6. Axiology

I. Necessity of Axiology

Let me explain first why axiology is necessary.

A. In Order to Prepare for the Future Society

The confusion in today’s world has largely been caused by the decay of our sense of values. We urgently need a new view of value (Axiology), if we are to change this fallen world into the future, original world. First, the future world will be a sincere society, in which the value of trueness¹ is realized. The falsehood and hypocrisy that prevail in today’s world should be eradicated through the new view of value. Second, the future world will be an ethical society, in which the value of goodness is realized. Someone may object that in this ethical society one’s freedom will be restrained. This is not so, however. Up to now, people have pursued the freedom to acquire things and to enjoy human rights, but even in today’s free and democratic world, people are suffering from anxiety and despair. They have not attained true freedom. Unification Principle says there is no freedom apart from the Principle— i.e., the norms to realize God’s love on earth through the family base. Accordingly, the freedom lost because of the human Fall is not the freedom to acquire things or enjoy rights, but the freedom to love; in other words, it is freedom within the Principle. Principle actually means ethics; thus, the future society can also be referred to as an ethical society. Third, the future world will be an artistic society, in which the value of beauty is realized. A new view of value is necessary for establishing such a society.

A new view of man will be established based on the new view of value. The man of the future world will be a person who lives for others (man for others), based on the life for God. He will live a life of attendance—that is, a life of service to God and to others.

B. In Order to Save the World from Confusion

Today, the traditional views of value are generally declining. As a result, the world abounds with corruption, social crimes, and struggle. Unless the world is saved from this state of confusion—through the establishment of a new view of value—communism cannot be prevented from invading the free world, for this materialistic ideology best thrives where people lack a firm view of value.

C. In Order to Unify All Traditional Cultures

Cultures are established upon the foundation of a religious view or a system of thought. The Hellenistic culture, for instance, was based on polytheism, which was the Hellenistic religion; the European culture was based on Christianity; other cultures follow a similar pattern. Religions and systems of thought are based on a view of value. Accordingly, in order to unify traditional cultures, we need a new view of value that can embrace and unify all the traditional views of value. Specifically, the new view of value must be able to unify love in Christianity, with benevolence in Confucianism and mercy in Buddhism, as well as the various virtues included in those three. (See sec. VII, B of this chapter.)

II. Axiology and the Meaning of Value

Axiology is the philosophy of value; it deals with problems of the definition, essence, and judgment of value.

Immanuel Kant clearly separated the realms of being (realm of Sein) and of value (realm of Sollen) by distinguishing fact from value. Because of Kant, “value” has come to be considered a philosophical field of enquiry; by the end of the 19th century, it had come well into the domain of philosophy.

Essentially, value is the nature of the object that gives joy to the subject (man) by satisfying his desire. Man has two kinds of desires: one is his physical desire regarding food, clothing, shelter, etc.; the other is his spiritual desire regarding knowledge, art, moral life, etc. Physical desires can be fulfilled through material values (Hyung Sang values), such as commodities; spiritual desires, on the other hand, can be fulfilled through the spiritual values (Sung Sang values) of trueness, beauty, goodness, and love. In this chapter I deal with spiritual value.

At this point, I would like to clarify the difference between “fact” and “value”. The characteristic of “fact” lies in the objectivity of the judgment; the characteristics of “value,” in the subjectivity of the judgment. When I look at a flower, for example, and say, “This is a flower,” I am expressing a judgment of fact; if, however, I say, “This flower is beautiful,” I am stating a judgment of value. The judgment of value of trueness, goodness, and beauty takes place when there is intellectual, volitional, and emotional stimulation; here, the role of emotion is central. By contrast, objective judgments of fact are chiefly intellectual phenomena, with no significant emotional stimulation. Emotion and intellect, of course, cannot really be separated; what we are describing here is a matter of emphasis. When a person’s emotions are positively stimulated by an object, that object can be said to have value for him. An object that does not significantly stimulate a person’s emotions has no value for him.

When the object of judgment is a person, he stands in a position actively to create value for the subject. Here the problem of how to display value arises: how does one convey trueness? How does one display beauty? And how does one behave according to the standard of goodness?

Axiology, therefore, is a philosophical field directly connected with man’s cultural and social life.

III. The Theoretical Foundation of Axiology

A discussion of value, according to Unification Thought, must begin with the discussion of man; for man is the center of the universe, and all problems have their starting point in him.

