, the origin of the universe was considered to be chi.
According to modern physics, all matter is composed of atoms; atoms are composed of elementary particles; and elementary particles are made of energy. Hence, the essence of matter can be regarded as energy. From the viewpoint of Unification Thought, the essence of God's Hyungsang is a kind of energy.
That energy, however, is not the same as physical energy in the created world. It is energy in a state before it is phenomenalized as energy in the created world. The energy of God's Hyungsang can be called "pre-energy," or "pre-matter," in the sense that it can become matter. 7 In any case, since the ultimate nature of matter is ail object of study of science, we must rely on future developments in science for its clarification.
When, centering on purpose, the original Sungsang and the original Hyungsang (i.e., pre-energy) engage in give-and-receive action, 8 energy, or force, is generated. (See the discussion on give-and-receive action in the section "File Structure of the Original Image" of this chapter.) Depending on the different purposes, two kinds of energy may be generated, namely, acting energy (or acting force) and forming energy (or forming force). The acting energy is the force of God; it is called "Prime Force." The Prime Force acts on all created beings and is manifested as the force that causes give-and-receive action between subject and object. As such, this force is called "Universal Prime Force." On the other hand, forming energy forms the mass of particles in the created world. Matter (hyle), as mentioned by Aristotle, originally refers to pure material without any determination. Why, then, does Unification Thought call it "Hyungsang"; which, in Chinese characters, has the connotation of "form"? The reason is that Hyungsang has the potentiality to assume specific forms. This can be explained by taking water as an analogy. Water has no form of its own, but it can assume numerous forms depending on the container in which it is contained. Therefore, it can be said that water, though formless, has a limitless number of forms. Likewise, hyle is also formless, but it has the potential to manifest a limitless number of forms. For that reason, it is appropriate to call it "Hyungsang. 11 According to contemporary science, elementary particles are said to be formed of energy. To be specific, from a vacuum state without mass, elementary particles are engendered from energy. When, however, energy vibrates and engenders elementary particles from the vacuum state, the vibration of energy is not continuous but occurs at graded levels, or states. just as there are scales in music, there are graded states in the vibration of energy, and as a result, there is a limit to the variety of elementary particles that can come into being. This implies that energy itself has a type of vibration scale, and therefore, a certain form.
Though invisible, energy already possesses a kind of form, and according to that form, the elementary particles come into being. In this sense, also, it is appropriate to use the term "Hyungsang" for matter." 3. The Difference Between Sungsang and Hyungsang At this point, the question of whether or not Sungsang and Hyungsang in the Original Image are essentially heterogeneous will be considered. If Sungsang and Hyungsang are essentially heterogeneous, then God must be viewed as a dualistic being. Unification Thought, however, does not regard Sungsang and Hyungsang as essentially heterogeneous. I will explain this point by using the states of water as an analogy.
Water and steam are quite different in their physical natures, but they are essentially identical in the sense that they are both made of the same molecules, namely, H 2 0. Water and steam only differ in state, due to a difference in ratio between the kinetic energy (i.e., the repulsive force) and the molecular attraction (i.e., the attractive force) of the water molecules. Therefore, water and steam are not essentially heterogeneous.
Sungsang and Hyungsang can be thought of in the same way. Though the Sungsang fundamentally consists of mental elements, there are energetic elements in it as well-but in the Sungsang there are more mental elements than energetic elements. Similarly, Hyungsang consists fundamentally of energetic elements, but mental elements exist in it as well "and in the Hyungsang there are more energetic elements than mental elements. Thus, Sungsang and Hyungsang are not essentially heterogeneous; both have mental as well as energetic elements.
In the created world, Sungsang and Hyungsang are manifested as spirit (or mind) and matter (or body).
These are heterogeneous to each other, but still they have something in common. Hence, it can be said that in the mind there is an element of energy as well. For instance, if an electric impulse is applied to the nerve of a leg muscle removed from a frog, it is well known that the muscle will contract. But the mind, also, can move muscles, just as can physical energy (i.e., electric energy). This is an evidence that there is energy within the mind. Moreover, the fact that there are people who can move another person's body through hypnotism indicates that there is energy within the mind. Furthermore, as stated earlier, when energy emerges in the form of elementary particles, only those elementary particles that have specified kinds of regularity will appear. This indicates that, there is some Sungsang element inherent in energy itself.
Thus, there is some Hyungsang element in the Sungsang, and likewise there is some Sungsang element in the Hyungsang. In the Original Image, Sungsang and Hyungsang are united into one. They are essentially one and the same absolute attribute, from which is engendered the difference of Sungsang and Hyungsang.
When this absolute attribute is manifested in the created world through creation, it becomes two different elements. This is analogous to the drawing of straight lines in two different directions from a single point.
One of the lines, in this case, corresponds to Sungsang (or spirit), and the other corresponds to Hyungsang (or matter) (Fig. 1-1). Fig. 1-1. The difference between Sungsang and Hyungsang from the viewpoint of the Theory of Oneness.
It is written in the Bible that one can understand the invisible nature of God by observing created beings (Rom. 1:20). If we observe created beings, we will notice that they have the dual aspects of mind (spirit) and body (matter), of instinct and body, of life and body, and so on. From this we can infer that God, who is the causal being, is, likewise, of dual characteristics. In God, however, the dual characteristics are in oneness. In reference to this point, the Unification Principle states that "God is the subject who consists of the dual characteristics of Sungsang and Hyungsang." 10 We call this viewpoint "Theory of Oneness," or "Unification Theory." 11 Let us now examine certain important points of Aristotle's view of substance and of Descartes' view of dualism. According to Aristotle (384-322 B. C.), substance consists of eidos (form) and hyle (matter). Eidos refers to the essence that makes a substance into what it is; and hyle refers to the material that forms the substance. Aristotle's eidos and hyle, which became two basic concepts in Western philosophy, correspond to Sungsang and Hyungsang in Unification Thought. There are, however, fundamental differences between the two views, as is shown in what follows.
According to Aristotle, when we trace eidos and hyle back to their ultimate origin, we arrive at "pure eidos" (or prime eidos) and "prime hyle." Pure eidos, or God, is pure activity without any form; it is nothing but thinking itself. Thus, God was regarded as pure thinking, or the thinking of thinking. Prime hyle, however, was considered to be entirely independent of God. Hence, Aristotle's ontology was a kind of dualism. Also, in regarding prime hyle to be independent of God, it differed from the Christian view of God as the Creator of all things.
Incorporating Aristotle's thought into Christianity, Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) considered pure eidos, or the thinking of thinking, to be God. just as had Augustine (354-430) before him, Aquinas claimed that God created the world from nothing. God created everything, including hyle and since no element of hyle existed within God, Aquinas could not but affirm the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo ('creation from nothing'). The doctrine that matter comes from nothing, however, is unacceptable to modern science, which holds that the universe is made of energy.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) held that God, spirit, and matter are three types of substance. He held that God's substance is absolutely one, but that in the created world, substance is dual, namely, spirit and matter (or mind and body). For him, spirit and matter are totally independent from each other, though each of them is dependent on God. Hence, Descartes proposed dualism. As a result, it became difficult for him, and for Western philosophy after that, to explain how spirit and matter can interact with each other.
