The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1981
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The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1981 |
Honorable Chairman and Committee Chairmen, distinguished professors, and ladies and gentlemen, I am deeply grateful that you have come to Korea to attend the Tenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences.
Korea is my native country. Here in Korea you may find reminders of the sacrifices made by the 16 nations that participated in the Korean War. As Korea is divided into North and South, it is a sorrowful country, but nevertheless it is a country of great significance. I sincerely hope that you will take a deep look at Korea and Asia and come to understand them well.
I also hope that the contents of the speech I am about to give will be understood in a profound religious context and not in a political context.
There are many confrontations and struggles in society today. Confrontations exist between what might be called the upper and lower classes of races, nations and societies, but the most serious problem of all is the confrontation between the upper and lower classes formed by the difference between wealth and poverty.
The population in the northern hemisphere centers mostly on the white people and is estimated at about 800 million. This group may be considered the upper class of the world. On the other hand, in China, India and other Asian nations, there are 3 billion people who form a middle class. Finally, centering on the black and brown people, the 500 million of Africa, Central and South America and Oceania form an economically poor, or lower class. This difference in wealth presents a most serious problem in today's world, and it is repeatedly dealt with as the so-called North-South problem by a number of international organizations, including the United Nations.
All the important issues of the twentieth century must be solved on a worldwide scale. The most likely way to solve this problem is to unite the upper and lower classes through the Asians, who are between the white Euro-American societies and the black African societies. In this aspect, the greatest challenge is how to motivate the people of the upper class to lower their status of their own will.
Since the beginning of history, man has sought to diminish this gap between the upper and lower classes. Communism is the strongest example of this trend. The ideal of communism is to eliminate exploitation between the classes and to construct a society without classes. However, the biggest problem with communism is its atheism, in other words, that it seeks to create an ideal world upon a foundation which denies God. A further problem with communism is that in practice, all things are carried out according to the private will of a few dictators.
To overcome these problems and to find a new solution, we must go beyond the humanism to which we have been clinging to tightly. The unity we seek requires a new Godism and a new nucleus.
The only medium which can enable the upper and lower classes to unite is religion. This was religion's original purpose -- the salvation of the world, not just the salvation of individuals or families. To accomplish the task of uniting the upper, middle and lower classes requires a new religion, one which can serve as a nucleus for unity.
Then what is the Unification Church? It is the new religion destined to carry out this historic mission. I have been pioneering the path towards that goal, and it is inevitable that people of all racks will want to meet me in that path.
The globe on which we live is divided into land and ocean. If we look at peninsulas geographically, we can see that they connect land and ocean. Accordingly, since ancient times, peninsulas have always been significant sites for the formation of civilizations. The ancient civilizations of both Greece and Rome, as well as those of Spain and Portugal, began and flourished on peninsulas. But today, a new worldwide civilization, combining the civilizations of the East and the West, must emerge. In Asia, it is on the Korean peninsula where this is happening.
World civilization has developed as it has moved around the globe. The continental Egyptian civilization was passed on to the Greek and Roman peninsulas and then to the island civilization of England, and eventually the continental American civilization. From there it continued westward across the Pacific, to the island civilization of Japan, from which it has extended to Asia, concentrating on an emerging Korean peninsular civilization. The civilization focused here in Korea is one of a high dimension, and it will play a central role in creating a new world.
Japan, an island country, was the first to allow Western civilization to establish itself in Asia. The next age will be that of a peninsular civilization, focused on the Korean peninsula, where the Eastern and Western civilizations are merging.
As the historian Spengler pointed out, civilization, like the four seasons of a year, goes through cycles of rising and falling. Today, the age of the Atlantic civilization is passing and the age of the Pacific civilization is emerging.
If we look at the situation around Korea, we see that Korea is located between the four great powers of the United States, Japan, China and the Soviet Union. The United States is currently expending great effort to counter the expansionist Soviet Union. In Europe, the Soviet Union occupies half of a divided Germany, and in Asia, it split Korea into north and south, keeping the north within its sphere of control.
It is primarily in Asia, centering on Korea, and not in Europe, that these four great powers are confronting one another. Because of this, America is obliged to pay attention to Asia, a continent greater than Europe. Considering this situation, Korea is a country which in all areas will play a basic role in determining the destiny of the confrontations between East and West and between North and South.
At this point, let us take a look at the practical possibility of this occurring. Koreans have a strong sense of justice and are quite religious by nature. They display their capabilities in many different fields. If they reach a deadlock in any situation, they cope with it and, if necessary, change directions in a bold and courageous way, showing much adaptability. These are some of the outstanding traits of Koreans.
I was born among these Koreans, and the Unification Church has developed from such a background. We of the Unification Church believe that as the fruit of such a history, we are to accomplish the worldwide mission of bringing the upper and the lower classes closer together centering upon the yellow people.
The Unification Church has sufficient religious content to fully accomplish this purpose. To this end I am determined to do my best in all fields of endeavor and in all regions of the world.
