Rev. Andrew Compton is the MC. Dr. Yang is in attendance and comes to the stage. Dr. Yang says that of course we want to welcome Hyo-Jin-nim, but especially we want to welcome Yeon-Ah-nim after her victorious speaking tour. All welcome Hyo-Jin-nim and Yeon-Ah-nim and offer a standing bow. [Hyo-Jin-nim bows to the audience as he approaches the stage.]
That was unexpected. [Laughter] Let’s talk about “Change”. Let me ask you a question. If you had one wish for a change, what would it be?
[Audience answers: World would change to God’s ideal, Change myself.] [Someone in the front row answers “Adam and Eve did the right thing” and Hyo-Jin-nim was not expecting this kind of answer and had a surprised expression, the room erupted in laughter and it took a little while to settle down]
[Hyo-Jin-nim deadpanned:] Okay what if you had two wishes. [Even more laughter]
Let’s say that I have one hundred million dollars, that’s a lot for one man. It depends on the location but on average you can buy someone a house for a quarter million dollars. So I could buy a house for only four hundred people and the money would be gone. Something that means something to somebody personally, if you expand it, it’s not enough to most people. That’s reality. What if you add a zero to that stuff? You have a billion dollars. That’s about it. It’s gone just like that. That’s all it’s worth. You add another zero, that’s all it’s worth.
So where does it end? There’s more than four hundred people in the world right? That’s the problem. That’s why it’s difficult to change. No matter how much you have good intentions and you want to do good and you try, that’s about it. It depends on individuals. And you have to somehow unify people who have that desire, that need, whatever. It can be basic, because it’s practical, because it’s physical. You have to think about yourself in a physical way, and you will think about yourself in an intellectual way, and hopefully if you have that under control you have a time to be spiritual right? But the problem is most people struggle where? You tell me. That’s the problem.
I’m thinking about sending my children to school other places, maybe back to Korea or something during a certain period of time in their maturation, for schooling. I’m thinking about it because it’s very difficult. It’s difficult to process all that unless we have something that we can provide, some kind of security that is somewhat guaranteed. There is no guarantee that you will not die of accident or disease. So how do you change? In what way do you want to change?
Let’s say that you have something that is important to you. Then what would that be as a single individual, as a family? You want to have some kind of property, right, that you want to build equity in and ultimately you want to be productive within it. And on top of it is the same thing, intellectual property, spiritual stuff that goes in that physical and the mind and the spirit. Those things are important to you because it grounds you.
You can’t really change unless you have something that you’re sure of. You have to have absolute to have a change. If you don’t have something absolute, change doesn’t mean anything. Because you’ll always change and you’ll never have anything. You’ll have change that is meaningless. And what good is that?
You have to ask: What kind of change do I want? What kind of change can I make for myself before I give it to others? If you don’t question yourself in that way and answer yourself and know that you have the answer, it doesn’t mean anything, the change. You’ll always change, but it doesn’t mean anything. That’s the problem.
Of course you want to be self-sufficient. I don’t want to go to Daddy for anything. You want to be a tough guy, macho man. There’s a reason for that kind of stuff, there’s a reason for manhood and womanhood. That’s a different topic. We’ll talk about it some other time. But let’s say that you have something and you want to create something. You want to give to something. Yes, we’re in a time and place where if I have money, I can build a beautiful studio anywhere around the world, one step at a time, one place at a time, and it will be a functional one.
To me, productivity matters. If you have property, if you have equity, yes absolutely I want to have the best stuff in the world, but it’s going to be productive. Not just for me, for everybody, hopefully, but there’s no guarantee it can please everyone. And it will be functional, it can be. And it doesn’t have to be just for that purpose only. It can be for the people in general. Even those … Even if you don’t do what I do. If we’re connected … sure.
The thing is that ultimately in the end I believe that multimedia is very important. I absolutely believe it’s important. If we have just two dozen blabbermouths that can think on their feet, we can start. You have to have something because it’s about getting your message out there. That’s what church is for, especially in the kind of chaotic situation of this world of confusion.
That is very, very important, and it has to be constant. It has to literally tick like a clock. When you even talk about yourself and giving, talk about self-sacrifice, you kind of have to look at it … Put yourself in a sphere first and take the concept of a vertical axis and horizontal axis and you draw away. You still need an audience, then you go up and if you do it right, it will raise their expectations. Of course, you will suffer and that cycle happens over and over and over and over. That’s the sign of infinity right? But that’s how to expand, that’s how you expand, not just with yourself, but with others. Who cares if you exist alone? God doesn’t care. That’s why He created us right? That’s the essence of growing. You want change, that’s growth. Some things don’t change. Yes, because there are boundaries. You cannot have freedom without boundaries and consequences.
The thing about unconditional love is that it has conditions. Okay? You want a change, any change, that’s difficult, I’m just here to entertain you in your mind, but I’ll be here as long as you’re here. But it’s difficult. That’s how it goes. That’s what’s normal, because I believe that’s the ideal.
Okay, I’m done. I’ve got nothing else to say. [Laughter] See you later.