First, man has both Sung Sang and Hyung Sang aspects.

Consequently, he has also two aspects of desire—that is, the Sung Sang (spiritual) desire, concerning the values of trueness, goodness, beauty, and love; and the Hyung Sang (material) desire, concerning the values of food, clothing, shelter, and sex. Man’s physical mind, the locus of his physical desire, is always connected with his spirit- mind, the locus of his spiritual desire; thus, there is a spiritual component even in his physical desire. For instance, man sees beauty and goodness in food; at the same time his desire to eat should always be connected with (and be supportive of) his desire to realize a life of love.

Second, as explained in “Ontology,” man is a substantial object of God as well as the subject of dominion over the whole creation. As the substantial object of God, man is in the position to give joy to God; this he does by realizing the values of trueness, goodness, and beauty.

God is the Original Being, transcending and embracing all visible and invisible beings. He is the whole of all wholes. Man, therefore, has been endowed with the purpose for the whole, feeling a constant impulse to do something for an ever greater whole—to work for his family, his clan, his race, his nation, or the world.

Accordingly, man becomes interested in how to act (Sollen) in order to benefit his family, clan, race, etc. Kant’s categorical imperatives, or oughts, originate from the purpose for the whole.

As the subject of creation, man has the purpose of dominating the creation with love; besides, he also seeks to appreciate the values of trueness, goodness, and beauty-which come from the creation—thereby obtaining joy. This is the purpose for the individual.

From these dual purposes—for the whole and for the individual —come two kinds of desire: one, the desire to realize value (which impels us to realize value before God and the whole) and the other, the desire to seek value (which motivates us to seek joy through finding the values of trueness, goodness, and beauty in creation).

A purpose is meaningless unless it is being actualized. God endowed man with everything he needs to attain the Purpose of Creation; yet He left it up to man’s own free will whether or not to actually complete it. In other words, man cannot achieve the Purpose of Creation merely by remaining as he was when he was created; he must grow spiritually in order fully to resemble God.

As man grows, he tends to actualize his purpose (Purpose of Creation); for this he needs motivation, or volitional impulse (founded on Heart). This motivation, or impulse, with which he was endowed at the time of his creation, is the desire to realize value (purpose for the whole) and the desire to seek value (purpose for the individual).

Though man is not the only created being with purpose, yet he is the only one who must actualize his purpose through his own desire. In other words, he is the only one who has the desire for value as a means to achieve the Purpose of Creation. Inorganic materials follow laws; plants have life functions; animals have instinct. None of them, however, have any conscious desire for value as a means to attain their purposes. In addition to laws, autonomy, and instinct—which are also found in other created beings-man has the desires both to realize and to seek value. By fulfilling these desires, he accomplishes his purpose.

The foundation for these desires is his impulse for growth in order to complete the Purpose of Creation. This is the ultimate foundation for Axiology in Unification Thought.

IV. Types of Value

A. Trueness, Goodness and Beauty

Man has Hyung Sang desire to fulfill his physical life through food, clothing, shelter, sex, etc. The purpose of Creation, however, cannot be accomplished by the mere fulfillment of this desire; actually, Hyung Sang desires exist only to satisfy the physical man, who in turn, exists solely to support the spirit-man during the earthly lifetime. The desire that is directly connected with the Purpose of Creation (i.e., to give joy to God as His object of love) is the Sung Sang desire for trueness, goodness, and beauty. These three kinds of values correspond to the three functions of man’s mind, or the three aspects of man’s personality—intellect, will, and emotion. These values are necessary in order for man to actualize joy.

Trueness. Man has an internal desire to live in accordance with truth, to teach truth, to become a true being himself, and so on. This is the desire to realize trueness. In addition, he has an intellectual desire to search for and uncover the aspects of trueness within his world.

Goodness. Man has a desire to realize goodness, which he uses to guide himself in leading a good life, in forming a good family, and so on, for the sake of God and the whole. Moreover, he has the desire to find goodness in the world around him.

Beauty. The realization of beauty is another of man’s desires. Through his conduct, his creative activity, his lifestyle, and so on, he wishes to offer beauty to those around him and to God. He also has the desire to seek beauty in the world around him.

Communism considers as having the values of trueness, goodness, and beauty only those things that help the proletariat in their revolutionary struggle against the bourgeoisie. Obviously, this is an extremely narrow view of value, in which value is made into nothing more than a political tool.

