Pyeong Hwa Gyeong (112) Book 7. The World of the Culture of Heart CHAPTER 1. The Path of the Movement for Finding the True Ancestral Root
1. My reason for accepting the post of chairman
As you might already know, I am the founder of the Unification Church, the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, the Assembly of the World’s Religions and the World Media Association. While guiding the global Unification movement, I have been made chairman or honorary president of many important organizations.
However, seen providentially, the significance of this ceremony is very remarkable. I deeply hope this movement can bring about the opportunity to find and better attend God, who is the root of all beings and of life itself.
From ancient times, Koreans have put emphasis on clans, and have regarded the ancestors and the root of their clans as most precious. Some say that such a tradition came from the fact that Korean history was the history of an agrarian society based on a collective, sedentary lifestyle, with villages whose members had the same family names. Others feel the origin of such a tradition was the Confucian teaching whose core was the family ethic. However, the ultimate origin lies in a deeper place.
From early times, Koreans respected Heaven and treated filial piety as the most fundamental virtue. God raised Korean people to worship their ancestors and to show filial piety to their parents.
This was in order to make them the people in the world who best know how to attend God, the root and Parent of all human beings. Thus, Koreans have been taking care of their clans and lineages out of loyalty, filial piety and etiquette. This is based on their outstanding respect for Heaven.
All of you, as represeptatives of your clans and lineages, have been working to preserve your precious traditions by teaching them to the next generation. However, Korean society is going through the process of rapid industrialization and urbanization, causing the communitarian spirit to fade.
The position of the family is challenged from many sides, and it is changing. We recently faced a crisis that has shaken our traditional culture and good customs. This situation is worsened by intergenerational conflict in families and confrontations between labor and management in business. |