6 The Role of the United Nations and the Family in World Peace
6.1 Renewing the United Nations to Build Lasting Peace
IIFWP Assembly 2001 Keynote Address
August 18, UN Headquarters, New York
Today, in this beautiful and solemn building where the United Nations General Assembly meets, I greet you with deep gratitude for the opportunity to express my passionate concerns and views about the future direction of the world and the United Nations.
The sole purpose of all my undertakings in many areas over the past forty years has been the realization of a peaceful world that is the desire of God and humanity. This longing for a peaceful world has also been the core reason I have dedicated myself to the promotion of interreligious harmony and cooperation.
In the twentieth century, humanity has experienced many severe conflicts and unspeakable acts of violence, especially through the horrors of the two world wars, and through the seventy years of the Cold War and communism. When the Cold War ended, the world had a brief moment of celebration, as if peace had arrived. But, then, very soon humanity realized that the end of the Cold War did not automatically mean the advent of an age of peace. Even at this moment, fierce wars and brutal massacres are going on in numerous places around the globe.
Conflicts arise for many reasons. But one of primary factor contributing to their emergence is the deep-rooted disharmony that exists among the world's religions. Therefore, when we witness the many global tragedies occurring around us, we should recognize how critically important it is that the religions come together, dialogue with one another, and learn to embrace one another.
In the modern age, in most nations, religious ideals have come to hold a place wholly separate from the centers of secular political power, and most have come to accept this reality, as the way things ought to be. I believe, however, that it is time that international organizations whose purpose is to support the ideal of world peace reconsider their relationship with the great religious traditions of the world.
On this point, the United Nations, more than any other international organization can set a good example and lead the way. The world has great expectations for the United Nations as an organization embodying humanity's aspiration for peace. In the United Nations, the representatives of all nations work in concert to promote peace and human prosperity. Of course the conscientious efforts to establish peace, undertaken by these national representatives at the United Nations, often meet stubborn resistance. The accomplishments and achievements attained through the United Nations have been significant. However, there is much room for improvement. I believe there is an urgent need today, within the United Nations and through its many activities, to encourage mutual respect and increased cooperation between the world's political and religious leaders. The original ideal for human beings is that we live with our mind and body united in resonance with God's true love. It is because human beings resemble God as His sons and daughters that the mind and body of each individual can truly unite without struggling against each other. Within God there is no disharmony between internal and external characteristics. This is so because the absolute God has no contradiction or conflict within Himself.
The human ideal to achieve oneness of mind and body can be realized only when people completely possess God's true love. The biblical verse, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God," illustrates this point. Peacemakers are persons whose mind and body are in unity centering on the true love of God.
As a result of the Fall, human beings lost the standard by which our minds and bodies could be brought into oneness and harmony, and humanity has lived in internal strife and self-contradiction. The clashes of the mind and body within the individual have expanded and now manifest themselves in the family, society, nation, and the world. For example, this unresolved struggle between mind and body is what precipitated the elder brother Cain's murder of his younger brother Abel.
All the conflicts and wars in history have been essentially battles between a Cain camp - relatively tending towards evil, and an Abel camp - relatively tending toward goodness. Humanity must end these struggles between Cain and Abel camps and restore the original state of harmony and love. To do this, each of us must end the conflict between our mind and body, and bring them into harmonious union.
The principle that mind and body must be united should be applied and practiced not only by individuals, but it should be applied on the worldwide level. For this purpose, I founded a number of organizations to achieve world peace. For example, I established a number of interreligious initiatives, such as the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace, to promote cooperation among religions, which represent the internal world of the mind. Also, to address the external management of human affairs, representing the body, I have worked to promote harmony among nations through the activities of the Federation for World Peace, the Federation for Island Nations for World Peace, the Federation for Peninsula Nations for World Peace, and the Federation for Continental Nations for World Peace. Most recently, signifying the emergence of an era when mind and body, or religion and rational governance can work together: cooperatively, I founded the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace. At their root, human problems are not entirely social or political, and so social and political approaches will always be of limited effectiveness. Although secular authorities rule most human societies, religion lies at the heart of most national and cultural identities. In fact, religious faith and devotion have far greater importance in most people's hearts than do political loyalties.
