1 A Movement for Peace
1.1 The true meaning of the movement for peace
I am going to explain clearly the ultimate purpose of the Unification movement I am promoting. Unification Thought is the ideology of God's truth and love. It is, first of all, to completely solve all the problems of the world, eventually to eradicate communism from this earth and to realize the world of true freedom, peace and prosperity. Secondly, it is to make the world one great family based on new values, ethics and morality. Thirdly, it is to realize the great unified world of coexistence, co-prosperity and universal righteousness free of all oppression, extortion, discrimination and social vices.
In a nutshell, I intend to establish a true utopia. The method of realizing a true ideal society is not through violence or wars typical of communism, but based on a peaceful, ideal campaign centering on truth and love. This is God's Will and His ultimate goal. (129-330, 1983.12.14)
I never lost at wrestling. I was the wrestling champion in high school. There also were no sports in which I did not participate, whether it was athletics or even boxing. Why was that so? It was not for the sake of fighting. I was firm in my conviction to ignite a great revolution in order to reform the world and to create a world of peace corresponding to heavenly principles. Without being possessed of a sound and robust constitution, I would not be able to achieve great things. (085-020, 1976.03.02)
Do you think of me? Do you wish for me to return today? Gazing at the eastern sky, your mind should unconsciously and subconsciously be connecting to me. How powerful is such a mind that can flow through and transcend national boundaries, distance, time and space! You should be able to experience hunger and being choked with tears at any time. You should remember how much suffering you had to endure to meet me. Have you thought about this? History had to witness indescribable human suffering as nations rose and fell in a world of death and destruction. You ultimately came to meet me as the fruits of that historical suffering and agony. Have you ever thought this way? Such thoughts must lie deep in your heart. You should be tearful whether you are walking on the road or lying in bed. Only then can you truly create peace in your family. Your babies will grow up strong and healthy and you will have perfect peace. Just by thinking of me, you will be blessed. These are not my words. They are heavenly laws and principles. You should think of True Parents and God in whatever you do. That heavenly principle was not formulated by anyone, but has existed from the beginning of the cosmos. (081-326, 1975.12.29)
Through my life experiences, I firmly believe that God is true, and that true love is the most precious thing in life. Human progress is possible when humanity serves and attends God and cherishes love most. Let me tell you clearly that neither modern communism nor the free world is ready to lead humankind to a peaceful twenty-first century. What was urgently required from the outset of the 1990s was a true set of values that could occupy the vacuum ensuing from the gradual decline of the values of the free world and the communist world. These new values must be founded on Godism, that is, a God-centered worldview. To broaden its understanding, I have exerted every concerted effort in all religions and religious denominations throughout my entire life. In this way, I could establish numerous research institutes and interreligious organizations which set their aims in the quest for absolute values and in realizing genuine peace.
I have also built up artistic organizations, educational institutions and media associations. Our international foundations are always prepared to assist people like you who endeavor to realize true world peace. True world peace cannot be accomplished without a clear-cut set of common values for all. Humanity will no longer dwell in darkness if its values are definite. (198-168, 1990.02.02)
I have fulfilled many tasks and invested much. However, I do not invest to earn more money. Neither do I work for prestige or glory. I bleed, sweat and shed tears merely to liberate God from His grief and agony and to realize true peace for mankind. If man does not liberate God from His sorrow and misery, and return joy and glory to Him on the levels of the individual, family, society, nation and world, genuine peace for mankind will never exist. I have thoroughly realized this point and personally put it into practice. (198-162, 1990.02.01)
Peace does not just come about. It will not emerge so long as I refuse to annihilate and remove altogether the self-centered concept of living for myself. Rev. Moon is the sole person promoting an ideological movement on a worldwide scale, and you have to know that only this is the truth. (197-272, 1990.01.19)
The reason for unreservedly investing all the resources at my disposal is to create an environment where strong, true peace can be deeply rooted on earth. I do not feel lonesome while engaging in this type of work. Everybody is a peace-seeker. We can ask why peace has not arrived yet. Shouting and chanting for peace is a piece of cake, but achieving it is really no easy feat.
If we still have not achieved peace, I would assume that people have forgotten the overriding aspect of peace. Prior to touching on the topic of interracial or inter-ethnic peace, we first need to talk about making peace with God. All human beings are created to grow into people of God-like personality during their life on earth, so both God and mankind cannot live peacefully together if the ultimate purpose has not been fulfilled.
Owing to an individual's selfishness, not only is he hindering his own progress, he is also impeding that of others and other nations. Selfishness and avarice within oneself become a mammoth obstacle in the path to peace. An individual's greed opens the gates to national greed, which causes disintegration and conflicts among nations and people and leads to bloodshed and meaningless suffering. Millions of lives have been tragically lost in this way.
As a consequence, our world needs a spiritual revolution more than anything else. When a spiritual revolution is realized, we will be able to solve our economic and social issues for the first time. People can approach the impending matters of the modern world, including the issue of world peace only if every individual and nation acknowledges the importance of amicable relations.
The achievement of peace has been my lifelong aspiration. I am not sure whether you are aware of the fact that the Tenth International Conference for the Unity of Sciences (ICUS) was held in Seoul in 1981. Renowned scholars from over one hundred countries participated in that conference, in which I presented my proposal for the construction of a highway for international peace. If that enormous plan is executed, people will be able to drive from Tokyo to London. (193-324, 1989.10)
I was summoned by Heaven in my youth, and I have offered my entire life to the realization of God's Will on earth. I know well that the Korean nation is the central nation in God's dispensation. Interpreting from a different angle the meaning of the ordeals the Korean nation has endured throughout its history, I am absolutely certain that transforming the divided Korean peninsula into a unified homeland is tantamount to the realization of a peaceful world. (193-317, 1989.10.12)
A person who fails to be a savior in jail is a false messiah if he says he is one in an era of peace. Having been vested with the authority of a savior of peace in prison, one does not become the messiah in a world of peace, but a monarch. I see it as an eternal foundation for governing all nations centering on kingship. I know that those who were in Hungnam prison wrote books about me, referring to me as "saint." Incarceration does not put me to fear. No matter how terrible a whipping was and how ruthless and harsh the environment was to me, they could not occupy a mind that esteems love. Nor could they dampen a spirit crying out to God and a centripetal force inclining to God. Instead they were crushed by the reverence for love and that force. Centering on that force, I consolidated my foundation on the levels of an individual, family, tribe, clan, society, nation and world by liberating the vertical stages. (184-281, 1989.01.01)
If I do not put on a good mood, surmount the difficult peak of indemnity with perfect composure, or console God, the heavenly kingdom of peace will not come about on earth. Its representative, a public figure, is a lonely person. Should somebody stand up and comment that Mr. Moon does this and that kind of work, I will instantly break down and weep bitterly. Though almost seventy without any more tears left in me, I feel so lonely that I cannot control my tears of sadness from flowing. You must not forget that kind of parent. (183-086, 1988.10.29)
Now the communist world and the democratic world, the left and right, are collapsing. Removing the disparities between the Eastern and Western cultures as well as narrowing the gulf between the rich and poor in the North and South, I will unite the Asians and Westerners as well as the blacks and whites. People segregated in the north, south, east and west have to applaud peace, centering on love, and God's family and tribe. Next, they have to sing of happiness, centering on His love and nation. (177-160, 1988.05.17)
Neither money nor honor is a necessity for me. The erection of a stronghold for everlasting peace and love by liberating, God, mankind and Satan is the only beacon of hope for seeking a new homeland. You know you have to struggle to continue progressing though obstructed by steep mountains and lofty ranges on the way. You may even forget about your three daily meals, day and night. You know it is a heavenly law that the longer such a life is lived, the more God's ideal love will be with you, your family, kin, and country. Thus, I would request you to live that way. (174-053, 1988.02.23)
The word "enemy" does not exist in my dictionary. As I am oblivious of all my intractable foes, I cannot write my autobiography. I can never write about the truth of every matter as it is without shedding tears. Lifting high the banner of peace, I have to initiate an ideal world and a freedom that can exalt happiness. I also aspire to the restoration of the independence of the homeland. I hate to cling onto my autobiography and weep, but, rather, strive to leave behind a nation that regrets the errors committed in history. I have simply forgotten everything. (174-047, 1988.02.23)
As a representative of love who can represent a true country centering on God, the owner of true love, I represent an individual and lead the family, tribe and nation. In an environment where a multitude of evil spiritual entities negates this fact, I exert myself to the utmost in order to climb over the peak with a positive attitude. Therefore, I make my accusers sincerely repent, and they admit it is a true fact. On becoming my witnesses, if they do not build on this earth a base for peace that can testify before God and humankind, the foundation for a peaceful family, tribe and nation will not appear. Furthermore, the base of a unified nation that mankind has long cherished will not put its root down on this earth. Realizing this fact, I have never ceased to fight for it. (174-044, 1988.02.23)
No one except me has been dealing with world problems for the past fifty years. Just last year, at the thirtieth commemoration ceremony of the death of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, who had sacrificed his life as a forerunner of peace, a guest of honor had to be invited to address world peace. All the people gathered strongly recommended me at the end of the conference. In all of history, the front-running flag bearer for world peace is none other than Rev. Moon. I was invited to be the main speaker at the large congregation of 250,000 white people and 250,000 people of color, a total of 500,000 people, on the thirtieth anniversary of Dr. King's death. (273-155, 1995.10.22)
What is Rev. Moon of the Unification Church advocating? He stands for peace. The trademark "World Peace" is borne in the names of substantial organizations: the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International (FFWPUI), the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace (IIFWP), the Federation for World Peace (FWP), the Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP), the Summit Council for World Peace (SCWP), the Youth Federation for World Peace (YFWP) and the Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA), to name but a few.
Who is the chief of world peace? There is nobody else save Rev. Moon. The whole world now knows that for a fact and is saying, "Go ask Rev. Moon about world peace or absolute values." The representative asserting peace in the latter days is I; the one clamoring for absolute values in the world is also I.. I have had to carry out research and read volumes of related literature as I have been leading the circle of ICUS scholars for several decades. (253-019, 1994.01.01)
During the mid-1930s, when I was sixteen and the Korean peninsula was under the forced occupation of Japan, I received a special mission from Heaven through a vision of Jesus Christ. I am seventy-three now, and in the intervening years, there has not been even a single moment of my life when I did not think of God's Will and Heaven's decree.
Immediately following the Second World War, in a development that compounded our already difficult situation, the Korean peninsula was divided between North and South. The Korean War broke out in 1950, and Koreans found themselves in a fratricidal conflict. Various countries of the world on the left and the right opted to support one or the other of the opposing sides. I witnessed this horrifying and tragic scene of history directly, and I know from my heart of hearts how much excruciating pain and unspeakable sorrow has been brought to God and humanity by the loss of a world of peace.
