For a long time, mankind has expected, by the progress of science, to realize a society of well-being filled with freedom, peace, and prosperity. Today, however, in spite of the arrival of an unprecedented scientific age when even manned spacecraft travel to the moon, threats to freedom and peace still remain as does poverty existing in the midst of abundance. Furthermore, incessant social chaos and international disputes still occur. If this situation is to continue, the future of mankind looks indeed gloomy.

Today's regrettable reality is that many people are losing sight of the significance and direction of their lives due to the present overemphasis on science and technology. All the traditional authority systems and views -of value are collapsing, and the value standard by which we decide the direction of politics, economy, society, culture, and the like is becoming very faint. In the advanced nations, it is hard to maintain the status quo even by outer binding forces such as the constitution and laws, and an unreasonable way of thinking, that anybody can do anything he wants, is gradually prevailing. In many countries, social crimes are inevitably increasing under this absence of morality, and illegality and decadence are rapidly spreading. Taking advantage of this confusion, communism, which is a pseudo-value system, is eroding the Free World both in public and in secret. Professing to be the best value standard, communism is instead giving rise to social confusion under the pretenses of pacifism and humanism. On the other hand, however, in the communist camps themselves peoples' human rights are infringed upon and human dignity is disregarded through methods of despotic terrorism. Hence, liberalism confronts communism throughout the world and there is no international dispute or war that is not interfered with directly or indirectly by the communists. Moreover, unrest still remains throughout the world, and we can foresee the possible outbreak of unexpected problems due to communist provocation.

What is the best way to save mankind from such fear and crisis? What is the true way to protect freedom and establish peace? And who can undertake such a task? He must be a zealous intellectual who is deeply devoted to the accomplishment of human welfare and transcendent of national differences. It is certain that the future of mankind depends upon a man of this caliber. Now must be the time for all sincere and zealous liberalistic intellectuals to boldly undertake this historical task and make all possible mental efforts to establish the genuine freedom and peace of mankind.

One of the necessary conditions of this time is the establishment of an ideological system which is able to meet the needs of the times. In such a situation, I am going to introduce a new system of thought. This is the thought of Mr. S. M. Moon who originally founded the Unification Principle in Korea. These Principles are now taught throughout the world. Because this thought is considered to be an answer to the times, I am going to introduce its outline in this book.

This thought is theistic in standpoint; it assumes Creation by God and the action of Divine Providence in the process of human history. For that reason, this thought has found the ultimate cause of today's social chaos and international disputes to be at the beginning of history. It attempts to solve the various realistic problems in a new dimension. By recognizing the Fall of Man at the beginning of history, the action of the Divine Providence in the process of human history, and the partial responsibility of man, this thought is trying to approach the solution of today's problems.

Since the thought is extensive and profound, it seems to include the essentials of various traditional philosophical and religious thoughts. However, I feel that it was a revelation of God that made the exposure of the thought possible. The thought originated with the founder of the Unification Principle, and is called the Unification Thought, in the sense that it contributes to the establishment of human welfare and a new human culture by the unification of various other thoughts.

This booklet is a summary, arrangement and record of extensive contents. However, I can not but acknowledge that the method of expression is rather simple and unacademic, since it was very hard work for me as I lack the capability to arrange and systematize the extraordinary contents. Therefore I ask for the reader's understanding.

The contents of this book, which are based on the Unification Principle, the teachings of Mr. Moon, are classified into Ontology, the Theory of the Original Nature of Man, Epistemology, Axiology, Ethics, and the Theory of History. (It is rather regrettable that Logic, Pedagogy, and the Theory of Arts have not been translated in time for this edition, but they will be published in the second edition.) Since Ontology is the most fundamental theory of the Unification Thought, it is dealt with in comparative detail. As for the other sections, the main contents were only briefly stated. I sincerely hope for the day in the near future, when a more scientific and systematic handling of the detailed contents is made.

I wonder if I could have introduced Mr. Moon's thought exactly in this book owing to my poor power of expression. Accordingly, when there is something hard to understand or illogically presented, I am quite responsible for it. If there is something in this book found to be of value, I sincerely pray for it to be of good service by making a contribution to the fulfillment of true peace and everlasting welfare on earth, which is the cherished desire of all mankind.

Seoul, Korea September 12th 1973

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