Our Pride

What is our pride? The meaning of the word "pride" includes showing or even boasting about something. In this room, we have all different skin colors -- white, yellow, and black. Think about everyone trying to show off -- the white community showing off among themselves, for example. The black race has their own pride, and the yellow race has theirs, too. They all have things to be proud of. When people try to be proud among themselves and also before other races, where does it end? White people might point to their skin or their blue eyes. Blue eyes could promote a sense of pride in a person, but brown eyes have their own beauty, too.

A white person might say boastfully, "My eyes are large and deep blue. Look at them!" But a yellow person might say, "Look at my eyes! They are very thin and protected, their color is brown, and that is special." Everybody has his reasons for liking his own things, so you like yours and I like mine.

What things can you be proud of in your face? Four things, basically: eyes, nose, mouth and ears. Fashion magazines seem to prefer thin and long faces, but some people like round and heavy faces. Everything depends on your viewpoint. When you try to compete with others over things to be proud of, there is no end -- white people have their viewpoint, yellow people have their viewpoint or their claim, and black people also. Everyone thinks of himself as Number One.

People have double features -- the external self and the internal self -- but you cannot see your internal self with your eyes. That means you cannot see how much there is within the internal self to be proud of. There are so many things to be proud of in the internal self. When the internal self looks at a white person full of pride for his eyes, his skin color or his hair, what do you think the internal self feels? Normally, those who are show-offs in an external way have very ugly internal characters, while those who are proud of their internal character often have ugly exteriors.

Why is it that the external show-off usually has an ugly internal character? That is the way the universe gets even you cannot have everything; normally you have to give up something to gain something else. Therefore, those who have an outstanding and beautiful external appearance often have a very poor internal character, and vice-versa. Those who bring great damage to mankind are they normally very attractive people or very ugly people? Regardless of race, throughout history those who have brought the greatest damage to mankind have been those who were proud of their external appearance.

Those who are the most devout, outstanding Unification Church members are they the most beautiful people externally or just so-so? Very often, those who have the features of an Idaho potato are the most loyal members of the Unification Church. So those of you who am not so externally attractive should not be discouraged, because you have something else to have pride in.

We must determine what we are going to be truly proud of. Women are often very careful about their hands; they manicure their nails, cover them with creams, and make them very beautiful. But no matter how beautiful your hands might be, once you reach the age of 30 or so, your hands start to lose their beauty.

The most beautiful hands in the world are the hands of loving mothers. Their hands are very hard working, rough, callused and even ugly, but they are the most beautiful hands. Which would touch the heart of a son of filial piety more -- a beautiful, manicured hand, or the hard working, rough hands of his suffering mother? Certainly, the rough hands would move the heart of the son most deeply. Sacrificial love is embodied in those rough hands of the mother who suffers for the sake of her son and family.

No matter how physically beautiful your eyes might be, if they are shining with the light of jealousy, or you are pursuing your own ambitions and trying to harm others to benefit yourself, those eyes do not have true beauty. In fact, they are the most fearful and ugliest eyes of all. Suppose someone else has very unattractive, irregularly shaped eyes, but they shine with the light of mercy and compassion. Those eyes are truly beautiful, with a magnetic power to move your heart. Can you understand this description?

When the motivation of the internal character is that of love, then everything else becomes beautiful -- internal qualities are the true determining factors of a person's beauty or ugliness.

Here we are together, all races and skin colors. If we are to find pride in something, on what basis should that pride rest, on an internal quality or an external one? Someone might take care of himself -- dressing well, eating well, and looking so dignified and elegant externally -- but if his mind is dark and ugly, then that person has no true value; nothing to be truly proud of.

We come to the conclusion that as men and women we cannot have pride in external things but only in internal qualities. Perhaps some of you Unification Church women are concerned that when you look in the mirror you see that you are not a beauty queen, and you are afraid that your future husband will not like you because of that. Today, cast away those worries! You must have pride in your internal self -- you have the most valuable, God-given treasure.

Suppose a very homely Unification Church woman went to the museum of the beauty queens of history. Walking down the aisles, she would see one beauty queen after another. She should think, "You are all proud of your external beauty, but here I am among you, the internal queen of beauty -- The Queen of Queens." All external beauty queens who are proud of their faces and bodies must bow down to the internal beauty queens because they are the true beauties.

Between husband and wife, those women who expect their husbands to admire their eyes and face are expecting only a very shallow kind of love. On the other hand, when ugly men and women of internal beauty gaze at one another with admiration, there is a great depth and strong bond between the two. If a person's love for another is based only upon his external appearance, that love can only last for a few days; after that, he would get fired of just external beauty. However, the person who has less external beauty but has a deep, lovely internal character of compassion and dignity will radiate a beauty that would not bore someone after ten years and onto eternity. So which would you want-external beauty or internal beauty?

