Claim. Every human is a “connected being” simultaneously occupying subject and object positions, and the proper developmental order is that object consciousness (humility, attendance, loyalty toward subject figures) must be established first, with subject consciousness built upon it — failure to maintain this order produces dictators who treat themselves as supreme.
Elaboration. Lee maps the object-consciousness forms across relationships (A. Object Position):
- Toward God: attendance and loyalty
- Toward sovereign/state: loyalty
- Toward parents: filial piety
- Toward teachers: respect and obedience
- Toward superiors: obedience
- Toward the whole: service
Common thread: “a heart of meekness and humility and an attitude of living for the sake of others.”
Because everyone occupies both positions simultaneously (a working person is subject to subordinates and object to superiors; even the highest authority remains object to God), the “connected being consciousness” is the proper mature posture (C. “Connected Being Consciousness” and Democracy).
The developmental priority claim is crucial: “in the connected being consciousness, priority should be given to one’s object consciousness. In other words, subject consciousness should be established only on the basis of object consciousness.” Children are object before they are parent; subordinates before superior. This is not just biographical fact but moral necessity — without first internalizing object consciousness one cannot exercise subject consciousness rightly.
Fallen pathology: when one stands in subject position, one “easily forgets the importance of object consciousness and, instead, gives priority solely to subject consciousness. Dictators are typical examples.” Lee names Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Ceausescu as exemplars of false subject figures who exploited people’s healthy object consciousness while themselves losing all object consciousness toward God.
The original-society contrast: leaders “would be very conscious that they are always in an object position before God — even if they might be occupying the highest social position — and so would never lose their humble attitude.” This is the UT theory of legitimate authority: authority is humble because the highest human authority is still subordinate to God.
The diagnostic for modern society is sharp: “object consciousness has almost become paralysed, and there is a growing tendency for people to ignore the authority of subject figures.” The remedy is reform of consciousness — reinstalling object consciousness — not new institutional engineering. Critics from democratic-egalitarian traditions will push back hard on the hierarchical assumption.
See also. authority-with-love-as-true-dominion, downward-love-primary-induces-upward-and-horizontal, democracy-needs-heavenly-fatherism