Dr. Sang-Hun Lee and Unification Thought

Dr. Lee was born in Hamhung City in what is now North Korea on Sept. 5, 1914. He graduated from Severance Medical School in Seoul in 1940, and joined the Unification Church in 1956. In 1962, Our Leader spoke to the family for the first time about Victory Over Communism and from that point, on his own initiative, Dr. Lee determined to study Communist theory in order to develop an effective counterproposal based on the Principle. With the approval and support of our Leader, this led to the writing of “Communism, a New Critique,” and the further expansion of the Principle into Unification Thought. Below is Dr. Lee’s testimony and his ideas about the significance of Unification Thought.

Dr. Lee’s Testimony

In resisting the domination of the Japanese Empire during my school days, I came to be in agony thinking of the motivation with which I was striving, and for what goal. I thought that the motive must be something like compassion for country or love of mankind; but I did not really understand how and from where this motivation came to me.

I began to think that life was nothing but a process toward death. All things, such as wealth, glory, honor, rights, charity, looked to me as only some meaningless play or drama. So, at last, I planned to commit suicide.

But, on the other hand, life also seemed to have some small bit of meaning; so I stopped planning to kill myself. Finally, after being in agony for so long, I came to realize that “love” was from some transcendental existence that is called “God.”

After that I studied deeply about Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism, Chondogyo, etc., but I was not satisfied in my study of them. When I was a junior at my medical college in 1938 I came to know that the spiritual world exists through reading and studying the ‘True Nature of Life,’ the doctrine of the ‘Seichono-Ie’ sect which originated in Japan.

But I still had many questions: How did sin come to man? What is salivation? How did history develop? And where is it going?

I welcomed the Liberation from Japanese occupation in 1945; but I was disappointed to see the social confusion and disorder in every field, the Communists’ radical activities, the incapability of modern religions to cope. I became very anxious to find a new religion.

I served for some years as a medical doctor at Youngdong. I fled the Communist invasion to Pusan when the Korean War broke out.

I contacted typhoid fever and suffered greatly in February, 1951. The illness was so great that I thought I would die. At what I thought was the last moment of my life, I desperately prayed “Oh God! Let me live for even one more year. During that period I will work only for Your sake!” Then I lost consciousness.

Being informed about my condition, some medical friends of mine hurried to come and treat me. They did their best to help me recover. Two months later I got well.

After that I gave up all thought of making money, and only dedicated myself to medically serving the rural people, which I believed to be God’s will for me. So I began to work at Kaejung Agricultural Medical Laboratory in the suburbs of Kunsan City in August 1951.

In February 1956 I was witnessed to by a Family member, and came up to Seoul Church to listen to the whole series of Divine Principles in May. All of my questions on life and religion were solved completely! I have never experienced such a joy, as when I heard the great New Truth of God! I came to realize that a new world culture will be established in the future through the teachings of the Divine Principles. I determined to join the Church which had, at that time, only 5 churches and about 500 members.

The Main Points of ‘Unification Thought

The Divine Principle has tended to not be easily accepted by other religionists and nonbelievers because many of its ideas are based on the Bible. The thinking of modern man is very organized and logical. So any teaching which is theoretically coherent is very acceptable to them if it is reasonable. Especially, people whose bent is toward philosophy are not apt to be receptive if the doctrine is not taught in the language of philosophy.

In addition, even among Family members, some of them do not effectively apply the teachings of the Divine Principle to life, even though they are familiar with the Principle. This is because, I think, they do not understand the full meaning of the Divine Principles. In order to make them understand the Divine Principle fully, I think that the applications of the Divine Principle should be more fully developed.

If the intellectuals at the time of Jesus — the priests, scribes, and Pharisees — had accepted Jesus’ word, he would not have been crucified, and God’s will would have been accomplished.

Similarly, whether God’s will in this age will be accomplished or not will be determined by whether or not the intellectuals of today accept the Divine Principle. So we have to develop the application of the Principle using the appropriate 20th century terminologies.

Because of the above reasons, with our Leader’s guidance, I have studied and finally organized ‘Unification Thought.’ This is a coherent application of the Divine Principle using the technical terms of philosophy.

It contains: Ontology, Theory of Original Human Nature, Epistemology, Logic, Methodology, Axiology (Theory of Value), Theory of Pedagogy (Education), Theory of Aesthetics, Theory of Ethics. These are already completed. Now I am working on Cosmology, Economic theory, and Political theory.

In this most important time of dialogue with North Korea, it is urgently required that all the people of the ROK be armed ideologically. The people of North Korea have been armed by a ‘Monolithic Thought’ centered on Kim II-Sung, but the ROK is not so well armed. Some statesmen now are seeking for some powerful thought that can unite the people into one and arm the people ideologically. They are becoming interested in hearing and studying the Divine Principle now.

Even in foreign countries the Unification Thought will be a supreme method of overcoming Communism and inspiring the young generation to follow an order based on love and good morality.

How ‘Unification Thought’ will be applied.

The Church is going to teach every section leader the Unification Thought. When college students and professors hear Unification Thought after having heard the Principle one or two times before, they are deeply moved to realize the greatness of the Principle and become more interested in studying further. During the last seminar for 110 professors at the Academy House, I found that the reaction of the professors was good, and I expect there will be more professors who will study Unification Thought academically in the future.

We are going to lecture to many prominent people and even to members of the National Assembly on the Divine Principle and Unification Thought. Even in foreign countries the teachings.

and applications of Unification Thought will be welcomed and studied. On this subject, I believe, our Leader will soon give instructions.