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1What is the most critical issue in the World now? World wars begin and end. Wars between nations end when the fighting stops, but the war between the mind and body is unceasing. The standard of peace can be found where we Succeed in conquering the body by following the desires of the mind. The foundation for peace develops where the mother and father, husband and wife, parents and children and the whole extended family become eternally one. For World peace to be realized, this foundation must go beyond individuals, clans, peoples and races to the ends of the earth. To achieve this, we need a revolution to re-create human beings.
2The realization of peace means that the subject and object partners are United. The first syllable, pyeong, of the Korean word for peace, pyeonghwa, means horizontal in English, and the second syllable, hwa, means harmony. This signifies that the central being and its counterpart are not in conflict, but move toward each other and come into harmony.
3Humanity has desired peace since the beginning of history, but wars have continued without ceasing. Unfortunately, strong nations and powerful people have misused the word peace. Even while they spoke of peace, in practice they tormented people in ways that were the opposite of peace. The communists in particular would use peace as one of their favorite catchwords even as they habitually provoked others. In this way, the word peace has been used many times to camouflage injustice. As conditions in the world change, people become entangled in interests that conflict with those of others, making it impossible to establish true peace. In this world, there is no absolute standard by which worldly interests can be fairly evaluated. True peace can be established only on the basis of true love, and true love relationships can be experienced only when people understand the God-centered absolute values that bind human beings together. True peace is not dependent on knowledge, wealth, social position, political power or any other external condition.
4Throughout the long course of history to this day, the world has employed every possible method to realize peace and harmony. Yet this has not been an issue that the political, economic or military power of any single nation has been able to resolve completely. There needs to be a fundamental truth, in other words, a philosophy of peace, which can be recognized not only by those in the family, who are closest to the issue, but also by those in the clan, people, nation and world, and even in the realm that transcends this world.
5Peace refers to an even state where there are no wrinkles. It means everything has been harmonized, so it is smooth. When everything is completely harmonized, the result is a spherical shape. If you take clay and keep rolling it, it becomes rounded and in the end a perfect sphere is made. It has no wrinkles, every bit of it is completely smooth, and it takes on an absolutely spherical form.
6God is an absolute being and also is unique. Do you think this unique being set the standard of perfection for Himself alone? If He had, it would be a big problem! Someone who is in a void, alone, cannot use the words joy and happiness. Happiness arises from a mutual relationship. A mother is happy when she and her children are one. The very nature of the word peace, which means harmonizing into an even state, includes the idea of a counterpart, or other. The words peace and happiness refer not to someone who is alone, but to someone who is in a relationship.
7Peace has to do with relationships. An even state can be realized only when two people harmonize with each other. An individual alone cannot realize it. Two people can be happy when they are on an equal footing that pleases them both. When we speak of freedom, we realize there is no freedom without love. Love itself is boundless freedom. If you rule with love, you can be proud of being absolute about it.
8Peace refers to harmonizing in an even state. You cannot bring about peace alone. When people are harmonized with all the people in their lives -- whether the relationships are up and down, right and left or otherwise, and when nothing is crooked -- joy ensues and everything is amicable. This is the only road to peace.
9If He is alone, God feels lonely, just as we do. So it is theoretically correct to say that even God likes absolute, true love. He wants a love greater than Himself, an absolute love greater than an absolute being. If what God needs is a greater and more absolute love, then even God must be absolutely obedient to it. What is the root of the universe's existence? Since the root and the origin of the universe is not an absolute being, but rather is absolute love, which itself can bind an absolute being, we can conclude that heaven and earth can indeed form a world of peace. When we realize that everything in the universe came into existence because of love, then we will automatically deduce that it was love that brought forth peace and ideals.
