1. Sungsang and Hyungsang
First of all, every created being possesses the dual characteristics of Sungsang and Hyungsang. Sungsang refers to the invisible, immaterial aspect of created beings, such as their faculty and nature. Hyungsang refers to the visible aspect of created beings, such as mass, structure, and shape. In minerals, Sungsang is physicochemical character, and Hyungsang is structure, shape, and so on, composed of atoms and molecules.
Plants have their own peculiar Sungsang and Hyungsang. The Sungsang peculiar to plants is life, and the Hyungsang peculiar to plants is their cells and tissues, which compose their structure and shape―in other words, the body of a plant. Life is the consciousness latent within the body, and it possesses purposefulness and directiveness. The function of life is the ability to grow while maintaining itself as an individual being. Therefore, it can be said that life has autonomy. While plants possess their own peculiar Sungsang and Hyungsang, they also contain the elements of Sungsang and Hyungsang of the level of minerals. In other worlds, plants contain mineral matter.
In animals, there are aspects of Sungsang and Hyungsang that are peculiar to animals and so they exist on a level higher than that of plants. The Sungsang peculiar to animals is instinct, and the Hyungsang peculiar to animals is their structure and shape which includes sense organs and nerves. Animals have both mineral matter, which contains the Sungsang and Hyungsang of the mineral level, and they also possess plant-level Sungsang and Hyungsang; all the cells and tissues of animals exist on this level.
The human being is a two-fold being of spirit self and physical self. Therefore, the Sungsang and Hyungsang of the human being are unique and are of a still higher level than those of the animals. The Sungsang unique to the human being is the “spirit mind,” which is the mind of the spirit self, and the Hyungsang unique to the human being is the spirit body. In a human physical self, the Sungsang is the physical mind and the Hyungsang is the physical body. Mineral matter is contained in the physical body, and in this sense the human being has mineral-level Sungsang and Hyungsang. The human physical body is also composed of cells and tissues, and therefore has plant-level Sungsang and Hyungsang as well. Like animals, the human being has sense organs and nerves, and hence the Sungsang and Hyungsang corresponding to animals. The animal-level Sungsang in human beings, namely, the instinctive mind, is called the “physical mind.” Thus, the human mind consists of the physical mind (instinctive mind) and the spirit mind. While the spirit mind pursues the values of truth, goodness, beauty, and love, the physical mind pursues a life of food, clothing, shelter, and sex. The original human mind (“original mind”) is the union of the spirit mind and physical mind.
Let us now discuss the spirit self of a human being. The physical self consists of the same elements as those of the natural world and has only a certain period of time for its existence. In contrast, the spirit self is made of spiritual elements, which can not be perceived with our physical senses; yet, the spirit self has an appearance no different from that of the physical self. When the physical self dies, the spirit self discards it―in much the same way as when we discard an article of clothing when it is old and worn out. Having discarded the physical self, the spirit self goes on to the spirit world, where it exists forever.
The spirit self is composed of the dual characteristics of Sungsang and Hyungsang. The Sungsang of the spirit self is the spirit mind, and its Hyungsang is the spirit body. The sensibilities of the spirit self are nurtured in its mutual relationship with the physical self. In other words, the sensibilities of the spirit self develop on the basis of the physical self. Therefore, when an individual dies after having practiced God’s love during life on earth, that individual’s spirit self will lead a life of joy-filled with love in the spirit world. In contrast, those who commit evil acts while on earth can not but experience a life of suffering after death.
It is evident that human beings possess the Sungsangs and Hyungsangs of minerals, plants, and animals and, in addition, they possess a Sungsang and Hyungsang of a still higher level. When seen in this way, the human being can be regarded as the integration of all things, or as a microcosm of the universe. From this explanation, it becomes clear that, as the levels of existing beings ascend―from minerals to plants, to animals, and to human beings―the Sungsangs and Hyungsangs become more substantial and elaborate layer by layer. This may be called the “layered structure of Sungsang and Hyungsang in existing beings,” and it is illustrated in fig. 2.1.
It must be noted, however, that when God actually created the universe, in the sequence of minerals, plants, animals and human beings, He did not simply create human beings at the end by merely accumulating the previously existing and respective Sungsangs and Hyungsangs peculiar to minerals, plants, and animals, and then, adding to them the Sungsang and Hyungsang unique to human beings.
