What do you think is the cause of human existence? The cause of human existence is love. Then where do you think the purpose of human existence lies? The purpose of human existence lies in completing the ideal of love. Human beings came into being through love, and so their purpose is to perfect love by forming a foundation of love and expanding and connecting it.
In other words, since the beginning is love, the purpose has to be reached through love as well. For this, a man and a woman in partnership must become one in love and connect front and back, left and right, and above and below. (Blessed Family - 1062, 1986.1.3)
No matter how firmly we have determined to become an absolute being and establish an absolute purpose, this will be useless unless we are happy. Our daily life should be happy.
We live for the sake of the purpose. When we have achieved the purpose, something new will exist that is greater than existence itself. What is it? What is most precious for a man and woman? It is love. Love is the key element needed to experience happiness. No matter how lofty a person's purpose may be, if he fails to establish a love that can take dominion over his purpose, he will have to pursue a new purpose. Purpose cannot stand above love. (29-130, 1970.2.26)
What are you living for? There will be some who say they live to eat and there will be some who say they live to work or they live without a purpose. What do human beings live for? If you say you live for the sake of love, how great this answer is! Human beings are born as the fruit of love, live in love, and return to the eternal love of God's bosom. This is the original life of creation. (Blessed Family - 1064, 1982.4.26)
One is born through love and grows up in love. Next, he leaves the love of his parents and finds and connects to the love of a partner, which is a love in another dimension. We can call parental love the formation-stage love and conjugal love the growth-stage love. No matter how much a couple may be in love, they cannot see the completion of their love until they have children. This is why they want to have children. This is completion-stage love. Therefore, the process of going through parental love, conjugal love, and children's love is the fundamental core of human life and the original path of God's ideal of love at creation. (48-12, 1971.8.31)
Life is born from love. One is born from love, grows up in love while being loved by his parents, meets a beloved wife and loves her, and dies in that love; this is what is called human life. Therefore, originally there should have been no sorrow or pain in human life. (Blessed Family - 1065, 1982.10.29)
Originally, the focal point of the universe is the place where all vertical and horizontal combinations of love come together so that parental love, conjugal love, and children's love can unite. This becomes the point upon which the entire universe is focused and where the directions of all cells in the universe are oriented. All the spirits in the spirit world will be focused on this. Moreover, they will protect this place so no one can invade it. If this place is destroyed, it will be catastrophic. So a certain form is needed in order for it to remain intact. In the Unification Church, this form is called the four position foundation. (Blessed Family - 1066, 1982.10.29)
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Why Are Human Beings Born?
If we ask ourselves "Is life first, or is love first?" we can claim each to be first. But which do you think really comes first? It is love that comes first. Relating this to the core of the universe, in order for something to have value, there must be an original flow of love. (143-277, 1986.3.20)
When we examine where life comes from, we must ask the question as to which comes first, life or love. Until now we have not been able to discern this clearly. Love comes first, then life. Because what comes second must meekly surrender to what comes first, it is natural that we offer our lives for the sake of love. This is the way things are. This then provides an answer as to the true course for our life. Since our life is born in love, the conclusion is that we must walk the way of love and die for love.
The purpose of human life is to find the love that the macrocosm, not the microcosm, is able to welcome. It is to be born, to love and to die in the midst of the great universal love that God, creation, our parents, and the angelic world all acknowledge. This is how I see it. (83-164, 1976.2.8)
Human being are not born based on their own choice. Then, are they born due to their parents' wishes? No. They are born due to God's desire. They are born through the love of their parents, which represents God's love. The person, who is born as a new life through parental love, representing God's love, is I.
Love has the power to create everything. The one who is born as the center of the whole universe by receiving all the love of the universe is none other than I. The highest purpose of life is to be born through love, be raised in love, live by love, and to leave love behind. The most valuable thing to do is to fulfill, in the family, the rules of love that lie at the center of the universe. (Blessed Family - 1063, 1978.9.21)
You should understand why human beings are born. They are not born for the sake of knowledge or political power. They are born because of love and from love. Then what makes love so great? It is the fact that love is the original source of life. You are born in the midst of your parents' love.
You are not born out of your parents' desire for money or knowledge. Since you are born in love like this, you should bear fruits of love. This is why you need children. A husband and wife become complete when they become one and have sons and daughters as their object partners. (Blessed Family - 1962)
Human beings cannot exist apart from love. Therefore, we can say that "I" live on the foundation of love. All things also originate in God's love. The existence of all things began on the foundation of love, so it is undeniable that human beings, as the center of the created universe, must also have begun in love. (Blessed Family - 1962)
Since human beings begin in love and mature through love, they cannot live separated from the standard of love. (Blessed Family - 1962. 1986.8.20)
When we examine where life comes from, we must ask the question as to which comes first, life or love. Until now we have not been able to discern this clearly. Love comes first, then life. Because what comes second must meekly surrender to what comes first, it is natural that we offer our lives for the sake of love. This is the way things are. This then provides an answer as to the true course for our life. Since our life is born in love, the conclusion is that we must walk the way of love and die for love.
The purpose of human life is to find the love that the macrocosm, not the microcosm, is able to welcome. It is to be born, to love and to die in the midst of the great universal love that God, creation, our parents, and the angelic world all acknowledge. This is how I see it. (83-164, 1976.2.8)
Human being are not born based on their own choice. Then, are they born due to their parents' wishes? No. They are born due to God's desire. They are born through the love of their parents, which represents God's love. The person, who is born as a new life through parental love, representing God's love, is I.
Love has the power to create everything. The one who is born as the center of the whole universe by receiving all the love of the universe is none other than I. The highest purpose of life is to be born through love, be raised in love, live by love, and to leave love behind. The most valuable thing to do is to fulfill, in the family, the rules of love that lie at the center of the universe. (Blessed Family - 1063, 1978.9.21)
You should understand why human beings are born. They are not born for the sake of knowledge or political power. They are born because of love and from love. Then what makes love so great? It is the fact that love is the original source of life. You are born in the midst of your parents' love.
You are not born out of your parents' desire for money or knowledge. Since you are born in love like this, you should bear fruits of love. This is why you need children. A husband and wife become complete when they become one and have sons and daughters as their object partners. (Blessed Family - 1962)
Human beings cannot exist apart from love. Therefore, we can say that "I" live on the foundation of love. All things also originate in God's love. The existence of all things began on the foundation of love, so it is undeniable that human beings, as the center of the created universe, must also have begun in love. (Blessed Family - 1962)
Since human beings begin in love and mature through love, they cannot live separated from the standard of love. (Blessed Family - 1962. 1986.8.20)
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
The Family is the Final Standard for Completing the Cosmos-centered Ideology
Everything divides from one into many, which eventually merge into a larger whole. In other words, one divides into many and then unites again into one. From here it divides again and becomes something even larger, and this process is repeated. Families exist within this larger created object. These families all have the same form as each other. The family is the place where the relationship of husband and wife is established and the place that unites the husband and wife. The tribe is a place that unites families, and the race is a place that unites clans. Races combine to form one nation. However, it is the families that play the central role.
