Sun Myung Moon
September 28, 1975
Barrytown, New York
Translated by Won Pok Choi

There are many people living in the world today, but if they are asked the question, "What view of life do you have, and what kind of road are you taking in your life?" there's no one who can really answer the question in the proper way.

The same applies to you here. What are you going to become? Can you answer that question? If your family is asked the same question, the family as a unit would have to answer "No." What will become of the world? Nobody knows. All the answers are "No" or "We don't know."

Let's speak of your whole life. Do you have a guaranteed life today? You cannot guarantee the successful hours of your day. You don't know what will happen in a few hours. You may be talking back and forth very happily, but, who knows, after a second or two your car may collide into another and you may be killed. In coming here, you don't know what might happen. When you left home you were anticipating something good, but some of you may have been reluctant to come here because it is so early and you want to rest longer.

Some of you, even though you were eager to hear me, afterwards you may be discontented and say, "Well, What did I learn from him?" Out of 1,000 questions you are asked, how many can you answer clearly? When you are hungry, you eat food with a good appetite, but you may have a stomach-ache the next moment, and it can even lead to death.

Male members, in your past life, you were looking forward to taking an ideal mate and you may have set your eyes on a very beautiful woman, but when you did marry someone she was the very person leading you to unhappiness and misery. There's no guarantee that anything will bring you happiness.

With that in mind, do you feel like thinking of things in your own terms? Do you feel like associating with the people around you? However vast the universe may be, don't you feel stalemated and confined? Are the things around you more good or sad? Do you really feel like living? You sing in the morning, and you enjoy food and conversation, but do you really feel like living in this kind of world?

"What kind of life am I going to lead?" -- That is a most grave and serious question. This question will never leave us until it is solved. Our ancestors asked the same question, in vain. People still grope in darkness. There are great persons -- the world's great teachers -- and you want to go to them to solve this question.

You ask what kind of a man Reverend Moon is. Can he solve the problem? I look the same as you. Then whom can you turn to for the answer? Where am I from, and where am I headed for? Those are the questions you cannot answer yourselves. And how to proceed on one's way is another question. Deep in your minds you are enthusiastically in search of someone who can guide you.

Roughly divided, there are people who know something, and those who don't. But are there more people who don't know, or who know? The majority of people are ignorant of life. Only a limited number of people know about human life. But even those, do they know precisely what life is like? (No.) Someone may be able to give you the goal, but in heading for the goal he may lead you zigzag and up and down, perhaps never reaching it.

Even among those who know, there are two kinds: Those who know because of the education they have acquired, and those who know out of intuition, who are taught by the spirit world. In human history, there have been many prophets and saints who could predict life to come. Besides those, there have been many philosophers, too. Which of the two have been leading the world: the prophets or the philosophers?

Do people like mysterious and wondrous things, or just normal things? You take delight in things mysterious and wondrous. You can find those qualities in the prophets and saints. So, very possibly, the prophets and saints are those who are going to lead the future world. We arrive at the conclusion that we of today are in search of prophets and saints rather than great thinkers and philosophers. History has witnessed many such things. In the past, prophets and saints have led nations, and the fate or destiny of the nation would depend on those people.

Why was it so and why is it still so? In the present world, you would very likely define things this way, but would things come out as you predicted? Are there more things in your life that didn't prove true, or more things that proved true? On the first day of the year you planned to do this and that, but towards the end of the year, do you find those things achieved by you or not?

How many people are there who can really say at the end of the year that they have carried out all he or she planned? Every time when you look back to your past you say, "Oh, I regret it. I have to do it all over again!"

With your bicentennial anniversary ahead, whom would you choose, if you could, to be the leader of this nation? If you were senators or congressmen, are you confident you could lead the people of the United States? There are many famous people in this nation, each one thinking and telling people that they love this country, love their state. But out of those who really love and think about the country and the states and meditate over how to lead those people.

Out of those people we can really elect good leaders of the future world. What if the majority reject that kind of person? We are college graduates, we are such and such. How can we be guided by those people without education, who are always thinking about the spirit world? Would you object to that? In general, the way of thinking of the people is like that.

The reason for my telling you this is that people in general are not satisfied with what we already possess. Even though you are just common people, you want to probe into the problems of life and determine where you are from and where you are headed so that you can have a secure life. Don't you think so? (Yes!) If you just walk blindly without knowing what could happen to you and what's happening around you, you are miserable.

You may as well close your eyes, not hear people, not smell anything, because those senses of yours wouldn't function properly. You cannot determine which is good and which is bad. So, can you do good things? What's the use of your doing good things? When you stop to think of all these things you feel so limited and you feel like the whole world is a prison camp.