10Given that God is the source of life, on what foundation would He desire to live and continue to exist? He would want to exist on the foundation of peace. The foundation of peace is not something established by life. What can establish it? It is something by which subject and object partners acknowledge their common value, transcending high and low and the orderly stages of their development. It is true love alone. God maintains life on the foundation of true love. His omniscience and omnipotence are based on true love. Only in this way can He stand as the ideal subject partner who has transcended history. If He seeks to assume the position of the subject partner with only the power of life, then creation will not want to unite with Him. Even microscopic organisms, animals and plants wish for a master of love to care for and tend to them.
11We can say that people resemble God in their creativity based on their remarkable scientific achievements. However, in the area of love, they do not resemble God at all, so sadness, suffering and misfortune continue. Since love is found together with harmony, there can be no love in the absence of harmony, and neither can there be peace or happiness without harmony. In the realm of disharmony, all sorts of miserable things develop. So both God and human beings desire that people establish an ideal lifestyle and world that takes after God. The ideal person desired by God and by our original mind is both creative and good. He or she is a person who practices love that revolves around God. Also, the ideal world desired by both God and humanity is a united world of great harmony, where creative activities to improve the environment are abundant and where the love between individuals and nations is full to overflowing. When the time comes for a new type of person such as this to finally live in a new, unified world, all sadness, ordeals and fighting that the human race has been enduring for so many ages will finally disappear.
12Centering on what should we be managing this world? This is a subject of discussion among today's historians and intellectuals, but I tell you, the first necessity is to have a person with the capability to guide the world. What kind of guidance would such a person offer? There are plenty of people who have the ability to guide based on their power over the economy. There is no shortage of people capable of leading based on politics. But it is neither a lack of money nor a poor political system that keeps us from succeeding. The problem is that there is no system of love enabling people to connect to God and to God's ideal. When we struggle through to find the truth that sustains a proper system of original love, and grow it to a global scale, then peace -- the starting point where our original mind can rest -- will arise.
13The 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, pyeonghyeong (balancer) and pyeonghwa (peace), each of which includes the character pyeong 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.
14Where will we find the standard for evenness (pyeong)? 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-gyuti) or equality (pyeongdeung) are not related to an entity's strength or form. These words represent realities that are based on love.
15Where 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.
16If 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.
17What 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.
18What 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.
19People 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.
20People 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.
21Because 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.
22If 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.
23If 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.
24Where is the origin of peace and happiness? It is where we realize we were not born for ourselves but for the sake of our object partners, for others. There all the difficult issues in this universe will be resolved. When Adam and Eve became self-aware, they insisted on their own way, and that's why they fell. They should have lived for God and followed God's directions, but they did the opposite. Here I can give you one single formula: It is only where people exist for the sake of others that we can find an eternal world of genuine ideals and happiness.
25No matter how talented or handsome a man, he was not born for his own sake. He was born for the sake of a woman. Even the most intelligent, beautiful woman was not born for her own sake. She was born for the sake of a man. We must ponder the fact that the natural origin of existence is the act of creation for the sake of others. Here we find the formula by which God created His ideal world. It is only when we exist for the sake of others that God's true love can begin, His ideal partner can appear, and peace and happiness can be realized.
26Humankind is confronting today's chaotic world and pursuing a peace that transcends nationality. However, to this day, a world of peace for all people has failed to materialize. Since this is so, if there is one ideal with potential, an ideal that can give people hope, it is the ideal that advocates the logic of a peaceful world with God at its center. This is the only ideal that can give this chaotic world a chance to find a new direction and a new history. If we think about it logically, the only possible outcome has to be the kingdom of heaven on earth. The kingdom of heaven is a world of peace with God at the center. From that center, all conflicts based on history, religion, race and any other obstacle can be overcome. God must remain the single, unchanging center.
27How will we find the peace and freedom that can bring forth a world of happiness through the paths of religion, ethics and philosophy, all of which seek the truth? The heart of all people today is the same. And the heart of people thousands of years in the past was the same, as will be the heart of those who will appear hundreds of millions of years from now. There is no changeability in the world of heart. Can we not find, somewhere on this earth, a heart motivated from the one unchangeable base, so we can develop a world that can realize a garden of happiness, a social standard that can engender such happiness, and a religious mindset that can match that feeling of happiness? If we conclude that such a thing cannot be found, then where will God go? If we came to that conclusion, we would also have to conclude that God can't be with us.