When the family is expanded, it becomes the horizontal world. This is why no society can manage without the family. If families cannot be restored, the world cannot be restored. Next we must realize the cosmos-centered ideal through these families. The word cosmos combines heaven and earth. Heaven and earth are like a person's mind and body. The mind and body must become one. Just as a subject partner needs and object partner, one man needs one woman. The union of a man and a woman leads to a family. God's foundation of love will not be attained without working through this family. (26-189, 1969.10.25)
The cosmos-centered ideology is a philosophy that unites the mind and body forming a family as the main body of love, and connects that idea to the spirit world and physical world. The character ju of cheon ju (cosmos) means a house. This is why we are using the word cosmos-centered ideology. Cosmos combines the spirit world and the physical world. What relationship does it have with us? We need a family. If you fail to be at one in your family, you have nothing to do with the cosmos-centered ideology. The family serves as the final standard for completing the cosmos-centered ideology. Those who cannot sing songs of peace and sing praise for happiness here will become miserable people either on this earth or in the spirit world. (26-189, 1969.10.25)
From where is the Kingdom of Heaven realized? It is realized from our families. Then what kind of ideology do we have? We have a family-centered ideology. The word cosmos-ism (cosmos-centered ideology) contains cheon meaning heaven and ju meaning house; so it means the ideology of heaven's house. Only then does the meaning of the cosmos (cheon ju) become clear. The sixty-six books of the Bible are filled with words that desire an ideal family. Furthermore what is it that all men desire? It is to have an ideal wife. Also the greatest desire of a woman is to meet an ideal husband. No matter how proud and famous a woman who has a doctorate may be before the world, her desire is to meet an ideal man, and ideal man she can love and with whom she can have her beloved sons and daughters. This is the root of happiness. The ideal of the Unification Church does not lie somewhere else. The beginning is the family and the conclusion is the family (26-102, 1969.10.18)
What kind of ideology is the cosmos-centered ideology? It is the true parent-centered ideology. After all, these are both ideologies upholding parents. This is the ideology of our house, the ideology of our nation, and the ideology of your individual self. Had human being not fallen, whose ideology would rule the world? It would have been the Adam-centered ideology. This ideology is none other than the way of true parents. It is the ideology of the mother and father. There cannot be an ideology higher than this. Hence the Unification Church should link matters of the heart with heavenly ideology through the way of true parents within the boundary of the original ideal family. As long as families that have internalized such an ideology remain, the Unification Church will not perish. (26-201, 1969.10.25)
When the family is expanded, it becomes the horizontal world. This is why no society can manage without the family. If families cannot be restored, the world cannot be restored. Next we must realize the cosmos-centered ideal through these families. The word cosmos combines heaven and earth. Heaven and earth are like a person's mind and body. The mind and body must become one. Just as a subject partner needs and object partner, one man needs one woman. The union of a man and a woman leads to a family. God's foundation of love will not be attained without working through this family. (26-189, 1969.10.25)
The cosmos-centered ideology is a philosophy that unites the mind and body forming a family as the main body of love, and connects that idea to the spirit world and physical world. The character ju of cheon ju (cosmos) means a house. This is why we are using the word cosmos-centered ideology. Cosmos combines the spirit world and the physical world. What relationship does it have with us? We need a family. If you fail to be at one in your family, you have nothing to do with the cosmos-centered ideology. The family serves as the final standard for completing the cosmos-centered ideology. Those who cannot sing songs of peace and sing praise for happiness here will become miserable people either on this earth or in the spirit world. (26-189, 1969.10.25)
From where is the Kingdom of Heaven realized? It is realized from our families. Then what kind of ideology do we have? We have a family-centered ideology. The word cosmos-ism (cosmos-centered ideology) contains cheon meaning heaven and ju meaning house; so it means the ideology of heaven's house. Only then does the meaning of the cosmos (cheon ju) become clear. The sixty-six books of the Bible are filled with words that desire an ideal family. Furthermore what is it that all men desire? It is to have an ideal wife. Also the greatest desire of a woman is to meet an ideal husband. No matter how proud and famous a woman who has a doctorate may be before the world, her desire is to meet an ideal man, and ideal man she can love and with whom she can have her beloved sons and daughters. This is the root of happiness. The ideal of the Unification Church does not lie somewhere else. The beginning is the family and the conclusion is the family (26-102, 1969.10.18)
What kind of ideology is the cosmos-centered ideology? It is the true parent-centered ideology. After all, these are both ideologies upholding parents. This is the ideology of our house, the ideology of our nation, and the ideology of your individual self. Had human being not fallen, whose ideology would rule the world? It would have been the Adam-centered ideology. This ideology is none other than the way of true parents. It is the ideology of the mother and father. There cannot be an ideology higher than this. Hence the Unification Church should link matters of the heart with heavenly ideology through the way of true parents within the boundary of the original ideal family. As long as families that have internalized such an ideology remain, the Unification Church will not perish. (26-201, 1969.10.25)
Sunday, February 22, 2009
The Family is Our Eternal Original Hometown
Family, the family is a good place. Why is it good? It is a good place because my mother and father are there. It is a good place because my elder sister and elder brother are there. It is a good place because my younger brother and younger sister are there, and it is a good place because my relatives are there. Thus, human beings feel nostalgia for their original hometown, that is, their birthplace. They feel more deeply about their hometown than they do for the nation. What place do you long for even though you like Korea, even though you want to live in Korea, and even while you are living in Korea? It is your hometown. Hometown, what kind of place is your hometown? It is a place where your heart is lifted up in four directions and three dimensions. What is that heart? It is a place where you are tied up by love. Upward, your mother and father are tying you up; left and right, the bond between husband and wife is tying you up; downward, your sons and daughters and relatives are tying you up tight with three dimensional love. This is the heart of the original hometown.
People cannot help but long for their original hometown because they, based on true love, look upon this starting point of happiness as the best. Then, what kind of place do you think God's original hometown is? What do you think God's land of original hometown is on this planet Earth? We should think about these questions. If God is the God of love, He must surely have prepared a starting point for living on this earth, and the question is where this starting point is. To know this, we must understand how God has prepared that starting point. What kind of place can become the starting point of the original hometown where God's family can be created? It is none other than a place where a son dwells who understands God as his real father. In other words, it is a place where the son, the only-begotten son who can monopolize God's love, exists. Also it is a place where such a daughter dwells. It is a place where such a son and a daughter marry and form a complete family. (23151, 1969.5.18)
Then who should be in the original hometown? Those who you miss should be there. Your parents should be there and your brothers and sisters should be there. And those who you long to meet should be there. When meeting and living with them, you should not be tired even if you live them for eternity, and not for just a moment. You should go and find such a place. This is the Kingdom of Heaven that today's religions pursue. (23-80, 1969.5.11)
Today, the reason we long for the land of our original hometown is that in that hometown there are parents, brothers and sisters, and relatives, who are closer to us than anyone else. They always guide us; they welcome us as they did in the past whenever we visit them, and they sympathize with us, console us and receive us with joy when we are having difficulties. Without this welcome though, even if you longed for your original hometown and returned there, your desperate longing heart would vanish, and you would go back with feelings of deep regret. You should know this. In the original hometown there have to be people who will welcome you. (23-80, 1969.5.11)
People cannot help but long for their original hometown because they, based on true love, look upon this starting point of happiness as the best. Then, what kind of place do you think God's original hometown is? What do you think God's land of original hometown is on this planet Earth? We should think about these questions. If God is the God of love, He must surely have prepared a starting point for living on this earth, and the question is where this starting point is. To know this, we must understand how God has prepared that starting point. What kind of place can become the starting point of the original hometown where God's family can be created? It is none other than a place where a son dwells who understands God as his real father. In other words, it is a place where the son, the only-begotten son who can monopolize God's love, exists. Also it is a place where such a daughter dwells. It is a place where such a son and a daughter marry and form a complete family. (23151, 1969.5.18)
Then who should be in the original hometown? Those who you miss should be there. Your parents should be there and your brothers and sisters should be there. And those who you long to meet should be there. When meeting and living with them, you should not be tired even if you live them for eternity, and not for just a moment. You should go and find such a place. This is the Kingdom of Heaven that today's religions pursue. (23-80, 1969.5.11)
Today, the reason we long for the land of our original hometown is that in that hometown there are parents, brothers and sisters, and relatives, who are closer to us than anyone else. They always guide us; they welcome us as they did in the past whenever we visit them, and they sympathize with us, console us and receive us with joy when we are having difficulties. Without this welcome though, even if you longed for your original hometown and returned there, your desperate longing heart would vanish, and you would go back with feelings of deep regret. You should know this. In the original hometown there have to be people who will welcome you. (23-80, 1969.5.11)
Saturday, February 21, 2009
The Family is the Training Ground of the Heart
We cannot live separate from the heart. Even if you are the president of a country or possess global authority, you would not be able to live if you had no place to express your heartfelt joy. You would not be able to feel the deepest satisfaction from the people who are under your command, your officers or the people who follow you. You must feel it in your family. You should be able to return home and feel joy through your wife and children. In such a way you should be proud of this joy in front of others. This joy is a primal joy; not a secondary joy. It is the same with God. Even if He was to restore the whole world, without a family He would not feel joy. So we need our families after all. (25-85, 1969.9.30)
Parents should be the head of the family and teachers should be the head of the educational institutions which represent society. Parents raise you by giving you milk thereby assisting your physical development as well as helping you emotionally. Then what is school for? It is a place where you are trained for your future life in society. If the family is the training ground of the emotions, then school is the experimental training ground for your future social life. But society is not where training ends. It ends with the nation. The nation has a president. Why is it that people miss the president and want to be near him? When they have experienced everything, from the family to the society, they go on to the next level. The president is the fruit of the third stage after the formation and growth stages. A seed divides, sends roots down and a shoot up, and then, through circulatory action, growth begins. After it divides, it comes together again and flowers and fruit are produced.
