Original Meaning of Value

According to the conventional standard, value means whatever is liked, desired, approved, or enjoyed by anyone at any time. Hence, value is an existing realization of desire.

However, in the light of the Principle, though everything may have potential value, nothing has absolute value in itself alone. An object becomes valuable when it is used to form the fourth position to one who has perfect give and take with God.

An individual having perfect give and take with God forms three positions with his heart, body, and God. An object of that person's use, then, takes the fourth position. In the case of a couple or any two people having harmonious give and take, they form a trinity with God, and an object of their use takes the fourth position.

Thus, in both cases, the base of four positions is established. Since this base is the realization of God's purpose of creation and perfect harmony among God, human beings, and creation, the base represents the center of truth, the fulfilled good, and perfect beauty.

This base has absolute value because God is absolute and His purpose of creation is absolute. An object that contributes to this end comes to have value. Thus, the value of an object is determined by the degree to which it fulfills God's purpose in a subject-object relationship.

The human heart has three faculties: reason, feeling, and will. These seek, respectively, truth, beauty, and goodness. The fulfilled state of harmony with God is seen from the standpoint of reason as truth, from the standpoint of feeling as beauty, and from the standpoint of will as goodness.

There are two basic human desires. The first is to pursue value. For this reason, people seek truth, goodness, and beauty. The second human desire is to realize these values in ourselves so that we can be true, good, and beautiful.

Each of these values is attained through giving and receiving true love. As Reverend Moon says:

There must be some great goal that we are headed toward. That is the love through which God and man can unite into one and live together through eternity. Love is eternal. Those who love each other want to remain eternally in that love. Love is one. Love alone is the core of human desire. It must be unchanging. We can live without material things.

Even though we may lose the things we have, we can go on without them. We may be deprived of material wealth, family, friends, all these things, but still we can live on. But when we are robbed of love, we cannot live. In the Garden of Eden, when our ancestors fell, the most important thing that was lost was love.

The powerful affection which the subject gives to the object in the fulfilled state of four positions centered on God is called love, and the affectionate energy with which the object responds is called beauty.

The power of love is active and creative, while the power of beauty is stimulating and magnetic. In the relationship of husband and wife, the man is the subject, love, and the wife is the object, beauty.

However, after the subject and object form a circuit through give and take, there are no longer fixed positions of subject and object because the two positions are interchangeable. When two people are united through give and take, they bring affectionate stimulation to God, and God appreciates their beauty.

The beauty that followers show leaders is called loyalty; that of children to parents, filial piety; and that in marriage, fidelity. In the family base of four positions, three kinds of love are expressed: parental love toward children, mutual love of the couple, and children's love toward parents.

Since God's love is the essence and totality of human love, by experiencing the love of the family we can understand the love of God and learn how to respond to Him.

Therefore, the family base is the ideal situation for people to experience love and beauty. Accordingly, this base is the essential foundation on which the purpose of creation is to be fulfilled.

There are good and evil in fallen society, but they are only relative, since the sovereignty at each particular time and place sets the standard of good and evil.

Therefore, any action following the ruler's idea and purpose is considered good. Any action contrary to it is evil.

What is the original standard of good?

By forming the four positions with God on the individual level, or family level, or universal level, the purpose of creation is fulfilled. Actions or results that contribute to this end are good. Anything contrary to it is evil.