The Flemish philosopher A. Geulincx (1624-1669), who succeeded Descartes in developing the doctrine of dualism, sought to solve the problem of how mind and body interact with each other by explaining that God mediates between the two. In other words, the occurrence of a mental state gives God the occasion to cause a physical action corresponding to it; and the occurrence of a physical state gives God the occasion to cause a mental state corresponding to it. That was the essence of occasionalism. 12 This explanation, however, is an unacceptable expedient, which no one takes seriously now. The root of Descartes' problem was that he conceived of spirit and matter as totally heterogeneous entities.
Thus, the concepts of eidos (form) and hyle (matter), as well as spirit and matter, as grasped by Western thought, have presented difficult problems. It can be said that the Unification Thought concepts of Sungsang and Hyungsang have solved these difficult problems.
B. Yang and Yin
Since God is explained in the Unification Principle as a harmonious "subject consisting of the dual characteristics of Yang and Yin,'" Yang and Yin are also dual characteristics in God, in addition to Sungsang and Hyungsang. Then, what relationship (to the dual characteristics of Sungsang and Hyungsang have to the dual characteristics of Yang and Yin?
The Unification Principle explains that "God's essential positivity [Original Yang] and essential negativity [Original Yin] are the attributes of His essential character [Original Sungsang] and essential form [Original Hyungsang. 14 This means that God's Sungsang and Hyungsang each have the attributes of Yang characteristics as well as Yin characteristics. In other words, both the Sungsang and the Hyungsang of God have the potential to manifest Yang and Yin characteristics. Therefore, the dual characteristics of Yang and Yin are on a dimension different from that of the dual characteristics of Sungsang and Hyungsang. That is, within the Original Image, Sungsang and Hyungsang are primary attributes, whereas Yang and Yin are secondary attributes.
In the Sungsang, Yang and Yin are in the relationship of subject and object; and in the Hyungsang also, Yang and Yin are in the relationship of subject and object. (Concerning the relationship of subject and object, see Section III, "The Structure of the Original Image.") In the human mind, the Yang of Sungsang appears as brightness, excitement, activeness, and so on; whereas the Yin of Sungsang appears its dullness, calmness, passiveness, and so on. The Yang of Hyungsang in the human body is manifested as protrusions, and the Yin of Hyungsang is manifested as recesses. Yang and Yin are manifested universally in the natural world such as light and dark, high and low, dynamic and static, strong and weak.
Why, then, do the attributes of Yang and Yin exist in addition to the attributes of Sungsang and Hyungsang? Yang and Yin exist in order to manifest change, harmony, and beauty in the creation. The higher a created being is, the more complex its shape is, assuming a convex and concave contour rather than a merely globular shape. The natural world displays many types of changes, such as the variety of seasons, the rhythmic change of day and night, and the alternation of mountains and valleys in a landscape.
When such changes are harmonious, we experience beauty from them. Through change we can experience harmony in diversity, but none of that would be possible if beings had been created with only Sungsang and Hyungsang.
In Oriental philosophy it is held that all things are composed of Yang and Yin, and most of the arguments in Oriental philosophy concern Yang and Yin. Yet, Oriental philosophy contains ambiguous and unclear points in its conception of Yang and Yin. Sometimes it deals with Yang and Yin as substances; other times, as attributes. For instance, such substances as the sun, the male being, and the mountains, as well as such qualities as bright, hot, and high, are described as Yang; such substances as the moon, female beings, and valleys, as well as such qualities as dark, cold, and low, are described as Yin.
The characterization of Yang and Yin as substances, however, is not in agreement with Unification Thought, which views Yang and Yin merely as attributes. A man, for instance, is not regarded as all entity of Yang itself, nor is a woman regarded as an entity of Yin itself, man and woman are each entities with Sungsang and Hyungsang, where man assumes Yang characteristics and woman Yin characteristics. In other words, the male is an entity with Yang Sungsang and Yang Hyungsang, whereas the female is and entity with Yin Sungsang and Yin Hyungsang. Let us first consider the Hyungsang. In their Hyungsang aspect, both man and woman have Yang elements and Yin elements, but males have more Yang than Yin elements, and females have more Yin than Yang elements. This difference in the Hyungsang can be called a quantitative difference. In their Sungsang aspect also, both man and woman have Yang elements and Yin elements, but there is a qualitative difference between the type of Yang and Yin elements possessed by a male and the type of Yang and Yin elements possessed by a female. This point will be further discussed in "Ontology." Western philosophy, up to the present, has discussed the concepts of eidos and hyle (or spirit and matter), but has had no concepts comparable to Yang and Yin. In contrast, Oriental philosophy has focused mostly on Yang and Yin. Oriental philosophy also has the concepts of Li and Chi, which correspond to spirit and matter, but it did not develop these concepts to the extent that they were developed in the idealism and materialism of Western philosophy. Generally speaking, it can be said that eidos and hyle in Western philosophy correspond to Sungsang and Hyungsang in Unification Thought, and that Yang and Yin in Oriental philosophy correspond to Yang and Yin in Unification Thought.
Western philosophy and Oriental philosophy each have a history of over 2,000 years; but these two philosophies, until now, have never been successfully united. In Unification Thought ontology, however, the Western theory of eidos and hyle and the Oriental theory of Yin and Yang are completely united as Sungsang-Hyungsang and Yang-Yin. This means that the ontologies forming the foundations of Oriental philosophy and Western philosophy can be united through the ontology of Unification Thought, and that, therefore, Oriental culture and Western culture can be united on the basis of Unification Thought. The culture established through the unity of Eastern and Western cultures can be called the unified culture. The unity of the dual characteristics of Sungsang and Hyungsang and the dual characteristics of Yang and Yin can be expressed in a diagram, as in Fig. 1-2.
Fig. 1-2. The Dual Characteristics of Sungsang and Hyungsang and Yang and Yin in the Original Image.
In the discussion above, I explained Sungsang-Hyungsang and Yang-Yin as contents of the "Divine Image." Sungsang-Hyungsang and Yang-Yin together are also called the "Universal Image," since these attributes of God appear universally in all created beings. Yet, every created being has an attribute that is peculiar to itself, in addition to the universal image. The peculiar image comes from God's Individual Image. A discussion of God's Individual Image follows.
C. The Individual Image
The attribute of God that is causal to the peculiar attributes, or special features, inherent in each created being is called "Individual Image." Created beings have their own special features; human beings, especially, have clearly distinguishable facial features, physical constitution, and personality.
