Unification Thought Institute, Japan. Akifumi Otani. According to the Unification Principle and Unification Thought, God is a

Transcription

1 The Significance of True Parents in the Unification View of God Unification Thought Institute, Japan Akifumi Otani 1. The God of Parent According to the Unification Principle and Unification Thought, God is a harmonious union of masculinity and femininity, and therefore is a being which has attributes of both a man and a woman. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, True Father, says that God is a being who comprises the essence of both man and woman, as follows: Genesis 1:27 of the Old Testament tells us, So God created man in His own image; male and female He created them. From observing God s creation as expressed in this passage, we can conclude that God is a being who comprises the essence of both man and woman. God could not enjoy a solitary life; therefore, He created the universe as His object partner. That is, He created all things in the universe in the position of object partners in image, and in the midst of this environment He created human beings as His object partners in substance. Adam and Eve were the beings that represented God s male and female aspects respectively. There was a reason God created human beings as one man and one woman.[1] Traditionally, in Judaism and Christianity, God has been regarded as the Heavenly Father, and the Mother attribute was missing in God. This concept originates in the greater sin of Eve than that of Adam: Not only was Eve tempted by the Archangel and fell with him but she also led Adam to fall in the Garden of Eden. As a result, throughout human history, women have walked the way of indemnity whereby women have been oppressed by men. At the same time, the feminine in God (Goddess) was also hidden and disregarded. However, as described by Jack Miles in God: A Biography published in 1995, a best seller in the religious division at that time, there were such views, in Judaism and 1

2 Christianity, as God is a harmonious union of the male and female, and God is reflected in the human couple. It was exactly the same view of God in Unification Principle and Unification Thought. God s image is the male and the female together The human male alone is not the image of God, only the male and the female together. And this duality in the image must somehow be matched by a duality in the original. It is this fact that requires us to speak of the exclusion rather than the mere absence of the feminine from God s character.[2] God is reflected in the human couple At the creative start, God spoke of himself in the plural and saw himself reflected in the human couple rather than the human male. But thereafter the female in the divine male was suppressed.[3] According to Rev. Moon, the history of women s indemnity has finished, and the time has come to establish the equality of men and women, and True Mother said: Furthermore, a woman is not made to be a man s assistant or simply an object of his protection. Rather, a woman is an interdependent entity who completes a man by standing in position that represents half of God in the ideal of true love, a woman exists as a man s noble partner, as the recipient who can reciprocate his love. In terms of value, man and woman are equal. A man and woman who are united through the power of original, true love acquire entitlement to the same status. They also share entitlement to participate together and be with each other, whatever the situation or location.[4] At the same time, the time has come when God is worshiped as the Heavenly Parent, a union of Heavenly Mother as well as Heavenly Father. Thus, True Mother said that now is the time for the era of yin to begin, and the time has come for women to take the lead, in accordance with the providence of God of yang and yin. God created heaven and earth as yang and yin, plus and minus, but until now everything has been onesided. Due to the Fall of the first human ancestors, yang and yin could not move forward equally, side by side. Since then, until this era, yang 2

3 dominated the world. However, now is the time for the era of yin to begin. The time has come for women to take the lead. Heaven knew of this amazing providence, and now we must also become aware of God's profound providence to open a new path in God's original plan was for a balance to be made, and that is exactly how the kingdom of heaven on earth and in heaven are to be realized. (True Mother, 2013/04/15) [5] 2. The Two-stage Structure of Creation As fully described in Unification Thought, the sequence of God s creation was, first the formation of the Logos (scenario of creation), which took place within God s mind; and then the creation of the phenomenal world (real world), which took place according to the Logos. This process is called the two-stage structure of creation. In the beginning, God formed the Logos (God s Word), namely, He made the scenario of the creation of the world. First, the image of Adam and Eve was conceived in God s mind. Then, taking the human image as a model, and by abstracting and transforming it, God conceived the images of animals and of plants from higher to lower beings. Then, He conceived the images of the heavenly bodies, atoms, elementary particles, and finally light. In this way, the formation of the Logos was carried out from top to bottom. The creation of the phenomenal world occurred, however, in exactly the reverse order, from bottom to top. Initiated by God s Word, let there be light, the explosion of energy called the Big Bang occurred. Then, from the Big Bang, emerged elementary particles, which later formed atoms, and molecules. Those atoms and molecules coalesced into the heavenly bodies, including the Earth, a special planet among the heavenly bodies. On the Earth, first, procaryotes (bacteria) emerged, then simple eucaryotes such as algae and amebae emerged, then, multicellular higher plants and animals, and finally, humans. 3