You don't feel like sleeping, you don't feel like eating. In that case, wouldn't you want to go into the open air? So far, I have enumerated the conditions making us miserable. Are you really happy here? (Yes!) I don't see that you are confident of that. You are unhappy, miserable people, aren't you? (No!) You don't even know what is going to become of the Unification Church.

Do you really know what kind of a man Reverend Moon is? Who knows? I could even cheat you or deceive you. Why do you like me? If you had lost something because of me, you wouldn't like me, I'm sure. You have at least gained something out of me. Then, what must that be? You gained something in that you have learned something about life from me.

You cannot deny, what the world needs is not the philosopher, but the prophet. Was Communism the product of a philosopher or a prophet? (Philosopher!) There are many philosophers and thinkers in this world, with many followers, but can you really believe and trust those people? Can we really leave our life in their hands? (No!)

Would we hope the world as guided by the philosophers to pass away, and for the new world to come under the guidance of the prophets? (Yes!) You can find many great thinkers and philosophers on the school campuses, but not religious leaders. The prophets cannot be found on the college campuses. You must look for prophets in religious circles. But do people like religions better, or school? (School!)

That is a sign of destruction or peril. Do you find any hope on college campuses or in religious circles? (No.) If there is any hope still left somewhere, it is in the religious world. You will not turn to Harvard University, Yale, or any of the great universities for that, but you will turn to the religious world for that.

When we look at the religious leaders, particularly prophets, are they usually well-educated people or people without education? If you were the people in general, would you trust more those who are educated or those who are ignorant? (Educated!) If that is true with most people, we can say that it is very likely that the world is headed in the wrong direction.

Those who have guided human history in the past have without exception been prophets and saints. There's a Chinese character which has more meaning than your word "Saint." It stands for "The king over your ear and mouth." You are the king over your ears, over your eyes and mouth. Your mouth must be king-like. The king says important things and that's the end of that. He is very authoritative.

The second character means a person, and the first part denotes earth or soil. This means to drag the people. The final one means the sun. Sun means heaven, or days. So, that person can lead or guide both the earth and the heavens for many days. Without being able to do that, you cannot be called a saint. There's such a profundity of meaning there. The same thing applies to religion. Until you know something about a religion, you can not really evaluate the thing.

Then would you like philosophy or religion better? (Religion!) Why? (It talks about God.) When you say "Better," it means it is better than the other. You learn more out of one of those, and in religion you learn about God. You don't learn about man, but about God who is the source of man. In religion, they would rather have you not study or learn about men.

First of all, you should be learning to know God. The viewpoint there is different from the other one. For instance, say you have created a religion. Would God have anything to do with that religion? (No!) You could worship your fist and sing hymns to it. Even if you do everything there, but would God come to you? (No!) Can you still say religion is made by man? (No!) Then who made religion? (GOD!) If religion is what God made, you must always follow the instruction coming from God in that religion.

The religions made by men are not real religions, I should say. They are institutional, organized religions, maybe, but not real religions. There are many deceiving elements. When you say "God," what kind of God do you mean? There are many gods in the minds of the people -- cult gods, miscellaneous gods, evil gods, good gods. There are many gods.

What kind of god would you have in your religion? (Good!) But anyone in any religion would call their god a good one. In the democratic world, people say democracy is the best system. In the Communist world, people are confident that their ideology is the best one. Can there be two best ones? (No!) So, out of two, one is false.

Are there more people in the world who think Communism is the best thing, or who think democracy is best? (Democracy!) What about the young people? Do they set more hope in the Communistic world, or the democratic world -- more on Soviet Russia, or on America? Are there more young people in the world who set their hopes on Communist Russia, or on democratic America?

Are the Communist nations in the leading role at the UN, or the democratic nations? (Communist.) America is being pushed to the corner. You are confused. Which is right, which is wrong? More and more young people are saying, "I thought that democracy was the best system, but the contrary may be true." You are almost entering that stage. You don't discern which is good, which is bad; which is true, which is false. Do you really know?

Then who can define which is good and which is bad? Can Communism define it? Can we let democracy define it? (No!) Then who? (God!) But people don't know about God! How can they turn to God for the definition? Yes, you are right. God will define that, but through whom will He do that? He will define that through His prophet or through people in religious circles.

The sign in the Korean language standing for God means "one." Hanna is one, Nim is Master: Hanna Nim, One Lord, One Master. There will be no other Lord than God. You say God can be defined that way, but can you see God? In the latter days, there should come a great prophet who is able to discern which is good and which is bad, guiding the people in the right direction. He can analyze and judge the world, and lead the people to the goal God sets before us. Without those prophets coming out in the latter days, the world would be headed for peril.

