"There is a much greater area of truth yet to be revealed. I have already received the revelation, but I am purposely reserving certain truths to be revealed in future days." - Sun Myung Moon

The Unification Principle, or Divine Principle, was not revealed all at once but step by step over a period of some 50 years. In this paper we will examine the history of the formation of the Unification Principle. Among the questions we will explore: When and how were the contents of the Divine Principle revealed to Rev. Moon? What were the circumstances of its proclamation in the various texts of the Divine Principle? Is there any law or principle governing its proclamation in these texts? What is the relationship between these Divine Principle texts and the wider corpus of Rev. Moon's speeches?' This paper will provide an overview of the primary texts of the Unification Principle, investigating the history of their formation and discussing their contents.

Seven periods can be distinguished in the history of the formation of the Unification Principle:

1. The first period was one of searching for the Divine Principle. It extended from April 17, 1935, when Rev. Moon accepted his call from Jesus Christ, to August 15, 1945, the liberation of Korea and the beginning of his public ministry.

2. The second period describes Rev. Moon's early ministry when there was no written text of the Divine Principle. It spanned Rev. Moon's ministry in North Korea and his early ministry in Pusan, from August 15, 1945 to May 10, 1952.

3. May 10, 1952 saw the completion of the hand-written manuscript of Wolli Wonbon [WWI], Eng: Original Text of the Divine Principle.WWI circulated as a handwritten manuscript during the next several years, a period continuing until August 15, 1957.

4. August 15, 1957 saw the publication of Wolli Haesul [WH], Eng: Explanation of the Divine Principle. Prepared by Hyo Won Eu, it was based upon the earlier manuscript of WW and added new insights from Rev. Moon's sermons. During this period, which ended in May 1966, WH was the standard Divine Principle text.

5. May 1, 1966 saw the publication of Wolli Kangron [WK] Eng: Exposition of the Divine Principle. It was also prepared by Hyo Won Eu, based upon WH and adding new insights from Rev. Moon's sermons. During the period from May 1996 until to September 1994, WK was the standard Divine Principle text.

6. On September 30, 1994 a new edition of WK was prepared with color-coded passages. We can refer to the years from September 1994 to October 1997 as the period of the Color-Coded Wolli Kangron [CWK].

7. At the end of October 1997, Rev. Moon began the tradition of Hoon Dok Hoe using anthologized passages from his many sermons. The Hoon Dok Hoe texts stand beside WK as complementary expressions of the Completed Testament Word. This last period, from November 1997 to the present, can be called the period of Hoon Dok Hoe texts.

a. Rev. Moon's Search for the Principle

On the morning on April 17, 1935 (Wednesday), while praying on Mt. Myodu near his home, Rev. Moon met Jesus Christ and received his call. Upon accepting his mission, Rev. Moon understood that he should not only accumulate knowledge and cultivate himself, but also solve the fundamental problems about God, humankind, nature and history. In preparation for his future work, he invested himself especially to seek for the truth, the Divine Principle. In the beginning of his search for the truth, Rev. Moon met Jesus and God spiritually and received their teachings. He recounted:

It was when I was sixteen years old that I started experiencing God in a poor situation... From then on for nine years I was always with almighty God and Jesus. Many times I entered into the spirit world. Heavenly Father gradually taught me the amazing truth. It was as if the sun was rising in the morning after a long, dark night. I was able to see the dawn of new, glorious civilization within that truth. (79. 1; CS 102-289)

For nine years he continued studying for school, but at the same time he kept searching for the Principle through communication with God and Jesus. Nonetheless, the Principle was never gained with ease. The course seeking for the heavenly secrets required tremendous hardship, loneliness, tears, sweat and blood. He had to pass through intense suffering and overcome incredible temptation, sometimes battling with Satan and millions of evil spirits. Accounts of this serious search for the truth can be found in VVK (p. 12) and VVH (pp. 18- 19).

The first and most fundamental problem in elucidating the Divine Principle was to understand the question of God's existence. Rev. Moon agonized to know the truth about the living and almighty God, about the questions of Life and death, the creation of the universe, and the proper relationship between God and human beings. The official church histories describe his search thus:

To Rev. Moon, the first prerequisite in the search for the truth was to grasp the existence of God. He wanted to systematize and make sure whether God exists and what kind of relationship God and humans have. By this procedure he came to develop The Principle of Creation in today's WK. The other principles were discovered consequent to this one during this period!

Once Rev. Moon obtained a clear answer to the question of God, who is the origin of all beings, he proceeded to inquire about created beings. Recognizing the special position of human beings, he clarified the fundamental relationship between God and human beings:

The primary standard is the parent-child relationship between God and humankind. The parent-child relationship centering on heavenly heart and blood lineage is the rudimentary system of the universe. Therefore, the foundation of the universe is parent and child. All things make a garden for children. By solving problems in this way, the Principle of Creation became naturally systematized.