From a biological perspective, human beings have different genes (or DNA), which exist in their chromosomes. Why is the DNA of each person different? Each person's DNA is different because the Individual Image, which exists within God, dwells in the chromosomes in the form for DNA. In creating human beings and all other creatures, God envisioned a form and nature peculiar to each created being. The peculiar form and nature exist as an idea in God's Inner Hyungsang. That idea is precisely what the Individual Image is. Accordingly, the Individual Image is located in the Inner Hyungsang of the Original Sungsang.
That each created being has its own unique features means that in each created being the Sungsang and Hyungsang are individualized, and the Yang and Yin are individualized. Hence, the Individual Image does not exist independently of the Universal Image; actually, the Individual Image is nothing but an individualized Universal Image.
What is the purpose of so many differences in peoples' features and personalities? These differences exist in order to bring greater joy to God. God's intention was to obtain a special and unique kind of joy through each particular person. Of course, all beings in creation have their own unique character, but the character of other beings is not as clearly distinguishable as that of human beings. The reason is that human beings were created in a direct likeness to God, whereas the rest of creation was created in a symbolic likeness to God.
God's Individual Image manifested in a human being is that human being's individuality. Thus, human individuality is precious and should be respected absolutely. With regard to all things, their individuality originates from God as well and must be respected; but the preciousness of their individuality cannot be compared to the preciousness of human individuality. It is for this reason that the human being is the Lord of Dominion over all things.
Here the following question may arise: is it not true that the individuality of a person comes from his or her parents rather than from God? Though certain aspects of the parents are passed on to the children, not all of the unique characteristics of the parents are inherited. Moreover, people are born with new unique characteristics that their parents did not possess. One must conclude, therefore, that God creates human beings by using their parents' unique characteristics as the material, but also by following a unique idea envisioned in God's own Inner Hyungsang.
According to Thomas Aquinas, it is hyle that is the "principle of individuazion" (principium individuationis). All things consist of eidos and hyle, but eidos is universal and not individuated. Hence, all things are individuated through hyle, according to Aquinas. Such a view, however, amounts to saying that individuality comes about by chance. Aquinas' theory provides no philosophical basis for guaranteeing the absoluteness of human individuality.
In contrast, humanists start out by claiming that human individuality must be respected; but their claim is ambiguous because humanists, also, have failed to offer a philosophical basis for guaranteeing the absoluteness of human individuality. Communism, on the other hand, maintains that a human being is an animal that has evolved to a high degree and, at the same time, a product of the social environment. It also maintains that, as the environment changes, human beings must change as well. Therefore, for communists, human individuality is not that important; what is important is the social environment and social institutions. The occurrence of genocide during communist revolutions and of mass purges in post-revolutionary power struggles provides evidence for the claim that in communism there is no theoretical basis for respecting human individuality.
In contrast, Unification Thought maintains that human individuality comes from God's Individual Image, and therefore is not determined by the environment. Undeniably, there are certain aspects of individuality that are influenced by the environment; nevertheless, the aspects that originate from God's Individual Image are primary, and those that are influenced by the environment are merely secondary. Hence, Unification Thought maintains that human individuality is absolute.
II. The Divine Character
While the aspect of form in God is called "Divine Image," the aspect of function, or ability, is called "Divine Character." In traditional theology, the natures of God are regarded as omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, eternity, unchangeability, supreme goodness, supreme beauty, supreme love, and so on. In Unification Thought, however, Heart, Logos, and Creativity are emphasized as the most important of the divine natures. Love is also one of the important divine natures, but love derives from Heart, which is its source. The natures of Heart, Logos, and Creativity will be discussed.
A. Heart
Heart, or Shimjung, is the core of the attributes of God. Heart is an emotional impulse to obtain joy-and true joy is obtained through love. Therefore, the emotional impulse to be joyful is one with the emotional impulse to seek to love. Accordingly, Heart is the "emotional impulse to obtain joy through love." God's Heart is an irrepressible impulse. It is an irrepressible emotional force and desire that well up from within God. For that reason, an object for God to love was absolutely necessary. That is the very reason why God created the human being and all things. God created the human being as the object of His love; and in order to bring happiness to the human being, God created all things as the objects of the human being.
A person feels joy when he or she loves an object. If the object resembles the subject, the subject feels even greater joy. For this reason, God created the human being in His own likeness as His object of love; and in order to bring happiness to the human being, God created all things in the likeness of humankind, as the objects of the human being.
No religion or philosophy, until now, has been able adequately to explain the reason why Cod created the universe. Religious and philosophical discussions about God and the universe have usually just assumed God's creation as an established reality. For instance, Chinese philosophy, as set forth in the I Ching, explains that from the Great Ultimate (or Tai-chi) there came yin and yang, and yin and yang, in turn, gave rise to the "four images" of great and little yin and great and little yang. These four images produced the "eight trigrams" (pa-kua), which produced all things. Nevertheless, Chinese philosophy offers no explanation as to why Tai-chi engendered yin and yang and developed into the four images, the eight trigrams, and all things.
Similar remarks can be made with regard to Christian theology, where God is said to be omniscient and omnipotent. That God is omniscient and omnipotent does not mean that He would have to create anything; God might have remained silent and self-satisfied, doing absolutely nothing, and still be omniscient and omnipotent. Therefore, omniscience and omnipotence cannot be regarded as the motivation that drove God to create the universe. Furthermore, in Christianity the essence of God is regarded as love. The highest form of Christian love is agape, which is the self-sacrificial love manifested in Jesus' crucifixion. The purpose of that love was to save sinful humanity. Ultimately, then, agape cannot have been the reason why God created human beings and the universe.
Unless, however, the reason why God created humankind and the universe is clarified, it becomes quite difficult for us to be convinced of God's existence. This kind of ambiguity leaves room for atheism to arise. In fact, the claim has actually been made that, instead of God having created the human being, it was the human being that created God-as Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) proposed.
According to Feuerbach, the essential characteristics of the human being are reason, will, and love. Though a human being, as an individual, is finite, he or she seeks to attain perfection in thinking, desiring, and loving. Feuerbach concluded that perfect reason, perfect will, and perfect love are nothing but the essential nature of humankind. He referred to these essential characteristics as humankind's "species-essence" (Gallungswesen). 16 He then went on to assert that God is nothing but the objectification of the human species-essence, or the essence of humankind. A painter creates a painting by objectifying the concepts envisioned in the painter's mind. In the same way-Feuerbach argued-human beings worship the ideal of the human species which is within them, by objectifying it. 17 In other words, God did not create the human being; it was the human being that created God, according to Feuerbach.
When confronted with attacks like this, Christianity was unable to refute them satisfactorily. If Christians had clearly known the reason why God created humankind and the universe, they would have been able to refute Feuerbach's attack with confidence. But Christians did not possess that knowledge; hence, statements such as those by Feuerbach were allowed to stand, and in the soil of Feuerbach's atheism, Marxism found a place to grow. Through Unification Thought, however, such matters are clarified. Since God is a being of Heart, He could not but have created humankind as His object and the universe as the object of humankind, out of His irrepressible impulse to be joyful through love.