B. Love

Love has an inseparable relationship to the values of trueness, goodness, and beauty. Trueness, goodness, and beauty are values that the object returns to the subject; they are values of the object, primarily. Love, on the other hand, is the emotional force that the subject directs toward the object. With love, God endows man with the purpose of life. Similarly, parents give their children the purpose of their lives, or the reason for their lives. Thus, the object has the purpose or goal of realizing the values of trueness, goodness, and beauty, and also the standard by which to measure the degree of their realization. When the object displays value according to this purpose, the subject receives joy, and his love for the object increases. Furthermore, when man is in the position of object, his motivation in offering value to the subject, according to this purpose, should be love. A person may even act in complete oblivion of trueness, goodness, and beauty, but if his deeds are motivated by love, they will be received by his subject as containing trueness, goodness, and beauty.

Furthermore, if you (as subject) look upon a person’s actions with love, you will tend to find trueness, goodness, and beauty in them, because of your love—even though the actions themselves may not have been intended with the idea of value. Thus, we can say that love is the source of trueness, goodness, andbeauty.

Since the guidelines for behavior based on love are determined by ethics, value is inseparably connected with ethics. (See ch. 8, “Ethics.”)

C. Holiness

Since man fell away from God’s love, lost trueness, goodness, and beauty, and became self-centered, he has sought “holiness,” considering it a value in itself.

The original world, however, is a world of love; this means that trueness, goodness, and beauty themselves are holy. Unification Thought, therefore, deals with values as they should exist in the original world, where everything is holy. Reverend Sun Myung Moon said in a speech on his sixtieth birthday, “To be holy is to be natural. A bird singing is holy; a butterfly flying is holy; the wind blowing and the typhoon attacking are holy; the thunder roaring is holy.” “Holiness,” therefore, is not considered a value in the same sense as trueness, goodness, and beauty are values.

V. The Essence of Value

The concept of value includes two aspects: the actual and the essential. The essential aspect of value comprises the inner factors of an object, which make that object contain value—i.e., a certain character of the object that fulfills the subject’s desire for value. The actual aspect of value, on the other hand, refers to value as actually expressed in the relationship between subject and object. For example, when a person looks at an object (thing or action) and feels joy from it, the contents of the actual joy are the actual value. They are actual trueness, goodness, and beauty. The essence of value consists of the following two factors.

A. Purpose of Creation

The first factor is the Purpose of Creation. Every existing being has been created with a purpose. With the exception of man, God’s purpose for each creation is automatically realized. A flower can directly please man with its beauty, as can a bird with its song. By contrast, man must realize his purpose (purpose for the whole and purpose for the individual) with his own free will and responsibility. We cannot say, therefore, that man is able directly to realize his Purpose of Creation without taking initiative and making effort.

Every created being has its Purpose of Creation, which is one of the factors of the essence of value. The purpose that man has given to an artifically created object (such as a work of art) can also be included here. An existing being without a purpose is worthless.

B. Give-and-Take Harmony between Correlative Elements

The second factor is the harmony of the give-and-take action, (give-and-take harmony), between its correlative elements of Sung Sang and Hyung Sang, positivity and negativity, principal element and subordinate element. The give-and-take harmony between these correlative elements is carried out centering on the purpose of creation, whether it be in natural or in artificial beings. For example, man’s supreme purpose is to work in accordance with the will of God (the whole) and to return joy to Him. Leading a good life through the harmonious give-and-take action between one’s spirit-mind and physical mind, and leading a harmonious and peaceful life through give-and-take action with others will equal the necessary factors for realizing the essence of value; this will be perceived by God as joy (actual value). Accordingly, when the subject faces an object that has a purpose as well as a harmonious give-and-take action within itself, he will have an actual experience of the values of trueness, goodness, and beauty.

Flowers, for example have the Sung Sang purpose of pleasing man with their beauty. Centering on this purpose, harmonious give-and-take action between the correlative elements in their Hyung Sang takes place. The correlative elements in the Hyung Sang imply differences-such as those of length, breadth, height, movement, and color. The unified harmony of these differences (give-and-take harmony) produces beauty.

Beauty can be found in observing a blue sky, for instance, through which white clouds are moving, or flowers which have bees or butterflies flying around them. The blue sky and the flowers are motionless, but the movements of the clouds, the bees, and the butterflies brings harmony. The greater the number of differences that are harmonized, the greater the beauty. Of course, nature is beautiful in itself; yet, when man-the subject-is in nature, its beauty is enhanced, because new harmony comes to appear centering on him.