That is why schools raise the people needed by the nation by educating the qualified elite, the talented, to serve the nation. They are training and experimentation sites. Training is not real life but a preparation stage. You should not make the wrong preparations. What is the family? It is a training ground for the heart. It is a place where you train your heart to love. This is why you should live affectionately life brothers and sisters at school and also live affectionately like brothers and sisters in the nation. Parental education is needed at school, in society and also by the nation. Parents should pass everything in the realm of heart on to their children. They should created a foundation of heart for their children by teaching them to follow their parents' footsteps in living in certain ways in the family, the society, and in the nation. (180-130, 1988.8.22)
When you look at a family, it is not necessarily a good one just because it has a good house and a good environment. Conversely, no matter how bad a family's environment may be or how shabby its house may be, if it offers you peace and you are able to connect all things in your life to it, then it is a good family. It has a foundation of heart upon which the parents and children live for the sake of each other. This is the original homeland for our memories and the source of motivation for all living. Therefore it becomes the basis for determining our happiness in life. (29-16, 1970.2.15)
Parents should be the head of the family and teachers should be the head of the educational institutions which represent society. Parents raise you by giving you milk thereby assisting your physical development as well as helping you emotionally. Then what is school for? It is a place where you are trained for your future life in society. If the family is the training ground of the emotions, then school is the experimental training ground for your future social life. But society is not where training ends. It ends with the nation. The nation has a president. Why is it that people miss the president and want to be near him? When they have experienced everything, from the family to the society, they go on to the next level. The president is the fruit of the third stage after the formation and growth stages. A seed divides, sends roots down and a shoot up, and then, through circulatory action, growth begins. After it divides, it comes together again and flowers and fruit are produced.
That is why schools raise the people needed by the nation by educating the qualified elite, the talented, to serve the nation. They are training and experimentation sites. Training is not real life but a preparation stage. You should not make the wrong preparations. What is the family? It is a training ground for the heart. It is a place where you train your heart to love. This is why you should live affectionately life brothers and sisters at school and also live affectionately like brothers and sisters in the nation. Parental education is needed at school, in society and also by the nation. Parents should pass everything in the realm of heart on to their children. They should created a foundation of heart for their children by teaching them to follow their parents' footsteps in living in certain ways in the family, the society, and in the nation. (180-130, 1988.8.22)
When you look at a family, it is not necessarily a good one just because it has a good house and a good environment. Conversely, no matter how bad a family's environment may be or how shabby its house may be, if it offers you peace and you are able to connect all things in your life to it, then it is a good family. It has a foundation of heart upon which the parents and children live for the sake of each other. This is the original homeland for our memories and the source of motivation for all living. Therefore it becomes the basis for determining our happiness in life. (29-16, 1970.2.15)
Friday, February 20, 2009
The Family Brings Together the Love of Three Generations
The family encompasses history, the present and the future. So the ultimate point that God has sought for six thousand years is the family--the family interconnected and united in love. Everything that exists comes under the dominion of true love. We cannot cut our relationship with this absolute source of love. The establishment of such a family was the original mission that God gave Adam and Eve at the time of creation. God did not want them to merely end up as a man, Adam, and a woman, Eve, but instead dreamed of a new family which would be formed through their union. This is the first starting point towards establishing men and women. Thus to be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven safely, you have to find a true family and within the realm of that family in this world, enter and live in a place where you can feel satisfied in God's love. Only then can you go beyond this world as well. (30-85, 1970.3.17)
In order to form the family realm of love you have to be unconditional. The parents represent the past, the husband and wife represent the present, and the children represent the future. Loving one partner during your lifetime is the equivalent to God loving the world. It is a place where in oneness the parents, a couple, and the children offer their love as an example representing heaven and earth and tell their descendants to follow them. The original homeland of the heart, the place where heavenly affection is felt will be remembered in heaven and earth. (30-78, 1970.3.17)
What has God been looking for up until now? He has not been seeking a subject partner; rather He has been looking for an ideal object partner. He has been looking for those who resemble God and possess the inner and outer aspects of the world He created. What is the starting point that leads to such a result? It is the family. There is nothing that can represent the universe better than the family. To be one with the parents is for past and present to meet. Here, you can love the past by loving your parents, love the present by loving your partner, and love the future by loving your children. Therefore, you can deeply experience the love of three generations. The place where these three kinds of love are concentrated is the family. (30-80, 1970.3.17)
Then where does life in the Kingdom of Heaven begin? It is the family. It does not unfold somewhere else. The Kingdom of Heaven is just a three-dimensional expansion of the family and not something that goes beyond the family realm. Therefore then you embrace your husband or wife, you should think that it is the union of all men and women in the world. The place where you can make the condition of having loved mankind is none other than the family. You should live your life this way. To love your parents is to connect history with the present and to pave the road for God to come to you. Therefore you have to love your parents. To love your parents is to connect the human beings of history with yourself as an inhabitant of the present, that is to unite the past and the present. Furthermore loving your children centering on yourself is to connect the present with the future. And the philosophy that practices and sings the praise of such love for a thousand and tens of thousand of years is Unification Thought. (30-82, 1970.3.17)
In order to form the family realm of love you have to be unconditional. The parents represent the past, the husband and wife represent the present, and the children represent the future. Loving one partner during your lifetime is the equivalent to God loving the world. It is a place where in oneness the parents, a couple, and the children offer their love as an example representing heaven and earth and tell their descendants to follow them. The original homeland of the heart, the place where heavenly affection is felt will be remembered in heaven and earth. (30-78, 1970.3.17)
What has God been looking for up until now? He has not been seeking a subject partner; rather He has been looking for an ideal object partner. He has been looking for those who resemble God and possess the inner and outer aspects of the world He created. What is the starting point that leads to such a result? It is the family. There is nothing that can represent the universe better than the family. To be one with the parents is for past and present to meet. Here, you can love the past by loving your parents, love the present by loving your partner, and love the future by loving your children. Therefore, you can deeply experience the love of three generations. The place where these three kinds of love are concentrated is the family. (30-80, 1970.3.17)
Then where does life in the Kingdom of Heaven begin? It is the family. It does not unfold somewhere else. The Kingdom of Heaven is just a three-dimensional expansion of the family and not something that goes beyond the family realm. Therefore then you embrace your husband or wife, you should think that it is the union of all men and women in the world. The place where you can make the condition of having loved mankind is none other than the family. You should live your life this way. To love your parents is to connect history with the present and to pave the road for God to come to you. Therefore you have to love your parents. To love your parents is to connect the human beings of history with yourself as an inhabitant of the present, that is to unite the past and the present. Furthermore loving your children centering on yourself is to connect the present with the future. And the philosophy that practices and sings the praise of such love for a thousand and tens of thousand of years is Unification Thought. (30-82, 1970.3.17)
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The Family is a Model for the Heavenly Kingdom
What kind of fortune should a person in the child's position receive? They should inherit the fortune of the grandparents and parents. Why does one need grandparents? We need grandparents because they represent the living history of the past. The parents represent the present and the children symbolize the future. Children contain east and west and also north and south. They are also the center of the whole. The center of the grandparents, the center of the parents, the center of the children and the center of God--all these are founded on true love.
Thus, loving your grandparents and respecting them is in order to learn and to inherit all the past. You learn the present from your father and by loving children you learn about the future. What do you inherit through your grandfather and grandmother, and mother and father? You inherit true love.
"Although your grandfather and grandmother are old, they are united in true love and so your mother and father are united. So you should be like them and inherit the future." We absolutely cannot inherit the future without becoming a true family. When we look at these three generation, it is like looking at the universe. The love of the universe resides in the true family that represents the present and future.
When we look at the animal world, male and female animals love each other, and this is a textbook from which we learn about the love of the universe. Without a grandmother and a grandfather we feel unstable. Only when both of them are together can we move straight to the Kingdom of Heaven. Only when the grandparents, mother and father, and children are all there without exception can they all go to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Only those who have loved the true grandparents, the true parents, the true children, the true family, the true nation and the true universe can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The model and textbook for the Kingdom of Heaven is the family (162-140, 1987.4.5)
The family is a type of educational material which teaches us how to establish the Kingdom of Heaven. It comes from heaven. Wherever he goes, if someone meets a person of his grandfather's age and loves him as if he were his own grandfather, he will go to the Kingdom of Heaven. The person who can love whoever he meets of his parents' age and love them as if they were his parents will be able to travel freely throughout all the nations. He will have no boundaries even when he goes to the spirit world. If he thinks of the young people of all nations as his own sons and daughters, he will be able to travel freely within the Kingdom of Heaven even though there are twelve pearly gates and direction.
Therefore, the family is a textbook which shows us how to make a connection with the Kingdom of Heaven. When you apply it to the nation, you will become a patriot, when you apply it to the world, you will be a saint, and when you practice it in heaven and earth, you will become God's children, that is, His divine sons and daughters. People have such a desire. (137-77, 1985.12.18)
You should be able to embrace the sons and daughters of all races as well as their grandsons and granddaughters. In this way, you should stand in the position to become the owners of the family who, as true parents, love the people of the world with true love. By standing in the position to represent the family that practices true love and is connected to the original parents through God's love, you can finally enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (176-209, 1988.5.9)
Thus, loving your grandparents and respecting them is in order to learn and to inherit all the past. You learn the present from your father and by loving children you learn about the future. What do you inherit through your grandfather and grandmother, and mother and father? You inherit true love.
