5. Ideal of Creation
5.1. What Is the Ideal of Creation?
The ideal of creation is related to the structure of the Original Image since it is directly related to the purpose of creation, which is the center of the four position foundation. Generally speaking, an ideal refers to a state wherein our hope or desire is fully realized. Why do we have hope and desire? Because we want to obtain joy. How is joy produced? Joy arises when love is realized, since the basis of joy is the impulse of Heart, namely, the impulse of love. Concerning the question of how joy is produced, Divine Principle explains as follows:
God wanted His creations to be object partners embodying goodness that He might take delight in them (DP, 32).
Joy is the purpose of creation, and joy can only be attained when desire is fulfilled (DP, 70).
Joy arises when we have an object partner in which our internal nature and external form are reflected and developed (DP, 33).
The three great blessings are fulfilled when the whole creation, including human beings, completes the four position foundation with God as the center. This is the Kingdom of Heaven, where ultimate goodness is realized and God feels the greatest joy. This is, in fact, the very purpose for which God created the universe (DP, 32-33).
In sum, the purpose for which God created the universe is to seek joy, and joy is attained when an object partner embodies goodness, when one’s desire is fulfilled, when an object partner resembles the subject, and when the purpose of goodness is realized. In other words, God’s joy is attained first when a creation becomes the object partner of goodness, resembling God, whereby God’s desire is fulfilled, and second, when a reciprocal relationship between God and a creation is established. The fulfillment of God’s desire is, in other words, the fulfillment of His hope or wish. It is the realization of God’s ideal.
The object partner of goodness is the object partner of love, since the basis of goodness is love. The resemblance of a creation to God refers to its resemblance to the harmonious give and receive action between God’s Sungsang and Hyungsang, and its resemblance to God’s act of love. This is in accordance with what is written in the Divine Principle: “God’s purpose of creation can be achieved only through love” (DP, 59). Hence, the meaning of God’s ideal becomes clear. It is the state where God’s intention (or hope) at the time of creation is fully realized, and the state where God’s love is fully realized through human beings who resemble God.
5.2. Difference between Purpose of Creation and Ideal of Creation
Let me clarify the difference between the purpose of creation and the ideal of creation. The purpose of creation is to attain joy as is written in the Divine Principle. Joy is attained when desire is fulfilled. The fulfillment of desire is the fulfillment of hope or wish. The fulfillment of God’s wish is none other than the realization of the ideal of creation. Therefore, it is concluded that the fulfillment of God’s desire as well as the attainment of God’s joy can be achieved when the ideal of creation is realized. Ultimately, God’s purpose of creation is the realization of the ideal of creation. This is in accordance with what the Divine Principle states: “Had God’s purpose of creation been realized in this way, an ideal world without even a trace of sin would have been established on the earth” («DP, 36).
Here, I will clarify, for the purpose of aiding our understanding, the difference between the purpose of creation of human beings and the purpose of creation of all things. The purpose for which God created human beings and all things was to seek joy by seeing them. Yet, direct, exciting, and deep loving joy can be felt only through human beings. God also feels joy from all things. God’s joy from all things, however, can not be as exciting as that from human beings. Nevertheless, God’s joy from all things was to be attained indirectly through human beings who had perfected themselves. In fact, human beings are God’s embodied object partners in image, while all things are God’s embodied object partners in symbol (DP, 28).
This means that all things were created as the direct object partners of joy for human beings. Concerning this point, Divine Principle writes as follows: “The natural world is an object partner which exhibits human internal nature and external form in diverse ways. Hence, ideal human beings receive stimulation from the world of nature. Sensing their own internal nature and external form displayed throughout the creation, they feel immense joy” (DP, 35).
Since the individual images for all things are different from kind to kind, the purposes for their creation are supposed to be different, respectively, from kind to kind. However, nothing is mentioned about this in the Divine Principle. For example, the purposes of creation for flowers and the purposes of creation for birds are not the same; however, there is no explanation about this. There is no explanation because there is no real need to clarify each individual purpose of creation. The purpose of creation for flowers is to make human beings joyful when seeing the beauty of flowers, and the purpose of creation for birds is to make human beings joyful when hearing the singing of birds. In the Divine Principle, the purpose of creation for all things refers to the common aspect among the various purposes of creation for all things.
5.3. The concepts of the purpose of creation and the ideal of creation are different
In addition to the original meaning explained above, the purpose of creation in the Divine Principle sometimes refers to the purpose for being created, and the ideal of creation. The original meaning of the purpose of creation is that “God seeks joy through created beings.” In other words, the purpose of creation is “the purpose established by God, the Creator,” and at the same time “the purpose established in His creation.” In the Divine Principle, however, the purpose of creation is used also in the sense of the purpose for being created. For example, “a person who has realized the purpose of creation” (DP, 112, 167) means “a person who has realized the purpose for being created.” To be precise, the purpose of creation is the purpose of God, the Creator, to seek joy, and the purpose for being created is the purpose of human beings to return joy to God.
