5. Law of the Universe
The law that governs the universe is called the Way of Heaven. This law refers to the harmonious give and receive action between subject and object. This universal law of give and receive action has the following seven characteristics, or seven principles:
Correlativity
Every being not only has correlative elements of subject and object within itself, but also externally forms correlative relationships of subject and object with other beings. Without such correlativity, no being can exist or develop.
Purposefulness and Centrality
The correlative elements of subject and object always possess a common purpose and perform give and receive action centering on that purpose.
Order and Position
Every being has its own existing position whereby it maintains a certain order.
Harmony
The give and receive action between subject and object is spherical and harmonious, without any opposition or struggle in the relationship, for God’s love is always at work there.
Individuality and Connectedness
Every being is an individual truth being and, at the same time, exists as a connected being. Each being, while maintaining its own inherent characteristics (individuality), has certain relationships with other beings and interacts with them.
An Identity-Maintaining Nature and a Developmental Nature
Every being maintainedi its own unchangeable essence (identity-maintaining nature) throughout its life, and, at the same time, has aspects that change and develop (developmental nature) as it grows and develops.
Circular Motion
In the give and receive action between subject and object, the object revolves around the subject and performs circular motion in time and space. It can be said that the law of the universe is the work of Logos. Logos is law, but at the same time it contains reason, based on Heart. Thus, behind Logos there is love at work. In other words, when God created the universe through Logos, the motivation of its creation was Heart and love. Therefore, Rev. Sun Myung Moon has stated that in the universe there is not only physical force, but also the power of love. Applied to the human individual, the law of the universe manifests itself as morality, and applied to the family, it manifests itself as ethics. Hence, the law of the universe, and moral and ethical laws are in a relationship of correspondence. A society is the extension of a family. Accordingly, social ethics is to be established, in correspondence to the Way of Heaven.
When an individual being violates the law of the universe, that being becomes unable to maintain its own existence. Indeed, if one of the planets of the solar system were to deviate from its orbit, not only would that planet be unable to maintain its own existence, but great calamities in the solar system would also ensue.
Likewise in a family and in a society, if people violate ethical laws, that can only give rise to destruction and disorder. Accordingly, in order to help a confused society, the most urgent task, which should be pursued before anything else, is to re-establish ethical laws.
Yet, moral and ethical theories based on traditional religions and thought systems do not have sufficiently developed logical explanations, and because of that they are not persuasive for present-day analytical and rational people. This is why these laws are all but neglected today. In contrast, in Unification Thought we provide a sound logical basis, so that moral and ethical laws may be strengthened with the understanding that they (moral and ethical laws) correspond to the law of the universe. Thus, Unification Thought is able to provide a firm foundation for the practice of morality and ethics. This point will be explained in further detail in the chapters on “Axiology” and “Ethics.”
My final point in this chapter will be an analysis, from the viewpoint of Unification Thought, of the views of Communism concerning the law of the universe. Communism is based on a dialectical view of the universe; therefore, it asserts that phenomena of motion, change, and development in the universe take place through the contradiction, or the struggle of opposites, inherent in all things. Communism also claims that in order for human society to develop, struggle (i.e., class struggle) is necessary. On this matter, Lenin wrote, “The unity (coincidence, identity, equal action) of opposites is conditional, temporary, transitory, relative. The struggle of mutually exclusive opposites is absolute, 13 just as development and motion are absolute.” Lenin went so far as to definitively affirm that “Development is the ‘struggle’ of opposites.” 14 Communism asserts that things develop through the struggle of opposites but, in reality, we can not find such phenomena anywhere in the universe. It is only through harmony that the universe has been developing. If one observes the universe, one may find certain phenomena, such as the explosion of a star, which appear destructive. However, this is not a destructive phenomenon of the universe as a whole, but only a limited destructive phenomenon. These phenomena are not different from what happens to a living being. When the cells of a living being become old, they are replaced by new ones. Likewise, when stars become old, they disappear, and new ones are born.
At this point, someone might argue that in the animal kingdom, where the stronger prey upon the weaker, the theory of the struggle of opposites holds true. For example, snakes eat frogs, and cats eat mice. Communism attempts to justify the theory of struggle in human society on the basis of such observations of nature as these. It should be noted, however, that the struggles between snakes and frogs, or between cats and mice, are struggles between animals of different species.
In taxonomy, living beings are divided into the categories of kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, and species. In the case of cats and mice, cats are in the order Carnivora, and mice are in the order Rodentia. Cats and mice are different from each other on the level of order. In the case of snakes and frogs, snakes are in the class Reptilia, and frogs are in the class Amphibia. Snakes and frogs are different from each other on the class level. In other words, when one animal preys upon another, the preying animal is usually different from its prey at least on the level of species. In nature, we do not see animals belonging to the same species fighting to the death. A cat does eat mice, but it does not eat other cats. A snake does eat frogs, but it does not eat other snakes of the same species. In marked contrast, human beings, who all belong to the same species (namely, Homo sapiens), plunder from one another and kill one another. Therefore, the fact that human beings struggle with one another can not be justified on the basis of the natural phenomenon that the stronger prey upon the weaker.
As an illustration, consider the case of struggle among lions. When a new lion is placed into a pride of lions, a struggle takes place between the new lion and the leader of the pride. This kind of struggle is intended to determine which lion should be the leader―in other words, it is intended to establish order. Once a new leader is determined, the weaker lion surrenders to the stronger one and the fight is over. Such a fight is essentially different from the struggles in which human beings kill each other. Thus, we can not find any phenomenon which justifies struggles in human society.
It is only because humankind fell away from God, and became self-centered, that human beings came to plunder from, and kill, one another. Accordingly, if humankind returns to its original state, such struggles will no longer be seen in human society. Furthermore, if humankind had not fallen, people would have become the rulers of all things, and would have exercised dominion over nature through love. 15 Thus, we come to the conclusion that, in the development of the natural world the law of contradiction, or the law of the struggle of opposites, is never at work, but rather there is the law of the harmonious give and receive action between correlatives (subject and object).