"Although your grandfather and grandmother are old, they are united in true love and so your mother and father are united. So you should be like them and inherit the future." We absolutely cannot inherit the future without becoming a true family. When we look at these three generation, it is like looking at the universe. The love of the universe resides in the true family that represents the present and future.
When we look at the animal world, male and female animals love each other, and this is a textbook from which we learn about the love of the universe. Without a grandmother and a grandfather we feel unstable. Only when both of them are together can we move straight to the Kingdom of Heaven. Only when the grandparents, mother and father, and children are all there without exception can they all go to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Only those who have loved the true grandparents, the true parents, the true children, the true family, the true nation and the true universe can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. The model and textbook for the Kingdom of Heaven is the family (162-140, 1987.4.5)
The family is a type of educational material which teaches us how to establish the Kingdom of Heaven. It comes from heaven. Wherever he goes, if someone meets a person of his grandfather's age and loves him as if he were his own grandfather, he will go to the Kingdom of Heaven. The person who can love whoever he meets of his parents' age and love them as if they were his parents will be able to travel freely throughout all the nations. He will have no boundaries even when he goes to the spirit world. If he thinks of the young people of all nations as his own sons and daughters, he will be able to travel freely within the Kingdom of Heaven even though there are twelve pearly gates and direction.
Therefore, the family is a textbook which shows us how to make a connection with the Kingdom of Heaven. When you apply it to the nation, you will become a patriot, when you apply it to the world, you will be a saint, and when you practice it in heaven and earth, you will become God's children, that is, His divine sons and daughters. People have such a desire. (137-77, 1985.12.18)
You should be able to embrace the sons and daughters of all races as well as their grandsons and granddaughters. In this way, you should stand in the position to become the owners of the family who, as true parents, love the people of the world with true love. By standing in the position to represent the family that practices true love and is connected to the original parents through God's love, you can finally enter the Kingdom of Heaven. (176-209, 1988.5.9)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
A Training Ground of Love for Entering the Kingdom of Love
God's will is to realize the kingdom of love. If God's will is to develop and globalize the ideal world of love, the family is the experimental ground where you earn credits, all the way from an elementary school certificate to a bachelor's degree and PhD. The family expands to the world. If you look at the world carefully, you will see that it is a world where grandfathers and grandmothers live, a world where adults like your uncles and aunts live, a world where people like your elder brothers and elder sisters live, a world where youths live, and a world where children live. So these places where old, middle-aged, young people and children live are larger expansions of the family. (147-281, 1986.10.1)
The family is the smallest unit within the training center and is also a textbook for entering the Kingdom of Heaven. It has all the levels: the grandfather's level, parents' level, couple's level and sibling's level. These levels expand into larger groups of grandmothers and grandfathers, mothers and fathers, your own peers, and your sons and daughters, and together they form humanity.
Only families that can love all human beings as their own spouses and as their own parents, and serve them as their own sons and daughters, can inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. This is amazing. The right to inherit all the power and authority of heaven and earth created by God lies here. (143-285, 1986.3.20)
The family is a textbook of love through which at the time of death you receive the right to be registered at the Palace of Peace and the Kingdom of Heaven. The family is a training ground of love. The extension of this family is the world. The world is made up of smaller worlds: there is a grandfathers' world, a grandmothers' world, a world of fathers and mothers, there are husbands' and wives' worlds and sons' and daughters' world. When these combine we have the whole world. Thus if you love the people of the whole world as you love your family and as you love God through the family, this will make a straight road to the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus the first commandment is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." And the second commandment is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." If you love God and love humanity, everything will be accomplished. If you cannot do it, your spiritual training will have been in vain. No matter how great a religion's spiritual discipline may be, if it does not know how to love God, humankind and the whole universe it will fail the test.
In the family you should deeply experience love by going through the official course of the training center which is an encapsulation of the whole universe and then expand this and love the world. You have inherited this from your family, your training ground, where you grew up with your mother and father. Therefore if you love your parents more than your wife, love your sons and daughters more than your wife, love humanity more than your wife, and love God more than your wife, everything will be accomplished. This doesn't mean that your should abandon your wife. If you love in this way, all the recipients of that love will come to love your wife as well. Is there a more glorious place than this? If you want to love your wife, follow this way. (143-285, 1986.3.20)
The family is the smallest unit within the training center and is also a textbook for entering the Kingdom of Heaven. It has all the levels: the grandfather's level, parents' level, couple's level and sibling's level. These levels expand into larger groups of grandmothers and grandfathers, mothers and fathers, your own peers, and your sons and daughters, and together they form humanity.
Only families that can love all human beings as their own spouses and as their own parents, and serve them as their own sons and daughters, can inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. This is amazing. The right to inherit all the power and authority of heaven and earth created by God lies here. (143-285, 1986.3.20)
The family is a textbook of love through which at the time of death you receive the right to be registered at the Palace of Peace and the Kingdom of Heaven. The family is a training ground of love. The extension of this family is the world. The world is made up of smaller worlds: there is a grandfathers' world, a grandmothers' world, a world of fathers and mothers, there are husbands' and wives' worlds and sons' and daughters' world. When these combine we have the whole world. Thus if you love the people of the whole world as you love your family and as you love God through the family, this will make a straight road to the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus the first commandment is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." And the second commandment is, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." If you love God and love humanity, everything will be accomplished. If you cannot do it, your spiritual training will have been in vain. No matter how great a religion's spiritual discipline may be, if it does not know how to love God, humankind and the whole universe it will fail the test.
In the family you should deeply experience love by going through the official course of the training center which is an encapsulation of the whole universe and then expand this and love the world. You have inherited this from your family, your training ground, where you grew up with your mother and father. Therefore if you love your parents more than your wife, love your sons and daughters more than your wife, love humanity more than your wife, and love God more than your wife, everything will be accomplished. This doesn't mean that your should abandon your wife. If you love in this way, all the recipients of that love will come to love your wife as well. Is there a more glorious place than this? If you want to love your wife, follow this way. (143-285, 1986.3.20)
Monday, February 16, 2009
The Family is the Textbook of Love through which We Can Connect with Universal Love
What is the universe? Everything in the created world is designed as a sort of training aid to help God's beloved sons and daughters find the ideal of love. This is why everything exists in reciprocal relationships. Minerals are based on the reciprocal relationship of subject and object partners and so are atoms. Protons and electrons also exist based on the reciprocal relationship of subject and object partners. Without reciprocation they cannot continue to exist. Without give and take action they cannot exist eternally. Therefore, the universe is a world created in such a way that its center can only be reached through human beings. (137-59, 1985.12.18)
What did I say about the universe? It is an expansion of the family. If you look at a family that has completely realized the ideal of family love, it has a top, middle and bottom (parents, husband and wife, and children), left and right, and front and back. This is the principle. So when we talk about top and bottom we mean the parents and children, when we talk about left and right we mean the husband and wife, and when we talk about front and back we mean the brothers and sisters. Through what do they all become one? It doesn't happen through power, knowledge or money. Then what can bring it about? It is true love. This is an absolute truth. Otherwise the sphere cannot be formed. Then what are the top, middle and bottom in our family? They are a textbook of love. They are a textbook of love through which we can encounter universal love. Go out into society and put it into practice.
How should we love? Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." How should we follow this teaching? We are not sure. When you go out into the world and meet a grandfather, treat him as your own grandfather. Treat people like your own mothers, like your own fathers or like your own sons. When you go out into the world you should all live like this. The people of the top, middle and bottom, front and back, and left and right types are all displayed in the exhibition hall of the world. You should know that the world is an exhibition of people. If you can love everyone with such love, God will dwell in the midst of that love. (128-22, 1983.5.29)
What is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is the place where you love the people of the world as your own family, and people who do this are the people of the Kingdom of Heaven. Your grandfather and grandmother, your mother and father, your wife, your brothers and sisters, and your children-what are these four generations? They are the textbook through whom you can deeply experience love, the true love of the universe as people of the Kingdom of Heaven. The family is the foundation, a type of textbook that teaches you this love. (12996, 1983.10.1)
We can not live without learning the love of the universe. God has prepared things such as a textbook or scripture containing promises which openly say, "Love your grandfather and grandmother. Your grandfather and grandmother on earth are sent as representatives of the grandfathers and grandmothers in the spirit world. Therefore if you love them, I will take it as if you had loved all grandmothers and grandfathers."
Next God says, "Since your mother and father represent the countless mothers and fathers of the world, as a textbook and model of love, if you love them to the utmost, I will take it as a condition of you having loved all mothers and fathers. Furthermore if you as a man, representing all men, love a woman who represents all women, it will be a condition of having loved all women." Next He says, "I will take your loving your sons and daughters as you having loved all sons and daughters." Therefore the family is the training center to receive such training.
