A VISION FoR PEACE A PEACE REVOLUTION DR. HANG HYUNG LEE Former President, Hong Ik University, Korea N THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, Rev. Sun Myung Moon I accomplished numerous feats, the most remarkable of which relate to the quest for God, love and the family. From the beginning of human history, human beings have believed that God exists, that human beings are comprised of spirit and body, and that life continues in an eternal spiritual realm after death. Although descriptions of God and spirit vary according to religion or culture, there is clearly a general belief in the existence of God, the spiritual realm, and the immortal spirit. However, with the development of science and reason, human beings began to doubt the existence of the invisible God and the invisible spirit. Many atheists espoused materialism. Because mate­ rial ism led to disdain for the realm of spirit, human beings lost their dignity and degenerated to an animal level. The twentieth century was a time of merciless fighting, including World Wars I and II and the Cold War. Rev. Moon prayed deeply about such a deteriorated human situ­ ation and led a sacrificial life to save human beings by reconnecting with God and the realm of spirit. Through a life of suffering, disci­ pline, asceticism, and prayer, he could meet God and Jesus and experience the realm of spirit. He began to teach what he had experi­ enced about the reality of God, God's love and providence, enabling people to restore their original dignity as human beings. 87 88 P EACE KING Rev. Moon teaches that God is the origin oflove and the universe. In order to establish the world oflove, God created all things, culmi­ nating in human beings as men and women; but because of the fall of Adam and Eve, God's will could not be fulfilled. In order for God's loving will to be realized, Rev. Moon explained how to repel Satan, who obstructed God's act oflove. Therefore, Rev. Moon dearly taught about God's providence to save human beings. Saying that true love is to live sacrificially for the sake of others, Rev. Moon has lived sacrificially throughout his life, enduring suffering and sadness alone for the sake of God's will. However, as typically happens to people bringing a new message about God, Rev. Moon was slandered, persecuted and even impris­ oned several times. Although human beings have used the word "love" for thousands of years, I think that they could not easily under­ stand the true meaning oflove. However, seeing Rev. Moon's practice of true love, I came to understand the true meaning of love. The most valuable finding of Rev. Moon is the true family. Even though the family is the foundation of love and happiness, because human beings turned away from God the family broke down. Igno­ rant of the importance of family, people fought each other over ideological differences. The tragedies of World Wars I and II and the Cold War were caused by wrong desires, prejudices and egoism. Although people were originally created to experience happiness in the family, when they cast away the family, they sought happi­ ness through individual freedom or group equality. This resulted in conflict between ideologies emphasizing individual liberty and the principle of equality. Even though freedom gave many benefits to individuals, since freedom brought inequality it caused misfortune. Moreover, although social equality brought many benefits, because equality limited freedom it caused misfortune. The world was divided between capi­ talism and communism, but finally communism declined. Now, the world is being reorganized by capitalism centering on the U.S. However, because capitalism produced social inequality and moral depravity, revisions were necessary. A compromise between capi- A V IS ION FO R P EACE 89 talism and socialism was suggested, but it does not seem to work out in practice. In this situation, Rev. Moon emphasizes the family model for the original world of creation. The family is the realm of freedom and the paradise of equality. In the family, nobody feels discomfort or inequality. Fundamentally, individual freedom and group equality are contradictory. If freedom is expanded, equality is restricted, and if equality is expanded, freedom is restricted. In spite of that, human beings want to pursue both simultaneously. However, because people knew that freedom and equality could not coexist, liberals thought that maximizing freedom was the greatest happiness, and egalitarians thought that maximizing equality brought the biggest happiness. However, neither could bring true happiness. The slogan of the French Revolution of 1789 was liberty, equality and fraternity. However, since their focus was liberty, the revolution can be called the revolution of liberty. This revolution of liberty increased the gap between the rich and the poor, leading to greater inequality. In protest against such abuses, the Russian Revolution of 1917 was a revolution for equality. This revolution used compul­ sion to remove all inequality at once. However, human freedom was completely restricted and by 1991, its eighty-fourth year, commu­ nism broke down. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the U.S. became the super­ power, and capitalism centering on U.S. became dominant in the world. However, capitalism makes human beings slaves to material things and deepens social inequality. Accordingly, the Third Way and the New Socialism were advocated as alternatives. The one with the greatest freedom is a beggar. However, the reason why nobody wants to be a beggar is because bread is not shared equally with beggars. The society with the greatest equality is a prison. But the reason why nobody wants to go to prison is because there is no liberty in prison. The society in which liberty and equality are harmonized is called paradise, utopia or the ideal world. It is not easy to establish such a world. Such a paradise is not far from us. Our family is the very place. God created human beings and told 90 P EACE KING them to make the ideal family. But, because of the Fall, the family was broken down. The family is the sanctuary oflove. Liberty always exists where love is. Equality always exists where love is. Whatever does not make an object feel free is not love. Whatever does not treat an object equally is not love. Love gives people freedom and makes all people equal. Therefore, freedom and equality exist together in the family which is the basis of love. It is Rev. Moon who restores such a family. The foundation of the French Revolution (the liberty revolution) is the free market, which is the core of capitalism. On the other hand, the Russian Revolution (the equality revolution) depends on the army for strict control. Although the market is where people go to buy and sell goods, it is not a place where human beings can live continuously; the market exists for money-making, not love or happiness. The barracks is where young men spend a few years in public service for their country, but it is not the place where human beings can live eternally. There is no love or happiness there: only rules. Only the family is the place where human beings can live eternally in love and happiness. However, having thrown away the family, human beings have been wandering in search of freedom and equality in the ideological conflicts of capitalism and socialism. However, they did not resolve the challenges of freedom and happi­ ness. Therefore, beyond the first revolution for liberty and the second revolution for equality, a third revolution is necessary. This is the revolution for peace. Rev. Moon advocates a peace revolution. He teaches that all families should live centering on God as the invisible Parent. Since God had never been able to fully manifest as a true parent, Rev. Moon himself has practiced sacrificially the role of True Father of human beings. In order to reestablish the true family in the history of humankind, he has blessed millions of couples. Through blessing and restoring families, Rev. Moon is estab­ lishing a worldwide community of love. Such a community will be the Kingdom of God on earth centered on liberty, equality and love. Thus, he is developing the third revolution for peace by love. A VISIO N FOR P EACE 91 A few years ago, Rev. Moon changed the name of the "Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity," which had a foundation in more than 120 countries, to the "Family Federa­ tion for World Peace and Unification." This shows the importance Rev. Moon places on the family. The third revolution for peace (the revolution of the family) is to establish the world of freedom and happiness by guiding seekers of freedom and equality to the restored family. Sun Moon University, which was founded by Rev. Moon, established a Department of Purity and a Purity College. In the past, there have been courses teaching about family life, child-rearing and domestic matters, but this is the first department of purity. It empha­ sizes mind-body unity and fidelity. Because Adam and Eve did not keep their purity, human beings were unable to form true families; instead, they have been dominated by Satan. Thus, purity is empha­ sized in order to restore the true family centered on true love by removing Satan's weapon of immorality. Rev. Moon has achieved numerous and miraculous accomplish­ ments within the short period of a few decades. The most significant relates to God and the realm of spirit, the second to love, and the third to family. In the twentieth century, God was left out of human life; some people proclaimed the death of God.