Modern democracy has abolished the medieval status system and the privileges under that system, and has attempted to realize equality under the law. As a result, equality in political participation, that is, the system of universal suffrage, has been realized under the democratic system. Yet, even though equality under the law has been realized, economic equality has never been realized, and the inequality in wealth remains unsolved in capitalist society. Karl Marx advocated the establishment of Communist society in order to realize economic equality through the abolition of private property. But in Communist countries, economic equality does not exist; instead, the violent rule by a privileged class (the Communist bureaucrats) came to appear. Thus, true equality has not been realized yet, even though people have continued to try to achieve it. Therefore, it is indispensable to clarify what true equality is, that is, the equality that people have been seeking from the depth of their original mind.

The fundamental question here concerns the relationship between order and equality. If all people were completely equal in their rights, there would be no difference between those who govern and those who are governed. Such a society would become disordered and would be in a situation of anarchy. On the other hand, if order is over-emphasized, certain aspects of equality are bound to be lost. Thus, we must think about what true equality is, namely, the equality that human beings want from the depth of their original mind; we must also find a solution for the problem of order and equality.

Let us consider the matter of order between husband and wife and equal rights between men arid women. Until today, women have been oppressed and discriminated against by men, but in recent years, the women's liberation movement, which advocates equal rights for men and women, has been promoted strongly. On the other hand, in advanced countries such as the United States, where the women's liberation movement is very active, divorce rate is increasing and family breakdown is widespread. Such social ills have come about because of the excessive emphasis on equal rights between men and women. This has created a situation in which the positions of subject and object between husband and wife has been lost. If the wife stands in the subject position, her relationship to the husband will become its that between subject and subject, which necessarily causes the phenomenon of repulsion. For that reason, the questions of order between husband and wife and of equality between men and women are important problems to be solved.

Viewed from the perspective of Unification Thought, the Divine Principle way of equality is equality of love and equality of personality. The equality that people truly seek is the equality as children under the love of our Father in Heaven. This is the equality in which God's love is given equally to all people, just as the light of the sun shines equally on all beings. Accordingly, the Divine Principle way of equality is equality given by God, the Subject, rather than equality that people, the objects, can establish as they please.

God's love is manifested divisionally through order in the family. Therefore, equality of love is equality through order. Equality of love through order refers to equality in the degree of the fullness of love. In other words, equality is realized when there is fullness of love in everybody in a way that is suitable to each person's position and individuality. The fullness of love brings satisfaction and joy. Therefore, Divine-Principle way of equality is equality of satisfaction, and also equality of joy.

The fullness of God's love comes to be felt only by those who have perfect object consciousness that is, the heart to attend God and to be thankful to God. Those who lack object consciousness can never feel a sense of fullness; instead, they will feel dissatisfaction.

With regard to equality of rights, there can be no true equality of the rights among peoples' various occupational positions, because in order for people to carry on social life, the relationship between subject and object is indispensable, as in the case of government and people, superior and subordinate, and so on. Yet, people are equal in love-in the sense that they are equally loved to the fullest degree-even though they may have different occupational positions. For example, there can be no difference between the way the president of a nation loves his children and the way a citizen of that nation loves his own children. In a family, there can be no perfect equal rights between husband and wife. Of course, there is no superiority or inferiority in value between husband and wife; still they are meant to engage in harmonious give-and-receive action from their respective positions of subject and object. If they do so, conjugal love will be realized in their relationship, and both the husband and the wife will experience joy.

Thus far, people have been pursuing political equality under the law and economic equality of property. Yet, the kind of equality our original mind desires has never been realized, while there has never been any realization of political or economic equality, whether in capitalist or in Communist society. This is because people have neither received God's love nor practiced it in their families and society. When God's love is actualized in the family and expands to society, people will come to form fraternal relationships among themselves. Then, even if there are differences in occupational positions or in rights, equalization will be promoted in the fields of economy, education, and so on, and exploitation or discrimination will completely vanish. In such a society, women will be able to take even such persons as that of a president or high-level executive in a company, and discrimination between men and women in the work place will vanish. Since, however, there are functional differences between men and women, it is natural that there should be some distinction between men and women in some specific occupations.

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