The unity and uniqueness of God comprise the theme of the passages collected in this section. They come from every religion, the avowedly monotheistic Abrahamic faiths and Eastern religions also. The divine unity may be hidden under a multiplicity of appearances; nevertheless there is a single Source and a single Principle that brings order and meaning to the phenomenal world. In particular, many of these texts affirm that the various concepts of Ultimate Reality in the world’s religions are manifestations of the same one God.
The readings from Father Moon affirm the one God at the root of all true religion. In addition, they point to the ethical teachings implicit in this truth.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.1
Deuteronomy 6.4: The Shema
Say: He is God, the One! God, the eternally Besought of all! He neither begets nor was begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him.
Qur’an 112
He is the Sole Supreme Being; of eternal manifestation;
Creator, Immanent Reality; Without Fear, Without Rancor;
Timeless Form; Unincarnate; Self-existent; Realized by the grace of the Holy Preceptor. Japuji p. 1, The Mul Mantra (Sikhism)
He is the one God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the Self within all beings, watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the perceiver, the only one, free from qualities.
Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.11 (Hinduism)
They have called him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and the divine fine-winged Garuda; They speak of Indra, Yama, Matrarisvan: the One Being sages call by many names.
Rig Veda 1.164.46 (Hinduism)
To God belong all creatures in the heavens and on the earth: even those who are in His very Presence are not too proud to serve Him, nor are they ever weary. They celebrate His praises night and day, nor do they ever flag or intermit. Or have they taken gods from the earth who can raise the dead? If there were, in the heavens or in the earth, other gods besides God, there would have been confusion in both! But glory to God, the Lord of the Throne; high is He above what they attribute to Him!
Qur’an 21.19-22
There is everywhere not disorder but order, proportion and not disproportion, not disarray but arrangement in an order perfectly harmonious.
Therefore we must infer and be led to perceive the Master that put together and compacted all things, and produced harmony in them. For though He be not seen with the eyes, yet from the order and harmony of things contrary it is possible to perceive their Ruler, Arranger and King… In the order and harmony of the Universe we perceive God the governor of it all, and that He is one and not many.
Athanasius (Christianity)
The sage clasps the Primal Unity, Testing by it everything under heaven.
Tao Te Ching 22 (Taoism)
Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. And he made from one every nation of men to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ ”
Acts 17.22-28
When appearances and names are put away and all discrimination ceases, that which remains is the true and essential nature of things and, as nothing can be predicated as to the nature of essence, is called the “Suchness” of Reality. This universal, undifferentiated, inscrutable Suchness is the only Reality, but it is variously characterized as Truth, Mind-essence, Transcendental Intelligence, Perfection of Wisdom, etc. This teaching of the imagelessness of the Essence-nature of Ultimate Reality is the teaching which has been proclaimed by all the Buddhas, and when all things are understood in full agreement with it, one is in possession of Perfect Knowledge.2
Lankavatara Sutra (Buddhism)
God said to Israel, “Because you have seen Me in many likenesses, there are not therefore many gods. But it is ever the same God: I am the Lord your God.” Rabbi Levi said, “God appeared to them like a mirror, in which many faces can be reflected; a thousand people look at it; it looks at all of them.” So when God spoke to the Israelites, each one thought that God spoke individually to him.
Pesikta Kahana 109b-110a (Judaism)
The Hindus and the Muslims have but one and the same God.
Adi Granth, Bhairo, p. 1158 (Sikhism)
There can be no doubt that whatever the peoples of the world, of whatever race or religion, derive their inspiration from one heavenly Source, and are the subjects of one God. The difference between the ordinances under which they abide should be attributed to the varying requirements and exigencies of the age in which they were revealed. All of them, except for a few which are the outcomes of human perversity, were ordained of God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose.
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah 111 (Baha’i Faith)
SMM — The One God
What is the source of all beings? God, the One Being, unique and absolute. (262:51, July 23, 1994)
What is the one true existence in heaven and earth? He is the Absolute Being. The Korean language refers to Him as the Only Being, the Owner and Lord, which when abbreviated is “The One Lord” (Hananim), God.3 (39:302, January 16, 1971)
God is called by many different names, yet regardless of what names He is called, there cannot be many gods. Since the origin is only one, there can be only one God. Due to the many different languages of the world, there are many different names for God. Yet God, the original entity, is only One.
