As A Peace-Loving Global Citizen: Episode 61
As A Peace-Loving Global Citizen: An Autobiography by Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Chapter 7: Future of Korea, Future of the World
Great Opportunity in the Oceanic Era, pg 222-225
Great Opportunity in the Oceanic Era
The oceans can become a central point for bringing the world together. To take ownership over the ocean we must be trained to live on it with the same ease as we live on land. When I train people to fish, I send ten small boats out with one large boat. When the boats leave port, the small boats are towed by the large boat. Once they are out on the open sea, however, the small boats are responsible for themselves. They must know the direction of the wind, what is on the ocean floor, and what route the fish are taking. They must learn all this on their own.
I like to use the phrase “Alaska spirit.” By this I mean the habit of getting up at five o’clock in the morning, going out to sea, and not returning until well after midnight, when in the summer it is still light. The person with “Alaska spirit” stays out on the ocean until he catches the daily allowance. One cannot become a true fisherman unless he learns how to endure this way.
Catching fish is not a pleasure cruise. No matter how many fish may be in the ocean, they are not going to just jump into the boat. It takes specialized knowledge and much experience. A person must know how to mend a net and how to tie an anchor rope. Once a person receives intense training to become a fisherman, he can go anywhere in the world and become a leader of people. Learning to be a fisherman is good leadership training.
Dominance at sea will require ships, including submarines, that can go anywhere in the world. Korea is already the largest shipbuilding country in the world. It has the ability to become a great sea power. What Korea needs now is more people willing to go out to sea.
Koreans are the descendants of Chang Bo Go, that wealthy man of the ninth century who ran an international maritime trading business and was called “Ocean King.” We have a long tradition of going out to sea on ships, fighting the waves, and winning battles.
People naturally fear the waves. When waves catch the wind, they become swells. Waves and swells are needed for oxygen to be mixed into the ocean. If the ocean is calm for an extended period, without wind or waves, it begins to die. When we realize the value of waves, they are no longer something to be feared. Even if a strong wind blows and the waves become fearsome, we understand that this is the way to help the fish live. Then the waves become part of the attraction of the sea.
Thirty meters below the surface of the ocean, there are no waves. If we were to take a submarine to the bottom of the ocean, it would be so cool that there would be no need for air conditioners. The fish choose the depth that has the temperature that is right for them and then perform wonderful dances as they swim in schools in their favorite waters. Similar to our Little Angels dance troupe with their fans, the fish have their colorful outfits and gently wave their fins. It is a beautiful and peaceful environment they live in. The world, too, will soon be as peaceful as this.
The fact that an oceanic era is coming means that Korea will soon have the opportunity to change the world. People who live in peninsular countries have had to contend with invasions from both land and sea throughout history. To survive, they had to be brave and develop a steely national character. It is not by coincidence that civilizations developed in peninsular countries such as Greece and Italy. Civilizations could blossom in these countries because they had the enterprising and tough, adventurous spirit needed to spread their influence across both continents and seas.
Have you heard about the Black Stream, a boundary current in the western part of the North Pacific Ocean? It travels sixty-four hundred kilometers a year, based on the gravitational pull of the moon. It is an oceanic gyre that revolves all the way around the Pacific Ocean. To describe it simply as “tremendous” is not sufficient.
All the oceans of the world move by the same power that moves the Black Stream and other ocean currents. If these currents did not exist, the waters would not move and would die. Just as even the largest and mightiest rivers eventually must flow into the sea, even the largest oceans must move in accordance with currents like the Black Stream.
The Korean people must become like the Black Stream and cause the flow of their peace-loving culture to influence the whole world. We must become a source of strength in the world, the place where all of life’s forces come together in a peaceful concentration.
I have visited Korea’s southern coast many times in an effort to find the place that could become the center of a Pacific civilization, and I believe that Yeosu and Sooncheon are suited to the task. The sea off the coast of Yeosu is as tranquil and clear as a mirror. It is where Admiral Yi Soon Shin dealt the Japanese a heavy defeat in 1592, and it is also where he died in battle. Yeosu has a great history of sea battles, and it is also the point where Youngnam and Honam regions meet. It is at the end of the foothills of Mount Jiri, where leftists and rightists fought each other following the Korean War. In this sense, it is a land imbued with the pain of our people.
Sooncheon Bay, famous for its reed beds, has a beautiful and world-famous coastline. Out on the sea, with its clear waters that shimmer in the sunlight, we can catch many different types of fish. Abalone and brown seaweed grow in the tranquil waters of the bay. The large tidal flats are filled with cockles and other types of shellfish and small octopuses. I have been out on the seas in that area and also climbed the mountains, and it is clear that this is a beautiful land that has everything necessary for the coming Pacific age.
I am now developing Korea’s southern coast, with the focus on Yeosu. As a part of the preparations for this, I have been to Geomun Island and other islands in the area and lived there for several months. I consider people who live there, farming and fishing for the past several decades, to be my teachers.
I ate and slept in humble inns as I studied everything in detail. I didn’t just study books. I went everywhere, using my eyes and feet to check everything. As a result, I now know what kinds of fish can be found in what areas of the ocean, what kinds of nets need to be used to catch them, what kinds of trees grow in the mountains, and which home on the island has an old man living alone after having suffered a stroke.
The day I finished my studies of the southern coast, I took the village mayor, who had been helping me, on an airplane to Alaska. He had taught me everything he knew, so I wanted to return the favor by teaching him what I knew about Alaska. I went fishing with him in Alaska and told him about the different kinds of fish and how they can be caught. Even if I know only a little about something, I don’t feel comfortable unless I share it with others.
Very soon after I began developing Yeosu, it was chosen as the venue for an international maritime exposition to be held in 2012. Together with the Olympic Games and the World Cup, international expositions are among the three largest festivals on a global scale. During the six months that the Expo 2012 will be held in Yeosu, the one hundred fifty-four member countries of the International Exhibitions Bureau will operate various exhibits. This will focus the world’s attention on Yeosu, and the technology and culture of developed countries will flow into Yeosu.
Have you ever looked up at a summer sky and seen clouds blowing by at an amazing speed? Once clouds catch the wind, they move quickly over mountains and oceans. Now is not the time to be hesitating. In a way similar to those clouds, heavenly fortune will be blowing the world toward Yeosu and the Korean peninsula.
I plan to connect all the islands along the southern coast with bridges and build condominiums where boat-loving people from around the world can come and stay. These will not be resorts just for play. Americans, Germans, Japanese, Brazilians, and Africans will all come. They may go out on different boats to catch fish, but I will encourage them to stay under the same roof to show that humanity is one family.
The coming era will also be an era of aeronautics and even space travel. The time is coming when possessing a well-developed aeronautic technology will be an absolute necessity. It will be too late for Korea to prepare its space industry if it doesn’t start now. For this reason, I am preparing an aeronautic industrial park in Gimpo, in Kyeonggi Province. I plan to produce world-famous helicopters as fine as Sikorsky. Soon the day will come when helicopters bearing the Taeguk symbol of Korea will fly through the skies all over the world. (The Taeguk is the Yin and Yang symbol on the Korean flag.)
FFWPU, USA