When Am I Ever Going to Use Math?

“Why should I care about the cosine button on my calculator?”

Good question. It’s essentially the same question that all students and lifelong learners wrestle with, from the time we set foot into our kindergarten classrooms (though we hadn’t heard of cosines just yet). It’s difficult to learn about things that do not excite our immediate interest, but the surest way to learn about God’s nature is to study creation. Our years of formal education are so precious, because they allow us to dedicate so much time learning about God—and then seeing how we can become co-creators with our Heavenly Parent.

Father Moon, founder of the Unification faith, may have been an avid learner his whole life, but he admits that studying isn’t fun. He tells us in the Cheon Seong Gyeong, a collection of his speeches, that students go to school because they are made to, because they are “afraid of their parents.” He says that everybody is like this at the beginning, but by learning, our worlds expand, and then we begin to go to school for the sake of learning. As we find stimulation in the subject matter, studying becomes fun. We “like it because it broadens the scope of [our] activity” (505, 506).

How can we broaden our world when we only focus on the subjects that come easily to us? Here are some ways to see our sometimes “boring” subjects as new, exciting ways to learn about God, according to the teachings of Father Moon:

Literature and Art

God created the universe to obtain joy through interaction. Visual and written communication through art and literature are created for the purpose of obtaining joy through expressing oneself and conveying emotion and meaning to other human beings. Therefore, there is joy in creating, as well as appreciating or studying art and literature.

Science and Math

The major premise of the Divine Principle is the need for science and religion to work together. Creation, the intricacies of biology and the universe, is God’s art. Our Heavenly Parent created the world for us to live in and enjoy, and the study of how it all works is the ultimate appreciation of that. Father Moon is not the only religious man who thinks so: Pope Francis recently made a statement that the theory of evolution requires a belief in God. Math, like science, allows us to learn about the intricacies of creation, to understand how things work, and even shows us how we might create new things based on the principles of the universe.

History

History is a study of God’s work to restore human beings to the point before the Fall, and the men and women that worked with God on this heartbreaking project. It’s a sad story, full of tears and missteps, leading to where we are today. If we learn about it, we can resist repeating it, and we might be able to understand God’s heart more.

A Well-Rounded Education

Father Moon says that his life changed as he began to love God. “I deeply loved the trees on the hills and the fish in the waters. My spiritual senses developed so I could discern God’s handiwork in all things of creation” (As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen, 323). He even began to train his body by playing soccer and boxing so he could be strong enough for his mission. In this way, Father Moon’s love for God led him to be a well-rounded person. Our studies are a direct way to understand God—and will lead us to becoming productive citizens of the world, who want to make it a better place.

What subjects do you struggle with in school, and how can you change your perspective on them? Tell us in the comments below!