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Theocrazies II - The Sequel The original article ‘Theocrazies’ meant to show that what we read of the old man is not necessarily what he meant, not even what he said. Having to use a translator is a serious handicap if one wants to convey internal content. And that - conveying internal content - best describes whatever Sun Myung Moon says. Yes, he might have said that “his words will be like the law” one day. So what? I interpret that to mean that he formulates absolute principles as he understands them. That he doesn’t speak his own mind, but that his words reflect universal truth. You may disagree. I do at times. But so what? He also said that the conscience is above the teacher. People would do well to take that as a grain of salt. The original article Theocrazies showed that clumsy translation under pressure creates ‘facts’ that really aren’t facts. Never did he say, for example, that the goal of history is an ’automatic theocracy’ (The term in itself sounds like a joke). I asked Gary Fleisher, webmaster of www.tparents.org, if he might want to modify the autocracy speech - because the translation is verifiably wrong. He answered that he never alters original content. On my map that’s putting the translator over the speaker. I wonder what Mrs. Choi, recently ascended to spirit world, would have to say about that. If you search www.tparents.org then you might find a speech where Sun Myung Moon speaks of ‘heavenly totalitarianism’. I can imagine that opponents of the movement have a field day with that one. What you will not read there - unless Gary copies my article to his site, rather than linking to it - is this story: After the speech mentioning ‘heavenly totalitarianism’ somebody asked the translator Bo Hi Pak whether that really was what Moon said. After explaining to Pak the meaning of the term totalitarianism Pak answered no, that’s not what Moon meant. The word never appeared again in speeches from that day on. However, also that mistake is eternalized online. Truth and facts If you now are satisfied to hear that Sun Myung Moon is a good man with good intentions, that he really means well and that his controversial reputation is caused by misunderstanding and misrepresentation, if you think that the Unification Movement may be the bearer of hope, if you think the critics are all wrong and just plain nasty - read on and think again. Sun Myung Moon does not run the Unification Movement. No single person can run an operation as vast, multi-level and diverse as the UM. The same is true for any large operation. No matter what they tell you elsewhere, the CEO does not run GE, 3M, Coca Cola or Microsoft. That’s the simple reason why they bring up terms like corporate identity, corporate governance, total quality, process orientation and empowerment. It’s because in the end the people matter after all. If you complain at some hotline about some gadget you bought you will find out quickly if you talk to a person that is in charge of something or whether he/she is just answering the phone and throws the book at you. Some companies now allow you to express your wish with the dial pad. If you have a complaint dial 7. ... If you have a complaint about gadget 17 dial 3. ... If you are asking for a refund dial 5, if you want a repair dial 6. ... If you want to hang up and try again dial 9. Do not hesitate to contact us when you have any problems. Sometimes people talk that way, too. My approach in that case: Write down the name of the company and buy elsewhere next time. You may not believe it, but there are companies that don’t work that way. What does all this have to do with the Unification Movement? It boils down to the question ‘Who is answering the phone?’ The public face of the movement In the past most members came in touch with the movement because somebody invited them to a lecture. In that lecture some part of the teaching was presented, some then went to workshops, some joined, some not. Still some members witness on the street or on campus, but nowadays the movement is introduced on much higher levels. For example, Dr. Thomas Walsh, an American and a member of ‘the movement’, is doing a lot of UN-related traveling. His professional approach opened many doors. In the MEPI project in Israel I found Atonio Betancourt doing a good PR job, keeping the channels open and providing a human face in a difficult environment. (This statement is not uncontested.) Local people play a role when it comes to interfacing with public officials, governments and the like. They are the people that ‘answer the phone’. Are they in charge? Let’s have some more stories. When I visited Israel I came with a group of Asians - I’m living in Asia. The guys in charge on site were Americans - apparently headed by Antonio Betancourt - a long time American UM member of Hispanic origin and with lots of diplomatic experience. His team appeared to me a bit unempowered. Little initiative, little individual aspects, frequent referrals to policies, putting people in their place. Typical for the movement, nothing really special. Betancourt himself appeared to be an exception. National leaders of Asian nations and their subs coordinated the individual national groups. Also present, dominantly, were so called continental directors ( or shorter CDs ). The program consisted of some public appearances, demonstrating the support that the MEPI ( Middle East Peace Initiative ) gets internationally. Local VIPs, non-members, were involved in a Peace March in Jerusalem, a comprehensive tour schedule brought participants to historical places. We entered the Al Aksa Mosque, some even went into the Gaza Strip. After about a week the official schedule was over. Most international VIPs returned home. Left on site were the foot soldiers, ordinary members of the movement. Every morning and evening there was a meeting in a big hall where all members gathered to receive instructions and also useful information. In the evening people shared experiences. In the front of the hall was a stage with a large desk. The head honchos and VIPs were sitting there during these meetings. Head honcho here means Continental Directors (CDs). On this tour there was the CD for North America ( a Korean ) and the CD for South East Asia ( a Korean ). I don’t remember them saying anything interesting. All I remember is that the American CD ( a Korean ) was always wearing dark sunglasses and a black suit. Like the Blues Brothers. In my mind he even wore his sun glasses during the meetings in the rather dark hall, though I think in reality he has taken them off. He’s probably just a sun glasses guy. My wife mentioned the word ‘mafia’ when she saw the photos. On the morning after most VIPs had left - and the morning when I was going to leave - the CD for South East Asia ( a Korean ) announced that from now on the schedule would change. We would have a more tough schedule, the meetings should be conducted differently and he would take over from now on. He then announced the schedule for the evening. I don’t remember the exact details as I would be on the plane by then. However, for that evening a Bridge Ceremony was planned. That’s a ceremony of reconciliation - a symbolical event that pairs people from different nations and cultures. It conflicted with the impromptu schedule just announced by the CD ( a Korean ). “What kind of ceremony is that? Why does it have to be today?” the CD asked. Betancourt (suffisantly ) answered something like: “The Bridge Ceremony is a well known ceremony and very popular. It’s on the schedule and the schedule has been on display all the time.” He walked to the front an put a schedule on the table. I have been told that the ceremony took place. The reason why I like to remember this event is that normally Western members don’t stand up straight in front of CDs, RDs (all Koreans). That applies to East and West, testifying to an internal credit line that no bank would back with money. You get the idea - the people who answer the phone are not the people who run the show. Seeing a Westerner walk and talk straight among Koreans is unusual. People normally don’t have any reason to walk straight anyway. Having to implement instructions issued from isolated ivory towers of complacency that are out of touch with reality known to man makes people look stupid. You don’t feel good when you act stupid. If you feel stupid you want to hide. If you can’t hide or run, you crawl. Why we do this anyway? Read the section on the ‘Cain-Abel Culture’.
