Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 8: North-South Unification and World Peace
Chapter 4: The Era Of The Pacific Rim Civilization And The Korean Peninsula
Section 1: Advent of a New Era, Background
Section 1:Advent of a New Era, Paragraph 10

Chapter 4.  The Era Of The Pacific Rim Civilization And The Korean Peninsula

Section 1. Advent of a New Era

Background

True Parents proclaimed that the era of the Pacific Rim civilization will arrive, focusing on the Korean Peninsula. They foresaw that a world of peace can take root by means of Eastern and Western civilizations bearing fruit on the Korean Peninsula. Accordingly, they said that countries located on the Pacific Rim have to fulfill their pioneering missions in order to conclude and complete the providence of restoration.

1  If we look at history, we see that Egypt, one of the first human civilizations, was a river civilization that grew from the fertile surroundings of the Nile. How did it develop? The Egyptians would wonder, "What is over there, across the river?" They always desired to investigate what was on the other side of the river. This was the psychological impetus that allowed the Egyptian civilization to flourish. After the age of river civilization had passed, the Mediterranean civilization was established. Human society developed because of the earnest, heartfelt desire to explore the other shore. That deep desire to investigate the other shore gave rise to the evolution of civilization.

2  Civilization progressed from the river-stage civilization through the Mediterranean civilization, then the Atlantic civilization, to the current Pacific civilization, and onward to the budding of the era in which civilization expands into space. The era of the Atlantic civilization was characterized by Caucasians securing their foothold centering on islands, while the Mediterranean civilization had been based on governance from the city of Rome. India, Egypt and Mesopotamia were the bases of ancient civilizations. Ancient civilizations were all river based civilizations, centering on the Indus River, the Nile River, the Yellow River and so forth. Now is the era of the Pacific civilization, after which we will enter upon the civilization of space.

3  Originally, Christianity was a religion of the East, but because after the passing of Jesus it developed with the West as the center, people began to think of Christianity as Western. It is now returning to the East. It migrated from Rome, to England and to the Americas, and now it has circled all the way to the Far East. As for restoration through indemnity, it is the Principle that you re-create the historical environment and indemnify it. You might think, "If we pay the indemnity amid the history of restoration, then the Lord will return to the people of Israel, right?" But this is not possible. What is needed is an Asian country that can connect to the United States and Western civilization. It must be a homogeneous country with a long history of its own. Christianity must go through an island nation in reverse fashion in order to return full circle. As a nation of islands, Great Britain is comparable to Japan; likewise, the peninsula of Italy is comparable to Korea. Thus, Korea is the focal point where the civilizations of East and West connect, like the meeting of body and spirit. Peninsulas have the advantage of connecting with both land and sea. They naturally are the centers of cultural exchange. Greece and Italy are peninsulas. Spain and Portugal constitute the Iberian Peninsula. The movement of culture passes through peninsulas.

4  Since Jesus' body was lost, the foundation of his original stage disappeared, and the foundation for Asia was lost. Because of this, instead of moving to Asia, God's work moved in the opposite direction and was pulled to Rome. It went from Asia to the West, and then continued going around until it came back to Asia. As a path of indemnity, blood was shed and sacrifices were made along the way. In that manner, with Rome at the center, Jesus' influence passed through Britain, then across the United States, and finally manifested in the Pacific civilization. The reason for this is that Jesus' body was lost in Asia on the world level. This is where the body and spirit were broken apart. Therefore, civilization became materialistic, and went around backward to the West until it connected finally to Asia.

5  On a regular basis, the Kuroshio Current, or Black Tide, moves water 4,000 miles through the Pacific Ocean. This is the Pacific's main, massive current. Heavenly fortune is fashioned in the same way. Just like the Kuroshio Current moving the waters of the Pacific Ocean, there is an ideological main current leading human beings to the ideal world. It is clear that the current centered on the United States in the democratic world cannot become the Kuroshio Current. Nor can the current centered on the Soviet Union in the communist world become the Black Tide. Why not? It is because these currents are based on ideologies created by human beings. Then what can become this Kuroshio Current? Is it a new religion that transcends all the world's ideologies?

Would it be a movement that binds together all the ideologies, like the Kuroshio Current does with the oceans? Should the answer not be a new philosophical movement, a new philosophical system, a new expression of truth centered on God? Would this new expression of truth not create a new historic beginning point? It must usher all humanity into an ocean of happiness, the ideal world. There is no law that waves passing through the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa cannot make it to the Pacific Ocean. All waters mix. The oceans are one.