The time has come for religion to renew itself and manifest true leadership in the world. People of faith should feel responsibility for the plight, suffering and injustices experienced by the world's peoples. Religious people have not been good examples in the practice of love and living for the sake of others, and for this reason should engage in deep self-reflection. It is time for religious people to repent for their preoccupation with individual salvation and narrow denominational interests. Such practices have prevented religious bodies from giving their utmost to the cause of world salvation. Our age more than any other demands that we go beyond faith, and the interests of particular religions, and put our love and ideals into practice for the sake of the world.
In particular, God calls upon us leaders - especially religious leaders in the hope that we will stand against the injustices and evils of the world, and bestow His true love upon the world. Hence, all people of faith must become one in heart in order to give full expression, in both words and actions, to God's passionate desire for humanity's restoration and peace. World peace can be fully accomplished only when the wisdom and efforts of the world's religious leaders, who represent the internal concerns of the mind and conscience, work cooperatively and respectfully with national leaders who have much practical wisdom and worldly experience about the external reality or "body." In this light, it is time for us to give serious consideration even to the prospect of restructuring the United Nations. For example, perhaps it is possible to envision the United Nations as a bicameral institution.
The existing United Nations structure, composed of national representatives, may be regarded as a congress where the interests of each member nation are represented. However, I submit that serious consideration should be given to forming a religious assembly, or council of religious representatives within the structure of the United Nations. This assembly or council would consist of respected spiritual leaders in fields such as religion, culture, and education. Of course, the members of this interreligious assembly will need to have demonstrated an ability to transcend the limited interests of individual nations and to speak for the concerns of the entire world and humanity at large.
The two chambers, working together in mutual respect and cooperation, will be able to make great advances in ushering in a world of peace. The wisdom and vision of great religious leaders will substantially supplement the political insight, experience and skill of the world's political leaders. Even at this moment, more and more conflicts are breaking out across the world over disputed borders. As a result, the world is sustaining substantial loss of human life. In addition, the money poured into war-making and peacekeeping runs into the billions of dollars. So many resources and efforts are being wasted. Yet, comprehensive solutions have not been fully achieved with respect to any given conflict. To solve this problem, I would like to make some proposals for your consideration:
I propose today that the United Nations and religious leaders join their hearts and work to create peace zones in areas of conflict. Whether the disputed borders pass through rivers, mountains, fields, or the sea, we can create buffer zones or peace zones along these borders.
These zones could be governed directly by the United Nations, and people from around the world dedicated to the establishment of peace will be allowed to settle in these zones. The United Nations will be responsible to provide guidance to those living in these areas so that they come to embody the founding ideals of the United Nations and comply with its declarations for peace. These peace zones will be havens that exist for the sake of peace, prosperity, and reconciliation. They will be free of racial and sexual discrimination, human rights violations, and war. These areas must also be ecological and environmental havens for the entire natural world. To create such zones of peace, freedom, and ecological harmony, the concerned nations will have to be willing to provide the necessary land. This is not a simple matter, for there will be resistance to the surrender of land, even for a peace zone. I have dedicated much effort toward finding solutions to this problem, particularly as it applies to my native land, Korea.
I have taught that there is a providential significance to Korea's having been a victim of the Cold War. As you know, both the division of Korea and the war that followed are outgrowths of the Cold War. The Korean War, in which the youth of sixteen countries shed their blood under the United Nations flag to protect freedom, was a righteous war unprecedented in history. I remain ever grateful to the United Nations and those sixteen nations. And yet, the peaceful unification of Korea still remains to be accomplished. For this reason I have continually pondered about the United Nations' solemn mission for building a world of peace and how this relates to God's providence.
I sincerely hope that the current mood of reconciliation and cooperation between North and South Korea, which began last June, will continue. I hope the entire demilitarized zone along the 155-mile military demarcation line that crosses the Korean peninsula can be turned into a peace zone under UN jurisdiction. I believe the United Nations will take the lead in this effort and build exhibition halls, museums, educational sites, and peace parks in this zone in order to teach visitors important lessons regarding peace.