Rather, in the process of creation, according to Unification Thought, God first formed or visualized, in His mind, the idea of a human being as a being of united Sungsang and Hyungsang. Only then did He form the ideas of animals, and then plants, and then minerals, one by one, by subtracting their specific elements from the Sungsang and Hyungsang of human beings and lowering their dimension. It must be realized then, that in the actual process of creation God followed the reverse order―that is, based on the ideas He had formed, He created actual minerals first, then plants and animals, and finally human beings. Therefore, from the viewpoint of the result, it would, indeed, appear that the human Sungsang and Hyungsang were made by simply accumulating the respective layers of the Sungsangs and Hyungsangs unique to minerals, then to plants, and finally to animals―but this is just a matter of appearance. That the human Sungsang and Hyungsang, diagrammatically, possess a layered structure, as was described earlier, has the following important implications. First, such a layered structure implies that there is a certain continuity among the various layers within the Sungsang. Specifically, the human mind, which consists of spirit mind and physical mind, possesses continuity between these two minds; hence, a human being can control the physical mind through the spirit mind. Furthermore, the human mind is connected to life, or autonomy. Even though, through the conscious mind, one can not usually control the autonomous nerves, it is well known that such control can become possible through training. Yoga practitioners, for example, can, through meditation, change the pace of their heartbeats. 1 In addition, the human mind is connected with the Sungsang of minerals within the body. Also, the human mind is externally connected to the Sungsang of animals and plants. It is known that a human being with his or her power of mind can influence even material beings, as well as animals and plants, outside themselves without using physical means. 2 In addition, it is said that animals, plants, and minerals respond to the human mind. In the case of plants, the Backster Effect, observed by Clive Backster, an American lie-detector technician, testifies to this fact. 3 Furthermore, it has been reported that there may exist a certain perceptive ability even in the realms of minerals and elementary particles. 4
Second, the layered structure of human Sungsang and Hyungsang provides important insights with regard to the question of life. Theists and atheists have continually argued about the existence or non-existence of God. Theists have always disagreed with atheists, claiming that life can not be created by humans, that only God can create life. No matter how much progress natural science may have made, it had not been able to present a reasonable scenario for the origin of life. Hence, for a long time the question of life had been the sole foothold on which theism could base its position. Today, however, that foothold is being threatened by atheists, since scientists now assert that they have reached the point where they can create life.
Can scientists then, indeed, create life? According to contemporary biology, the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) within the chromosomes of a cell contains four kinds of nitrogenous bases, which are adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. The way in which these four different bases are arranged form the genetic information of a cell, which can be called the blueprint of a living organism. The structure and functions of a living organism are determined by this genetic information. Therefore, it can be said that living things, ultimately, are made through their DNA. Scientists today have become capable of synthesizing DNA. Therefore, materialists have come to conclude that God is quite unnecessary in explaining the phenomenon of life. They assert that it is not necessary to hold that God has existed from the beginning. But, is the synthesis of DNA by scientists the same phenomenon as the creation of life? From the viewpoint of Unification Thought, it is not. Even if scientists are capable of synthesizing DNA, they will merely have succeeded in producing the Hyungsang aspect of life phenomena. Life is, in essence, the Sungsang aspect of life phenomena. Therefore, what scientists have become able to produce is not life itself, but simply the carrier of life. In a human being, the physical self, which is Hyungsang, carries the spirit self, which is Sungsang. One’s physical self comes from one’s parents, while one’s spirit self comes from God. Likewise, even if DNA does come from scientists (that is, even if science may synthesize DNA), life itself comes from God.
Figuratively, this point may be elucidated by using the example of a radio. A radio receiver is a device that converts electrical waves into sound waves. It receives the electrical waves coming from a broadcasting station and converts them into sound waves. Therefore, the fact that scientists have made a radio does not mean that they have made sound, since sound comes from the broadcasting station, being carried by the electrical waves. Likewise, the fact that scientists have synthesized DNA does not mean they have created life itself; it means, simply, that they have made a device that is capable of catching life.
The universe is a life field; it is permeated with life, which originates from God’s Sungsang. Once there appears a device that is capable of receiving life, then, and only then, can life appear. The device in question is precisely the special molecule called DNA. Such a conclusion can be derived from the concept of the layered structure of Sungsang and Hyungsang.