Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon.

1. Introduction

2. Order And Position In The Family

A. Natural Order in the Family
B. The Three Axes of Family Bonds

3. The Four Realms Of Heart

A. Child's Realm of Heart
B. Sibling's Realm of Heart
C. Spouse's Realm of Heart
D. Parent's Realm of Heart

4. Family Ethics As The Basis For A Civil Society

A. Society Is the Extension of the Family
B. The Three Subject Roles

5. Reverend Moon's Activities

What is the relationship between the family and world peace? The phrase world peace commonly evokes images of political negotiations, the United Nations and Nobel prize winners. From Reverend Moon's perspective, peace means nothing less than the return to God's original ideal and to the purpose of creation.

The quest for peace is more commonly associated with the resolution of international, inter-religious or interracial conflict. As we shall see in other volumes in this series, Reverend Moon is also deeply concerned about these conflicts and their resolution.

However, his primary focus is on the root cause of the problem. That root cause is the breakdown in human relationships that Reverend Moon traces back to the loss of love that results from the decline of the family.

Every culture throughout the world affirms the crucial role of the family in building a healthy society. Confucius taught that a happy and prosperous society depends on people fulfilling their proper roles in the family, especially towards their parents. He taught that the father/son bond is the model even for the relationship between a ruler and his subjects.

The Koran emphasizes kindness to parents as a core virtue. The cultural importance of the family is also emphasized in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and the Bible traces blessings and responsibilities through generations of families.

The earliest writings in India, the Rig Veda and the Laws of Manu, also devote considerable attention to the family.

From Mankind and the Ideal World, Belvedere Estate, Tarrytown, NY, April 29, 1979.

If we are talking about freedom, peace and unity, which should come first? You say unity should take precedence, but others would say freedom, while others would say peace.

Without freedom, how could there be peace?

Without unity how could there be freedom?

In the Unification Church we accept the values of all those great words, but most important of all, we have a central theme which is a prerequisite to all of them --that is love. Peace centering upon love is true peace; freedom centering upon love is true freedom; and unification centering upon love is true unity.

For Reverend Moon, however, the family is nothing less than the school of love and the very foundation upon which world peace will be built. By calling it the school of love, Reverend Moon elevates the traditional image of the family.

Social commentary has tended to focus on the functional necessity of the family, noting its role for social stability, but missing the way it serves as the foundation for realizing the best in individuals and in society. When the family is viewed merely as a self-contained unit, the focus tends to be on private wellbeing.

To regard the family as the school of love integrates both the private and public functions of the family. The love we receive at home provides the framework for realizing our destiny as individuals and as a society.

Reverend Moon asserts that without the various forms of love provided by the family, people become stunted as human beings. That which makes us truly human comes from the unique love that can only come to a person through his or her family.

Of course, the family also transmits values and traditions, but its core role is to cultivate the heart through the many dimensions of loving relationships. Just as immersion in a language is the most effective learning experience, the constant reinforcement and practice of love in the family provides the perfect learning environment.

We begin our presentation with Reverend Moon's description of the ways in which family order and position shape the experience of love. We will examine the different realms of heart in which love is meant to flow.

Finally, since the dynamic of love is expansive, we will present Reverend Moon's understanding of how the culture of the home shapes the larger culture, and how that culture in turn impacts the culture of the home.