Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 234
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 5: Absolute Values and New World Order
Speech 25: Media in the Twenty-first Century: Focus, Roles and Responsibilities, pg 847-850
Modern developments in transportation and communication have allowed people to overcome the obstacles preventing human interaction. It is as if the world has been shrunk to the size of a basketball. It sounds reasonable to call the world a global village. However, even though science and technology have eliminated the spatial obstacles, it is premature to call humanity one global family. We human beings ourselves keep many barriers of our own design in place.
Every day we receive news of racial and cultural wars in parts of Europe. It is no longer unusual to see long lines of refugees leaving their beloved homes, sadly crying over their lost families and struggling with pain and disease. Even in small geographical areas, war and conflict arise out of differences in race, religion, languages, culture, and political and economic systems. Millions and millions of people die of starvation and disease every year, and we have no solution.
How can we overcome the many barriers rooted in self-created, conflicting interests that keep us apart from each other? The solution is to inform humankind that we originally come from one root. Even though we appear to be different by race, culture, language and other aspects, the root of humanity is one, and that root is God. God’s true love, true life and true lineage are the origin of all human beings. In front of God, we are all His children who can share our love together. All people are brothers and sisters having one origin.
The true family is the starting place of a truly peaceful world
Three days from now, on Friday morning, Mrs. Moon and I will conduct a worldwide holy wedding ceremony for 360,000 couples. The Blessing ceremony will be held in Seoul Olympic Stadium. This stadium is the largest facility in Korea, but can accommodate only one hundred thousand people. The other couples are gathering in major cities around the world to participate in this great event via satellite.
Since 1960, Mrs. Moon and I have blessed more than fifty thousand couples. So the holy wedding ceremony on Friday will be the largest by far. It is highly significant that so many people will gather in one place and, by transcending race, nationality, religion, culture and traditional customs, will bond together in this holy wedding. Marriage is the most meaningful event in a person’s life. The fact that so many people have come together for this purpose proves that it is possible to have one shared view of human value respected by everyone, rooted in the fact that everyone wants to have a true family centering on the true love of God.
Although the couples may come from different racial and cultural backgrounds, when they unite as one family centering on the true love of God, there cannot be any racial or cultural conflict between the children. If your father is black and your mother is white, or if your father is Arab and your mother is Jewish, can you as a child have any prejudice against one race over the other, or one culture over the other? Surely you will love and wish to protect both cultures and traditions even more than you love your parents.
When we expect to solve worldwide racial conflict through political or economic means, the inevitable result is failure. Racial distinctiveness is evident from the cradle, so without the ideal of true family centering on true love, the fundamental solution to the problem of race will be impossible. Thus even though the size of this holy wedding is huge, the central idea is focused on the creation of each true family experiencing the true love of the one God.
My dear distinguished journalists, if man and woman had united with God from the beginning, they would have established true families centering on true love. Further, these families would have expanded to create a true nation and a true peaceful world by realizing true love, which is continually giving for the sake of others. However, Adam and Eve, our first human ancestors, fell and united with Satan.
Ever since, God and Satan have been fighting over humankind. Within ourselves, our mind is always directed toward God while our body is on Satan’s side. Mind and body are always in conflict. Perhaps the world could have avoided World War I, World War II or the Cold War, but it cannot avoid the fight between mind and body. Conflict between mind and body has expanded throughout history from the individual to the family, society, nation and worldwide levels. In order to end the historical fighting, humankind has to return to God.
To do so, men and women have to form true families centering on God. They have to invite God back into their homes. A true family centering on true love will become the base on earth where God can dwell. This will become the starting point for the establishment of a true nation and a true, peaceful world. From this, the world of true freedom and true happiness will be opened.
Media people should be leaders in fulfilling their responsibility
Throughout history, humankind’s earthly dream has been to realize the ideals of freedom and equality simultaneously. But pursuit of the ideal of freedom makes the realization of equality extremely difficult. Similarly, under the banner of equality, the ideal of freedom has been limited in the extreme. This has been the lesson of history. However, neither ideal by itself can completely satisfy human desire. This is an ideological, fundamental contradiction that can be resolved only through the ideal of a true family centering on true love. Only by true love will true freedom be preserved. And only by true love will true equality be possible.
Therefore, we will realize a truly peaceful world of both freedom and equality only when we find God, the origin of love, and unite with Him. This fact ought to send a serious signal to atheists who claim there is neither a God nor a need for God. At this turning point in history, when the world is seeking a new dimension, it is extremely important for all journalists to emphasize God-centered values.
Today polls all over the world reveal a growing distrust of the media. This arises when practitioners of journalism and mass media stubbornly persist in thinking only of their narrow self-interest. They believe only they have the truth and fail to understand the value and importance of preserving the family and society. From this perspective, it is understandable that the public is critical of them. This implies that there is a big gap between the absolute standard of value humankind commonly recognizes and pursues, and the various perspectives typical of the media.
The true family centering on God’s true love, in which there is mutual respect, needs to hold sway as an absolute standard of value shared by the media and society. The true and peaceful world pursued by humankind cannot be created from the top down, nor can it be created from the bottom up. Rather, centering on God, all individuals can form true families and live together with God. Then at last we can establish an eternally free and peaceful world.
Respected world journalism leaders: a new history is dawning. This is the time for God and humankind, who have been divided since history began, to meet together in this ideal of the true family. I hope that you journalists will become the pioneers in this precious, historic period and take a leading role and responsibility. The future will be the age of a common life, common prosperity and common righteousness. I expect all journalists to come into accord with God’s Will, even ahead of others, and remain as historical victors. I hope this conference will be successful and most fruitful.
May God bless you and your families. Thank you very much.
FFWPU, USA