Eighteenth International Conference
on the Unity of the Sciences
Farewell Banquet Speech
Your busy schedule of these past few days is now over, and now it's time to bid farewell; I want to express my deepest gratitude to our Conference Chairman, Dr. Alvin Weinberg, for his dedicated leadership in the last three conferences. He has continued to raise the level of ICUS to even greater standards of academic excellence.
I also want to thank our distinguished Vice Chairmen,Dr. Tor Ragnar Gerholm, D. Michael Higatsberger, and Dr. Se Won Yoon, as well as all Committee Chairpeople and participants. Your very intense discussions and hard work during this conference have borne great fruit.
Mrs. Moon and I have been very happy to welcome you here to our homeland of Korea, where you could experience the Korean countryside, the warmth of the Korean people, and continue to forge bonds of friendship across national and cultural boundaries in this radiant land.
Over the past twenty years, we truly have become the "ICUS family," composed of scholars seeking to make the world a more ideal place. On each opportunity that we have to be together I have tried to share with you something from my heart centered on the will of heaven. This evening, I would like to share with you something about my thinking in placing such importance on giving encouragement and support to the scholarly community.
Scholars serve humankind through their wisdom and knowledge. Scholars enrich our lives and make them more convenient through their advances in science and technology. But even more importantly, realize that they have a mission to accomplish in realizing an ideal world of happiness.
In spite of the most earnest desires and fervent efforts of scholars, and in spite of the fact that we have seen a revolutionary improvement in our external material living conditions, humankind has yet to find a way to escape from anxiety and chaos, or from crime and violence. We find today that we need to develop deep wisdom concerning life, much more than we need further quantitative increases in our share of knowledge. Going one step further, we are in a position today where we must apply our wisdom to the realization of God's Ideal of Creation.
We who have been born into a fallen world carry within ourselves an original mind, that is, a mind that seeks to live forthrightly and to serve others, and also another mind concerned only with our own selfish gain and individual peace of mind. We have all experienced how the exponents of these two minds contradict and oppose each other in our daily lives.
It is God's desire that we follow our original mind in order to fulfill His Will. If only you can control the impetuses of your selfish mind, you will have true peace of mind and you will be able to hear God speak to you with His intimate advice for you. When we come to know the living God and form a heartistic relationship with Him, we can possess the ecstatic happiness of being enveloped in the ideal of God's true love.
Unlike knowledge, which is accumulated through a series of steps involving research and study, wisdom is gained through spiritual inspiration received as a result of God's blessing. People cannot develop spiritual faculties of inspiration as long as they follow the course indicated by their selfish minds.
I believe the greatest of all wisdom is to know the heart and ideal of God. We in the ICUS family need to develop a forum for our common efforts that will transcend the dimension of conventional research and enable us to possess the wisdom of heaven. If this is accomplished, we will be able to take a central responsibility in bringing about an ideal world of peace that is the ideal of God and the common hope of all humanity. God is eagerly awaiting scholars of good conscience who will take on such a role. In view of the expectations that society places on scholars and of the mission that scholars bear in the education of our young people, it is clear that the role models that you provide will have wide-spread influence.
I am deeply touched that you and many other scholars like you are coming together to work for this noble cause, although you may not share all of my ideas. I feel that God is pleased to see you pouring out your wisdom and knowledge in service to the future of the world, and I'm sure His blessing will continue to be upon your efforts.
We have made many important contributions over the past twenty years, and I believe there is still much more that we must do. I will continue to support your efforts. The world today way present us with problems that seem beyond our capacities. As long as we root ourselves in the spirit of God's true love, that is, the spirit of living for others, our sacrificial efforts will serve as the primary force in accomplishing a world of peace.
I am happy to announce that I have invited Dr. Tor Ragnar Gerholm to become the Chairman of the next International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences, which will be held one year from today, in August 1992, here in Seoul. The 19th ICUS will be a part of the great festival of world culture, which you have heard me speak of before.
I am sure Dr. Gerholm will be calling upon your cooperation and assistance in organizing next year's conference. I know you will give him the same active cooperation that you have extended that you have extended to Dr. Weinberg and other chairmen in the past. I look forward to welcoming you, the members of the ICUS family, together with the participants in the other cultural and athletic events that will be held then.
God bless you all, your nations, your families and your work. May you have a safe journey home and a prosperous year until we meet again next year at the 19th ICUS here in Seoul. Thank you very much.
