Is World Peace Really Possible?
The question of how to attain world peace is always with us, and has been the question since the beginning of human history.
Three decades ago, hikers found the body of a 5,000-year-old man preserved in ice in the mountains of Italy, nicknamed Ötzi. Amazingly, scientists had the ability to investigate the details of his death, which turned out to be untimely.
He was on the run after a feast that included a greasy meal of goat’s meat and other delicacies. The fatal blow was inflicted by a well-crafted arrow shot by people in hot pursuit. Today, maybe it would be a bullet on the streets, but the circumstances aren’t that different. So the question remains, is there hope for peace?
Called to Create Peace
This was the very question that Father Moon asked as a young man while praying in the mountains of Korea during the time his country suffered under Japanese occupation. He pleaded with God, “Is there any hope for humanity?” That same question is being asked today, all across America and around the world.
Where will the solution come from? Conservatives and liberals alike vie for the opportunity to offer a solution. It’s a big problem that requires a big response. Father Moon spoke on this topic forty years ago, on the grounds of the Washington Monument, calling on America to:
“Take up the sacred task of world restoration.” … “America must unite the cultures of the West and the East, as well as the Middle East, and create one great unified culture, ultimately fulfilling the mission of establishing the Kingdom of God on Earth.”
This is a weighty call to America and the world, but we have to figure out how to substantially build that dream. We need a solution beyond the narrow framework of our own concepts.
Einstein reminded us that real solutions can only come from new thinking:
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking that we used to create them.”
Over the hundreds of years since the birth of democracy, liberals and conservatives have been engaged in a tug-of-war. Each promotes their own solution for a better world. Today, it’s played out on CNN, NBC and FOX News. But before any real solution can come, we need to resolve our internal conflicts over values.
Head-wing Thought
In one sense, the partisan division we see between conservatives and liberals creates a divide that doesn’t foster new solutions because each side has only half the answer and is missing vital pieces of the equation.
From the perspective of Unification Thought, instead of approaching solutions from a one-sided viewpoint, we might see the two halves as a whole. Vertical values (associated with conservatism) include maintaining traditional and moral norms and preserving established institutions that have been handed down through the generations. While horizontal values (associated with liberalism) include progress, adapting to change, individual rights, initiative, freedom, and growth. Unification Thought promotes the idea that both vertical and horizontal values are meant to exist in a state of harmony and balance, rather than in conflict as they are at present.
This new perspective recognizes that the conservative/liberal rift hinders world peace. We can see this at work in the British Parliament where liberals and conservatives sit across the aisle from each other (which thankfully was designed to be more than a sword’s length wide). They argue or ridicule each other, often shouting so loudly they can’t even hear each other. It’s quite a sight.
Father Moon suggested that instead there should be a circular room that would put everyone on a level playing field. Each voice, whether liberal or conservative, brings an important perspective. We need to see the whole story.
This point is best exemplified by the American poet John Godfrey Saxe in his piece The Blind Man and the Elephant. It shows how our senses can lead to serious misinterpretations.
The problem with the blind men is that each had their own perspective based on what they knew, but none of them had the big picture. Maybe we, too, are fighting the wrong fight by clinging so strongly to just one idea. If we are to usher in world peace, we need a perspective big enough to touch and understand the circumstances and hearts of all the world’s people. We need new thinking, or a mind as big as God’s, to find the kinds of solutions that Einstein talked about.
If we lose our understanding of God, it is all too easy to become small-minded. We rely on our own judgment or preferences, forgetting that perhaps we don’t have the whole picture in mind. Father Moon recognized the limitations of the left-wing and the right-wing and spoke instead about the need for what he called “head-wing” thought.
Conservatism, while promoting the preservation of social norms, has historically been exclusive and elitist. Liberalism, while offering greater tolerance and inclusiveness, may ignore the idea of absolute values. Head-wing thought would embrace the left and the right and move forward centering on God’s ideals.
Do absolute values exist?
Today, a lot of people think that God is irrelevant. Their hope is in technological solutions and hope those will be sufficient to build the future world. But God is very necessary to world peace because God is the source of absolute values.
People are afraid of absolute values. How can something be true for everyone? We worry about imposing our values on others and not respecting diversity. But universal truths do exist. Absolute values are the only thing that has the power to protect all people and promote universal well-being.
You can see the power of absolute values when visiting Washington, D.C. The memorials that pay homage to the founding fathers are beautiful and awe-inspiring. You can’t help but be moved by the unchanging truths they espouse. Truths such as “All men are created equal.”
This simple statement has so many implications. If we really believe these words, then we can’t exclude or disregard the needs of anyone. It opens us to the vastness of God’s heart and our own humanity.
Our goal isn’t to be a liberal or a conservative, to be left-wing or right-wing, but rather to transcend these narrower concepts and seek a higher perspective. Ultimately that of God.
World peace will naturally come about when each person feels God’s heart as his or her own. There will not be room for prejudice or the ability to sit by and watch someone else suffer. Inequality would just be too painful to tolerate
Going beyond left and right
Jesus was a man who embodied “head-wing” thought. He was a man of the people; a liberal, challenging the status quo. He included women among his disciples and hung out with tax collectors and prostitutes. He had no respect for Sabbath laws when they conflicted with humanitarian needs.
Jesus pushed the envelope because he understood God’s original blueprint for humankind. But at the same time, he was extremely conservative. His standards were unwavering. He cautioned people that to even look at a woman in the wrong way was to commit adultery (Matthew 5:28).
Jesus was rooted in God’s heart and his desire was to create a culture of one family under God. He knew where world peace began. Similarly, Father and Mother Moon established a vision to create a world family. In this ideal, each person acknowledges the internal, innate human value and goodness of every human being. Each person would also value the external, material world and environment as the visible manifestation of God, and something to be taken care of.
In recognition of history’s efforts to secure peace, and God’s attempts to fulfill his original desire for humanity, Father Moon gathered people on the Bicentennial of the American Revolution, at the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. to call America to fulfill its destiny.
Before hundreds of thousands of people, he beseeched America to reach out and unite the religions of the world. America is a special nation, as people from all over the world have come here to build their dreams. We have a unique opportunity to create an environment where all people of the world can live in harmony. Father Moon said:
“One World Under God is the unchanging, eternal and absolute desire of God. This goal will be realized; yet, in order to accomplish this goal, the unity of religions is the first and essential task….. When all people live an absolutely God-centered way of life, then the dwelling of God will be with humanity. It will be only a matter of time to see the Kingdom of God here on earth.”
What does it mean to be God-centered?
God is supremely selfless and supremely public-minded; it’s the opposite of being self-centered and only out for ourselves. God’s desire is to restore us to become God-like. This means that we must become completely selfless and public-minded. Each of us has the potential to become a person who is able to live for the sake of others. A culture of living for the sake of others is God’s culture and the path to peace. If you try to practice this in your family or workplace you will see the difference it makes. A shift of attitude, a change of position that may look small at the moment, can have big consequences.
We have to reach out to the God whom we have lost and discover His thoughts, hopes, and dreams. Einstein explained the search this way:
“We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not know how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangements of the books, but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God.”
We have to search to discover God’s personality and His love. When we understand this, we will naturally become people who can create world peace. Inheriting God’s heart is the key.