VI. Determining Actual Value and the Standard of Value

A. Determining Actual Value

Even though an object may have a purpose of creation and give-and-take harmony between its correlative elements, still it cannot realize actual value by itself. Actual value is determined by the judgment of the subject in the process of the give-and-take action that takes place between the subject and the object. The value of the object is determined through a judgment, and judgment can only be carried out by the subject; the participation of a subject, therefore, is a prerequisite for determining actual value.

In order for give-and-take action between a subject (observer) and an object (observed) to take place, the subject should have the desire to seek value from the object, and at the same time both the subject-conditions and the object-conditions should resemble each other. The Sung Sang of the subject must first resemble the Sung Sang of the object. The subject’s way of thinking, view of life, individuality, interests, hobbies, ideas, education, etc., should find like elements in the object’s Sung Sang. In this context, the object’s Sung Sang refers to the creator’s Sung Sang-purpose of creation, way of thinking, individuality, etc.—which lies behind the object (in a work of art, for instance).

The harmony between the correlative elements (Sung Sang and Hyung Sang, etc.) in the object and the harmony between these elements in the subject should resemble each other. This is a prerequisite for the give-and-take action between the subject and the object. Often the subject (man) observes an object and adds new meaning to it, by creatively projecting his way of thinking, view of life, individuality, etc., into it. The nature and intensity of value, therefore, depends on the subject. This type of projection is called “subjective action.”

A poet, for instance, may see the moon differently from how a scientist would see it. (The moon often looks sad to a man who is sad himself.) The subjective factor is important in the determination of value. In fact, subjective action in the appreciation of beauty can be regarded as a kind of creation (as explained in “Theory of Art”).

The process of actualizing value is not a simple passive reflection of the object onto man’s consciousness, but requires man’s subjective, active process of cognition. The importance of our subjective input can be clearly perceived when we observe historical relics, such as the ruins of old cities and the remains of ancient civilizations: through understanding their historical background, we can appreciate their significance more deeply. (Fig. 27)

Goodness is determined in the same way as beauty. As the Bible says, “The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you” (Luke 17:21); we can see more goodness and even tolerate the shortcomings of others, when love fills our spirit. If the way of thinking and feeling of the subject is reformed, the object will gain new meaning.

In summary both the object and subject conditions are involved in determining actual value; the subjective factor, however, is more decisive.

B. The Standard of Value

What is the standard for determining value? As already mentioned, the subject factor plays an important role in determining actual value. Since there are both universal and individual aspects in the subject, the standard for determining value is the complete union of the universal and the individual.

At this point, I would like to discuss relative and absolute values. A value is considered relative, or temporary, when both the subject-conditions and the object-conditions are relative. Then, how can we acquire an eternal, absolute value? The first aspect to be considered is that of the absoluteness of God’s Purpose of Creation for man and the rest of creation. God created man and all things (especially man) in order to receive joy from them, by seeing them express the values of trueness, goodness, and beauty and by seeing them love one another.

The purpose of man, therefore, comprises (a) the purpose for the whole—that is, to please God and the whole (mankind, nation, society, family, which represent God to him) by realizing the values of trueness, goodness, and beauty; (b) the purpose for the individual—that is, to be joyful himself, by seeking values from persons and other created beings around him. Accordingly, God gave man the desires to realize and to seek value. These are the original desires of man to seek and to realize value. The purpose of other created beings, on the other hand, is to please man. God’s Purpose of Creation is absolute; thus, the purpose of the existence of man and other created beings, also, is absolute.

Another aspect to be considered is the harmony of correlative elements in man and in the rest of creation. If the correlative elements of a created being are in a harmonious relationship of subject and object centering on the Purpose of Creation (thus reflecting the absolute harmony of God’s dual characteristics), the harmony of these elements, also, becomes absolute.

Based on these two conditions (Purpose of Creation and harmony of correlative elements), man seeks as well as realizes absolute value. In order to meet such conditions, man, first of all, must complete his personality by fully understanding God’s Purpose of Creation for himself and by achieving complete harmony within himself (through a harmonious give-and-take action between his spirit-mind and physical mind). Furthermore, he must perceive God’s Purpose of Creation for humans and the rest of creation. Finally, he must perceive the harmony between the correlative elements within those objects. When all these conditions are fulfilled, and man conducts harmonious give-and-take action with other persons and all creation, the values he seeks and realizes, according to his original desires to seek and to realize values, become absolute. Man’s personality can be completed only when his Heart becomes one with God’s Heart (love). Furthermore, the Purpose of Creation of man is based on love; man, in fact, must love God and the whole, realizing and offering values to them (purpose for the whole) and must love persons and other created beings, seeking values from them (purpose for the individual). In other words, absolute values are sought and realized on the basis of absolute love-that is, God’s love.

