[036] World Scripture - Cause and Effect - 2. The Chain of Causation

[대태양/김현수]

World Scripture Ⅱ

Part One - God and Creation

Chapter 2 Truth and Universal Law

8) Cause and Effect

2. The Chain of Causation

Religious scriptures

The world exists because of causal actions, all things are produced by causal actions and all beings are governed and bound by causal actions. They are fixed like the rolling wheel of a cart, fixed by the pin of its axle shaft. 

Sutta Nipata 654 (Buddhism)

Rousing himself from his concentration of mind, the Exalted One gave close attention to causal uprising in direct order: This being, that becomes; by the arising of this, that arises, namely: Conditioned by ignorance, activities; conditioned by activities, consciousness; conditioned by consciousness, mind and body; conditioned by mind and body, the six sense-spheres; conditioned by the six sense-spheres, contact; conditioned by contact, feeling; conditioned by feeling, craving; conditioned by craving, grasping; conditioned by grasping, becoming; conditioned by becoming, birth; conditioned by birth, old age and death, grief, lamentation, suffering, sorrow and despair come into being. Thus is the arising of this mass of Ill.

Udana 1.1 (Buddhism)

The ten thousand things all come from the same seed, and with their different forms they give place to one another. Beginning and end are part of a single ring and no one can comprehend its principle. This is called Heaven the Equalizer.

Chuang Tzu 27 (Taoism)

Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense, to repay every one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. 

Revelation 22.12-13

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

In everything, there is cause and effect. The effect appears as the result of a process. Passing through that process is a condition for the effect to become one with its cause. This is because the process is aligned with the cause and accepts the effect. It brings them to the point where they can unite and fulfill their purpose. Conversely, without a proper beginning, there can be no destination.  

(15:130, October 3, 1965)

The relationship between the world of essence and the world of phenomena can be compared to that between mind and body. It is a relationship of cause and result. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Introduction) God abides in the causal realm and in the resultant world. He is “the Alpha and the Omega,” who exists as both the cause and the result. By recognizing that human beings exist within a process that moves from cause to result, we can understand the relationship between God and humanity. History proceeds from the causal world to the resultant world. The human conscience also proceeds along this path, but [these days] the flow of history is so fast that the conscience must hurry twice as quickly to keep pace. God, being the Cause, must establish human beings as the result. If [the first] human beings had not fallen, they would have been the cause of history. The Fall was a failure to possess the cause.  (11:114, February 19, 1961)

Just as subject and object partners must become one, the cause and the result must also become one. In the Bible, God states: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” If God is the Alpha, we human beings are the Omega. If God is the first, we are the last, and if God is the beginning, then we are the end. Should the two remain separated? The verse promises that they are to unite.

(69:76, October 20, 1973)

Anyone who denies the Origin cannot bring a result. The origin of all children is their [Heavenly] Parent, but if the children deny their Parent, it is logical that they cannot become an acceptable result. When the cause and the result become one, the ideal appears, full of joy. 

(328:185, August 3, 2000)

When a man connects with his wife in all aspects of her life [and vice-versa], the two become one. First they orbit around each other; then they meet. When they meet, they are elevated. In other words, a man and a woman meet together by living for the sake of each other. Then, once they marry, they should sacrifice for God. We call this origin-division-union action. God divided people into two different sexes for love; therefore they should come together for love. Thus, their union should also be the unity of cause and result. Where the cause and the result became one, there can be a seed. Thus there arises an endless cycle of give and take between cause and result. Their oneness is the basis for a unified world.

(389:303, August 7, 2002)