II. Ontology
2. What are the objects of ontological study?
The Original Being, that is, God; and the existing beings, that is, all creatures.
3. What are the attributes of the Original Being, that is, the contents of the Original Image?
(1) Sung Sang (character) and Hyung Sang (form), Positivity and Negativity, and Individual Images (Divine Image).
(2) Heart, Logos and Creativity (Divine Character or Divinity)
4. What is the structure of the Original Image like?
The structure of the Original Image is concerned with the correlative relationships among the attributes of the Original Being. In a word it refers to the Quadruple Base in the Original Image. The Quadruple Base is always composed of the Sung Sang (Original Sung Sang) and the Hyung Sang (Original Hyung Sang) centering upon Heart or purpose, and the union or the multiplied body. On the other hand, inside the Original Sung Sang itself, another Quadruple Base is formed which is composed of the Inner Sung Sang and the Inner Hyung Sang centering upon Heart, and the union or the multiplied body. The latter is called the Inner Quadruple Base and the former the Outer Quadruple Base.
5. What is the Developing (Dynamic) Quadruple Base in the Inner Quadruple Base and what is it in the Outer Quadruple Base, of the Original Image?
(1) In the Inner Quadruple Base it is the quadruple which is formed as the Logos, through the give and take action between reason in the Inner Sung Sang and principle (law) in the Inner Hyung Sang centering on purpose.
(2) In the Outer Quadruple Base it is the quadruple which is formed as the multiplied body, that is, the creation, through the give and take action between the Logos formed in the Original Sung Sang, and the material and Prime Force in the Original Hyung Sang.
This is how God created the whole universe through these two stages. This process is called the two-stage structure of creation.
6. What is the relationship between the Origin-DivisionUnion Action and the Quadruple Base?
The Origin-Division-Union Action deals with the Quadruple Base of the Original Image in relation to the time spectrum. In other words, the Quadruple Base is the structure formed when the four factors decide the four positions in space, whereas the Origin-Division-Union Action is the process of three stages formed as seen from the aspect of time. Therefore, there are the Inner and the Outer Origin Division-Union Actions and the Identity-Maintaining and the Developing Origin-Division-Union Actions.
7. What is the structural unity of the Original Image?
We explain the structure of the Original Image within the concepts of time and space for convenience. But actually the Original Being has neither time nor space, so all the attributes of the Original Being are unified. Therefore, there can be no distinction between the four positions. There can be no division in the process of three stages. There can be no difference between inside and outside. Every moment is "the present." Everywhere is "here." Everything is "one." "The present" includes the past, present and future. "Here" includes the east, west, south and north and also the far, close, high and low. "One" includes "many." In other words, the Original Image has structural unity.
8. How can you diagram the structure of Sung Sang and Hyung Sang in Existing Beings?
Sung Sang |
Psysicochemical quality |
Life |
Instinct (physical mind) |
Mind (spiritual, physical) |
Hyung Sang |
Atom, molecule |
Cell tissue (containing mineral) |
Physical body (containing plant) |
Physical and spiritual body (containing animal) |
|
|
Mineral |
Plant |
Animal |
Man |
Horizontal structure of Sung Sang and Hyung Sang in Individual Truth Bodies
Sung Sang |
|
|
|
Man |
Animal |
Spiritual mind |
|||
Plant |
Sense, instinct |
Sense, instinct |
||
Mineral |
Function, life |
Function, life |
Function, life |
|
|
Physicochemical character |
Physicochemical character |
Physicochemical character |
Physicochemical character |
|
Hyung Sang |
Atom, molecule |
Atom, molecule |
Atom, molecule |
Atom, molecule |
|
|
Cell, tissue, structure, shape |
Cell, tissue, structure, shape |
Cell, tissue, structure, shape |
|
|
|
Organ, nerve |
Organ, nerve |
||
|
|
Spirit body, spiritual organs |
Stepped Structure of Sung Sang and Hyung Sang in Existing Beings
9. Diagram the relationship between the dual characteristics of Sung Sang and Hyung Sang and the dual characteristics of positivity and negativity in man.
|
|
Positivity |
Negativity |
|
|
Sung Sang |
Intellect |
Bright, clear and abundant concepts, good memory |
Stupid, ambiguous, bewildered, absent-minded |
|
Emotion |
bright, delightful, joyful |
Melancholy, unpleasant, sad |
|
|
Will |
positive, active, creative |
negative, passive, conservative |
|
|
Hyung Sang |
standing, jutting or convex parts |
sunken or concave parts |
|
10. Describe and list some examples of the give-and-take action between positivity and negativity.
(1) The identity-maintaining (static) give-and-take action. This is the give-and-take action which can be made when positivity and negativity co-exist horizontally. conjugal harmony a mixed chorus (harmony) propagating life between male and female in the animal kingdom harmony between mountains and plains harmony between sea and land harmony between activity and inactivity harmony between dark and light colors (harmony in painting, architecture and sculpture)
(2) The developing (dynamic) give-and-take action. This is the phenomenon of producing harmony when positivity and negativity appear vertically and successively. rhythm in music high note and low note in music long tone and short tone in music fortune and misfortune change of seasons night after day (harmony in dance, music, novels and poems)
11. What are the Three Motives of Development?
In the development of an individual Truth Body, the three factors of Sung Sang and Hyung Sang, Logos, and positivity and negativity act united in bringing about change. They are called the Three Motives of Development.
12. Explain about paired elements and opposition.
The Individual Truth Body, taking after the Original Image, necessarily contains within itself two elements: subjective element and objective element. These two elements carry out harmonious give-and-take action centering on a common purpose (purpose for the whole). We call these two elements paired elements.
