The War Within

The human condition is beset by inner conflict between two opposing inclinations, one good and the other evil. As long as people are plagued by this inner contradiction, they can neither realize their divine self nor achieve a state of wholeness.

Paradoxically, people immersed in worldly life may not always recognize the war within themselves, except in the glimmerings of a guilty conscience. On the other hand, those who strive to lead a conscientious or religious life are directly confronted by this problem.

Father Moon teaches that this inner contradiction is a direct result of the Human Fall. It cannot be that God created human beings with such a contradiction, he maintains, or God would not be a God of goodness and humans would have no hope to reach perfection. No, this inner contradiction is evidence of a distortion in human nature, caused by the Human Fall.

The war between mind and body will never end until the problem of the Fall is solved.

I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now, if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.

Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Romans 7.15-24

I know what is good but I am not inclined to do it; I know also what is bad, but I do not refrain from doing it; I just do as I am prompted to do by some divine spirit standing in my heart.21 Mahabharata (Hinduism)

Rabbi Isaac said, “Man’s evil inclination renews itself daily against him, as it is said, ‘Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil every day.’ [Genesis 6.5].”And Rabbi Simeon ben Levi said, “Man’s evil inclination gathers strength against him daily and seeks to slay him… and were not the Holy One, blessed be He, to help him, he could not prevail against it.” Talmud, Kiddushin 30b (Judaism)

By the fetters of envy and selfishness are all bound—gods, men, demons… so that although they wish, “Would that we might live in friendship, without hatred, injury, enmity or malignity,” they still live in enmity, hating, injuring, hostile, malign. Digha Nikaya 2.276 (Buddhism)

All vices are like chains thrown around the neck. Adi Granth, Sorath, M.1 p. 595 (Sikhism)

Whatever harm a foe may do to a foe, or a hater to a hater, an ill-directed mind can do one far greater harm. Dhammapada 42 (Buddhism)

Surely God wrongs not men anything, but men wrong themselves. Qur’an 10.44

The spirit is indeed willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26.41

Man should discover his own reality and not thwart himself. For he has the self as his only friend, or as his only enemy. A person has the self as a friend when he has conquered himself, But if he rejects his own reality, the self will war against him. Bhagavad-Gita 6.5-6 (Hinduism)

The Prophet declared, “We have returned from the lesser holy war (al jihad al-asghar) to the greater holy war (al jihad al-akbar).” They asked, “O Prophet of God, which is the greater war?” He replied, “Struggle against the lower self.”22 Hadith (Islam)

What is the life of virtue save one unending war with evil inclinations, and not with solicitations of other people alone, but with evil inclinations that arise within ourselves and are our very own…

And when we seek final rest in the supreme good, what do we seek save an end to this conflict between flesh and spirit, freedom from this propensity to evil against which the spirit is at war? Yet, will as we may, such liberty cannot be had in mortal life. Saint Augustine, City of God 19.4 (Christianity)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Human beings inherently tend to avoid evil and seek goodness. Our minds are ever eager to establish a world of goodness and eradicate the world of evil.

On the other hand, we also experience an evil mind within us, which struggles powerfully against our good mind. To the degree that we hold fast to our good mind, our evil mind opposes with proportionate strength. (36:51, November 15, 1970)

Since the beginning of time, not even one person has abided strictly by his original mind. As St. Paul noted, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God.” (Rom. 3.10-11)

Confronted with the human condition, he lamented, “For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am!” (Rom. 7.22-24)

We find a great contradiction in every person. Within the self-same individual are two opposing inclinations: the original mind that desires goodness and the evil mind that desires wickedness. They are engaged in a fierce battle, striving to accomplish two conflicting purposes.

Any being possessing such a contradiction within itself is doomed. Human beings, having acquired this contradiction, live on the brink of destruction. Can it be that human life originated with such a contradiction? How could beings with a self-contradictory nature come into existence?

If burdened by such a contradiction from its inception, human life would not have been able to arise. The contradiction, therefore, must have developed after the birth of the human race. Christianity sees this state of destruction as the result of the Human Fall. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Introduction)

The conscience is that faculty of the mind that presents God’s thought. It does not exist for you, but for the righteousness of Heaven. Your conscience always pursues goodness. The body rebels against the conscience.

Your body is self-centered; it seeks its own comfort; it follows instinctive desires. Your conscience strives to have your body obey the mind and reproaches it when it does not. From this point, conflicts and struggles arise within the self. (219:118, August 28, 1991)

Our body has become the stage of Satan’s activities. It has become Satan’s dance hall. Had there not been the Human Fall, our mind and body would be one. They would become one automatically, centering on God’s love, life, and lineage. (235:203, September 20, 1992)

Why do human beings need religion?

We need religion to conquer our bodies.

Otherwise, due to the body, human history would be doomed; due to the body, society would be doomed; and due to the body, humankind would be doomed.

Accordingly, you should deeply realize that your body is the womb of the enemy and the seedbed of sins and evils. (18:322, August 13, 1967)

Regard yourself as the problem. You can be your own worst enemy. If you cannot unite your mind and body, you become your own enemy. (128:108, June 5, 1983)

Even though at the Fall we received Satan’s evil seed, each person, deep in his original mind, covets God’s original, ideal seed of life. This is the basis of our internal struggles.

Within each individual, two opposing elements are struggling: the original mind on God’s side and the body on Satan’s side. For this reason, as long as we do not bring oneness in our mind and body, we cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (235:203, September 20, 1992)