As explained earlier, human beings, originally, are beings with Divine Image, beings with Divine Character, and beings with position. This is the response of Unification Thought to the age-old philosophical question, “What is a human being?” In conclusion, the original human nature can be summarized as follows:
- An original human being is a united being of Sungsang and Hyungsang resembling the Divine Image.
- The harmony of a man and woman together, as an original couple, is a harmonized yang and yin, resembling the Divine Image.
- An original human being is a being of unique individuality, resembling the Divine Image.
- An original human being is a being of heart resembling the Divine Character, that is, a person of character who practices love; in other words, a loving person, or a person of love (Homo amans).
- An original human being is a being of logos, resembling the Divine Character, that is, a being of norm, who lives according to the Way of Heaven, or the law of the universe.
- An original human being is a being of creativity, resembling the Divine Character, that is, a heart-centered ruler of all things.
- An original human being is a being with position, oriented toward dual purposes and having a connected being consciousness.
This is the image of the original human being, a valuable and sacred being, possessing inner content of the greatest value. If any one of these human characteristics were to be chosen as the most essential, it would be that of the human being as a “being of heart.” Traditionally, the human being has been portrayed as “the knower” (Homo sapiens), with reason as the essence of human nature; or as “the maker” (Homo faber), with the ability to use tools as the essence of human nature, and so forth. Greek philosophy and modern rationalist philosophy would hold the former view, whereas Marxism and pragmatism would hold the latter. In contrast, Unification Thought advocates the concept of the human being as a “loving being” (Homo amans), asserting that the essence of human nature is heart, or love.