A Soyo Existence-Ethical Interpretation of the Individual, the Family, and the Nature of Being – Chapter 71

The Ethics of Family and Existence

Soyo Existence Ethics (Existence itself is Ethics)

Distinguishing Discrimination from Difference – The First Ethics of Existence

Throughout human civilization, the relationship between man and woman has been interpreted and reinterpreted in countless ways. Yet much of the confusion and inequality in history has arisen from a single mistake, the failure to distinguish between discrimination and difference. Discrimination is oppression; it creates inequality. Difference, however, arises from the uniqueness of being and therefore deserves reverence.

Soyo Existence Ethics declares:

"There must be no discrimination between man and woman, yet their differences must be respected."

Difference does not refer merely to social roles or cultural functions. It signifies the ontological uniqueness of each being, the distinct physical, emotional, and ethical structures inherent in creation. A man and a woman cannot be forced into the same mold; they are two essences that find peace only when their differences unite in harmony. True peace begins when these differences meet without domination.

The Individual and the Family – The Question of the Chicken and the Egg

The question, "Which comes first, the individual or the family?" has long haunted philosophers. It is akin to the question of "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

An individual is born within a family, and a family exists only through individuals. Each is the cause and consequence of the other. Neither precedes the other; both arise together in mutual dependence.

Soyo Existence Ethics finds a profound truth: Human beings do not exist in isolation. From birth, we live within relationships. The family is the first sanctuary of such relationships, the space where love, responsibility, and ethics are experienced before language is learned. Thus, rather than asking which came first, we must recognize that mutuality itself is the fundamental truth of existence.

The Essence of Family – The First School of Ethics

A family is not an institution; it is life itself.

Within the bond of parents and children, of man and woman, human beings first learn ethics through the living body of love. A child learns not from words but from parents' gestures. From tears, the child learns comfort; from silence, the child learns understanding; from the sharing of a single meal, the child learns compassion. The difference between man and woman sustains this very structure. Neither can completely replace the other. The man's strength and the woman's wisdom, his outward drive and her inward grace; these complement one another to form wholeness. In that wholeness, the individual discovers who they truly are.

The family, therefore, is not a social system but the first ethical field of existence, the origin where love becomes moral consciousness.

The Civilization That Destroys Difference – The Signs of Confusion

Modern society, in its attempt to abolish discrimination, has also sought to erase difference itself. The distinction between man and woman is now often seen as discrimination, and in the pursuit of total equality, identity has become uniformity. But the result has been confusion. As the natural differences between men and women are denied, the family loses its direction. The sacred roles of fatherhood and motherhood blur, and children grow amidst the uncertainty of identity. Extreme egalitarianism, which denies the complementarity of the sexes, has instead given rise to new struggles for dominance and new forms of alienation.

Scripture has already warned of this path. The creation order in Genesis portrays difference not as hierarchy but as harmony. Adam and Eve were not a chain of command but a unity of mutuality beings who became one through their difference. When humanity rejects this truth, it falls into self-made chaos.

The Declaration of Soyo Existence Ethics

Soyo Existence Ethics condenses this reflection into one statement: "There must be no discrimination between men and women, yet the physical, emotional, and vocational differences between them are divine structures of creation. The individual and the family cannot exist apart from each other. Only within the harmony of difference and reciprocity can humanity find peace."

This maxim transcends gender discourse. It is a philosophical and ethical declaration concerning the conditions of peace. Difference is not the cause of conflict; it is the condition of harmony. Individuals and families can live truthfully only by honoring each other's distinctness.

Peace Comes from Respecting Difference

Philosophy has often sought to answer the question of "Which comes first?" But Soyo Existence Ethics says: "The answer is not found in theory but in life itself." Whether the individual precedes the family, or the family the individual, it is a futile question. Truth reveals itself only through the lived reciprocity of existence. Men and women, individuals and families, seem different but are eternally moving toward oneness. When difference is erased, conflict arises. When difference is honored, peace begins.

Soyo Existence Ethics speaks to the age:

"Peace does not come from erasing difference. Peace is born when we live with reverence for difference."

Soyo (逍遙) – Founder of Soyo Existence Ethics, author of The Silence of Being and The Flame of Truth

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