Principle of Creation Part 1.0

We're going to be starting the beginning again. We normally do this in September, and what we're studying is something called the Divine Principle, the Unification Principle, which is a revelation, a philosophy, and a way of life. It was articulated and expressed by someone called Sun Myung Moon, who comes from Korea. He started off with a spiritual encounter with God, which I guess was about a long time ago, sometime in the mid-30s. This first part looks at the principles upon which the universe is based and upon which human life is based. I'm just assuming, do people here believe in God or not?

A lot of it depends on what people mean by the word 'God' because the word 'God' is not like a word 'glass' or 'table'. It's a word that people use to describe some sense of Ultimate Reality or some sense of vastness. Some people feel it as some kind of presence, which they might label God, or they might say God is the being who created the universe. It's very hard to describe God, and that really brings us into the first part of this discussion. If God exists, the question is, is it possible to know what God is like?

Lots of people say, first of all, that God doesn't exist. Then some people say God might exist, but even if He does or doesn't exist, we can never know one way or the other, which is sort of agnosticism. Some people say, 'Yes, I believe that God exists, but it's impossible to know what God is like.' People have been studying this for thousands of years in philosophy and theology to try to understand whether they can prove the existence or non-existence of God and also to figure out if God does exist, what He is like. The problem is, if God exists, is it possible to see God?

As a school teacher, sometimes children say to me, 'I believe in God if you can show me God.' But do things that exist only exist if we can see them? There are many things we cannot see, like infrared or ultraviolet light, or x-rays. Just because we can't see something doesn't mean it's not there. Our senses can only pick up a certain part of the world we live in. There are huge areas of life and the world that we are unaware of. That's why sometimes people look at things through telescopes or microscopes, but even then, there's a limitation to what we can detect. Many people didn't believe in x-rays until they were discovered because they couldn't be detected otherwise.

So, is there a way to detect God? Is there something we can use to determine whether God exists or is present? Just because we can't detect something doesn't mean it's not there. In order to find evidence for the existence of x-rays or radiation, scientists conduct experiments. Do you think it's possible to conceive of an experiment that could prove the existence or non-existence of God? I don't know if you could prove it, but you could probably develop some kind of theory. How would that theory be proven or disproven? We would have to see if it fits and explains what happens. The experiment is your life.

As Martin was saying, a good theory tries to explain all the facts and is able to predict outcomes. Einstein's theory of relativity was extraordinary, and many people didn't believe it until it was proven when light was shown to bend due to gravity. So, think about an experiment to prove the existence or non-existence of God. People need to come up with a theory and see whether this theory works. The question is, can we know what God is like? Where can we find out about God? Let's hypothesise that God exists and develop a theory based on that. We need to see if we can support that theory and whether it's possible to explain the nature of reality without God or if we need to postulate God's existence to explain the world, human beings, human history, and culture.

There are certain things where we can detect the fingerprints of God. When a scientist finds a pattern, they try to explain why that pattern exists. If we can find a pattern that suggests the existence of some kind of God, we can't explain it otherwise. So, where can we find out about God? You can't see God, so one method people often use is analogy. For example, if you wanted to find out about the artist Renoir, you could look up his correspondence or diaries to catch something of his character. Similarly, we can look at the world around us to understand the nature of God.

In the universe, we see dual characteristics that are complementary, different but necessary for existence. If there were only males or only females, the species would die out. In science, all particles are either bosons or fermions, and they exist in pairs. This idea of symmetry is important in science. For example, can you imagine an inside without an outside? Is it possible to have a front without a back? Certain things exist in relationships, and even though an atom may have a positive or negative charge, it still consists of protons and electrons in stable unity. The feminine nature is found latent in man, and the masculine nature is found latent in women. This is the nature of the world we live in.

In Genesis, it says that God created man in His image; male and female He created them. This suggests that if God created the universe, which has these complementary pairs, then God Himself must also possess dual characteristics. Within God, these are harmonised into oneness. The continuity of existence is because of this relationship within God. It's not that they are separated; within God, there is a conversation, a give and take going on. When there's no give and take, there's death. If you're alive, it's often because you're thinking inside, having an internal dialogue. This is the nature of God.

European culture is characterised by a dualism that runs through the whole of European philosophy, literature, and language. Pythagoras created a table of opposites, which includes pairs like limit/unlimited, odd/even, one/many, right/left, male/female, resting/moving, straight/curved, light/darkness, good/bad, and square/oblong. The implications of having good and bad in this table of opposites suggest that they are woven into the fabric of the universe. You can't have good without evil, and this idea has permeated European culture. If God created the world with good and evil in it, that means God Himself is a source of both good and evil. This dominant idea within European culture has led to the perception that good is associated with the right side and bad with the left, which has historically affected how people view femininity and masculinity.

The project of a single currency, single government, and single law stems from the belief that differences are inherently negative. This notion has gained prominence on the continent, where straightness is often equated with goodness. The infamous case of curved cucumbers illustrates this mindset, though it does not originate from the same source. The concept of limits relates to order, while the idea of the unlimited connects to disorder. It is crucial to impose order, as it encompasses various aspects of life. I completely agree with this perspective, as the ideas we discuss were not solely conceived by one individual; rather, they articulate the prevailing thoughts of their time.

If someone had proposed these ideas independently and they were met with widespread disagreement, they would have faded into obscurity. The reason these concepts endure is that they resonate with the collective mindset. This leads to the dichotomy of resting, which is viewed positively, and moving, which is seen negatively. The ideal state is one of stasis, and when we consider notions of perfection or heaven, they often appear rather boring. This is because, in such states, nothing changes, and there is no novelty; everything remains at rest.

These ideas are deeply embedded in our language, sayings, and thought processes, often without our conscious awareness. The significance of Pythagoras cannot be overstated; Bertrand Russell remarked that he was perhaps the most influential figure in shaping our understanding of the eternal world. Pythagoras did not invent these ideas; he merely articulated the dominant thoughts of his time, which subsequently shaped European culture. As Hayek noted, the knowledge of earlier generations is communicated to us through language, which inherently carries certain views about the nature of the world.

By learning a particular language, we adopt a specific worldview, a framework within which we operate, often without realising it. These concepts are woven into the very grammar of our language. For instance, in European languages, the saying that one cannot have good without evil is widely accepted, yet few examine its truth. This assumption about reality is ingrained in our linguistic structures. The implications of this are profound, as we encounter thinkers like Derrida, a prominent figure in postmodernism, who sought to uncover the foundational assumptions of European culture and Western thought.

Derrida argued that Western thought has been structured around dichotomies or polarities, such as good versus evil, being versus nothingness, and presence versus absence. These oppositional pairs, identified by Pythagoras, have permeated European culture. It is only recently that people have begun to recognise the implications of this structure, which is a key aspect of the postmodernist project. One postmodernist assertion suggests that the entire reductionist enterprise of Western philosophy can be viewed as a conquest of B by a transcendent A. This reflects the overarching narrative of European philosophy, which seeks to eliminate B, positioning one side as good and the other as bad.