It is my fervent hope that world leaders of good will can understand my purpose and join with me. In particular, I hope that they will join me in willingly donating their land and money for use in creating UN supervised peace zones. These zones, under UN leadership, will give rise to ideal moral societies where nature and people live in harmony.
Already in December 1998, I proposed the founding of an international Peace Fund in an address I gave to world religious leaders gathered for an international conference that had as its theme, Realizing the Interfaith Ideal: Beyond Dialogue into Practice. All the leaders who participated in this conference resolved to initiate a movement for the world's religious people to lead the way in making donations for world peace. I proposed that donations we given in amounts related to the number seven. Because various individuals and countries face differing economic realities, one person may find it difficult to give even seven dollars, whereas someone else may be able to give even $7 million. I believe that if all religious people on earth become one in heart, they will actively participate in this fundraising effort. The funds thus created will be used to establish peace zones and to teach the ideals of peace and the methods to achieve it. In addition to religious people, the United Nations too can encourage all nations and their peoples to make annual contributions to this fund. These funds might be donated under the name of the White Cross Fund.
Wealthy philanthropists, business leaders, and industrialists, leaders in other fields, along with individuals, and organizations, can actively participate in the construction of UN peace zones. In this way, they can lead the way in creating an atmosphere of peace and in raising the necessary funds.
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6 The Role of the United Nations and the Family in World Peace
6.2 An Interreligious Council at the United Nations
Furthermore, one of the reasons I founded the Interreligious and International Federation of World Peace was to help create an interreligious assembly to serve as a senate or council within the United Nations. To implement this plan, I propose that each nation, in addition to its current ambassador, can send a religious ambassador to the United Nations to serve as a member of the religious assembly, or UN senate. The mission of the representatives to this UN senate requires that they have a genuinely ecumenical or interreligious consciousness and that they have the training and ability to teach a universal, trans-national ideal of peace. The nature of their purpose and mission would prohibit their promoting the narrow interests of a particular country. Rather they are to carry out their duties for the ideal of peace in the world and for the sake of all humanity, in accordance with God's Will.
The interreligious ambassador appointed as a member of the United Nations senate or council should have a global consciousness and take responsibility to represent the United Nations's global vision and agenda. In this sense, these persons can be thought of as global ambassadors from the United Nations. Wherever they go in the world, these ambassadors will promote movements dedicated to the realization of peace and social welfare. Moreover, in all nations, they will serve as conscientious guardians of lofty ideals such as justice, security, and peace. This will provide hope to the citizens of the world, and especially the youth. People will then have the opportunity to see with their own eyes the emergence of young people around the world seeking true love and lasting peace. Those selected as ecumenical and transnational ambassadors will also be able to help guide and supervise various UN sponsored projects in health, education, welfare, and other fields.
Commemorating Ideals of True Love, True Parents and True Families
I have worked through many groups and organizations to educate people around the world in the meaning and value of true love and True Families, transcending religious denominations and nationalities. By use of the term "true" I mean centered on God's original will and purpose. My continuous investment in this area and ongoing efforts for dialogue and reconciliation over the last decades have demonstrated beyond any doubt that the strongest foundation for the unity of humanity is the universal and essential love generated through the ideal of the true family.
Based on these considerations, I urge all the organizations connected to the United Nations to act in order to uphold and promote the ideals of true love and true families. For this reason, I would like to make another proposal - that the senior decision-makers at the United Nations proclaim, in accordance with existing procedures and regulations, a special day to be commemorated worldwide. I understand that the United Nations has made proclamations such as the International Year of the Family, and that it has declared various ten-year objectives such as the Decade to End Poverty. Along these lines, I propose that the United Nations establish an official commemorative day to uphold the ideal of the family, so that the world can remember and celebrate this day every year.
Specifically, I propose that True Parents' Day be established as a day of global celebration. I have already initiated such a day that has been signed into law by the United States Congress. Each year, in America, model parents and families from throughout the nation are honored. By celebrating such a day each year, transcending barriers of race, religion, and cultural differences, and loving and cherishing each other, we will be able to fully experience our true and common human roots, and understand the preciousness of true families. This day will be a special of truly global commemoration and a beginning of the celebration of the oneness of the world, as one global family, leading us beyond all confrontation and strife.