It is a training process for loving the world in accordance with the scriptures. We can ask the trainees if now they will go out to the world and love the grandmothers and grandfathers of the world in place of their own grandfather and grandmother, and if they say "yes." this will save the world. (130-273, 1984.2.5)
What did I say about the universe? It is an expansion of the family. If you look at a family that has completely realized the ideal of family love, it has a top, middle and bottom (parents, husband and wife, and children), left and right, and front and back. This is the principle. So when we talk about top and bottom we mean the parents and children, when we talk about left and right we mean the husband and wife, and when we talk about front and back we mean the brothers and sisters. Through what do they all become one? It doesn't happen through power, knowledge or money. Then what can bring it about? It is true love. This is an absolute truth. Otherwise the sphere cannot be formed. Then what are the top, middle and bottom in our family? They are a textbook of love. They are a textbook of love through which we can encounter universal love. Go out into society and put it into practice.
How should we love? Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as yourself." How should we follow this teaching? We are not sure. When you go out into the world and meet a grandfather, treat him as your own grandfather. Treat people like your own mothers, like your own fathers or like your own sons. When you go out into the world you should all live like this. The people of the top, middle and bottom, front and back, and left and right types are all displayed in the exhibition hall of the world. You should know that the world is an exhibition of people. If you can love everyone with such love, God will dwell in the midst of that love. (128-22, 1983.5.29)
What is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is the place where you love the people of the world as your own family, and people who do this are the people of the Kingdom of Heaven. Your grandfather and grandmother, your mother and father, your wife, your brothers and sisters, and your children-what are these four generations? They are the textbook through whom you can deeply experience love, the true love of the universe as people of the Kingdom of Heaven. The family is the foundation, a type of textbook that teaches you this love. (12996, 1983.10.1)
We can not live without learning the love of the universe. God has prepared things such as a textbook or scripture containing promises which openly say, "Love your grandfather and grandmother. Your grandfather and grandmother on earth are sent as representatives of the grandfathers and grandmothers in the spirit world. Therefore if you love them, I will take it as if you had loved all grandmothers and grandfathers."
Next God says, "Since your mother and father represent the countless mothers and fathers of the world, as a textbook and model of love, if you love them to the utmost, I will take it as a condition of you having loved all mothers and fathers. Furthermore if you as a man, representing all men, love a woman who represents all women, it will be a condition of having loved all women." Next He says, "I will take your loving your sons and daughters as you having loved all sons and daughters." Therefore the family is the training center to receive such training.
It is a training process for loving the world in accordance with the scriptures. We can ask the trainees if now they will go out to the world and love the grandmothers and grandfathers of the world in place of their own grandfather and grandmother, and if they say "yes." this will save the world. (130-273, 1984.2.5)
Saturday, February 14, 2009
The Family is the Central Model for All Beings
When you stand in the world of space, you need top and bottom, left and right, and front and back. Only then is the status of your position stable. Your shape will vary depending on the position in which you stand: top and bottom, left and right, front and back. When dealing with matters that concern the relationships of top and bottom, left and right, front and back, and also problems in the family, nation and world, there is only one solution. Just as there has to be top and bottom, left and right, and front and back with the individual at the center, there also have to be parents and children, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters.
The same applies in a nation. With the leader of the nation at the center, all families should embrace the civilizations of east and west, and the civilizations of north and south, and all the people of the world as their brothers and sisters, and eventually establish a family model. This model is the same for all. You yourselves are the center of that model. This model represents a principle that requires that from you should come your family, which then expands to the nation, world, heaven and earth, and all the way to God. You not only want to be the center of the universe, you can be the center. In the same way, the family is the center of the universe. If you think of heaven as the parents, then earth represents the children. When considering east and west, the east symbolizes the man and west the woman. So after marriage, the woman goes to the place where her husband is wherever it may be. This is similar to the west reflecting the sunlight that shines from the east.
It is the same with the relationships of brothers and sisters. When the eldest brother leads a task, the younger brothers and sisters will cooperate. Therefore each person should be in a parent-child relationship, a conjugal relationship and a sibling relationship. In other words, these three relationships must meet at one point. The central point is one. The centers for top and bottom, left and right, and front and back should not be different. If their centers are different the relationships of top and bottom, left and right, and front and back will all be unbalanced. So top and bottom, left and right, front and back, and the common central point add up to the number seven. To form the number seven in this way means to be a family that is united in true love with God at the center and where all these things form a complete sphere bringing about harmony and unification. We often say seven is a lucky number. So when we hear this about the number seven it seems believable.
As long as true love never changes, this central core will turn forever without changing, realizing the ideal of the true family. Also since everything is connected to the core, then each position, one, two, three, four, five, six and seven from this central core are of equal value. If the grandfather and his sons and daughters want something and the grandchild is not against it, then all three generations will come to want it. The grandfather and grandmother, husband and wife, and sons and daughters all follow the center. In terms of love, we say that the parents-child relationship is one, the conjugal relationship is one, and the sibling relationship is one. They are one body. What are these relationships revolving around? They are revolving around the true love of God who is the center of love. Based on true love, the parents and children, husband and wife and brothers and sisters all become one. In this way the value of everything becomes equal. (299-114, 1999.2.7)
The same applies in a nation. With the leader of the nation at the center, all families should embrace the civilizations of east and west, and the civilizations of north and south, and all the people of the world as their brothers and sisters, and eventually establish a family model. This model is the same for all. You yourselves are the center of that model. This model represents a principle that requires that from you should come your family, which then expands to the nation, world, heaven and earth, and all the way to God. You not only want to be the center of the universe, you can be the center. In the same way, the family is the center of the universe. If you think of heaven as the parents, then earth represents the children. When considering east and west, the east symbolizes the man and west the woman. So after marriage, the woman goes to the place where her husband is wherever it may be. This is similar to the west reflecting the sunlight that shines from the east.
It is the same with the relationships of brothers and sisters. When the eldest brother leads a task, the younger brothers and sisters will cooperate. Therefore each person should be in a parent-child relationship, a conjugal relationship and a sibling relationship. In other words, these three relationships must meet at one point. The central point is one. The centers for top and bottom, left and right, and front and back should not be different. If their centers are different the relationships of top and bottom, left and right, and front and back will all be unbalanced. So top and bottom, left and right, front and back, and the common central point add up to the number seven. To form the number seven in this way means to be a family that is united in true love with God at the center and where all these things form a complete sphere bringing about harmony and unification. We often say seven is a lucky number. So when we hear this about the number seven it seems believable.
As long as true love never changes, this central core will turn forever without changing, realizing the ideal of the true family. Also since everything is connected to the core, then each position, one, two, three, four, five, six and seven from this central core are of equal value. If the grandfather and his sons and daughters want something and the grandchild is not against it, then all three generations will come to want it. The grandfather and grandmother, husband and wife, and sons and daughters all follow the center. In terms of love, we say that the parents-child relationship is one, the conjugal relationship is one, and the sibling relationship is one. They are one body. What are these relationships revolving around? They are revolving around the true love of God who is the center of love. Based on true love, the parents and children, husband and wife and brothers and sisters all become one. In this way the value of everything becomes equal. (299-114, 1999.2.7)
Friday, February 13, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
The standard of birth and the standard of life
1. The wrong standard of birth
People in today's world who flaunt their pedigrees and parade their degrees as marks of social distinction, are unaware that their births were spiritually sullied. They do not know that they were born with the love, life and lineage of Satan: God's enemy. This is a serious problem.
Due to the Fall, people have been born from Satan's love which was passed down to their parents. Satan's blood has made its way down through the lives of our mothers and fathers to us in the present day. The fruit of those three then, is you. As such, you all belong to the satanic lineage. In other words, Satan's blood is running through your veins. Therefore, he automatically bears his ideal fruit while God strives to redeem those very men and women and transform them into originally pure and perfect people. You all began from Satan's love and are born from his lineage.
Since your start was all wrong, you must return to the original point. As we originated from false parents, we need to return and start anew from true parents. How serious is this? It is imperative to inherit God's love, life and lineage afresh.
That is why, when you receive the Blessing, you undergo the ceremony for changing the lineage. You must believe in this more than your own life. Just because it is a Unification Church ceremony, you should not think of it as some ordinary ritual. It is like a wonder drug, an antidote, to restore the dead back to life.
Our ancestors committed an error so grave that countless people fell victim to its aftereffects throughout the course of human history. Knowing this, we cannot tread that same path again ever again! We paid a ghastly price throughout history for having perpetuated illicit love in the fallen spiritual and physical worlds, with far-reaching consequences for individuals, families, societies, nations and the world. (216-109, 1991.3.9)
2. The standard of life
When I say life here, I mean eternal life. I am not referring only to the spirit world, but to a life to live for eternity. Each individual was created to be an object of God's love. You are the object partner of the absolute God, and the partner in His love. God cherishes the notion of true love more than He values Himself. He is the absolute and eternal center of life. His ideal is even more eternal and the center of that ideal is true love. The partner of that love is you.
