An Introduction to the Thought of Sun Myung Moon: Unification Thought and V.O.C. Theory
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An Introduction to the Thought of Sun Myung Moon: Unification Thought and V.O.C. Theory |
Unification Thought aspires to present Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s teachings concerning the divine providence in a systematic, philosophical way. Unification Thought is also called Godism or Headwing Thought. Godism means that God’s truth and his love are the core of this thought; Headwing Thought implies a thought system that is neither rightwing nor leftwing but embraces both sides from a higher perspective.
By offering a fundamental solution to all of humanity’s serious problems, Unification Thought aims at creating an ideal world of eternal peace and freedom. In order to offer such a fundamental solution to humankind’s numerous headaches, it is essential to first achieve a correct understanding of God as the Original Being.
Therefore, Unification Thought begins with the Theory of the Original Image, which deals with God’s attributes. That section includes “The Content of the Original Image,” which explains the content of both the Divine Image and the Divine Character, and “The Structure of the Original Image,” which explains the correlative relationship between God’s attributes.
Among God’s attributes, the Divine Image corresponds to the aspect of form. God remains invisible to the human eye; however he possesses a definite form and the potentiality (raw material) and determinative nature that make possible the appearance of form. The Divine Image contains two sets of dual characteristics, namely sungsang and hyungsang and yang and yin, which together form the Universal Image, as well as the Individual Image.
1. Sungsang and Hyungsang
God’s sungsang and hyungsang are called the Original Sungsang and the Original Hyungsang respectively; both together are called dual characteristics. The relationship between God and all things is that of the Creator to his creation, but it can also be seen as a relationship between cause and effect. Seen from this perspective, the Original Sungsang represents the fundamental cause of the invisible, functional aspect of created entities, while the Original Hyungsang represents the fundamental cause of the visible, material aspect of created entities.
a) Sungsang
The equivalent of God’s sungsang (the Original Sungsang) in human beings is the human mind. The Original Sungsang represents the ultimate cause of the invisible aspect of all created entities.
Specifically, it is the original cause of the human mind, animal instinct, plant life, and the physiochemical character of minerals. In other words, God’s Original Sungsang unfolds itself on different levels of the world of time and space in the physiochemical character of minerals, the life of plants, the instinct of animals and the human mind. Next, God’s sungsang can be divided into inner sungsang and inner hyungsang. This forms the inner structure of the sungsang.
(1) The Inner Sungsang
The inner sungsang, the functional, subject part of the mind, consists of the functions of intellect, emotion and will. The intellect pertains to the faculty of cognition, namely perception, understanding and reason. Perception refers to the ability to know things as reflected by the five senses; understanding means the ability to conceptualize by reaching logical conclusions; reason is the faculty that allows us to seek for universal truths by the process of abstraction. Emotion, on the other hand, is the faculty of feeling, i.e., the ability to feel joy, sorrow, anger, pleasure, etc., while will is the faculty of volition, i.e. the faculty to desire, intend, and determine.
(2) The Inner Hyungsang
The inner hyungsang refers to the formal, object component within the mind, which essentially consists of ideas, concepts, principles, and mathematical notions. Ideas are concrete representations, or reflections of individual created entities within the mind; concepts are abstract representations, while fundamental principles are the original cause of the natural laws operating in the created world and of the normative laws related to the determination of value. Numerical or mathematical notions are the ultimate cause of the numerical aspect of the natural world and contain an infinity of numbers, numerical values, and mathematical formulas.
b) Hyungsang
If we consider God’s hyungsang (the Original Hyungsang) by analogy to the human condition, we could say that it corresponds to the human body, and thus represents the fundamental cause of the visible parts of all created entities. As it unfolds on different levels in the world of space and time, God’s hyungsang is represented by the atoms and molecules of the mineral realm, the cells and structure of plants, the flesh and bones of animals, and the body of human beings. In this sense, God’s hyungsang is the fundamental cause of the material element within created entities. This fundamental cause itself consists of two components: the material element and energy.
