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L. Thaveetermsakul: Address to International Leadership Conference 2018
Written by Vice Chairman, UPF-Asia
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Address to International Leadership Conference 2018, Seoul, Korea, February 18-22, 2018
Honorable Religious Leaders, Members of Parliament, Ambassadors for Peace, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good morning to all of you again and thank you for your attentive participation.
The theme of this conference is “Building a World of Lasting Peace: Interdependence, Mutual Prosperity and Universal Values”. On this panel we are focusing on the critical challenges and solutions to peace and security in Asia.
There are many different critical challenges to peace and security in Asia, but I would like to focus and address the critical challenges in sociocultural and human development issues, which are the very fundamental and important issues for lasting peace and security in Asia. Even though we have to solve many other critical issues, without solving fundamental sociocultural and human development issues, we will not be able to realize and sustain peace and security in Asia or anywhere in the world.
I do believe that fundamentally our critical challenges for human development and peace come from the very root cause of the loss and the breakdown of the value of true love in marriage and family institutions and the extended problems of young people under the mainstream influences of a selfish individualistic, materialistic and free-sex culture. Even though Asia is comparatively considered to have a strong family culture and strong roots in religious values and cultural heritage, the strong influence of the selfish individualistic, materialistic free-sex culture is undermining these Asian sociocultural foundation.
We can see this kind of culture manifesting in all sociocultural dimensions. We can see the trend of continuous increases in domestic violence, the divorce rate, family breakdown, unwanted teenage pregnancies, abandoned newborn babies and illegal abortions among many nations in Asia. This is also happening in Thailand, my own country.
This trend has become a critical challenge to good, loving human development and relationships in the family and society, and consequently has become a critical challenge to peace, security and development of the society and the nation. This dangerous trend is also expanding everywhere.
Without good, loving, healthy and strong family foundations centered upon the heart of true love, there can be no model and foundation for good, healthy human development and loving human relationships that can resolve conflicts and nurture peace, security, and prosperity in the society, nation and world because the family is the school of love and the cornerstone of peace. Once we lose the family and young people, there will be no more hope for the future.
According to UPF’s founders, the Asia Pacific Rim has a very important role and mission to usher in a new wave of cultural revolution to bring peace to the world in the 21st century. Therefore, Reverend and Mrs. Moon have dedicated their entire lives to bring about the new cultural revolution of heart and to realize a world of lasting peace, starting from their homeland here on the Korean Peninsula, the very critical frontline of peace and security in Asia.
So Reverend and Mrs. Moon have founded the Universal Peace Federation, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, the Women’s Federation for World Peace, Youth and Students for Peace and also the International Parliamentarians for Peace and the Interreligious Association for Peace and Development, as well as many other affiliated organizations, as the fruits of their lifelong investment. As well, they have launched the True Family Movement, the Pure Love Movement, family education and character education for worldwide families and young people to protect and strengthen the family institution and the new young generation.
We have to overcome the culture of selfish individualism with the culture of true love, living for the sake of others. We have to overcome the culture of materialism with the culture of heart rooted in the four great realms of heart and love—the parental and conjugal heart and love, and the siblings’ and children’s filial heart and love—as well as the three generations of grandparents, parents and children in the family. And finally, we have to overcome the culture of free sex with the culture of absolute sex or absolute sexual purity, pure love and pure lineage, which is the very root of the development of true love and true family culture.
These new grassroots movements have already spread out in many nations in the Asia Pacific, such as Korea, Japan, Thailand, Philippines, Nepal, and Cambodia, and they have crossed the Pacific Ocean to America, Europe and Africa. Reverend and Mrs. Moon, standing as the model of parents for humanity and united in heart with Heavenly Parent, are mobilizing heavenly fortune and calling upon all religious leaders, political leaders, women leaders, youth leaders and leaders of government and civil society to work together. As Ambassadors for Peace, they will bring about a new cultural revolution of heart, to realize the world of everlasting peace and unity; the world of interdependence, mutual prosperity and universal values; the world of equality, freedom, and happiness; the one global family of humanity, of unity and peace. This is the cultural revolution of heart that can establish a world of everlasting peace.
Let’s join hand together as one global family of Ambassadors for Peace and take ownership to realize this together. Thank you very much.
To go to the International Leadership Conference Schedule 2018, click here.