The Individual Image

Prior to creating human beings, God created the natural world by expressing partial reflections of the internal nature and external form He had conceived for human beings. Consequently, a human being contains within himself the sum total of the essences of all things. This is the reason he is called the microcosm of the cosmos.

• Exposition of DP, p. 35

It is written in the Divine Principle that “Prior to creating human beings, God created the natural world by expressing partial reflections of the internal nature and external form He had conceived for human beings” (DP, 35). Thus, in creating the universe, what God first thought about was the complete and unified human being; yet, the human being was the last to actually be created.

Taking the image of the unitary human being, which He had envisioned in the very beginning, as the standard, God subsequently formed the conceptions of animals, plants, and minerals. In other words, in the process of conceptualization, God first developed the conception of human beings, and then that of animals, then plants, and finally minerals and heavenly bodies, proceeding downward. Then, with regard to the actual creation, the order followed was the exact opposite: God first created minerals and heavenly bodies, and then plants, animals, and finally human beings, proceeding in an upward fashion.

In conceptualizing, the way in which God visualized the conception of a human being was not by separately collecting together specific differences; rather, He immediately and comprehensively formed the conception of a human being as a complete, unitary whole, with all the relevant attributes (i.e., Syungsang and Hyungsang, and yang and yin). Moreover, the conception that came to God’s mind was not that of a man and a woman in the abstract, but rather that of a specific man (Adam) and a specific woman (Eve), with their concrete individual images, namely, the very ideas of Adam and Eve. Next, God subtracted, or abstracted out, certain pertinent qualities and elements from the unitary conception of the human being and transformed them, whereby He could create the conceptions of the various animals. In like fashion He subtracted certain qualities and elements from the conception of animals and transformed them, whereby He could create the conceptions of the various plants. Subsequently, He subtracted certain qualities and elements from the conception of plants and again transformed them, whereby He developed the conceptions of the various heavenly bodies and minerals.

• New Essentials of Unification Thought, p. 115

The image of man, therefore, was the first to be created in the mind of God and was the standard for all other images. The original Individual Image of man in the (mind) of God (before the creation of the universe) was none other than the image of Adam himself. It was neither vague nor abstract, but specific and concrete. Adams image had both a spiritual aspect and a physical aspect. Of course, Adams individual character and appearance, also, were included in the original Individual Image.… God then thought of another human… The new image had additional aspects of new individual character, leaving out Adam’s individuality… Then God conceived the images of animals, leaving out the spiritual aspects of the image of man. Next He conceived the images of plants, leaving out the instinct and nervous system of the animals. Finally, He conceived the images of minerals, leaving out the life, tissues, and cells of the images of the plants.

• Explaining Unification Thought, p. 69

 “…every existing being has some individuality, or individual image, which comes from the Individual Image in God. From the countless Individual Images in God comes the individuality of each person and each being in creation.”

• Explaining Unification Thought, p. 18-19

Once the Purpose for creating something ― such as a bird ― is formed by Heart… God thinks… ‘How can I realize the idea of a bird? What color should it be? What should the shape and structure of the feathers be like? How should the bones and muscles be constructed?’ Next, He makes a specific plan for creating the bird. Seeing the plan, He feels with His emotion, ‘It is not good,’ or ‘It is fine.’ If the plan is unsatisfactory, He corrects it. Then He decides, with His will, to realize the plan…

• Explaining Unification Thought, p. 35

If God had been thinking only about Himself, would He have created heaven and earth? Creation requires an investment of energy. An artist’s great hope is to create a masterpiece. An artist invests all his effort into making great works of art. A masterpiece appears only when the artist gives everything, and feels he cannot give any more. Creation starts with investing oneself. Creation is possible only when energy is poured out. Without contributing energy, there is no result. According to the principle that a perfect object partner appears only through total investment, God as the Subject partner completely invested Himself into making His object partner. The creation was the beginning of God’s work through which He determined not to exist for His own sake, but for the sake of His object partner.

Creation requires giving out energy. God invested Himself. But how much did He invest? Some people think that when God created through the Word, saying, “Let there be this, let there be that,” it was like a game. But no, God completely poured out His true life, true love and true ideals. We do not love something unless we have worked hard and invested our flesh and blood into it. So the period before creating and the period after creating were therefore different. Before creating, God thought about everything centered on Himself, but after starting to create, He existed for His object partner. We do not exist for ourselves but for our partners, for our sons and daughters. That is how it is.

• Cheon Seong Gyeong, p. 87–88