Our purpose in making a watch is “to know time,” and a watch is made “to tell us time,” which is the purpose of a watch being made. The purpose of making and the purpose for being made are different. Likewise, the purpose of creation and the purpose for being created are different. What we should do for God is not “to feel joy” (like God’s purpose of creation), but rather “to return joy” (the purpose for being created). Let me examine the purpose of creation in the following statement: “God could not accomplish His purpose of creation due to the human Fall” (DP, 155). The purpose of creation here clearly means that “God seeks joy,” and it is different from the purpose of creation in “a person who has realized the purpose of creation” mentioned above.
Consider an example in which the purpose of creation is used in the meaning of the ideal of creation. Divine Principle says that “God’s providence to have fallen people establish the foundation upon which they could receive the Messiah, and thence complete the purpose of creation, began with Adam’s family” (DP, 181). It is unnatural to interpret “the purpose of creation” in this statement as “to seek joy.” Rather, it is more natural to interpret it in the sense of meaning the ideal of creation, which is “the state in which God’s love is fully realized.” This point also becomes clear if we examine the following statement: “This foreshadowed that when Christ comes again, he will surely be able to realize God’s ideal of creation, which will never again be withdrawn from the earth” (DP, 202). The meaning of “ideal of creation” in this sentence and “purpose of creation” in the previous sentence are the same. It is not natural to interpret “ideal of creation” in this sentence in the sense of the original meaning of the purpose of creation, namely, to seek joy. Therefore, we should interpret “purpose of creation” in the previous statement in the sense of the “ideal of creation.”
Thus, in the Divine Principle, the purpose of creation is often used in the sense of the purpose for being created, or in the sense of the ideal of creation. In Unification Thought, however, a distinction is made between these concepts. When there is no need to distinguish between them, in other words, when either the purpose of creation or the purpose for being created can be used, or when a specific purpose is mentioned, we simply use “purpose.”
I have clarified the difference between the ideal of creation and the purpose of creation. In sum, the ideal of creation refers to “the state in which the goal is realized,” and the purpose of creation refers to “the goal” which will be realized in the future. In fact, as already stated, the ideal of creation is “the state in which God’s love is fully realized through human beings who resemble God.” On the other hand, the purpose of creation is “to seek joy through the object partner,” which is the goal to attain in the future. If we speak in grammatical terms, the ideal of creation is expressed in the future perfect tense, while the purpose of creation is expressed in the future tense. Hence, the ideal of creation is “the state in which the purpose of creation has been realized,” and the purpose of creation is attained when the ideal of creation is realized.
5.4. Ideal of Creation Is the State in Which God’s Love Is Fully Realized
Then, what is “the state in which God’s love is fully realized”? To state the conclusion, it is “the state in which the ideal person, the ideal family, the ideal society, and the ideal world are realized.” Here the ideal person refers to the ideal man or woman who has realized the unity between mind and body, resembling God’s harmony of Sungsang and Hyungsang; the ideal man or woman who can realize God’s love to all human beings and all things; and the ideal man or woman who can serve God as the True Parents.” Such a person is one who has realized Jesus’ Words: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). Hence, such a person is “unique in all the cosmos,” “the lord of the entire natural world,” and the possessor of “the value of the cosmos” (DP, 166).
An ideal family is formed through the marriage of such an ideal man and woman, resembling the harmony of God’s Yang and Yin. Such a loving family will love their neighbors, society, nation, world, and all things and it will attend God as True Parents. When ideal families congregate to form a society, that society will be filled with love, resembling the image of God, and attend God as the True Parents, while realizing harmony with other societies. That is the ideal society. As ideal societies expand to form the world, this will become the world resembling the image of God, where all humankind enters into the relationship of brotherhood, while attending God as the True Parents of humankind, and they will live a life of eternal peace, prosperity and happiness. This is the ideal world, the utopia about which saints, sages, righteous people, and philosophers have dreamed since the beginning of history.
Love is realized by people living lives centered on the values of truth, goodness and beauty. Hence, the ideal world is a world of values, and will be a unified world characterized by the three major spheres of true life, ethical life and artistic life, and at the same time it will be a society of “mutual existence, mutual prosperity and mutual righteousness,” wherein God’s love is realized in politics, economy, and religion (ethics). This is the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. The ideal of creation refers to the state wherein such an ideal human being, ideal family, ideal society and ideal world are realized. Once such a state is realized, once the ideal of creation is realized, then God’s purpose of creation, namely, His original desire to seek eternal joy will be fulfilled. This concludes my explanation of the ideal of creation.
Now, let us consider the theme, “Traditional Ontologies and Unification Thought.” I would like to briefly introduce an outline of some traditional ontologies along with short comments about them in order to highlight the limitations they faced in solving actual problems. In this way, it will become more evident that Unification Thought can serve as a standard for solving actual problems.