American academic reveals Sun Myung Moon’s focus on science in his early writings from 1952
A presentation by Dr. Andrew Wilson, Professor of Scriptural Studies at HJ International Graduate School for Peace and Public Leadership (HJI), New York, USA, given on a special online program 7th May 2024 hosted by HJI and the Higher Purpose Forum (HPF).
Part 1
I have been really blessed to be able to work for many years together with my colleague Hee-hun Standard on translating Wolli Wonbon. HJI has a manuscript of Wolli Wonbon, which was written in Rev. Moon’s own handwriting – a Xerox copy of about 700 pages, which we could work from.
It is a substantial document. It has chapters on creation, the Fall, the mission of Jesus, and so on. But 100 pages or more are on topics relating to science, including gravitation, astronomy, electromagnetism, evolution, animal behavior, and human psychology.
Everything in Reverend Moon‘s thought about science is based upon the Principle, and specifically what he in that manuscript called “the Principle of Object Partners”.
Object partners are entities that unite by engaging in give-and-receive, or give-and-take. This is different than the meaning of object partner in Exposition of the Divine Principle, which is a position in relationship to a subject partner. Rather “object partners” in Wolli Wonbon are beings that have achieved unity in their relationship. The contrastive term to object partners is “counterparts,” which are entities that are still at a distance.
There are countless object partner relationships throughout the cosmos, from celestial bodies to human beings and even to God.
Reverend Moon‘s interest in science stems from his background. He studied electrical engineering in Japan when he was in high school, at a school connected to Waseda University.
And then while doing his ministry in North Korea, he encountered Marxism-Leninism. He even spent almost three years in a labor camp where they had continual brainwashing lectures on Marxist-Leninist theory, that he had to endure. One of the things that Marxism-Leninism claims is to be “scientific”. He saw that communism’s claim to be a modern scientific truth advantaged it over religions, which are based on texts from ancient times like the Bible. And this was one of communism’s appeals.
Reverend Moon saw the need for a scientific principle centering on God that would overcome Marxist-Leninist theory by rooting religion in science. That is one reason that from the very beginning of his ministry, Reverend Moon was interested in bringing together science and religion.
Among the many topics in the hundred pages or so of Wolli Wonbon that are devoted to science, I’m going to discuss four of them:
- Gravitation and planetary motion,
- Electrical induction in the activity of God in creation,
- Diversity in nature as seen in the colors of light, and
- The Principle in Psychology.
From the viewpoint of the Principle, all forces arise from give-and-receive action to fulfill a purpose. Since gravity is a force, it must exist for a purpose. And the purpose for which gravity exists is so that celestial bodies – the sun, the moon, the stars, and so on – can exist and fulfill their purpose of existence.
Gravity is what causes these entities to become “object partners” to one another and revolve around each other in orbits. Thereby, they engage in give-and-receive and fulfill the principle in their orbital motion.
So, the viewpoint of the Principle is not looking at gravity as a force in isolation, but is looking at gravity from the point of view of purpose, that gravity exists in order to form the celestial world.
Thus, in our solar system, we have object partners in motion. The earth’s object partner is the Sun. The Sun’s partners are all the planets, the asteroids and comets. All these object partners have been moving in balance continually for millions of years. And since they are in balance, they can continue their motion without failing. The universe is full of celestial bodies and object partner relationships, all of them connected by the force of gravity.
This presents a problem. How can there be balance if gravity is only an attractive force? If there was only gravity, understood to be a force of attraction, all the planets would collapse into the Sun. There has to be a repelling force equal to this attracting force, so that repulsion and attraction, or giving and receiving, can be in balance.
As a matter of fact, there is such a repelling force. It’s called centrifugal force. And in fact, centrifugal force is generated by gravity, because as an object is moving in a straight line in a certain velocity, when it encounters the gravitational field of an object like the Sun, it starts to move in a circle. And when it does, there is a centrifugal force that is generated. That repelling force of the centrifugal force that is generated by the Sun’s gravity interacting with that object in motion curves its motion into a circular orbit. Once in orbit, the centrifugal force exactly balances gravity’s attractive force.
Science generally regards the cause of centrifugal force as the object’s velocity or momentum, but it wouldn’t have arisen without encountering the force of gravity, in this example from the Sun. Thus, there is a sense in which gravity is the cause of the centrifugal force.
So we can say that gravitation, taken as a whole, operates with both giving and receiving forces in order to bring about balanced orbits of objects like the Earth revolving around the Sun, objects that are in an object partner relationship. Gravity and the centrifugal force that it causes set up a circuit of giving and receiving so that the Earth stays in its orbit around the Sun.
These forces of giving and receiving together are what Wolli Wonbon calls “universal prime force”. Now, this is different from the term “universal prime force” in the Exposition on the Divine Principle, which is indicated to be a force from God. Here the universal prime force is the force of giving and receiving that creates balance and harmony in all things. And all celestial bodies exist by the operation of universal prime force.
Newton’s law of gravity only looks at half of the system, namely the receiving or attracting force. But gravity, according to the Principle, should be seen within a system of giving and receiving. From the standpoint of purpose, gravitation contains both gravity and centrifugal force, which act together to constitute the solar system.
Science, however, traditionally based on Newton, analyzes forces separately with formulas like F=ma [Newton’s second law of motion: net force is equal to mass times acceleration]. But it should begin by looking at the whole system in balance. That’s Reverend Moon‘s point here.
If instead of looking at reality in terms of forces interacting with each other, we should look at reality in terms of a balance of giving and receiving. This can be the basis for a new world civilization because giving and receiving is the principle by which individuals, families, and societies can establish a peaceful, unified world.
In the world of giving and receiving centered on God, people will share material goods, not accumulate, not just receiving, like the force of gravity does. They will live in peace and harmony by giving and receiving. It’s also opposite the world of Marxist theory of forces, which sees forces as an opposition fighting and colliding with each other. This is the scientific basis, Reverend Moon believes, for a world of giving and receiving. He views such harmony as rooted in the very fabric of nature.
Yet in today’s world, people only focus on what they can take, not what they can give. They are acting more like Newton’s gravity. They make war, oppress each other to get what they want.
But when science recognizes the principle of giving and receiving in all things, people can establish a peaceful world. And then once that happens, people won’t need religion anymore. They will simply be able to align themselves with science, and everything will go well.
To Be Continued ….