Think for a moment about the fact that I have been imprisoned as many as six times in my lifetime. This alone is enough to tell you how harsh the attacks against me have been. The degree of censure, persecution, widespread distrust and irrational intolerance from various sectors of society I have faced and endured is simply beyond your imagination. (234-247, 1992.08.24)
What is God's strategy today for the unification of North and South Korea? In a confused situation with thousands of different directions, we must bind religions together, because they represent the spiritual world, for the sake of world peace. We should also bind together the representatives of the physical world, the opponents of religions, to create a unified organization transcending national boundaries. You will never build a unified organization, the Federation for World Peace, by just sitting around dreaming about it. You must feel God's sorrow. If you bewail God's situation, you will surely feel His endless sorrow. (221-196, 1991.10.24)
Even if the religious world becomes one and the political world is one, the direction for peace cannot be fixed by the two worlds. A federation can only be set up in one direction. Facing that kind of environment, should I make the Korean nation a dropout, or should I make good use of it? Neither of them. With all my heart and soul, I am raising and teaching these people born with Korean blood. If that does not work out, Japan will be its substitute. The PWPA in Japan is incomparable to that in Korea. The Asian Women's Federation began five years ago. The government and its people are doing amazing things. (221-196, 1991.10.24)
Rev. Moon is showing himself to be a problematic person. In the past, I predicted the downfall of communism. The time has come when people of the world are looking at me with great expectations. On top of that, the scientists, religious and political leaders that attended the ICUS conference in Korea this time were bound in one direction toward a world of peace. This is a new starting point. (219-224, 1991.09.08)
I have made preparations for Korea to become the central nation that will manage the future world based on God, who is transcendent of the human world. From this standpoint, while passing through the historical age, I have studied, in my lifetime, issues on what the future prospect of Asia will be and how I should connect this to the world in order to build a conclusive world of peace, a unified ideal world centering on God's Will. In addition, I have been virtually unsurpassed in my single-minded devotion to put that into action, to connect, assimilate and form a supranational core in many directions. Even the United States of America, which has crossed the Pacific Ocean and is leading the free world, is observing Rev. Moon closely. Korea, Japan, Russia and China have reached the stage where they cannot ignore me. (222-126, 1991.10.28)
We need some teaching materials on people who have persisted in their commitment to and sacrificed themselves for world peace. What textbooks do we use to educate people? People like us know it inside out and become religious leaders. Under heavy abuse and harsh persecution from the world, we have built a solid foundation, an indispensable worldwide result. Otherwise we cannot achieve a base of peace. (212-327, 1991.01.11)
The view centering on the overall providential history of America includes all facets of its politics, economics and cultures. In the case of Russia, the center will be Russia. To bring about unity and to build a unified content so as to approach a world of peace centering on the providential view in the future, we need to disclose the radical problems of communism. If we are not armed with an ideological system that can overcome and counter the communist ideology, the entire world will be thrown into a state of despair after the finale of communism.
American Christianity basically knows very little about God's dispensation. Though there are many religious orders, they are unaware of the providential view that religions have to take by centering on God's Will. From an overall viewpoint of the providence, America has lost its direction. As Russia is taking an atheistic stand, providential content cannot be applied to it. However, America, which is standing in a providential position, does not have an alternative plan for a future world of peace. People like us, who know the providential direction, have to present it to America. (214-133, 1991.02.02)
Rev. Moon has been a problematic public figure till now. After the world's antagonism and persecution has abated, what is going to happen? I will be the constructor of peace, right? At least that is theoretically correct. Then, why has the world been hostile to me? That is because they fail to really understand me. Why did I not protest? I remain silent, since I know I am needed everywhere in the world. While rejecting me, people of the world do not realize what I am doing internally. Not knowing how to build peace in order to proceed to an epoch of peace, they will follow me from now on. Is that strange? The American youth generally hate to learn complex and profound things. That is a snag. I have become the builder of peace without people realizing it. How intensely do religious people fight among themselves? I have always been trying to bridge their differences and unite them into one. We have reached a stage in which all religious leaders in the future will come to conclude they have to be like Rev. Moon. (203-053, 1990.06.14)
As the mind-body conflict is the platform of our adversary, it is my intention to build the base of peace and the heavenly kingdom in the family by uniting the mind and body, husband and wife and the three generations of grandparents, parents and children. Here lies the greatness of Rev. Moon. What is the focus of all this? The core of true love. If you want to go to your object partner, you must pass through the nucleus of true love. If not, you do not possess the right to have an object. As a love relationship is established with an object, that is the core of true love. Regardless of sex or age, everyone is longing for love. What kind of love? Love for the sake of others, not a love that orders people to love others. (211-206, 1990.12.30)
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1 A Movement for Peace
1.2 The mission of the True Parents, Jesus and the saints: standard bearers for peace
The world has been changing ever since World War II and since the United Nations was formed. After World War I ended, the victorious countries mistreated, plundered, exploited and took full control over the vanquished countries to whatever degree they wished. The postwar situation was reversed after the Second World War, however, in that the victorious nations emancipated the defeated nations. That is because it was time for the advent of the True Parents. All countries in the UN, whether large or small, are brethren. Each nation must be on an equal footing like brothers of an extended family, holding a one-to-one authority centering on the UN. Who must come as a flag bearer for peace? True Parents. (023-162, 1969.05.18)
No matter how much you battle against one another, when you comprehend God and True Parents' Will, you will have to become one. Similarly, no matter how much you move the world as a sovereign, when you acknowledge God and True Parents' Will sincerely, systematically, naturally and logically, nobody can say anything in excuse before you. Once you depart from that standard, you can never discover any value that corresponds to it. As long as that valueless standard persists, a lasting source of peace and unity centering on True Parents cannot be realized in the world. (025-061, 1969.09.28)
Looking at the current state of affairs, the Lord of the Second Advent has to build a borderless state and unite the world, transcending racial discrimination. He has to heal all broken families and build a kingdom of peace in this world where good and evil are at war with each other. We cannot help but ponder on the question about who the Lord will appoint to accomplish these difficult tasks when he comes again. (053-071, 1972.02.9)
Transcending nations, you have to serve and attend the True Parents who are to come and achieve a world of oneness together with them. Only then can a one-world religion and a world of peace that God desires be realized. (053-234, 1972.02.28)
The purpose of the Lord's coming is to construct a kingdom of peace and the Kingdom of Heaven on earth by governing a country. He cannot come to a scene of war. (054-121, 1972.03.21)
Saints are citizens of the world. Saints and sages have the obligation to go beyond nationalities. When that happens, the age of the formation of a one-world nation will come. It refers to the time when the Lord returns and judges the evil world. We enter the world of peace when the world becomes one. (056-179, 1972.05.14)
Until now, human love in the fallen realm could not transcend national boundaries. Koreans could never go beyond Korea. Patriots were great heroes; yet they were unable to extend the love they felt for their country beyond its borders. In contrast, saints distinguish themselves by crossing national boundaries. One country's patriot would necessarily be the archenemy of the enemy country that therefore seeks his death. What was Admiral Lee Soon-shin to Japan? He was their greatest foe. The Japanese would have wanted to kill him at all costs, whether by one blow of the sword or by a fateful arrow or by beheading him. Admiral Lee's greatness therefore was not universally acknowledged beyond the borders of his home country. On the other hand, Unificationists are people of the world who should first live for the sake of restoring the world and then for themselves. (056-198, 1972.05.14)
The Absolute Being is ultimately not an imaginary existence, but an essence that reveals itself through history. We know many religious leaders, saints and sages appeared in history in different places at different times. They constantly urged people to practice love toward their neighbors, appealing to man's conscience and heart. When a nation or a race follows their teachings, it will enjoy peace and prosperity, or else it will plunge into utter confusion and ruin. (069-238, 1973.11.26)
Patriots step forth in anarchy, not in an ordinary age of peace. When a nation is plunged into a state of either rising to prosperity or going to the dogs, and its rival country is waiting eagerly to swallow it up, patriots come forth to combat with and subjugate the enemies. Patriots also arise to put an end to the situations where treacherous enemy agents prevail. They become patriots at the place where they have fought and defeated their opponents in turbulent times. (065-120, 1972.11.05)
What is the path mankind has to walk? The standard we have to search for is a historical standard and our personal standard of hope. So where can we find true happiness, true peace and the true ideal? It is impossible for me to do it alone. We have to meet the Messiah who comes with a historic mission. The establishment of a relationship with the Messiah becomes the focus for resolving problems. Isn't that person the Messiah? (079- 240 , 1975.8.24)
When a man hopes for peace and happiness, he does not go for these elements for himself only, because he needs his family, relatives and friends. If the Messiah wants to give humankind peace and happiness, he has to present the content all at once. If not, the conclusion will be that he cannot give mankind peace and happiness. In the course of history, neither true parents nor the relationships between couples and siblings derived from a one-family system. You must receive the content all at once. (079-241, 1975.08.24)
No doubt God has to decide, but a historical prophet has to come forward to make a fair and square judgement concerning democracy, communism, and whether peace has been realized. Otherwise the world will go to ruin, and we can draw a conclusion that there is no survival for mankind. Every person in the world, including God and spirits in the incorporeal world, all long for the coming of a prophet. (079-337, 1975.09.28)
All people are yearning for a world of peace. It is not realized through the culture advanced nations are pursuing today, but through a true set of parents. Even if true parents are using a straw mat, shouldering a tattered clothes bundle, wearing faded clothes, or climbing out of a pit dead tired, fallen men have to learn God's heart centering on them. (017-129, 1966.12.11)
An individual with the Messiah at his center represents the world. It is the same for a family, tribe, society and nation. Thus that individual, family, tribe, society and nation are living for the world. Planning this for four thousand years, God sent Jesus Christ to this earth and hoped that the individual, family, tribe, society, nation and world would unite with him. With the Fall committed by the human ancestors, Adam and Eve, the relations between Cain and Abel chilled. To restore their severed relationships, the individual, family, tribe, society, nation and world must become one with Jesus. Otherwise world peace will not emerge. (056-091, 1972.05.14)
The four great saints started off centering on heaven. Centering on God, even Jesus wanted to be the spearhead in pursuit of the historical truth and the ideal future longed for throughout history. Their teachings and their untiring efforts were not to propagate their own ideals, but the heavenly Will. Heaven's Will is to perpetuate peace and happiness for mankind in the present and the future. Those who advocated this ideal were the saints. (180-010, 1988.08.20)
Though man had made continuous attempts to look for peace and happiness from various aspects, he could not reap any satisfactory results.
After the two great world wars, even the worldwide activities of the United Nations and the League of Nations could not bring about world peace. Despite the efforts of religious communities, a happy world could not come to fruition. The communist ideology and the dream of fascism also failed to create an ideal world. Neither advanced scientific technology nor political efforts were able to offer mankind peace and happiness.