Since God’s hyungsang is the original cause of the material element of all things, we can speak of a “stage prior to matter.” On the other hand, today’s science suggests that the root cause of material things can be found in the basic energy making up elementary particles. Hence, God’s hyungsang can also be considered as that which precedes the energy used to create material things, in other words the “stage prior to energy” or more simply “pre-energy.”
In Unification Thought, this is called prime energy. When this prime energy manifests itself by acting in all things, it is called universal prime force.
c) The Difference between Sungsang and Hyungsang
At this point, we will consider whether sungsang and hyungsang are essentially homogenous or heterogeneous, which will lead us to discuss the issue of monism vs. dualism and other ontological questions. For Unification Thought, the Original Sungsang and the Original Hyungsang are two manifestations of one homogeneous core element, just as steam and ice are two manifestations of the same element, H2O (water). In the same way, God’s dual characteristics of sungsang and hyungsang are but two manifestations of his absolute nature, i.e., two manifestations of the same core element. The absolute nature of God can be expressed as energic mind, or conversely as mental energy. Energy and the mind do not exist as distinct entities; they are essentially one. In the process of creation, the absolute nature of God separates as God’s mind (sungsang) and God’s body (hyungsang).
When considered from the perspective of ontology, this viewpoint can be called “Unification Theory.” When considering the situation prior to creation, when God’s absolute attributes were manifesting nothing but themselves, it would be appropriate to speak of a “Theory of Oneness.”
If, on the other hand, we follow Aristotle in trying to reach the ultimate cause of hyungsang and matter, we will end up with pure hyungsang (form) and prime matter. Here, pure hyungsang, or pure form, means God, but a God that is pure act entirely devoid of materiality, i.e., nothing but pure thought. For Aristotle, this pure thought is thinking on thinking, or thought of thought. Accordingly, prime matter is entirely independent from God, i.e., Aristotle’s ontology is fundamentally dualistic.
Thomas Aquinas based his philosophy on that of Aristotle and similarly considered pure form and the thinking on thinking to be God. And, like Augustine, he asserted that God had created the world ex nihilo, i.e., “out of nothing.” But, when seen from the viewpoint of contemporary science that considers the universe to be composed of energy, the dogmatic assertion that matter has appeared out of nothing appears difficult to sustain.
René Descartes considered that there are three substances, i.e., God, spirit, and matter (or extension). Ultimately, he considered that God is the only substance. But in the created world, spirit and matter, while both being dependent upon God, were understood by him to be entirely separated from each other, which means that he upheld a form of dualism. Explaining how the two, spirit and matter, could communicate at all thus became a source of great perplexity. Accordingly, the notions of form and matter, or spiritual and physical reality, as conceived by Western philosophy, have led to several contradictions. The Unification Thought notions of Original Sungsang and Original Hyungsang offer a solution to that crucial issue in that they are introduced as two different manifestations of one identical fundamental element.
2. Yang and Yin
Sungsang and hyungsang are direct (primary) attributes of God, but yang and yin (masculinity and femininity) are his indirect (secondary) attributes, while at the same time being direct attributes of sungsang and hyungsang. Precisely speaking, God’s sungsang (the Original Sungsang) has both yang and yin as its attributes, and God’s hyungsang (the Original Hyungsang) equally carries yang and yin as its attributes. Just like the primary dual characteristics, yang and yin also form a harmonized oneness (neutrality). Just as in the case of sungsang and hyungsang, this notion has the connotation of harmony and unity and corresponds to a state of oneness before the act of creation was conceived. In the process of creation, this oneness is separated into the attributes of yang and yin.