28If there is a heavenly rule that gives Heaven the means to embrace us, to set up the heavenly providence, to uphold morality and ethics and cause people to aim for goodness, then there is no question that Heaven will explain to us everything that is related and connected to it. Moreover, a day will come when men and women of all ages will affirm this in their heart. The day will come when everyone will harmonize with each other, delighting in freedom, peace and happiness. If this does not come about, then no relationship exists between us and God or any great thinker.
29Today it is commonly held by people at all levels of society that this world is not a world of peace. Still the people of the world yearn for peace. Moreover, everyone without exception wants to live in a free society, free nation and free world. A man or woman seeking to walk the true path of life wants to enjoy genuine happiness while rejoicing in genuine freedom in an environment of genuine peace. But there can be no genuine happiness unless peace and freedom reside in our mind. Although people cry out for freedom, they also admit that their surroundings are not free enough for them to live as their heart desires. Therefore no human being can deny the fact that he or she has not yet reached the fulfillment that his or her mind eagerly pursues.
30Everything seeks partners that have good origins. Moreover, everything seeks places where there is freedom, and pursues that which brings peace. Nonetheless, freedom, peace and happiness are not to be sought separately; they must be sought together. So is freedom to be found within peace, or is peace to be found within freedom? Peace is a condition for freedom; freedom comes on the foundation of peace. Peace is where two people harmonize with each other, which is only possible when they make concessions to one another.
31There is no freedom under the love of Satan's world. Neither is there peace, happiness, hope or eternal life. We must restore all these through indemnity. Freedom arises when we restore the creation's rights, human rights and love's rights. Therefore your mind and body must become one. I am saying you should restore human rights. Only when our mind and body are united can we be truly free. If a grandfather and his granddaughter-in-law, for example, were one in heart, then it wouldn't matter even if he had to enter her room unannounced. What I mean is, the artificiality would crumble, because when there is unity of heart, there is freedom, and only in freedom is there peace and true happiness.
32Without a foundation of unity, freedom cannot exist. If your mind and body clash, can you have freedom, maintain it, and be joyful? Can freedom appear? It cannot. Also, where is peace? True peace is where we are completely free, where everything is smooth and nothing is lacking. Yet when your mind and body clash, is there a place where peace can dwell? No. The same is true for happiness. Can anyone find happiness when his or her mind and body are fighting? There's no way. When we consider these fundamental issues, we realize that it is only where our mind and body are completely united that we can be free, that a base for peace appears, and that happiness arises. It is only when a husband and wife become one in heart and body that they can dream about a peaceful world based on peace in their family.
1In order for humankind to be good, every individual must be good. Unless that happens, humankind cannot become good. In the end each person has to become a good person and stand in the position of a driving force for peace, in the unchanging position of a good fruit for eternity. Otherwise, even though we want the world to become peaceful, it will not.
2Because the human ancestors fell, they could not become God's genuine sons and daughters. Instead they got together as they wished and had children, forming a tribe, people and nation. This should have occurred based on principled love that revolved around God. A peaceful, ideal world of genuine happiness can exist only with God's love.
3The Messiah's work is carried out with God at the center. Therefore to this day, God and Satan have been opposing one another. God is plus and Lucifer, who should have been a minus, became a plus called Satan that repels God. Conflict leads to war, destruction and ruin. But unity brings peace. Unity cannot come about unless we create a minus realm to God and relate to Satan so as to bring him to submission. Heaven's side must become Abel and unify this world. Abel comes to unify. Unification brings the beginning of the peaceful world, the garden of Eden.