The attribute of love promotes unity between partners. Such love can unify a nation. Thus, one partner can accompany the other partner in any position and follow unconditionally. You can inherit God's entire fortune and even His entire heart. I went through a miserable course to discover this and now stand on that foundation. It is sublime and lofty and cannot be exchanged for anything: it is an amazing grace. For that reason, I stand in the same position with God. I share the eternal position of true love. The spirit world is in a different dimension from this limited earthly world. We cannot move freely within mundane confines, but as the spirit world is a higher-dimensional place, you can do anything there; you can leap across time. If you want something based on love, you can have it all anytime, anywhere.
We were originally created as eternal beings. If we become eternal beings of true love and go to the spirit world, we will be free. The first standard of life is the standard of good and evil, the second is the original starting point, and the third is eternal life. (216-107, 1991.3.9.)
People in today's world who flaunt their pedigrees and parade their degrees as marks of social distinction, are unaware that their births were spiritually sullied. They do not know that they were born with the love, life and lineage of Satan: God's enemy. This is a serious problem.
Due to the Fall, people have been born from Satan's love which was passed down to their parents. Satan's blood has made its way down through the lives of our mothers and fathers to us in the present day. The fruit of those three then, is you. As such, you all belong to the satanic lineage. In other words, Satan's blood is running through your veins. Therefore, he automatically bears his ideal fruit while God strives to redeem those very men and women and transform them into originally pure and perfect people. You all began from Satan's love and are born from his lineage.
Since your start was all wrong, you must return to the original point. As we originated from false parents, we need to return and start anew from true parents. How serious is this? It is imperative to inherit God's love, life and lineage afresh.
That is why, when you receive the Blessing, you undergo the ceremony for changing the lineage. You must believe in this more than your own life. Just because it is a Unification Church ceremony, you should not think of it as some ordinary ritual. It is like a wonder drug, an antidote, to restore the dead back to life.
Our ancestors committed an error so grave that countless people fell victim to its aftereffects throughout the course of human history. Knowing this, we cannot tread that same path again ever again! We paid a ghastly price throughout history for having perpetuated illicit love in the fallen spiritual and physical worlds, with far-reaching consequences for individuals, families, societies, nations and the world. (216-109, 1991.3.9)
2. The standard of life
When I say life here, I mean eternal life. I am not referring only to the spirit world, but to a life to live for eternity. Each individual was created to be an object of God's love. You are the object partner of the absolute God, and the partner in His love. God cherishes the notion of true love more than He values Himself. He is the absolute and eternal center of life. His ideal is even more eternal and the center of that ideal is true love. The partner of that love is you.
The attribute of love promotes unity between partners. Such love can unify a nation. Thus, one partner can accompany the other partner in any position and follow unconditionally. You can inherit God's entire fortune and even His entire heart. I went through a miserable course to discover this and now stand on that foundation. It is sublime and lofty and cannot be exchanged for anything: it is an amazing grace. For that reason, I stand in the same position with God. I share the eternal position of true love. The spirit world is in a different dimension from this limited earthly world. We cannot move freely within mundane confines, but as the spirit world is a higher-dimensional place, you can do anything there; you can leap across time. If you want something based on love, you can have it all anytime, anywhere.
We were originally created as eternal beings. If we become eternal beings of true love and go to the spirit world, we will be free. The first standard of life is the standard of good and evil, the second is the original starting point, and the third is eternal life. (216-107, 1991.3.9.)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Our highest path in life
What should be our life path? It is the path of possessing God's love. Possessing God's love is life's highest and final destination. Everyone, men and women alike, must go this way. Our life path must lead us to the infinite God of love. The greatest life path consists of finding God's love by crossing over the peaks of death tens and even hundreds of times, and continuing in that search even after death.
What is the endpoint of our desires? It is the possession of God's love. If, in that regard, we possess love more precious than our own. God cannot be ours. Thus, we need to possess God's love. If we possessed only God's love, then it would be all right even if He were not present. When His love becomes mind and mine become His, the internal and the external become one for the first time. A nation based on such love becomes an ideal homeland without upper and lower classes.
When we lie in that place of love, we feel that there is nothing under the sun that does not appear good and that does not exist for our sake. Since God's love is like that, the heavenly world, which is humankind's destination, namely the Kingdom of Heaven, is a place filled with love. (39-210, 1971.1.10)
What is the endpoint of our desires? It is the possession of God's love. If, in that regard, we possess love more precious than our own. God cannot be ours. Thus, we need to possess God's love. If we possessed only God's love, then it would be all right even if He were not present. When His love becomes mind and mine become His, the internal and the external become one for the first time. A nation based on such love becomes an ideal homeland without upper and lower classes.
When we lie in that place of love, we feel that there is nothing under the sun that does not appear good and that does not exist for our sake. Since God's love is like that, the heavenly world, which is humankind's destination, namely the Kingdom of Heaven, is a place filled with love. (39-210, 1971.1.10)
Monday, February 9, 2009
The original homeland that we must seek
You may not know of the reality of the spirit world, but I enjoy the special benefit from God of having a clear insight into that unknown world. Digging into the root of that world, I found its principles to be quite simple. In the spirit world only those who lived altruistically in line with God's universal principles can enter the higher realms. The world structured along those lines is the ideal heavenly kingdom. That place is the original homeland that humankind must seek. Today, although we are exiles from our original homeland and live a fallen life, we are destined to return there. God had to create a path for this in the course of history because we could not do so by our own efforts.
This is why God raised up many different religions. They are training grounds through which He has been directing all people along that path, whatever their race, cultural background, customs and traditions. Religions are the training grounds for training people to become eligible to return to the original homeland. Taking into account the diverse cultural backgrounds ranging across the four corners of the earth, God is leading humanity toward a unified world of religion that can progress upward onto higher ground.
What does religion which guides people to the original homeland, centrally teach? It is to live for the sake of others. As highly developed religions tend to emphasize this principle, they teach us to be gentle and meek, to stand in a position to elevate others and live for their sake, and to serve them sacrificially. All this serves to instill discipline in us to abide by the laws of the Kingdom of Heaven. (78-115, 1975.5.6)
This is why God raised up many different religions. They are training grounds through which He has been directing all people along that path, whatever their race, cultural background, customs and traditions. Religions are the training grounds for training people to become eligible to return to the original homeland. Taking into account the diverse cultural backgrounds ranging across the four corners of the earth, God is leading humanity toward a unified world of religion that can progress upward onto higher ground.
What does religion which guides people to the original homeland, centrally teach? It is to live for the sake of others. As highly developed religions tend to emphasize this principle, they teach us to be gentle and meek, to stand in a position to elevate others and live for their sake, and to serve them sacrificially. All this serves to instill discipline in us to abide by the laws of the Kingdom of Heaven. (78-115, 1975.5.6)
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Our life path
Since the society, nation and world in which we live are far from ideal, all manner of suffering occurs, and good and evil are at cross-purposes.
If we took a random sample of a hundred men, it would reveal that one hundred percent of them jostle among themselves in "an every man for himself" struggle within their circumstances to cope with the demands of their mundane affairs.
Therefore, in our daily lives, we all acutely lack the confidence that we can complete the day's work that we planned in the morning. With a wider scope of activities we would need proportionately more drive and determination to bring a victorious result in our everyday life. Lacking these, that day cannot be victorious. Such days turn into months and months into years.
We also lack environments conducive for meeting our monthly goals. To end a month victoriously, we need the drive and determination necessary to achieve breakthroughs in tackling both the details and complexities of that month. Without them, we cannot conclude our monthly activities victoriously.
Getting through a year successfully requires us to be equipped with a fighting spirit or driving force that can thrust aside all the challenges of each and every one of its 365 days. We can then celebrate that year victoriously. If we live a year like that, and continue in this vein, it will eventually add up to ten, and then twenty, and then thirty years, and that eventually becomes our life path. (31-30, 1970.4.12)
People living on earth today cannot escape from the constraints of time. That has been true throughout history. Individuals, families, tribes, people, nations and the world all move within the realm of time.
Wherever people exist, there is always some goal to attain. We are to focus on such a goal for ten, twenty, thirty, seventy years and, indeed, our entire lives. The greater our goal, the stronger our internal commitment needs to be. Unless we maintain an internal determination that surpasses the goal through the process called time, the goal will be unattainable. (31-149, 1970.5.24)
If we took a random sample of a hundred men, it would reveal that one hundred percent of them jostle among themselves in "an every man for himself" struggle within their circumstances to cope with the demands of their mundane affairs.
Therefore, in our daily lives, we all acutely lack the confidence that we can complete the day's work that we planned in the morning. With a wider scope of activities we would need proportionately more drive and determination to bring a victorious result in our everyday life. Lacking these, that day cannot be victorious. Such days turn into months and months into years.
We also lack environments conducive for meeting our monthly goals. To end a month victoriously, we need the drive and determination necessary to achieve breakthroughs in tackling both the details and complexities of that month. Without them, we cannot conclude our monthly activities victoriously.