6  Many civilizations began on peninsulas, where the land, shaped like a phallus, extends into the water. Based on the principle of harmony, peninsulas are ideal to serve as the origin of life. Because peninsulas are placed in the center, they complete a process of mathematical progression, and cultures have developed centering on them. The Balkan Peninsula and the Iberian Peninsula each had such ideal conditions. The Mediterranean Sea is like a woman's body in relation to the Italian Peninsula; together they are like a man and woman becoming one through love. Italian civilization led history at one time because it was geographically located where these yin and yang elements were balanced. Korea is the only country on the Pacific Ocean that has this geographical characteristic of Italy. Japan is protecting Korea geographically. Korea, which is equivalent to the Italian Peninsula, is the only place in Asia where we can build a civilization of global harmony, where the wave of love is able to move the oceans and continents and everything under heaven. The parallel is striking.

7  The Mediterranean Sea is like a woman's womb. Located in the deepest place within this woman's womb is the nation of Israel, where the Lord was born. Problems arose there, where the original life emerged. Then, a peninsular civilization, Italy, subdued a worldwide territory. After passing through the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, the center of civilization must be achieved with a peninsular civilization at the center. Originally, unification should have been realized with Italy at the center. Why couldn't Italy achieve lasting unification? After erecting the Holy See as the center of Christian civilization, Rome did not understand that the Holy Roman Empires power to rule the world was not for its own glory. If Italy had embraced the world with love, even at the sacrifice of itself, it would have been able to rule the whole world during the Middle Ages. The whole world could have been united at that time. When they could not accomplish this, that mission moved to the United Kingdom. So the center of the providence shifted from a peninsular nation to an island nation. Centering on the Iberian Peninsula, the movement to take possession of the ocean regions arose at the beginning of the 16th century. The Spanish competed with England to develop ocean routes. England's Anglican Church took the baton of Christian thought and opposed the Vatican. All these historical facts fit logically. Puritanism was like a son of England, but England expelled this son. This banished Protestantism represented Abel. Puritanism, in the position of the second son, came to a new continent, which was capable of inheriting the Protestant cultural sphere, and established the United States, an independent nation based on Protestantism.

The Pacific civilization

From the Mediterranean civilizations centered on Greece and Italy, civilization advanced, traversing the North Atlantic from Great Britain to the United States. Now, it is coming to fruition in a civilization of the Pacific realm, the countries of which are home to more than half the world's population. The Korean Peninsula, in the context of the Pacific Rim civilization, stands in the same position as the Italian Peninsula in Jesus' time. Thus, continental and oceanic civilizations, Eastern and Western civilizations, and spiritual and material civilizations should converge there to achieve a grand unity and harmony. There are more than 60 countries on the shores of the Pacific. Just as the sea conceives and nurtures life, these countries need to fulfill the mother's role and contribute to world peace. For this reason, True Parents paid close attention to the founding of the Federation of Island Nations for World Peace, which they carried out on June 16, 1996 in Tokyo.

8  The current world situation points to the fact that the human race is approaching the Pacific era. Just as the cultural spheres surrounding rivers shifted to the Mediterranean cultural sphere, the Atlantic cultural sphere is shifting to the Pacific cultural sphere. The Soviet Union and the United States should lead the transition from the Atlantic cultural sphere to the Pacific cultural sphere. In order to lead, they need to embrace the peoples of Asia. Asia's population exceeds three-fifths of the world's population. If an ideology cannot assimilate Asian culture, it will not be able to lead the world.

9  Eastern and Western civilizations are wrestling for dominance over the Pacific cultural sphere, and Eastern civilization is winning out. The civilization of the East contains religions of love based on the truth of love. This is why God sent True Parents there. They initiated a movement rooted in God's true love. This movement will create a new heavenly world that embraces all people and that will allow heaven to embrace all people.

10  Western people advanced material civilization. The West expanded its territory through knowledge, while people in the East placed less emphasis on material development. Unification entails the harmony of spiritual and physical orientations. A materially developed civilization is coming to Asia. Western and Asian civilizations will combine in the Pacific realm and usher humankind into an era of true civilization, a new world. Such is the era of the Pacific civilization.