Do you expect such a one to come in the latter days? Not only you but, unconsciously, all the people of the world, including the spirit world and God, all want such a one to appear. Would you just anticipate his coming, or are you sure that he is coming? (Sure!) Thanks to God, we have had the prediction that the Messiah was coming.

Is the Messiah a philosopher or a prophet? (Prophet!) He is king of all prophets. You have seen many leaders in the past, and many religions, and you seek such a prophet in religious circles. If there is one religion in which they really teach you how to meet the Messiah, and when and where the Messiah is coming, you will turn to it, won't you? (Yes!)

In the Bible, you sometimes get the impression that it is telling you that when the Messiah comes, he will be judge over all creation, and he will dominate the whole world. But on the other hand, you read that the Messiah will be looking for a bride. Both are true, but which will come first -- will he be here and then, be anxious to find his bride first, or to judge the world first?

He will be anxious to look for his bride. What is the definition of ' 'judgment?" How would he judge people? It is true that he will judge with truth, but what is truth? The truth is just a combination of words. What does the word "truth" mean? The real truth is man himself. What kind of man? (Perfect!)

The Messiah is the truth himself, or the truth incarnate. Didn't Jesus say "I am the way, the truth and the light?" He was the truth himself. True man is the truth. If Jesus came as the bridegroom, why did he have to look for a bride? The definition of a true man is not a man alone. The true man and true woman combined together makes a true man, and then alone with that standard of truth, they can judge the people -- male and female.

When you find your Messiah, would you say you resemble him 80 percent, or more, or less? (Less!) How much percent do you say you resemble him? Those who can say I resemble him 100 percent, hold up your hand. If you were President Ford, could you say, "I resemble the Messiah 100 percent?" (No!)

Who can you rely on? (The Messiah!) What about the Pope of Rome? Does he resemble the Messiah 100 percent? (No!) What about Billy Graham? (No!) Nobody knows, in fact, how much percentage of resemblance they have to God. Does the Pope himself know that? Does Billy Graham know that? (No!) Only the Messiah, when he comes, can judge you. God knows. The Messiah knows; no one else.

That is why all people are doomed to judgment. Judgment is nothing else but your being compared with the standard or measurement of divine law. That's what judgment is. So everyone is liable for judgment.

Then what is most important for people to learn: science, philosophy, about the world, about human relations: or, to study human beings and God? (GOD!) You should know that it is the most important thing for us to learn about God, and then about man. To deal with man, you should learn about the Messiah first. We can define a religion to be the true one when people there teach you about God, about man, and about the relationship between God and man.

Do your schools teach you that? (No!) Where do they teach you about God? (Barrytown.) You are looking for a true religion. What is true religion? That is the question. What did you say the truth meant? (Messiah.) The true religion is the group where they teach you to be true men, and where people are being changed to be good or true.

I am a controversial figure in this society. For instance, NBC has taped our group, while others are just interested in our group, concerned about us. I'm so famous that if a Korean asked a Korean living in this vicinity if he knows me, he would refer to me as that famous Sun Moon living in Tarry town. Without my being conscious of it, I become more and more famous here.

Am I famous in the good sense, or in a bad sense? (Bad!) But do you people think that I'm bad? Compared to the vast number of people who call me bad, you are just a small number of people! How can I be defined as "good?" Those people, even though they are vast in number, are criticizing me without seeing me, without once having met me. But we have met him, we have been living with him, we have known him for many months, many years.

You are confident to define me as good; even though the voices calling me infamous and things like that are loud, you are not stirred at all, you do not waver or vacillate. I too am confident and I just ignore what they say. I am indifferent to their clamor. Would you like people to oppose our movement or not? (No!) I have a different idea.

When we are opposed we become more and more famous in the soonest possible time. Bad rumors are disseminated faster. Bad rumors are good in two ways. By spreading out they will help us become famous faster. And, in the face of opposition, our members will become stronger and stronger. You are more determined to fight against that evil power and you become more united with me.

So my attitude is, come what may, I welcome the opposition. But, I want you to become so strong that even a small girl would be able to persuade other people by her acts and words that we are good people. The stronger the enemy is, you must be armed with stronger and more fearful weapons. Let them oppose you, and you will fight against and win over them. We are giants, never being defeated by others. So, would you like to have opposition come to you or not? (Yes!)

If you are a stranger in a remote village, it is natural for the dogs to bark at you. I'm a stranger here in America. This stranger is very strange in the eyes of the senators and congressmen. They have a headache over the young people in this nation, and they cannot even have their own sons and daughters obey them.