Some time ago, Sun Myung Moon initiated something called the National Messiah (NM) providence - a very interesting project. Each nation received - by lottery - four couples from different nations occupying four spiritual positions. These are the positions of Adam, Eve, Abel and Cain. They can be understood based on the teaching of the movement. Check out the pages at The Teaching for some but not all details. The Adam position always went to a Korean couple and the Eve position always to Japanese. The Abel position was filled by representatives from either America, France or England and the Cain position was for Germans, Austrians or Italians. These four couples should go to a nation as soon as possible and represent True Parents. It is a three generation project, meaning: parents, children and grandchildren. The mission came with some instructions, not many, but nevertheless. There were actually only two. One set referred to the function of the couples. The Korean NM was to exercise general supervision. The Japanese were to focus on business. The Abel position ( USA, UK, France) should focus on witnessing and PR. The Cain position ( Germany, Austria, Italy ) should work on business and technical issues. The NM group was above the National Leader of the nations. It actually conflicted with the existing structure of CDs leading directly National Leaders. I thought that could be a healthy challenge for a movement that calls itself Unification Movement. I couldn’t have been more wrong. But before I go on let’s look at the second set of instructions: If they can’t ‘unite’ they should divide their activities by geographical regions: Adam should go the East, Eve to the West, Cain to the North and Abel to the South of the country. I look at this as plan B. What happened is plan D, D for disaster. If you know anything about the movement you will quickly see the knell of death hidden in the first set of instructions: the Korean couple exercising general supervision. In reality that means that the Korean man exercises total control. In more than 95% of the cases it’s as simple as that. A Case Study in Destruction I have access to quite some information about things that happened during the time of this NM providence. On a spiritual level it reminds me of the dark middle ages of Christianity, except that no physical blood was shed. Let’s look at a situation which I know from own experience. Having witnessed it myself I don’t need to ask for permission. Won’t mention any names, though. The country where I went as an NM was in a very good situation. The movement had been successful for the last 5 years. It had close to a thousand members, mostly young and not blessed at that time. As the church had been underground for a decade and was not allowed to witness publicly there were few senior members. The show was run by five couples of the blessing group of 6000 couples, blessed 1982. Anyway, the ban had finally been lifted and in the last 5 years the movement gathered about a thousand members and plenty of money. Money was no problem in this Asian nation as the tech boom propelled it to the top of developing nations at that time. Money and success are good attractors. Many African nations never saw their Korean NM, and if then only briefly. But this nation had much to offer. The Korean staid there a long time, ultimately moved there permanently until the Koreans were recalled to Korea - too late. In addition to that, the country had couples appointed to all four positions. Many countries were lacking at least one position due to a a lack of qualified members. (At the very least the couples had to be part of the 6000 couple blessing group (1982) or earlier.) In addition to that, the assignment of functions made perfect sense for that country’s situation. The Japanese had run a business in USA for over a decade. The English couple in the Abel position had extensive experience in witnessing - also internationally. Prior to coming to the country they were leading a witnessing center in London. He was successful in contacting diplomats and in just about every situation that the Korean threw him into. When he finally was fed up with the political infighting and charades (coming soon, stay with us) he went to an outreach center in downtown and within a year - even though he could not speak the language - brought 200 guests to lectures and workshops - an all time record. Several of them joined the movement even though local members were not encouraged to help him. And finally, the Cain guy had an extensive background in Information Technology - technical management and software development. The movement at that time owned a ‘successful’ software company with 500 employees into which even Sun Myung Moon had recently invested a major pile of cash. The avid reader might connect that to point four in instruction set number one above (business/technical) and see reasons for optimism. In reality, nothing of that mattered.
To be continued.
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the old man |
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new stuff: The Picture Moon in Taiwan Prophet and/or Father Theocrazies The Bering Bridge
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I’m not much of painter, but you get the picture |
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