Respected world leaders, we must join hands and hearts and improve our systems and organizations so that the precious wisdom of religion, along with scholars, statesmen, and people of insight and knowledge, can be mobilized to solve the serious and urgent crises of the world. I believe solutions to world problems can come about if we establish the proposed council composed of religious leaders in cooperation with the political leaders and diplomats of the current United Nations. The Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace will promote this ideal, for religion can offer great service in providing guidance in matters concerning the Absolute Being, the world of transcendence, our eternal life and the spirit world. For this purpose, the IIFWP will make devoted and sacrificial efforts to attain the goal of world peace. It will strive to establish the Kingdom of Heaven of eternal love and harmony and the fatherland of God, where the United Nations's efforts for peace are honored, and where all humanity form one universal family as brothers and sisters under God, the Parents.
I believe that the world leaders and officers of the United Nations, who possess knowledge, experience, and wisdom, can offer many recommendations for implementing the proposals I've presented to you today. If we work together and make continuous efforts, peace and happiness will surely be realized on Earth. I pray that God's blessing be with your families and your endeavors.
Thank you.
The Nation and World of Peace Sought by God and Humanity
From the Rallies for the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity
Mrs. Moon's speech on the US leg of the tour that spanned Korea, Japan and the United States
Respected leaders, ladies and gentlemen.
At this transitional point in human history, we have gathered as leaders who are concerned about world peace.
The tragedies that took place in New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania on September 11 truly shocked the entire world. Along with the concern over peace and safety, we came to reflect upon fundamental and serious questions of modern civilization and future of humanity.
The Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace and World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations held a timely and significant conference in New York City from October 19 to 22.
These two organizations, both of which my husband and I co-founded, brought together more than 400 participants from 101 countries. The participants included current and former heads of state, the highest leaders of major religions such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Confucianism, and representatives of academia and non-governmental organizations. The participants debated seriously on how to find peaceful solutions to today's crises.
My homeland, the Korean peninsula, is a troubled area that, along with the Middle East, attracts the world's attention.
In my husband's opening address at the New York conference, he communicated a vision for lasting and fundamental peace, and today I again would like to share this view with you leaders assembled here. The title of my address is The Nation and World of Peace Sought by God and Humanity.
Resolving the Root of Conflict
Throughout history, human beings have continuously aspired for world peace. However, that dream has never been realized. We can look back at the end of the Cold War, at which time fierce political and military conflicts and struggles concluded. Many people expected that the long-awaited era of peace and stability would arrive based on the foundation of highly developed science.
Nevertheless, we came to realize that conflict, hatred and selfish desire are imbedded deeply within each of us and are still active. These are creating ever more serious disasters in new shapes and forms. Violence wreaked upon innocents is certainly an inhumane criminal act, and we must bring it to a halt.
However, what can eradicate those inner conflicts and struggles, and resolve the fundamental human problems at their root? Where was the seed of hatred, conflict, and struggle sown, and how did it come to be rooted deeply within us?
The seed was planted in the family of the first human ancestors, Adam and Eve. The conflicts and struggles that resulted have continued from generation to generation until the present time. Then, where is the path to resolve those conflicts and realize peace on Earth? Historically, human beings have been attempting to overcome conflicts and pursue peace through economic, political, diplomatic and military means. However, such methods obviously do not provide fundamental solutions, as we are still struggling with many unresolved problems.
There is but one fundamental way and it is simple. It is to restore the family that the first human ancestors lost; that is, the ideal family of God. This is the family with God at its center, the family that has achieved perfection in true love both vertically and horizontally. God exists as the Original Being of true love and the invisible True Parent of humankind.
Nonetheless, love cannot exist alone. It exists in relationships and it can bear fruit only through relationships. That is why God created us as His children, through whom He would seek to realize His true love.