4People seek genuine, unchanging truth. At the same time, humanity pursues love, the ideal, happiness, peace and freedom. No matter how chaotic or hopeless the world may be, our heart and mind yearn for this. This fire of hope continues to burn. The issue here is: what will God do? God has no choice but to pursue a world of true love, true ideals, true happiness, peace and freedom. So what human beings are pursuing and what God is pursuing must be the same thing. Then when we speak about love, ideals, happiness or peace, are we referring to the qualities of one individual or are we speaking about what can be realized only within a mutual relationship? These are not conditions that can be realized by an individual alone. Can you have love by yourself? Can you enter an ideal state by yourself? You cannot have such things as happiness or peace when you are alone. These can be realized only within mutual relationships.
5What needs to be settled first, rising above all scholarly pursuits, customs, and established social structures, is the question of God. God must be the beginning point. If God created human beings through a process, from a starting point, we can't realize a world of peace unless we rediscover the way God intended to actualize His ideal of creation, which is humanity's destination. The world of peace is a world of oneness. If God and human beings take different directions, then the one world of peace cannot appear. Thus the necessary conclusion is that there must be only one direction for both God and humankind. Therefore, unless we jettison the direction of this human-centered world and set our course toward a world that upholds God as the Supreme Being, we cannot find the way to a unified, peaceful world.
6An individual of perfected character can represent God's ideal of creation. God did not create the natural world to simply observe and interact with it. He created for the sake of joy. It is through joy that we can find happiness, and through happiness that we can create a peaceful environment for each other. To feel joy, we don't need money, and having people there, by itself, also is not enough. What is needed is a force between God and human beings that allows God to relate to us as a Father to His children. These are the elements of joy -- bonds that neither God nor His children can break no matter how they feel or what they do. There must be an absolute force, a subjective force that cannot be removed or blocked by any other force, a path we can pursue as our one and only absolute ideal. Until that has been settled, we cannot have our ideal subject partner, and God cannot have His ideal counterpart. Then what is the central, primary factor that can create joy between God and human beings so that both can be happy? What is the core essence that can become the origin of peace? It can only be a reciprocal relationship with the absolute love of God.
7What is the central issue in resolving all the problems of the world? Giving a clear explanation about the existence of God is more important than anything else. When all human beings come to realize that God truly exists, they will clearly know the direction of His Will. When they understand God's purpose, a unified, peaceful and ideal world will surely come about.
8The idea that a peaceful world can come about by human effort alone is a fantasy. Why is that? When you look at your mind and body, how intense the battle between them is! Therefore, even for myself, when I was cultivating my mind, my motto was: "Before desiring to master the universe, I must attain perfect mastery over myself?" Our body is intense and powerful, and we can expect it always to block our way. Even if you could rule the universe, it is not easy to rule yourself. Since this is how it is, in this chaotic heaven and earth, peace and unity are nothing more than fantasies. Nonetheless, as long as God exists, they are possible.
9The original garden of Eden was a garden of life. It was not a garden of life that was supposed to be limited only to that time; it was to have continued throughout eternity. Had it been realized on the earth, human beings, as beings of life, would have experienced eternal joy and gratitude for God's gift of life. Also, the original garden of Eden was a world in which human beings could emit the light of life as the lords of all living things, where each individual could emit light as a substantial realization of God's eternal hope and as a being of eternal value. The original garden was a garden of love and also a world of peace and unity, in which all God's children were to have become one by relating with each other harmoniously centering on His love.
10You will become one united, extended family centered on the restored nation that belongs to Adam and Eve on the world level. Such a great united family is not just a united nations of the world. New ancestors, first and second generation, will need to be organized from the spiritual and physical worlds, like a large extended family. From them must come a people, nation and world. What remains after that is to form a people, nation and world that will fulfill what is written on the concluding page of history. Now can you understand how urgent this task is? I have announced the age of God's homeland and His kingdom of peace. The time is coming when all beings in existence need to stand in that place. But if God's homeland and kingdom of peace do not stand in a realm of liberation and complete freedom, God will not be able to take ownership.
