Sun Myung Moon
January 27, 2001
Special International Conference, World Culture and Sports Festival 2001
United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA
Photo date and location unknown
Distinguished chairperson, present and former heads of state and government from around the world, world leaders from diverse fields, ladies and gentlemen:
You have gathered to discuss the topic, "Dialogue and Harmony among Civilizations: The Family, Universal Values and World Peace." You are contributing the perspectives gleaned from your activities in countries around the world. The issue before us is not simple. I believe we must look upon this conference as an ideal forum in which we can take moral responsibility for this age and move toward a world culture of peace.
Peace among civilizations and inter-religious dialogue
Many civilizations have risen and fallen over the course of history. Certain civilizations rose to power and were highly advanced, yet they declined and now are forgotten. Civilizations collapse partly because of external factors such as climate change, disease, hostile invasions or natural disasters. However, in most cases, internal factors, particularly those related to the decline of religion and morality, have played a greater role.
Increasingly, we observe conflicts caused by disharmony or misunderstanding among religions, and their dangerous consequences. If religions do not place a high priority on inter-religious dialogue and harmony, dialogue and harmony among civilizations will be impossible.
Religions are the internal center of world civilizations, but the family is the basic foundation upon which even religions exist. As we all know well, all people are born from a love relationship between a father and a mother and within that is our connection of lineage to them. That lineage continues on through the generations.
As a training ground to develop and nurture an individual's character, the family is far more important than schools or government. Also, the family has had a primary role in the creation, development and propagation of culture and civilization. Without the family, civilization cannot be passed on to the next generation. The family is the all-important first school for learning about love. Love between parents and children, between husbands and wives, and among brothers and sisters need to be grounded in God's true love. When a family directly connects to God's true love, it substantiates God's true love culture. This can be the beginning point for building a civilization of true love and peace.
A true man and a true woman form a true family. Their exemplary, loving relationship creates a true family of love and peace, which contains the solution to the world's larger problems.
The civilization of peace and true love stems from true families
A review of history reveals clearly that humanity has been plagued with the evils of war and conflict. Even within ourselves, we cannot deny a struggle between our mind and body. The origin of our mindbody struggle can be traced to Adam and Eve, who formed a conjugal relationship through illicit love. This illicit relationship was the origin of the false lineage of humankind, which is based on conflict and guilt rather than joy and love.
We face the problem that the blood of the adulterer Satan flows in our bodies. Originally human beings were supposed to unite their mind and body like plus and minus. But when humanity inherited Satan's lineage, it resulted in a serious conflict, like two plus charges repelling each other within us. This is something we need to be aware of.
The problems of free sex, family breakdown, homosexuality, and drug abuse are symptomatic of the Last Days. God seeks to guide human beings through these tumultuous times through the person of the Messiah, who stands as the True Parent to foster unity and peace within the individual, among couples, in the family, between nations and in the world.
Even though God created us, we are in a state of constant inner conflict. Our body is the base of operations for hell, and our conscience is the base of operations for heaven. The fact that our bodily impulses are often stronger than our conscience suggests that at the time of the Fall, the power of false love was stronger than the power of the conscience. Bringing a solution to this problem is the key to our salvation. Therefore God has been utilizing religion to weaken the body's influence over the conscience. For this reason, religion is as necessary in the present as it was in the past.
Religion is to resolve the conflict between mind and body
What is the mission that religion must fulfill? It is to get us to cultivate things that body-centered people don't like. For this reason, religions tell us to fast, to serve others, to be sacrificial and finally to place ourselves on the altar as an offering. A sacrificial offering must be prepared to shed its blood and sacrifice its life.
Fallen human beings became false olive trees with roots of false love. They failed to become true olive trees. How can we solve this problem? Today it is possible for human beings to receive the Blessing. It is given in a ceremony to rededicate marriages based upon God's ideal of the family. This ceremony represents the symbolic engrafting one's family to the true life, true love and true lineage of the Lord of the Second Advent, the True Parents of humankind. In other words, it is finally possible for fallen humanity, symbolized by false olive trees, to be cut and grafted onto the true olive tree of the True Family, and in this way achieve restoration and salvation. Through this process, it will be possible for all people to create true families, true nations and, ultimately, the true kingdom of God in heaven and on earth.
I have taught it is God's Will that we create true families through this ceremony to rededicate marriages, which transcend religion, culture, race and nation. This is extremely important for the realization of world peace. I have given this Blessing to hundreds of millions of couples around the world, and they participated because they determined to realize these noble ideals. I have dedicated my life for the sake of families of true love, which are the cornerstones of an ideal society and world peace.
A study of any of the great religions will show that they contain values universal to all humankind, transcending culture, race, religion and national boundaries. Religious teachings ultimately allow us to restore our relationship with the Almighty through the practice of true love. When we become one with the absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal God through faith, we restore our parent-child relationship with God and reclaim our original value.
A realm of the heart that is formed through true love, no matter how small it may be, connects us with the universe as a whole. Only in the context of God's true love can humanity fulfill the ideals of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values. This is because the entire cosmos, including the spirit world, exists on the foundation of the principle of God's true love.
Let us build a peaceful world
Today, we are meeting in the United Nations building, which was established as a temple of peace. We must do everything we can to support the United Nations, so that it can be a true instrument of peace that fulfills its founding vision. Humanity has reached a state when it needs to give priority to the common good that transcends nations. Every country's governmental institutions and non-governmental organizations also need to participate in the effort to realize true love and true families. Otherwise, we cannot bring about world peace. I would like to ask you to take an active part in this movement for true love by seeking to live for others and to create true families so that we may build a new world of the culture of heart.
I pray that God's blessing may be with you and your families.
Thank you.