In the fallen world, man is ignorant of the Purpose of Creation of everything, including himself. As a result, he no longer has the original desire with which he was endowed at the creation. Moreover, he does not realize the complete harmony within himself (harmony of spirit-mind and physical mind), nor complete harmony with other persons and the creation. Thus, the value he seeks and realizes cannot be absolute, even when his object possesses an absolute condition.

In becoming one with God, Jesus fulfilled the Purpose of Creation, establishing complete harmony. He gave humankind everything for their salvation, even to the extent of allowing himself to be crucified, establishing perfect give-and-take action with God. The value realized by Jesus was absolute. Every person has the possibility of realizing absolute values, since all of us have latent original human nature, given to us by absolute God.

VII. Values in Today’s World

In the modern world distrust abounds among humans. in many cases, people distrust their government; workers, their managers; students, their teachers; children, their parents; wives, their husbands; husbands, their wives, and so forth. It seems that there is nobody one can trust but oneself; as a result, people have become defensive and self-centered. With nothing to trust and no one to believe in, people have become unable to judge good and evil, right and wrong—as crime figures indicate.

Why have the traditional views of value collapsed? The first cause is today’s materialistic, amoral, and value-neglecting education system. People’s view of life has traditionally been based on religion, but religion is excluded from curricula in today’s schools. The understanding of value has, consequently, diminished. Second, communists have been working to destroy the view of value that forms the basis for human relationships in the free world, as part of their world communization strategy. Through their philosophy of class struggle, communists have been trying to foment distrust between government and people, managers and workers, nation and nation, and so forth. Third, atheists, such as Nietzsche, Sartre, and Bertrand Russell, have, through their influence, added more value-neglecting thinking to the decline of values. Fourth, religions of the world today have lost their leadership of the human spirit. Consequently, religious values have come to be belittled.

A. Weakness in Traditional Views of Value

Humanistic thought says man has reason and love and is different from animals, claiming that his individuality should, therefore, be respected. But since this thought does not clarify why man is different from animals and what the absolute distinction is, its view lacks persuasive power. In fact, many different views of life have been advanced from amongst its ranks, such as the view of man as intellectual (homo sapiens); man as a manufacturer and developer of techniques (homo faber); man as a religious person, who lives depending on some mysterious force (homo religiosus); man as related to economic matters, and who thinks that money is most important (homo economicus); man as a free individual, who feels liberty is of paramount importance (homo liberalis), etc. Each assertion is different. Communists attack those who have humanistic views of value, calling upon them to abandon such self-centered views of life and to engage in reforming society and the world. These accusations are difficult to refute, and many people give in to them.

Christianity teaches real social virtues, such as that we should love our fellow man, should love our enemies, should treat others as we would have them treat us, and so on. The most important of all the virtues of Christianity is love: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” (I Corinthians 8:1). The foundation of Christian love is God, but God was denied by Nietzsche, Feuerbach, Marx, Russell, Sartre, and many others. Christianity has been unable to reply to their charges effectively, and so many people have become atheists. Communism is attacking the Christian view of value, by saying that only class love is true love and by denying God and absolute love.

In Confucianism, also, there are virtues, such as the three bonds (三族 ); the five moral rules (五倫) between lord and vassal, father and son, husband and wife, old and young, and between friends; and the five cardinal virtues (五 常)—benevolence, justice, politeness, wisdom, and fidelity. The foundation of these virtues is jen (仁 = benevolence), and the foundation of jen is heaven (天). But, what is heaven? Is it the sky? The concept of heaven is not very persuasive to modern man, and Confucian virtues have lost a great deal of their power. They are often denounced by communists as remains of the feudal age.

The great virtue in Buddhism is mercy (慈悲). Buddhism says that in order for man to be liberated from suffering he must perceive that original human nature is eternal, but mundane material life is transient. He must train himself to abandon his attachment to material things and to escape from ignorance (無明). Only then can he achieve Buddhahood and practice mercy. Communists attack these ideas, saying the cause of evil is not man’s ignorance, but the class contradictions in society, and that Buddhism is an escape from reality. Buddhists cannot overcome such criticisms.

