|
Philosophy of Peace
(4) Prerequisites for the Realization of Peace
1. The solution to the fundamental problems of God and mankind and the realization of a world of peace
Looking at the world situation today, we cannot help feeling disappointment. Although the earnest desire of humanity is freedom, peace and stability, the state of confusion worldwide continues to worsen, and the future of humanity indeed looks grim. In spite of the ceaseless efforts of nations' leaders, the problems of the world are getting more complex and hard to resolve. Democracy, communism, religion and philosophy have all proved themselves to be totally helpless in the face of these world problems. The problem lies in a lack of understanding of God's will. Human history is the history of God's providence, and without understanding that providence we will be unable to deal with the world's problems.
(135-343, 1985.12.16)
If God is the origin of the universe, a peaceful world cannot be achieved as long as there is sadness in His heart and His cherished wishes remain unfulfilled. This is reasonable. Can children be happy when their parents are in a state of anguish? When a nation's president is troubled, can his people feel at ease? Not normally in a moral society. Not even great politicians or saints can unite the world or bring peace without an ideology that can solve the problems of young people. This is a headache for both God and mankind.
(082-306, 1976.02.01)
The world has a huge population. Today's global problems can no longer be thought of as someone else's problems. They are my problems. The democratic world and the communist world are alike in that they both long for a unified world of peace.
At this point in time, we have come to recognize that human beings by themselves cannot realize this unified world of peace. We cannot hope for peace or one unified world in the true sense of the word merely through human power, human wisdom or human culture.
What is the main difficulty in solving worldwide problems? I think the most important challenge is clearly elucidating the fact of God's existence. The day that all humanity recognizes clearly that God exists, they will come to understand the path along which He is leading them. The world will then indeed become the peaceful world of God's ideal.
(056-131, 1972.05.14)
Who is going to put an end to the fight between good and evil spirits? It is neither God nor Satan. Unless one becomes the hero or heroine of love whom all people of the world can follow, the fight between God and Satan will never end. As long as we remain caught in this struggle, world peace will forever be impossible and the word "ideal" no more than an abstract and sentimental idea.
(136-219, 1985.12.29)
To save fallen people and return them to their original position is God's intent. Therefore, religion has to be armed with content that puts us in touch with the core of the universe with the concept of this subject partner and object partner. When we examine every religious teaching from that viewpoint, only Christianity has such content. Jesus said that God was his Father and he was His only begotten son. This is an amazing proclamation. He also said that he is the bridegroom, and we are the brides, which is also a surprising announcement. It means that the father and son share this common denominator of love; bridegroom and bride are similarly not two, but one. Peace is present here. Without going through this, there cannot be harmony. Without going through this, there is no way to find a smooth spherical movement in the course of history.
(137-059, 1985.12.18)
Looking at ourselves today, we can see that our body and mind are neither perfectly at peace nor perfectly united. Paul, the first Christian theologian, recognized the law pertaining to the mind and the law pertaining to the body and, in the struggle between them, that the law of the body always defeated and drove the law of the mind into misery. So, he drew a grievous conclusion, "Oh, wretched man that I am!" Why has the law of the mind failed to govern the law of the body? If God exists, then the mind should control the body.
How are we going to find a way to deal with today's chaotic world and build a world of peace and a self that can exercise independent authority as an ideal self? To find the answer to this question, one must certainly find God. I have searched more than any other person to determine whether or not God exists.
(144-148, 1986.04.12)
In light of this, I would like to recommend three steps to achieve peace. This proposal is most fundamental in form, so it may appear idealistic. However, just as a building cannot stand without a firm foundation, my suggestion for peace starts from the most fundamental proposition. First, the ultimate world of peace must be achieved through three stages: peace between God and humankind, peace among humankind and peace in the world.
Through my course of serious spiritual discipline, I have come to understand with certainty that God exists. I even reached the stage where I met the living God directly and I have come to realize that one cannot discuss true peace on earth without finding peace with God, who is the origin of the universe. God is the first cause of the universe and the Creator of all creation. He is also our beloved Father. God created all things in order to accomplish His special will, the fulfillment of which lies in becoming the embodiment of love. God is the source of true love, but even the omnipotent God can never feel the joy of love by Himself. God needs an object partner of love and wants to receive spontaneous love back from the object partner. This object partner, God's supreme creation, is none other than humankind. For that reason, there is a purpose for our life. The purpose of life is to mature and realize that relationship of eternal true love with God. This is the fundamental principle by which peace is actualized between God and humankind.
Once such a relationship is established between God and man, people can then realize peace among themselves. What relationship would be prerequisite for peace between human beings? That is also the relationship of love. World peace is indeed the long-cherished desire of humanity. It can be attained in the same way as peace between individuals.
In numerous ways, people have been constantly seeking peace and happiness but have not obtained satisfactory results. For all the work that has been done worldwide by the League of Nations and the United Nations, which were set up following the first and second world wars respectively, with the idea of preventing future war, world peace has not come.