11The original garden we wish for is a garden of happiness and a world in which we offer praise and gratitude to God. That world is a world of hope based on love and life and a world where the values of peace and unification have been realized. It is also a world in which all human values combine and appear as beauty, a world where all God's children, through song, laughter and dance, praise the life and eternal love we have received. Moreover, it is a world in which all things of the creation join together, harmonizing with the movement of human beings. God wanted to realize this world of His original ideal through human beings.
12The children, Cain and Abel, were not born through God's love. Our ancestors, Adam and Eve, were supposed to receive God's Blessing; instead they were driven out of the garden. Even as God did so He said, "Beloved Adam, beloved Eve! I created you in order to build a garden of love, which is the world I intended when I created this great universe. Thus you would have been the king and queen of peace and happiness." No other entities on this earth could have held this position. It was only our first ancestors who were to have become the king and queen. Adam could have stood as the king of the heavens and earth for all eternity, with his descendants covering the earth. After the heavens and earth were formed, after the connection had been made between God and His beloved children, our ancestor Adam was the one person who could have received the title of king.
13Two thousand years after the Fall, Heaven selected and established a chosen people and promised, "I will send you someone who will become your lord and leader, your prince of freedom, peace and happiness." And thus Heaven sent this one person who had been promised as the champion of happiness, peace and freedom, the one man who could resolve Heaven's anguish and bring forth Heaven's blessings. The one person promised through the ages finally appeared, yet the chosen people of Israel did not welcome and attend him and live according to his will. Because they did not unite according to God's Will and fight to resolve Heaven's anguish, the grievous course of history has been repeatedly prolonged until this day. Jesus Christ was the person who came as the prince of peace, happiness and freedom, to resolve God's anguish, which arose from the bitter, four-thousand-year course of human history.
14If you embody the idea of a cosmic kingdom of heaven and expand a movement of God's love, life and truth, then a world of peace will be established on this earth. Therefore your parents are not just your own parents, your family is not just your own brothers and sisters, and your children are not just your own sons and daughters. If you become people with the character that views all people as your parents, brothers and sisters and children, then you will shed tears for any person being harassed in the world of death. Also, when you see people your own age or younger than you, your tears will flow with a sense of responsibility to save them, and you will try to do so. When you become such people, you will be at the center of building the kingdom of heaven on this earth.
15Peace will be realized only when there is a king of peace. Should a human being or God be the king of peace? It goes without saying that God should be the king of peace. If you understand what kind of God the God of peace is, you can become His child. By doing so, you will become His heir, who can inherit His royal authority.
16Uniting the world is not something that can be accomplished through great strength or great knowledge. It can be accomplished only through love. World peace is realized only when we commit to completing all our responsibility, even when it means we must sacrifice ourselves, sacrifice "me." Unity brought about through power dissolves as soon as the power goes away, but unity brought about through self-sacrifice remains even if the power is gone. Because God is the king of wisdom, He set up a principle for unification that can long endure. God established the principle of love that says, "Sacrifice! Exist for the sake of others!" When we live that way, love naturally blossoms and we automatically receive the right to inherit joy. Hence we are told to sacrifice ourselves and live for the sake of others, because doing so allows us to connect to the universe and stand at the point closest to Heaven's eternal love.
17Science understands the existing world in terms of laws, creates formulas, and adds them to the store of our shared human knowledge. However, science is not everything. When we touch our own skin, we feel our body temperature and there is the feeling of touch, of course, yet there is something beyond the physical. When we try to move counter to the direction of the universe, the principles of the universe that guide our life tell us instead to go in the direction that conforms to the purpose of the universe. Thus as God created heaven and earth, everything, large and small, is within the magnificent realm of the Creator's great thought. Everything God made was born of love. The momentum of the great universe, created in such a way, must tend toward a world of peace through which God feels the greatest joy and pleasure, and where God's purpose is realized such that He can say, "Now I am fulfilled."
Fin de What Is Peace?