Exploring a New Frontier - Of the Heart

Rev. Moon is in the forefront of the new pioneers who are leading mankind into a new frontier-that of the heart.

Stability in a society comes when religion, science, politics, economics and social institutions are fulfilling man’s basic needs. When men are fulfilled, then growth in the society is steady and although progress is made, it does not come in spurts like revolutions. Drastic social changes are the result of an unstable or marginal society. Religion plays a key role in the stability of any society, since it has the role of internal guidance; all the other disciplines are damaged if it is not present.

Basically, for a society to be stable it needs both a goal and a process. Goal refers to the direction given to a society and process refers to the techniques used to implement the goals. A football team, for instance, may have a goal of winning the championship game but the process involves much training and coordinating. To be a successful team it must have both the goal and the process.

In a family, which is the smallest society, we often have goal and process roles assumed by different members of the family. For instance, traditionally the man has been more goal and the wife has been more process. Today these functions aren’t so distinct; nevertheless, two goal-oriented people would probably have a very messy house.

In the community or nation, people are supported by the religious, political, social and economic institutions. Here religion and politics give the direction (goal) and the economic and social institutions provide the care (process). If the institutions have the right balance of goal and process, then just like a marriage, it will be stable and harmonious.

The goal-minded person is said to be a straight-forward individual, moving in a straight line from point A to point B. Often this type of person will not take time for anything or anyone else; he is often very insensitive to what others are doing and feeling. The process person, on the other hand, usually doesn’t have any goals but is totally sensitive to what is going on around him. This type of person may constantly be trying to smooth out hard feelings, rearranging the furniture, etc. This type of person could be called circular in thinking, always rotating around an existing point — a home, a family or something like that. We even find in nature goal and process at work to make things harmonious. For instance, an electron which revolves around the nucleus in an orbit (process) has its direction set by the nucleus because of its large mass (goal).

With two goal-minded people, there are usually conflicts; because of their insensitivity, they tend to repel each other. With two process-oriented people, there is usually no progress so they tend to repel each other. This is true of societies as well as in the laws of like and unlike charges in physics. There is a natural tendency to seek one’s complement at all levels.

The union of straight line and circular motion is called spiral motion. This motion is progressive and yet sensitive to all that goes on around. There are very few societies save for perhaps Elizabethan England and a few others that have actually achieved this balance. At that time, stability came from a unified religion giving strict moral direction and unified political goals centered on the Queen, coinciding with a social order and economic system capable of handling the needs of the people.

Ever since the Renaissance, western man has been primarily a man of progress, scientific and goal- directed. Martin Luther’s reformation in 1517 started man on the track of thinking for himself. Before this time, the authorities decided what was best for one’s life. After the Reformation, people became responsible for their own salvation and church democratic systems were set up to defy the authority figure that the pope had been.

Following the Reformation came the Enlightenment. Rousseau, Descartes, Voltaire and other thinkers centered around France began to develop democratic and materialistic ideologies; the French Revolution was the outgrowth of this kind of thought.

Following the Enlightenment came the Great Awakening which was a further religious development centered around figures like Calvin, Zwingli, Fox, and Swedenborg. New movements like pietism sprang up to oppose religious prejudice. The Bloodless Revolution in England and the American Revolution were outgrowths of the Great Awakening.

As these new and different thoughts spread in Europe, the old oppressive orders could no longer be tolerated. The pope, the kings and even enmity between the new religious and political movements caused much conflict, war and prejudice on the European continent. Western man by the 18th century had developed into an almost totally goal-oriented being. Progress was growing by leaps and bounds but so also was war. There simply wasn’t enough room for all to practice as they wished in Europe.

A Safety Valve

Western progress needed a safety valve and fortunately, there was one America. In the interest of obtaining freedom to live as they pleased, Europeans who couldn’t cope with the authorities sailed the seas and risked death for their future. Since land in America was plentiful, each group could colonize its own area and have its own laws. After a taste of freedom, the desire became so great that English rule was completely overturned in the Revolution.

As America became a nation, e:’Ch group had to give up its identity in trading or dealing with the other colonies. There began to develop a new ideology in America which we can call the frontier ideology. New settlers in the United States had to subscribe to this ideology, placing the interest of their nation and their freedom even higher than their own beliefs. They had a common need for an overall political and economic system though the religious and social systems could be established as they desired. By the 1850, this ideology was in full swing.

In Europe, on the other hand, there was no frontier. At the same time as America was developing on her frontier, Hegel, Feuerbach, Engels, Marx and others were still faced with the oppressive systems of France and Germany. They developed another new ideology to which the developing European nations could subscribe, the Communist ideology which is still present in the world today. The Communist ideology is based on the situation in’ Europe in the mid-19th century, characterized by many conflicting political and religious views and great social distress.