Neither have the efforts of religious organizations produced a joyful world. Such a world also failed to materialize from the ideals of international Communism and the dreams of Fascism. Not even a high degree of political skill or even a high level of technology has been able to bring peace and happiness to humanity. This is because man's misfortune and pain has not been solved at its root; it results from the fall where human beings disobeyed God.
God has to restore, at any cost, the ideals of true love and peace that He originally envisioned. God's providence of salvation, that is, the providence of restoration, is the providence of restoring man's original state. For this providence, God has established religions and expanded the sphere of goodness.
(166-131, 1987.06.01)
Human nature has driven us to search for the answer to the question of how to put an end to this misfortune and realize a world of peace and happiness. Isn't this the very road religion has been pursuing? Even so, the ideal world mankind has been hoping for has not come about yet. At the core of religion there is the desire to discover the source of human pain and misfortune. If we are ignorant of the source of our pain, there is no hope of being able to rid ourselves of it. The answer can only come with wisdom gained through revelation from God.
(234-269, 1992.08.26)
Until now, we have been ignorant of the original value of humankind. To discover what our original value consists of, ordinary people and scholars have pondered over whether God exists and about the value of human life. This is the realm of religion and philosophy. Unity between men and women does not arise unless they find God, and then the realm of unity, which is the greatest value of humankind. When people establish a realm of unity with God, upon the foundation of unity among people, that will be the settlement of the ideal realm of unity that God desires. In that way, a substantial place of settlement will come into being, both in heaven and on earth. Unless we achieve it, that place of settlement will never come to exist, and peace will never be realized. The place of settlement has not been realized since God is revolving around His desire for eternal peace and human beings are revolving centered on themselves.
(228-153, 1992.03.27)
Since the beginning of history there has never been an age nor a people that did not yearn for peace. Human history, however, has been constantly tainted by war and the blood of the innocent, the complete opposite of what people desire. Why is this?
Has mankind been living in peace for the past forty-six years, not knowing conflict? No. War has broken out again and again. Beginning with the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War, as many as sixty some conflicts have occurred.
Why is peace so difficult to achieve? As we found the Federation for World Peace today, we have to first dig into the reason that peace has not been realized. That is because, if not, it is just so obvious that humanity will follow in the same footsteps in the future as well.
Ladies and gentlemen! People have so far shouted for peace, but they haven't understood the meaning of true peace. They haven't had the true philosophy of peace. Therefore, the way to achieve true peace could not emerge.
The reason is simple. People have loved the idea of peace while they were losing God, and they have tried to find peace between themselves while pushing God out of the way. This was their fundamental mistake, and this is the basic reason for failing to achieve true peace.
(219-114, 1991.08.28)
When an individual is completely united in mind and body, it influences the perfection of all other things. That is why I'm saying that the method of attaining unity within myself and the method of realizing my own peace are important questions.
People who have lived throughout history have thought that peace is the peace of the external world. They thought that a world of peace would come about when nations and the world become peaceful. However, that has not been the case. We have lived without knowing that the most important issue is how to perfect the standard of peace within myself, and have just tried to understand merely what would bring about peace in the external reality. In religion, there is a concept called "the fall." Then, what is the fall all about? That mind and body failed to reach perfection, achieve unity and become a foundation for peace results from the fall. Due to the fall, also, people have come to fight and struggle with each other. If there is a way to deal with this, it would be through the realm of religion that can develop from an individual, to a tribal, national and worldwide foundation representing one world of the spirit. Next, centered on the realm of the physical body, the fall created a history of conflict worldwide among individuals, families, tribes and nations. So, the body, which is external, has been infringing upon the mind, which is internal. Likewise, the political world, which is like the body, has always been striking and making a victim of the foundation of the development of the religious world, which represents the mind. And the fighting is still continuing. The political world has always been infringing upon the religious world. It is the same as the body hitting the mind.
How to make unity here is directly connected to the fundamental problem. In other words, it is ultimately connected to the question of whether God exists and what true love really means. If God exists, He Himself also has to have the standard of absolute peace and His object partner must also, for He is a perfect and absolute God. Namely, God and the realm of the object partner have to have a completely unified standard. Therefore, we can understand the internal nature of this by answering the question whether God really exists and what our relationship with Him should be.
(218-205, 1991.07.29)
What should the ideology that leads the 21st century be like? It has to be a system of thought that surpasses philosophy, and the system has to be imbued with religious content. The being that we call God is not an ideological being. Thus, the world has to become one in which God can lead our actual lives, and we can live alongside God. At that point, the world would be one that has fulfilled the ideals of religion and philosophy. However, the world is not an ideological concept. It is a place in which we can live together with the absolute origin of peace, with God, whom we can actually feel in our lives. That world is the one that will come about in the 21st century.
(209-236, 1990.11.30)
The question of the identity of the central being that has pursued happiness is a key one that philosophy is also trying to solve. The question is whether God exists, whether the Absolute Being exists. If there is such an absolute being, it is likely that there would be absolute peace and absolute happiness. We assume that there would be such an absolute, unique and privileged being.
(205-196, 1990.09.02)
|