To bring unity between the people of the upper and lower classes, we must encourage those of the upper class to unite with those of the lower class and elevate the latter to the level of the former. In order to accomplish that, a central point of absolute value is needed. That central point is God's love. Then what is God's love like? God's love can dwell with both those of the upper class and the lower class. God's love is never one- directional. It is a force which moves in a spherical manner, capable of revolving freely from the highest point to the lowest. Wherever God's love appears, it is welcomed by all people everywhere, and it creates harmony in all places at all times.
God's love always possesses absolute value whenever and wherever it may be. If we have God's love, we are happy; we feel fulfilled and secure. Though one may be in a low position, he can still love those who are on top, and those in top positions can love those in the lowest positions. In this way, God's love is infinitely free. The people who have His love receive a great welcome wherever they may go. This is the reason why people willingly and wholeheartedly follow Unification Church members wherever they may be.
The Unification Church has sought salvation in God's love. As soon as people come to realize that the new thought which the Unification Movement is introducing is far more outstanding than that of either communism or capitalism, and that the Kingdom of Heaven on earth will be made a reality by the love of God, all people will be only too happy to accept it.
If one is to truly comprehend the situation of the world today, one must understand the situation of Korea, where God has a special will, and that within Korea everything exists in a condensed form. For example, the two main trends of contemporary thought, democracy and communism, exist in Korea, as well as the four major religions, Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism and Islam, developed to a high degree. As I said earlier, the four greatest nations of the world are confronting each other here in Korea. Thus everything exists, at least symbolically, within Korea. In God's dispensation, Korea is responsible to bring all these aspects into unity.
In conclusion, Korea has to accomplish four great tasks, centering on the Unification Movement. They are:
1. Unity of religions through an ecumenical movement;
2. Unity of thought, by overcoming materialistic communism through a "Victory over Communism" movement;
3. Unity of culture by establishing a new lifestyle combining the cultures of the East and the West; and
4. Unity of economy through a new ideology.
With God's love as the absolute value, we of the Unification Movement will love all the people of the world even more than our own parents and brothers and sisters, form the unified world, and realize the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. With this, the creation of the new world which God and man have been longing for will be complete. Only with God's love can there be true and lasting victory, peace and happiness.
Korea is capable of bringing about unity in the four areas mentioned above, through the Unification Movement. Of them, the first three are already nearing completion, and we are now trying to accomplish the fourth and last point, the economic problem.
Korea is developing economically at a rapid pace. However, it still cannot be said that it has reached an advanced international level. Then how can this be achieved? To accomplish this goal is also the mission of our Unification Movement. For this purpose, I intend to initiate cooperation between Germany's high standard of mechanical technology and the industry of Korea. Spiritually, Korea and the Unification Movement have already successfully linked Japan and the United States. The United States and Europe are already linked culturally.
God has especially blessed and helped Germany and Japan to recover economically after World War II in order to accomplish the dispensation. In particular, Japan has become a gigantic economic power. Even Germany has come to feel threatened by the economic success of Japan. The only way for Germany to protect itself is to join with Korea and produce superior quality goods at reduced cost and market them in Japan and other places. Likewise, it should allow the Third World to participate in equal profit-sharing. Then, if Japan is included, the road of world economic unity will be opened.
Korea could further link the highest technology to the Third World, eventually leading to world peace. These countries will realize that it is mutually profitable for all of them to join with Korea as a mediator. In the hope of modernizing in the fastest way, China wishes to maintain friendly relations with Japan, the United States and Germany. The three Asian countries could form an economic alliance, with the United States and Germany connected to them at the same time. In this sense, Korea is becoming a new base for an East-West civilization, and it is emerging as the canter of the Pacific civilization.
As a conclusion, I would like to make a proposal. It is to construct a "Great Asian Highway" zone which would run through China, Korea and Japan, and then eventually link the world by constructing a "Great Free World Highway" zone to connect the whole world. This would be a great international highway around which freedom is guaranteed, and it would go through mainland China, crossing the Korean peninsula from nor (h to south, through an underwater tunnel or bridge to Japan, and moving north through the various Japanese islands.
If this highway were constructed, the three Asian countries would be linked through the highway and become one. The economic and cultural exchange between them would be so frequent that it would enable them to form an Asian Common Community.
If this plan is carried out according to the framework suggested here, free traffic would become possible among all the people of the Asian countries and as a result, r\ ..rth Korea would have to give up its ambition of aggression through military means. It would be forced to choose peaceful ways of unification.
Thus, by uniting the Asians, it would eventually become possible to connect the upper and lower classes of the world, with the yellow peoples serving as mediator.
In order to concretely realize such an ideal, the Korean residents now living in Japan, the United States and China could be connected to form a technological group. Then automatically, the direction of Japan and the United States would also come into accord. Based on this new economic foundation, a highway which guarantees freedom could extend worldwide.
Thus, through completing the unrestricted Asian highway and realizing the long-cherished ideal of joining the upper and lower classes, a great migration of the yellow peoples will take place. With Asia as its starting point, a realistic unified economic sphere can be established, connecting the East and West in a new civilization. This will result in peace and a new world, centering on God's love, which is the absolute value.
In this transitional age of civilization, when Western civilization joins that of the East, meeting in a new Pacific civilization, I sincerely hope that all of you distinguished participants coming from more than 100 countries to this memorable International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences in Korea, will have deep insight into these matters and offer your concrete cooperation.
Thank you very much.