Claim. Desire is not a fallen contamination of the soul but an original feature of human nature given by God so that the purpose of creation can actually be put into action.
Elaboration. Citing DP (p. 70), Lee asserts that desire is part of the original human nature (II. Divine Principle Foundation for Axiology). The argument is functional (Origin of Desire and Purpose of Creation): if God had given humans only the purpose of creation and the three great blessings (Gen. 1:28) but no desire, they would merely conceive these ideas without any impulse to act on them. Desire is the “impulsive will to actualize” purpose — without it, purpose remains inert.
This is a significant theological move with sharp consequences. It directly opposes ascetic traditions (notably in Buddhism, which Lee will critique later in the chapter for treating attachment-driven desire as the root of suffering) that treat desire as the problem to be extinguished. For Lee, fallen misdirected desire is the problem; desire itself is the engine God built. This is why a person of character is one whose intellect, emotion, and will — all desire-bearing faculties — are developed harmoniously centered on Heart, not suppressed.
The claim also undergirds the dual-desire / dual-value structure of Unification Axiology. Both Sungsang desire (for truth, goodness, beauty, love) and Hyungsang desire (for food, clothing, shelter, sexual fulfillment) are originally good and God-given. The Hyungsang desire that drives economic life is therefore not a concession to fallen flesh but part of the original blueprint — which is why Lee criticizes economists for not seriously analyzing desire, even though they know it motivates economic activity.
This claim is load-bearing for the entire UT system: it permits a non-ascetic, family-affirming, work-affirming axiology, and it is one of the structural reasons UT can affirm marital sexuality and material prosperity in ways that ascetic religious systems cannot. Critics from contemplative traditions typically engage on the question of whether desire so-construed remains distinguishable from craving.
See also. value-defined-by-subject-desire-satisfaction, fall-reverses-spirit-physical-mind-order, dual-purposes-dual-desires-dual-values