Rearing Monarchs #27:

Thoughts on “Conscience”
Unification Thoughts, August 2023

Welcome back.
Greetings! In case you’re looking into this series for the first time, please take a few moments to catch the drift here by reading about its purpose and focus.¹

By now, we’re into our second year of this introductory series on Unification Thought. I say “introductory” because it’s not a comprehensive look into all of the chapters in the textbook New Essentials of Unification Thought, but rather it’s narrowly focused on helping elders guide a young person towards their Three Great Blessings. To that end, much of the book has been omitted, including three entire chapters (Epistemology, Logic and Methodology).

After going through those ideas in 22 articles, we switched to looking at some insights that Unification Thought provides into the Principle itself.²

Where we’re going this time

This month, I’d like to bring up the idea of “conscience”. The reason is that I’ve heard from time to time, over the years, that young folks just want to live “conscientious” lives. This is often connected to their weariness over lifelong exposure to theological details. They might also protest that their conscience isn’t just lying dormant; that, in fact, it’s engaged quite often in issues at school or in social media.

Besides, Father Moon himself had sometimes stressed the importance of following the inner compass of one’s own conscience. He’s said things like:

The conscience is closer to you than your own parents… The conscience does not need a teacher…know that the conscience is above all other teachers.

• The True Family and I, June–July 1995, South America

That speech was delivered in 16 countries³. So the idea that conscience is all one needs is an important notion that merits closer examination.

Conscience in the Divine Principle

Starting with the basics, we’ll refer to the Divine Principle textbook. In the very last section of the Principle of Creation and in some contrast to the quote above, we learn that the judgment of our conscience is not absolute, but that it’s susceptible to variation and fluctuation:

The conscience is that faculty of the human mind which, by virtue of its inborn nature, always directs us toward what we think is good. However, due to the Fall, human beings have become ignorant of God and thus ignorant of the absolute standard of goodness. For this reason, we are unable to set the proper standard of judgment for our conscience. As the standard of goodness varies, the standard of our conscience also fluctuates; this causes frequent contention even among those who advocate a conscientious life.

• Exposition of the Divine Principle, p. 50

That’s an accurate observation about the cause of contentious disagreements that can arise between “conscientious” people. And it highlights a critical point: what a person considers conscientious is largely influenced by the prevailing values of the society and culture they live in. So when they conscientiously make a judgment call, it’s not just their insulated, pristine inner compass that’s guiding them.

That’s especially important to understand when we look at some of the values that drive the media, arts, fashions and education that our young are immersed in. The point is that conscience is strongly influenced by the social environment; and so it’s unwise that it be an absolute guide for a young person’s behavior. (Frankly, in the late 60s and early 70s, I was drawn into the massive campus activism of the time, by appeals to my youthful idealism and sense of justice. Only later did I realize that my generation had been manipulated by a cunning appeal to our consciences.)

So, what the Principle states next is crucial to understand: there is another, deeper part of the human mind, which can effectively balance the conscience:

The original mind is that faculty of the human mind which pursues absolute goodness. It relates to the conscience as internal nature to external form. A person’s conscience directs him to pursue goodness according to the standard which he has set up in ignorance, even though it may differ from the original standard. However, the original mind, being sensitive to the proper direction, repels this faulty standard and works to correct the conscience.

• Exposition of the Divine Principle, pp. 50–51

It should be clear, then, that it’s not enough for young people to live well by simply following the dictates of their conscience. Rather, they must understand that their original mind is subject; it’s the “internal nature” and the part of their mind that’s connected to the original standard.

An important clarification

What to make, then, of Father Moon’s advice to follow one’s own conscience? What is the correct understanding of it?

Fortunately, Mrs. Eu noticed this ambiguity and pursued it. In her book about the Divine Principle, she recounted this incident:

Father spoke while putting conscience in the highest position. He said, Conscience comes before God, before teachers, and even before Parents. So, I asked Father, I think the conscience spoken here is different from the conscience explained in the Principle. In the Principle, isn’t conscience explained as susceptible to being persuaded by human policies and thoughts?