In Unification Thought, yang and yin are seen as the attributes of sungsang and hyungsang. In the created world, sungsang and hyungsang are seen as constituted by individual substances, while yang and yin represent the attributes of these. Contrary to this view, in Eastern philosophy, yang and yin are considered sometimes as substances and sometimes as attributes, without a clear distinction between the two. For instance, the sun (a substance) is considered yang, but the sun’s brightness (an attribute) is also considered yang; fire (a substance) is considered yang, but so is its heat (an attribute). Thus, in Eastern philosophy, there are many instances where man is equated with yang and woman with yin. In Unification Thought, however, man is called a substantial being with yang nature, and woman is called a substantial being with yin nature. On the surface, the way Eastern philosophy considers man and woman and the way Unification Thought does may appear similar, but they are actually entirely different. In Unification Thought, man and woman both possess sungsang and hyungsang characteristics, as well as yang and yin characteristics, but only on the sungsang level are man and woman qualitatively different in terms of yang and yin. Man’s yang and yin nature is a “masculine” type of yang and yin, and woman’s yang and yin nature is a “feminine” type of yang and yin. Thus, man, carrying both a yang and yin nature, is a yang-type united body of sungsang and hyungsang, while woman, likewise carrying both a yang and yin nature, is a yin-type united body of sungsang and hyungsang. Simply stated, man can be considered as a substantial yang being and woman as a substantial yin being.
On the level of hyungsang, the difference between man and woman is a quantitative difference of yang and yin. Indeed, on the level of hyungsang (the body) both man and woman have yang elements as well as yin elements, but man has more yang elements and woman has more yin elements.
3. The Individual Image
Since sungsang and hyungsang, as well as yang and yin, are common to all entities, these two sets of God’s attributes are called the Universal Image. On the other hand, all things differ from each other in terms of their characteristics, shape, etc. according to their kind and type. Human beings, too, have individual variations in terms of their stature, body shape, facial expression, personality and the like. Accordingly, the ultimate cause of the individual features of human beings and all things is located within God’s Original Sungsang, more particularly within its inner hyungsang. This individual nature is called the Individual Image. Also, while in human beings the Individual Image consists of the varied individual characteristics of each person, among all things (besides humans) the Individual Image consists of kind-specific differences, i.e., the characteristics that are proper to one particular species.
Even though the Individual Image can be called the specific character of each individual entity, it is not a particular characteristic in addition to the Universal Image; rather, the Universal Image itself becomes individualized. For example, the different features of the faces of human beings are the individualized hyungsang (Universal Image), made specific in that particular face; the differences in human personality are the individualized sungsang (Universal Image), made specific through a particular character or disposition.
Thus, in the created world, the Individual Image appears as an individualized Universal Image because, within God’s inner hyungsang, the essential factor (Universal Image) of this individualizing process directed towards created things acts so as to individualize God’s sungsang and hyungsang and his yang and yin natures. Hence, God’s Universal Image can be called the Original Universal Image, and God’s Individual Image which resides in his inner hyungsang, can be called the Original Individual Image. Finally, the reason why every human being’s individual personality should be absolutely respected is because it has its origin in the Individual Image stemming from God.
God’s nature is not limited to the aspect of form (the Divine Image), but also includes the aspects of function, character and ability. This is what is meant by Divine Character. God’s nature encompasses such qualities as omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, supreme goodness, supreme beauty, supreme love, and universal justice, and God is described as Lord of Creation and Lord of Judgment. However, God’s most important characteristics are Heart, Logos, and Creativity.
1. Heart
Heart is the very core of God’s attributes, particularly of his sungsang; it is the “emotional impulse to create joy through love.” An emotional impulse is an irrepressible longing or desire springing forth from one’s innermost being. In God, this impulse to create joy begins with the impulse to love. In no way is love a means to obtain joy; it is nothing but an unconditional impulse. Joy is the inevitable consequence of love. Thus, the impulse to love is the irresistible longing to love, i.e., the irresistible desire to be with one’s object of love.
Thus, God created humankind and all things with Heart as his motive. This is called the Motivation of Heart Theory. Based on this theory, it is possible to explain and solve the age-old controversies on the origin and creation of the universe.
