Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 297
Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 10: The Philosophy of Peace
Chapter 1: What is Peace?
Section 1: The Concept of Peace, 13-24
(13) The word "equality" cannot be used in reference to a single entity. Equality arises when two entities make a single, horizontal line encompassing the concept of right and left. The word "peace" is always used in reference to mutual relationships. We speak of peace between East and West. But a peace centered only on the East would be a one-sided peace, and that cannot be total peace. The words pyeongjoon (level, 平準), pyeonghyeong (balance, 平 衡) and pyeonghwa (peace, 平和), each of which includes the character pyeong (平), are related concepts. These are concepts that can only exist when a connection is made between two or more beings. A state of peace is realized when a man and woman are united. When they become one, it does not mean they're the same height, for example. Looking at men and women in terms of their height, men are generally taller. Also, when we look at them in terms of strength, men are generally stronger. Thus, we cannot find equilibrium based on only external aspects. Then what is the center when a relational realm of equilibrium is formed? It is not any kind of force or knowledge. No matter how advanced two people may be in the world of knowledge, one will always know more. If there is one single thing that exists that can form a place of equality, it has to be love.
(14) Where will we find the standard for evenness (pyeong, 平)? The standard for evenness revolves around love. Love is the absolute, the ideal, and the ultimate. It is demanded by each one of our cells, whether we are men or women. Love is the standard that unites us in that ultimate ideal, the standard that represents the whole, which means that concepts such as the average (pyeong-gyun) or equality (pyeongdeung) are not related to an entity's strength or form. These words represent realities that are based on love.
(15) Where are we going? We are going toward the ideal world. Also we are going toward a peaceful and unified world. When we say "ideal," "unified," or "peaceful," what we really mean is a world of oneness. What is the center of the world of oneness? Love must be the center. Is the communist world a world of peace? Is the democratic world? Regardless of how united a sovereign state may be, it cannot bring forth a world of true oneness without love. There has to be love.
Peace and happiness
(16) If there were an essential quality that would not change for a thousand or ten thousand years, only when peace is realized based on that essential quality would that peace be eternal, and only when happiness unfolded based on that essential quality would that happiness be eternal. Eternal peace and happiness begin from true love. The freedom that has genuine love at its core is eternal freedom; the peace that stems from true love is eternal peace; the happiness that springs from true love is eternal happiness. And if the whole unites centering on true love, we can conclude that this unity will be eternal. In such a case, there will be a connection leading from eternal peace to an eternal society and an eternal world.
(17) What would it be like if you were to become a person who receives the love of God? Would your mind and body be joyful or not? You could not possibly be unhappy. Just as God is an eternal being, we can also live for eternity. God is the eternal subject of life, the One who endows fully, and you are the object partner of the love of that One who endows. So as long as He is not sad you cannot be sad, and as long as He is joyful you too can be eternally joyful. Human perfection is simple. It is to be happy. It is to be peaceful and happy. We do not need anything more than that. We are talking about a place where everything is filled to the brim. Of course, there is freedom there too. And everything we desire can be realized there.
(18) What kind of a person is miserable? A miserable person is one who tries to give but cannot, who tries to receive but cannot. There can be no happiness or peace for one who is alone. Peace is something that arises only within a mutual relationship. Love, happiness, and peace are absolutely impossible to realize by someone who is alone. Since these states are realized within a relationship, unless the partner you are relating with is perfect, you cannot experience perfect happiness, perfect peace, or perfect love.
(19) People have made all sorts of effort, but the miserable reality is that although we have desired essentials such as true love, true ideals, true happiness, and true peace, and truly yearned for these, we forfeited even the opportunity to attain them. When we consider the absolute being who is both eternal and unchanging and who transcends changeable human realities, that being cannot but be the God we know. God must be the center of the true hope we desire, the center of true happiness, true peace, and true love, and the center of true ideals. God must be the King of love and the King of ideals, happiness, and peace. For God and human beings to enter a place where they can have the same wishes and hopes, sharing suffering and joy, human beings have to know God, for He is where true love originates and where true ideals, true happiness, and true peace all begin.
(20) People today are pursuing a world of peace, happiness, and freedom, without even being aware of it. Their lack of awareness proves that they have not been standing on the foundation of the essential freedom at the root of peace and happiness. Since God is an absolute, all-powerful being, everything in nature He created, including human beings, should be as free as God is free. And if God dwells in a peaceful place, then we too should stand in that place with Him.
(21) Because people to this day have been put in such a lowly position, we have not understood that God's love, ideals, happiness, and peace cannot be attained or perfected without each and every one of us. Though we are not enough, we are beings of a high order of value, capable of completing the love of God, of completing God's ideals, and of completing God's happiness and peace.
(22) If we follow the rule to live for the sake of others, then, in our families, we will realize peace, freedom, happiness, and love, and in our societies, we will also realize peace, freedom, happiness, and love. The same applies to nations and the world. We naturally conclude that if we focus on this rule, these qualities will certainly dwell with us, no matter where we are.
(23) If a man and woman who seek to live for the sake of each other become husband and wife, they would be a truly ideal couple that could attain a genuine standard of peace. They would be recognized as a truly happy couple that could become the subject being of eternal and universal true love. Then what kind of parents would be truly ideal parents? If there are parents who exist not for themselves but for the sake of their children, ready to dedicate themselves to their children until they die, such parents are true parents. Such parents are parents of genuine peace, happiness, and ideals. If a child were to claim to have been born for the sake of his or her parents, to live for their sake and to be willing to die for their sake, that child would be called a filial child. He or she would be a child who could receive genuine love, a child of genuine happiness, peace, and ideals.
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