Since human beings were created in the likeness of God, they, also, have air emotional impulse to obtain joy through love. This is the impulse of Heart, which actually consists of two kinds of impulse, namely, one for joy and one for love. First, then, every human being has an impulse to be joyful. Those who seek to be rich, or gain power, or acquire knowledge-all of them do so because, through doing that, they want to become joyful. It is because of their impulse to seek joy that children desire to play with toys; and it is because of their impulse to seek spiritual joy that martyrs sacrifice their very existence in the physical body.
Accordingly, everyone has the impulse for joy. It is clear, however, that even if a person earns money, gains power, or acquires knowledge, the joy he or she obtains from those things will not last long. Then, how can one obtain true joy? The only way to obtain true joy is through love. More precisely, when a person engages in economic, political, or scholarly activity while at the same time loving others and being loved by others, he or she will obtain joy from the heart.
Love is the emotional force that the subject gives to the object. 18 Therefore, for the subject, the impulse is to love; and for the object, the impulse is to be loved. For instance, a child's impulse to seek to be loved is irrepressible. If that impulse is not satisfied, the child may even become rebellious or sick. The parents' impulse to love is irrepressible as well. There are numerous examples of parents that, when confronted by a dangerous situation involving their children, are ready to do anything they can to protect their children, in utter disregard for their own personal safety. The reason is that only through love can true joy be obtained.
In this way, the impulse toward joy is connected with the impulse toward love. Love, here, does not refer to secular, or self-centered love. Rather, it refers to true love, which is altruistic love centered on God. The joy obtained through secular love is relative and temporary, whereas the joy obtained through true love is absolute and eternal. True love seeks to give before receiving. The Japanese writer Takeo Arishima once said, "Love plunders without restraint'! -- but the love he referred to is not true love. True love gives without restraint. True love tries to please the object first, for by so doing, one can obtain joy for oneself as well. God created human beings and poured limitless love upon them. God sought to be joyful by seeing how human beings themselves are joyful.
Heart is the core of the essence of God. To describe this figuratively, we could use the image of concentric circles, such that the innermost circle is Heart, around which there is Sungsang, and the outermost circle is Hyungsang (Fig. 1-3). Since Heart exists within the Sungsang as the nucleus of the Sungsang, God's attributes remain the dual characteristics of Sungsang and Hyungsang. What, then, is the relationship between emotion and Heart? Emotion and Heart are both elements of the same emotional function, but Heart is causal and emotion resultant. We become joyful when the impulse of Heart is satisfied; but when it is not, we become depressed. This joy and depression are resultant emotions, or feelings, and these are what people usually refer to when they speak of emotions. Heart is the inner, causal emotion; whereas emotion in the Inner Sungsang (i.e., intellect, emotion, and will) is the outer, resultant emotion.
Fig. 1-3. Sungsang and Hyungsang centered on Heart.
And what about the relationship between Heart and love? Both Heart and love are at the root of intellect, emotion, and will, but Heart is the emotional, impulsive force to seek joy, whereas love is the emotional force to connect the subject and the object. With the impulse of Heart as the motivation, an emotional force flows from the subject toward the object -- or from the object toward the subject. That emotional force is love. Therefore, Heart is the source of love, or the starting point of love.
In the intellect, emotion, and will of human beings, the faculty of intellect pursues learning, the faculty of emotion pursues art, and the faculty of will pursues ethics and morality. But since Heart is the core of the Sungsang, the faculties of intellect, emotion, and will should be centered on Heart. The purpose of Heart is to realize the purpose of creation, which is to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. In other words, everyone's activities should be conducted on the basis of Heart for the purpose of building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
God's creation was started with Heart as its motivation. Accordingly, in the Original Image give-and-receive action between the Original Sungsang and Original Hyungsang was performed centering on Heart. In this give-and-receive action, the impulsive force of Heart in the Original Sungsang was united with the energetic element of Original Hyungsang, and that unity manifested itself as the Prime Force. This Prime Force acts on all things and is manifested as the force that brings about give-and-receive action, which is called the Universal Prime Force. In human beings, it is manifested as the force to form reciprocal relationships among people, or the force of love.
Since religions and philosophy, until now, have not adequately explained that God is a being of Heart, they have not been able to clarify the reason why God created the world. In contrast, Unification Thought offers the "Heart Motivation Theory," which explains the reason behind God's creation.
The Heart Motivation Theory strongly affirms the Creation Theory and gives us confidence in the existence of God as the Creator. The Heart Motivation Theory puts an end to the controversy between Creation Theory and Emanation Theory. Creation Theory asserts that God created the world, but leaves unclear God's motivation for creating it; besides, it has the additional problem of asserting that matter was created from nothing. On the other hand, Emanation Theory asserts that everything existed within God and flowed out from God; hence, this theory has blurred the distinction between God and the world and has led to pantheism. In contrast, the Heart Motivation Theory explains that all tile causes of the world exist within God, but the world itself did not flow out of God. God created the world motivated by Heart, engaging His own Sungsang and Hyungsang in give-and-receive action with each other.
We must now discuss the difference between God's love and the Christian concept of agape from the viewpoint of Unification Thought. What Unification Thought means by "God's love" is His love at the time of creation, which was full of hope and was the source of life. It is also the love embodied in the ideal of creation, which surely would have been realized if Adam and Eve had not fallen but had, instead, established a family centered on God.
In contrast, agape is God's self-sacrificing and encouraging love, which seeks to save fallen humankind.
The original purpose of Jesus' coming was to realize, on earth, God's original love. He was crucified, however, as a consequence of the disbelief in him of the people of his time. Accordingly, Jesus was not able to accomplish that ideal. Instead, he showed God's love as agape, so that he could lead fallen humankind back to God.
B. Logos
In the Gospel according to John, first chapter, it is written that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. he was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made" (John. 1: 1-3, Rsv). The meaning of this Biblical passage is that all things were created through God's Word. The Unification Principle is in agreement with this view and understands that God created the universe with His Word. Word, here, is the same as Logos. The identification of the Word with God is said to have been the expression of John, who had been influenced by Philo of Alexandria (ca. 25 B. C. - A. D. 40), who regarded Logos as the Second God. If the Word is identified with God, however, a problem arises. Hegel is a case in point: considering Idea, or Logos, to be God, Hegel described the creation of' the universe as tile self-development of Idea (or Logos). As a result, the personal aspect of God became excluded from his philosophy.
From the perspective of Unification Thought, Logos is the thinking of God as well as the Word uttered by God. Logos as the Word uttered by God is the conception, or blueprint, of each created being at the time of creation. Therefore, Logos is a multiplied entity (i.e., a created entity) that arose within God's mind.
When the Inner Sungsang and Inner Hyungsang engage in give-and-receive action, centering on the purpose of creation, there arises a conception, or a blueprint-and this is what we call Logos. As an example, let us suppose that God, centering on Heart, establishes the purpose of creating a bird, for the sake of human beings. In trying to realize this purpose, God engages in thinking by exercising His volitional and intellectual functions, especially His reason. He might ask Himself, "In what shape shall I make this bird?