Let us next consider the notion of universal prime force. If we make a comparison to the world of physics, it would correspond with the universal force of gravitation. It can be considered an extension of God’s prime energy. However, since God’s prime energy comes into existence on the basis of the energy of his heartistic impulse, similarly in the created world the universal prime force does not merely act as a physical force; the force of love is also at work in it.
Heart being the core of God’s sungsang, it is also the foundation for the existence of intellect, emotion, and will. In this way, a culture that comes into being through the action of intellect, emotion, and will and realizes true value can only be a culture of Heart. With Heart as its motive, a world endowed with the original character of creation will have as its goal the practice and realization of love.
Its culture will be a culture of Heart, of love, and of harmony.
2. Logos
According to the Divine Principle, Logos stands for “rational principle” or “the Word.” In Unification Thought, too, Logos is the Word, i.e., God’s thought, his idea, and his design; and it is a rational principle, which refers to reason and law. Saying that Logos is thought or idea, or an ideal blueprint, means that it is also a resultant entity, a new creation and, in some way, part of the created world. This also means that Logos, as a multiplied body, resembles God’s dual characteristics. It can be understood as the united body formed by the inner sungsang and the inner hyungsang within the Original Sungsang. The subject–object relationship between the inner sungsang and the inner hyungsang corresponds to the relationship between reason and law. When reason and law are united centering on a specific purpose, they represent the dual characteristics of the Logos.
Since all things were created through the Logos, which is the union of reason and law, elements of both reason and law are included, in a unified way, in all created entities. Hence, reason and law, as one, are actively involved in the existence and action of all created entities. The factor of law (rules) is more involved in the case of lower entities, while the factor of reason is more involved in the case of entities of a higher order. Therefore, the existence and activity of all things come about through the union of freedom and necessity, the purposeful and the automatic. Thus, freedom is at work within necessity and purposefulness within that which is automatic. Though one generally considers that law restricts freedom, this is a false impression due to ignorance of the original principles operant between the two.
3. Creativity
Creativity refers to the creative power by which God formed the universe and human beings. In other words, it is his power to produce new entities through give-and-take action between his dual characteristics. Through this give-and-take between God’s dual characteristics, inevitably a four-position foundation is created; the capacity to create a four-position foundation centering on a purpose that is based on Heart is called creativity. It is also the ability to produce inner and outer give-and-take action between the Original Sungsang and the Original Hyungsang, centering on purpose, and thus to realize an inner and outer four-position foundation.
God endowed human beings with creativity for them to dominate all things. This original dominion over all things means being able to treat them with original love, i.e., acting with original love. This includes farming, manufacturing, production, reorganizing, construction, invention, maintenance, transportation, preservation, artistic production, etc. In dealing with all things, original human beings are constantly required to produce new ideas based on love. Therefore, God’s creativity is absolutely needed for the attainment of original dominion.
However, due to the human fall, humans failed to fully inherit God’s creativity, Heart and love, and they ended up becoming self-centered, self-absorbed beings. The development of weapons of mass destruction, environmental pollution and similar evils can be seen as consequences of the misuse of the creativity bestowed by God. By merely displaying the rational aspect of creativity but having lost the purpose centered on Heart humans can never bring about true creativity. The present-day world will only overcome its crisis when self-centered individualism is eliminated and creativity and dominion centered on the love of God are developed. Only then will a world culture of original true love become a reality.
The Structure of the Original Image refers to the mutual relationship between God’s attributes, sungsang and hyungsang in particular. The reason for analyzing the mutual relationship between these attributes is not only to get a precise understanding of God’s attributes, but also to offer a fundamental solution to present-day problems from a relational perspective.
1. The Give-and-Take Action between Sungsang and Hyungsang
Once sungsang and hyungsang have established a correlative relationship and have created a correlative standard, they come to “exchange something with each other.” This is give-and-take action. A correlative relationship is formed when two elements, or two individual entities, face each other as subject and object; a correlative standard is formed when such a relationship has been established centered on a common purpose. In the correlative relationship within the Original Image, sungsang is in the position of subject and hyungsang is in the position of object.