But this man from the Orient comes here and leads a group of elite young people who follow him wherever he goes, who will put into practice whatever they are instructed by him. It is the strangest thing happening in this nation. Again I must say, it is natural for the dogs to bark at me. I want all the villagers to come out to meet me, so that is the only way. If the dog doesn't bark, not one soul will come out to meet me.

I don't mind if they oppose me. The article which several papers carried about Wendy Helander was a good one, mostly on our side. If I were in their position, I would want to spread it in all newspapers, like what happened at the time we supported President Nixon. But, if I do that, the opposition will subside, and that will be the end of the fun.

If you are in the wrestling ring and there are voices from the side lines cheering you on or opposing you, if there are more people opposing you, you are more determined to win. That kind of match is also more sensational to watch. I like something sensational, so I welcome any opposition. If you are confident and have the capability to do a certain thing, then you don't fear opposition and hardship.

Do you love to be in the Unification Church? (Yes!) Why? (Exciting.) What do you have exciting and sensational here? I always push you hard, so you overwork yourself. Still do you like me? People would like to have me let you relax and eat rich food, be clad in good clothing, sleep well and be sheltered well. But what I'm doing is contrary to all those things.

Still, do you like to be here? (Yes!) You are crazy. (Yes!) I'm on the side of your parents when they say you are crazy people! Frankly speaking, you are crazy over something, isn't that true? (Yes!) What is good in this movement that you are crazy about? (God!) What makes it good is that we know the difference.

The way your parents think is self-centered, egocentric. But, we are thinking of God and mankind. If we are going to be left to the end of the latter days, so that we can step forward in the judgment, before God and the Messiah, you must know how to tread on the way, you must be shown the way. In our movement, we have those things. That's what makes us different.

In the judgment, you are in the court room. God is the judge, your lawyer is the Messiah, and Satan is the prosecutor. You are standing before all three. The prosecutor, Satan, will accuse you of your alleged crimes. But you have two on your side: the lawyer and God, so you are stronger. You are confident to win the case with God and the Messiah there as your parent.

Even though you may have to go through difficulties and hardships, you don't mind. The more opposition comes, the more zeal and enthusiasm will come to you. What you are afraid of in this movement, is that you are not going to be given enough work to do. Right? (Right.) Nobody will want to have you go fundraising, go witnessing, and you are afraid of that. Is that true? (Yes!) Why are you that way?

We are different people. In building our characters, we will do it ourselves. In building our families, in building our schools, in building the society we live in, in building our world -- we are going to do it ourselves. I have plenty of money, and I could live on my own just enjoying life... Why am I here? Why am I having you earn money? Which is the greatest school in America? Harvard?

We are going to establish a greater school than Harvard. The Empire State Building is not being used under the name of God, so we are going to buy it and use it under the name of God. If we are going to establish a school, we are going to make it the greatest; and, in establishing it, we will do it not in 10 years' time, but in three years or less because we are the sons and daughters of God.

For the dignity of the followers of the Messiah, we will do that. In the name of God, in the name of the Messiah who is to come, we will make it possible for us to build it in less than three years' time, even one year or less. If you say "in the soonest possible future," I can say you resemble me. That's why I love you.

I'm an enigma to the people of America. A man from the Orient, I came here empty-handed -- they know that -- but a little later, there's the rumor that I have bought Belvedere, and then East Garden, Barrytown, the Columbia University Club, and now we have bought a building seven times as big as the Columbia University Club! People are astounded.

We have established the theological seminary, and we are almost on the way to establishing a university. So far we have been chartering a jumbo plane, but we are going to buy one. Everything I do, I do in the name of God, not in the name of Reverend Moon. Do I idle away my time, sitting with folded hands just driving you hard to earn the money for that? (No!) I' m not any less active in doing things while you are on the street. Isn't that true? (Yes!)

In the name of God, I have in my past gone through many difficulties and hardships. I'm still doing that, and I will be doing that until all is over and finished. If you were in the position of Master of the Unification Church, how long could you endure all those problems and headaches arising around you. You could not last even two or three days.

In the face of all those difficulties, I don't become frustrated, but I feel more challenged every moment. Would you like a man like me as your husband? (Yes!) I'm so confident as to think that if I were a girl, I too would like to have that kind of man. I'm confident, and I'm proud of myself. I can do almost everything: athletic games, hunting, fishing -- anything.

Even in robbery, I would make a number one robber, but I wouldn't do that. Once I like to do something and set my hands on it, I will never let go until I bring success. That's why I'm entitled and qualified to lead you. I trained myself to be like that. When I came here, I was prepared for that. I meant to stir up the whole society of America with my bare hands. I would feel as though the whole world shakes at my step.