In what color? In what form and structure shall I make its wings? How shall I form its skeleton and flesh?" By proceeding this way, God comes to envision the image of a bird through associating various ideas within His Inner Hyungsang. This process leads to a tentative conception of the bird. At that point God's emotion comes into play, allowing Him to feel whether this or that aspect of the conception is good or bad.
If God feels that something in the conception of the bird is not good, He reconstructs the conception by again exercising the faculties of will and intellect. Through such a process, God finally completes His conception.
The Inner Sungsang consists of intellect, emotion, and will; oil the other hand, the Inner Hyungsang consists of ideas, concepts, original laws, and mathematical principles. When the Inner Sungsang and the Inner Hyungsang engage in give-and-receive action and form a Logos, the elements that play especially important roles are reason in the Inner Sungsang and law in the Inner Hyungsang, Thus, if we focus on the special roles played by reason and law in the formation of Logos, then Logos can be understood as the unity of reason and law, or "reason-law." Since the universe is created through Logos, and since Logos is reason-law, within each created being there can always be found an element of reason and an element of law (or a mathematical element), and these two elements work in unity. Reason has the nature of freedom, since it is part of the functional aspect of the mind, whereas law appears as necessity. Thus, freedom and necessity are always united in the function of reason-law. In the human being, the function of reason operates in a relatively strong manner, whereas in other beings of nature, the function of reason is weak when compared with law, or necessity, which operates in a relatively strong manner.
Logos is reason-law, but it is also known as the "Law of the Universe," or the "Way of Heaven." Actually, the reason-law that is at work in the natural world could just as well be called simply "law"; this, however, does not mean that there is no freedom in the natural world.
It is said that the universe has been developing over the past 1520 billion years, but it is also true that there is a certain direction to the development of the universe. A certain system of planets (i.e., the solar system) came into being through a condensation in a primitive galaxy of a gaseous state, and in it the earth was formed. On earth, there appeared plants, animals, and finally human beings. What characteristics does this development of the universe have?
Concerning this question, the following viewpoints have been proposed. The first viewpoint is that the universe came to be what it is by accident, out of many possibilities. The second viewpoint is that the universe has been developing in a definite direction, and is doing so necessarily, according to natural laws.
The third viewpoint is that the universe has been developing autonomously in a definite direction, and is doing so by excluding many other possibilities.
Materialism would naturally opt either for the first or the second viewpoint. In contrast, Unification Thought definitely chooses the third viewpoint, since it affirms that the universe was created through reason-law. Unification Thought maintains that the direction of the development of the universe was determined through the function of reason on the basis of the operation of laws. According to Unification Thought, behind the universe there exists something called cosmic consciousness, which is the life of the universe; out of many different possibilities, the universe has been developing in a definite direction.
To elucidate this point further, let us consider the growth of a plant. A sprout comes out of a seed; a stem grows; branches and leaves come out; eventually flowers blossom, and the plant bears fruit. Life dwells within the seed-and through [lie operation of life, the plant comes to grow in a definite direction while adjusting itself' to the environment and making various choices. Therefore, in the growth of a plant there is the operation not only of law, but also of reason, which is a mental element. In animals, tile rational element is operating more strongly than in plants.
In human life, reason-law operates as the unity of freedom and ethical law. Human beings are to act according to free will while following certain laws. If these laws are not observed, family breakdown and social confusion will arise. The proper way for human beings to live is to act based on free will while observing ethical laws. In God, Logos is formed on the basis of Heart, and the purpose of Heart is to be fulfilled through love. Consequently, ethical laws exist for tile purpose of actualizing love.
The Reverend Sun Myung Moon says that the universe is governed by the law of love. This means that the universe operates centering on the purpose of actualizing God's love. For example, the earth revolves around the sun through the function of universal gravity. In so doing, the earth maintains its existence, but at tile same time it forms an environment in which human beings can live. Scientists, thus far, have generally focused only oil laws; but the time has come for them to discover the element of reason, the aspect of purposefulness, and the law of love operating in the natural world.
C. Creativity
Creativity refers to the ability to create. Human beings have always striven to enrich their lives by developing new ideas and by producing new things. That is the expression of the function of creativity. God's Creativity, with which He created the universe, has been given to human beings.
Logos is formed in the Original Sungsang through the Inner Sungsang and the Inner Hyungsang engaging in give-and-receive action centering on purpose. A created being is formed through Logos and the Original Hyungsang engaging in give-and-receive action. Here, the ability to form a multiplied body by initiating give-and-receive action is none other than creativity. The give-and-receive action between the Inner Sungsang and the Inner Hyungsang in the Original Sungsang is called Inner Give-and-Receive Action, whereas the give-and-receive action between Logos and Hyungsang is called Outer Give-and-Receive Action. "Inner" and "outer," in this case, are concepts centered on the Original Sung-sang. Creativity can be described as the ability to form Inner and Outer Four Position Bases by engaging in inner and outer give-and-receive actions. (A more complete explanation of give-and-receive action and four-position base will be given in the next section, "The Structure of the Original Image").At the time of creation, give-and-receive action took place centering on purpose. But Heart lies behind purpose, since purpose is derived from Heart. Accordingly, God's Creativity is based on Heart.
When God created human beings, He endowed them with creativity. By doing so, He intended for human beings to exercise dominion over all things with their creativity. God's Creativity is based on Heart; therefore, only when human beings become perfected and inherit God's Heart, do they become qualified to inherit creativity from God completely. In other words, a person is qualified to have dominion over all things only when he or she grows to maturity, perfects his or her personality, forms a couple through marriage centering on God's love, and perfects his or her family. Human beings, however, have fallen, and therefore have failed to inherit God's Heart; therefore, the creativity they inherited from God has been incomplete and, moreover, has become a creative ability based on self-centered reason. That is why, up to now, hardly any human creative activity has had anything to do with God's love.
In its original meaning, creativity must be based on love. This means that, in order to control the natural world, science must be conducted on the basis of values. To date, however, values have been disregarded in the development of the sciences. As a result, while human life has become very convenient, the achievements of science have often come to be used for oppression, wars, and the destruction of nature, causing enormous damage to human beings and nature.
The Bible says, "The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now" (Rom. 8:19-22, Rsv). This means that, because of the human fall, human beings have failed to manifest true creativity centered on love, having instead been cruel and destructive to nature, and that, therefore, things are in sorrow. When, however, human beings come to receive God's love and manifest true creativity, there will no longer be any cruelty or destruction of nature, and along with that, creation will cease to suffer. In that kind of world, the results of science will contribute only to the realization of happiness.
Conservation movements today are popular, and the issue of creating unity between the sciences and values has come into focus. Such developments can be regarded as the manifestation of people's effort to restore their lost original creativity.
