Each individual truth body has, in addition to the universal image, unique attributes of its own. These unique attributes constitute the individual image of the individual truth body, and it goes without saying that this individual image originates from the Individual Image of the Original Image.

The individual image is not and image separate from the universal image; rather, it is the universal image specialized, or individuated. Since the universal image is composed of Sungsang and Hyungsang, and yang and yin, the manifestation of these attributes in a different way in an individual being is none other than the individual image of that particular individual being.

In the case of human beings, the personality (Sungsang) and physical appearance (Hyungsang) of individuals differ from one another. Furthermore, the yang and yin of the Sungsang and the yang and yin of the Hyungsang of individuals differ from one another. For example, the emotion of joy (a yang emotion) is expressed differently by different individuals, as is the emotion of sorrow (a yin emotion). The nose (a yang part of the body) differs in size and shape from individual to individual. The opening of the ear (a yin part of the body) also differs in size and shape from individual to individual.

The characteristics that the things of a class have in common are called "taxonomic characteristics," and among the various species belonging to the same genus, the taxonomic characteristics peculiar to a certain species are referred to as the "specific difference," of that species. Accordingly, the taxonomic characteristics of a particular living being are a combination of specific differences of different levels.

Consider, for example, the case of a human being. As a living thing, the human being has the specific difference (i.e., the taxonomic characteristics) of an animal rather than that of a plant. Furthermore, as an animal, the human being has the specific difference of a vertebrate rather than that of an invertebrate. As a vertebrate, the human being has the specific difference of a mammal rather than that of a fish or a reptile. As a mammal, the human being has the specific difference of a primate rather than that of a carnivore or a rodent. As a primate, the human being has the specific difference of a hominid rather than that of an ape. As a hominid, the human being has the specific difference of human rather than that of an ape-man. Finally, as Homo, the human being has the specific difference of Homo Sapiens rather than that of a primitive man.

In this way, the taxonomic characteristics of a human being include the specific differences of seven levels, namely, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. Upon the foundation of these specific differences in seven levels, the special qualities of an individual, namely, the individual image, is established. Looking from the viewpoint of evolution theory, it can be said that the individual image is added to the taxonomic characteristics of a human being, which consists of the specific differences on seven levels.

The specific differences of these seven levels in human beings are classifications by biologists for the sake of convenience; but God did not create human beings by piling up layers upon layers of these specific differences. According to the Unification Principle, God created all the things of the universe in the image and likeness of the character and form of human beings, who were created later. ⁸ In creating the universe, what God first thought about was the human being; yet, the human being was the very last to be created. This means that God formed the conception of all things by taking the image of the human being as the standard. By taking the conception of the human being as the prototype, God developed the conception of animals; then, based on the conception of animals, He developed the conception of plants; and based on the conception of plants, He developed the conception of heavenly bodies and of minerals. Hence, in the process of conceptions, God first developed the conception of human beings, then that of animals, plants, and finally minerals, proceeding downward. With regard to actual creation, however, the order of the universe was the exact opposite. Specifically, God first created minerals and the heavenly bodies, then plants, animals, and finally human beings, proceeding upward.

In creating, the way God developed the conception of a human being was not that of simply by putting together specific differences; rather, He did it by conceiving immediately of the human being with all of God's attributes (i.e., Sungsang 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 abstract, but rather that of a specific man (Adam) and a specific woman (Eve), with concrete individual images. Next, God subtracted certain qualities and elements from the conception of human being and transformed it, whereby He created the conceptions of the various animals. Likewise, He subtracted certain qualities and elements from the conception of animal and transformed it, whereby He created the conceptions of the various plants. Furthermore, He subtracted certain qualities and elements from the conception of plant and transformed it, whereby He developed the conceptions of the various heavenly bodies and minerals.

With regard to animals, God started from the conception of the higher one and, by subtracting certain qualities and elements from it and by transforming it, He gradually developed the conceptions of the lower and simpler animals. (The same can be said of plants.) Accordingly, although if one observes only the results of creation, one gets the impression that the specific differences of progressive animal orders have been accumulated, layer upon layer, in human beings, still this is just a matter of appearances.

With regard to the microscopic world (e.g., molecules, atoms, and elementary particles), it should be noted that what corresponds to the individual images does not refer to specific characteristics of each individual molecule, atom, or elementary particle. Rather, their individual images refer to the specific characteristics of each category of molecules, atoms, and elementary particles. In this case, then, die individual image is identical with the specific difference. The reason is that atoms and molecules are component elements of beings of higher levels. In the case of the mineral realm, each thing made of minerals (e.g., a mountain, a river, a heavenly body) has its own individual image; with regard to the mineral elements, however, the individual image of each element is none other than its specific difference.

The individual image is the special quality that each being possesses by nature, but in it there is also the aspect of being able to change according to the environment. This is so because in every being-just as in the Original Image-there are identity-maintaining aspect and developmental aspect, and these two aspects are united. The identity-maintaining aspect is an unchanging aspect, and the developmental aspect is a changing aspect. Of these two, the unchanging aspect is essential, and the changing aspect is secondary. From the viewpoint of genetics, it can be said that the individual image corresponds to the hereditary character. In the course of the growth of a being, the individual image of that being undergoes partial changes through continual give-and-receive action with the environment. The portion of the individual image that is changed can be regarded, in genetics, as its acquired character.

T. D. Lysenko (1898-1976) conducted an experiment to change autumn wheat into spring wheat through a process called vernalization, and claimed that the special qualities of living beings could be changed by the environment. Furthermore, he dismissed as mere metaphysics the genetic theories of Mendel and Morgan, according to which there exists in living beings an unchanging character, which is inherited through genes. Lysenko denied the unchanging aspects of living beings and emphasized only the aspects of being able to change through environment. Lysenko's theory was received with favor by J. V. Stalin (1879-1953), so much so that in the Soviet Union the Mendelist Morganian scholars were ostracized. Later, however, Lysenko's theory, through further experiments by scholars abroad, was found to be in error, and the Mendel-Morgan theory was reinstated as the correct one. In the end, it became evident that Lysenkoism had been a theory fabricated under the thumb of the Soviet Government, and had been intended simply to justify the materialist dialectic.

With regard to the individual image, there still remains the question whether or not the environment determines human nature. Communism claims that the human being is a product of the environment and insists, for instance, that a leader such as V. I. Lenin (1870-1924) could have been born only in the circumstances of Russia of his time. From the perspective of Unification Thought, however, the human being is the subject and ruler of the environment. In this view, a person who has been endowed by birth with an outstanding individual character will emerge as a leader (i.e., a subject) in order to bring the environment under control. Therefore, in the case of the Russian Revolution, it should be understood that Lenin, in leading Russia to the Communist revolution, was bringing the environment under control.

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