A United Mind and Spirit

This week in history, February 4-10:

• True Mother Revives ICUS (February 4, 2017)
• The Cheongshim International Hospital’s dedication ceremony takes place (February 5, 2003)
• The Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony for the Parents of Heaven and Earth Opening the Gate of Cheon Il Guk is held (February 6, 2003)
• 1800 couples receive the Holy Marriage Blessing (February 8, 1975)
• The Central Training Center is founded (February 10, 1970)
• The first Victory over Communism Rally is held (February 10, 1978)
• Toru Goto is freed from captivity (February 10, 2008)

February 4, 2017

True Mother Revives ICUS

First ICUS meeting in 1972.                                                                     Fourth ICUS meeting in 1975.

True Father launched the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS) in 1972. For nearly 30 years, annual conferences in great world cities brought together eminent scientists, including Nobel laureates, in sessions focused on absolute values and cross-disciplinary unity. From 2000 to 2016, True Parents turned their attention to other pressing matters of world conflict and suffering. However, those years witnessed a steep rise in threats to humanity’s future from pollution and the destruction of the environment. In 2017, True Mother revived ICUS, calling upon scientists to address environmental concerns.

ICUS XXIII convened at the Lotte World Hotel in Seoul on February 4-5, 2017 under the theme “Earth’s Environmental Crisis and the Role of Science.” In her remarks to scientists, True Mother stated,

“When God created the cosmos he set up the principle of circulation, so it would last for eternity. However, because of the humankind’s mistakes, our beautiful earth is sick … If we would have followed the direction God established at the Creation—the principle of circulation—no pollution would have developed. In many ways scientific civilization caused much pollution. This is the reason I am reviving ICUS. We have to stop the threats that endanger human life and the survival of the planet.”

February 5, 2003

Dedication of Cheongshim International Hospital

True Mother speaking at the hospital dedication ceremony

A ceremony was held to offer Cheongshim International Hospital to Heaven on February 5, 2003. The construction began in September 2000 and was finished after two years and five months. True Parents bestowed on the hospital the motto “Perfection of unification with heavenly character is possible through united mind and spirit.” Through her congratulatory remarks, True Mother said, “The Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center and the Cheongshim International Hospital are the homeland for the hearts of Unification families around the world.” Located in a beautiful mountain landscape, Cheongshim International Hospital serves its patients with both Western and Oriental medicine and the most up-to-date equipment. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee)

February 6, 2003

Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony for the Parents of Heaven and Earth Opening the Gate of Cheon Il Guk

The Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony for the Parents of Heaven and Earth Opening the Gate of Cheon Il Guk

True Father proclaimed Cheon Il Guk (“the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity”) on November 15, 2001. This was the Unificationist equivalent of the Kingdom of Heaven and the culmination of his ministry. In 1993, he had announced the transition to the Completed Testament Era, which was understood to mark a shift in the order of salvation from the individual to the family. Cheon Il Guk advanced beyond the family to the creation of a heavenly nation. For the next twelve years, True Parents set numerous conditions for the establishment of Cheon Il Guk. One of the most important of these was the Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony for the Parents of Heaven and Earth Opening the Gate of Cheon Il Guk on February 6, 2003. Its centerpiece was the marriage of True Parents on the foundation of Cheon Il Guk. Their Blessing was to supersede church-level and national-level Blessings. It was followed by the “Coronation of the King of the Blessed Families” to substantiate the original Heavenly Kingship. Both ceremonies were conducted at Cheongpyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center before more than 10,000 guests including 200 dignitaries from the World Summit on Leadership and Governance. Brazilian soccer legend Pele presented True Parents with a specially engraved plaque.

February 8, 1975

1,800 Couple Holy Marriage Blessing

True Parents bless 1800 couples in marriage.

True Parents blessed 1,800 couples (technically, 1801) in what the Guinness Book of World Records then recorded as the largest mass wedding in history on February 8, 1975. The ceremony, conducted in Seoul’s Jangchung Gymnasium, brought together couples from 25 nations, including 891 couples from Korea, 797 from Japan, 76 from the United States, 35 from European countries and two from the Republic of China. Over 10,000 guests witnessed the event, after which couples boarded ninety-four sightseeing buses for a parade through the streets of Seoul. True Parents blessed the 1,800 Couples 14 years after their Holy Marriage Blessing in 1960. It closed out the second 7-year or national-level course and opened the way to the Unification Church’s international work. Some 300 members from the 1,800 Couples went out to 123 nations as foreign missionaries, pioneering the worldwide providence. True Father noted that 1,800 represents three times six, equaling eighteen or “the complete subjugation of the satanic number 6.” The 1,800 Couples, he said, “represent all humankind.” Upon their Blessing, he declared, “we enter the age to embrace the world.” This year marks the 40^th anniversary of the 1,800 Couple Blessing.

February 10, 1970

Founding of the Central Training Center

The Central Training Center was founded in Sutaek-ri, Guri city, Gyeonggi Province, on February 10, 1970. The “A” building was completed twenty-eight days after construction began. True Parents named the facility the HSA-UWC Central Training Center. Countless Unification Movement members and non-member leaders have been educated at this site, and it is still serving as one of the Family Federation’s most important educational facilities. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee)

February 10, 1978

The First Victory over Communism Rally

The first Victory over Communism (VOC) rally was held in Suwun Hall in Seoul on February 10, 1978. With 134 foreign participants and over a thousand citizen-guests, the rally was successful. Dr. Sang Hun Lee, author of the VOC text, explained the significance of the rally, which was held to make a resolution to protect the Republic of Korea, one of the most ardently anti-communist countries in the world. Korean President Park Chung-hee and U.S. President Jimmy Carter sent congratulatory messages. (Courtesy of the History Compilation Committee)

February 10, 2008

Toru Goto Freed from Captivity

Mr. Toru Goto, the world’s best-known survivor of coercive conversion in Japan, was freed from incarceration in a Tokyo apartment on February 10, 2008, after twelve years of confinement by family members. After three hunger strikes and “slow starvation” imposed on him for failing to acknowledge “issues” of the Unification Movement, his family ordered him out of the apartment due to fear that he would carry out another hunger strike and starve to death. Mr. Goto had no money and was physically debilitated. Barely able to walk and wearing a light sweater, he feared he would freeze to death before morning. Fortunately, after being refused help at a police station, he encountered a Unificationist who helped him get to church headquarters. Around midnight he was taken to Isshin Hospital, where he was diagnosed as suffering from severe malnutrition as well as generalized muscular weakness, muscular atrophy, and anemia. He finally was discharged from the hospital on March 31. He later noted, “I was continuously confined in a small room from the time I was 31 years old until I was 44 years old [12 years and 5 months]. They deprived me of not only my freedom of religion, freedom of marriage, freedom of choice in employment, freedom of movement and freedom of vote, but they denied and violated my human dignity. They spoiled my precious life. I continued to endure criticism, smear and defamation which degraded my humanity, and also physical violence in the confinement room. I endured forced starvation, while I was continuously pressured to withdraw from the church.”