4 In the formation of the Logos, God visualized the world of ideal love centering on Adam and Eve. Before creation, God had mind and body. In the unity of mind and body, in love and without conflict, God lived and dreamed of realizing a world of ideal love.[6] form. Then, God intended to create the ideal world of love in His heart in substantial In the garden of Eden, the family of Adam was to have been the model of a true family as envisioned by God. The invisible form of God was to have materialized in visible form through the four-position foundation that God intended. God created us to be the object partners to Him as the subject partner. Children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, and parents had existed only as entities in His heart. He desired to perfect them in substantial form. Starting with the family of Adam, God wanted to feel infinite joy by achieving the perfection of the true love He had envisioned, with substantial children, substantial brothers and sisters, substantial husbands and wives, and substantial parents.[7] God, at the time of the formation of Logos before the creation of the substantial world, was static God. God was meditating and thinking by Himself. God felt quiet and horizontal love, in the thinking of a world of love centering on Adam and Eve. Rev. Moon called this world of God before the creation the Static Unified World of Settlement and Harmony. Before the creation of the substantial world, God had lived and spent days 4

5 with a quiet joy God had lived thinking good plans day and night in His mind. Since God had been the static union of both sexes, God was in the static settlement. While God had existed as the harmonious union of the dual characteristics, He could not feel the stimulating love, but He could feel the quiet and horizontal love, and such world of God is called Static Unified World of Settlement and Harmony. [8] God created the substantial world from the world of imagination in order to feel stimulating and impulsive love. Then, the static God before the time of creation of the substantial world became the dynamic God. Rev Moon called the substantial world of love which God had wished the Dynamic Unified World of Settlement and Harmony. Then, God had to move from static to the dynamic world.... The mind and the body must be united into one: one mind, one body and one determination. Thinking must be centered on a nucleus: one mind, one body, one determination, and one nucleus. When a nucleus moves, all others will move. It is love, which is dynamic. This is the Dynamic Unified World of Settlement and Harmony. [9] In the formation of the Logos, God planned a 100% perfect ideal world of love. However, in the creation of the world, since God gave Adam and Eve 5% of the overall responsibility for creating the ideal, God took on 95% of responsibility. And, God s creation would have been completed when Adam and Eve had completed their 5% of responsibility. However, since Adam and Eve fell, God became God of failure in the creation of heaven and earth. Originally, if Adam and Eve had not fallen, they would have become the external parents connected by lineage centering on the true love of God. They would have become one with the internal Father, God, and become the spiritual and physical human ancestors living in the absolute true love of God. The point in time when Adam and Eve were to stand at the central focal point was the moment when they were to make love for the first time on the night of their wedding, and thus become one in body in love centering on God. However, through the Fall of Adam and Eve, that was lost. God had planned to plant conjugal love in human beings, yet He was not able to secure a place to plant it. And so He became miserable.[10] As a result, if God at the time of the formation of the Logos is regarded as the mind, while God at the time of the creation of the substantial world, as the body, then 5