In order for a subject (sungsang) and an object (hyungsang) to establish a give-and-take action, the two distinct positions of subject and object are needed. If the two poles stand on an equal footing, give-and-take will not result. In give-and-take action, the subject stands in the position of being active, while the object stands in the position of being passive. Concretely speaking, if the subject is ‘central’ the object is ‘dependent,’ if the subject is ‘dynamic’ the object is ‘static,’ if the subject is ‘positive’ the object is ‘negative,’ and where the subject is ‘creative’ the object is ‘conservative.’ Also, where the subject is ‘extroverted’ the object is ‘introverted.’ Simply stated, the subject is in the position to exert dominion while the object is in the position to be receptive and responsive.
Furthermore, the give-and-take action within the Original Image has the qualities of perfection, harmony, and complete smoothness. Hence, such phenomena as opposition, contradiction, conflict, and the like cannot exist within give-and-take action. Accordingly, the original give-and-take action between sungsang and hyungsang is a reciprocal relationship centered on purpose. It is harmonious and not conflictive. If strife and opposition appear between two elements, common elements such as Heart or purpose cannot be at their center.
Through an action of struggle within a conflictive being that lacks purpose or a center, development is absolutely impossible. Development occurs when, and only when, a subject and an object, centering on purpose, have give-and-take action as mutual partners.
2. The Realization of the Four-Position Foundation
The give-and-take action between sungsang and hyungsang involves a center (i.e., a common central point) and a result (i.e., a result produced by the give-and-take action between sungsang and hyungsang). The four positions of center, sungsang, hyungsang, and result are necessarily established. The mutual relationship between sungsang and hyungsang, established through these four positions, is called the four- position foundation. The position of sungsang is called the subject position; that of hyungsang is called the object position. As a result, the four-position foundation is the mutual relationship between subject and object, based on the four positions of center, subject, object, and result.
In the give-and-take action between subject and object, a clearly defined center and a clearly defined result will be present. The position of the center of give-and-take action is occupied by Heart or by the purpose of creation based on Heart. When Heart is the center, the result is called the united body; when purpose is the center, the result is called a new being (entity) or a multiplied body. In the created world, the united body refers to the being, existence, maintenance, unity, spatial movement, and permanence of all things, while the multiplied body refers to the emergence of a resultant entity, i.e., a new element, phenomenon, or individual being, which implies growth.
1. Identity-Maintaining Four-Position Foundation and Developmental Four-Position Foundation
The four-position foundation can be divided into the two basic types of identity-maintaining and developmental. As we have already seen, the give-and-take action between sungsang and hyungsang produces two kinds of resultant entities, depending on the nature of the center. These are the united body and the multiplied body, the first appearing when Heart is the center and the second being produced when the purpose of creation is the center.
This means that there are two types of give-and-take action, namely that which occurs when Heart is the center and the united body is the result, and that which occurs when purpose is the center and a multiplied body is the result.
When the united body is formed, both the sungsang and the hyungsang remain the same before and after the action of give-and-take. By being combined, the two are merely united into one. On the other hand, when a multiplied body is formed, the resultant entity that appears after the give-and-take action is, in essence, entirely different. Thus, through the action of give-and-take, a new entity is brought into existence. The give-and-take action that produces the united body is thus called the identity-maintaining give-and-take action, and the give-and-take action that produces the multiplied body is called developmental give-and-take action. From the point of view of position, the identity-maintaining give-and-take action refers to an identity-maintaining four-position foundation, while the developmental give-and-take action refers to a developmental four-position foundation (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1: Identity-Maintaining Four-Position Foundation and Developmental Four-Position Foundation
2. Inner Four-Position Foundation and Outer Four-Position Foundation
Among the two basic types of four-position foundations are the inner four-position foundation and the outer four-position foundation. On an internal level, God’s sungsang consists of the inner sungsang, which is the subject or functional part, and the inner hyungsang, which is the object part, while on an external level God’s sungsang engages in give-and-take action with the hyungsang. The sungsang thus realizes a four-position foundation both internally and externally. When the sungsang and the hyungsang engage in a mutual relationship centered on a common element, be it internally or externally, give-and-take action necessarily results. The former is called inner give-and-take action; the latter is called outer give-and-take action. Accordingly, from the point of view of position, the inner give-and-take action refers to an inner four-position foundation and the outer give-and-take action refers to an outer four-position foundation (Fig. 2).