The axis of the whole earth will shake. That's what I feel, always. My life in the prison camp -- my untold, unbearable difficulties and hardships -- all those things have been training me to be the strongest one. With a good purpose ahead of me, all those miseries could be used as instruments to train me.

Now, equipped with those things, I have the sharpest weapon to fight against evil power. I want you to resemble me. Before your becoming like that, I must put you through hardships and difficulties. If you don't want to resemble me, you can leave right away.

The best and most important thing for us to learn is to learn about God and the Messiah first, before studying yourself. If you really know the Messiah and God, you have only to follow them to find yourself. If you take hold of the Messiah you have only to follow him wherever he goes. If he goes to a family, you will go there and you will be welcomed with him.

If he goes to a nation, you will follow him and you'll be welcomed there. If his destination is the end of the world, you will follow him, and you will be welcomed there. Even when you are in the spiritual world, after physical life, you will be welcomed there if you are with the Messiah -- from now through eternity.

The Messiah knows everything God does. The Messiah knows about you, about himself, about the family, society, nation, world and the whole cosmos. So, if you follow him, and if you are doing things under his instruction, you will come to know yourself, know your family, know your nation, the world and the whole cosmos.

If you follow him, it means you are in the same boat, and you will learn to know what kind of man he is; you will follow his example and you will feel great fun and great value in following him. Even though you are on the rough sea, with your boat tossing back and forth, still you will have fun and you will feel safe that you are going to the other coast.

On the troubled sea, the boat of course will toss about, and sometimes you won't understand what the Messiah is doing. But you are sure that at the end he will bring victory, so it is safe for you just to follow him. If you are in that position, how happy you must be. If you really have the Messiah and know him, all the rest of your problems are solved.

If you really meet the Messiah and follow him, then you come to understand his tactics. You come to have keen observation and a keen sense of what is good and what is bad, what is to come -- all those things. You become a miniature Messiah.

Are you in need of such a Messiah? (Yes!) Are you in need of America or of the Messiah? Would you take America for the Messiah, or the Messiah for America? (The Messiah for America!) Would you like to have the Messiah over the whole world? (Yes!)

It's all right if you forget everything else, but you must remember this. If you know God and know the Messiah, that's all you have to do. I have struggled hard, I have studied. But, the purpose for doing all those things was my finding God and the Messiah. Reverend Moon is not a mere philosopher. What am I? I'm in the category of prophet.

What I say will come true. That's why people watch what I'm doing; if I say big things they are scared. Are you like the worldly people, just watching to wait and see? (No!) Do you follow me from behind, or would you like to stand in the vanguard? (Front!) If you are going ahead of me, why don't you get hold of me and drag me behind you? Don't let me go, that's the knack of the thing.

You have learned a great deal in the Unification Church, haven't you: What God is like, what the Messiah is like, what the world is going to be like. Do you think the Unification Church will perish in the end, or break through this stalemated war? (Break through!) How and why? Is it because I am here, or you are here? (You!) I'm physically old, but I'm still young and energetic. That's why I can guide the young and energetic people. No other person than myself in the whole history of mankind can do my job.

Intermarriage between white people, yellow people, and black people, is the only way possible for us to make the world really into one, united whole. You know the blessedness of being members of the Unification Church, isn't that right? (Yes!) The question from now on is how to advance forward.

You must realize the blessedness of having been taught what individuals must be like, what families, societies, nations, and the world must be like, what God is like, and what the Messiah is like. I am not a philosopher, but I'm the greatest of all thinkers, with the necessary knowledge for leading the people. And I'm a most logical man.

In believing in something, I don't believe blindly. I want you to know that in the Unification Church we are not teaching you to just think in vague terms. What we teach here is scholarly in the sense of social science. In scientific research, they set up a hypothesis first, and then do the research. The result will prove the hypothesis.

What we teach in the Unification Church is more than that. I have grasped the clear picture of what God is, and what humanity is, and I'm letting you know bit by bit, by the experiment I have already gone through. I have the clear vision of what the whole world is going to be like. If I converse with philosophers, I probe into depths which they can never answer. I can talk about the spirit world, which those people cannot. I'm specialized in that field.

You can be likened to the people who have paved the road, straight and smooth, after having known God, known the Messiah, known life and the goal; you are prepared with a luxurious and comfortable Lincoln limousine, and you are about to start your way. Some of you have already learned how to manipulate the car. Some are more agile and comfortable in the seat, freely being able to drive the car. With all our knowledge, we are the happiest people in the world.