The Three Blessings of God
The First Blessing of God to human beings, "Be fruitful" (Genesis 1:28) called God's children to become the object partners of His true love by becoming true persons. When we love someone, we want our object partner to be better than ourselves. Thus, in love, God, as the Father, wants His children to be better than Himself. That is why God repeatedly invests Himself in human beings, the object partners of His love, and nevertheless constantly forgets about what He has already given and desires infinitely to give love more and more. This is so because love has its origin in the desire to live for the sake of others for eternity.
God then bestowed the Second Blessing, "Multiply," (Genesis 1:28). The first human ancestors were to have grown to maturity as the children of God. After having reached perfection, as one with God in heart, they were to have become True Husband and Wife. Then, they were to have become substantial True Parents to their children, inheriting and passing on true love, true life and true lineage from God.
As such, God's ideal of creation was to perfect true love both vertically and horizontally, beginning in the first family of our common ancestors. Since God's love is absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal, that family also was to have become the absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal family, centered on true love. Human beings would have become substantial embodiments of love, totally united with God in heart. They would have obtained perfect freedom, happiness and the realization of all ideals.
Then they would have become the Lords of true love whom all beings in the universe would have loved and welcomed. This was God's Third Blessing (Genesis 1:28). This is the Blessing to create a living environment in which we can experience joy and happiness, having dominion over the creation. This includes the care for and preservation of the world's ecological balance as true masters of the creation.
Not by Power or Knowledge, but by True Love
Tragically, our human ancestors could not inherit the Three Blessings of God and establish a family of true love. They failed to become true persons, true spouses, True Parents, and true Lords centered on true love. They disobeyed God, and were expelled from the garden of Eden. As fallen human ancestors, they became false spouses to each other, with false love that had nothing to do with God's Blessings. They gave birth to children and those children multiplied to populate the world of today.
Due to the Fall at the beginning of human history, human beings have not been born on the foundation of true love, centered on God. Instead, humanity lived in conflict, characterized by the struggle between mind and body on the individual level. This inner conflict manifested itself on the family level when Cain killed Abel. Thus the tragedy of hatred and eventual murder was sown in the first family. That was the miserable reality of a family that left God.
A family built upon humanistic relationships devoid of God cannot fulfill the original ideal of creation. An ideal family is one that connects to God vertically and has a true person as its axis. Under the true love of true parents, siblings, who own and share a common axis, can unite; thereby establishing a family of ultimate harmony and peace. We can experience true love within an ideal family that bears good fruit. The family is the original and best school of love. Power or knowledge can never create true love.
The Loss of God's Blessings
Honorable leaders! What do you feel when you look at the current reality of human society and the state of our young people? Do you feel hope for a bright future? I believe that you, like me, experience agony over the increasing rates of crime, violence, drug abuse, immorality, corruption, teen pregnancy and so forth. These arise out of a confusion of values and foretell darkness enveloping our youth, and our future.
How did we arrive at this point? Better school systems and social improvements would have delayed the onset of these problems partially, but these do not address the fundamental cause of these problems, which is the breakdown and loss of families. This breakdown is a product of the time we are in, a time when humankind is harvesting the fruit sown by the loss of the first family of true love.
The destruction of the foremost school of true love leads to the phenomena of family breakdown, with enormously destructive side effects. This breakdown not only causes personal anxiety but also manifold problems on the national and worldwide levels. Of particular concern is the emotional instability of youth, which leads to changing life goals, spiritual wandering, and even deviation from healthy lifestyles.
Leaders who are concerned about the future should be very serious in order to solve the real problems of youth avoiding marriage, rampant divorce, and so forth, which destroy the fundamental foundation for families.
Having lost the First and Second Blessings, humankind does not understand how important it is to perfect one's individuality, through which we can experience sacred and eternal conjugal love. We do not educate most of our youth in a thoroughgoing way about the importance of keeping purity before marriage and reaching individual maturity through true love. This is why they do not understand the value of true love, which is the fundamental root of joy, happiness and all ideals.
The tendency to make light of trust and fidelity between husband and wife, and to ignore the sacredness of marriage, is the fundamental cause of indescribable disasters and tragedies for humankind.
True love has no place in the so-called free sex culture, in which people seek only momentary sexual gratification. In an era of HIV-AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases, this type of behavior threatens the very existence of the human race. It is said that there is no safety zone against the AIDS virus.