A man's peace largely depends on the cultivation of his morality and spirituality. World peace or a peaceful nation is achieved by the individuals and families that constitute it. Science and technology can be utilized by righteous men to upgrade men's lives. Throughout history, saints, sages and great teachers have dedicated their lives to guiding families, societies and nations toward a peaceful and happy world. To challenge the twenty-first century, we definitely need a true parent, a true teacher and a true owner of mankind who can raise up perfect leaders morally and spiritually. (271-073, 1995,08.22)
To achieve a new world political system, we need world scholars, religious leaders, and not politicians, but leaders that can give advice or opinions on creating a new culture. We have to bring together and unite these people for the sake of creating world peace. Who is going to make them one? It is absolutely impossible without God and True Parents' love. (214-126, 1991.02.01)
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1 A Movement for Peace
1.3 Peace and the family
What is man's perfection? Man can realize perfection when he becomes the subject of love who can connect to the realm of the perfected world by perfecting his family. Man's perfection means the perfection of his family. Right then and there, he can create peace in his family. (143-311, 1986.03.21)
The distress of developed nations today is not over the issue of food but over the issue of love, centering on the family. If it does not measure up to the fundamental principle, neither a nation of peace nor a world of peace will ever come about. In other words, if we take sides with Satan, we will be doomed to perish with him. When we look at the social status quo of the United States from this perspective, we cannot help sensing the seriousness of the problem. (053-085, 1972.02.10)
If a man and a woman revolve around love, their family will be one of love. The love relationship between parents and children is the same. A similar phenomenon can be seen for a nation. (058-214, 1972.06.11)
Imagine a father telling his daughter he is superior to her mother. This problem would be a complicated one. Of course, both her parents are great. Some fathers may hold doctorates while some mothers may be poor at studying. Nevertheless how can a father proclaim himself the most excellent? What kind of knowledge does he possess to deserve the title of being the first and the best in the world? You have to speak words of parental love in order for your family to have peace and structure. It is useless to do so with wealth, knowledge, or power. (106-058, 1979.12.09)
As the Korean saying goes, "Kahwa mansaseong" (everything will be successful and prosperous whenever there is peace and harmony in the family). Can peace be realized with gold bars? It is feasible if the gold bars are not divided, but once they are, arguments will take place. The more we share love, the more things will turn out to be successful and prosperous. The more we divide money, however, the more disputes and disintegration will occur. The more love is being shared, the more unity, harmony and peace will dwell in a place. (115-253, 1981.11.22)
A person may fail to rise in the world, to climb up the ladder of success or to possess any imposing authority and qualifications in society. Achieving a family centering on true parents, true couples and true children, if he leads a peaceful life to the extent that others want to model their families after his family, we would not be able to deny that his is a happy family.
Throughout history, many people have held saints and sages in great respect. However, where is the starting point of attaining peace in the family? Where can they begin to create a family of love, of filial children and of a loving couple? (023-011, 1969.05.11)
What type of family are you looking for? Though man today claims he has a happy family, that happiness is not insured in the future. No matter how happy a family is, the wife may receive bad news of her husband's sudden death. Hence, to establish a family in which peace and happiness are forever guaranteed, we have to build a foundation for eliminating whatever misfortune may befall it. To do that, an individual must have that much faith. With such faith, even if the husband or wife were to pass on, his or her demise would not be a condition for misfortune. You have to establish that kind of family.
Whether for an individual or God Himself, it is the same. If God's unique love is trampled on, He cannot just forgive you and replace the trampled love with another. There is but one springboard to peace. The day when two such points co-exist will be the day of the subversion of the ideal. (023-013, 1969.05.11)
What is the common goal all people must have and the common gate they must pass through? It is neither a nation nor the world, neither the communist world nor the democratic world. An original family must exist before the communist world takes form. There must also be an original family that can create a true democratic world before the democratic world comes into being. So where have the order, the education and the standard of purpose been till now? A decisive standard has never existed on earth. Before it does, there cannot exist an ideal nation of peace or a kingdom of peace. (023-031, 1969.05.11)
What is the aim of religion? It is to build a world where all people, on becoming good, can live peacefully together. The conditions for peace are not established by politicians, so for world peace to come on the basis of policies or ideologies is simply out of the question. Moreover, unity and world peace cannot be achieved by military might. Where is the stronghold of peace and happiness? It is located in the family you are living in. (023-101, 1969.05.14)
Universalism is an "ism" that connects to the physical and spiritual worlds the concept of establishing a family that becomes the entity of God's love after uniting the mind and body. The Chinese character ju in cheonju (cosmos) means "house." Thus I use the word "universalism." The universe is a combination of the invisible incorporeal world and the visible corporeal world. What does that have to do with us? We need a family. If you cannot become one in your family, you have nothing to do with universalism. The family carries the final standard that consummates universalism. A man who cannot sing praises of peace and happiness is an unfortunate person in this transient world and in the next (incorporeal) world. (026-189, 1969.10.25)
Where is the family foundation that can represent all nations and the world? Just as every man is looking for a peaceful family today, if an absolute God does exist, is He not also searching for an absolute yardstick of peace for the family? By championing the cause of that family, the family foundation sought for can be established, centering on the bride and groom in Christianity. (035-130, 1970.10.11)
If a wife considers her husband to be someone sent from heaven and loves him more than God does, peace will definitely arrive in that family. A husband who does not gain the respect of his wife cannot be a church leader. (033-261, 1970.08.16)
Every event can be viewed from the positions of parents, children and all other created beings. The son is following his parents from the rear, and all things of creation are following behind the son. Both the son and all things of creation live for the sake of the parents, centering on a higher purpose. Everything has to proceed in that order, from the present fallen world till the next eternal world. Parents have to lead their offspring. The Messiah, therefore, has to lead his sons and daughters to salvation. Aren't the things of creation being prepared for that purpose? Parents have already been prepared to be parents when their children are born. Hence, children have to move around their parents. If the foundation of heart that desires children to sit and stand forever and ever around their parents appears on earth, the kingdom of peace will be constructed. (035-280, 1970.10.25)
If the couple of a particular family adheres to positions that run counter to each other, peace cannot exist in that family. Making the subject in the central position the standard, the object has to become one with the subject and the center. The object has to connect itself to the subject, centering on it. Only then can it fulfill its purpose as an object. But if the subject goes back and forth between the subjective and objective positions, it cannot achieve its goal. To fulfill the purpose of a family, both the husband and wife must unite. (028-156, 1970.01.11)
The origin of death is Satan and the origin of life is God. In God's shoes, the satanic world acts contrary to the heavenly world. What kind of family is found in the satanic world? Is it a peaceful family or a disharmonious family? It has got to be the latter, because it began in discord. A world that starts off as and ends up as a disharmonious family is not the heavenly world. The problem lies in the family. As an old Korean saying goes, "Kahwa mansaseong" (everything will be successful and prosperous whenever there is peace and harmony in the family) It is indeed a truism.
What is the hardest thing to bear? Having resentment against your loved ones. There is nothing more difficult to endure than this. Adam's family began by scattering the seeds of disharmony, since it commenced with false parents. A family in which disharmony dwells is a family of the satanic world; a family in which peace and harmony prevail is a family of the heavenly world. They go in the opposite directions. What does Satan make his appearance center upon? An unscrupulous family bound up in disharmony is the center of the satanic world. Such families engage in conflicts every day. (044-134, 1971.05.06)
The family has to serve and attend the True Parents for at least three years. Then the nation, and next the world will have to do likewise till the restoration of the world is consummated. Centering on the number three, we have to serve them for not less than three years. Centering on the True Parents, we take meals with them, hold discussions with them and live together with them for three years. As a family serving the True Parents, there must be a period of three years during which you live in peace, joy and happiness, and speak nice and respectful words to one another. (044-169, 1971.05.06)
How can a son rejoice when his father is sad? When his father and elder brother are melancholy, he cannot be happy by himself. When a woman's father, husband or son is gloomy and depressed, everybody shares the same heart and feelings. Despite being the president of a company, if the man sees his old father's sad countenance before leaving for his office, he will worry about him while doing his work. That is the duty of a filial son. On reaching home, he will feel happier than ever if his father gladly welcomes him at the door with a broad smile. Unless you become a member of such a family, your family cannot enjoy peace and happiness. (063-304, 1972.10.15)
A family in which the father and mother interact well forms the basic unit of peace centered on love. A family of peace is one where both parents and children are wholly one centering on love. (129-057, 1983.10.01)
God's Will is to realize the heavenly kingdom in the family. Do you know that the most fearsome people in the world are your children? They learn and imitate exactly what you say or do. If a mother hums, her daughter will surely make a humming sound. If you tolerate, forgive and do things peacefully, your children will follow likewise. You must know it is never easy to become parents of sinless children.
From now on, you must make rules in your families. The first rule should be: "To keep peace in my family: if I fight once I will abstain from sexual relations for three years." You should post such a slogan. You should pray to God... If you resolved marital conflicts that way, who would be the first to give way? The woman would be the first. So you should stop fighting. Don't even utter the word "fighting." Do not use such a horrible word. It would be better to abstain from sexual relations for three years than to fight with your spouse. People often say, "A marital spat is like cutting water with a knife," but that does not apply to Unification Church blessed couples. You should view it as if you had to cut through steel. You should see it as the most frightening thing that could happen to you. You should not be irresponsible. (100-302, 1978.10.22)
The Kingdom of Heaven is in your family. Peace and happiness are not found elsewhere. If your family goes amiss, everything you have gained, including the world, will turn out to be marred by misfortune. (130-168, 1984.01.08)
The family is a textbook of love that teaches you how to procure the right to register your name in heaven or the palace of peace. The family is a training center of love. The world is an expansion of the family. The world is like your grandparents, parents, husbands, wives and children. (130-168, 1984.01.08)
What does marriage mean? A man has a woman's love and a woman has a man's love. Having each other's love, they control love. In other words, the man controls the way of love the woman has to go, and the woman controls the path of love the man has to take. That is why they take control of each other's love. When a person who cherishes love establishes a love that is more precious than himself, peace will reign in his family. A perfect, harmonious family will be formed. (142-242, 1986.05.11)
Five billion people are living in today's world. If you ask them what their hopes for the future world are, they will respond in unison, "We wish for a world of peace and unity." If South Koreans are posed the same question, forty million of them will reply that they crave the unification of North and South Korea.
