The Meaning and Control of Desire from the Viewpoint of Unification Church

ABSTRACT

This paper is an attempt to explicate “meaning of desire” and “control of desire” from the viewpoint of Unification Church. Unification Church explicates that desire is originally a creative nature but it became a fallen nature by the fall of the first ancestors. In other words, the originally creative desire was tainted with vice through the fallen affairs of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and thereafter the desire has pointed toward viciousness rather than goodness. Therefore the religious education which is to supplement salvation should focus on how to discipline people for their vicious desire. Unification Church explicates the desire as follows, First, the desire has twofold meanings. The desire can be creative power or destructive force depending on the direction of mind. Second, the desire has expansibility: if we do not control the desire, it is expanded continually with spiral climb. Third, the desire has ruling character: it tends to posses and rule the objects. Conscience has function to control the desire. The conscience tries to lead the desire toward goodness. But the fallen human beings have lost the absolute standard of goodness, and in the absence of the absolute standard of goodness, the conscience gets to lead the desire in the direction of what they believe to be good. Shimjung leads conscience in the direction of the original mind, for Shimjung is God s creative nature which loves objects with the heart of God, and pays the tribute of joy to God. So when we live by God Shimjung, the desire gets to operate according to the original mind. Unification Church recommends three ways to control the desire; (1) altruistic life, (2) moderate and ascetic life, and (3) scripture reading. These are the subjects of the religious education and the processes of the ascetic practice in Unification Church. Ascetic practices like meditation, contemplation, prayer, devotion and service to the public can all be considered to ways of practicing religious teachings.