by Rev. Young Hwi Kim
Chapter 35
March 9, 1985
It's nice to have you here. The purpose of business is to make money. Everybody knows this. When we observe those who are successful in business, they are not necessarily well educated people. In Korea we say that to become a successful businessman one must have some quality from birth. We call it um, a literal translation would be fortune. He must have some fortune which can attract money and wealth into his business. Such a person can be a great businessman. We cannot become great businessmen through personal effort alone, we need help from heaven. So we must open the way for the spiritual world to help us. This is an important aspect of establishing a successful business. When Father appoints business leaders, he looks at the person's face. If he has something which attracts wealth, he should be appointed to that position. Of course that's not the only consideration. You can have this fortune from birth or through your efforts and prayer. Also by coming into the line of God's special providence. If you do things for God's providence you may be given that fortune. Of course then you really must try to unite with God's providence. Then even if you aren't born with such fortune you can gain it.
You won't find anything about the ideal economic system in the Divine Principle book. Therefore I'd like to say something about that. Man has a spiritual and a physical body, therefore both physical and spiritual life are important for man. Man's spiritual life is con- nected with religion and his physical life with economics. Divine Principle explains that there are two aspects to the force of Principle: one is autonomous and the other controlled. There are also two nervous systems in our physical body. One is the autonomic nervous system which operates independently of any conscious control, the other is the central nervous system which is controlled consciously. Based on these two nervous systems, you can imagine what the future economic system will be like.
In this world, especially the communist world, people don't know about God so they focus on the material aspect of things. Economies are run based on materialistic concepts. We must change people; no matter how much we improve the system, if people don't change we cannot have a good system. Let us examine a businessman's motivation: why does he try to make money? He wants to earn money for himself, for his own physical comfort. The shortcomings are obvious. Because people don't understand God, they don't really know about life in the spirit world or life after death nor are they aware of the relationship between their physical and spiritual life. In the ideal world peoples' motivation for doing business will be completely different. We cannot have an ideal system of economics without changing our motivation for earning money. The economic system of the future world will be God- centered. Of course there will be free competition, but it will be controlled by having a common purpose. It will be a controlled, but free economic system.
In the fallen world rich people lead a comfortable life and enjoy many privileges. As a result most people want to be rich. In the ideal world, however, man will have a new consciousness. Those who serve for the sake of mankind and the world will be the most respected, for example inventors who develop new medicines which help eliminate disease or new machines which benefit many people. Such people, who contribute to the whole purpose will be highly respected. Those who establish good businesses that make human life more convenient and contribute to the development of society will be respected as well. Some people will make more money than others, but they will also pay more taxes and be respected for that. Everything will be right and fair. If you work hard, make much money and pay more taxes, you will be highly respected. You may even be given a medal or a citation.
There will also be a welfare system, but it won't be like present welfare systems. I heard that sometimes unemployed people register in several different cities and collect much money from the government. They don't work yet they receive much money. There won't be any such thing in the ideal world. As Father says, if you are indebted it is your shame. Society's standard will be to lead a life of giving. Of course when you are sick or old you can receive social security or some form of help, but man's attitude will be to give to society first and receive help afterwards when he needs it. This is the natural way.
Of course in the future everyone will have an equal chance to study whatever they like. There will be no unemployment; everyone will have work, although there will be less working hours and more service work. Machines will take over more work. Because of the development of computers we can now foresee the possibilities of the future. Of course not everything can be controlled by computers; people must work with computers to plan everything and analyze the trends of the future.
In the ideal world people won't be the same as those living in this day and age. In the present world you can make money by selling drugs or some other such evil business transaction. In the ideal world there will be no such thing. You can't imagine the ideal economic system with the people of today. So we will need to educate people and lead them toward the ideal. It will be a just society, where all people coexist and prosper. The most important aspect will be the free, autonomic system controlled by man's conscience, which is God's conscience. There will be free competition and encouragement of man's creativity and desire for development. Man's motivation for work won't be individual gain and prosperity though, but to benefit the whole. This should give you an idea of what the future economic system will be like.
