The Words of the Selover Family
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The Words of the Selover Family |
On October 22, a symposium on the theme, "True Parents' Speeches for the Safe Settlement of Cheon Il Guk" was held at the Chungshim Graduate School of Theology. Providing an inspiring forum for professors from its own faculty, from the Unification Theological Seminary in New York, and from Sun Moon University to dialogue on matters of Unificationist scripture and its application, the conference inspired the presentation of a number of papers relevant to the symposium's theme. We are presenting an excerpt of the paper written by Dr. Thomas Selover, an associate professor at Chungshim Graduate School of Theology whose field of expertise is Confucian studies. His paper looks at the Unificationist scripture Father is emphasizing most at present-Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong
A major distinguishing feature of Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong is that the text is composed primarily of speeches given on public occasions, by True Parents and other True Family members. The Peace Messages still have the form of the original occasion on which they were delivered. They are not sermons or messages given primarily to disciples or followers but rather speeches addressed to formal gatherings of religious, political, cultural and academic leaders. As public documents, they are intended to set out the most important contents of True Father's teaching over many decades.
As most Unificationists are well aware, the Peace Messages have become the main content of the majority of Hoon Dok Hae meetings conducted by True Father over the past couple of years. A special feature of these meetings is that True Father himself provides an oral commentary on key points in the messages. In this sense, Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong is still a living document, with continuous commentary and amplification provided by True Father in person. This of course is radically different from the situation with the other great scriptures of the world, which were originally revealed and compiled centuries ago.
One means of deepening our appreciation of the internal dimensions of Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong is to broaden the range of activities that are seen in its light. Here I would like to briefly distinguish three areas or aspects-organizations and projects, social roles, and public duties.
The Peace Messages were originally embedded in conferences and rallies designed to accomplish providential announcements. They are speech-acts.
Many passages in Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong recount the world speaking tours of the True Family. In their historical character, these passages resemble the narrative histories gathered together within the Hebrew Bible. Future generations will find an analogous inspiration in these passages recording the heroic actions of today. They will extrapolate the principles of God's providence manifested at this particular moment in time, and apply them to their current situation in the far future.
Likewise, throughout the speeches, references are made to providential organizations and their coordinate roles in defining a new direction for world polity. Notable examples are the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and the Mongolian Peoples Federation for World Peace. The conception behind these organizations is vast. As the personal conduct of True Parents provides both an example and a standard for strengthening our individual consciences, so the providential organizations provide an example and standard for other conscientious organizations as we strive together to reorient the "conduct" and trajectory of our human world.
A second public element of the Peace Messages has to do with the structure of social life and roles within society. Most noteworthy here, of course, is the centrality of the extended family. The three generations of grandparents, parents, and children, and the corresponding emphasis on the importance of lineage, form a backbone theme of the Peace Messages. On this point, there is resonance with many religions'- notably the Jewish and Hindu traditions'- emphasis on special families and lineages as the locus of purity and propriety.
Among the scriptures of Hindu tradition, the Dharmashastras represent the wisdom that social organization itself is a medium and mediator of the divine. In like manner, the Peace Messages contain hints of social roles that represent divinely-given appointments. The references to the "peace kingdom police" and "peace kingdom corps," found in several of the Peace Messages, represent the public side of the teaching of Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong. The responsibility of the "peace kingdom police" and "peace kingdom corps" is to ensure the safety and well-being of society at large, particularly the protection of the blessed families and their providential activities. In the right ordering of society, those representatives of heavenly tradition, the blessed central families, could be somewhat analogous to the Brahmin priests in the Dharmashastras of the Hindu tradition, to be supported and protected by the enforcement class, the kshyatriyas.
Whether or not ancient Indian society actually conformed to the social patterns described in the Dharmashastras, and whether or not ancient Chinese society actually conformed to the patterns of social organization described in the Zhou Li Met Rituals of the Zhou Dynasty), these scriptures have had an undeniable role as an inspiration for successive generations to contemplate an ideal social organization and to adjust their society in that direction.
In the Buddhist tradition, the second collection or "basket" of scripture, the Vinaya, is the main repository for social rules and roles. Here are contained the principles and rules for the life of the Buddhist Sangha, particularly the communal life of Buddhist monks and nuns, though also setting out the supportive roles of the laity. The important point here is that the structure of daily life in the blessed community is included in the realm of sacred teaching.
A third public element concerns the duties of citizenship. From this point of view, the Fifth Peace Message stands out as a remarkably important document. Unlike the other documents, many of which were delivered in a wide variety of venues, the Fifth Peace Message is uniquely situated as part of the Entrance Ceremony of the Cheon Jeong Peace Palace. In it, True Father proclaims:
Citizens of the kingdom of Haven, this is a precious and blessed day of victory and glory. Now, as the King of Peace in heaven and on earth, I will declare, on this thirteenth day of June in the sixth year of Cheon Il Guk, the fundamental duties and mission that every citizen of Cheon Il Guk should understand and live by as they walk the way of Heaven.
In the paragraphs that follow this opening, most essential Unificationist teachings -- from personal devotion to God and True Parents, through mind-body unity and establishing a blessed family, to contributing talents and resources for the public good-are recast as duties of citizenship.
In exploring the significance of the Fifth Peace Message, an important comparison can be made with the public role of Islamic law (Shariah). Based on passages in the Quran and sayings of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), Shariah represents the divinely-sanctioned, or right-guided patterns and principles for communal life in obedience to God. A key example is the Constitution of Medina, drafted to enshrine the principles of the political leadership of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) in settling disputes between Jews, Christians and others in the city of Medina. This document from the early days of the establishment of the Islamic realm as a political and social entity presaged the tremendous growth of the Islamic realm in succeeding centuries.
The "constitutional" aspect of Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong also bears a family resemblance to "secular scriptures" such as the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Modern interpreters believe the Declaration was designed to "call into being" a new People, who would be the subject of new arrangements of government. Likewise, the Fifth Peace Message, by addressing all citizens of Cheon Il Guk, calls those citizens as a People into being. It is the promulgation of principles upon which the polity of Cheon Il Guk is designed to be built (or through which it is designed to grow).
A major significance of the Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong is that it links together and unifies intensive personal training and extensive global awareness, the sungsang and hyungsang of human life. As scripture, Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong provides an occasion for group and individual devotional reading and study. But as a record of public speeches given by the central revelator and teacher of the Unification Movement, it is also a record of the True Family's public ministry.
As such, it connects the spiritual and religious (including the spirit world messages) with public policy (exemplified by the Fifth Peace Message at the opening of the Cheon Jeong Peace Palace and the Sixth Peace Message at the helicopter factory groundbreaking).
Thus, the Peace Messages gather together and exemplify the sungsang and hyungsang aspects of True Parents' mission and ministry. Though much of the content of the messages is focused on the public, including especially the UPF and its mission, the Bering Strait Project, etc., each of the messages also includes devotional content in two ways:
1) addressing the personal spiritual situation of readers or listeners and
2) inviting them to embrace a theological perspective on the nature and character of God, the purpose of the Creation, the reality of the Fall and evil, and the Principles of Restoration.
This theological perspective is the connecting point between the sungsang and hyungsang, in the public domain of restoration.
What is the essential coherence of the vision put forth in Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong? This is a challenge for our interpretive understanding. Too often, the internal and external wisdom have been separated. One of the most important tasks in developing theological reflection on the spiritual riches of Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong is to elaborate how it provides a practical vision and catalyst for that coherence, as the deepening and broadening processes mutually inspire each other.