A greater terrorism than that over which the entire world is now trembling is before our eyes, allowing us no safety zone. Once contracted, its victims gradually give up their dreams for happiness, ideals, and life itself. Unless we resolve this catastrophe plaguing our planet, how can we claim that we are leaders?
Nor have we taken responsibility for the Third Blessing endowed by God, to "have dominion over the creation." This requires that we take care of all creatures with true love. What would happen if the natural world were to rebel against the abuse and misuse it suffers at the hands of human beings who lord over it? Are not those symptoms beginning to appear? Before the natural world punishes our intolerable arrogance, we should stand before nature in true love as people of restored integrity.
The Perfection of "I"
Respected leaders, in order to examine today's problem at a more fundamental level, I would like to consider the relationship between the true "I" and the true "We" in the context of God's ideal of creation.
As a result of the Fall, human beings did not achieve the position of the true "I." For this reason, God has never been able to use the word "We." That is to say that God has never been able to stand within the realm of the consciousness of His ideal of creation and establish a relationship that would allow Him to say, "This is mine" or "This is my child."
So our present concept of "I" has no relationship with the original ideal of God's creation, and it is for this reason that we should deny ourselves absolutely.
God has conducted His restoration providence so that He could establish true men and true women, that is, His sons and daughters, whom He could freely include within His concept of "We." Because God is the subject body of love, the subject body of life, and the subject body of lineage, He sought true sons and daughters who would live eternally with a complete and unbreakable standard.
We first are to perfect our individual character through the unification of mind and body. Then, on that foundation, we can build a vertical parent-child relationship with God. A vertical relationship by itself, however, is not sufficient to bring the word "We" into being. We also need to create a horizontal relationship in harmony with the vertical. To do this, man and woman form a husband-wife relationship through a true, blessed marriage, bear children, build a true family, and form a four-position foundation over three generations. Only then will God use the word "We" in reference to a family unit.
God's Image in the Family
How, then, can we advance to such a position? God created all things from a position in which His mind and body were completely one. His creation was an act of total investment involving absolute love and absolute faith. There was no possibility that He would consider His own interest or situation. This was the fountainhead of the love that seeks to give one hundred percent and then still continue to give. This is true for God and it should be true as well for our families.
Parents, who stand in the position of God, are to invest themselves completely and absolutely with true love. In terms of the logic of origin-division-union, they should give birth to and rear children from the position of the origin, thus establishing a vertical axis for the concept of "We." If the husband and wife, who stand in the position of division from the origin, become one with each other, centering on true love, they will establish the horizontal axis. Then the children, who are in the position of union, will align themselves automatically with the vertical and horizontal axes and become one. They will establish a new axis reaching from front to back. The first family that accomplishes this substantiates the concept of "We" that is complete vertically, horizontally, and front to back.
This is the reason the family is so important. The family is the most valuable gift given to us from Heaven. If the environment we call the family did not exist, how would we establish this absolute standard of "I" If not for the family, we would never even dare to think of a "We" that is complete vertically, horizontally, and front to back. The cradle of love, peace, and happiness is nothing other than this family.
How, then, do we establish the true "I"? This is possible only through a life of true love for the sake of others. The person who denies him or herself completely, to the point of nothingness, and begins to live for the sake of the family, for the sake of the country, for the sake of all humanity, and for the sake of God, will automatically be able to establish the true "I." We should never put ourselves forward arrogantly and use the word "I" in a casual manner. God has worked, steeped in grief in the back alleys of history, to push forward His providence of restoration. His only desire has been to establish children who could speak of the true "I." Anyone who knows this heart of God can never claim the word "I" for him or herself in a casual manner.
When we establish God's original idea of world peace and the ideal families for which God has been waiting tens of thousands of years, we will have the starting point for the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Beginning there, we will be able to resolve the grief of the suffering God. I would like to call upon everyone here to join with me.
First, let us work to establish the true "I" that can look at the sun without shame, look at the ocean with a clear conscience, and has nothing to hide before nature. Then let us establish the family to which God will refer as a part of His "We."