Getting through a year successfully requires us to be equipped with a fighting spirit or driving force that can thrust aside all the challenges of each and every one of its 365 days. We can then celebrate that year victoriously. If we live a year like that, and continue in this vein, it will eventually add up to ten, and then twenty, and then thirty years, and that eventually becomes our life path. (31-30, 1970.4.12)
People living on earth today cannot escape from the constraints of time. That has been true throughout history. Individuals, families, tribes, people, nations and the world all move within the realm of time.
Wherever people exist, there is always some goal to attain. We are to focus on such a goal for ten, twenty, thirty, seventy years and, indeed, our entire lives. The greater our goal, the stronger our internal commitment needs to be. Unless we maintain an internal determination that surpasses the goal through the process called time, the goal will be unattainable. (31-149, 1970.5.24)
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Infancy and the three orderly stages of the growing period
How did God create Adam and Eve? If He used clay, what kind was it? Where did He begin? From which point did Adam and Eve's lives start? We cannot think that God created them as adults, but rather as babies. Without the notion that God behaved as a pregnant mother who subsequently gave birth to, nourished and nurtured a baby, we cannot logically explain the formation of all existence through the three orderly stages of growth. Logically, Adam and Eve passed through infancy before entering the growth and completion stages. This is heavenly law.
What was Adam and Eve's infancy like? We must proceed from the concept that the invisible God nurtured a baby whose beginnings were in the world without form and who could pass through the course in the physical realm. (225-198, 1992.1.20)
What was Adam and Eve's infancy like? We must proceed from the concept that the invisible God nurtured a baby whose beginnings were in the world without form and who could pass through the course in the physical realm. (225-198, 1992.1.20)
Friday, February 6, 2009
The relationship between a moment and a lifetime
Your living body cannot be perfected unless your entire existence becomes a foothold for absorbing nutrients. This phenomenon occurs in the natural world. The crossroads of life do not appear over a long period of time but in a single moment.
People who ignore a moment fail to obtain something precious. They cannot become great people, nor inherit God's throne and crown. Thus, for the sake of one bright shining moment, exercise care with each word you utter, each action you take, and even each thought you entertain. Deal with life and solve problems, believing that the contents of your daily life will all remain as phenomena in relationship to the world. That is the only way the realm of victory is determined.
In this way, the realm of victory is determined in one moment. It is the same with historical realm of victory and the cosmic realm of victory. Those who know the infinite value of one bright shining moment and live accordingly can become great people, even saints or God's sons and daughters. In this way, the junction of life and death is crossed in a single moment. (31-217, 1970.5.31)
Today, our attitude is the problem. Of course, it is necessary to first desire the coming of the kingdom and wish for the Will to be done. Yet, what is more important is how we ourselves can personally become one with God's will.
If we take this one hour, we see that how we use it to become one with the Will is more important than to desire the Kingdom of God to come. Therefore, we must first create environments as individuals, families, tribes and peoples that will enable us to inherit God's will, whereupon we can then proceed to establish a relationship with God's Kingdom. Then, centered on God, how do we make a relationship with the Will in this one hour--if you are given an hour--within the sphere of your daily living? This is a very important issue.
Looking at the history of the providence of restoration, there were four thousand years from Adam's family through Noah's, Abraham's and Moses' families down to Jesus' family. Here, however, what led to their failures did not occur over the span of, say, a year. In Adam's family, the Fall of Adam and Eve was not something planned out and put into action over the span of a year or a decade or even several decades. Their mistake happened in a flash, and when we think about how that failure of one moment has been perpetuated over eons of time, we can understand the fearfulness and dreadfulness of that instant.
Due to the failure of that one moment, so many people who walked the path righteousness in the course of history had to undergo untold suffering, and many races that could not follow the Will fell into the abyss of destruction. All these became the origin of a tremendous offering of indemnity. When we understand this, a single hour that we ordinarily live so casually in our daily life becomes fearful; but even more, we have to feel how fearful a moment is, even one second of one hour that goes by as the clock steadily ticks. Even the eternal Kingdom of Heaven does not exist without having an integral relationship with the single moment.
Eternity does not start when we die, but at the moment we come to know God's will. Here, if for even an instant there is a leap in the relationship of time or an abyss created, eternity will be interrupted. Therefore, while walking the path of faith in the course of your lives, do not procrastinate by deferring your providential responsibilities from this year to the next, and then to the year after that, or from your youth to your midlife and finally into your old age. We cannot live like that. People with such a lifestyle will die without having ever spent even one day of being one with the Will over the course of their lifetime. They cannot go to the Kingdom of Heaven.
However good your country of residence may be, you cannot go to the Kingdom of Heaven if you were unable to live even one day by a victorious standard; you cannot enter the eternal world if you failed to live even one year victoriously. Hence, while it is important for believers to go forth dreaming of eternity, what is even more important is how they actually eradicate evil and whether they become the standard-bearers of goodness. This is preeminently crucial.
From this perspective, Adam's momentary lapse led to eons of anguish. It was in Adam's family that Cain and Abel had to dissolve the anguish of their parents and demolish the wall that existed between the brothers and create the origin of one family. Yet the murder of Abel, who was set up as the representative of the providence of restoration, was also an instantaneous incident.
In the 120-year course during which Noah toiled to build the ark, in only a brief moment God issued the command, "The day to fulfill My wish has come: all aboard!" Those who followed this order were able to receive the blessings of the eternal God; those who did not were buried within the realm of eternal judgment.
It was the same with Abraham: God's promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sands on the seashore" (Genesis 22:17) was bestowed in the twinkling of an eye. Abraham's sacrificial offering did not require decades but rather a mere day's work. The time it took him to cut the offering and place it on the altar was not more than an hour, yet that single hour historically bore the seeds of all life and death, curse and blessing.
Today, what believers should dread is not the visitation of judgment in the Last Days but the question of how they will harmonize their daily activities and face life's crossroads in alignment with God's will. (37-217, 1970.12.27)
People who ignore a moment fail to obtain something precious. They cannot become great people, nor inherit God's throne and crown. Thus, for the sake of one bright shining moment, exercise care with each word you utter, each action you take, and even each thought you entertain. Deal with life and solve problems, believing that the contents of your daily life will all remain as phenomena in relationship to the world. That is the only way the realm of victory is determined.
In this way, the realm of victory is determined in one moment. It is the same with historical realm of victory and the cosmic realm of victory. Those who know the infinite value of one bright shining moment and live accordingly can become great people, even saints or God's sons and daughters. In this way, the junction of life and death is crossed in a single moment. (31-217, 1970.5.31)
Today, our attitude is the problem. Of course, it is necessary to first desire the coming of the kingdom and wish for the Will to be done. Yet, what is more important is how we ourselves can personally become one with God's will.
If we take this one hour, we see that how we use it to become one with the Will is more important than to desire the Kingdom of God to come. Therefore, we must first create environments as individuals, families, tribes and peoples that will enable us to inherit God's will, whereupon we can then proceed to establish a relationship with God's Kingdom. Then, centered on God, how do we make a relationship with the Will in this one hour--if you are given an hour--within the sphere of your daily living? This is a very important issue.
Looking at the history of the providence of restoration, there were four thousand years from Adam's family through Noah's, Abraham's and Moses' families down to Jesus' family. Here, however, what led to their failures did not occur over the span of, say, a year. In Adam's family, the Fall of Adam and Eve was not something planned out and put into action over the span of a year or a decade or even several decades. Their mistake happened in a flash, and when we think about how that failure of one moment has been perpetuated over eons of time, we can understand the fearfulness and dreadfulness of that instant.
Due to the failure of that one moment, so many people who walked the path righteousness in the course of history had to undergo untold suffering, and many races that could not follow the Will fell into the abyss of destruction. All these became the origin of a tremendous offering of indemnity. When we understand this, a single hour that we ordinarily live so casually in our daily life becomes fearful; but even more, we have to feel how fearful a moment is, even one second of one hour that goes by as the clock steadily ticks. Even the eternal Kingdom of Heaven does not exist without having an integral relationship with the single moment.
Eternity does not start when we die, but at the moment we come to know God's will. Here, if for even an instant there is a leap in the relationship of time or an abyss created, eternity will be interrupted. Therefore, while walking the path of faith in the course of your lives, do not procrastinate by deferring your providential responsibilities from this year to the next, and then to the year after that, or from your youth to your midlife and finally into your old age. We cannot live like that. People with such a lifestyle will die without having ever spent even one day of being one with the Will over the course of their lifetime. They cannot go to the Kingdom of Heaven.
However good your country of residence may be, you cannot go to the Kingdom of Heaven if you were unable to live even one day by a victorious standard; you cannot enter the eternal world if you failed to live even one year victoriously. Hence, while it is important for believers to go forth dreaming of eternity, what is even more important is how they actually eradicate evil and whether they become the standard-bearers of goodness. This is preeminently crucial.