Materialistic dialectics regard these same relative elements as two contradictory elements struggling against each other. They call this opposition.
13. Diagram and explain simply the relationship between the location of the Individual Image and Creation.
An Individual Image is located in the Inner Hyung Sang of the Inner Quadruple Base of the Original Image, and gives rise to the Word (Logos) through the give-and-take action with intellect, emotion, and will, and law. And then, because of the give-and-take action between the Word (for example, a plan of creating a bird) and the Original Hyung Sang, that is, matter, there appears a being as a real creature (a created bird). This is God's process of creation.
14. What is the relationship between the Individual Image of living things and the environment?
Let us take a human being as an example. If the Universal Image (Sung Sang and Hyung Sang, positivity and negativity) is individualized, then this becomes the concrete Individual Image. As for a human being, each individual has already been given individuality innately. But, through the give-and-take action with the environment, he or she changes and grows continuously. In other words a human being has both the innate aspect which does not change and the acquired aspect of nature which changes through the influence of the environment.
15. Explain the connected body in relation to the Original Image.
Each existing being resembles the Original Image and is called an individual truth body. When two existing beings have the give-and-take action with each other, we call each individual a connected body. Thus, the connected body is the name of each individual when two existing beings form the Outer Quadruple Base. Therefore, each two connected bodies are united to form an Existence Being Image similar to the Outer Quadruple Base of the Original Image. (In the same way, the individual truth body occupies the corresponding position with respect to the united two connected bodies, as the Inner Quadruple to the Outer Quadruple in the Original Image.) Even though the Original Being transcends space, the universe is the three dimensional world of space. So, in the universe the give-and-take action is formed in the 6 directions of upper and lower, front and back, and right and left. If we draw human beings as an example, we can diagram the concept as follows. (see diagram) The same thing can be said of other beings (minerals, plants and animals). Nothing is isolated in the universe. All the existing beings are connected with one another in many ways.
16. What is the Yang Sang (Status-image) of the existing being?
(1) The existing being displays circular movement by the formation of the Quadruple Base (Inner and Outer).
(2) The reason for circular movement is to maintain the eternity of existence. Therefore, strictly speaking, circular movement is a condition for existence as well as a Yang Sang.
(3) Circular movement reflects the harmony of the give-and-take action and the non-angled nature of the love of the Original Being.
(4) Circular movement is a movement between subject and object centering on a common purpose. An object rotates on its axis and revolves around its subject. The reason that rotation and revolution occur is because of the dual purposes of the existing being.
(5) The centers of circular movements form a hierarchy and the center of the highest level of man.
(6) Basically every existing being has a spherical form because of such circular movement.
17. What are the position and order of the existing being?
(1) Subject (Sung Sang, positivity) in the Original Image is active and dominating, whereas object (Hyung Sang, negativity) is passive and submitting. So, there is a difference in the positions of subject and object.
(2) Subject is central, creative, active, above and superior, whereas object is dependent, conservative, passive, below and inferior.
(3) In the created world, the series of centers form a hierarchy, and at the same time, the center, that is, the subject, is created to dominate the object. Here the order comes into existence, and the universe can form a vast orderly system.
18. Why is man a cosmic center who dominates the cosmos? By using a diagram, explain how it is that man is the highest center in terms of the Sung Sang purpose.
(1) God created all beings because of His purpose, so man is a purpose being (Sung Sang being) rather than a mere physical being.
(2) The whole purpose of an individual which is in a lower level is directed to the more central individual which is in a higher level. Man is the highest center in the hierarchy of centers of many levels.
(3) The higher the center's level, the broader its scope of dominion becomes.
(4) Since man is the highest center, the whole universe is under his dominion. Therefore, man is a cosmic center who dominates the universe.
19. List some examples which have no circular movement and explain why they don't have circular movement.
(1) chemical union of inorganic matter biochemical action of cells and tissues of living things human activity in a family and in society economic circulation of capital, raw materials and goods
(2) Because of its specific dual purpose, circular movement can be transformed into such forms as listed above.
20. Why does the development of vital beings need circular movement in time, that is, spiral movement?
(1) At the creation, vital beings were given the necessity of multiplication. "Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28). "Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." (Genesis 1:22)
(2) Multiplication means a numerical increase of the same "species" and also a diversification (variety) of features of the species.
(3) All things are the objects of man's cognition (beauty) and of man's dominion. Beauty can be created through the harmony of diverse features. So far as man's dominion is concerned, the increase of man's consumption (dominion) follows that of man's population. So, all things need to increase quantitatively.
(4) Therefore, vital things need not only physical circular movement but also spiral movement in which there is a succession of generations.
21) What is the basic difference between vital beings (life) and inorganic matter?
(1) Vital beings have life, whereas inorganic matter has no life.
(2) Life is consciousness latent in material and also the autonomy of the Principle, so life has its purpose autonomously. But since inorganic matter has no life, the purpose is always given to it only from outside (not from within itself). Therefore, vital beings (having life) are active, whereas inorganic matter is passive.
22. What is development?
(1) Development is a process of changing to a high phase from a low one, to a new phase from an old one, to a complex phase from a simple one.
(2) The motive power of development is life. Development never results from the conflict between contradictory elements, but from the harmonious give-and-take action between subject and object.
(3) Development has finality (goal), time and stages.
(4) The Logos causes development, so development is lawful and purposive, and holds the element of necessity.
(5) Therefore, materialistic dialectics which neglects purpose and acknowledges only law and necessity is wrong.