By 1890, all the land in America had been settled, and the frontier ideology changed into a new frontier- capitalism. Americans could still live as they chose by becoming rich. Technology was opening many doors; horizons were unlimited as America tapped her seemingly endless natural resources. New pseudo- religions developed and became the way Americans could relate to each other in their pastimes — sports and recreation. Talking about these things was safe ground. Americans are still goal-oriented; however, we were fortunate enough to develop safety valves so as to avoid conflicts.

By 1970 all the natural resources have been tapped and are becoming depleted, America has polluted the atmosphere with its industry, and the last frontier of capitalism seems to be in jeopardy. In order to avoid bringing back the old social problems, how will America continue to grow? Are there any more frontiers? Americans learned to live with each other by forming the frontier ideology but now that ideology is threatened and we are not only facing each other but also facing the environment. We need to find a new ideology which can solve these problems.

The Dialectical View

Throughout the last 400 years, western man has been pursuing his goals, his own way of life and his own view of truth. He has been basically insensitive to his fellow man and has either had conflicts and wars or an outlet such as the American frontier.

In Europe scholars plagued by continuing conflicts developed philosophies to offer a solution to the growing needs of Europe. One train of thought which has arisen since the Enlightenment is called the dialectical view of man and the universe.

Introduced by Hegel, the dialectic idea has spread through many disciplines. Schliermacher developed the Christian dialectic which was further worked on by Karl Barth. Claude Levi-Strauss developed a dialectic technique for the study of anthropology. Phillip Bosserman developed dialectical sociology. Marx used the dialectic to justify revolution, and Engels even said it was a universal truth.

Since the dialectic seems applicable to the development of western man, many adhere to it religiously. Lenin said that Marxism was scientific. Looking from the development of history I would have to say that the dialectic is not a universal truth but simply true of the conflicts that ·western European man has been having. Western man has gone to such great lengths to prove his ideas and has so much pride that he has often fallen into wars and revolutions. The dialectic seems to apply to human interaction under those circumstances.

The Eastern View

If we look at Oriental thought however, we don’t see any form of the dialectic at work; rather we see the eastern concept of Taoism. The Tao consists of a yin and a yang; these two work together, harmoniously complementing each other. Taoism is derived from studying the creation which is in harmony; however, it certainly wouldn’t describe the actions of western man. Both are, however, attempts to understand human interaction. We should accept conflict as the state we are in but harmony as the place we should try to get.

The next important thing is to understand the eastern view of the world and life. The East is process oriented. Orientals exist in the here and now. Even the language does not contain a concept of time. A typical view would be that of the farmer whose grandfather tilled the earth as did his father and his son will too. Life is circular — birth and death — but the world goes on the same, rotating about a little plot of ground.

This eastern view of life for itself can be destructive; as the frontiers of land were exhausted, the culture had no view of population estimates, food availability in the future, etc. The framework in which they view life doesn’t really involve a concept of history, so without goals they are doomed.

The point is this: the western world must become more process-oriented to avoid war and conflict, while the eastern world must become more goal-oriented to avoid starvation and suffering. The East and West need to learn from each other so that they can both become stable and develop through spiral motion.

Kipling was wrong when he said that the East and West would never meet. When Commodore Perry opened the door to Japan development started but the process was more exploitive and very slow. After World War II, however, Japan, an island nation faced with overpopulation, was able to become a leading nation in the world because it adopted western technology and changed its ideology. This is an example of stabilization because of unification of the eastern (process) and western (goal) types of thought.

Stabilization of America

How does this ideology of unification fit into the stability or salvation of America? The framework that I have presented hopefully shows a more universal view of mankind than an American would usually have. People need to be brought out of their own culture to view how each has developed in accordance with a worldwide perspective.

I have tried to show that religion is a necessary element for the stability of an individual or a society. Religion, as I speak of it, does not mean an establishment that has demeaned itself to a social function; rather, I speak of religion as a standard which one regards as truth to live by. Religion is a guide for man to satisfy his God-given desire to seek love, truth, beauty, and goodness.

In America, each family and community has been centered around some type of truth, and those communities themselves have been stable. However, when it comes to inter-community relations America has had the frontier ideologies and sports by which to relate. Today the old economic frontier is finally being exhausted so the ideology which has been binding Americans together is no longer fulfilling that purpose.

Is this to say that Christianity had nothing to do with the development of America? Absolutely not. Early pioneers had a very strong belief in God; Washington prayed at Valley Forge, there is a prayer room in the capitol, and United States money states “In God We Trust.” Even though the early Americans had many different beliefs, there was a prevailing Christian undercurrent which showed dedication to God and respect for all men. So Americans professed differently, even to the point of sentencing others for heresy, but their lifestyles were similar and their religion as they lived it was much the same. This was the

underlying moral code which was in fact cohesive and which made America a stable nation from the outset.