B. The Establishment of a New View of Value

The crisis of traditional views of value cannot be resolved with a relative view of value. If a new view of value is to revive and unite these traditional views—thus resolving the confusion of today’s society—it must be absolute. An absolute view of value should be based on absolute love, as stated above.

The main point of the teachings of all religions is the practice of love. The virtues of Christianity are based on love; the virtues of Confucianism are based on benevolence; and the virtues of Buddhism are based on mercy. Here, “benevolence” in Confucianism and “mercy” in Buddhism can be looked upon as corresponding to “love” in Christianity, even though they are not completely identical; they can, therefore, be included in the concept of love. Nevertheless, if the origin of love is not clarified, love cannot have absoluteness. In other words, the existence of the absolute God should be confirmed, in order to prove the existence of absolute love.

Jesus taught us God’s love, but he did not teach us clearly how God’s love is to be realized on earth or why God created man and the universe. In fact, he said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” (John 16:25) In other words, Jesus did not make clear the Purpose of Creation, and neither did Saints Augustine and Thomas Aquinas clarify these matters. Christianity, therefore, was unable to answer questions, such as why is God the creator? Why is God love? Why should we love one another? This is a weak point not only in Christianity but also in other religions, and atheists could easily attack this point. Feuerbach, for example—as I have explained in “Theory of the Original Image”—asserted that

God did not create man, but man created God. He said man objectified his essence of genius—such as love, reason, and will—and called it God. Even if God is omnipotent and omniscient, there is no reason for God to create, since He can remain silent if He chooses to do so. Such atheistic assertions were possible only because the reason why God created man and the universe—the Purpose of Creation—had not been made clear; in other words, the necessary relationship between God and creation had not been clearly explained.

Unification Thought explains that God’s most essential attribute is Heart—that is, the emotional impulse to seek joy through love. This impulse is difficult to restrain. We can understand the existence of such an impulse through our daily experiences: whether man or woman, young or old, and regardless of occupation, every person lives and works for joy. This means that man has an unrestrainable impulse to seek joy. Furthermore, there must be an object before the subject is able to love and become joyful. In other words, the subject can be joyful only when he has an object of love. Accordingly, God’s impulse to seek joy cannot but become the impulse to create objects of love. God could not remain silent; He could not but create man and creation for His joy. Through understanding God in this way, we can perceive more clearly the reason for saying that God is love and that God’s love is absolute. Man is created in the direct image of God; originally, he has a quality of love that resembles that of God’s love. Accordingly, man should love his neighbors.

Traditional views of value, as well as the virtues connected with them, are becoming powerless to motivate modern man. They are actually quite vague; besides, they seem to have nothing to do with one another. Unification Principle, however, has clarified God’s Heart, the basis for a view of value that can embrace and unify all the traditional views of value. This implies that the Unification Principle can protect Christianity, Confucianism, Buddhism, and so on, from the attacks of atheists, and at the same time, give new life to these traditional religions.

Theological, philosophical, and historical foundations should be established for setting up this new view of value. To establish the theological foundation means to explain the Heart of God and the Purpose of Creation, making it clear that all traditional views of value, or virtues, come from God’s love, and were intended directly or indirectly, as a means to realize the Purpose of Creation.

To establish the philosophical foundation means to apply the law of creation (the cosmic law, or Heavenly Way) to human life, in order to prove that all human virtues are no more than the application of the cosmic law to human conduct. In other words, the very cosmic law is the standard bf the view of value of human life. This foundation has already been explained in Ontology.

To establish the historical foundation means to demonstrate that the Heavenly Way has been in operation throughout history. Mencius (孟子) said that he who obeys the Heavenly Way prospers, but he who disobeys it perishes. Men of power have often persecuted religions, through which God’s providence has been carried out; the powerful have passed, but the persecuted religions have remained until today. Numerous righteous men and saints have been persecuted and martyred by men of powerful position, but their teachings and deeds have remained for posterity, while their powerful persecutors have perished. This proves the operation of the Heavenly Way in history—in other words, the absoluteness of the Heavenly Way. This will be the historical foundation for the view of value. This foundation is explained in the Principle of Restoration in the Unification Principle and will be discussed in Chapter Ten, “Theory of History.”

The Unification view of value has such foundations. It is our hope that, through this new view of value, traditional views of value may be reinvigorated and unified.