Sun Myung Moon
August 23, 1995
Third World Peace Conference
Lotte Hotel, Seoul, Korea
Photo date and location unknown
Honored chairman, distinguished former and current heads of state, ladies and gentlemen:
At the opening of the Third World Peace Conference today, I would like to express my deepest respect to you for coming to this historic event. It is a pleasure to take this opportunity to share my beliefs regarding true world peace.
Matters of world peace are of greater concern than ever before. I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to you who, out of your desire to realize world peace, have traveled from afar and brought into being this magnificent conference. I would like to share with you members of the Federation for World Peace my activities these past few months.
Earnest advice for Central and South America
Recognizing that God has a will for Latin America, I embarked on a tour of twenty-three nations on that great continent. In each nation, I shared my beliefs with key leaders, and in eight of these nations I met the head of state to discuss matters related to world peace. The title of my tour was “True Family and I.”
While traveling around the continent; north, south, east and west, I meditated and prayed about this special part of the world. I considered how the nations that make up Latin America can achieve true peace and establish an ideal society. Clearly the continent has stunning and rich potential. There are seemingly unlimited resources in a rich and peaceful natural paradise of grand mountains and unspoiled nature. The mountains and jungles remind us of the original creation, the garden of Eden.
I envisioned glory-filled days that lie ahead in the Latin America of the twenty-first century. At each opportunity, I gave a single piece of advice. I said, “Please do not blindly follow in the footsteps of the developed nations. Do not repeat their errors in rushing to harness natural resources in the name of progress.” Why would I give this advice? It is because the so-called developed countries have not found the balance with nature and the happiness that humankind has wanted from its inception.
In the twenty-first century we will return to the original world
Let us take the United States as an example. I am someone who genuinely loves the United States. For the past twenty-five years, I have devoted myself to establish the foundation for world peace in that country. Although I have suffered persecution for my efforts to guide America in the right direction, my love for America and my belief in its vital role for world peace has not changed.
In the 1960s, when I first visited that land of opportunity, it seemed that the whole world wanted to be like America. We deeply admired the life depicted on television shows such as “Little House on the Prairie.” Come Sunday morning, the sounds of hymns were heard from all directions. Superman, a superhero of justice, was a symbol of the righteous American spirit, and city streets were thought to be spotless, in good order and beautiful. The whole world looked at America with respect in those days.
Yet if we look at America today, thirty years later, what do we see? It is a nation in decay, strewn with difficult problems they cannot solve. In the midst of this, moral decadence and increase in crime demand our close attention. Numerous, unimaginable acts, including murder, drug abuse, divorce, child molestation, gang violence and teenage pregnancy emanate from America today. As a person who loves that nation, I feel deeply hurt by what I see.
Yet this phenomenon is not limited to America. All of the developed countries at the end of the twentieth century are struggling with many of the same problems. Having reached the summit of consumer wealth and technological sophistication, the developed world is caught in the trap of materialism. With the mind and spirit obsessed by material wealth, our true essence as human beings is enslaved by selfish desires. The result is a collapse of true love. Although there is an abundance of material wealth and our cities are crowded with skyscrapers, the human mind has become desolate and dried up like a desert, and the oasis of true love is not to be found. The absence of true love is the breeding ground for selfishness.
The most helpless victim of this attitude is the world of nature. One of the themes of this peace conference is the restoration of the environment. We are abusing many of our resources, including our water supply. Even the atmosphere that protects our planet is affected by the misuse of natural resources. If this trend continues, the so-called benefits of materialistic civilization will lead to the earth’s selfdestruction.
The most serious damage of all, however, is the destruction of the family as a basic building block for the nation. The family is the cell of society. If each of the tens of trillions of cells in our body is healthy, then the body is likewise healthy. Conversely, if the cells are weakened and destroyed, then the whole body will weaken and eventually stop functioning. Similarly, destruction of the true family system foretells the destruction of all humankind. Our society is charging toward a destination directly opposite to what was originally designed and created by God.
The twenty-first century is inevitably a time to return to the original world of God’s Will. A civilization placing the spirit and mind as subject partner is coming. The twenty-first century is only five years away. It is my sincere wish that the developing countries not follow in the footsteps of the so-called developed countries. Instead, they ought to use the developed countries’ experience as a lesson, and move directly into the world where spirit and mind are in control. Do not fall into a pit of nationalism and materialism. This is the message that I want to share with you in our time together today.
The Blessing of 360,000 couples is a celebration of world peace
We have reached a time when the world has no alternative but to change. In religious terms, we can say that we have reached “the Last Days” of humankind. However, the Last Days I refer to does not mean darkness and destruction. From God the Creator’s point of view, the Last Days are the end of the false world, the end of the fallen world. They will be followed immediately by the founding of the true world, the original world of God’s creation. Therefore, the Last Days are what we all wish and hope for.
Then, how can we achieve this historic transition from a materialistic civilization to a spiritual civilization? The transition begins with the emergence of God’s truth. Truth is called light. The dawn’s morning light is the power that liberates the night. That sun of historical transition is rising towards the highest point in the sky. This is what I have proclaimed as the Unification Principle and the great principle of true love.
Upon receiving a call from God, I endeavored to deeply understand the great principle of the universe that had been hidden from the beginning of human history. In my discovery, I realized that the truth humankind has been yearning for throughout history is this very principle, upon which we can return to true love and realize true world peace.
A physician needs to diagnose the cause of an illness in order to cure the patient. In the same way, the Principle clearly identifies why today’s human society fell into misery. It explains the course of the Fall of humankind, the event that led to the unprincipled world that we struggle with every day. Once the cause is determined, the cure can be applied. For the past forty years, I have traveled the globe with this cure. I have devoted myself to revealing the cure clearly to the world.