The purpose that God pursues is manifested through religions. Hence, no matter how many religions exist, their purpose is one—the peace of the Kingdom of Heaven. (210:199-200, December 23, 1990)
All the ‘absolute beings’ worshiped until now are not different gods, but actually one and the same God. Each religion’s theology grasps but an aspect of God’s attributes. A correct understanding of the entirety of God clarifies that all religions are brothers, all established by the one God. (122:304, November 25, 1982)
Each religion has an absolute being as a basis for its doctrine. The absolute being of Judaism is Jehovah, of Christianity, God, and of Islam, Allah. Confucianism and Buddhism do not specify an absolute being. However, because the basic Confucian virtue of benevolence (jen) is linked to the mandate of Heaven, Heaven may be regarded as the absolute being in Confucianism. Buddhism teaches that all phenomena are in constant change while the truth is found in the ‘Suchness’ that lies behind all phenomena.4 Thus, Suchness functions as the absolute being of Buddhism. (122:301, November 25, 1982)
The basic cause of religious conflict lies in the ambiguity of their doctrines about Ultimate Reality. The Absolute Being is only one; there cannot be two absolute beings. However, when the leaders of each religion claim that only their absolute being is the true God, it leads to the contradiction that there is more than one absolute being. We would then conclude that the god of each religion is only a relative god, and that there is no basis for believing that the Absolute Being exists.
Consequently, although God has been promoting through the various religions a universal teaching about God’s love and truth, their various perspectives remain only relative. We can conclude that religions have been incapable of establishing the absolute value perspective that can bring the prevailing confusion under control. This is the inevitable result of the fact that no religion has been able to present the correct explanation about the Absolute Being. (122:300-01, November 25, 1982)
Each religion has pride in its own teachings and jealously guards its traditions, regarding itself as superior to all others. However, religious teaching has universal elements, which come from God. The one God is the God of all religions. Therefore, religions should purify themselves and elevate themselves through universal principles.
The central value in religion is true love, which we can sum up by the teaching, “Live for the sake of others.” The individual lives for the sake of the family; the family lives for the sake of the community; the community lives for the sake of the nation; the nation lives for the sake of the world. Likewise, my religion should live for the sake of other religions. This is the principle of principles.
The source of this universal principle is God. In creating the universe, God invested Himself totally for the sake of His creatures. Throughout history, God has been continually sacrificing Himself in order to save fallen human beings, who have been living just as they desire. The prophets, saints and sages who knew God’s will have followed this divine principle in their own lives. (234:222, August 20, 1992)
In God’s way of thinking, there is no concept of an enemy. If there were, it would imply Dualism (two origins). Because God does not have such a concept, He does not fight. (225:123, January 5, 1992)
Footnotes
Footnotes
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Deuteronomy 6.4: The Shema is the Jewish confession of faith. The word “Lord” when written in small caps signifies the holy name of God, written in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) as “YHWH” but never spoken by observant Jews. Some Protestants call the name “Jehovah.” ↩
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Lankavatara Sutra: This sutra teaches that the existing world is created by mind. The world of appearances, which is characterized by suffering, is rooted in the seeds of defilements that are accumulated in the subconscious mind. True Reality is what is realized when all defilements have been removed and the mind operates with Perfect Wisdom. The Suchness of existence is thus identical with the essence of Mind. ↩
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January 16, 1971: The Korean word for God, Hananim, includes hana, “the One” and nim, “exalted.” ↩
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November 25, 1982: ‘all phenomena,’ lit. ‘all dharmas’ (諸法); in Chinese and Korean Buddhism, ‘dharma’ means a phenomenon or a constituent of existence, while ‘Suchness’ (眞如) is the true reality behind all dharmas (see the Lankavatara Sutra, above). Father Moon employs these technical Buddhist terms. ↩