6 a conflict between God s mind and body has occurred. The persons who brought the conflict in God are none other than Adam and Eve. In his prayer, Rev. Moon said: I know very well that the very being who brought about the seemingly impossible conflict between Your mind and body was the same being who stained the name of True Parents.[11] 3. Creation of Adam and Eve According to Genesis in the Bible, it is written that God created Adam from the dust and God made Adam sleep, and God took a rib from Adam and made it into a woman, Eve. However, from the standpoint of the Unification Thought which regards God as the supreme scientist rather than a magician, God would not have done such a thing to create Eve from a rib. It is a figurative expression, and the rib meant the pattern or the plan of Adam. Thus, God created Eve in the same way as God created Adam with the same pattern or plan of Adam except for the sexual difference. Rev. Moon said that Eve was created with Adam as the model or pattern as follows. The Bible story that God took a rib from Adam and created Eve means that Eve was created with Adam as the pattern. It means that from a perfect plus a perfect minus will inevitably emerge. Thus, if Adam became a perfect plus, Eve, in the position of a perfect minus, was to be born through Adam. This is a principle of heaven and earth. If you understand the Bible story in this way, you will recognize that God is a true scientist.[12] Later, however, Rev. Moon explained that God planned Eve first and then planned Adam with Eve as the model. When creating a man, God planned him so as to be matched with a woman, a model, pre-condition, pre-existent invisible plan. Does man understand this? Man was born for woman. Why? If there were no woman, a man cannot occupy the position of master of love who loves a woman, sons and daughters. Therefore, God planned a woman previously as a precondition and created a man modeled after a woman.[13] This means that human beings began from a woman. 6

7 Did human beings begin from a woman? Did they begin from a man? (Someone said, From a man. ) No, it is a mistake. They began from a woman. It is revolutionary and happy words for women.[14] This results in the conclusion that God started the creation of the world making a woman as a standard. Women, pride yourself from today. If God is a convex, God should have known all the structures of a woman who is concave. Did God create a man to suit it, or did God create the concave to suit a man? Based on what standard, did God start the creation? With what model God started the creation? God created the whole world making a woman as a standard.[15] Although, in the creation of the substantial world, Adam was created first and Eve later, Rev. Moon said that the woman is the masterpiece of God and she is in the position where she can receive more love from God than man. When God created human beings, do you think He loved the man or the woman more? He loved the woman more. Men are God s dwelling place. Therefore, when men mature and reach adulthood, they want to command the world, travel around the universe, and win first place in everything. Men are more ambitious in this way. Women, on the other hand, do not think, I want to be the best in the world. Instead, in terms of their conjugal relationship, they are inclined to pursue one direction love. They long for an environment of tranquility and a peaceful life. They do not relish competitive struggle. They rather want to love and receive love, and to lean on someone. So they want to live where they can be part of a family, be secure, and cultivate intimate relationships. Woman was God s final masterpiece. And women have more capacity to receive love than men.[16] Incidentally, in the early days, Rev. Moon said that a woman (Eve) was planned with a man (Adam) as the model. It was for explaining the true meaning of the Bible s passage that Eve was created from Adam s rib. Afterwards, he came to explain that a man (Adam) was planned with a woman (Eve) as the model. In The Creation of Adam by Michelangelo, it is said that it is Eve, or the Holy Mother Mary, that God is holding in the left arm. It can be said that this work indicates that God created Adam while embracing the image of a woman. 7

8 4. The Vertical and Incorporeal God Needs Space Why did God create Adam and Eve? According to Rev. Moon, it is for the vertical and incorporeal God to assume a form, to experience stimulating joy, and to have space. Thus, the incorporeal God s purpose in creating Adam and Eve was, first, to assume a form. Second, by assuming a form, He could experience jolts and vibrations. For instance, lyrics alone are not sufficient to make music. Along with lyrics, there should be melody and there should also be rhythm. God wanted to enjoy the stimulation of such sensations. Third, since God is the vertical Father on the central axis, He occupies no space. If God looks at Himself, He sees that He occupies just one point, on an axis. He needs space for multiplication. So, why does He need a body? It is because for reproduction to occur He needs space; He needs to see extension in all directions, through 360 degrees.[17] If Adam or Eve has only the vertical relationship with God, he or she is engaged only in the linear movement with God, and they cannot inherit God s eternal love or exist eternally. In order for them to exist eternally, they should be engaged in the circular movement between them under God s love. Rev. Moon said: Centering on God, Adam and Eve should stand as subject and object and become linked through love. When this happens, God and the human beings Adam and Eve would each form a relationship of subject and object. However, if Adam, without forming a subject and object relationship with Eve, formed only the subject and object relationship with God, he would not be able to inherit the eternal love of God or exist eternally. [This is the same for Eve.] 8