Fig. 2: Inner and Outer Four-Position Foundation
Resembling the inner and outer structure of the Original Image, created entities without exception form an inner and outer four-position foundation centering on the purpose of creation. This comes from the fact that the inner and outer four-position foundations of the Original Image represent the basic standard from which the forms of existence of all created entities are derived. Thus, the inner and outer four-position foundations of the Original Image are called the two-stage structure of the Original Image (Fig. 3). In its resemblance, the inner and outer four-position foundations of created entities are called the two-stage structure of existence (Fig. 4).
Fig. 3: The Two-Stage Structure of the Original Image
Fig. 4: The Two-Stage Structure of Existence
Thus, besides the identity-maintaining and the developmental four-position foundations, there is another basic set consisting of the inner and the outer four-position foundations. According to the Divine Principle (or simply Principle), we thus reach the conclusion that there are four basic types of four-position foundations: The inner identity-maintaining four-position foundation, the outer identity-maintaining four-position foundation, the inner developmental four-position foundation, and the outer developmental four-position foundation.
1. The Inner Identity-Maintaining Four-Position Foundation
This type is a combination of the inner and the identity-maintaining four-position foundations. In other words, the inner four-position foundation within the Original Sungsang is identical to itself, i.e., unchanging. This type of foundation is called “inner” because it is realized within the mind, and it is called identity-maintaining because it is realized through the give-and-take between the inner sungsang (subject) and the inner hyungsang (object) centering on Heart, the result being the formation of a united body. Thus a united body of the inner sungsang and the inner hyungsang realized through the identity-maintaining foundation within the mind is called inner identity-maintaining four-position foundation. It is the internal structure of the sungsang.
2. The Outer Identity-Maintaining Four-Position Foundation
This type is a combination of the outer and the identity-maintaining four-position foundations. It refers to the four-position foundation that is established externally by the sungsang with the hyungsang, as an outer four-position foundation that remains identical to itself, i.e., unchanging. It corresponds to the state of the Original Image immediately prior to God’s creation of all things, when the sungsang and the hyungsang have together realized a harmonious unity. This is the internal structure of the Original Image.
3. The Inner Developmental Four-Position Foundation
This type is a combination of the inner and the developmental four-position foundations. This type of four-position foundation is called “inner” because it is realized within the mind, and it is called developmental because it is realized through the give-and-take between the inner sungsang (reason) and the inner hyungsang (law) centering on purpose, the result being the formation of a new body.
This four-position foundation, within the Original Sungsang, has the nature of being active and leading to development. Needless to say, the center of the inner developmental four-position foundation consists of a purpose centered on Heart, i.e., the purpose of creation. At this stage, the emerging new body is merely the Word that creates the universe, also called Logos. It is the conception that directly precedes the creation of the universe. Thus, the inner developmental four-position foundation is the internal structure of the Logos.
