Cham Bumo Gyeong: Episode 244

Cham Bumo Gyeong
Book 9: Activities in the Media, Education and the Arts for the Culture of Heart
Chapter 1: Unification Thought And International Academic Activities
Section 2: International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, Absolute values
Section 2: International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, Paragraph 21

Absolute values 

True Parents believe in the necessity of establishing God-centered absolute values to solve problems in the world as well as to meet the challenge of developing unity among religion, science, and ideology. This is why True Father selected the topic "absolute values" to be the theme of ICUS. Beginning with the third conference, the central theme of all the ICUS conferences was absolute values.

The following were conference themes, "Science and Absolute Values," "The Centrality of Science and Absolute Values," "The Search for Absolute Values: Harmony Among the Sciences," "The Search for Absolute Values in a Changing World," "The Re-evaluation of Existing Values and the Search for Absolute Values," "The Responsibility of the Academic Community in the Search for Absolute Values," "Absolute Values and the Search for the Peace of Mankind," "The Search for Absolute Values and the Creation of the New World," "Absolute Values and the New Cultural Revolution," "Absolute Values and the Reassessment of the Contemporary World," "Absolute Values and the New World Order," and "Absolute Values and the Unity of Sciences: The Origin and Human Responsibility."

13  What we need is not an industrial or technological revolution, but a great revolution of human consciousness. The solution to social problems does not lie with the natural sciences alone. We must transcend value-free empiricism and work with sociology, the arts, religion and other fields. It is not as if these social problems are restricted to one country or specific era. They are fundamental historical problems affecting the past, the present and the future. They are the ultimate issues of human history. By facilitating this revolution of human consciousness, we need to lead people to use the results of research to bring about the peaceful coexistence of all humankind through applying creative and productive methods.

The ideal of humankind can be realized only when the individual purpose and purpose of the whole exist in complete harmony. In the field of natural science, as in every other field of research, the immediate individual purpose must be fulfilled together with the long-term, broader purpose. This requires that we integrate other fields for the sake of the whole of humankind. By doing so, we discover the true meaning of the results of research. To integrate all specific fields of research, we need a much larger design or blueprint. In this way, as we proceed to achieve this integration, we will come to realize our common ideal.

14  The main objective of holding this ICUS is to produce a blueprint that integrates the specific fields of research. We are aware that we have life within ourselves because our minds, which originate from a source of the highest dimension, are not restricted to time and space. That very source may be called the universal mind, or the first cause of all existence. In order for us to grasp the meaning of life, we must understand the cosmic centrality of absolute values. By setting up a new world order where all people are brothers and sisters transcending national and racial boundaries, and thereby living as one global human family, we can enjoy the ideal world of true peace and happiness. In order to build this world in reality we must examine science from a larger perspective.

15  Policy governing science must be determined from the perspective of the whole. Science exists not for its own sake, but for the welfare of all human beings. Therefore, it has to give priority to the purpose of the whole as its central point. In other words, for the development of science to have meaning in everyday life, human beings must deliberately discuss and establish the standards of value for science from the perspective of the whole. Science begins with the research into visible and external things. However, science can assist our understanding of areas that are invisible to the eye, and assist our grasp of the internal, spiritual dimension. Eventually, we must integrate these two realms. Thus, we must be able to seize the central point located in the external, physical world and, at the same time, be able to take hold of the central point located in the highest dimension of the metaphysical world. So, when the former reality eternally revolves around the latter reality, which functions as its unchanging axis, then through give-and-receive action, all existence in time and space will be endowed with absolute meaning and absolute value.

16  When you look at events such as the Washington Monument Rally, the Yankee Stadium Rally or the Yeouido Island Rally for Freedom, you may think they were tremendous, but they will be remembered simply as singular, one-time events. By contrast, the historical fact that international scholars set a tradition of gathering together, going beyond the knowledge available within any specific field of study, and heading in one direction, is a resource that will remain and can be praised on earth eternally. Because of this achievement, even a single scene of recorded video from those scholarly conferences will remain as a valuable treasure for eternity. Whenever people look at those scenes and think about that tradition, they will say, "Through what system of thought did Reverend Moon accomplish that? His philosophy provoked a remarkable response." That can become motivation, globally, for a great revival. If that happens, thanks to those professors, these teachings will ultimately shape the thinking of all young people, who then assuredly will govern the coming age.