The next step was to investigate the secrets of the human fall. Rev. Moon fought with Satan for a long time and eventually obtained God's confirmation of his conclusion about the root, process and result of the ancestors' fall. While Rev. Moon was studying in Tokyo... he discovered the content of the theological doctrine of the Human Fall. One of the difficult problems which Rev. Moon wrestled with for more than seven years after he first encountered Jesus concerned the secrets of the first three chapters of Genesis. 'Me essence of it was to uncover the identity of Satan and learn what happened at the fall of human ancestors.

Having ascertained the Principle of Creation and the Human Fall, Rev. Moon proceeded to the problem of restoring the fallen world. In this way he was able to elucidate and systematize the Divine Principle step by step. The last step in elucidating the Principle was to subject it to a complicated procedure of verification. It had to receive the stamp of approval from God, the saints, philosophers, and even from Satan. Rev. Moon recalled:

Without receiving God's stamp we cannot work for God's will on earth. In order to gain that stamp I had to enter the spiritual world and bring the saints and philosophers to their knees, subjugating them through arguments about what is the essence among the heavenly principles. (89.11.7; CS 195-141)

Rev. Moon now had in his possession the truth of the Divine Principle, complete and entire. Nevertheless, he could not proclaim the Principle to anyone until after the liberation of Korea. Speaking of the war years, he said, "Although I had relations with some organizations, I could not tell the Divine Principle, which you are learning now, to anyone. I could not because God told me not to do so.... God's will cannot be accomplished by one person; we must find object partners to work with." (71.12.27; CS 52-140)

Rev. Moon teaches that revelation is proclaimed in accordance with the development of human spirituality and intellect. Sometimes a truth cannot be revealed because there are no people on a level to receive it. Another factor in progressive revelation is the gradual development of God's providence. According to Rev. Moon: Truth must become incarnate. It must be lived and fulfilled within a living person. Otherwise it can be taken away and misused by Satan. This is why I do not reveal truth until all the conditions are met or the truth is embodied to a certain point.

Sometimes I cannot speak certain things to the members or even to the leaders, because they simply won't understand, not because I want to hide something from them. Each person's depth of understanding of the Principle is different. Still there are many things that I cannot speak... There are many programs that I have not started yet. This is the reason why many people who have followed me for thirty years, for a lifetime even, do not yet understand me. How can I relate to them the secrets of heaven? I teach them the secrets as I work with them. (90.6.27; CS 203-280)

a. Rev. Moon's Sermons between Korea's Liberation and Writing Wolli Wonbon

Korea's liberation on August 15, 1945 had a special significance for Rev. Moon, because it meant that the situation was ripe for him to start and expand a grand movement based upon the truth he had won.

For six months he attended and worked at Rev. Baek Moon Kim's Israel Monastery. When the plan to work through Rev. Kim failed, Rev. Moon traveled to North Korea, arriving in Pyongyang on June 6, 1946. During his years in North Korea he was imprisoned twice, first for three months from August 11 to November 21, 1946 and again from February 22, 1948 until October 14, 1950. Hence, during the years Rev. Moon was in North Korea, he was only able to teach the Principle for about one year and two months.

In those days he gave sermons with tears and sweat, speaking aloud as if he were speaking out to the whole world. Those who attended and listened to his words accepted them, not as a man's words, but as God's message. They cried because they were deeply touched in heart. According to official sources, Rev. Moon did not give systematic Divine Principle lectures. Instead he explained the Divine Principle through his sermons:

Rev. Moon did not give a Divine Principle lecture, but while he interpreted the Bible verses he explained the Principle. The Divine Principle was introduced in the sermons, for instance, "The Principle of God's creation," "The process of the fall of Adam and Eve mistaken owing to the horizontal love with the archangel ... the tragedy of Jesus' cross caused by irresponsibility of providential figures such as Virgin Mary and John the Baptist," and so on. He elucidated the clear and persuasive meaning behind the lines of the Bible. 16

According to Won Pil Kim, Rev. Moon was keeping a notebook with his notes about the Divine Principle, which he had carried with him into North Korea. But unfortunately it was lost during Rev. Moon's incarceration in Hungnam Prison.

When Father arrived at Pyongyang, he already had a notebook... in which he wrote the entire contents of the Divine Principle. One day when I visited Father in Hungnam prison, Father told me to take a "'bookkeeping ledger" from Sang Soon Cha and keep it carefully. He was an old member, and by Father's direction he was keeping that notebook during Father's imprisonment. When I then inquired of him about that notebook, he told me that he had lost it. 17

That notebook would have been the predecessor of Wolli Wonbon.

