The HyoJeong Academy of Arts & Sciences of Europe held its inauguration and symposium in Paris, France from October 26-28, 2018. The event was supported by the HyoJeong Academic Foundation, PWPA and the Unification Thought Institute. The overall theme of the event was the “Vision for the Unity of Sciences and a HyoJeong World of Peace.” The event was held at Maison des Polytechniciens, an 18th century restored mansion, and Espace Barrault in the beautiful city of Paris, France. One hundred thirteen scholars from around the world attended, including twenty from Korea, five from Japan, three from the United States, fifty six from France and sixteen from the rest of Europe. Among these scholars, sixty three were first generation Unificationists, nineteen were second generation Unificationists, and nineteen were non-Unificationist scholars.
Day 1, October 26th.
The first day of the event took place at Espace Barrault in Paris. Participants arrived from all over Europe, Asia and the United States and registered for the event. The Opening Session consisted of an orientation, and the launching of the HyoJeong Academy of Arts & Sciences of Europe. Major Unificationist leaders from around the world gave opening remarks and welcomed all the participants, who all introduced themselves. The day concluded with a delicious dinner at a local restaurant.
Day 2, October 27th
The second day was held at the historic Maison des Polytechniciens. The opening session consisted of welcoming remarks from Dr. Michael Balcomb, Chairman of FFWPU-Europe and the Middle East, Dr. Katsumi Otsuka, Chairman of the HyoJeong Academy of Arts & Sciences of Europe and of UPF in Europe, Mr. Masayoshi Kajikuri, President of UPF Japan, Dr. Sung Bae Jin, Chairman of the HyoJeong Academy of Arts & Sciences International, and Mr. Didier Guignard, founder of Club Science, Paris and ICUS Correspondent for Europe.
Next came the HyoJeong Academy of Arts & Sciences of Europe’s program. This began with an excellent presentation by Dr. Richard Lewis, Science Advisor at the Unification Thought Institute, USA on “God, the Logos and Evolution: The Development of the Universe and of Life is a Progressive Expression of the Logos.” Next, Dr. Don Trubshaw, Teacher at Nottingham International College in Great Britain, gave a presentation on “Transcendent Individualism as the Realm of Absolute Values.” This was followed by a presentation by Dr. Boshidar Paliushev on “Introduction to The Physics of God: Weaving together Torsion Field Theory and Unification Thought.” To conclude the HyoJeong Academy program Dr. Yoshiuki Amemiya, Professor Emeritus, the University of Tokyo gave an excellent presentation on “The Role of Sciences and Religion.” After each presentation, the presenter engaged in an active and stimulating question and answer session with all the participants.
Next came the PWPA Forum, in which Dr. Thomas Selover, President of PWPA and the Sunhak UP Graduate University, Dr. Gordon Anderson, Publisher and Editor of the International Journal for World Peace, and Dr. Tetsuichi Takagi, Chief Researcher at the Senior National Institute of Advanced Industry and Technology, gave presentations about the development of PWPA around the world and the issues that Unificationist scholars must grapple with. Once again there was a stimulating question and answer session at the end of this portion of the program.
The day also included the presentation of a commemorative gift to various leaders and scholars of the 9 volume set of Unification Thought related books. These included A New Renaissance: Systematizing the Academic Studies of Godism by Dr. Sung Bae Jin, Evolution, Unity of the Sciences and Unification Thought by Dr. Sung Bae Jin and Dr. Johnathan Wells, The Physics of God and Unification Thought by Dr. Sung Bae Jin and Dr. Bozhidar Paliushev, Unification Science by Dr. Sung Bae Jin and Dr. Richard Lewis, Theology as Divinity and Philosophy as True Love in Action by Dr. David Carlson, Science and the Relational Ontology of Unification Thought by Dr. David Burton, Beyond Darwinism: A New Perspective from Unification Thought by Akifumi Otani, Unification Psychology by Dr. Shigehiro Suzuki, and Multi-dimensional Hermeneutics for the Integration of Science and Religion by Dr. Keisuke Noda. These books are available from the HyoJeong Academy of Arts & Sciences and are part of an ongoing series of books that are being published in various fields of science and social science dealing with the overall theme of Unification Thought and the Unity of the Sciences.