The issue of unification today is not merely a current national issue. Broadly speaking, it is a worldwide problem. Narrowly speaking, it is linked to an individual's problem. Before we speak of unity of the world, it stands to reason that there should be unity among nations, and there should be unity in the family prior to that. No matter how much happiness a couple may hope for, if they fail to unite, they cannot have a happy family. In the same way, no matter how much happiness that family desires, if its individuals are unhappy, then the happiness in that family is no more than a pipe dream. There is an old Korean saying that goes, "Kahwa mansaseong" (everything will be successful and prosperous whenever there is peace and harmony in the family) The most important thing is the achievement of a family of peace by a unified couple. It becomes the key to all solutions. (143-259, 1986.03.20)
You should be cognizant of the fact that the family is a training ground for establishing a palace of peace in the world. To walk the path of eternal love as a husband and wife that live for the sake of others, centering on true love, you have to fulfill your responsibility as a couple, as a family and as children. My family is the base of peace. If you lift up the revolutionary flame of love for others, a new light of peace will shine forth in your family. (143-168, 1986.03.17)
When a woman can love her spouse as her own country of forty million people, as the world's president, as the world's population of five billion people, and as God Himself, her husband will be subjugated naturally. The yardstick of peace will be established there. (168-178, 1987.09.20)
Sons and daughters should say they have never once witnessed their parents squabbling in their lifetimes. Many unusual events do indeed happen in our lives. At times we feel like nagging. We quarrel when we are grouchy. Still, we must stop short when our children come home and quickly resume our former state. No matter how displeasing your husband looks, you should never wear a furious look on your face in front of your kids. This is the philosophy I abide by. Your children will always think of you as peace loving, wonderful and the best parents among parents. Thus, parents are like the second God. When asked whether they will look for God or their parents, your children will choose you. God will also be happy on hearing that. This is the core part of education. (165-094, 1987.05.20)
All the world's people must become the members and siblings of one universal family. When all nations become peaceful and the world is unified, what kind of world will it be? A world of "family-ism" in which all human beings are brothers and sisters. That is the ideal world. (160-277, 1969.05.17)
What is today's world like? Today, people are saying the world must become one. They are waiting for a world of peace and happiness to come. To use a religious term, the Kingdom of Heaven or an ideal world must be substantiated on earth.
No matter how much you hope that the vast world can be the ideal, and how much tireless effort you pour into your work, the foundation on which that becomes possible rests on the family. As long as we lack the worldwide foundation on which we can extol the ideal, realize peace and listen to melodies of love and happiness; no matter how much you dream of an ideal world or the Kingdom of Heaven, needless to say, that kind of world can never settle on earth. (159-174, 1969.05.12)
To take care of her husband, a representative of the universe, a woman has to do more than what a normal wife does. She has to look into the mirror thrice daily - at breakfast, at lunch and at dinner. Out of all her facial expressions, she has to know at all times which one is the most peaceful expression. She also has to be conscious of how her eyes look and what physical appearance will be most becoming to her. She must fix these as her objectives in life. (158-233, 1967.12.27)
A set of family rules and etiquette centering on the True Parents must be enacted. Since the principle of love centering on parents has not been laid down yet, the standard of peace has not been set in the world. Since the standard of peace centering on love has not been established, we cannot find sons and daughters of peace, a family of peace, a tribe of peace, a society of peace, a nation of peace, or a world of peace. Following the True Parents, we have to go into their bosom of love. (157-165, 1965.04.02)
The way to unification is to rapidly locate, absorb and digest contradictory elements within a short time period. If that is the case, peace and happiness can be linked through such a person. (198-076, 1990.01.21)
If you fully understand the ideal contents of the Unification Church blessing through forty-day training workshops, you will be moved to the point of exclaiming, "The unfolding of the ideal begins in the family! The liberation of men and women, and thus the liberation of mankind has already begun in history! Now I've come to know that the fundamentals of peace start in the family!" The family is the microcosm of the macrocosmic heavenly kingdom, the textbook for the realization of the earthly Kingdom of Heaven. (190-285, 1989.06.19)
A woman should not criticize her husband if he is less than she is. Instead she should tell herself, "Though he's lacking in many areas, he sought to be part of the providential age for my sake. In the history of the masculine world in which men live, die or perish by inheriting the flag, a symbol of peace, my husband came searching for a woman like me." Hoisting the flag, the couple pledges to actualize a kingdom of peace and a nation of love. (187-085, 1989.01.06)
The descendants of Adam and Eve would have built a stable worldwide foundation abundant in freedom, peace, happiness and hope by uniting their mind and body and achieving a family in which the individual is one with God, husband and wife are one, and parents and children are one. To reach God's ideal it is necessary that that model not remain in a particular family or nation, but expand to the entire world. The model of a heavenly kingdom established in a true family expands to the entire nation; the heavenly kingdom of national sovereignty expands to the entire world; and the expanded version of the heavenly kingdom of worldwide sovereignty expands to the entire cosmos. (288-167, 1997.11.27)
Humankind has been searching for the path to peace for all nations, after having experienced the painful wounds of World War II. God instructed me to initiate a worldwide movement for building His kingdom upon the Christian foundation of two millennia. The gist of the revelation was the formula course of searching for the True Parents and a True Family.
In order to discover the reason why the rejection of God's Word brought about undesirable results, we need to first understand the meaning of the messages given by God to Christian leaders through Rev. Moon fifty years ago. Those messages are intrinsically the same as my teachings today. The only difference is that my teachings are not only for Christians, but also for Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and all other religions and religious sects. The ideal of a God-centered True Family alone forms the foundation for peace and true mutual relationships among individuals, within a family and society, and among nations. (288-166, 1997.11.27)
At the very inception of history, if man had become one with God, establishing a true family centering on true love, practicing true love and living for others, he would have already accomplished a true nation and a world of true peace.
To uproot the countless historical conflicts and struggles, humanity has to return to God's bosom. First, an individual's mind and body have to be one centering on God. Next, establishing a God-centered True Family, a true man and a true woman serve and attend God again within the family. Therefore a True Family centering on true love becomes a base on earth where God dwells, as well as the beginning point for a true nation and a true peaceful world. Subsequently, a world of true freedom and happiness will begin. (271-088, 1995.08.22)
The crux of the question about the origin of world peace is how self-centered parents and children ever establish a foundation of peace within their family. As the family is the basis for solving all general issues related to peace, the Unification Church emphasizes the perfection of the self and the family. In this sense, though you bring about the unification of North and South Korea in the future, if you lack peace in your family, even the peace of that unification will run away. Representatives of developed nations may have realized world peace through international conferences, but if the family foundation on which parents centering on the families of the world can inherit the standard of peace is not established, peace in that nation will fall apart.
Looking at the matter from this angle, if God exists, where would He start looking for the yardstick of peace? He desires national peace before world peace, tribal peace before national peace, family peace before tribal peace, peace between the couple before family peace, and individual peace before a couple's peace. As long as the standard of peace is not set through being victorious in the strife between mind and body, even if peace in the nation, world or cosmos is established, that peace has nothing to do with me. (267-197, 1995.01.08)
The social conditions may have greatly varied, but the importance of the parent-child relationship cannot be shaken and the significance of the family cannot be altered. Love is the source of a man's happiness and joy. The family is the foundation of that peace and happiness. (271-080, 1995.08.22)
An easy method to achieve unity within the family is to live for the sake of one another. Grandfathers live for the sake of grandmothers, grandmothers for grandfathers, fathers for mothers, mothers for fathers, husbands for wives, wives for husbands, elder brothers for younger brothers, and younger brothers for older brothers. It is that simple. If we form relationships by living for the sake of others, peace will come to our family. However, if we live for ourselves, eight separate entities will take shape.
No matter how difficult it is, live for the sake of your grandmother, your mother, your wife, and your daughter. As a man, you should not dislike but, rather, love your grandmother, your mother, your wife, and your daughter. Even though you want to go to your wife, why go when she refuses you? She will come looking for you after a couple of months. The problem does not lie somewhere remote. World peace does not come from the world. I have to bring peace in my family first. (241-301, 1993.01.01)
Where is world peace? It is found not in the world, but within myself. Even if the world had been unified and was celebrating, what would it matter to me if my mind and body were not united? Peace does not come from outside in the world, but begins with me. A family of peace will be realized when Adam and Eve become entirely one centering on true love, each having achieved mind-body unity.
The family of peace is universal. The family of peace is also the family of unification, which is why it is universal. You must understand this clearly. Nations must change, too. People are torn apart in a nation. They are not united; therefore, things must be changed domestically and internationally. In this regard, we must take pride in advocating the True Family worldwide. (241-022, 1992.12.19)
The couple's bedroom is a treasury where the husband and the wife store up the treasure of the universe. God Himself is watching over it. Therefore, couples must create a bedroom that God would want to come and settle into as if it were His own, to enjoy peace and happiness together with them. Only then could the couple occupy the cosmos and even God. If the love between husband and wife does not go beyond the present state, they can never reach the cosmic level. (228-165, 1992.03.27)
As the Korean saying goes, "Kahwa mansaseong" (everything will be successful and prosperous whenever there is peace and harmony in the family) It means that if a family is peaceful, everything will be fulfilled. A flourishing family is a family of peace and the basis of the heavenly kingdom. The driving force of the family is true love. True love is pure, beautiful and sacrificial for God and one's object partner, more than for oneself. God did not create a force greater than the force of true love in the universe. True love is God's love.
Similarly, a family grounded in true love will form the primary unit for establishing a society, nation and world. With true love as the driving force, sacrifices and voluntary community service projects are virtues. In such a society, nation and world, there will be harmony instead of conflicts, understanding instead of misunderstanding, unity instead of segregation and the pursuit of benefits for the whole instead of the pursuit of personal benefits. The realization of this ideal of God is the philosophy of true world peace. (219-118, 1991.08.28)
As the origin of conflicts in our society and world commenced from an individual's mind-body conflict based on Satan's false love, true peace is realized only through the resonant and unified self within an individual that possesses God's true love. The base for achieving a peaceful world is not the world itself. Imagine an individual who has achieved mind-body harmony with God's true love, transcending Satan's realm of dominion. World peace is born in the family formed by a perfected man and woman. (219-109, 1991.08.27)
When a man and woman marry and become one with a happy and peaceful mind, God naturally comes to that unified place and forms a relationship with them. This is the initial motive by which a God-man relationship can be established. Not only is it good for both God and men, the animal, plant and mineral worlds also acclaim such unity with gratitude. (218-206, 1991.07.29)
The Kingdom of Heaven begins in the family. You must transform your family based on true love. Your second-generation teenagers must take an active role in bringing about change. The world has destroyed teenagers through drugs and free sex. They should work with and help the police in keeping their neighborhoods crime-free. We have now entered the age when our second generation and parents united together can drive out crime from their neighborhoods and educate their fellow citizens. Blessed families should be families of hope. Those who prepare themselves to receive the royal foundation of peace in their homes and to expand it to the world level eventually are truly wise and blessed people. (208-299, 1990.11.20)
The stage of love centered on a man and a woman is interwoven in the family. The ideal of patriots and saints must be woven together, centering on the family. Centering on a unified direction, the value of a unified purpose must be achieved before the world standard when the terminal is reached. A world of unity and peace is only possible if we go in the historical direction of God's love to embrace the entire world. Without that, we cannot substantiate the ideal Kingdom of Heaven. (207-302, 1990.11.11)
Centering on true love, an ideal couple is connected to everything in the cosmos. When that takes place, God's things become mine. How happy we will be! Your mind desires to dominate all things. Everybody in human history without exception had that kind of mind, but nobody could do it. It is feasible if you center on the true love that Rev. Moon is teaching in this age. What I am saying is, you can achieve a family of peace, a society of peace, a nation of peace and a world of peace. When that happens, you stand in God's position and take His place. It is the course of mankind. (207-036, 1990.10.21)
The political system of the democratic world is system of strife, so we must stand in the parental position and stop the conflicts. All brothers become one centering on the parents. A world of peace begins from a unified place. Everything including true children, a true nation and true peace can be found starting from where we have to seek for the True Parents first. Apart from this, there is no other way. (205-189, 1990.09.01)
What kind of people would our first ancestors have become had they not fallen? They would have become the horizontal parents. They would have created a ninety-degree, vertical relationship with God, the vertical parent. Whichever direction you turn toward, it always stays the same. When there is a perfect ninety-degree relationship between the horizontal and the vertical, nobody complains even if the positions become switched around. It is no problem when God takes the man and woman's position, or sons and daughters take their parents' position or the grandparents take their grandchildren's position. Anybody can go anywhere. The family of man is created on the perfectly unified foundation. Without friction or conflict, the truth of peace endures forever. (204-104, 1990.07.01)
The world after the twenty-first century will be a warless world of peace where man eulogizes the blessing of liberty and prosperity and a world that upholds love and happiness. As the East-West ideological conflict has drawn to a close, the issue of the rich and poor in the North and South has to be tackled from the same viewpoint. I have long called for the equalization of scientific technology and the construction of an international highway, because I have an insight into the future in which the world is integrated into a global family and people are mutually dependent.
