Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 197
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 5: Absolute Values and New World Order
Speech 1: The Role of Unified Science in the Moral Orientation of the World, pg 697-700
The Role of Unified Science in the Moral Orientation of the World
November 26, 1972
First International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences
Distinguished chairman, notable scientists and welcome guests:
The emergence of Unified Science, with its tremendous potential for improving our world, is a very important and historic event. I want to personally thank all of you for the time and effort you have put into this conference to make this great beginning possible. I am grateful to offer the concluding remarks for this historic conference. I will speak on the topic, “The Role of Unified Science in the Moral Orientation of the World.”
No matter who they are, all people are always looking for happiness. To be happy is humanity’s insuppressible desire and ideal. During the past several thousand years of humankind’s cultural history, there has been no one who did not have this ideal of happiness.
Human life and a happy world
The ideal, of course, has never matched reality, yet human beings have constantly tried to achieve the ideal in their life. In this way, great progress has been made in every field of human culture, politics, economics, society, religion, science and so forth.
As you well know, humanity has established a highly developed, affluent society that cannot even be compared to those of ancient or medieval times, and there is no doubt that science has been the decisive factor in this development. If science had not developed, the economic prosperity we have today would not have been realized.
This fact suggests that the majority of scientists have made it their mission to aid progress toward a happy, ideal society—that is, scientists developed science and technology with a keen sense of mission to actualize the dreams of all people. Sometimes men of power misused the results of scientific research for unrighteous purposes, and still the fundamental spirit of scientists has aimed toward the fulfillment of an ideal society for humanity.
The unity of the sciences and a tendency for unification
In this way, the purpose of science is to realize people’s dreams. However, in the past, even when science made great strides, these advances could not always be immediately used to better the lives of all humankind because of national and racial barriers. This indicates that some people insisted on national boundaries for science. However, science belongs to all humanity and must not be monopolized by any particular nation or bloc.
This reminds us that many scientists with a strong sense of mission fought against the unrighteous forces that ignored the original purpose of science and hindered the realization of a true, ideal society.
Among all scientists there may also have been a few who forgot the spirit of serving humankind, becoming too involved in their own immediate interests. Nonetheless, the basic attitude of most scientists was to contribute to the peace and prosperity of all people.
In science there are many fields, yet there is none that does not aim at the realization of human happiness. Physics, chemistry, medicine, biology, geology, astronomy all have the same purpose. Of course, in the past several centuries, science due to its analytic method has become divided and specialized into many small fields. Recently a new and hopeful trend is appearing to consolidate and unify all the divided knowledge by the synthetic method. The emergence of Unified Science is the most conspicuous example of this tendency.
Up to the present time science, despite its many divisions, has worked toward one goal, in one direction. That is, each specialized field has worked for the realization of a happy world in its own particular way, and there is no doubt each field will continue toward the same goal in the future.
Yet when we look at the present world situation, there are many deplorable circumstances. Despite the development of science and economic prosperity, there is still so much tragedy throughout the world.
A good world, a happy world
Despite scientists’ deep desire and diligent efforts, poverty, illiteracy and disease still overwhelm developing countries. Various troubles, crimes and immoralities prevail in the advanced countries. And tensions, wars and hostilities continue among nations. Thus, humankind continues to suffer from sorrow, distress and pain even in the midst of our luxuriously developed cultures.
Many leaders are trying to eliminate this misery and to establish true peace and stability. Yet the world is filled with empty words of peace, and humankind is sinking deeper and deeper into unrest, anxiety and fear.
How has this come to be? The main reason is that the standard of value that regulates people’s behavior has been undermined. As ethics and morality have lost their power, the standard of goodness has almost disappeared.
The standard of behavior for human beings, which is based on God and Christianity in the West and on Confucian ethics in the East, has become lost. That is why humanity is in such a state of misery, despite great advances made by scientists working for the betterment of humanity.
What does this fact indicate? It shows that before the advances of science can be effectively enjoyed, it is first necessary to establish a world of goodness. A world of goodness means a world where the standard of behavior is clearly established. It is a world of morality and religion. However, it will not work unless this standard is newly established. There must be a new standard of behavior, which can ensure that the logical and practical scientific world will go in the right direction. This shows us that in today’s world, science has another mission. It is not enough to improve the standard of life through the application of science in the material world. Scientists must also be concerned with the state of people’s spirits.
Now I am going to explain why. No one can deny that every creature, including the human person, is a unified being with two natures, a material nature and an immaterial mind, as in the world of nature. The human being is a unified being of body and mind; animals are unified beings of body and instinct; and plants are unified beings of matter and directive energy.
From the standpoint of ontology, the cosmos is a world of effect, and it must therefore have an ultimate cause. Materialism says this ultimate cause is matter, and idealism insists it is spirit.
The cause and result of unity
However, because the world of effect is made of unified beings with two natures, the cause must be a monistic being with the essence of the two natures of matter and mind unified into one.
In other words, the ultimate cause must be an absolute, unified being with two natures that can create the attributes of mind and matter respectively. Only from a unified and monistic cause can a unified world of effect be brought into existence. That is, the unified effect must have a unified, monistic being as its cause.
Therefore, we must say that materialism, which takes matter to be the fundamental cause of the universe, is incorrect. The cause cannot be matter, for matter is an expression of only one of the attributes of the cause. This cause existed as non-matter prior to its expression in matter.
Humans are also unified beings brought about by the unified cause. Consequently, people cannot be considered only material beings or only spiritual beings. Therefore, the improvement of physical life or body alone cannot create happiness. Only by improving both the spiritual and physical life at the same time can true happiness be achieved. Science has put its efforts into improving material life, because its domain is limited to the material world. Therefore, in spite of the hard work and deep desire of scientists, humankind has not been able to escape distress and chaos.
Here we can conclude that scientists now must participate in the reformation of spiritual life in order to secure the true happiness of humanity and to protect the precious scientific work accomplished so far. The reformation of spiritual life means creating a world of goodness—that is, a society of new morality, by establishing a new standard of value.
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