Rev. Moon left Pyongyang on December 4, 1950 and arrived at Pusan on January 27, 1951. Around three months later he began writing WW at Won Pil Kim's home in Pusan. He continued writing it after he moved into the hut that he built in August. It took around one year to complete, from May 1951 to May 10, 1952. According to an official history, Around the end of April 1951, during the six months while Rev. Moon was staying at Mr. Kim's home, a special event took place. One day Rev. Moon started writing WW. He titled its first section, "From the One to All Beings." This was the beginning of the Divine Principle on the earth. He was absorbed in writing it for about a year. While he was writing WW, Rev. Moon sometimes cried, sang and prayed. Won Pil Kim testified about Rev. Moon's manner of writing, and about one event in particular:

While Father wrote WW, I was working at a military base. Each day when I returned from work he would ask me to read what he had written. Yet Father never made any corrections on what he wrote... One day very early in the morning, Father woke me up and told me to prepare paper and pencil. It was very dark except for the light of a single lamp. He asked me to write down what he was saying. He did not stop the dictation session until he completed what he wanted to say. I noted on the last page of my copy that the date was November 18, 1951.

Wolli Wonbon was composed of two volumes. It was organized like WK with its Part I and Part II. According to Gil-ja Sa Eu's recollection of her husband's ministry:

Pres. Hyo Won Eu... asked Elder Bong Woon Lee to show him if he had any book of Rev. Moon's words. Elder Lee hesitated a moment and discussed with Mrs. Se Hyon Ok; then he lent him the first volume of WW, written in Father's own hand. Some time later Pres. Eu borrowed the second volume and read it seriously. Of course, he copied the entire contents into his own notebook. As he was reading and copying WW, Pres. Eu exclaimed many times his admiration... He read and re-read his copies of the two volumes again and again.

I obtained three copies of WW, including Won Pil Kim's. The three copies are somewhat different in their expressions and section titles. According to Kim's testimony, his copy was exactly identical to what Rev. Moon himself wrote, not only in content but also in its expressions and order. Kim made his copy at Rev. Moon's direction, beginning in September 1953. The other two copies were written by anonymous members, one in June 1958 (after the publication of WH) and the other in July 1969 (after the publication of WK); the latter included only the first volume.

Kim's copy does not have clear division into a Part I and Part II, nor is it organized into distinct chapters and sections, but the 1958 copy has these divisions. According to his testimony, the text of WW in Rev. Moon's hand is organized only by section headings. Although Kim's copy has a table of contents which indicates such a system of organization into chapters, sections and subsections, he claims that it was attached later by someone else. 21 The section headings of WW are given in Table One.

1. From the One to All Beings
2. The Origin of Life from the Pre-existent Being
3. The Fundamental Significance of the Harmony between the Physical and Spiritual Worlds
4. Reciprocity between the World of Spirit Selves and the World of Physical Selves in the Principle of Creation
5. The Center of God's Ideal Is Approached through a Religion of Attendance
6. The Principle of Creation and the Principle of the Fall Originated from Love
7. One Can Know God by Knowing Oneself
8. In Uncovering the Principle, the Bible Cannot Directly Teach It to Us
9. Why God Could Not Directly Undertake the Providential Work from Moses
10. The Fundamental Meaning of the Tree of Life
11. The Fundamental Significance of Why God Could Not Undertake the Providential Work from Adam, but Instead Dealt with Satan from Abel to Noah
12. The First Period of the Providence of God's Responsibility, from Noah to Jesus
13. The Fundamental Significance of the Providential Period of the Responsibility of Jesus, Who Came as the Person Responsible to Accomplish God's Will
14. The Fundamental Significance of the Responsibility of Jesus Working after His Ascension
15. The Fundamental Meaning of Resurrection
16. The Fundamental Meaning of the Angels' Trumpets and of the Second Coming
17. The Fundamental Meaning of the Judgment
18. The Fundamental Significance of Providential Courses Called for to Restore the Forty Days
19. The Proof as Seen from the Development of Human History and God's Providence
20. Proof from the Viewpoint of Restoration that Progress in History Is Limited
21. Proof by the Principle that in History Goodness Is Victorious over Evil
22. The History of Human Development Is the History of Restoration
23. The Theory of the Ideal in View of the Restoration of Creativity
24. The Lord of the Second Advent Is the Foundational Person for the Completion of the Theory of the Ideal
25. The Principled Solution to the Thread of History Begins in Korea

Without a detailed investigation into these contents, one can still discern considerable correspondence between these headings and the content of WH and WK. This is shown in Table Two.

One notable point concerns the term "Reciprocity in the Principle of Creation" in the fourth heading. We do not have such expression in WK or in WH. But Sang Hun Lee used this expression several times in the channeled communications collected in the recent book, Life in the Spirit World and on Earth.

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