The East-West Cold War has come to an end and technology advances day by day. If the whole world plugged into technology, becoming a global community, could humankind in the twenty-first century enjoy peace and happiness without a problem? No, it is not possible. A matter that is more fundamental and more dangerous than the Cold War is threatening modern mankind. The greatest problem afflicting mankind is the problem of immorality and moral decadence. These are undermining the value of the family, just as I have correctly discerned. Moral decadence is the original sin that is dragging mankind into the depths of agony and despair. (288-139, 1997.11.26)
The curtain was brought down on the epoch of the Cold War in 1991. Ever since the tension and conflict between the East and the West came to an end, we have been living in anticipation of the arrival of the age of peace. However, social unrest and dissension has been increasing since the Cold War. Perverted sexual morality such as free sex and homosexuality in the United States is breaking down the family. (271-086, 1995.08.22)
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1 A Movement for Peace
1.4 The International Holy Blessing and peace
The solemn International Marriage Blessing Ceremony of the Unification Church naturally breaks down international boundaries. If a British person marries a French person, the frontier will gradually and steadily melt away without them noticing the change. Hence, a woman who weds a Frenchman does not become French. Likewise, if she tied the nuptial knot with an Englishman, she is still not British. The question is, "What is her nationality?" Undoubtedly, she is a Unification Church member. What are Unification Church members then? When a peaceful or free world is realized in the future, they will be the first group of people who can launch the ideal world. (129-238, 1983.11.06)
The yellow race by itself cannot bring about world peace. All five races should come together as one. Having come as the flag bearer of world peace, I must bring peace to this world through the Holy Marriage Blessing. Otherwise, the world would remain trapped in the valley of death, unable to get back onto level ground, with no hope of seeing the horizon. (182-273, 1988.10.23)
On receiving the blessing, the Yemenite Muslim, the Grand Mufti, becomes one with Rev. Moon. I can go to Yemen anytime and educate its people. Should all Muslims and Christians get blessed, do you think the world will become peaceful, or otherwise? Next, I will bless their children with the children of the Communist party members. I will bless people of nations that are deadly enemies to each other. Families bound in this manner will not fall asunder, but be elevated by the world. The spring of mankind welcomes and vows to follow these couples. That is how the earthly Kingdom of Heaven can be realized. If we have established that kind of foundation, entering the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven is warranted. (302-104, 1999.06.01)
The year 2000, which we are approaching, is the time when all humankind has to usher in the age of the heavenly kingdom of true peace and the true ideal in which we eternally live for the sake of others and practice true love centering on God and the True Parents. We do this by searching for the true, original value of man centered on God and establish a true blessed family that is totally one with the Parents of Heaven and Earth. (298-318, 1999.01.17)
Mankind multiplied from Adam and Eve who, as the True Parents, would have realized a peaceful world of Adam's cultural realm, establishing a one-world family. Hence the consequence of the history of restoration is the formation of a true family centered on true parents and true love. This central True Family then becomes the hope of God and mankind, the origin of true love and true life, as well as the peace and happiness of mankind. (294-067, 1998.06.11)
How can a future world of peace be realized? The integral point is simple. It begins from a nation that marries off its sons and daughters to its enemies and wishes that they will be better off. Without doing that, a world of peace will never come.
If Americans and Russians intermarry, a world of peace will come. If Japanese are willing to marry three generations of Chinese, Russians and Americans, then Japan can go over the realm of the number four to the heavenly nation. (296-204, 1998.11.09)
What mankind most urgently needs is a revolution of true love centered on true parents. Without fundamental reform, mankind cannot hope for a peaceful and happy world. Today's problems have to be resolved by a true family centered on true parents and God's true love.
Please evaluate seriously the concept of true love and the international peace movement I have worked for. You should not regard the true family movement and the pure love movement for youth that is based on true love that transcends national boundaries, culture, race and religion as merely religious events.
A peaceful nation must precede world peace. National peace presupposes peace within a family. Power, wealth or knowledge, which the secular world generally hankers after, cannot be necessary or sufficient conditions for peace and happiness. True happiness is not controlled by the convenience of the external living conditions. Together with true love, these things lead to true peace and happiness. Only by living for others with true love will you surely attain true peace and infinite happiness.
I understand that all the while you are making tremendous contributions to the welfare of mankind and social improvement in every discipline with conviction. However, mankind is now living in a generally critical period. It is inadequate to prepare or work only in specific areas. Being the conscience of this age, leaders must be the building blocks of a peaceful world and take an active role in modeling and guiding a true family, by positively showing perfect examples.
The first phase of the 360 million-couple blessing, which I will be officiating on June 13th, is a result of educating ideal families by offering my entire life. Participants of the holy blessing ceremony are people who vow to God to become a true couple, true parents and a true family centering on true love. To bring about a peaceful world, we are swiftly carrying out a historic revolution of true love through a true family movement.
What is more pressing than saving mankind from family breakdown? I am continuously encouraging you to actively take part in the true family movement that strives for a peaceful world. (294-068, 1998.06.11)
Without your taking a strict oath of attaining a personality of true love that serves God and becoming a true couple and true parents, a true family cannot be restored. Harmonious and peaceful families created through the blessing ceremony can realize a peaceful society, nation and world. The blessing itself, which transcends nations, races and religions, is the cornerstone of world peace. Is this not God's long-cherished, earnest desire?
The blessing ceremony liquidates all false love relationships and orients couples to a sacred marriage centered on absoluteness and to the restoration of values. Therefore, those who join the blessing ceremony deem purity, fidelity and trust as paramount in their own lives, and pledges unchanging conjugal love. On the basis of true love, they promise to devote their lives to the realization of true love, the upbringing of true children, and the substantiation of a true nation and a peaceful world.
You therefore have to teach all people so that they can live in a world of victory, freedom, peace and unity by their establishing a true family and entering the era of God-centered kingship on earth and in heaven. (288-172, 1997.11.27)
In recent world religious conferences, the Unification Church is suggesting entering into matrimony with Islam. Thirteen religious representatives assembled and formed the conclusion that there were no other shortcuts to world peace in the future other than this one. Religions must take the lead. The mind must be the guiding force of peace, for the realm of the mind is religion. I founded two great world federations, the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP) and the Federation for World Peace (FWP). IRFWP represents the realm of the mind. What do we do with that religious federation? As Cain and Abel do not exist in the religious world, there is no foothold on which the mother can stand. Centering on this principle, the parent has to stand in the parental position. The current heads of religious organizations have to occupy the archangel's position. Even if you dislike it, you have to carry it out.
There is no faster and more efficient avenue to achieving oneness aside from the blessing. Everyone has become my opponent centering on the national boundaries. Hence, I officiate interracial marriages between Koreans and Japanese. That means Korean men and women are married to Japanese men and women. There is no shorter way to world peace besides binding enemies in matrimony. This is to conquer the problem of racial discrimination. (249-256, 1993.10.10)
There is no shorter path to achieving world peace besides the international wedding. Where are the opposers? They crop up at the borderline. People close to your family are your enemies, not those far away from your family.
In order for a world of peace to take place at a faster pace, I go beyond the borderline and match couples from nations that have conflict. In that case, half will enter a world of peace. Before the marriage, they really hate one another to the extent of wanting to murder each other. But when a person's spouse comes from an enemy nation, half of the couple is a citizen of that nation. When the family reaches its second or third generation, the enmity will be totally uprooted. That is why I encourage cross-cultural marriages.
Interracial marriages among rival nations held by Rev. Moon speeds up the pace of world peace. You may think your own people are better, but think about what is going to happen after a decade or two. It will be a real tragedy if no relatives fly to visit you. (249-332, 1993.10.11)
The obligation of the religious sphere as demanded absolutely by God is to stand in the forefront of the work for world peace. Opposition will vanish into thin air on the spot. What is the shortest distance, the nearest path to peace? Tying the knot between members of the younger generation, regardless of religious background. Marriage between conflicting religious groups will reduce their antagonism by half. If we double those marriages, there will be complete serenity. I plan to marry young Unification Church members to the youngsters of various religious bodies.
As the world's religious denominations engage themselves in intermarriage, opposing religions will soon become one, just as opposing nations do. It is the shortcut to world peace. If world peace is not realized, it becomes meaningless for God to set up multifarious religions in the world. (249-085, 1993.10.08)
With the Unification Church as the root organization, I have founded many other organizations for far-reaching projects and activities in a wide variety of fields. These organizations are for the purpose of building a world of peace in which we, the God-centered human family, can rejoice in our freedom, ideals and happiness.
The International Conference on the Unity of Sciences (ICUS), the Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA), the World Media Conference (WMC), the Summit Council for World Peace (SCWP), the Assembly of the World's Religions (AWR), the Federation for World Peace (FWP), the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP), the Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP), the Collegiate Association for the Research of the Principle (CARP), and the international performing arts groups will meet during this time of the International Blessing Ceremony and provide forums to stimulate our intellects and reaffirm our determination to devote ourselves to the cause of building a world of peace.
International blessing is the blessing of resurrection and rebirth. Through this ceremony, humanity is able to liquidate the original sin and restore God's true love, true life and true lineage. It is within the context of this ceremony that we give birth to peace and realize the ideal of a true global family, transcending race, nationality and international boundaries.
As the founder of these organizations, I would like to reaffirm here that their purpose is to bring about world peace, according to the ideal of God and humankind. They are not created for the benefit or narrow interests of any particular political faction, religious group or nation. Rather, they exist to bring peace, happiness and freedom to God, the creator of the cosmos, and to all mankind.
