Hello. [Good morning] Let me ask you a question: Do you need more money? [Yes, Laughter] Do you need more inspiration [Yes, Yes, No] Do you need more love? [Yes] In which order? You want every thing at the same time! [Laughter]
Let me start with something personal I guess. I came here [to America] in 1973. I’m not going to say the last name but “Earl” was a kind of funky kid. I was in a kind of period where things were changing in a dramatic way, a lot of persecution stuff, you know, and the only friend I’ve got is this guy called “Earl.” [Hyo-Jin-nim laughs]
He’s the one … I think I was seventh grade or something like that. We had lockers and stuff. He actually brought a beer [laughter] and he brought a cigarette, and he brought a Playboy magazine. That was my first experience with “Earl-ism” [laughter] so I was like fourteen or fifteen.
So what I’m trying to get at is that these days that’s what you’re worried about, right, about your kids. I’ve got kids. And today’s world is a different world.
Internet schooling is becoming more and more popular, because you can get a basic education via stuff like that, or home schooling. Home schooling has certain limitations but you have that option, and you deal with the argument about what about how kids learn how to relate to other people, about the social skill level stuff. That’s where you have the church.
So when you have a kind of basic parental foundation, you don’t have to compete with that kind of stuff. You can literally take initiative and take control of your situation. You don’t have to rely on someone else, because you can compete when you’re ready. It takes time to get ready. Nobody is ready right from the start, and that’s too much to ask, at times.
When you’re not in control and it’s way, way beyond logic to expect your children, all of them, hopefully, ideally, to take care of themselves somehow. That’s just unrealistic. So if you’re in control of something, you have to find out appropriate measures. That is your responsibility, whether you like it or not. That’s the parental role.
If your children screw up, who are you going to blame? You’re going to blame you, right, because they’re your children, the society will blame you, and it is your responsibility. You ought to be perfect and you’ve got to get involved.
So that’s just about children. That is the essence of life isn’t it? Your life, your future, your everything when you’re dead and gone.
So … Are we in control? You want money? How are we going to get money? How are you going to become useful to somebody, in life in general? Like I said, you know it is important that you become something that you can reciprocate to the rest of the world based on ESSENCE.
Do you know how to heal? Do you know how to make things better? There are all sorts of things, science, technology, and chemistry, whatever. There are so many things that … Do you know how to inspire? That’s hard … and education.
Joe, Joe Kinney here, he sends his e-mail [of Hyo-Jin-nim’s speech notes] to a lot of guys I guess. I guess there are some members out there fighting the war in Iraq [who read the notes]. What do you think that is important to them? Money? I don’t think so. Maybe inspiration, maybe love, COMING HOME!
It’s that kind of stuff. It’s the basic stuff. If you don’t address that stuff, you don’t build anything. You cannot increase if you don’t strengthen the essence of stuff. It might be money, body, spirit and mind, something, it has to be something relevant to you at that moment, otherwise there’s nothing gained … It’s sad, but true.
So what’s important to you? Everything right? You want the spirit mind and body aligned perfectly right? The desire of the mind is more important than the desire of the BODY! The desire of the spirit is more important than the desire of the MIND! That kind of stuff right?
You want that to line up somehow ultimately down to the body. I wish that upon you. And if I can help you, I’ll help you as much as I can. If three hundred million Americans say “I want ten thousand dollars,” that’s three trillion dollars. So you have to work that number situation out a little bit. You can’t do things like that, right? Otherwise you’ll go belly up very quickly. You’re dead.
Do I see you as a black person or do I see you as humanity? Do I see you as a white person or do I see you as humanity. Do I see you as Japanese or do I see you as humanity. It’s that kind of stuff. That’s what we need to revisit, and teach our children too. They can learn from us, from that point, from that fundamental aspect. If we don’t do our job correctly, it isn’t going to work.
[The sound of flatulence is heard]
Somebody is blasting off. [Laughter] No problem. It happens. [Much laughter. Hyo-Jin-nim pauses to recompose himself] Thank you. [Lots more laughter] You made my day! [More laughter]
If you want that perfect alignment, spirit, mind, and body, don’t ask somebody else, ask yourself. Okay? Where are you? What is the most important thing to you, to that question? And don’t blame it on anybody else. You answer that first before you try to find a solution. YOU HAVE TO KNOW YOUR LIMIT! Otherwise expansion is futile. Ask yourself sincerely, “Where am I? What do I want?” and from that you start.
Okay? See you later. [Taps the podium twice]