Witnessing Activities
Special Lectures
| Lecture 2: [Principles of Creation 1] Solving the Fundamental Problems of Life | |
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| Date created : 2014-09-10/ Views : 1749 | |
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The Principles of Creation 1
Lecture 2: Solving the Fundamental Problems of Life
SLIDE 1:
Human beings have tried to solve the fundamental problems of life and the universe, but without success.
SLIDE 2:
That was because no one knew the principles by which we and all things were created, nor the origin of the existing world. No one has really known God.
So that’s what we will talk about: the origin of the existing world, God as the First Cause, and the nature of God.
How can we know about something that is intangible?
SLIDE 3:
Just as one can learn of the artist by viewing the work of art,
SLIDE 4:
one can learn of God by observing the creation.
SLIDE 5:
Accordingly, Saint Paul said For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)
SLIDE 6:
Then what is the common-sense truth about the creation?
Nothing came to exist on its own. Everything came to exist through a reciprocal relationship of the dual characteristics of plus and minus.
SLIDE 7:
To explain this in terms of humans, this could be considered male and female. Creation also consists of male and female, stamen and pistil, positive ions and negative ions, protons and electrons. The union of plus and minus makes the multiplication of life possible.
SLIDE 8:
Going further, we can learn of another more fundamental, reciprocal relationship that forms all existence. Every entity has both internal character and external form. The invisible internal character resembles the visible external form. In fact, the external form takes after the internal character; it is the internal character made visible.
Together they are called the dual characteristics.
SLIDE 9:
First, to give an example with humans, the mind makes up internal character and the body, external form. And the invisible mind resembles the invisible body. Accordingly, the mind is called the internal character and the body is essential form.
SLIDE 10:
Even in animals, there are mental and physical parts and internal characteristics that give purpose to the individual, and even in plants there is a physical part and the internal characteristics part that carries out organic functions.
SLIDE 11:
Further, positive ions and negative ions combine and no matter what element they form, it is because these two ions each have some internal characteristic part that gives purpose in forming the particle. And even the forming of an atom with the electron revolving centered on the proton was because of internal characteristics part of each that gives purpose for the forming of each atom.
According to modern science, the elementary particles that make up atoms consist of energy that has the nature of both waves and particles. The particles reflect the essential form, and the waves can be seen as internal characteristics.
But energy cannot automatically create matter. Purpose and will—internal values—were there before it became matter. To form a particle, even the energy has internal characteristics of purpose and design.
SLIDE 12:
Going one step further back, even the energy behind internal characteristics and essential form, we cannot help but to pursue an existence, a positive cause for all forms of beings. This is existence is the First Cause animating all existences with purpose, design, energy and matter. We call the First Cause, God, who possesses the original internal character and essential form.
The commonalities that inhere in the world of creation exhibit law, order and principle. The original Being possesses law, order and principle, as well as energy and purpose. All these are displayed in the creation that we experience everyday. The creation developed resembling the attributes of God. The Bible says the invisible and visible worlds, heaven and earth, were created in his image. The commonalities of all things of creation mean that they reflect the properties of God. (Genesis 1:27. Romans 1:20)
SLIDE 13:
Therefore, God is the original being composed of the harmony between
original essential character and original essential form
original essential masculinity and the original essential form of femininity
These we call “dual characteristics.”
This may seem irrelevant, but it’s very relevant in that my own existence as a person is based on two things: my mind and my body. And I’m here on this planet because there were a man and a woman—masculine and feminine—who loved each other and made me. So the Divine Principle brings God into immediate reality.
SLIDE 14:
Also, from the Bible, Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 to 27, one can clearly learn about "what kind of person God is." Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
This means that God has created man and woman in his image according to the essential form of male and female and the physical body.
SLIDE 15:
When you think about this the other way around, God resembles human beings. This is called “anthropomorphism.” The universal human traits reveal the personality of God. This means God is an entity with intellect, emotion and will. God too is a person with emotions, who is sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes joyful, sometimes longing, and is sometimes angry. But beneath it all, God is love.
SLIDE 16:
Here, it would be good to briefly compare and contrast the Principle of Creation with the most fundamental oriental thought, the I Ching's Yin and Yang philosophy.
SLIDE 17:
The I Ching argues that in the fundamental taegeuk in the universe there is Yin and Yang, in the Yin and Yang there are the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth, and that all things are made of these five elements. Also with “the way to Yin and Yang is the Way to the Sky.”
The Bible, John 1:3 says that that all things were created through the Word. Taegeuk is a being of harmony between Yin and Yang just as God is expressed as a subject of harmony between the dual characteristics of masculinity and femininity. But the I Ching overlooks the fact that all beings are made up not only of Yin and Yang but also of internal character and external form.
Consequently, the driving force of Taegeuk does not recognize the fact that God is an entity of intellect, emotion and will. Therefore, the theory structure the I Ching provides cannot fathom the teaching that creation has internal nature and essential form, purpose, goals, and value. Thus the Principle of Creation, which includes both the original positivity and original negativity and internal nature and external form, supplements the oriental philosophy in the I Ching.
SLIDE 18:
On the other hand, the biblical teachings, although they state that “God created man and woman in his image,” look at God as a masculine being only. The Principle of Creation, reflecting the truth of the I Ching, reveals God as a mother and father. God consists of masculinity and femininity, and so God is revealed as Parents. Therefore, God is a God of personality, and exists as God the Parents.
To summarize what was mentioned above, we know that God is the subject made up of the harmony between original essential character and original essential form, while at the same time is the harmonious subject of dual characteristics original essential masculinity and the original essential form of femininity, and that the creation exists in the masculine subject position of internal character. Therefore we call God our Father.
SLIDE 19:
For the last century, feminists have blasted Christianity. They say that calling God “our Father” has led a history of men dominating and exploiting women.
But the Principle of Creation reveals that there is not just God the Father; there is also God the Mother. God is the Parents. Therefore, the Principle of Creation opens the path to authentic gender equality, as the value of men and women both are actualized in the love of God who is Father and Mother.
As you study this teaching, you will find more about God as the Parents, not just as God the Father. God's relationship with man and woman is that of a parent and child. This is the foundation of truth. God is the True Parent of humankind. This includes human dignity, human values, and the nature of the purpose of life.
SLIDE 20:
But how can an invisible God exist? Is God just “there” forever, by magic? Or is there some action that explains the presence and power of this invisible God? If there is, wouldn’t that give us insight into the way the world works, and how we can live in balance with it?
We will look at this in our next presentation.