III. The Structure of the Original Image
The structure of the Original Image refers to the interrelationships among the various attributes of God. Strictly speaking, the idea of a structure can apply only to the created world and is not appropriate for the description of God, who transcends time and space. Still, in order for us to understand God with our concepts, we cannot but use an analytical method. In other words, we can understand God only by relativizing Him. It is in this sense that God will be explained in terms of the concept of the "structure" of the Original Image.
There are other cases where we understand something invisible through the idea of a structure. When we speak of someone's mind, for instance, we sometimes refer to the mind as "broad" or "narrow." We may also say that a certain individual's mind has a different kind of "structure." These examples show that it is possible to understand the invisible mind by speaking of it as if it were a structured thing. In the same way, it is possible for us to obtain a certain understanding of God, who transcends time and space, by describing Him as if He were a spacio-temporal being with a certain structure.
A. Give-and-Receive Action and the Four-Position Base
When the Sungsang and Hyungsang of God form a reciprocal relationship, there occurs between them an action of giving and receiving certain elements or forces. This is called "give-and-receive action." In a give-and-receive action, there is always a purpose; and when this action takes place, a definite result comes about. In God the center of give-and-receive action is either Heart or purpose; purpose is established by Heart. Heart is the source of love, and love is harmonious. Therefore, give-and-receive action in the Original Image is never confrontational or antagonistic. Rather, it is a harmonious action. In other words, the characteristic feature of give-and-receive action in God is harmony, smoothness, and peace.
When God's Sungsang and Hyungsang engage in give-and-receive action centering on Heart, they form a "harmonized body," or "union." Through this process, four positions come to be established, namely, the center (i.e., Heart), Sung-sang, Hyungsang, and the harmonized body (or union). The structure made up of these four positions is called the "four-position base." 19 The four-position base is a spatial conception of the give-and-receive action between the dual characteristics of God, that is, the Sungsang and Hyungsang. In the creation of the universe, God's purpose is established in His Heart, and centering on that purpose, God's Sungsang and Hyungsang engage in give-and-receive action and give rise to a "new body," or a "multiplied body." This process gives rise to a four position base composed of purpose, Sungsang, Hyungsang, and the multiplied body (Fig. 1-4).
The relationship between the Sungsang and the Hyungsang is that of subject and object. The subject and the object are different in position: the subject is central, dynamic, active, creative, initiating, or extrovert in relation to the object; whereas the object is dependent, static, passive, conservative, responding, or introvert in relation to the subject. In short, the subject is in the position to exercise dominion, whereas the object is in the position to receive dominion. The exercise of dominion by the Sungsang means that as the Sungsang develops a certain concept, certain forms and qualities are given to the Hyungsang (pre-matter). The reception of dominion by the Hyungsang means that the Hyungsang, which has unlimited potentiality, assumes certain forms and qualities in accordance with the activity of the Sungsang.
Fig. 1-4. Give-and-Receive Action and the Four-Position Base
In God, Yang and Yin engage in give-and-receive action as well. When God's Sungsang and Hyungsang engage in give-and-receive action centering on Heart and form a harmonized body, Yang and Yin, also, engage in give-and-receive action and form a harmonized body (i.e., a union). When the Sungsang and Hyungsang engage in give-and-receive action centering on purpose and give rise to a new entity, Yang and Yin affect the Sungsang and Hyungsang, giving variety and harmony to the process of creation. The relationship between Yang and Yin is that of subject and object, resembling that between Sungsang and Hyungsang.
B. Kinds of Four-Position Bases
In God, it is not only His Original Sungsang and Original Hyungsang that engage in give-and-receive action, forming a four-position base; God's Inner Sungsang and Inner Hyungsang engage in give-and-receive action as well, forming a four-position base. The give-and-receive action between God's Inner Sungsang and Inner Hyungsang is called "Inner Give-and-Receive Action," and the four position base formed through that give-and-receive action is called "Inner Four-Position Base." The give-and-receive action between God's Original Sungsang and Original Hyungsang is called, "Outer Give-and-Receive Action," and the four-position base formed through that give-and-receive action is called "Outer Four-Position Base." When give-and-receive action either between the Inner Sungsang and Inner Hyungsang or between the Original Sungsang and Original Hyungsang takes place centering on Heart, that give-and-receive action is static-and the result of it is a union, or a harmonized body. From this we can infer that God's attributes include absoluteness, harmony, and eternal unchangeability. Give-and-receive action can also take place centering on purpose, which is established in Heart. The give-and-receive action centering on purpose is dynamic and gives rise to a new entity, or a multiplied body. It is this give-and-receive action that enables all things to be created.
The give-and-receive action centering on Heart is called "Identity-Maintaining Give-and-Receive Action," and the four-position base formed as a result of that action is called "Identity-Maintaining Four-Position Base." The give-and-receive action centering on purpose is called "Developmental Give-and-Receive Action," and the four-position base formed as a result of that action is called "Developmental Four-Position Base." In summary, in God there are four kinds of four-position bases, as follows (Fig. 1-5): 1. The Inner Identity-Maintaining Four-Position Base: This base forms a union, or a harmonized body, through give-and-receive action between the Inner Sungsang and Inner Hyungsang centering on Heart. This constitutes the internal structure of the Original Sungsang and indicates the absoluteness and unchangeability of God's Sungsang.
2. The Outer Identity-Maintaining Four-Position Base: This base forms a union, or a harmonized body, through give-and-receive action between God's Original Sungsang and the Original Hyungsang centering on Heart. This constitutes the internal structure of the Original Image and indicates the absoluteness, harmony, and eternal unchangeability of the Original Image, or God's attributes.
3. The Inner Developmental Four-Position Base: This base produces the Logos as a new body through give-and-receive action between the Inner Sungsang and the Inner Hyungsang centering on the purpose of creation. The purpose of creation is established on the basis of Heart. Accordingly, the Logos is based on Heart as well. This indicates the formation of a conception
Fig. 1-5 Four kinds of Four-Position Bases formed in the Original Image (or plan) within God's mind at the time of creation.
The Outer Developmental Four-Position Base: This base produces a new body through give-and-receive action between the Original Sungsang and the Original Hyungsang centering on the Purpose of Creation. In this case, the Sungsang is the same as the Logos produced as a new body through the inner give-and-receive action. The formation of a new body through give-and-receive action between the Original Sungsang and the Original Hyungsang relates to the creation of all things. "Development" here refers to the emergence of a new body through give-and-receive action.
The four-position bases that enable God to exist eternally are the Inner Identity-Maintaining Four-Position Base and the Outer Identity-Maintaining Four-Position Base. These two bases combined are called the "Two-Stage Structure of the Original Image" (Fig. 1-6).
Fig. 1-6 The Two-Stage Structure of the Original Image
At the moment of a creative act, the Original Image becomes developmental, and the Inner Developmental Four-Position Base and the Outer Developmental Four-Position Base are formed. The formation of these two developmental four position bases enables the creation of a new being as a new body. Hence, these two developmental four-position bases combined are called the "Two-Stage Structure of Creation" (Fig. 1-7).