Our movement thus must bring salvation to all families, nations and, finally, to the entire world. It must be a family-saving, nation-saving and world-saving movement. The debasement of sexual ethics through illicit relationships and decadent lifestyles is causing the break down of families. Every nation is undergoing a particularly difficult time. It is suffering the agony of the decline of its moral standards and accompanying increase in crime rates. There is no solution in sight to the conflicts between political factions and social classes. Destitution and ignorance continue to plague us. There is no indication that we may be nearing solutions to the world's international border disputes, the attitudes of prejudice among religious groups, or the conflicts among the various races and ethnic groups. World peace is under constant menace from the selfish actions of the world's countries and peoples.
Women are the central point for the love, peace and spirit of service that protects our families. The departure point in our work to build world peace must be the mother of a wholesome family. The establishment of God-centered family ethics and the education of our blessed second generation lie at the innermost core of my teachings. The family is the holy sanctuary that must purify this defiled world. (234-249, 1992.08.24)
Boundary lines and divisive walls between cultural backgrounds do not exist in the Unification Church. Many black people have married white people. Japanese were blessed to members from different nations of the world this time. Several hundred of them were wed to Africans. If the figure exceeds one million, ten million or possibly the population of Japan, the world is heading toward a world of peace. One true blood lineage that Satan abhors will manifest itself. Should I continue to make a blessing hurricane or not? When people of twelve different nationalities in a family become one, what will happen? A world of peace will arise. How great it will be. I will then be the king of peace. (235-199, 1992.09.20)
The basic unit of God's ideal of creation is the family, which is the basis for the establishment of the society and nation. God's model of a one-world family of humankind, based on true love and transcending differences of race and color, will lead us directly to the fulfillment of world peace. When an exemplary couple builds a blessed family under God's ideal of true love, they can bear children of goodness and practice correct ethics. By living with high ethical standards, the couple will provide a family model of morality and lead the way toward the creation of an ideal society, nation and world. (234-272, 1992.08.26)
The problem of today's world is that the diversified disciplines are interwoven in a complicated fashion. Under the name of the World Culture and Sports Festival (WCSF) this time, I firmly believe that dealing broadly with the world's problems in all cultural fields such as academics, religions, media, sciences, and arts, including ideology and politics, at one place will be an epoch-making contribution to pursuing a true path to world peace.
Furthermore, this festival, celebrated in the same year the Olympics Games, carries a significant meaning of pinpointing the direction for developing the mental and physical aspects of the human society in a balanced way. Transcending races and nationalities in 130 distinct nations of the world, thirty thousand couples of virtuous men and women subscribing to this ideal have assembled to participate in an international wedding ceremony of the largest scale in human history, as a demonstration of their commitment to lasting family relations and eternal values. The blessing will be a grand occasion that opens up an expressway on which all humanity welcoming a new historical age of the twenty-first century can realize world peace by centering on and harmonizing with God.
Looking at human history in retrospect, there has never been a day of fulfilling true freedom, peace and happiness on earth. Under the ideological value of economic equality, communism, which had promised to liberate mankind from extortion, in reality, caused the tragic consequences of conflicts and poverty.
When a man and a woman whose mind and body are one with God's true love meet and form a family centered on God's true love, this family will be the stronghold of true freedom, peace and happiness.
When God and man centering on true love achieve a common point of unity, man for the first time can enjoy true freedom, peace and happiness.
As a common principle of peace, it does not apply to an individual alone, but to the family, society, nation and world as well. In this way, mankind centering on God's true love has to achieve the ideal of a unified body with God. This is the fundamental direction of human history. (234-237, 1992.08.22)
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1 A Movement for Peace
1.5 Transcending cultural barriers in the work for peace
Upon Jesus' death on the cross, the four great realms of hostility - the left, the right, Barabbas and Jesus - came to a final showdown. That world has to be unified at the Lord's Second Coming. The left wing and the right wing must achieve oneness. So must the world of Barabbas, as well as Christianity and Islam. Everything headed for hell has to return to the path of peaceful unity. Everything on the right moves to the left, and vice versa.
The biblical verse that indicates that the first shall be last, and the last shall be first refers to the Last Days. This cannot be turned back even though the Communist party, the democratic society and Islam might oppose it. By all means, the direction of the world must be reversed by achieving peaceful unity. Only then will the way to God's throne be thrown open. (249-097, 1993.10.08)
My mission is to heal the division and the bitter enmity that are manifested in the two worlds separated during World War II. Everything was divided. In Korea, the North was estranged from the South. Israel went back to his hometown, but was divided into two worlds. America was divided into a humanistic world that forsook God. Centering on Rev. Moon, through the unity of the second Israel of Christianity and the third Israel of Korea, the realm of world unity centered on America emerges. The problems in Israel and Korea will be settled. North and South Korea, Israel, the first and third Adam nations are current issues. If they are unified, a peaceful world will come. Rev. Moon and the Unification Church have to fulfill this heavy responsibility. (243-296, 1993.01.28)
A most frightful war would be an interracial one. The black people, white people and the group between them have all been at odds with one another. If a racial war broke out, many white people living in foreign lands would die. Have you heard of "yellow power"? It refers to the Asian countries I have inspired and moved in order to deter such a ghastly event from transpiring. If I do not rescue the entire world, I cannot build a world of peace.
I am emphasizing world peace. The notion of world peace is found in organizations like the Federation for World Peace (FWP), the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP), the Women's Federation for World Peace (WFWP) and the Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA). World peace is God's ultimate purpose for the world. Centering on these, we celebrate the World Culture and Sports Festival (WCSF). It has to surpass the Olympics Games, for the latter is centered on the body, not on God. The WCSF, however, is planting diverse cultures in the world. At the center of all cultures is religion. Man will return to his normal self only when a sound mind centered on religion is capable of giving direction to the body. A worldwide crusade will begin and a new culture will be created. True Parents are accomplishing this behind the scenes. (234-332, 1992.08.27)
You have witnessed how the world has slipped into a religious war during the recent Gulf War. Regional crisis due to religion will continue to occur in the future.
Until now, many politicians have exploited religious conflicts for their own selfish purposes. Religions have been powerless and confused, not clearly recognizing their responsibility in relation to world peace. Now, through the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP), leaders from the world's religions will harmonize and become leaders for world peace.
The Federation for World Peace is a collaborative association of statesmen and national organizations working for world peace. Today's world cannot be sustained by nationalism or ethnocentrism. The national disorder in Eastern Europe is evident of the detrimental nature of nationalism. National pride or unilateral decisions are right and good only when they are in the context of supporting the world community. Nationalism, which gives priority to one's own nation and thus increases hostility toward other nations, defies the universal law of living for others. All ideologies contradicting the universal law will presently cease to exist. (234-221, 1992.08.20)
On reaching the year 2000, Islam, with the elder son's right, opposed Israel that had returned to its homeland. If they do not reconcile with each other, there cannot be world peace. Nations have been divided into two throughout history.
The world is now confronting the problem of the conflict in the Middle East and Near East centered on religion, as well as the problem of North and South Korea centered on democracy and communism. Due to the collision of the two great camps set in religion and thought, if the third World War breaks out all humankind on this earth will be annihilated. We are standing right in the middle of this peril. Who will transform this into a world of peace? (229-125, 1992.04.11)
Nobody can deny the fact that Rev. Moon is creating the opportunity for the transformation of the left and right. The most serious problems in the world are the struggle in Israel, as well as that between Christianity and Islam. Who can bring rapprochement among them? No one till now except Rev. Moon has laid hands on this matter. We must know for a fact that the issue of world peace has fundamentally been solved. We are living in the age of historical transition. (225-014, 1992.01.01)
As you may probably know, as soon as Iraq invaded Kuwait, I immediately sent someone to the Grand Mufti with the direction, "Please work to stop the fighting between the Christian and Islamic leaders, and build the base for peace there." Why did I do that? I am doing it for the peace of humankind, and because I know exactly what God's Will is.
The mind and body have become two conflicting worlds. Now, centering on the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace, we need to unify the religious world which symbolizes the world of mind, and to disentangle fights between nations which symbolize the world of body. To fulfill this, I am founding the Federation for World Peace, and holding conferences there...
The Unificationists, the disciples directly under the Grand Mufti, and the successors of all other religious orders have to march forward for world peace. A world of peace will not come if our mind fails to influence and move our body. (210-123, 1990.12.17)
If Saddam Hussein of Iraq had given the situation a little more thought, all Muslims would have banded together. Muslims are in conflict among themselves now, but if the Christian world makes a loud explosion and causes the Muslim regions to draw together, a holy war would break out in no time. It is a grave matter.
Rev. Moon and the Grand Mufti both proposed dialogue in the Middle East. The Islamic world and the rest of the world know it. The conclusion is simple. Religionists must come forward to realize a world of peace. It is my decisive conclusion about the free world and the religious world. (210-129, 1990.12.17)
Centering on Jesus, there were two robbers, one on his left side and another on his right. The robber on the right symbolizes the right wing that claims there is God, but the one on the left symbolizes the left wing that denies God's existence. Both the right wing and left wing have fallen away. Who remains? Barabbas does. He represents religion on the satanic side. When the Lord returns, he will transform communism into a religion on the heavenly side. Therefore, by founding the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace, I have already set up conditions for advocating peace, centering on Islamic nations such as Syria. (213-185, 1991.01.20)
Judaism, Christianity and the Unification Church must combine to go beyond the Gulf War. Centering on Russia and America, the middle has to be bridged. I am the only person striving for world peace at the back. When Christians engage in war with Muslims, by comparison the conflict between the democratic and communist worlds is no big deal. Religion is something scary. The devil is stirring up a religious war. Messing up the Christian cultural sphere, he is sweeping all the spiritual foundation over to his side.
The Bible records that the Lord will return to judge the world by fire. The judgement by fire and brimstone as mentioned in the Bible is taking place. To prevent that, I am making contact behind the scenes as a pacifist. (214-304, 1991.02.03)
The ideal of unity and peace will be fulfilled on this earth only when the Lord of the Second Coming can enter a world of peace, bringing God's love to the leftists and the Muslims. Next, what do we unify with? Head-wing philosophy. Only true love can digest the left wing and the right wing. What is to be done after that? Education. Education of the children, siblings, couples and parents has to be carried out in the family. Your family must be able to receive peaceful heavenly blessings. (221-218, 1991.10.24)
Israel and Judaism were involved with the death of Jesus. The biblical record of his trial and crucifixion contains references to three criminals: the two who were crucified along with him on his left and right, and Barabbas. Which of them was spared? Only Barabbas! The criminal on the left accused Jesus while the one on the right supported him. They thus were in conflict with each other and also died together with Jesus. If that crucifixion had not taken place, Jesus would have assimilated and embraced all three of them, one after the other.
