INTRODUCTION
🌌 In this profound writing, Master Woo Myung reflects on Machiavelli’s philosophy from Il Principe, which placed political power above moral values. This teaching reveals that such thinking belongs to an incomplete time—a time when society had not yet understood the true nature of Nature’s flow.
✨ According to this teaching, a complete society is one in which morals and politics are not separate, but move together as one. When governance aligns with Nature’s flow, people no longer suffer from power-driven morality, and society becomes sound and harmonious, as taught by Master Woo Myung.
ORIGINAL WRITING BY MASTER WOO MYUNG
Morality and Politics as One
Machiavelli, a political philosopher, wrote the following in his book, “Il Principe”: “Political power is at the center of social issues and all things can be solved with politics. Problems arise when there are conflicts between moral and political values. While most people believe that moral values should come first, political values should not be placed below moral values. Rather, moral values should be used as a means to achieve a political end. If the result is good, it does not matter in which way the end was reached, namely, the end justifies the means. A ruler who exercises political power is absolute and he deserves to be protected by the power of God.” Is this opinion correct?
Machiavelli’s “Il Principe” is a statement of his own philosophy; it is the philosophy of an incomplete time. Neither morals nor politics should be higher than the other; in a complete society, they should be the same. This is because politics do not exist in morality and morality does not exist in politics, thus, if they do not run parallel to each other, it will cause severe conflicts and problems in society.
It is not right that morals and politics exist separately. Society can only become sound when morals and politics unite. The morals of society are also a part of nature’s flow. Thus it is nature’s flow that everything should be in keeping with these morals and that they be adhered to. It is because people do not know what nature’s flow is, that morals become controlled by power. When this happens, nothing is as it should be and there are huge after effects.
Morals and politics should be one; it is nature’s flow to govern in accordance with morals and only then can problems be avoided. If a ruler governs by going against nature’s flow, the consequences fall on all the people; not only does this create great social problems, the citizens suffer enormously.
— Woo Myung
🌿 REFLECT AT SANTA CLARA MEDITATION
At Santa Clara Meditation, practitioners are guided to understand Nature’s flow and live according to Truth rather than power. 🌠
Through this process, one comes to see that when morals and politics become one, society heals and governance reflects the wisdom taught by Master Woo Myung.
