Hyo Jin Moon August 22, 1989 Address to the Main Convention Excerpts
We must realize that there is an ideal for every creation. The ideal exists because God exists. In order for any relationship to take place we need a subject and an object. The subject and object then bring about the realization of the ideal through a reciprocal relationship.
God wanted to manifest a specific place where people can feel joy. This is realized through reciprocal action between subject and object, which will bring about the ideal of creation. It is true that man can realize some of his own ideals. However, in order for man to attain the ideal of perfection where mankind can live harmoniously together, he has to apply the ideals of the creator, God.
It is interesting to note that the secular media sees one of the most significant aspects of love as sex. Sex brings pleasure, but they must realize that marriage is not just sharing physically, but also sharing each other's lives. Joy through sharing with one another physically certainly leads to other living experiences. Even in the physical experience, one spouse has to bring happiness to the other spouse. When they make love, they should give to the other person. When you do that then the sexual experience can enrich itself because it becomes the model by which we can bring joy to all aspects of our life.
Within the couple there has to be a subject/object relationship. One spouse has to center on the other spouse. Often husband and wife argue about who is subject. In realistic terms we can say that it is not important who leads the family, just as long as the whole family is benefited. Ideally, within the unit of the family there has to be a re-enactment of the subject/object relationship between God and man.
The responsibility of the subject is to care for the object. The responsibility of the object is to become part of the subject. The subject becomes the provider and guider for the object. To achieve the ideal, man must unite and follow God. The ideal family relationship, then, is a reflection of this ideal relationship with God as the subject, and man as the object.
The subject and object relationship brings order. Order preserves and secures the whole. We are individual and self-conscious beings. Certainly we can live our lives centering on ourselves. And it is very easy to become subject where you are living in the "me generation." The tendency is to do anything you want.
However at the same time we can center on other people. Which becomes the priority? For ourselves, which is subject? The answer to this question is simple -- living for the sake of the whole. I am self-conscious, and I realize what I need; yet I can realize the greater purpose of my existence by thinking about the whole purpose. Since living for the sake of others is good, and living for yourself is evil, then living for the purpose of the whole must be subject.
Man has a role that he must fulfill. There are stages to go through -- formation, growth, and perfection. Nothing just instantly perfects itself. Your family as a whole and also you as an individual have to grow into an ideal being. Then that process is where there has to be absolute investment. You have to give yourself absolutely to reach that perfection.
Working hard for a goal is a difficult thing, because you have to separate from other things that you desire. Whatever else comes into your mind, you have to put it aside. If there is an ideal, but your individual desires are something other than God's ideal, then there is conflict: God's idea as opposed to our own idea.
Because God gave of Himself absolutely when he created the creation, if you want to realize ideal values, you have to give absolutely.
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