God’s Government is a Garden

The Principle states that government should model itself on “a perfect individual.” The mind and body of such an individual possesses six functions. The body follows laws and has internal information systems and control mechanisms by which to obtain, distribute and dispose of energy in harmony with its world, and to act upon its world. The mind, aware of God, its world and its body, decides what actions to take.

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The government copies these six functions in the work of the legislature, communications media, judiciary, economy, executive, and monarch. In Cheon Il Guk these functions are distributed among five and a Supreme Council. This week we will address first the , then the Supreme Council, and finally the apportionment of public responsibility.

What, one might ask, is a ? There are as many as 33 different Chinese characters pronounced in Korean. One of them means , and it is the character normally used for parliament, assembly or judicial court. Father Moon did not use that character in reference to Cheon Il Guk’s government. The best approximation for Father Moon’s is “national garden.”

Cheon Il Guk government’s five are for legislation, communication and education, jurisprudence, financial management and executive implementation.

The legislates for the body’s system and processes. The Chinese character means to discuss, consult, criticize, find agreement.

The cares for the body’s distribution of information through media. It collects public opinion and provides reports and education. The Chinese character means public, fair, impartial.

The , the judiciary, oversees the body’s compliance to its own laws. The Chinese character  means law, statute, method, rule.

The oversees the economy, the acquisition, distribution and disposal of goods. The Chinese character  means property, wealth.  

The has the executive task, to take action. The Chinese character means govern, rule, politics.

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Putting this together, Cheon Il Guk is Heaven’s garden of wealth governed by natural law, through fair and public discussion. A garden is an organic composite of nature, nature’s God, and human effort, a beautiful, pleasant, peaceful and fruitful environment.

In the center are the gardeners, one man and one woman who embody the polarities of the body politic. Their life and love births a civilization, for which their lineage of true men and women take public responsibility. That’s government.  

(I am indebted to Robert Schairer for providing his research on the meaning of in the context of the Cheon Il Guk government. The pronunciation of falls between the English “one” and “wand.”)

-TH