The day concluded with a wonderful Seine River Cruise & Dinner hosted by Dr. Michael Balcomb. The participants enjoyed their dinner while cruising along the beautiful Seine River with views of historic sites such as the Eifel Tower, the Louvre Museum and others.
Day 3, October 28th
The third day consisted of the Unification Thought Institute Seminar and was held at Espace Barrault. Originally this part of the program was to be held only in Korean, but because of the overwhelming and unanticipated interest of the participants from other parts of the world English translation had to be provided and the room quickly filled to capacity.
Part 1 was moderated by Dr. Jae Young Lee, Vice President of Sun Moon University and Chairman of SunHak Peace Institute at Sun Moon University, and who also gave the first presentation on “A Suggestion of Educational Structure on Unification Thought.” Next Mr. Akifumi Otani, Senior Researcher of the Unification Thought Institute-Japan, presented his paper entitled “A New Idea from Unification Thought for the Hard Problem of Consciousness.” This was followed by Dr. Chul Hee Han, Professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology at Sun Moon University, presenting his paper on “In Search of Original Laws.” Then Dr. Jaewan Joo, Professor in the Department of Theology and Pure Love Studies at Sun Moon University, gave a talk on “Developing Unification Epistemology by Incorporating Spiritual Senses.” Part 1 concluded with a talk by Dr. Geo Lyong Lee, Professor in the Department of Integrative Medicine at Sun Moon University, on “The Original Image in Unification Thought from the Perspective of Indian Philosophy.”
Part 2 was moderated by Dr. Hangje Kim and Dr. Jin Choon Kim, Co-Chairpersons of the Cheon Il Guk Academy and featured papers presented by 2nd generation Unificationists from Korea. First, Dr. Jinsu Hwang, Professor at SunHak UP Graduate University presented a paper entitled “A Study on the National Policy of Cheon Il Guk: Based on the Concept of Mutual Existence, Mutual Prosperity, and Mutual Righteousness.” Next Dr. Hyun Jin Lim, Professor at SunHak UP Graduate University, presented a paper about the “Study on the Mutual Prosperity Politics in Korea based on the Principle of Mutual Existence, Mutual Prosperity and Mutual Righteousness.” This was followed by Dr. Hwa Myung Kang, Professor or Liberal Arts at Sun Moon University, presenting her paper on “A Study on the Creation of Shared Values from the Perspective of Unification Thought.” Finally, Dr. Youn Hee An, Professor in the Department of History and Culture Contents at Sun Moon University gave a presentation entitled “A Note on the ‘Being with Position’ of Unification Thought: Implications for the Concept of Person.” Once again, each presentation was followed by a stimulating question and answer session.
The program concluded with a report on the HyoJeong Academy Symposium in Paris to the French congregation of FFWPU. These reports and expressions of gratitude for the warm hospitality that was extended to all participants by our French hosts were made by Mr. Jean Francois Moulinet, Chairman of UPF France, Dr. Michael Balcomb, Chairman of FFWPU- Europe and the Middle East, Dr. Katsumi Otsuka, Chairman of the HyoJeong Academy of Arts & Sciences, Europe and of UPF, Europe, and Dr. Sung Bae Jin, Chairman of HyoJeong Academy of Arts and Sciences International. In addition, all the participants expressed their deep appreciation to God, True Mother, Dr. Jin, the other organizers of the symposium and our French hosts for the symposium that provided much food for thought.
A booklet containing all of the papers presented at the symposium can be obtained from the HyoJeong Academy of Arts & Sciences in Korea. As indicated by the wide range of subject matters and areas of expertise of the presenting scholars, the symposium provided all participants with much intellectual stimulation. The next symposium is tentatively scheduled to be held in London, England in July 2019 and we look forward to another thought provoking symposium with numerous distinguished scholars attending from around the world.