4. The Outer Developmental Four-Position Foundation
This type is a combination of the outer and the developmental four-position foundations. It refers to the four-position foundation that is established externally by the Original Sungsang with the Original Hyungsang, and it is called outer because it refers to a four-position foundation where a new, multiplied body is created through the give-and-take between the sungsang and hyungsang. It is an outer four-position foundation that has the nature of being active and leads to development. The purpose of creation naturally forms the center of the outer developmental four-position foundation, and the new body that is produced consists of all things of creation. Hence, the outer developmental four-position foundation is the internal structure of the creation of all things.
a) The Two-Stage Structure of Creation
In God’s creation, the inner developmental give-and-take action always precedes the outer developmental give-and-take action. Therefore, the inner developmental four-position foundation and the outer developmental four-position foundation are always formed in that sequence. Thus, the inner and outer developmental four-position foundations together, acting in successive stages, are called the two-stage structure of creation in the Original Image (Fig. 5). Similarly, when human beings create, they first develop a blueprint or a concept in their mind as the first stage of creation and, based on that, they proceed with the second stage in which they actually accomplish their creative work. Thus, the two-stage structure of creation is the base on which humans produce, create, and act upon anything.
Fig. 5: The Two-Stage Structure of Creation
The four-position foundation is the spatial conception of the give-and-take action between the four elements of center, subject, object, and result. Besides that spatial component, all phenomena also have a temporal aspect. Give-and-take action understood from a temporal perspective is called origin-division-union action. Among the four elements constituting give-and-take action, the center is established first. Next, the subject and the object are divided and begin to interact. Finally, the result appears. Thus, the three-stage process of give-and-take action is the origin-division-union action. Consequently, four types of origin-division-union action are formed, similar to the types of four-position foundation. These four types are: the inner identity-maintaining origin-division-union action, the outer identity-maintaining origin-division-union action, the inner developmental origin-division-union action, and the outer developmental origin-division-union action (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6: Origin-Division-Union Action
The real meaning of the notion of origin-division-union action, which is related to time, becomes particularly evident when it is compared to the notion of thesis – antithesis – synthesis in communism’s Historical and Dialectical Materialism. The latter resulted when Marx’s materialist philosophy was linked to Hegel’s dialectic, and it is this dialectic that formed the logical foundation that led to the idea of thesis – antithesis – synthesis. In the Materialist Dialectic, that idea means that through contradiction development occurs and that the opposing elements of thesis and antithesis unite through struggle, thus giving birth to all things. In reality, however, communists neglect unity and only consider the development through conflict and struggle to be the basis for Dialectical Materialism. This, of course, is in disagreement with the Unification Thought notion of development.
In Unification Thought, the two elements necessary for development are not opposing elements, but elements that form a mutual relationship. Development, as seen from that perspective, can only occur when there is harmonious give-and-take action between a subject and an object, i.e., between elements forming a mutual relationship.
Also, any thing or object can only develop through the smooth give-and-take between a subject and an object, centering on a common purpose. In Dialectical Materialism, the notion of purpose in development is rejected. However, if there is no purpose, development is impossible. As a result, communism’s Dialectical Materialism has failed to explain concrete situations involving the phenomenon of development. A major alternative to it is Unification Thought’s origin-division-union, which considers give-and-take action from the perspective of time.
The realm of the Original Image transcends time and space. Hence the notion of structure, when applied to it, can only be expressed by using time and space as an analogy, and it can be summarized by the expression of unity. Since there is no space in this realm, there is no position either, and notions such as before and after, right and left, up and down, inside and outside, wide and narrow, or far and near do not exist; neither do such things as a triangle, a rectangle, or a square. It is a realm where the infinitely large and the infinitely small coincide, and where the entirety of space comes together in one point. At the same time, it is a realm where up and down, before and after, right and left, and inside and outside extend without limits.
Similarly, the realm of the Original Image is without time. Thus by analogy, to use the language of time, past, present and future, are united in the one moment of the “now.” There is eternity in an instant and the two notions are intimately linked. They are actually identical. This means that the world of the Original Image is one of pure permanence in a state of oneness (that of the united sungsang and hyungsang, and yang and yin). The pure permanence of that state is the notion of time in the realm of the Original Image. In summary, the realm of the Original Image is a “pure united body.” In other words, all phenomena of the universe, including time and space, originate in that one united point. The four-position foundation and origin – division – union action unfold into time and space starting from this one point.