God is Our True King
In this way, we can establish a relationship of true parents and children between God and ourselves. Furthermore, God, who is the true parent of humanity and the origin of love, life, and lineage, is the Ancestor of humanity and the True King who reigns over all. God lost the positions of Ancestor and King as a result of the human ancestors' Fall in the garden of Eden.
In accordance with the progress of the providence of restoration, my husband declared the return of the ocean, the land and the cosmos to the heart-oriented Realm of the Fourth Adam. Then, on 13 January 2001, my husband and I performed the historic Coronation Ceremony for the Kingship of God.
Adam's family, as the first human family, was to have been the ancestors of humanity and to have set the foundation for the institution of the family. Originally, the king of the family someday would have inherited the positions of king of the country and king of the cosmos. Humanity was to have connected to the heavenly realm of the original ideal in that way and that way only.
We will establish national level kingship, because the age of indemnity is ending and we are entering the age of settlement by the process of family registration. This will develop and connect with the kingship of the world. This is why, on the occasion of True Children's Day 2000, my husband declared that the Parents of Heaven and Earth now reign as King of the family in the Unification Church. This means that we now are able to enter the age in which families that have been registered can attend the Heavenly Parent as our King. Thus, each blessed family should be aware of its responsibility to establish the tradition of humanity attending the King of Heaven and Earth. This is the reason that the age of the church has ended and the age of the family federation has begun.
The entire universe is linked as one connected body centering on one nucleus. Each and every family should stand in the position of this nucleus. To be such, love the creation and consume it. Love all creatures that God created in love. They exist in His love, and by loving them you will fulfill the position of their true master.
You should feel as if your family is becoming one body, that your family constitutes a realm of true love before God. In that way your family will create a settlement, a cornerstone for attending the King, the Parents of Heaven and Earth. This is how you become a blessed family and inherit the realm of victory.
Steps to World Peace
Respected leaders! Now is the time for humanity voluntarily to repudiate all pride, ignorance, selfishness and hatred. Let us follow the laws of Heaven and be humble before God.
Ever since God called my husband at the tender age of 16, he has committed himself totally to the realization of world peace, which has been God's deepest wish.
And at this time, I would like to set forth several crucial steps that are necessary for bringing peace to the world.
First, we are to live for the sake of others. A self-centered life not only causes discomfort to others, but also violates the laws of Heaven. Living for the sake of others, on the other hand, is the way we can resemble God. Loving our family, our community, our nation and the world is the way to inherit God's true love. It is the way to live in accord with the fundamental order of the universe.
Only through practicing true love can we become true individuals, true parents, true teachers and true owners (lords). Only then can we finally become the leaders who can bring about peace on Earth. A life of living for the sake of others is the first gate to peace.
In this sense, the path to peace ultimately will be based on Godism and Head-wing Ideology. This is the teaching that can reconcile and embrace all actors in a conflict, from their thought to their fruit, by dealing with the starting point of conflict in the relationship between Cain and Abel.
How can we break the chain of hatred and violence we perpetrate against one another? Returning hatred in response to hatred only leads to more hatred, terror and destruction. This is certainly not the path to peace. We can touch, educate and reconcile the conflicting parties only by true love. True love that places God in the center disregards national boundaries; therefore it is international.
True love transcends the high walls dividing religions and races; therefore it is inter-religious and inter-racial. True love centered on God's ideal of living for the sake of others can generate the power to touch a person's heart and spirit. By true love alone can the various reasons and causes of conflicts on Earth be overcome, whether the confrontation is between right and left, front and rear, above and below, or inner and outer. By true love alone can we establish a world of eternal peace.
Marriage as an Instrument of Peace
Second, the family is the fundamental unit for building peaceful nations and ultimately a peaceful world.
As I already mentioned, the root of conflict originated in the first family. Therefore, until the family of the True Parents appears, it is impossible for us to enter the era of world peace. The international Blessings that my husband and I promote worldwide are not the wedding ceremony of a particular religion. They are a movement to save all nations and the world.
We teach youth to keep their purity before marriage and, when they reach adulthood, to marry under the Blessing of God. However, as a condition to receive the marriage Blessing, they first pledge to their spouse that they will maintain absolute trust and fidelity as husband and wife. Thus, the Blessing is a holy movement to build true families and lift up true parents who live centered on true love.
