【The Way Of Unification】 - 3. The Appearance Of Fallen Man And The Fallen

[대태양/김현수]

3. The Appearance Of Fallen Man And The Fallen World

1) As A Result Of The Fall, Man Has Two Masters

God is supposed to rule everything, day and night, by love. Because the standard of His rulership is love, beyond time and space, God Himself needs love in order to rule. We can conclude that without love, existence has no meaning. This ideal was lost because of the fall. The fall was caused by love. The origin of love is not the eye or the mouth. The fall occurred through the sexual organs with which man and woman unite. Because of the fall, everything was destroyed.

The meeting place of love is the place where all the senses come together. But because of the fall this standard was destroyed, resulting in great loss to the cosmos. In order to return to the original position, we have to go through the process of re-creation. As a result of the fall, man has two masters. If there were only one master it would be easy to return to Him. But since there are two, it is not easy.

Ordinarily, created beings would easily harmonize with their true master, God, without any conflict. But now we have one minus and two plusses, with one of the plusses in rebellion against God. A strong opposing force came into being. Satan works with this external force, while God works with an internal force. As a result, there are two conflicting subjects within one man. Satan became the external subject of man, while God remained the internal subject.

Man is in a constant state of conflict between these internal and external forces. This is what the struggle between the physical mind and the conscience is all about.

Throughout a man's life his spirit and body should be united; likewise his mind and conscience should be united. But in reality they rebel against each other and move in all different directions. Sometimes they are pulled in one direction, and sometimes they lose all sense of direction. Not only did Adam and Eve become this kind Of being, but all their offspring were placed in the same situation. Ten people move in ten different directions. This is the fallen world that has come about on earth.

(1983.4.3) 

2) The Conflicting Character of Human Beings is the Result of the Fall

Today we understand that within one individual the mind and body are often in conflict, torn by opposite desires. The original mind pursues good desire, while the wicked mind pursues evil desire. These two desires battle each other fiercely, each with a different purpose. Where does this conflict, the separation between mind and body, come from? It is the result of the fall of the human ancestors. Because of the fall, mind and body are in constant conflict with each other, families struggle, societies struggle, nations engage in bloody struggles, wars, etc. This struggle and suffering cannot be avoided. (1980.11.18) 

What was the fall? The mind and body lost their own positions. If there were a person who really embodied God's ideal, he would stand before the cosmos as original man. His mind and body would be in their right positions. If there were such a person, all the surroundings would dance to his tune. Losing that position was the result of the fall.

The mind wants to go east, the body wants to go west. It's strange, isn't it? The mind's desire is different from the body's desire. Looking at this situation, we cannot deny the fact of the human fall.

Man was born unconsciously, in accordance with God's absolute purpose. Therefore, although man should be physiologically aligned with God's purpose, today his mind and body seek different directions. We cannot deny this.

I am I, my mind is I, my body is I. But in reality I don't know if my mind is really my mind, or my body is really my body. Originally my mind and body should have been inseparable, united in a single purpose so that not even God could separate them.

(18-58) 

3) Fallen Man and the Fallen World

Now let's look into the appearance of fallen man and the fallen world.

In the Bible, John 8:44, Jesus said to the evil people, "You are of your father the devil." Because of the fall of man, man had to surrender to the false parent, Satan. Man changed his parents. He discarded his true parent, God, and united with the false parent, Satan. So the first man and woman became the son and daughter of Satan. Under this false father Adam and Eve, without God's permission and blessing, became an illegal couple. When they had children, the children automatically came under the false parent. They were born not as children of God, but as children of Satan. Adam multiplied children with original sin, and thus formed the sinful world. Why? Because Adam and Eve were not centered on God.

Since then our world has been a world of sin, distrust, crime, hatred and war. Nations and societies have become insensitive to pain, and destroyed each other. This is Hell on Earth. The lord of the earth is Satan, not God. So in the Bible, John 12:3 1, it is said "the Prince of this world shall be driven out."

We all know that the cosmos was created by God. We also know that God created man. But God never became our Master. That is because man changed his master. Man betrayed God and united with the false master, Satan. So Satan has been the parent of all mankind. (73-202)

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth is one family centered on God, in which all human beings are brothers and sisters. In this unified world there would be only one tradition and one culture. There would be no racial discrimination, no struggles with language, no division between nations, no ideological conflict, no killing and no war.

When we look at today's reality after imagining this heavenly ideal, we come to the painful realization that the world we live in is the opposite of God's ideal. Today we see division between mind and body in every individual.

Today's world is divided. Throughout human history, people have fought and killed each other because of divisions between nations, languages, cultures, traditions, races, ideologies and love. No matter how you look at this world, it cannot be called the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Yes, we are living in Hell on Earth. This is the result of the fall of our ancestors, Adam and Eve. To say that they fell means that they turned against God. It means that they fell away from God. So human history began without God, and has continued up until today as the history of betrayal of God. (100-242)

4) The Cause of This Unreasonable and Contentious World

When you took at the world today, you can see that it's full of conflict, contention, struggle, suffering and sorrow. So the Buddhists refer to this world as a sea of bitterness. The founders of all religions, as well as saints and sages, have tried to save humanity from this sea of bitterness, but none of them succeeded and the task remains.

Why do we have to live in a sea of bitterness? It is an obvious contradiction that the world is like this while people have always wished to live in a peaceful, happy, ideal world. If God were omniscient and almighty, He would certainly never create this kind of contradictory world. God is perfect and absolute. So we can see that man fell. Nobody can refute this.

The universal religious worldview is to see the human fall as the cause of this unprincipled world. To say that man fell means that he fell from his original position. Originally human beings were in the position to walk toward God while striving for perfection. As God wished and willed when He created the original human beings, they should have gone through a period of growth in order to blossom and bear fruit. But unfortunately, while within this growth period they fell and failed to blossom. Simply, they fell.

If you fall, what do you have to do? You have to climb back up. God, too, had to save fallen mankind. Because of the fall, mankind is living in this sinful and contradictory world. If God did not care and deserted human beings in this fallen world, then He would be an incapable God. So He must save this world and restore man to his original position.

The main teachings of all religions concern the salvation of this world and restoration to the original ideal world. In order to bring about goodness and justice in this sinful world, and to create an ideal world in which man can enjoy eternal happiness and peace, all religions strive to teach the principle of salvation. This is the essence of religion, and its basic task and mission.

(1981.4.25)