Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace
SPECIAL CONSULTATION
MIDDLE EAST PEACE INITIATIVE
Beyond Co-Existence
to a New Culture of Peace
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Rev. Dr. Chung Hwan Kwak
Chairman, IIFWP
February 27, 2003
Washington, D. C.
Your Excellencies, Respected Leaders,
Welcome to this Special Consultation which launches the Middle East
Peace Initiative of the Interreligious and International Federation for
World Peace.
Thank you for taking time from your busy schedules to attend this
conference as we consider the theme, "Beyond Co-Existence toward a New
Culture of Peace."
We are all aware of the critical moment at which we stand in world
history. Tensions are high in many places around the world. Not since
the heyday of the Cold War has there been such an environment. From the
Korean peninsula in East Asia to the Middle East, the threat of war is
on high alert.
Furthermore, since we live in the age of the globalization of
economies, information, transportation, communications, and media,
the flashpoints are not isolated problems. What affects some, affects
us all. There is no place on earth where we can avoid the consequences
of conflict.
This evening I want to speak very directly to our topic, and I hope
you will give serious consideration to what I am about to say. I know
the topic we are taking up is, for so many, a very personal and painful
situation. I know from my own experience the devastation that comes with
war. At the time of the Korean war, I, along with my parents and brothers
and sisters, were forced to leave our home and to live as refugees. As
you know, even to this day, Korea remains a divided country. Due to this
conflict, Korean people have shed many tears.
Of course the problems in the Middle East are also very painful to
many of you in this room. For that reason, our topic is not one that
is being considered only from an intellectual or objectively analytical
point of view, but also from a very personal and emotional point of view.
For this reason, some have advised IIFWP not to convene this consultation
at this time with such a diverse audience. We were told that the tensions,
emotions, and the divergence of strong opinions are too strong, and that
we are perhaps too naive. There may be some truth to this well-intentioned
advice. At the same time, the situation is too serious for us to avoid. If
we are to demonstrate the kind of leadership that is needed in our world
today, then we must seek a way, through respectful, constructive dialogue
and interaction, to contribute to peace.
For this reason, I welcome you and I thank you for your willingness
to be here.
The IIFWP approach to peace has its foundation in the vision and
practice of its founder, Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon. Like all Koreans of his
generation, from the decades of Japanese domination through the Korean
war, he knows first hand the brutality and horror of human evil and war.
His hometown in what is now North Korea and even his parents and siblings
were all separated due to the war. In the wake of the war, he began his
movement for peace while living as a refugee in Pusan, building a small
hut from leftover ration boxes. He also was a victim of the ferocious and
fanatic fervor of the communists in North Korea, supported by both the
Stalinists in Russia and the Maoists in China. For three years he was
imprisoned in a forced labor camp, where for the communists, death of
the prisoners was both expected and desired. Korea itself at that time
was a vale of tears, unspeakable pain, and victimization. This history
is deeply embedded in the minds and hearts of the Korean people.
But while deeply aware of the human potential for violence, tyranny,
and evil, Rev. Moon's vision is fundamentally hopeful, because of his
deep and living relationship with God. In his vision, all human beings,
regardless of race, religion or nationality are members of one human
family under God, who loves and cares for all people just as parents in
a family love all their children.
God's original ideal for humanity was to establish a worldwide,
universal family of true love, harmony and cooperation. Of course, the
human Fall resulted in separation from God, and this in turn led to
divisions within the human family. But it has been precisely through
religion that God has sought to restore the Fall, and particularly
through that line that leads from Adam, to Noah, to Abraham and which
has three primary religious expressions, in Judaism, Christianity and
Islam. These religious traditions have their roots in Abraham, and are
sometimes knows as the Abrahamic faiths. The three are brothers.
Each is a tradition responsive to the living God and the will and
ideal of the living God. That is, each understands its primary mission
and purpose as expressed in loyalty and responsiveness to God's will.
Religions, both through their leaders and followers, are to set their
sights on God's original ideal. And surely God's ideal is peace and the
practice of true love, not conflict.
This is also true of the founding prophets and leading figures of
these traditions. They always taught love, not conflict.
For this reason, leaders and followers of each of these three
traditions must reflect on their roots, their origin. That means to return
to the founding ideals expressed in the core teachings and practices
of our founders and prophets, including Moses, Jesus, and the Prophet
Mohammed (PBUH).
