Introduction
This study examines the concept of Beauty (美) and Value as presented in Unification Thought, and
reinterprets the cited passages through the lens of the Divine Principle’s doctrine of creation.
The goal is to clarify how subjective human experience and
objective divine value coexist within the structure of value-realization.
1. Citation from Unification Thought
Unification Thought explains that:
Beauty does not exist merely as an objective entity.
Rather,
beauty is determined
when a subject possessing a desire to pursue value
enters into a give-and-receive relationship with an object.
Beauty is not something that exists objectively;
it is something that is felt.
Elements within the object stimulate the subject emotionally,
and through this emotional stimulation, the subject experiences the object as beautiful.
(Unification Thought, pp. 426–427)
2. A Principle-Based Interpretation of the Cited Passage
Within the cosmos,
the eternal, absolute, unique, unchanging, and first-causal Subject is God.
Accordingly:
Human beings are the image-form objects created as God’s substantial counterparts.
All created things—including angels—are the symbolic-form objects created as God’s symbolic counterparts.
Thus,
all things exist as the image-form objects for human beings,
while serving as the symbolic-form objects of God.
Because
God—the eternal and unchanging Being of absolute value—created
both human beings and all things,
the inner, sungsang-based value inherent in these created beings
likewise possesses an eternal and unchanging character.
Even though the external forms of created beings undergo change according to natural law,
their intrinsic value, derived from the Creator, remains absolute.
However, the cited passage states:
Beauty does not exist objectively; it is determined when a subject with a desire for value enters into a give-and-receive relationship with an object.
Beauty is not an objective entity; it is something felt.
Elements within the object emotionally stimulate the subject, and through this stimulation,
the subject experiences the object as beautiful.
This explanation describes the subjective, experiential process of value realization—
that is, the actual, situational evaluation carried out by a human subject.
From the standpoint of the Principle of Creation,
the beauty and value possessed by God’s created objects—human beings and all things—
must be understood as objectively absolute,
because they originate from the Absolute Creator.
Thus,
their inner, sungsang-based value is inherently objective and absolute.
The cited passage, therefore,
is not describing the intrinsic value of created beings,
but rather
the subjective process through which human beings perceive and evaluate that value in real situations.
3. Conclusion
The beauty and value possessed by God’s created objects—
the image-form object (human beings) and the symbolic-form object (all things)—
are absolute,
because they originate from the Absolute Creator.
However,
the actual evaluation of beauty and value in human experience
is determined through the relative give-and-receive interaction between subject and object.
Thus,
while the intrinsic value of created beings is objectively absolute,
the realized value in human experience is subjectively determined.
This interpretation aligns the cited passage with the Principle of Creation:
absolute value exists inherently within God’s creation,
yet
the human act of evaluating that value occurs through a subjective, relational process.