He would have turned the entire situation around by a 180 degrees, thereby accomplishing his mission. East and West would have become one centered on God's love, creating the unified realm for world peace within his lifetime. However, with his untimely demise, Satan retained dominion over the world of falsehood.
I did not want America to take up arms against the Arabs. If Saddam Hussein does not see eye to eye with the United States, he will fan the flames of war like this without fail, saying: "Bearing a grudge at Christians being vanquished in the Crusades in the twelve century, America is charting a war to wipe out Islam with its worldwide foundation in its quest to take historical revenge." If that were to happen, the Arab people might join forces. The concept of nation is of lesser importance since in the Arab world, as religion takes precedence over nation. Rallying, the Islamic world would battle against the Christian world. (206-275, 1990.10.14)
What does America stand to gain even if it wins by applying the scorched-earth policy to destroy the enemy government within a matter of days? It merely leaves an indelible stain in history that can cause a rupture between the cultural spheres of Christianity and Islam. People like us who stand at the spearhead have to reflect on the issue of peace. (212-326, 1991.01.11)
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1 A Movement for Peace
1.6 How is a culture of peace to be attained?
Where can we look for a solution to peace? It cannot be found between America and Russia. When we probe into the fundamentals of mankind, man is by nature belligerent though he aspires after peace. Do your mind and body live peacefully, or struggle constantly?
One is a world centered on the historical view of spiritualism, a world related to the internal form of men who bear spiritual fruits. The other is a world centered on the historical view of materialism, that is, a communist world bound to the external form of men centered on materialistic things. Can there be peace in the materialistic world? Where is its motive? It lies in the never-ending struggles between the mind and body.
The natural law is the same, too. History is reaped as you have sown. The world is in anguish from countless struggles and conflicts between an individual's mind and body. It has borne fruit on the worldwide scale. So where can we find peace? We cannot find it from the result. No matter how hard you try to do so, as long as the cause is not rectified, the consequence will break apart. This is extremely logical.
The question is how to create a causal person. - a peace-loving and happy person. The universal existence is modeled after me. Until a person with no self-conflict in his mind exists, there is absolutely no way to seek for peace.
So, what really matters? The worldly problems or national issues are of no consequence; the problem of mankind, the subject, is the real matter at hand. Economics and science are not the cause of the problem. I can easily kick them away. The crux of the problem lies in man himself. The stronghold of peace for mankind can never be located prior to finding a solution to the problem within man. (086-031, 1976.03.04)
Where can we pursue happiness today? The origin of happiness is between you and me. Where do peace and the ideal start? They begin between you and me. Therefore if an ideal environment is not completely created between you and me, we cannot have happiness and peace, the true ideal.
When you look at yourself, if you call your mind "I" then your body will be in the "you" position. If you want to enjoy yourself where you have gained the yardstick of peace, and to take pride in having the foundation of eternal life and happiness, the relative relationship between "you" and "I" likened to the body and mind respectively must be forever unchanging and possess the subjectivity that can support happiness. The establishment of "I" centered on my mind and body is a vital question. If you cannot establish a subjective motive through the mind and body, you cannot find eternal happiness.
Let's broaden the scope a little. "I" am but a single axis on this earth in the vertical world. If the vertical world is broadened to a relative world centering on "I" and I am a man, there will be a woman. I have to create a subjective, unchanging foundation there between "you and I." When I can say my couple is a happy, peaceful and ideal couple, this foundation cannot be shaken.
It is a new starting point. Standing at the one subjective, unified source of conflicts before numerous families that replace history, the modern age and the future in the course of mankind, you must be able to say your couple is a happy and ideal couple. That ideal is unchanging and eternal. Happiness and peace must also be perpetual. The important point is how to have an unchanging subjectivity as an ideal couple. As long as there is no foundation of happiness between them, their happiness will not last long. In the end, it is destined to roll away either to the left or right, or fall. It is a natural law. (086-095, 1976.03.14)
What will the future world be like? The issue is how this world will continue to exist. It will perish if the subject partner and object partner fight with each other. The universal force will expel them. On the other hand, if they reconcile and harmonize with each other, the universal force will offer them protection. A world of peace will thus be realized automatically. What is a world of peace? Today, if the democratic and communist worlds become a complete plus, the condition that can absorb the complete minus world will naturally be formed. Likewise, if they become a complete minus, the condition that can absorb the completely plus world will be naturally formed. Therefore, a complete negativity induces a complete positivity. (139-182, 1986.01.31)
How can we attain a world of peace? When viewing the entire world, the first task is to reach the peak in the world of thought. Philosophical thought, religious thought and many others are in the world of thought. If we do not climb up to the summit where we can fight and triumph, the path to guide the world of peace will not be opened. This is the first issue.
I have been making preparations. As for technology, I have connections with German firms with advanced technology, and I can freely move in and out of the back door of those laboratories with the top ten technologies in the Japanese electronic world. Peace cannot be achieved if we do not reach the apex of up-to-date scientific technology.
What is next? We have to be at the vanguard of the media world. At present, centering on The Washington Times, Rev. Moon has to press down all the 1,772 American newspaper companies to reach the highest position. Otherwise we will be eliminated from the competitive stage on which a world of peace can be realized. (143-261, 1986.03.20)
It is my belief that mankind, looking forward to a new millennium, has to move toward a culture of love and a cultural world of heart for peace and prosperity to emerge. (299-060, 1999.02.04)
The world today needs the model of an ideal society in which people can coexist peacefully and embrace all nations, cultures and religions. Proclaiming the Sao Paulo Declaration and the New Hope Farm Declaration in March and April respectively this year, I pressed for the construction of a model society in several South American nations beginning with Brazil and gradually expanding the project to other countries. (271-074, 1995.08.22)
An ideal society or nation is one whose people cooperate mutually by transcending ethnic boundaries and skin colors, and live happily by harmonizing. This society is like a large family whose constituent members recognize that they are God's sons and daughters, as well as brothers and sisters centering on the True Parents. It is also a place where blessed couples who have restored the blood lineage, ownership and heart realize a world of liberty, peace and unity under the language and culture of the True Parents. People will come to live a life of coexistence, co-prosperity and co-righteousness within the culture of God's heart. (269-155, 1995.04.17)
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1 A Movement for Peace
1.7 An international, interracial and interreligious viewpoint
We have been standing on a divided standard, but transcending the national concept now, we have entered the age of a society or a nation of brothers. Under the United Nations, all nations are brothers. Brothers fight among themselves, though. Cain fought with Abel. The problem can be solved if they vow to become peaceful brothers. As the world is on an equal footing of being called brothers, it is proposing that America should share its property. That property is not made by Americans but inherited from their parents, so it should be distributed. Now is definitely the time for a world of heart centered on heaven to come. (151-054, 1962.10.07)
If we harbor national resentment, hegemonistic contention will arise. We have to surmount the barrier of national resentment and nationalism. Americans and Russians are thinking of pursuing hegemony. That should not be the case. There must be a special nation that transcends that kind of concept, a group with a special ideology. If not, an economic war from now onward cannot be warded off, and an era of world peace will not arrive. I am determined to accomplish that task with my own hands. To do that, in the future I will have to open a world bank that has that ideology. (089-026, 1976.10.03)
For mankind to live there must a movement in which the white race and the yellow race stand hand-in-hand to save the black race. If not, a world of peace cannot come about. The Unification Church has to undertake that mission in the future. When it is time to go to the spirit world, do the white, black and the yellow races go separately? No. They become one. (086-184, 1976.03.28)
How wonderful it is to go searching for the glorious place where I can possess God's love! Even enemies should love one another. Why? As God knows no national boundaries, they have to be broken down. Only then will a world of oneness and peace appear. A passageway will open up when the incorporeal and corporeal worlds become one. (111-091, 1981.01.25)
Bringing the boring and anguished century to an end, we are now going to ring in the twenty-first century which is just around the corner. To create a sincere and genuine culture, we have reached the point in time at which the establishment of a new value on the global level is keenly demanded, evading struggles, antagonism and the pursuit of one-sided interests of our own country. When we reflect on whether the sincere peace of our own country can be sustained without the happiness and peace of all neighboring nations, we cannot even imagine world peace void of human love that goes beyond nationalities.
Furthermore, as a new international economic organization was established, by blocking the former great economic wastage and losses, and propelling a worldwide plan for national land use in a new dimension called "the world and humankind," we have to bestow the rights of enjoying peace and happiness to all mankind. Therefore, when an ideal world arrives and eternal peace is realized, everyone must enjoy a happy and abundant life.
This tentative plan is a part of the concrete scheme aiming to accelerate the realization of the ideal world from now on. Its meaning and purpose is to construct a new cultural world by binding the world to the realm of living for the happiness of all mankind and world peace. (115-177, 1981.11.10)
The hope of God and man is a world of peace, an ideal world. A peaceful, ideal world is a world of unity without fights or disputes. However, prior to seeking for the unity of the world, the unity of one nation has to be sought.
If a true world of peace is realized, it will be perpetual, supranational, interracial and interreligious. It will be a society of one large consanguineous family in which all men and women are bound by brotherly and sisterly relations under one set of parents. (133-284, 1984.11.03)
The hope of mankind is peace, which can be realized only through unity. It is not only unity of the world, but that of an individual, family and nation, too. Among those, the most basic is the unity of an individual. In the movement for unity, Rev. Moon can be excluded from society neither in reality nor in name.
To actualize the world of peace that God aspires to see, first our truth must stand in the highest position in the world of philosophy. It has to battle with and triumph over the existing philosophical and religious thoughts.
Even if it reaches the summit in the fields of ideology, science, the arts, economics, the media, and so forth, problems will still remain. The problem is how to educate a man who can go beyond races and nations. If a person fulfills his allotted portion of responsibility centering on his homeland, an American will want to be unified as an American, an Englishman will want to be unified as an Englishman, and a Frenchman as a Frenchman. Before embodying peace and the unity of the world, the issue is how to overcome national characteristics. (149-269, 1986.11.27)
Even if we had laid the foundation that can be the basis for peace in the world, there is but one problem. Even though we have the ideal, scientific technology, economic power and stand at the vanguard of media organizations, there is still a problem. The question is how to create a man who can go beyond his race and nation. The person who can realize world peace should not give priority to the United States.
When a man says he stands as the standard, he is centering on his own patriotic ideology as a citizen of a developed nation. An American will be engaged in the interests of his own country as a unified American. A British or French person will do likewise. This is the main problem. Therefore, the most serious problem is how to overcome my national trait before embodying peace and unity of the world. (143-264, 1986,03.20)
We can never achieve a world of peace and unity with an ism or religious dogma that has manipulated mankind. As the paths to everything are blocked in this way, an ideal that can unify a society, nation, world and universe which the true Buddhists, the true Christians and the true philosophers have been eagerly waiting for must emerge. (154-048, 1964.03.23)
It will be the year 2000 in ten years' time. My problem from now on is how to accomplish a true world peace by that time. We shall meet in 2000 A.D. at the congratulatory banquet for having achieved world peace. For the next historic ten years, let us be heavenly masons of true peace who will go down in history, transcending national boundaries, demolishing the walls of religions and religious sects, battering down the barriers of cultures and languages, and helping the rich and poor as our own brothers before the unique Lord of Creation. (198-165, 1990.02.01)
On a worldwide level, the challenging problem of having to transcend regions, races, religions, cultures, customs, languages and nationalities for a world of peace continues. However, when we look at the world through the eyes of true love and with the vision of God who created the original universe, we can see it is a world in which the racial, language, religious and ideological differences have been overcome.