In addition, leaders and followers of these traditions should make
strong effort to connect to the will and heart of God, who always seeks
reconciliation.
Moreover, leaders and followers should reflect on the reality of
the spirit world. Both our physical and spiritual ancestors dwell in
the spiritual world. They reside in a realm that is different from
the physical world, but they are very much alive. More importantly,
in the spiritual world, Abraham, Jesus, Mohammed, the prophets, live in
harmony and oneness, respectful and appreciative of one another. Many
persons with the ability to experience the spirit world have reported on
this reality. But even without the benefit of reports from the spiritual
world, we can infer, based on the teachings and practices of the leading
founders of these traditions, that they live among one another in peace,
harmony, and respect. They commune together in the spirit world.
The believers and leaders of these three traditions should and must
do likewise. If we are faithful to the heart and will of those we most
revere and honor, we cannot hate one another; we cannot fight one another.
Increasingly people are sensitive to the reality of the spiritual
world. More and more people are having experiences of the spiritual
world. At times persons in the spiritual world testify to people living
in the physical world. Some believers who have passed to the spiritual
world report their regret and shame for being narrow-minded, argumentative
and prone to fighting during their time on earth. They advise harmony,
oneness and love among all people. Furthermore, some leading figures now
in the spirit world have called people on earth to seriously look to Rev.
Moon's vision as providing a way to move from conflict to peace.
We should recognize that the living God who calls us to peace is
working for human salvation and ultimate fulfillment through these great
religious traditions. By fighting we only frustrate and stand as obstacles
to the divine will.
Rev. Moon has invested in the effort to bring peace to the Middle
East for many decades.
Why would he want to do this? Korea has little relationship to
the Middle East. Korean history and culture is so different from the
traditions that have their roots in the Middle East. Why should he convene
this kind of conference? There is one reason. He is sensitive to and fully
aware of God's pain and agony at seeing the suffering of his children, and
especially at seeing the widespread hatred and violence among his people.
Because of his awareness of God's heart and vision, he had been
tirelessly working for decades to promote interreligious harmony and
cooperation. He has invested enormous resources for this purpose. There
is only one reason. It is because of his deep relationship with God,
who he knows is pained by the situation in this world.
There is nothing in the entire universe which lives in isolation.
Everything that exists is part of a cosmic order, and participates in the
natural order of things. Western individualists fail to fully appreciate
this point. We exist in a cosmos in which all things are interrelated
and interdependent. We exist in a network of horizontal and vertical
relationships. Furthermore, all relationships exist according to the
principle of give and take action.
The principle of give and take action serves as the basis for existence
and harmony and mutual benefit. But there is one very important point.
That is, between any related things, such as an electron and a nucleus,
a planet in relation to the sun, a son and his mother, a leader and a
follower, give and take action has its foundation in the principle of
serving and giving to the other for the sake of the higher good. This
is a cosmic law, and when violated no good can come. In other words,
all give and take action leading to goodness is rooted in the principle
of living for the sake of others.
The natural order functions according to this principle, including
the animal kingdom. In the human world, however, this principle does
not apply automatically. Human beings must apply it according to their
own responsibility.
Rev. Moon always teaches the way of true love, to live for the sake
of others. By loving each other, we restore the failures and suffering
of the past. There is no other way. The way to restore relationships
requires that we go the way of loving our enemy. If we are to solve the
problems we are facing around the world, we must practice this fundamental
principle of loving our enemy. To do this we must face the challenge of
overcoming our own difficult and painful feelings toward those we feel
have behaved unjustly or wrongly.
This radical act of loving the enemy is the opposite of evil. Satanic
power hates to see people loving their enemy. For when we love our
enemy we create true brotherhood. Eventually we should create in-law
relationships between former enemies.
As you may know, the relationship between Korea and Japan is very
painful. For 40 years, Japan colonized and oppressed the people of
Korea, doing terrible crimes and violating fundamental rights. Rev. Moon,
however, has taught us to forgive and in fact has encouraged intermarriage
between the people of Korea and Japan, as a means to resolve the painful
history, and establish true love and a new history.