Families built upon such an ideal and such an education have no need to feel threatened by the AIDS virus. For them, preventing AIDS is easier than preventing a cold. If we educate the youth of the world in this vision and practice it, we will completely eliminate the AIDS epidemic. We will eliminate the scourge of family breakdown as well.
Further, these families of true love will serve as the cornerstone for peaceful nations and a peaceful world. In particular, if individuals of enemy nations, who have lived in discord throughout history, come together in true love as in-laws, their reconciliation will bring nations and races together. It is a high wall to overcome.
Nevertheless, here is the supreme formula for bringing true peace to the world: bring together children from enemy families and nations for the "Exchange Marriage Blessing." These interreligious and international families can build a realm of blessing, perfecting true families of true love that both Heaven and Earth desire. From that point will begin the world of eternal peace that God and all humankind have desired.
A Challenge to Religious Leaders
Third, inter-religious reconciliation and cooperation is an essential condition for world peace.
My husband and I have campaigned tirelessly for inter-religious harmony and dialogue. We always have devoted a far greater proportion of our funds for that purpose than for the growth and development of the Unification Church.
Do you think that practicing such sacrificial love with an unchanging heart is easy? By no means! But we cannot expect world peace unless religious people reconcile and cooperate. World peace is the original ideal of God.
Therefore, religious leaders and believers should be the guides who lead people to peace. If religions only emphasize narrow-minded denominationalism and fail to teach true love for God and the universe, we will never free humankind from the horrors of war. In the face of global crises, religious leaders have to practice true love, humbly following God's Will, walking hand in hand beyond the boundaries of their own religion.
The inner powers of religion touches our hearts and can recreate us as people of peace. It can cultivate our ability to practice self-control from within. It can overcome historical hatreds and resentments among us. This is the root from which true peace and stability grow.
If religions demonstrate love for each other, cooperate with each other, and serve each other, putting the higher ideal of peace ahead of their particular doctrines, rituals and cultural backgrounds, the world will change dramatically.
Beyond National Self-interest
Fourth, I once again emphasize the proper role of the United Nations in realizing world peace.
As a representative organization for world peace, the United Nations has made many contributions. It is a fact, however, that the world's circumstances have changed and the complex situations in which nations find themselves today are unlike those at the time of the founding of the United Nations.
In light of this, last year my husband and I presented proposals to solve the fundamental problems plaguing the planet Earth.
One of these proposals was to establish a special body that would discuss and evaluate the religious, spiritual and moral dimensions of world problems. The United Nations should serve the world and God's ideal of creation effectively. To do so, it has to transcend the power of politics and national diplomacy, which reflect the motives of nations seeking their own self-interest. Only then can it truly protect the human rights of all peoples and nations and build world peace.
This imperative does not apply only to the United Nations. It will be difficult to maintain order in the world and protect public prosperity and peace as long as political sovereignty operates on the principle of national self-interest and ignores or undermines moral and spiritual values.
What is required is that high-level leaders ground themselves spiritually and morally upon God's ideal and govern according to universal principles. No political power or earthly authority should stand above God and the laws of Heaven.
Moreover, the United Nations should listen to and embrace many of the views of the Non-Governmental Organizations. This is the reason we established WANGO. I encourage all NGOs and public service organizations, while not losing your original founding spirit, to dialogue and cooperate with one another. I request that you continue serving the world, be unselfish and stay free of corruption.
Our Historical Quest
Respected leaders! A person who only talks about world peace without practicing it is not a true leader. Given the current world situation, we cannot leisurely wait for the arrival of world peace while sitting down. It is an urgent time. God is calling each of us, the Ambassadors for Peace and everyone else, to create world peace by all means. Let us all take active roles as leaders in the movement for peace.
I wish and hope that, centered on the Peace Embassies, all service organizations national and international, including the United Nations, will participate actively in the movement for world peace. It is our historical quest.
Let us be united as one in mind and heart. Let us become pioneers for world peace, by first building ideal families of true love and living for the sake of others.
May God's hand be upon you and bless you forever.
Thank you very much.