Further explanation of the two-stage structure of creation will now be added. The "new body" that is formed through give-and-receive action between the Inner Sungsang and Inner Hyungsang centering on purpose is the Logos. The Logos is God's Word, that is, God's thinking or plan. More precisely, the Logos is simply God's Sungsang at the time of creation. In other words, the Sungsang (Original Sungsang) of God at the moment of creation becomes the Logos. 20 Next, the Original Sungsang (which, at this stage, is the Logos) engages in give-and-receive action with the Original Hyungsang, which is pre-energy. Through the activity of the Original Sungsang over the Original Hyungsang, God was able to generate energy and elementary particles. He then formed atoms by combining elementary particles; formed molecules by combining atoms; formed cells from atoms and molecules; and formed living organisms by causing the cells to multiply. All of these processes took place based on the Logos.
The Bible says that God created man from the dust of the earth. Dust here should be understood as energy; thus, God created each thing by combining energy according to His plan laid out in the Logos.
Fig. 1-7 The Two-Stage Structure of Creation
Four kinds of four-position bases, similar to the four kinds within God, can be found in the created world also. It should be noted, however, that in the created world, both the identity-maintaining four-position base and the developmental four-position base are centered on purpose (whereas in God tile identity-maintaining four-position base is centered on Heart). Since all created beings are created with purpose, the very existence of a created being already contains purpose. For example, when husband and wife centering on the purpose of creation, love each other, become united, and maintain a harmonious family, they form an identity-maintaining four-position base. Furthermore, when husband and wife, centering on the purpose of creation, engage in a developmental give-and-receive action, such as giving birth to children, they form a developmental four-position base. The same pattern is followed throughout the created world-which shows that the center of all four-position bases in the created world is purpose. This purpose, of course, should be based on Heart (Love).
The purpose for which God created the universe was to create human beings in resemblance to the image of God, and to build, through them, the everlasting Kingdom of Heaven -- a world of love, peace, trueness, goodness, and beauty. That was God's supreme purpose. Furthermore, the purpose for which each thing in nature was created is such that it is subordinate to that supreme purpose. No matter how complex the phenomena and movements of the universe may be, the fundamental principles that bring them into existence are, quite simply, give-and-receive action and four position base. What caused the fallen world and fallen history to come- about was that these fundamental principles stopped being able to operate. Therefore, through a proper application of those principles, we will find solutions for the problems of society, the world, and history.
C. Origin-Division-Union Action
While the four-position base represents a conception of the structure of the Original Image from the viewpoint of space, the "origin-division-union action," or Chung-Boon-Hap action, is a conception of the Original Image from the viewpoint of time.
In the Original Image, the Original Sungsang and the Original Hyungsang engage in give-and-receive action, centering either on Heart or purpose, and form a union or a new body. When that takes place, the give-and-receive action can be regarded as occurring in three stages, namely, the stage of Heart (or Purpose), which is the Origin (Chung); the stage of the Original Sungsang and Original Hyungsang, which is the Division (Boan); and the stage of either a united being or a new body, which is the Union (Hap). This is called Chung-Boon-Hap action. The Unification Principle states that "God is the absolute reality, the existing neutral center of the two essentialities; therefore, He is the reality of the number three." 21 This statement is a direct reference to Chung-Boon-Hap action.
The reality of God transcends time and space; but, as we did in the four-position base, where we relativized God in terms of space, we can now relativize God in terms of time. The Chung-Boon-Hap Action, which passes through a time-dimensional process of three stages, is a phenomenon of the created world; nevertheless, the prototype for this action exists in God, just as, with regard to the four-position base, there are the inner, the outer, the identity-maintaining, and the developmental types, likewise, with regard to Chung-Boon-Hap action, there are the inner, the outer, the identity-maintaining, and the developmental types. In God, the Origin (Chung) of the identity-maintaining Chung-Boon-Hap action is Heart, and the Origin (Chung) of the developmental Chung-Boon-Hap Action is Purpose. In created beings, however, the Origin (Chung) of both the identity-maintaining and the developmental Chung-Boon-Hap actions is Purpose. (As noted earlier, however, behind Purpose there is Heart.) This is the same as in the case of the four-position base. Furthermore, the identity-maintaining Chung-Boon-Hap action is also called "Completion Chung-Boon-Hap Action," in the sense that it is an action that is complete in itself, for the time being.
D. Oneness in the Structure of the Original Image
Thus far, the structure of the Original Image has been discussed in a figurative sense, namely, from the perspective of time and space. This, however, does not mean that in actuality there is spatial expansion or temporal order (i.e., structure) within God. In truth, the Original Image exists in absolute oneness both from tile perspective of time and from the perspective of space. This is what is meant by the "oneness of the structure of the Original Image." That there is no space in the Original Image means that in God there is no front or back, no right or left, no up or down, no far or near. What exists in God is an infinite "here" -- that is, everything in God is "here." Likewise, there is no time in the Original Image, which means that in God there is no past, or present, or future, and no before or after. In the world of God, everything exists in an eternal "now" -- that is, it is always "now." In this way, the structure of the Original Image exists in absolute oneness both in time and in space.
The structure of the Original Image exists in oneness in the world transcending time and space. This can be compared to a roll of motion-picture film. The roll of film can be said to hold the details of a story in a way that transcends time and space. When projected onto the space of a screen, the images are developed according to a time sequence, and the story unfolds as if it were reality. God's creation can be thought of in a similar way. As God's plan was developed on the screen of time and space, the universe appeared; eventually, plants appeared on earth, then animals, and finally human beings.
I have thus far made use of temporal and spatial terms, for convenience, in explaining our understanding of God.
Even though no such differentiated structures actually exist in God, still the give-and-receive action within God is manifested spatially and temporally in the phenomenal world in the form of the four-position base and the Chung-Boon-Hap action. Accordingly, these structures can be understood to exist in oneness within the Original Image, and they are the prototypes for such structures in the created world.
IV. Traditional Ontology and Unification Thought
In a thought system, the perspective on the origin of the universe constitutes the basis of that thought system. This is what is meant by "ontology." Moreover, the way one deals with the problems of the real world is generally determined by one's ontology. Let us explain this point by giving several examples.
A. The View of God in Augustine and Thomas Aquinas
Affirming that God is a spirit, Augustine claimed that God produced matter from nothing and created the world. Thomas Aquinas inherited Aristotle's principle of matter and form and regarded God as "pure form," which has no matter. Like Augustine, Aquinas maintained that God created the world from nothing.
How does this understanding of God relate to actual problems? Since these views regard the spirit as primary and matter as secondary, there developed the tendency to neglect the physical world and to attach importance only to the spiritual world. This resulted in the view that the only thing that is important is salvation in the world after death. Nevertheless, matter is necessary in actual life; hence, Christian life has remained in the contradictory state of pursuing material goods in actual life while holding material things in little regard in the realm of their faith. As a result, Christian theology has failed to provide solutions to actual problems.
