3. Interdependence on the Model of the Human Body
World Scripture
Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single organ, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. They eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which are more presentable parts do not require. But God has so adjusted the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part, that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
1 Corinthians 12.12-26
Abu Musa reported the Prophet as saying, “Believers are to one another like a building whose parts support one another.” He then interlaced his fingers.
Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim (Islam)
Beware lest the desires of the flesh and of a corrupt inclination provoke divisions among you. Be ye as the fingers of one hand, the members of one body. Thus counsels you the Pen of Revelation, if ye be of them that believe.
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah 72 (Baha’i Faith)
When one finger is sore you do not cut it off.60
Njak Proverb (African Traditional Religion)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
To create the ideal world, we must have an overall model or blueprint. An important Unification image is that of a mature or perfected person, with mind and body united.
Ideals and purposes spring from the mental and spiritual life of a God-centered person. The nervous system transmits the resulting directives of the mind to the cells, and relays information from the body back to the brain. When this exchange occurs smoothly we say that the individual is in harmony.
The mental and spiritual life of humanity can be likened to the mind of an individual, and the economic and socio-political life of humanity to the body of an individual. The spiritual ideals, aspirations, and love of God are manifested through religion, around which theology, philosophy, art, and all culture revolve. Religious leaders and theological and philosophical thinkers, then, function as the central nervous system, transmitting, interpreting, and developing messages from God for the whole body, humanity.
(133:272, August 13, 1984)
Blood circulates throughout your whole body, from the head down to the soles of your feet. When that blood that went to the feet comes to the head, can the head say, “Don’t come near me”? In the same way, as we circulate through the entire universe, there cannot be any discrimination between black, white and yellow people. The parts of the body are variously colored. Are brown eyes prejudiced against black hair? Do white nails say to yellow skin, “You are of a different kind”? There is no way the body can be segregated by color.
(91:280, February 27, 1977)
In the human body, the lungs, heart and stomach maintain harmonious interaction in accord with the directions of the brain, transmitted through the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system. By analogy, the three branches of government in the ideal world—the legislative, judicial and executive branches—will interact in harmonious and principled relationships when they follow God’s guidance as conveyed through Christ and people of God. Just as the four limbs of the body move according to the commands of the brain for the welfare of the individual as a whole, the economic institutions of the ideal world, corresponding to the limbs, will uphold the desire of God and promote the welfare of the entire world. Just as the liver stores nourishment for the entire body, in the ideal world there will always be a certain reserve to be tapped as needed for the public good.
Since every part of the human body has a vertical relationship with the brain, horizontal relationships are naturally established between the different organs to form an integrated organism. Likewise, in the ideal world, because people’s horizontal relationships with each other are rooted in their vertical relationship with God, they will form one integrated and interdependent society in which they share all their joys and sorrows. In this society, to hurt someone else will be experienced as hurting one’s own self. Hence, its citizens simply will not want to commit crime.
(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Preparation 3.2)