Pyeong Hwa Gyeong (080) BOOK 5. Absolute Values and a New World Order CHAPTER 14. Absolute Values and a Reassessment of Contemporary Society
3. Not absolutism but God’s love
I know that “absolute values” is not a popular theme among scholars today. But I hope, first of all, that scholars do not make the mistake of confusing absolute values with absolutism. I have emphasized at several ICUS meetings that absolute values are based on God’s love. God’s love is not sectarian.
It reaches deep into human hearts and becomes the source of true love gushing out into the everyday lives of people. Therefore, God’s love is the fundamental element needed to form one harmonious realm, based on a heart that embraces all people and encompasses all relative values. Thus, absolute values based on God’s love are deeper, broader and more enduring than values based on rational presuppositions or relative ideologies or beliefs.
Absolute values do not contradict rational thinking. Rather, they enable the discovery of its ultimate purpose. It is not merely our faculty of reason that makes us human. Intellectual analysis is deficient if it does not fully value emotion, will and spirituality in human life. Rational exploration will contribute to the true happiness of humanity only when guided by absolute values based on true love.
I urge ICUS to begin a comprehensive reassessment of today’s world. Conventional mental habits and attitudes have been inadequate to deal with the profusion of problems in our world today. Furthermore, the solution of problems faced by contemporary society will not come from a consideration of human factors alone.
We should also consider that human history has been proceeding toward the fulfillment of God’s Will. Therefore, the contemporary world should be reassessed from viewpoints based on absolute values, which transcend nationalism, ideology and even global perspectives, and which originate from God’s love. |