B. Li-Chi Theory
During the Sung dynasty, the Neo-Confucianist Chou Tun-i (Chou Lien-Hsi, 1017-1073) asserted that the origin of the universe is the Great Ultimate (or Tai-cht). Chang Tsai (Chang I-Mng-ch'rl, 1020-1077) called it the Ultimate Vacuity (or Tai-hsu). Both spoke of chi as the unity of yin and yang. Since Chi can generally be equated with matter, those theories were close to materialism.
In contrast, the Li-Chi Theory advocated by Ch'eng I (Ch'eng Ich'tran, 1033-1107) stated that all things are composed of Li and chi. This theory was perfected by Chu Hsi (1130-1200). Li was seen as an intangible substance existing behind phenomena, and chi was matter. Chu Hsi asserted that Li was more essential than chi, and that Li was not only the law of heaven and earth but also the law within humanity.
Accordingly, lie saw the law followed by heaven and earth and the ethical laws of human society are manifestations of the one and same.
Daily life based on this thought system was intended to maintain harmony and to live in accordance with the law of heaven and earth. Eventually, people came to focus on maintaining order and observing social ethics. Moreover, since everything was attributed to law, people became prone to take a bystander's attitude with regard to change and crisis in nature and society. Such people became unlikely to opt for a created and subjective way of life leading to dominion over nature and development of society. As a result, those who live by Li-Chi theory were not able to deal effectively with actual problems.
C. Regel's Absolute Spirit
According to G. F. Hegel (1770-1831), the origin of the universe is God, who is the Absolute Spirit. In Hegel's view, Logos, or Notion, which is God's thought, develops through contradiction. When Notion reaches the level of Idea, it alienates itself (or negates itself) to become Nature. Through the human being, Idea recovers itself, and finally the Absolute Spirit is actualized. Hegel regarded human history as the process whereby Logos actualizes itself, and he maintained that human society, through the actualization of a rational state, would ultimately take on a rational form in which freedom would be realized to the highest degree.
Therefore, in Hegel's philosophy, the self-actualization of Logos would naturally bring a rational form to the world. Hegel maintained that the rational state would be actualized in Prussia. That led him to believe that the existing state (Prussia) could not but become the rational state. Furthermore, Hegel's view that nature is a form of otherness of Idea, could be regarded as a type of pantheism, 22 which had the potential to be transformed into atheistic humanism or materialism. In addition, Hegel's perspective would also provide a foundation for the rise of the theories of struggle, such as Marxism, since it regards contradiction as the impetus for development. In other words, Hegel's philosophy failed to solve the actual problems of Prussian society; instead, it provided the basis for the appearance of atheistic philosophies, such as Marxism.
D. Schopenhauer's Blind Will
Schopenhauer (1788-1860), in opposition to Hegel's rationalism, asserted that the essence of the world is irrational. In his view, the essence of the world is the will working blindly, without any purpose, which lie called "blind will to life" (blinder Wille von Leben). The human being is moved by this blind will to life, and is forced to live merely for the sake of living. Human beings live without any kind of satisfaction, always seeking after something. Satisfaction and happiness are merely temporary experiences; what exists in reality is only dissatisfaction and pain. He regarded this world essentially as a "world of pain." What arises from the thought of Schopenhauer is pessimism. He preached salvation from the world of pain through artistic contemplation and religious aestheticism; nevertheless, what lie offered was no more than a theory of escape from reality hardly a solution to actual problems.
E. Nietsche's Will to Power
In contrast to Schopenhauer, who assumed a pessimistic attitude toward life and said that the essence of the world is the blind will to life, Friedrich W. Nietzsche (1848-1900) stated that the essence of the world is the "will to power" (Wille zum Macht). assuming an attitude of thoroughly affirming life. According to Nietzsche, the will to seek to be strong, to control, is the essence of the activity of life. He established the concept of the "Superman" (Obermensch) as an ideal image embodying the will to power, and asserted that the human being must endure any fate and must be ready to stiffer any pain in life while aiming to achieve the status of a superman. In addition, Nietzsche radically denied Christianity and proclaimed that God was dead. He asserted that Christian morality sympathizes with the weak and opposes the essence of life and is, in effect, slave morality.
Consequently, Nietzsche's views represent a denial of all the traditional views of value. Furthermore, his concept of the will to power led to the adoption of force as a way to solve actual problems. Hitler and Mussolini would later take advantage of Nietzsche's thought as a means to maintain power. In a nutshell, Nietzsche, also, failed to solve actual problems.
F. Marx's Materialism
Karl Marx (1818-1883) asserted that the essence of the world is material and that the world develops through the struggle of opposites, or contradictory elements. Social transformation, according to Marx, cannot be accomplished by means of religion or politics, but only through class struggle violently changing the material relations of production (i.e., the economic system).
The human being was field to be a class being, belonging either to the ruling class or to the ruled class. A person was recognized to have value only when lie or she participates in revolutionary activity by joining the struggle on the side of the ruled class (i.e., the proletariat). Marx's ideas contained no value perspective that would respect an individual's personality as something absolute. This is why Marxists have been able, without any guilt of conscience, to carry out massive massacres of those people who were of no utility value to the revolution or who opposed the revolution.
G. The Ontology of Unification Thought
As we have seen from the previous discussion, the way one understands the origin of the universe and the attributes of God determines the way one understands the essence of the human being and the nature of society and this determines the methods to be used in solving the actual problems of human life and society. Logically, then, obtaining a correct view of God, or a correct ontology, can lead to a correct and fundamental solution of the actual problems of human life and society.
According to the ontology of Unification Thought, namely, the Theory of the Original Image, the core of the attributes of God is Heart. Within the Original Sungsang, centering on Heart, the Inner Sungsang (i.e., intellect, emotion, and will) and the Inner Hyungsang (i.e., ideas, concepts, etc.) engage in give-and-receive action; likewise the Original Sungsang and the Original Hyungsang (pre-matter), also engage in give-and-receive action. That is how God exists. When Purpose is established by Heart, give-and-receive action becomes developmental, and creation takes place.
Traditional ontologies are centered on reason, or on will, or on an idea, or on matter itself. Moreover, some traditional ontologies are monistic (asserting either that the spirit alone is substantial or that matter alone is substantial), whereas others are dualistic (asserting that spirit and matter are substances that are mutually independent from each other), and so forth. From the perspective of Unification Thought, it can be said that traditional ontologies have not succeeded in correctly understanding the reality of God's attributes and the relationships among those attributes.
In contrast, the Theory of the Original Image of Unification Thought explains that the purpose for which God created the world is to build the Kingdom of Heaven a world of love, trueness, goodness, and beauty and also that the faculties of intellect, emotion, and will, as well as ideas and matter, must all contribute to the attainment of that purpose.
Unification
Thought
