The Basic Form of Life

The family is the basic form of life. Its relations constitute the environment where people are reared, molding their character, values and identities. People sometimes try to set up alternatives to the traditional family, but these fail to persist beyond one or two generations. There is a “form” to the family; not in the sense of a precise set of roles, but rather a general principle that even single-parent families, childless families and families blended with stepparents and other relations take after as best they can. What is the “form” of the family? Outwardly, it consists of the pattern of relationships linking parents and children, husband and wife, and siblings; inwardly, it is the true, godly love that governs these relationships.

There is another sense in which the family is the basic form of life: it is the “textbook” for relationships in the larger society. Good family relations are productive of good citizens, who apply the lessons of relating with elder, same-age and younger family members to their relations with superiors, peers and subordinates.

Father Moon teaches extensively about both aspects of the family’s form. He characterizes its structural pattern as the “four-position foundation,” a notable teaching because it brings God into the family as a veritable member. He also describes the family spatially as extending in six directions.

In either case, the form is spherical and characterized by equality of all positions. This is possible when the dynamic in all the family relations is true love. Each family member lives for the sake of the others, creating a virtuous circle of giving that generates energy and equalizes all. Such families are the building-blocks of virtuous societies.