9 Eternity and perfection come not from a straight linear movement, but from a circular movement. In order for the linear movement to become a circular movement, Adam must also form a relationship with Eve who is the object. Adam cannot move in a circular direction if he forms a relationship just with God or just with Eve, and he would not be able to create the harmony of life and love by himself alone.[18] In order for God to occupy space, the horizontal love of man and woman was necessary. To accomplish this, God objectified the feminine in Himself /Herself and first designed a woman (Eve), and then designed a man (Adam) to be in a correlative relationship with the woman. God who created Adam and Eve comes to love Eve while dwelling in Adam. Therefore, Eve becomes Adam s wife and at the same time becomes the wife of God. Furthermore, Adam and Eve would have become the true parents who embodied God. If Adam and Eve had become a couple of true love centered upon God, God could have dwelt in Adam as His substantial body and thus loved Eve. What is more, Adam and Eve together could have become True Parents who substantially embodied God, and thereby could have become the origin of the love of goodness, a life of goodness and a lineage of goodness.[19] God did not wish only to have the vertical relationship with Adam or with Eve, but rather God wished that Adam and Eve love each other and unite into one under God s vertical love, whereby the incorporeal God dwells in them and manifests in the corporeal world as corporeal parent. That is the God s wish. God s intention and purpose went beyond perfecting the vertical subject-object relationship with human beings in love. After perfecting vertical love, He wanted Adam and Eve to bear the fruit of their horizontal love. That moment was to be the very moment when the internal Parent, God, and the external parents, Adam and Eve, would achieve the ideal of love in complete union. Then the incorporeal Parent, through the form of Adam and Eve, would have become the eternal Parent in this corporeal world. At that moment Adam and Eve would have become the True Parents and true ancestors of humankind.[20] However, Eve was tempted by the archangel and fell. The archangel violated Eve, God s daughter, who in the future was to have become God s queen. 9

10 Who violated the woman? It was the archangel, a servant. He violated Eve, God s daughter, who in the future was to have become God s queen and outward manifestation. Yet the archangel changed her lineage.[21] As a result, Eve became the devil s (the archangel s) spouse. Eve then tempted Adam, who fell, and in their God-excluded union they became the false parents and ancestors of humanity God s enemy [the devil] is the adulterer. He is the enemy of God s love. We inherited the blood of the adulterer. Eve should have inherited the royal authority of the heavenly kingdom and become its queen, but instead she became the wife of the devil, the mate of the servant. [22] In order to indemnify Adam s fall, God sent Jesus on earth as the second Adam. Although God and Jesus were connected with vertical love on the vertical line, the bride who would become the wife of Jesus was necessary in order to extend the love of God horizontally and to make the space of love. Centering on God, Jesus is the only son who could globalize God s love horizontally. Jesus was vertical since Father exists in him. Although Jesus was one with the Father vertically centering on love, there was no one related horizontally. The horizontal only figure would be his bride. With her, the area of love, that is, space could have been established for the first time.[23] However, Jesus was crucified on the cross without finding his bride, and he could not extend the love of God horizontally. In other words, he could not accomplish the Marriage of the Lamb and he passed away with a deep regret. Jesus passed away leaving a word stained with resentment. What is it? To be sure, it is the word, bride and groom. This is the essence of Christianity. The Lord will come as a groom, a believer will stand on the position of a bride, and the Marriage of Lamb will be held on the last day. What is the Marriage of Lamb? It means that the man who has embodied the global, universal, and historical love of God gets married to a bride who can serve him. Without such a representative bride, there is no way to extend the love of God horizontally.[24] 10