Especially in unfolding the ethics of true love in that the family has to sacrifice for the nation, the nation for the world and the world for God, we can hope for an eternal world of peace, overcoming racial and national selfishness. (288-201, 1997.11.28)
The age of a one-state policy or nationalism, by which one nation asserts how the world should be run, has passed. No matter how mankind reviles or indulges in infernal things, it is absolutely impossible for God to complete the unified formula course centering on one race or nation alone. It has to be achieved through a federation or association of nations. A world of peace does not follow after a single nation. It is the same for culture. Even religions, which form the principal axes of a cultural background, have to embrace races, nations, the world, heaven and earth. (222-131, 1991.10.28)
Before overcoming cultures and races, we have to conquer customs and traditions. It is not that easy. History has been an incessant record of warfare. By discarding all evil things, a world of peace can come. The thought of accomplishing a world of peace centering only on victory has been the struggle from an individual level to the democratic, communistic and worldwide level.
The absolute God's Will is to yearn for the unity of the world's religious orders and a utopia of peace, a unified world of a heavenly kingdom. The concept of a heavenly kingdom centered on the absolute world of oneness is achieved when races and nations have been victoriously overcome.
Religions are now pursuing a heavenly nation, a utopian world, or a paradise, whatever you may like to call it. If the place where both God and man can enjoy maximum peace and happiness is known as the Kingdom of Heaven or the so-called world of peace, who then is the supreme ruler of the heavenly kingdom? He is not President Roh of Korea, President Bush of the US, or President Gorbachev of the USSR, but God Himself. Next, who are the citizens of the heavenly kingdom? They are interracial people. Hair color or skin color is not the issue. God is the King of the interracial nation. (218-288, 1991.08.22)
The God-oriented purpose is manifested through religions. Therefore no matter how many religious orders there are, their common purpose will settle at a common conclusion point. What is the conclusion? It has to be an ideology that can be linked to peace and the heavenly kingdom. Mankind confronting the confusion of today's world is pursuing a world of peace, transcending nations.
To seek for a world of peace, what must peace be focused on? Human-centered peace has proven to be a long-standing failure. If the peace that all mankind has longed for turned out to be a flop, if there were one more possibility and one more hope, it would be a God-centered logic for a peaceful world. Only that could show a new direction and a new sense of history to this chaotic world. This majestic conclusion is obtained by pursuing the logic.
What is the conclusion? It is the Kingdom of Heaven, a world of peace with a focus. What should the focus do? It has to overcome the nature of religious orders, historical nature, racial characteristics and national traits. The heavenly kingdom must be a place with an unchanging center. (210-199, 1990.12.23)
Religious people, Christians or Muslims, without exception have to create a world of peace.
As I have to lay a foundation for world peace, removing all exchanges implemented centering on one national boundary, I visualize a plan of creating a new world, such as a movement for the equalization of technology, from a supranational and worldwide perspective. (210-120, 1990.12.17)
About 180 countries are currently in this world. Among those nations with ethnic boundaries, none of them has maintained peace. Apart from religions, nothing else can surmount these borders. For instance, America is a religiously independent country. Though many Christians are related to it, the force that could make a worldwide leading nation of Christian culture that is transcendent of national frontiers derives only from religions. It engages in an internal, ideological warfare with communism centering on the United States.
As you know, while having residence in America for ten over years, many organizations, including American Christians, have been opposing me. There are those among the intelligentsia who share the view that mankind cannot enter a world of peace without reference to Rev. Moon. This is an awesome truth seen from the standpoint of the heavenly Will. Americans are aware of the fact that despite their treating me as their common enemy, I have long endured persecution without regarding them as my foes, but instead repaid them with love. It is amazing that Americans have discovered reverence in this new age. (210-118, 1990.12.17)
Centering on the thought that their denomination alone is the supreme one, today's Christians generally feel they are above all others. Realizing that a fairly difficult and harsh age will arrive in the near future with such an environment, I am thus making prior preparations. In creating a future world of peace, what help can religions render? As long as the walls among religions are not demolished, religion will be a gigantic stumbling block to peace for humankind, so I am preparing. It is extremely difficult to break down these barriers, because religions are embracing their international believers, transcending national boundaries and their thousands of years of cultural background. The four main religions of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Confucianism have walked through thousands of years of history. If they have a showdown among themselves in the future, world peace will be wrecked and mankind will be doomed to perish.
From that viewpoint, the impending question is whether religions are willing to form a federate body, preventing fights and orienting themselves to a world of peace while engaging in friendly exchanges. As Heaven and the spirit world, rather than mankind, are earnestly aiming for this, Rev. Moon is initiating a worldwide movement centering on the Unification Church, following God's Will. (210-117, 1990.12.17)
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1 A Movement for Peace
1.8 Technological progress and the work for peace
Man has various motives for developing the sciences, but it is not wrong to say that its ultimate goal is to realize to a certain extent a common welfare for mankind, that is, peace and prosperity. However, the domain of science is subdivided, and if we further analyze the methodology, we notice that it is growing in a direction that differs slightly from the direction of a common welfare for mankind. (069-236, 1973.11.26)
Scientists are sometimes engrossed in research, each according to their primary discipline. There are moments when they lack the spirit of contributing to the welfare of mankind. There is no doubt that the basic attitude of most scientists is to contribute to the peace and prosperity of humankind. Though there are numerous fields in sciences, not one of them - physics, chemistry, biology, medical science, geology, or astronomy - is not involved in the realization of happiness for mankind. (065-255, 1972.11.26)
Man's ultimate purpose in advancing the sciences is to realize peace and prosperity for mankind, but the concrete methods of specialized science could not coincide with that initial direction with regard to values. Man's expectation of science is the welfare of the subject, humankind. The legacy of science, has largely been the betterment of man's material environment. Though it is difficult for the theories of scientific, political and economic equality to upgrade man's wholistic life based on mechanical technology, to guarantee the true happiness of humankind, scientists have to realize this as one of their missions.
Through penetrating man's inner mind, modern men living in this scientific age have been stressing the establishment of a new moral and ethical standard based on an absolute order. The new ethics would want to love nature, to re-examine the value of men, and to seek mutual love for mankind and the fundamentals of that love, God. Scholars are confronting the issue of igniting a cultural and spiritual revolution together with the external scientific and technological revolution in order to achieve the completion of the whole man and the ideal of a world of peace. (135-227, 1985.11.29)
The foundation I have laid in scientific technology is firm and solid as a rock. Four factories were acquired in Germany. Those factories have the know-how to produce the world's largest machines. Therefore we have inherited German technology.
Even the research on ceramics is not for the sake of the companies, but for the whole of humankind. Quality materials should be available to the entire world for the sake of the common good. Such materials will be used to urge for peace and happiness in all nations, not for the pursuit of profit centering on personal avarice. Our ideals are different. (165-182, 1987.05.20)
Technology is for all mankind, and not for specific countries. The technology of Germany, Japan and America should be available to the rest of the world. Some ten years ago, I stepped forward to advocate the equalization of technology. I think this is the way for a true person to march forward with the banner of righteousness, and to lay a foundation for the peace that mankind longs for. (196-112, 1989.12.31)
Surveying people apprehensive about the future of Germany, I found that nobody has thought more about or is more concerned about Germany than Rev. Moon. One plant manager tape-recorded everything I have said for the past ten years. He did not know the speaker on the tape then was me. I spoke about a movement for the equalization of scientific technology at that time, and linked it to a world of peace, far beyond just Germany. Whoever has listened to my speeches for any length of time will not oppose me, because what I say is reasonable. (193-177, 1989.10.03)
The first and foremost purpose of the Panda project is working for peace in the Orient, not reaping profits. With the purpose of achieving world peace, we have to bind peace in the Orient.
The second purpose is the uprooting of communism. There will be milestones in the next three to five years. Peace plans in the Orient and the uprooting of communism, hence unifying the Unification Thought and Chinese philosophy into one body. It is a movement for unifying with the Chinese philosophy. It will naturally be unified.
Centering on the philosophy of dialectical struggle, Communism contains the theory of thesis-antithesis-synthesis. Things should be harmonized centering on God and not on a conflicting dialectic, however. When Unification Thought and Chinese philosophy become one, we enter the age of the fulfillment of the earthly Kingdom of Heaven. (192-251, 1989.07.04)
If a specific nation covets the world and gains happiness for itself by utilizing the God-given scientific technology as a tool obstructing the peace of all nations, God will not pardon it. Technology is bestowed on mankind for the happiness of all nations, so it must not be exploited by certain people as a weapon for reaping benefits and ignoring peace. I am talking about the equalization of technology from the developed nations, which is opposed by America and Japan. That is why I opted for China.
I have no company offices in China, though. They have been working on it for five years, but I completely finished the task within six months, having begun last November. How did I do it? I first presented my proposal for the construction of the International Peace Highway. They know about it, and said, "That's good. The Peace Highway is actually laying a crucial foundation for China, so it is an important project." I hear they thought that Rev. Moon had been spitefully opposing the Communist party. Yet he has set up an excellent engineering college with a six-floor building in Yanbian, China. (190-177, 1989.06.19)
China urgently hungers for growth in her heavy industries and small-to-medium-sized enterprises. She knows that if she does not align herself with the principles we teach, she will not be able to gain any worldwide results. On the other hand, she can leap thirty years ahead if she does.
Pinchpenny Japan does not readily share her scientific technology. Neither does America nor other developed nations. Amidst this worldly phenomenon, I proposed the equalization of scientific technology to the world at the Tenth ICUS in 1981. (183-072, 1988.10.29)
For the sake of standardizing technology, I therefore proclaimed at the Tenth ICUS in 1981, "Advanced scientific technology does not belong only to a particular nation, but to the entire world for world peace." Scientific technology is not prepared exclusively in relation to the United States, but is to be utilized for the world's purpose. (215-201, 1991.02.17)
If we exclude China, with her population of 1.3 billion, we cannot discuss world peace. Therefore the path to China must be opened up. (210-067, 1990.12.01)
The age of selling military arms has passed. The military industry has to be converted to a peace industry. The country that can be a base for the peace industry is either China, Russia or Asia. With 3.2 billion of the world population of 5 billion living here, we must begin with the Asian region. Japan cannot be touched since it imports oil from the Arab region. Political problems will arise if Japan provokes Israel. Hence, the only touchable country is Korea. (210-069, 1990.12.01)