3. Law of Repulsion

Give and receive action takes place between the correlative elements (or correlative individuals) of subject and object. Subject and subject (or object and object), however, repel each other. We call this repelling phenomenon the “action of repulsion.” The action of repulsion in the natural world is originally latent and does not surface. It plays the role of strengthening or complementing the proper give and receive action between subject and object. For example, in the natural world, positive electricity and positive electricity (or negative electricity and negative electricity) repel each other, but such phenomena serve to strengthen or complement the proper give and receive action between subject (positive electricity) and object (negative electricity), and never surfaces as itself. Therefore, in the natural world, proper order is not disturbed by the action of repulsion. In human society, however, the action of repulsion between subject and subject appears in the form of conflict between two leaders. An instance of this is the conflict between an established leader and a new leader at the time of a revolution. During such actions of repulsion, or rivalry, the two conflicting subjects (the subject of conservative forces and the subject of reform forces) engage in give and receive action with their respective objects (groups of people in the object position), whereby they increase their respective forces. As a result, the two forces come into conflict with each other. In this case, one of the two camps is in a position closer to the direction of God’s dispensation, whereas the other is in a position farther from it. The former is referred to as the “good side,” the latter, the “evil side.” Accordingly, in human society the action of repulsion between one subject and another subject appears fundamentally as a struggle between good and evil. When the side of goodness achieves victory in such a struggle, the direction of history is changed a little toward the direction of goodness. Also, even in fallen societies, there have been cases where the action of repulsion demonstrates its original nature of complementing give and receive action. An example is the case where one country and another, or the people of one country and those of another, compete with each other in a peaceful manner. As a result, both develop culturally and economically.