To practice love a norm must be set up, because a true life of love requires order…
Sun Myung Moon
To Practice Love
Topic: Wisdom & Understanding
To practice love a norm must be set up, because a true life of love requires order. In a society where order has been destroyed, a life of love cannot be practiced in harmony. That is to say, a life of love needs order, and for order, norms are required. Norms are laws and principles that regulate people’s behavior, and these are embodied in morality and ethics. Therefore, to live a good life centered on love, humanity must set up sound morals and ethics and must practice them.
Sun Myung Moon, born on January 6, 1920, was a spiritual leader and luminary hailing from North Korea. He founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, better known as the Unification Church, in 1954. Drawing upon direct Prophetic revelation, influenced by the major faith traditions—especially Christianity, but also Judaism, Islam, Confucianism, and Buddhism. He also developed a political philosophy to resist the spread of the anti-religious Communist ideology. Reverend Moon's teachings centered on love, unity, and peace. He aimed to spark a global spiritual movement that transcended religious and cultural divisions, and his vision resonated with followers all over the world. Through the Unification Church, Sun Myung Moon also promoted interfaith understanding and collaboration, striving for harmony among diverse religious traditions.
Reverend Moon's teachings went beyond the realm of the spiritual to touch on the universal human themes of love and family. He emphasized the importance of nurturing strong, loving families as the cornerstone for a harmonious and peaceful world. To this end, he conducted mass wedding ceremonies known as the 'Blessing', symbolizing the unity of all people under God, regardless of their cultural or religious backgrounds. Moon also stressed the value of community service and encouraged his followers to actively contribute to their local communities.
Sun Myung Moon's partner in both life and work was his wife, Hak Ja Han Moon. As co-leader of the Unification Church, she is a pivotal figure in spreading their shared vision of a world unified by love and peace. Affectionately known as 'True Mother', she embodies the ideal of nurturing and unconditional love in their teachings. After Reverend Moon's passing in 2012, Hak Ja Han Moon assumed sole leadership of the Unification Church and changed the name to Heavenly Parent's Holy Community. In her leadership role, she has tirelessly carried forward their mission, upholding the church's emphasis on peace, interfaith dialogue, and strong, loving families. Under her guidance, the church has continued to flourish, spreading its message of unity and love to people around the globe.
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong
Moon, Sun Myung, and Hak Ja Han Moon. Pyeong Hwa Gyeong. Vol. 5, Seonghwa Chulpansa, 2015, p. 703.
Sun Myung Moon
Theme: Wisdom
About This Sun Myung Moon Quotation [Commentary]
Sun Myung Moon articulates a profound understanding that practicing love effectively requires a structured foundation in the form of norms and order. He posits that true expressions of love need a stable environment, maintained through established morals and ethics, to thrive and be meaningful. This framework ensures that actions driven by love are not only personal but are aligned with the broader needs and harmony of the community. By emphasizing the necessity for order, Sun Myung Moon highlights how chaos can undermine the practice of love, suggesting that without agreed-upon norms, the potential for love to flourish in a society can be severely hindered.
This perspective underscores the intricate relationship between individual actions and societal health. Sun Myung Moon stresses that norms—laws and principles governing behavior—are vital in fostering an environment where love can be enacted harmoniously. These norms, which manifest as societal morals and ethics, serve as the bedrock for interactions, ensuring that practices of love do not lead to discord but rather enhance communal life. His view suggests that for love to be genuinely effective and meaningful, it must be practiced within a framework that is universally accepted and adhered to, thus enabling love to be a constructive force within society.
The call to establish and adhere to these norms is not merely about maintaining societal order but about enriching the quality of life through love. Sun Myung Moon’s insight reveals that a well-ordered society, guided by sound morals and ethics, creates the optimal conditions for love to be practiced. This environment allows individuals to express love in ways that are not only personally fulfilling but also beneficial to the broader community. Thus, the practice of love, underpinned by established norms, becomes a fundamental pillar for a harmonious and thriving society, illustrating how deeply intertwined love and order truly are.
The Unified World
“The morals and ethics that apply to the unified world must be clear and applicable to contemporary people. The reason past morals and ethics have been undermined lies partly in today’s tendency toward materialism. It also comes from the fact that the standards of value no longer satisfy the present expectation for reasonable answers. From this, the establishment of a new expression of morals and ethics based on the absolute standard of value becomes inevitable.”
—Sun Myung Moon [The Role of Unified Science in the Moral Orientation of the World, November 26, 1972, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, USA / First International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences].
Absolute Standard of Value
“Then how can this absolute standard of value be set up? It can come only from an elevated, unified system of thought that can unify all past philosophies and religious doctrines.
Each of the philosophies and religions of the past had their own views of value and ethics, with strong points that are still beneficial. However, people have for the most part left them behind, because they could not harmonize these views with the coming age. Therefore, to establish the absolute standard of value, we have to absorb the strong points of past views of value and develop new expressions that can meet the needs of contemporary society.”
—Sun Myung Moon [The Role of Unified Science in the Moral Orientation of the World, November 26, 1972, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, USA / First International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences].
Unification Thought
“Thus, because the past views of value and ethics were based on the philosophies and religions of their respective ages, a new system— Unification Thought— has to appear, by which we can unify the past philosophies and religions.
When the new expression of morality and ethics emerges, based on the Unification Thought system, we will be able to create a unified world of goodness never seen before.”
—Sun Myung Moon [The Role of Unified Science in the Moral Orientation of the World, November 26, 1972, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York, USA / First International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences].
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