Please consider this point. There have been such intense feelings
between Korean and Japanese people due to the painful history of injustice
and suffering. Therefore, the majority of people in both Korea and Japan
were opposed to Rev. Moon's initiative of intermarriage. He received
great persecution from many people in both countries. What he did was
revolutionary, and radical. However, he has always believed that we
need a true love revolution in this world. It is the only way to fully
restore the painful history of the past. And now, in fact, many of those
who objected strongly to his initiative, have changed their minds and
are appreciative and respectful of his vision and courage.
This coming May, we will host another international and interreligious
World Peace Blessing, as part of the the World Culture and Sports Festival
2003. For this Blessing, representatives of religions around the world
will gather along with many youth who are dedicated to the principle of
establishing a true love marriage between people of different religious
and national backgrounds. I hope that you will support this interreligious
Blessing for peace, urging your sons and daughters and young followers
to join this World Peace Blessing movement. However difficult and
controversial this may be, it is nonetheless essential to a lasting
peace. It is radical acts for true love such as this that will usher in
an era of peace. We need a new kind of leadership and we need to take
action now.
The Fall of Adam and Eve resulted in the destruction of God's true
family. It is this original ideal family that needs to be restored. We
do this by loving each other, and especially by loving our enemies.
Please consider this point. Rev. Moon dedicated his entire life to
this principle. He practiced it fully. He never lived for his own benefit
or the benefit of his own movement.
On the contrary, he has always lived to serve others, and exhorts us
to do the same. It is by practicing this tradition that we can restore
human relationships and heal the human soul. Actually, this is not
Rev. Moon's tradition. This is God's tradition.
These three Abrahamic religions must unite. This is a central
prerequisite for peace. The enmity and disunity among Judaism,
Christianity and Islam is a great scandal and brings sadness to heaven.
Moreover, it prevents peace from being achieved. It continues to
contribute to suffering and unnecessary bloodshed.
If unity can be achieved it will have a dramatic effect on world
events. If people from these three traditions unite, peace can be
achieved, not only in the Middle East, but around the world. On this
foundation the United Nations could be renewed and revitalized as an
instrument of peace.
But, if the three traditions, through their leaders and adherents,
refuse to go beyond their current attitudes and practices, it will not
be possible to achieve peace. I am sorry to speak so directly and so
bluntly this evening.
Please consider what you expect to achieve from this conference. If
we are focused only on our own benefit or the benefit that may come to
our own religion or culture, we do not provide world-level leadership,
but something more narrow that neither pleases God nor moves us toward
finding solutions to critical problems. Surely a central aspect of our
work here is for each of us to make a commitment to expanding the limits
of our thinking and especially the limits of our hearts. If we are to
live as God's ambassadors, with a desperate heart to end the tragic
experience of millions and to chart a way forward for all people to a
dignified and hopeful future, then we will take our work here in the
coming days very seriously, and we will leave here transformed. This
attitude and determination is consistent with God's own heart and will.
When God created the world, he only intended peace among his children.
His anticipation was that all people as we are born and come into this
world, enter a place of love and joy and peace. In the beginning, God
never expected to see so many divisions among people, so many religions
like Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This is not God's concept. These
are human concepts.
God's original, unchanging, absolute and eternal will is for peace and
prosperity for all. He is not standing in our way. The world he created
is not the problem. The problem is man. He is only waiting for us to
wake up. We are the ones who failed to achieve God's ideal. We are the
ones who lost God's peace. Therefore, it is by our own responsibility and
sacrifice that we have to rebuild and restore a world of peace according
to God's original ideal. This requires above all that we practice true
love ... that we participate in a true love revolution.
God's heart and True Parents' heart for the three major religious
traditions that originated in the Middle East, is that these three
brothers live together in peace and help uplift our world. Like parents
view their children, God is viewing these three religions and their
cultures. He cannot will the fulfillment and happiness of only one among
them, or only two among them. He wills the fulfillment and full embrace
of each.
I hope you can understand my heart and my love for all of you. I
sincerely believe that if we unite together, those of us who are here for
this meeting, we can start a new movement that can bring peace to the
Middle East. I believe our time together is just that serious. This is
not just some conference or another group of assembled experts gathered
to talk yet again about the Middle East. I believe that in the course of
our deliberations and through our time together we have the opportunity
to mark a turning point in history, one which can lead to the resolution
of our world's current crisis.
Let us be the leaders the world needs at this time.
Thank you and God bless you.
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