Ethics, Morality, and Propriety

There is Order in the Universe

A new ontology of a new religion must reveal that all the absolute beings in the past were not separate but were the same God.

It also has to be able to reveal God's view of each religion, so people can grasp the Creator's attributes and understand all His aspects properly. All religions are brother religions established by one God.

While a religion reveals God's attributes, the new ontology must reveal the cause, purpose, and principles of creation. It must convey that purpose and principles dominate the movement of all things in the universe.

Further, it must explain that the rules human beings have to follow are in accord with the rules of the universe, namely, natural law. It must be revealed that there is a system of vertical order, formed by the rules of the creation of the sun, the moon, and the stars of the universe.

This natural law is also seen within the family as the vertical order formed by grandparents, parents, and children. The horizontal order formed by brothers and sisters is established, and simultaneously, corresponding senses of value, namely the rules, are formed. (122-304)

When you go out to work in a farming village, you won't be working just by yourself. The husband and wife go out and start working after reporting the duties of the day to God. When they finish and return, they will eat only after reporting to God.

You have to know how strict God's standard is, which regulates all things. There are rules of family life that a woman must keep, and there are rules that a man must keep. (31-276)

In Korean society, during the three-year mourning time after one's parents have passed away, the children offer meals to the departed spirits of their parents every morning and evening.

Furthermore, whenever they go out or return home, they perform a greeting toward the altar of their parents. Aren't there such rules in Korean society? You have to do better than that.

Does what you do now adapt exactly to the formalities of heaven from the viewpoint of the will? No, it does not. Far from it. (31-275)

Man Is Valuable Because Of Ethics And Morality

There are the words, “heavenly law.” Have you ever heard these words? The words heavenly law are religious terminology.

Even if you have heard of human morals, have you ever heard of heavenly morals? What is the origin of human moral law? Is it Korean constitutional law? The origin of human morals is the conscience.

Today, most laws are made based on Roman law. It can be said that Roman law is rooted in the culture of the contemporary world. However, human morals are based on conscience rather than law.

What is the foundation of conscience?

It is goodness. The standard of conscience is none other than the standard of goodness. When the conscience moves away from goodness and goes wrong, it tries to correct the errors.

We have tried to make a universal social system by pure conscience, but at the same time, we need laws. Where are human morals rooted? They are, eventually, rooted in heavenly law. (33-44)

Human beings are valuable because of human morals. Human morals form the relationships among people. Human morals have no use in the case of just one person; they follow when there are two or more people.

Social ethics follow from the family in which a man and a woman get married. Ethics is the reason for the law of human relationships. (136-208)

We can talk about human morals. Human laws are formed through emotions, are they not?

In the relationships between family members, centering on the father and the mother, the ideas of morals, social systems, order, and so forth are based upon emotional aspects. When something felt by emotion becomes very long or high-dimensional, we should lower our heads before it. You should know that point.

What is the motivation for human law? It is emotion. Human law begins from the position of parents loving their children. In true human relationships, it follows that children love their parents. (64-124)

The Three Fundamental Principles and Five Moral Disciplines In Human Relations

It is not only through the vertical standard that a person knows himself or herself.

Neither is it only through the horizontal standard. A person is not known only by his or her words.

One's words must be backed by one's actions. A person is known for whether he acts according to what he says; according to whether there is a oneness between his mind and his work. One's words should be the same as one's actions. One's mind should be the same as one's work.

This expresses the vertical and horizontal relationship. Confucianism almost represents such relations. The fundamental reason for all things is always the Way of Heaven.

This means what stands in front should be in front; what stands in back should be in back. It means the state and the reason for which the heavenly way is moving. It is the way the heavenly will should go.

What is the way?

We often say that benevolence (jen), righteousness, propriety, and wisdom are the cornerstones of human nature, and that the practice of benevolence and righteousness is the way humans should go.

When people walk along the way, the grown-up person goes in front, according to Oriental thought. That is because the grown-up person was born first in the world. That is how they try to put together the environment.

The person born after should stand back. If something is high, it should keep step with what is low; what is front should go in front; what is back should go in back; what is up should keep step with the position.

These perspectives should not be changeable. These are eternal. Whenever a person would receive something from an older man, according to Korean custom, he should receive it with two hands. This means that only when his hands are completely horizontal will he receive the love of the older man.

Whatever they receive should go through the vertical at a state of 90 degrees. It symbolizes a matter of course.

It can be said that people's mind is heaven's mind. All rules should be horizontal, since the rules are relative according to reason and conscience. Both should be with each other.

They are not such that benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom should be accepted and heaven excluded. They did not connect these virtues with heaven. Heaven is vague, and benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge are obscure.

They did not know how to connect these virtues with heaven. Since they did not know how to do so, the forms of these two worlds did not make a realistic standard in human history, and the forms should fade away. All of you should know this point.

Dual characteristics will appear, centering on the Divine Principle. How could the dual characteristics be connected with me? These are the realistic spheres of relationships.

What is the human desire?

It is neither knowledge, power, nor money, but the actual results of love. Therefore, love should mark the relations between sovereign and subject. All relations are love relations. Heaven needs His child. Love marks the relationship between heaven and His children. One cannot exist by oneself. (185-271, 168-252, 171-237)

Up to the present day, human morality has meant that parents should love their children and children should love their parents. There should be a distinction between husband and wife.

These virtues have been transformed into the present day as the cornerstone of the three fundamental principles and the five moral disciplines in human relations.

However, these seem to be changeable. Today, the traditional customs and norms, and so forth, are naturally being changed. Such a spirit is penetrating our daily and social environment. We are in the Last Days. If a worldwide leader, a Messiah, appeared, he would solve all these problems. (11-19)

The Oriental Country of Courtesy

Korean history extends over more than 4,000 years. What is this Oriental country called? It is called the country of courtesy.

Is courtesy good or bad?

When we say that the Oriental country is the country of courtesy, does it mean a man with courtesy or a woman with courtesy? (It means the woman)

Yes, that is it. Therefore, the wives in the course of Korean history who would like to serve their husbands are the women who could hardly manage their housekeeping as they would like. (44-104)