I want to explain some of these great principles. My explanation will be only skin-deep, as it is impossible to grasp the depth of the philosophical implications in a short period of time. One needs to study the Unification Principle sincerely with time and prayer, based on knowing that, if we do indeed live for eternity, it is clear that we need to reorganize our priorities.
The first great principle is that God is alive, and that God is the Parent of humankind. The relationship between God and humanity is that of Parent and child. This is the first truth that God revealed to me.
Secondly, God’s original nature is true love, and God created all things and human beings to realize God’s true love. Human beings are therefore the object partners of God. God wants to unconditionally pour unlimited true love into the hearts of His children.
Thirdly, God, the invisible Parent, established True Parents as God’s substantial expression on the earth. God tries to save the world through the True Parents. By uniting with the ideals of the True Parents and regaining true love, true life and true lineage, human beings can be eternally restored. Amazingly, we are now living in the era of True Parents. There has never been and will never again be a time of this magnitude of blessing in the history of human existence. This enables us to be called the lucky generation born with heavenly fortune. Two days from now, on August 25, Mrs. Moon and I will officiate at an international wedding ceremony for 360,000 couples here in Seoul. I consider this ceremony the authentic path to world peace. As I stated, the reason the world is not at peace today lies in the breakdown of the true family structure. The true family structure begins by unity with the true love of God.
This holy wedding ceremony will be simultaneously conducted in one hundred and sixty nations via satellite. It is a ceremony that will link human beings vertically with the True Parents, the substantial being of God, the invisible Parent. This ceremony affirms the participants as true brothers and sisters in front of God and True Parents, transcending territorial boundaries, races and religions. This wedding is a great transformation ceremony for humanity. It restores God’s true love, true life and true blood lineage, which were lost due to the Fall of the first human ancestors, Adam and Eve.
This is a moment of great excitement in which human beings, who have been suffering under the reign and dominion of Satan for six thousand biblical years, will be set free and liberated for the first time. It is a ceremony of great joy, where we will see the shackles break loose. Humankind will sing hosanna as we return to the liberated heaven and earth of God’s true love. This ceremony is possible at this time because of the appearance and manifestation of the True Parents.
True peace signifies returning to the originally created world
Ladies and gentlemen, this wedding is a ceremony in which men and women, bound in marriage before God, vow purity and fidelity to one other. The destruction of the true family means the destruction of chastity. Immoral love caused the Fall of our ancestors, and we descendants are victims of the same immoral, promiscuous love. This is the world phenomenon of today manifested in free sex, homosexual love, and decadent relationships. The promiscuity of today’s world is completely unnatural.
The time has come to return to the world of God’s original purity by completely liberating fallen human beings from our false ancestors. The True Parents are transforming and liberating this world. The bride pledges pure love to the bridegroom as her subject partner, recognizing him as God’s son who represents all men of the world and the substantial being of True Parents. The bridegroom pledges true love to his bride, accepting her as God’s daughter representing all women of the world and the feminine incarnation of the True Parents.
Can a dreadful disease like AIDS penetrate into the husband and wife relationship united in mutual fidelity this way? It cannot. Diseases such as AIDS are a facet of the Last Days, testing the purity and fidelity of humankind. Modern society tries to prevent AIDS through the use of condoms and to cure it through new medicines, without any recourse to the Will of God. The message of AIDS and other such diseases is much more central than safe sex and new medicine. Its lasting solution lies in the restoration of morality rooted in true love. A Harvard University institute recently issued a research report stating that by the year 2010 AIDS will have affected about one billion people worldwide. This staggering number threatens the very existence of the human race.
The return to the true love desired by God, entailing purity and fidelity between man and woman, is the solution to diseases of false love. When I speak of fidelity, I do not mean the outmoded concept that it is to be enforced only upon women. The simultaneous purity and fidelity of men and women together is based on the principle of God. Fidelity is the ideal of one man for one woman. It calls man and woman to protect the sanctity and holiness of the act of love. It means not to engage in pre-marital relations and, after being blessed in marriage with their ideal counterpart, to love one another infinitely and eternally as subject partner and object partner.
Today, I want to enjoin the call for purity and fidelity more upon the men than women. It is not an overstatement to say that the damage caused by men who indulge in uncontrolled lust is the very cause of the destruction of the world’s chance for happiness.
True Parents and the true love revolution
It is not possible for today’s decadent world to return to the original order of true love that God desires by human power alone. The power of God is needed, and this power of God is manifested through the advent of the True Parents on earth. The True Parents of humankind came to the earth to ignite a revolution of true love. Establishing the order of true love is a revolution. This revolution of true love is now catching fire. The international holy wedding is indeed a celebration raising the flames of the revolution of true love. It opens the door for the re-creation of the world.
The event on August 25 comprises 360,000 couples, and when this spreads to 3.6 million couples, to 36 million couples, to 360 million couples, and to 3.6 billion couples, AIDS will be eradicated from human society and the world of pure love where God, man and woman become one body will be realized. This is not just a dream. The implementation of God’s providence for the heavenly kingdom on the earth is an inevitable future because it is not my work or your work, it is God’s work.
Today, twentieth century technology has reduced the world to the size of a small global village. Human beings are the global family living in this global village. Nationalism, racism and religious bigotry should never have existed, only the ideal world of God and human beings as one body of love. I want to tell you that true world peace is to return to the original world of God’s creation. Respected ladies and gentlemen, and participants in the third World Peace Conference, I sincerely wish for you to serve as apostles of true peace.
I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to you, precious colleagues and contributors to world peace. May God abundantly bless you and your families.