From this perspective, Adam's momentary lapse led to eons of anguish. It was in Adam's family that Cain and Abel had to dissolve the anguish of their parents and demolish the wall that existed between the brothers and create the origin of one family. Yet the murder of Abel, who was set up as the representative of the providence of restoration, was also an instantaneous incident.
In the 120-year course during which Noah toiled to build the ark, in only a brief moment God issued the command, "The day to fulfill My wish has come: all aboard!" Those who followed this order were able to receive the blessings of the eternal God; those who did not were buried within the realm of eternal judgment.
It was the same with Abraham: God's promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sands on the seashore" (Genesis 22:17) was bestowed in the twinkling of an eye. Abraham's sacrificial offering did not require decades but rather a mere day's work. The time it took him to cut the offering and place it on the altar was not more than an hour, yet that single hour historically bore the seeds of all life and death, curse and blessing.
Today, what believers should dread is not the visitation of judgment in the Last Days but the question of how they will harmonize their daily activities and face life's crossroads in alignment with God's will. (37-217, 1970.12.27)
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The reason for birth
This created world is round everywhere: the sun, the earth, and the stars; everything is created round. Even our mouth, if we analyze it, is round. No matter what, everything is created that way. Then, the universe makes relationships by going around and around, making circular, cyclical movements. Even if one individual thing has a round shape, it does not exist by itself individually but makes a relational connection with the whole.
Then, why are we born? We are born to beat in rhythm with this vast universe. Ocean waves lapping against the shore lap against our hearts as well. Gentle breezes sighing serenely lull our hearts into serenity. Flowers in bloom release rich fragrances and stir the fragrances in our hearts. (104-122, 1979.4.22)
If we are born, raised, live and die in love, then we can be grateful for our birth, life and death. You were all born by having participated in the place where your father and mother loved and treasured each other exceedingly. You are participants in this love. Since you were born through your parents' love, you consider yourselves born as the flags planted through your parents' love. These flags flutter to express love. We are all meant to live for the sake of love throughout our lives. So you should wave the flag of love for your mother, wave the flag of love when you see your father, and wave the flag of love for your siblings. (103-258, 1979.2.25)
Then, why are we born? We are born to beat in rhythm with this vast universe. Ocean waves lapping against the shore lap against our hearts as well. Gentle breezes sighing serenely lull our hearts into serenity. Flowers in bloom release rich fragrances and stir the fragrances in our hearts. (104-122, 1979.4.22)
If we are born, raised, live and die in love, then we can be grateful for our birth, life and death. You were all born by having participated in the place where your father and mother loved and treasured each other exceedingly. You are participants in this love. Since you were born through your parents' love, you consider yourselves born as the flags planted through your parents' love. These flags flutter to express love. We are all meant to live for the sake of love throughout our lives. So you should wave the flag of love for your mother, wave the flag of love when you see your father, and wave the flag of love for your siblings. (103-258, 1979.2.25)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The purpose that people desire
God does not have a body. Therefore, in order to manifest His body, God used Adam as His body, showing His face through him. That is the ideal of creation.
God is the original spiritual focal point and Adam is the original physical focal point. These two focal points generate a 90-degree angle. This is God's purpose of creation and the purpose that people desire. Had Adam and Eve not fallen, they would have occupied the positions of father and mother eternally in the spirit world; yet, due to the Fall, this was not possible. Had there been no Fall, everyone could have gone to Heaven simply by attending their parents as though they were attending God. (119-109, 1982.7.4)
God is the original spiritual focal point and Adam is the original physical focal point. These two focal points generate a 90-degree angle. This is God's purpose of creation and the purpose that people desire. Had Adam and Eve not fallen, they would have occupied the positions of father and mother eternally in the spirit world; yet, due to the Fall, this was not possible. Had there been no Fall, everyone could have gone to Heaven simply by attending their parents as though they were attending God. (119-109, 1982.7.4)
Prayers relating to the life course
"Beloved Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your grace, and for having shielded me in my struggles from my childhood until now; during those years I have been apprehensive of any humiliation or shame that Heaven might suffer. Among all the good things on this earth, there is nothing more precious than connecting to Your original heart. Knowing this, we must infinitely long for that relationship. We must keep in mind that those who experience Your love will have no regrets even if they forget about all the things of this world. Now we must seek the ideal world, the original homeland where we live by Your love. We must prepare today on earth for the day of our birth as liberated children endowed with the authority of freedom of our life.
We must know that just as we needed to be healthy in the womb to be born to lead a healthy life on earth, we need a wholesome earthly life to have a wholesome life in heaven. As the world today is one of conflict under the dominion of evil, we must be resolved to fight to the death in order to be blessed with the cooperation of heaven and earth and to keep in step with the dynamic fortunes of the universe. We must resolve that our descendants will never be placed in the same positions as we have been." (49-308, 1971.10.17)
"Beloved Father, when we think of how You exist and have toiled unremittingly to usher in a new spring, we must become Your infinitely grateful and joyous sons and daughters who lament the fact that we have yet to offer entire life and love to You. In our predestined relationship with You, our lives are meant to be harmonized, and completely absorbed in and by You so that we too, may greet the new spring.
We must realize that only when we greet spring for the first time will the flowers bloom. We must not become such pitiful souls who have never done so. Just as a flower goes through summer and autumn before blooming and bearing fruit, we too are to undergo a similar process to bear fruit.
We know that for a tree to bear fruit, it first absorbs life elements through its roots, trunk and branches in summer, concentrating a perfect life force to bring forth a second life. Similarly, we must become the sons and daughters who are introspectively determining whether we have a life force welling up in our hearts--one that is capable of rebirth in a new world even if our bodies should die.
No matter how much time flies by, no matter how fiercely the storms rage, our inner life force must withstand the intrusions of the environment and persevere persistently on the path of growth. Only in this way, can we welcome the new spring and become a seed, the original source of a second life, which can be planted again.
Likewise, no matter how pathetic we may look externally, if we maintain our value as the original essence that can enhance the spiritual life force and as a seed that can be planted in the infinite world, we are not miserable people even though we may think we are. Please allow us to realize that the more miserable we may appear externally, the more our internal value is complete and guaranteed." (32-36, 1970.6.14)
"Father, we have realized that without the desire to serve and bow down humbly to You, we can have no relationship with You in the eternal world. Open the doors of our hearts to feel Your heart and hear Your voice welling up from the depths of our hearts, and guide us to regain our lost bodies today. Help us to appreciate Your historical course of toil and trouble to find each one of us, that we may humbly bow our heads before You." (4-280, 1958.9.14)
We must know that just as we needed to be healthy in the womb to be born to lead a healthy life on earth, we need a wholesome earthly life to have a wholesome life in heaven. As the world today is one of conflict under the dominion of evil, we must be resolved to fight to the death in order to be blessed with the cooperation of heaven and earth and to keep in step with the dynamic fortunes of the universe. We must resolve that our descendants will never be placed in the same positions as we have been." (49-308, 1971.10.17)
"Beloved Father, when we think of how You exist and have toiled unremittingly to usher in a new spring, we must become Your infinitely grateful and joyous sons and daughters who lament the fact that we have yet to offer entire life and love to You. In our predestined relationship with You, our lives are meant to be harmonized, and completely absorbed in and by You so that we too, may greet the new spring.
We must realize that only when we greet spring for the first time will the flowers bloom. We must not become such pitiful souls who have never done so. Just as a flower goes through summer and autumn before blooming and bearing fruit, we too are to undergo a similar process to bear fruit.
We know that for a tree to bear fruit, it first absorbs life elements through its roots, trunk and branches in summer, concentrating a perfect life force to bring forth a second life. Similarly, we must become the sons and daughters who are introspectively determining whether we have a life force welling up in our hearts--one that is capable of rebirth in a new world even if our bodies should die.
No matter how much time flies by, no matter how fiercely the storms rage, our inner life force must withstand the intrusions of the environment and persevere persistently on the path of growth. Only in this way, can we welcome the new spring and become a seed, the original source of a second life, which can be planted again.
Likewise, no matter how pathetic we may look externally, if we maintain our value as the original essence that can enhance the spiritual life force and as a seed that can be planted in the infinite world, we are not miserable people even though we may think we are. Please allow us to realize that the more miserable we may appear externally, the more our internal value is complete and guaranteed." (32-36, 1970.6.14)
"Father, we have realized that without the desire to serve and bow down humbly to You, we can have no relationship with You in the eternal world. Open the doors of our hearts to feel Your heart and hear Your voice welling up from the depths of our hearts, and guide us to regain our lost bodies today. Help us to appreciate Your historical course of toil and trouble to find each one of us, that we may humbly bow our heads before You." (4-280, 1958.9.14)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)