Essentials Of Unification Thought

The Head-Wing Thought



II. Ethics and Morality

A. Definition of Ethics and Morality

As an individual truth body, each person forms all internal four position base through the give-and-receive action between the spirit mind and the physical mind. This is the "inner four-position base." The family four-position base, formed through the give-and-receive action among family members, is the "outer four-position base."

In the inner four-position base, the spirit mind should take the subject position, and the physical mind, the object position. In fallen humankind, however, the activities of the physical mind, that is, the life of food, clothing, shelter, and sex, are generally given first priority, whereas the activities pursued by the spirit mind, that is, the life of values, are left on a secondary plane. That is why people who make effort to perfect their character must continually make effort to rectify the relationship between the spirit mind and the physical mind. In this way, human beings have been aiming at the perfection of personality as individual beings. On the other hand, on the family level, they have been aiming at the perfection of the family by attempting to establish harmonious give-and-receive actions among family members.

In Unification Thought, morality is defined as the "norm of human behavior in individual life," and ethics is defined its the .norm of human behavior in family life." The role of morality is to guide the individual to the perfection of personality, and the role of ethics is to guide the individual to the perfection of family life. In other words, morality is the norm for the completion of the First Blessing, and ethics is the norm for the completion of the Second Blessing (Gen. 1:28).

Morality is thus the norm for the inner four-position base, and ethics as the norm for the outer four-position base. More precisely, morality is the norm for a human being as an individual truth body, and ethics is the norm for a human being as a connected body. Therefore, morality is the subjective norm, and ethics is the objective norm.

B. Ethics and Order

Ethics is the pattern of behaviors of love from a person in the family four-position base toward each of the three objects, each in its own direction.

Therefore, ethics is established in a specific position and according to the order of love. This means that ethics cannot be established apart from order. In the family today, however, order between parents and children, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters is neglected or ignored. As a result, the family has become disordered. That is the cause of the collapse of social order. Tile family, which originally should have been the basis of social order, has become the starting point of the collapse of the social order.

Order in love relationships is closely related to the order in sexual relationships. Therefore, ethics is the norm for order in love, and at the same time, the norm for order in sex. Today, order in sex has largely collapsed, and illicit relationships have become commonplace. Along with that, the collapse of ethics is rapidly accelerating. The main causes of the destruction of sexual order are the collapse of traditional values and the flood of the sensual culture of sex. The sense of the sacredness of sex has been lost, and sex has become degraded beyond recognition. It is no wonder that family breakdown has now become an everyday occurrence.

This situation is not at all different from the situation in the Garden of Eden, where Eve, tempted by the Archangel, had an illicit sexual relationship with him, and as a result, the order of love and sex was broken. What we need today is a new view of value that can bring the family back to its original state. Such a view of value must establish order in love and order in sex. This is the reason why the Unification theory of ethics is presented.

C. Ethics, Morality, and the Way of Heaven

.just as the human being is a substantial being that integrates the universe, or a microcosm miniaturizing the universe, so the family is a microcosmic system miniaturizing the system of the universe. The law that interpenetrates the entire universe is called the "Way of I-leaven," or "reason-law." The norm for family life, or ethics, is a direct manifestation of the Way of Heaven within the scope of the family. Ethics, so to speak, is the Way of Heaven manifested in the family in miniature form.

.just its in the universe we find vertical order (e.g., the Moon-the Earth-the center of the Galaxy-the center of the universe) and horizontal order (e.g., Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto), so in the family we find vertical order (e.g., grandparents, parents, and children) and horizontal order (e.g., husband and wife, brothers and sisters). The virtues corresponding to such orders are the vertical values, such as benevolence of' grandparents and parents and filial piety of children, and the horizontal values, such as conjugal love between husband and wife, brotherly love between brothers, and sisterly love between sisters.

Morality, which is the norm of behavior for individuals to of)serve, also resembles the law of the universe, or the Way of Heaven. just as an individual being in the universe exists as an individual truth body when the subject element and the object element within it perform harmonious give-and-receive action, so a human being is supposed to perfect his/her personality when the spirit mind and the physical mind engage in harmonious give-and-receive action centering on God's Heart (love). The virtues of morality are, among others, purity, honesty, righteousness, temperance, courage, wisdom, self-control, endurance, independence, self-help, fairness, diligence, and innocence.

D. Social Ethics as a Projection and Application of Family Ethics

From the perspective of Unification Thought, human relationships in society are a projection of the relationships among family members at home. For example, in the relationship where people's ages differ by twenty years or more, the seniors should love their juniors as their children, and the juniors should respect their seniors as their parents. If the difference in age is ten years or less, the older person should love the younger as a younger brother or sister, and the younger respect the older as an elder brother or sister.

From this viewpoint, family ethics is the basis of all ethics. If family ethics is applied to society, it becomes social ethics; if applied to corporations, it becomes corporate ethics; if applied to the state, it becomes state ethics.

Accordingly, the following values (virtues) come to be established. In a country, public officials should love the people, and tile people should respect public officials. In a school, teachers should pet-form their function well, and students should respect their teachers. In a society, seniors should protect juniors, and juniors should respect seniors. In a business organization, superiors should guide subordinates, and subordinates should follow superiors. These are a few examples of the application of the vertical values (virtues) of the family.

When fraternal love among brothers and sisters is applied to society, nation, and world, it becomes love for associates, neighbors, compatriots, and people in general, in which one can actualize such horizontal values (virtues) as reconciliation, tolerance, obligation, fidelity, courtesy, modesty, compassion, cooperation, service, and sympathy.

Society, nation, and world today are all in great chaos. The reason is that family ethics, which is the basis of all ethics, has become weakened. Therefore, the way to save society is to establish a new kind of family ethics, a new perspective on ethics. By doing so, we can save families from collapse, and we can save the world.

It has been about two hundred years since capitalist society was formed. During all that period of time, labor-management relations have been a constant issue. It can be said that Marx and Lenin appeared for the sole purpose of solving that particular problem, which they tried to do through violent revolution. As a result of the Communist revolution, however, freedom has been lost and ethics has been trampled upon, as the reality of the Communist countries demonstrate. In the end, their attempt proved to be a complete failure. It is the position of the Unification theory of ethics that, in order to provide fundamental solutions to labor-management problems, one must first establish corporate ethics on the basis of family ethics.


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