One thing you must understand, however, is that it will take some time before we can establish the ideal economic system. Some parts of the world are much more highly developed than others and we cannot establish an ideal economic system until we have a uniformly developed world. Therefore even after this world is restored, we will have a transitional economic system for a certain time.
We are here to discuss business; we want to help God's providence through our businesses. We came here to find out which businesses are appropriate for this purpose at this time. Each nation is unique, businesses that are successful in one nation might not necessarily be successful in others. We must also consider which businesses are suited to our family. This is also important. I'm not a businessman, but I can mention a few things about business from a Divine Principle viewpoint. Actually if you do business in the fallen world there aren't so many difficulties. The creation belongs to Satan, so if you want to make money in the satanic world it isn't so difficult. But our task is to gain things from Satan and return them to God. We aren't working within Satan's world, but want to restore things from the satanic world to God. This is the difference between our businesses and worldly businesses. As a result of this difference many things are more difficult. Even though you work hard, if you do something wrong your business will be totally lost. We must be aware of this.
We must apply the Principle; if we don't establish a successful spiritual foundation, we cannot restore things from Satan's world. The three archangels come first; by restoring the three archangels and uniting with them we can claim the creation from Satan. What does it mean to restore the three archangels? We must restore three spiritual children. Satan is always trying to destroy us by destroying our foundation. Therefore in our church we need three spiritual children and we must unite with them. This is the foundation to start a business to restore the creation from Satan. In our case the national leader can be the parent and the business members the spiritual children. The national leader and three spiritual children must be completely united and do business on this foundation. Then maybe we can be successful. If this isn't done though, our efforts will be in vain, no matter how hard we try. In order to be successful we must always remember the spiritual aspect of business. So at least three people must unite with the central figure. On this foundation and with money and members' effort we can bring success.
The result will come according to the effort and investment we make; result will never come without some investment. This means that we must invest everything into our businesses; our heart, our mind, our effort and our prayer. Then we can establish successful businesses. We also know that we need the support of those around us. So even though center members don't participate directly, we should receive help from them spiritually. If all members support our efforts, we can gain good results in less time.
The purpose of this meeting is to find out what kind of business is good for the German family at this time. Now you make money through fund raising, but you don't know how long you can continue in this way. Things may change; you must prepare for all possibilities. Whenever I pray, I pray about this. To do God's work we need a financial foundation, otherwise we cannot achieve God's will. So we must ask God to help us establish a financial foundation that we can develop and utilize in the best way. If we manage it well there will always be money whenever finances are needed. It is truly tragic if we cannot do God's work because of a lack of finances. So I always ask for God's help in this respect.
Your previous leader was really depressed once because business had declined and MFT wasn't making much money either. He almost lost hope, he felt he couldn't manage anymore. Anyway with God's help we have managed up till now. I believe that if we try to do God's work, if we are united with His providence and True Parents and try hard to do His work, we will receive His support; He must support us. I have strong confidence in this. We may not be successful right away, but eventually we will find a good business for this nation. Even though it may be difficult, if we unite and invest our wisdom and prayer, I think we can find some businesses which can be successful and support God's work in this nation.
So there isn't any limit to the things we can discuss here. Present any ideas or suggestions you may have based on your experience. We want to combine them and make some good plans for the future. Through this meeting you can open your business-eyes. We need experienced businessmen who have business-eyes to see things ordinary people cannot. We all know that Germany is in the position of the Cain-type archangel. Actually this is the position closest to Satan, who is the owner of all creation. Up to now we couldn't have a successful business foundation in Germany. I think that to be successful here we must have a strong spiritual foundation first. Of course you must consider many things, for example which business is suitable for Germany. That is one aspect, but you must also try to establish spiritual unity between business members and the church, centered upon True Parents, God and the national leader. Of course you will discuss many things concerning business during your meeting here, but you should also use the opportunity to develop this spiritual foundation. Thank you.