An interesting parallel can be seen in South America. The people who went to South America did not go to pursue freedom or to sacrifice for the future; instead they went in search of gold and plunder to bring back to their homes in Europe. They went for selfish reasons most often. One may argue that they were good Catholics who set up missions. In fact, having just one religion on the surface would make one think that it would be more cohesive than the North American continent where there were many religious sects; however, the underlying motivation in South America was greed. As a result of the different motivations of the ancestors of America one can now see that North America prospered and South America did not, even though the natural resources on both continents are about as plentiful.

Today if the United States is to prosper and to be a stable society, her people do not all have to join one church; however there must be that underlying code of unselfishness and sacrifice for others that the early Americans had.

Here is where Americans muse depart from their dogmas. We muse revive the spirit of our forefathers in this area. Variations of worship, dogmas, rituals, and traditions are fine on the community level just as they were in the past; however, on the national level America needs an ideology which is more universal. This common ideology must have a higher purpose than the individual or the community; it must be centered on the whole of mankind. Life must be lived with respect, sacrifice and sensitivity for others. This is the process that the West needs to receive from the East.

Moreover, now in America there are more than just European settlers. There are Africans, Orientals and peoples from all over the world who have come to America to realize their hopes and dreams. The ideology of America today must reflect more than just the hopes and dreams of Europeans; it must reflect the hopes and dreams of all men. This means that East or West, Christian or non-Christian, all men must be able to express themselves and offer what they can to the human race. Religion in this highest sense would then be a religion of an internal nature, a religion of the heart and human attitudes. The common striving of man should be for the whole of mankind and his universe, fulfilling both man’s external needs for food, shelter, and families as well as internally our seeking for love, truth, beauty and goodness.

Direction Missing

The big problem with bicentennial America is that the internal direction is basically missing. This makes America very unstable. Many churches have forgotten the parental role of authoritative direction which should guide society; rather they have subverted themselves to merely being social institutions. Because many decisions now being made in the churches reflect hypocrisy and partisanship, many young and old people are leaving them.

Today in America there is a surge of new religious and spiritual sects which are rising to provide answers for the instability of America. They are trying to fill the need that man has for religion. Some groups try to provide an escape, like drugs or meditation groups. Hiking, camping, and skiing are also an attempt to “get away from it all.” The escapist groups don’t really provide any long-lasting alternatives so they will, like the established churches, become social institutions and those people looking for deep answers will move on.

People are moving on and I feel a great hope for the future in the new spiritual groups who are bringing together East and West or those who are stressing responsibility. The Unification Church is the strongest and growing the most rapidly. The Unification Church stresses both unity and responsibility and assumes the parental position that the established churches have been deserting. It is groups like this that will be the future stabilizing force in the American system.

From history we can see that Americans are the result of a progressive, scientific, goal-directed civilization. Even in the religions of the West there is goal direction and insensitivity. This view has stressed the importance of the individual. We have seen that the philosophy of the West has also reflected this pattern and the concept of the dialectic is really the perfected description of western human nature.

Looking more universally, however, one can see that concepts such as Taoism describe how man should be — if he is in harmony with the creation by using the rest of creation as a standard. However God gave an element to man which the rest of creation doesn’t have, namely creativity. So the eastern philosophies often leave out the aspect of progress and development of man while the West gets too bogged down in reality to see an ideal in the creation of harmony. Clearly East and West need to meet.

America in the past has always had an outlet; instead of being sensitive to each other, people have always had the frontier which provided escape. First Americans had the land frontier and then came the economic

frontier where people could still satisfy their needs without directly confronting each other. Pseudo- religions like football were good enough; one could just become a spectator and not a participant in the society.

New Challenges

Today there are new challenges. No longer do Europeans alone live in America but Orientals and all peoples of the world. We have no land frontiers left, and economic growth has now reached a limit where it is in balance with environmental factors. The old frontiers are gone and the old American philosophies are no longer universal enough for stability. The established churches are on the defensive instead of trying to change and are becoming too fundamental to believe. If they <lo change it has been in a utilitarian way which still does not encompass the needs of all men.

We are at the close of an age. The pioneers of the future will he pioneering universal human relationships and our interaction with the environment. This does not mean to forget the past by any means; it means to build upon the foundation that we have. New religious and environmental groups are rising to meet that challenge.

Rome in all of its glory and Judaism 2000 years ago were linked together by the insights of human nature taught by Jesus when they united to become the Holy Roman Empire.

Today America is like Rome was then and Christianity is like Judaism was then. The people are different but the direction of life goes on. Today people like Sun Myung Moon who are bringing East and West together, science and religion together, and those who give us guidance which is not based on themselves but on the purpose of all mankind will emerge to launch mankind into a new frontier. This is the frontier of the heart and this will bring man even closer to God.