Father quickly caught on and answered, Yes. Will the people of this world understand what original mind and spirit mind are? So we have to call them conscience!

• A Testimony to God’s Word, p. 419

So, when Father Moon spoke of conscience in this way, what he was actually referring to was the original mind. But the speech and its translation had to accommodate concepts that the audience was familiar with.

Because of Mrs. Eu’s earnest devotion to God, Father and Mother Moon and the Word, she secured this important clarification for us. But, in my own experience at least, it doesn’t appear to be so widely known. If that’s so, then I hope it would change.

The other mention of conscience in the Divine Principle

With that cleared up, there’s another important point about conscience in the Principle:

How is this force of conscience generated? Since all forces are produced by give and take action, the conscience cannot generate the force needed for its operation all by itself. That is to say, the conscience can operate only when it forms a common base with some subject partner and engages in give and take action with it. The ultimate subject partner of our conscience is God.

• Exposition of the Divine Principle, p. 23

This paragraph appears 27 pages earlier in the textbook than the definition of conscience that we’d quoted previously. And it explains that, in order to safeguard the conscience, it ultimately needs to be connected to God. And, as the earlier quote indicates, the original mind is that part of the mind which is most “sensitive to the proper direction…(and) works to correct the conscience”.

And so, we are reminded of the necessity of nurturing and cultivating the original mind. How that’s done can be found in the Principle of Creation:

The spirit mind is the center of the spirit self, and it is where God dwells. The spirit grows through give and take action between two types of nourishment: life elements of a yang type that come from God, and vitality elements of a yin type that come from the physical self. …Truth illuminates the innermost desires of the spirit mind.

• Exposition of the Divine Principle, pp. 48–49

These life elements that nurture our spirit can convey truth in many ways: through the Creation and from the inspiration that exceptional art, music and literature afford us. But the most direct way is through the Word of God.

For that very reason, saints and religious thinkers have always stressed the study of scripture in order to maintain vibrant spiritual health. Even secular sources recognize this.⁴ And in our Community, it is why Father and Mother Moon have stressed the practice of daily scripture reading: it is how we can nourish the original mind in the midst of an environment which is so often toxic to spiritual well-being. And it can become more than a practice for health.⁵

The notion of values that are “absolute”

Lastly, one more idea comes to me in relation to young peoples’ lives. And that’s the notion that absolutes in anything aren’t appreciated—the word has become associated with exclusion, intolerance and coercion.

But the notion of absolute values is, in fact, crucial in Godism’s worldview. One needs only to review Father Moon’s speeches on it to scientists, scholars and media leaders to grasp his perspective. See Pyeong Hwa Gyeong, Book 5, Absolute Values and a New World Order.

There, we find 28 detailed and forceful appeals, addressing the need to recognize that there are indeed certain absolute values that create the framework for a healthy and peaceful world. And that it’s the responsibility of educators in the hard and social sciences, as well as the creators of world media, to sustain and transmit them. These speeches were given over the span of 30 years, from 1972 to 2002.

In conclusion

When I've shared this point on conscience with our community on some occasions, it was considered useful and important. Because, as some of us might have experienced in our own youth, young folks can be misled by cunning appeals to their consciences, reflecting the current consensus about what’s right and wrong—as opposed to Principled standards on such matters.

So, I hope that the relationship of conscience to original mind is clear; and that the importance of consistently nourishing the original mind is also. And that, despite the imposing character of scriptures, there’s real life and long-term value to be gleaned from them, when they’re approached with a sincere, reflective and prayerful heart.

Our young folks are pretty conscientious. But when they’re confused and can’t see their way clear on matters of conscience or values, we can try to offer them the extra guidance they need to navigate their world with discernment.

◀ Previous article • ❖ • Next article ▶