17  As a religious leader and scientist, I have long been interested in the issues of science as well as religion and philosophy. I believe that there is a relationship between different fields, whether a person is engaged in the contemplation of eternal truths or simply in the careful observation of an event. Indeed, without a relationship with a transcendent being, it would be impossible to conceive of events occurring in space and time. Religion and philosophy concern themselves with metaphysical and moral questions that have occupied human consciousness throughout history. Where do we come from? Why is there suffering? What is good and evil? Is there life after death? These questions concern all of us, no matter what our academic discipline may be. Science limits its concern to the regularities of the universe, and attempts to understand things in time and space.

As we all know, scientists have made brilliant advances in knowledge in the past few hundred years. However, without a standard of value to guide it, science will inevitably become destructive. The possibility of nuclear warfare attests to this. We must concede that the whole range of knowledge, from theology to the physical sciences, has no meaning unless we understand its purpose and direction. The search for an original and true standard of value is the search for this purpose and direction.

18  I have insisted on advocating absolute values centering on ICUS. 10, 15, 20 years—the more time that passes, the less one can ignore the science conferences, which discuss absolute values. Therefore, from the 12th conference forward, a solid organization will be formed that can ignite a new cultural revolution. Buddhists will have to rewrite their encyclopedias based on these absolute values. In addition, Christian theological systems will need to be illuminated anew in the context of absolute values. Also we will need to publish a new encyclopedia. We need to create economic structures based on absolute values. The same is true for philosophy and all academic fields. There have to be people who lead these fields with such vision. Someone must begin by raising the banner of a new cultural revolution. Thus, given this extraordinary enterprise, the day will come when the waves of hope that visit Korea will sweep across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and advance to the world with the sound of joyful cheers. Because I see this being realized inevitably through such a foundation, I have cherished this dream and continued to work on it, even while receiving persecution.

19  True Father sponsored a total of 19 International Conferences on the Unity of the Sciences. We need to continue investigation of the values associated with reciprocity. Of course, reciprocation cannot be established by one entity alone. There are so many different attributes possessed by all things of the creation, but what are the central attributes of the whole? If each entity is absolute, how can an absolute entity meet its object partner? Furthermore, each entity has to have some uniqueness. Then, they can become reciprocal partners. You cannot see it internally or externally but, as they form a core of oneness, movement arises. Reciprocation is not possible without a subject partner and an object partner.

Absoluteness, uniqueness, unchangeability and eternality are an entity's four basic attributes. Saying that an entity is not changing does not mean it is not developing and should disappear. Absoluteness requires uniqueness for reciprocation to take place. That which we call absolute, we call heaven, but heaven is also a unique existence. The expression "absolute and unique" implies the union of two entities. This means these two can interchange with each other. That which is mine is my partner's, and that which is my partner's is mine. The fact is that these two entities can freely exchange everything they have and replenish each other eternally.

20  A baby makes his or her parents the owners of love. It is the wife who enables her husband to be the owner of love. The object partner determines the absolute value of the subject partner. A determination of absolute value is afforded through the object partner. God originally created the cosmos in accordance with this principle, and thereby, the cosmos came to exist. The world that humankind has created must disappear in the end because it began with human beings who stood in opposition to this principle. Only the ideals that attribute absolute value to the object partner can take root in the new heaven and new earth. Family, love and peace are all rooted in the ideals that value the object partner absolutely. Because it was not yet the right moment, I could not reveal Unification Thought in full with regard to this principle at the science conference. Educational circles throughout this world discuss only reciprocal values, but do not address absolute values.

21  I educated many world-renowned professors through ICUS, focusing on the theory of absolute values. In 2004, I basically concluded the emphasis on absolute values. I helped them understand the final element of absolute values at the time of transition from the Era Before the Coming of Heaven to the Era After the Coming of Heaven. It is the baby who transforms its parents into the owners of love. At the moment the baby is born, the parents become the owners of love. Also, when man and woman are married and experience their first love, they enable each other to stand as the owner of love. It is the wife who makes her husband the owner of love and it is the husband who makes his wife the owner of love. So far in the history of human culture, such a concept has not existed, but now teachings based on an absolute values system have emerged.