2. Allocating a Community’s Wealth to Provide Economic Security for All

World Scripture

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very border, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19.9-10

At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed… For there will be no poor among you, for the Lord will bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess, if only you will obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment.⁴⁵
Deuteronomy 15.1-5

And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants; it shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his family…⁴⁶
If your brother becomes poor, and sells part of his property, then his next of kin shall come and redeem what his brother has sold. But if he has not sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the year of jubilee; in the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property…
And if your brother becomes poor, and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall help him; like a stranger and a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him, but fear your God; that your brother may live beside you. You shall not lend him your money at interest, nor sell him your food at a profit.
And if your brother becomes poor beside you, and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave: he shall be with you as a hired servant and as a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of the jubilee; then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and go back to his own family, and return to the possession of his fathers. For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.
Leviticus 25.10-43

The Duke sent Pi Chan to ask about the “wellfield” system. “Your prince, “said Mencius, “is going to practice benevolent government… It must begin with land demarcation. When boundaries are not properly drawn, the division of land according to the well-field system and the yield of grain used for paying officials cannot be equitable. Despotic rulers and corrupt officials always neglect the boundaries. But once boundaries are correctly fixed, there will be no difficulty in settling the distribution of land and determining fair taxes… I suggest that in the country the tax should be one part in nine, using the method of a fixed share of the produce…
A section measuring one li square is divided into nine plots. The central plot of 100 mu is public land, while the other eight plots of 100 mu each are held by eight families who share the duty of cultivating the public field. Only when the work on the public field is finished do they turn to their own work.⁴⁷
Mencius III.A.3 (Confucianism)

Now the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need.
Acts 4.32-36

Thus it is manifest that the best political community is formed by citizens of the middle class, and that those states are likely to be well-administered in which the middle class is large, and stronger if possible than both the other classes.
Aristotle, Politics 4.11 (Hellenism)

As long as there is any property, and while money is the standard of all other things, I cannot think that a nation can be governed either justly or happily: not justly, because the best things will fall to the share of the worst men; nor happily, because all things will be divided among a few (and even these are not in all respects happy), the rest being left to be absolutely miserable…
I reflect on the wise and good constitution of the Utopians, among whom all things are so well governed and with so few laws, where virtue hath its due reward, and yet there is such an equality that every man lives in plenty…
No man may live idle, but every one follows his trade diligently: yet they do not wear themselves out with perpetual toil from morning to night as if they were beasts of burden… but dividing the day and night into twenty-four hours, they appoint six of these for work—three before dinner and three after. They then sup, and at eight o’clock, counting from noon, go to bed and sleep eight hours. The rest of their time besides that taken up in work, eating and sleeping is left to every man’s discretion; yet they are not to abuse that interval to luxury and idleness…
And thus, since they are all employed in some useful labor, and since they content themselves with fewer things, it falls out that there is a great abundance of all things among them: so that it frequently happens that, for want of other work, vast numbers are sent out to mend the highways. But when no public undertaking is to be performed, the hours of working are lessened. The magistrates never engage the people in unnecessary labor, since the chief end of the constitution is to regulate labor by the necessities of the public, and to allow all the people as much time as is necessary for the improvement of their minds, in which they think the happiness of life consists.
Sir Thomas More, Utopia (Humanism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

In the ideal world, all of life’s activities and labors will be expressed in the practice of joyful service for the sake of others based on a heart of love. Therefore, there will be equality in standards of living.
(269:156, April 3, 1995)

Your financial life should not be centered only on the needs and desires of your own family. You should live with the others in the community in mind—some of whom are wealthy, some middle-class, and others poor—and place yourself in the middle range. Your community should have a monthly meeting to determine the range of the top, middle and bottom third of people’s incomes, and what are each family’s living expenses. Then through discussion, they should determine the following month’s budget, which every family should observe. If we live by this principle, our way of life will be guaranteed.
When you receive your monthly salary, you will compare your living expenses with the average of people better off and worse off than yourselves, and based on whether you are in the top, middle or bottom third, you will give a certain proportion of your salary to help those in need. You will make this your consistent practice. If you do not, your life can be invaded by the spirit world. The spirit world operates this way. You cannot live just accumulating money, as in the world of capitalism. I do not have money stored up.
In the future, when your children are living with you, they should not live better than your neighbor’s children. If you have only three children while the average number of children per family in your neighborhood is four or five, you should willingly help other families to equalize their standard of living with yours. Families with fewer children should offer financial help to the families with more children. Since you are all brothers and sisters [in God’s family], you should think of your neighbors’ children as your nephews and nieces. The children should marry each other, strengthening the bonds between those who offer help and those who receive help. Such relationships expand the foundation of peace.
(324:254-56, July 24, 2000)

The direction of politics should be oriented to true love, centered on the ideal of family. Economics and all activities of culture should likewise be centered on true love. If they continue as they have been, things will go wrong again and again. The world should inevitably become one, and do so centering on economy, not on politics. Political systems are based upon a governing class and a governed class. The world of peace and unification can only be realized when such things disappear, and the world moves to a system of management based on economic relations…
Once the world adopts the paradigm of global family, we will enter the era of equalization. Arriving at a single standard of living, and the peace that flows from it, is a task for the economy… We should leave behind systems of governance based on the concept of struggle or notions of superiority and inferiority. Things should develop through relationships based on love.
(303:192-93, August 25, 1999)

In the ideal world established by people who have perfected God’s love, the purpose of the whole and purpose of the individual will be in natural harmony. Because human beings have desire and a natural inclination towards love, God permits us to have individual ownership and pursue our individual purposes. Even so, we would not pursue unlimited wealth or go after deviant purposes that might harm the purpose of the whole. Perfected human beings would only hold on to property for their individual possession according to their status in agreement with their conscience and original nature.
Especially, people who have become true owners would pursue all their economic activity in the spirit of love and gratitude. Hence, there could be no greed or corruption. Neither would they insist on the interests of the nation or region inconsistent with the purpose of the whole. The aim of economic activity is the welfare of everyone, rather than the mere pursuit of individual profit. This is the way of mutual prosperity, based on God’s true love. Through mutual participation, political life would realize the ideals of freedom, equality and happiness.
(271:77, August 22, 1995)

The system in the spirit world is organized based on life. There is no politics. It is a world where the family ideal is expanded centered on the direct love of God. Politicians bend according to which way the wind blows and hold to the concept of struggle. Hence they do not hesitate to use any means to accomplish their goals. However, such a thing does not exist in the spirit world. The spirit world’s main concern is how to improve the caliber of human life, based on an economy that promotes an equal standard of living for all. We should establish such a system on earth as well.
True love transcends politics and economics. True love goes beyond power, money, knowledge or anything else. How do we live when we center on true love? We help everyone to have an equal standard of living. We should not accomplish this by political means, through enlarging the power of government. We do it by expanding the scope of our life for the betterment of others. That is the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
(303:193-94, August 25, 1999)