The story of the emergence of NEW ESSENTIALS OF UNIFICATION THOUGHT -1

Preface During the decade of the 1990s the world underwent great and unprecedented changes. An attempted coup by the conservative wing of the Soviet Communist Party provided the momentum for the astonihshing series of events that culminated in the demise of the Soviet empire―the powerful empire that had, for the better part of the twentieth century, shaken the world under the slogan of global communization. In the wake of the flurry of events that witnessed the disintegration of the Communist bloc, the President of Russia, Mr. Boris Yeltsin, visited the United States and declared, to a joint session of the Senate and the House, that Communism had died and would never again be allowed to revive in his country. Yet, the republics that comprised the former Soviet Union, freed from the shackles of Communism, are now at a loss as to where to go and have not yet recovered from social chaos and economic bankruptcy. Meanwhile, in China, and in other nations which still hold to Communism as their national policy, a contradiction persists between their endeavor to attain economic reform under an open-door policy and their adherence to the socialist system and to Communist dictatorship. In the meantime, the situation has not fared much better in democratic countries. The United States, still the champion of the democratic world, for a brief moment basked in the glory of winning the Gulf War. But the glitter of that victory has quickly been dimmed by the staggering red ink of the U.S. economy and, as time goes on, the stature of the United States as a respected global leader is slowly declining. Now that the ideal of Communism has faded, and there exists no strong leadership in democracy, the conflicts deriving from the opposition between nations and religions, and from economic friction, are erupting throughout the world, casting ominous shadows over the future of humankind. This situation is being further aggravated by the tragic spread of AIDS and by a losing battle against poverty and starvation in developing countries. In such a state of disorder and unrest, the world is now earnestly seeking for new vision and new leadership to guide humankind. In such a situation, the Unification Movement, motivated by the Rev. Moon, is offering what seems to be the brightest light of hope in sight. Unification Thought, which is the Rev. Moon’s thought and the perspective (thought system) of the Unification Movement, is also called Godism or HeadWing Thought. The term “Godism” indicates that this system of thought has God’s truth and love as its nucleus; and the term “Head-Wing Thought” indicates that this system of thought is neither a part of the right wing nor of the left wing, but rather embraces both. Only Godism, or Head-Wing Thought, or Unification Thought―with its spirit of promoting love for others from the perspective of a God-centered view of values―can overcome the hatred, hostility, and materialism of Communism, the left-wing ideology, and eradicate the egoism and self-centeredness of democracy, the right-wing ideology. This will go far to reconcile these two opposing wings and can guide people on both sides to advance together toward the realization of an ideal world, a long-cherished desire of both God and humankind. Moreover, Unification Thought is the thought of God, and holds to the purpose of reconciling warring nations and conflicting religions through the true love of God, the supreme center who is the origin of all religions. The purpose of Unification Thought is thus to achieve the goal of creating a global family and to realize the everlasting ideal world of God’s true love by solving― fundamentally and once and for all―all the numerous and difficult problems that afflict humankind. Therefore, no matter how difficult the problems may be, they can be resolved permanently and fundamentally once Unification Thought (Godism) is applied to them.

To be continued...