11 5. True Marriage and True Parents The most important significance concerning the marriage is the manifestation of God in the couple, whereby the couple becomes the temple of God. If our first ancestors had become one based on God s love, they would have become God s bodies. Who are Adam and Eve? They are the substantial bodies of God. That is why, in the biblical book of First Corinthians it is written, Do you not know that you are God s temple...? (1 Cor. 3:16) Our bodies are God s temples.[25] If Adam and Eve had not fallen and they had married centered on God s love, they had become God s temple and their marriage also had become the marriage of God. So the marriage of perfected Adam and Eve would have been in a very real sense God s own marriage. While God would have remained God, Adam and Eve would have become the embodiment of God. The couple would have become God s body, and God would have settled within their minds to become their True Parent, and thus the True Parent of all humanity, both physically and spiritually.[26] However, Adam and Eve fell and could not become God s temple, and they could not become the true parents. Then, Jesus came as the second Adam, but he could not marry a bride, and he also was not able to become true parents. Therefore, until now true husband and wife and true parents did not appear throughout human history. Rev. Moon succeeded the mission of Jesus and became the third Adam. However, without a bride, a man alone cannot develop God s vertical love horizontally. Then, a bride appeared and the marriage of the Lamb, the marriage of true husband and wife, was performed. And they became True Parents of humankind, and the space of true love began to spread over all humankind. At midnight prayer of True God s Day 2005, Rev. Moon offered the determination as True Parents before God: Therefore let our two bodies be transformed into one, let us become the bright Parents of the new morning that rises explosively before Your deep heart, as the sun and moon that shine beyond the darkness to bring the tide of the bright heaven and earth beginning this year. I proclaim these supremely important levels of responsibility so all the good and bad things 11

12 in the spirit world can come to earth and bear fruit as good things. I am making a new determination to offer this before You.[27] The completion of the Rev. Moon and his wife as True Parents means the completion of God s love. As a result, God, the universe and all things also came to be completed. The purpose of creation was for Adam and Eve to follow the commandment of God, the owner of true love, and become perfected, true beings. Afterward, Adam and Eve were meant to become a true couple united in God s true love. This perfection of Adam and Eve based on true love would have been the fulfillment of God s wish that they become His extension on earth. Furthermore, their perfection as a true couple would have meant the perfection of God s absolute ideal of love.[28] 6. Let us Testify to True Parents Through Jacob s victory over Esau, and Perez s victory over Zerah in Tamar s womb in the Old Testament Age, God carried out the providence of the change of lineage and finally gave birth to the only Son, Jesus, through Mary. Although Jesus was crucified on the cross without accomplishing the marriage of the Lamb, God has kept, for 2,000 years through the providence centered on Christianity, the victorious privilege that He had given birth to the only Son, and He exercised the privilege to give birth to the only Son, Sun Myung Moon, on the Korean peninsula. Rev Moon said that the Lord of the Second Advent stood on the victorious foundation of the fundamental providence of God s side up to the time of Jesus. The Lord of the Second Advent comes to complete the foundation of God's providence of restoration left uncompleted by Jesus. That is to say, he comes as the seed of the original true child to complete the ideal of creation. He comes to complete the ideal of True Parents, who are the origin of the true love, true life and true lineage of God. He comes on the victorious foundation of the fundamental providence of God s side up to the time of Jesus. He also stands upon the victorious foundation of Jesus life and will find the bride that Jesus could not find. Together they become 12

