Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 205
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 5: Absolute Values and New World Order
Speech 7: Absolute Values and the Creation of a New World, pg 729-732
Absolute Values and the Creation of a New World
November 10, 1981
Sejong Cultural Center, Seoul, Korea
Tenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences
Honorable chairman, committee chairs, distinguished professors, ladies and gentlemen:
I am deeply grateful that you have come to Korea to attend the tenth International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences.
Korea is my native country. Here in Korea you may find reminders of the sacrifices made by the sixteen nations that participated in the Korean War. As Korea is divided into North and South, it is a sorrowful country, but one of great significance. I sincerely hope that you will take a deep look at Korea and Asia and come to understand them well. I also hope that the contents of the speech I am about to present will be understood in a profound religious context and not in a political context.
Unity between all classes of society
There are many confrontations and struggles in the world today. While confrontations exist between what people cast as “higher” and “lower” races, nations and cultures, the most serious problem of all is the confrontation between the upper and lower social classes formed by differences in terms of wealth and poverty.
About eight hundred million people living mainly in the Northern Hemisphere may be considered the upper class of the world. On the other hand, in China, India and other Asian nations, there are three billion people who form a middle class. Finally, there are some five hundred million people residing in Africa, Latin America and Oceania who comprise an economically poor, or lower class. This difference in wealth presents a most serious problem in today’s world, and it is dealt with repeatedly under the rubric of the North-South problem by various international organizations, including the United Nations.
I believe that the best way to solve the North-South problem is to unite the upper and lower classes through the Asians, who can mediate between the Euro-American societies and the Latino, African and Polynesian societies. All the important issues of the twentieth century must be solved globally. To do this, however, the greatest challenge is how to motivate the people of the upper class to humble themselves of their own free will.
Throughout much of history, various efforts have been made to diminish this gap between the upper and lower classes. Communism is the most prominent example of this trend. The ideal of communism is to eliminate exploitation by the upper class and to construct a classless society. However, the biggest problem with communism is its atheism, in other words, that it seeks to create an ideal world upon a foundation that denies God. A further problem with communism is that in practice all things take place according to the private will of a few dictators.
To overcome these problems and find a new solution, we must go beyond the humanism to which we have been clinging tightly. The unity we seek requires a new God-centered philosophy and a new central point. The only medium that can enable the upper and lower classes to unite is religion. Religion’s original purpose was the salvation of the world, not just the salvation of individuals or families. To accomplish the task of uniting the upper, middle and lower classes requires a new religion, one that can serve as a nucleus for global unity.
Then what is the Unification Church? It is nothing less than the new religion destined to carry out this historic mission. I have been pioneering the path toward that goal, and it is inevitable that people of all races will want to meet me on that path.
The Korean Peninsula from the standpoint of civilization
The globe on which we live is divided into land and ocean. If we look geographically, we can see that peninsulas connect continent and ocean. Accordingly, since ancient times peninsulas have always been significant sites for the formation of civilizations. The ancient civilizations of both Greece and Rome, as well as those of Spain and Portugal, began and flourished on peninsulas. Today a new worldwide civilization combining the civilizations of the East and the West needs to emerge. This is happening now in Asia, on the Korean Peninsula.
World civilization has developed as it has spread around the globe. The continental Egyptian civilization was succeeded by the Greek and Roman peninsular civilizations, which gave way to the island civilization of England, and eventually to the continental American civilization. From there, civilization blossomed across the Pacific, with the island civilization of Japan, from which it has extended to East Asia, concentrating on an emerging Korean Peninsula civilization. The civilization focused here in Korea is one of a high dimension, and it will play a central role in creating a new world.
Japan, an island country, was the first to allow Western civilization to establish itself in Asia. The next age will be that of a peninsular civilization, focused on the Korean Peninsula, where the Eastern and Western civilizations are merging. The historian Oswald Spengler pointed out that civilizations, like the four seasons of a year, go through cycles of rising and falling. Today the age of the Atlantic civilization is passing and the age of the Pacific civilization is emerging.
If we look at Korea’s geopolitical situation, we see that this small country is located between the four great powers of the United States, Japan, China and the Soviet Union. The United States is currently expending great effort to counter the expansionist Soviet Union. In Europe, the Soviet Union occupies half of a divided Germany, and in Asia, it has split Korea into North and South, keeping the North within its sphere of influence.
It is primarily in Asia, especially in Korea, and not in Europe, that these four great powers are confronting one another. Because of this, America is obliged to pay attention to Asia, a continent far larger than Europe. Considering this situation, Korea will play a basic role in determining the outcome of the confrontations between East and West and between North and South.
At this point, let us take a look at the practical possibility of this occurring. Koreans have a strong sense of justice and are quite religious by nature. They display their capabilities in many different fields. If they reach a deadlock in any situation, they cope with it and if necessary change direction boldly, courageously and adaptively. These are some of the traits Koreans use to achieve their objectives.
I was born among these Koreans. The Unification Church has developed from such a background. We of the Unification Church believe that, as the fruit of such a history, we are to accomplish the worldwide mission of bringing the world’s upper and lower classes closer together, with Asians as intermediaries. The Unification Church has sufficient spiritual attributes to fully accomplish this purpose. To this end, I am determined to do my best in all fields of endeavor and in all regions of the world.
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