13 the True Parents to save all humankind.[29] On the other hand, God carried out the providence to establish the only daughter as the bride for the marriage of the Lamb. God carried out to restore a woman from the Satanic world, starting from Rahab, a prostitute, in the lowest class, then Ruth, a gentile, and then Bathsheba, a married woman, and then Mary, an engaged woman. Through all this, the condition to restore a woman similar to pure Eve before the Fall was established. However, Jesus could not marry such a woman, and he could not become true parents. Since then, for 2,000 years of the providence centered on Christianity, God had kept the privilege that He had accomplished the condition to restore a woman similar to pure Eve before the Fall, and finally God exercised the privilege and established the only daughter, Hak Ja Han, on the Korean peninsula. And at last the sacred marriage, the marriage of the Lamb was accomplished. Thus, True Parents, who are in the image of God and the representative of God appeared on earth. The holy marriage of True Parents in 1960 was the greatest, most glorious event in human history as the seed of the God s love was planted in Satan s world. Since that event, this seed has grown into a mature tree and expanded internationally. The area of God s love has been rapidly spreading, and the world of false love has begun to retreat and will be eventually extinguished. God is the Parent of the Cosmos and True Parents is the Parents of heaven and earth, and when God settles in love based on the perfection of man and woman, God and True Parents become the Parents of heaven, earth and humankind.[30] True Father declared the settlement of the True Parents of heaven, earth and humankind in That is, God is incorporeal True Parent of heaven, earth and humankind, and True parents settled as the corporeal True Parents of heaven, earth and humankind, and they completed and manifested God s true and essential nature in substance.[31] In this way, the time has come when He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples (Rev.21:3). The motto for 1996 was Let us proudly testify to True Parents and love True Parents. This point is described as follows: What is the hope of God, the hope of all people and the hope of creation? 13

14 They hope to see True Parents emerge on the earth and for God s true love to begin with them. This was God s goal and hope at the beginning of the creation, in the course of the creation and for the result of the creation. If the first human beings had not fallen, True Parents would have appeared on the earth, and they would have established the family based on true love. This was God s hope and the ideal for which He created us. Had Adam and Eve not fallen and had they become the True Parents on earth, then with God s true love at the center, the mineral world, the plant world, the animal world and everything in this created world would have become one. Centering on True Parents, all things of creation would have resided in the bosom of God s love. Had God, Adam and Eve become one within Adam and Eve s family on earth, they would have reigned over all the things of creation in love and lived with them. This was God s hope. You must proudly testify to True Parents and love True Parents. When loving them, you must love them even more than you love your own spouse, even more than you love your sons and daughters, even more than you love your country and even more than you love all the fallen people of this earth. Only if you love True Parents with such a love that has never before existed in this world can you inherit the world of love that has never before existed. Only then do you become the sons and daughters of God and the royal family of God s nation. Only then can you become God s people.... How distant is the kingdom of heaven? If you want enter the kingdom of heaven, you have to be proud of True Parents, and testify to True Parents, and you have to love True Parents. Because we must prepare for this, I declared the new year s motto for 1996 to be Let us proudly testify to True Parents and love True Parents. [32] Now is the time for us to testify to True Parents to all the people of the world. It is the mission given for us as the God s tribal messiah. Ref [1] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,1378. [2] Jack Miles, God:A Biography (New York: Vintage Books, Random House,1996),265. [3] Ibid., 405. [4] Hak Ja Han, Pyeong Hwa Gyeong,951. [5] Hak Ja Han, Chambumo Gyeong,

15 [6] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,271. [7] Sun Myung Moon,Pyeong Hwa Gyeong, [8] Sun Myung Moon, Family magazine(in Japanese), January 2004,52. [9] Ibid., 53. [10] Sun Myung Moon,Pyeong Hwa Gyeong,1395. [11] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,1639. [12] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,463. [13] Sun Myung Moon, Family magazine(in Japanese), August 2004,35. [14] Sun Myung Moon, Family magazine(in Japanese), February 2005, [15] Sun Myung Moon, Blessed Family quarterly magazine(in Japanese), Spring 2007, 22. [16] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong, [17] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,89. [18] Sun Myung Moon, Blessed Family and the Ideal Kingdom I,229. [19] Sun Myung Moon,Pyeong Hwa Gyeong,1395. [20] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,81. [21] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong, [22] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,415. [23] Sun Myung Moon, A Doer of Unification Thought ( ),World Family magazine (in Japanese), December, 2015, 88. [24] Ibid. [25] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,1176. [26] Sun Myung Moon,Pyeong Hwa Gyeong, [27] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,1639. [28] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,823. [29] Sun Myung Moon,Pyeong Hwa Gyeong, [30] Sun Myung Moon,Cheon Seong Gyeong,237. [31] Sun Myung Moon,Pyeong Hwa Gyeong,343. [32] Sun Myung Moon, Chambumo Gyeong,