When we compare East and West, we see that women of the West tend to value external beauty more, while women of the East tend to value internal things more. When you look at Oriental women, they seem to be shy and passive and lack expression in their faces, so you might wonder if they are capable of loving men. But within that kind of character, a deep love can be harnessed, something mysterious. You have a saying, "Silence is golden." For the Orient, this is very true; sometimes silence is valued most highly. But the Western way of life endeavors to be communicative -- immediately, all at once. And you joke and use humor a lot. This is why there are so many comedians in the Western world. There is a big distance between silence and joking.

The Western way of life is very direct, expressive and, in a way, too hasty. When you say, "Thank you", the other person says quickly, "You're welcome." But in the Orient we say, "Kamsa-hamnida," which means thank you, but it doesn't come too quickly. Then the person receiving the thanks always demurs, saying, "No, no, I haven't done anything for you." The Western way of receiving thanks is so forthright, ready to receive another thanks, again and again, "You're welcome, you're welcome," It's like taking praise freely, as much as possible. But in the Orient, the attitude is different. When you receive thanks from someone, you don't expect to receive more and more, but you just draw back. Which is the more beautiful of the two ways? Taking as much as you can get, or taking just one, humbly? You conclude correctly that the second way is best.

Active expression, in many cases, uses up everything, but with silence, you can imagine infinitely. Silence has all kinds of harmony within itself. This is what Buddhism teaches -- in Nothingness there is no awareness of self, only vacancy and void, there, everything can harmonize perfectly because there is no obstacle or resistance. So when you are actively expressing yourself with words, you are putting up limitations or obstacles to your expression. Of course, I am not denying the value of external communication; but the emphasis must be placed on the internal character, not the external.

We must have a reciprocal relationship between those who have internal beauty and those who have external beauty. Those who have the external beauty should seek after the internal. East and West are living at the extreme ends of the pole. When we look at the two cultures, which represents the more internal one? Because the Eastern character is based upon quietness and silence, it is more reserved and internal. Western character is more external, outgoing, expressive and physical. You can understand that, right?

One very good example of this difference is the high heels which Western women wear. It shows that you just cannot stand still, but have to be leaning and moving forward all the time. Also, you make an effort to have slim waistlines; you cannot move on high heels without thin waists. Since you have to move the hips a great deal, you have to have a thin axis to turn on. American culture is typified in the women's high heels -- you are outgoing, moving forward, you are geared up to go forward and certainly not backwards.

Oriental women have had an ancient tradition of walking quietly, reserved. But Western women cannot walk quietly in high heels; you are bound to make noise. Also, you express your feelings immediately. When you love someone you say, "I love you." Love is such a precious word, but it comes too quick, too cheap sometimes. Even when you meet someone for the first time, you might embrace and kiss. But in the Eastern world, that may not happen in a million years. In Oriental culture, the only person you would think of kissing is your husband or wife, and you don't do it publicly but only in private. Normally, Orientals do not shake hands either.

You might say, "I don't want to live in such a tasteless way." But actually, that is not a true perception. There is a very deep taste to the Oriental way. Westerners want to share their joy by laughing out very loudly and jumping up and down; but the Easterners just smile quietly, while internally there is the same feeling. Their manner is more reserved. In Oriental tradition, women are never expected to laugh out loud, those who are considered the most noble would never do that. One laugh by an Oriental woman would show her appreciation, while the Western way is to laugh out loud a lot, then move on to another situation, never taking time to savor why you were laughing in the first place.

I'm not just trying to criticize Western culture, but I am trying to determine here which culture is the more internal one.

When God decides to send someone to the world that can restore all things, where would God search for His champion to accomplish the mission? Would He look within the Eastern or the Western culture? You say, "Eastern" but that is not necessarily so. If we want to restore all things in the world of physical reality, Westerners are more prepared to deal with that. For this reason, most scientific and economic development has come to the Western world first, not the Eastern world. What should you do with this development? You should move toward the East, in terms of digging deeper into the internal, religious value of things.

Religion deals mainly with the internal aspect of man, not the external. Christianity has been the predominant Western religion, but its role is diminishing; the world requires something, which is beyond the realm of Christianity. It was successful in fulfilling human needs for the past 2,000 years, but today those needs are surpassing traditional Christianity. Now we see the birth of a new religious movement, the Unification Church, which is going deeper than Christianity. Established Christian churches say that the Unification Church is a heretical church, outside the boundaries of Christianity. In a way, they are confessing that Christianity has limits, which can be surpassed.

When we compare established Christianity with the Unification Church, which can we say is the more internal? Why do you say that the Unification Church is more internal? In a way, our church members look dumb; we don't react to all the mistreatment the world heaps upon us. "You are brainwashed!" they say, but we seem to be unconcerned with their persecution. We are digesting all their persecution, and we don't even have diarrhea! We don't show hatred or anger in response, but instead are capable of taking their abuse and rising above it.

When Oriental people come to this culture, they normally don't separate from the society but assimilate into it -- they learn the language and embrace the culture, digesting it. But when Westerners go to the East, they have great difficulty digesting the Eastern culture and languages. You have already made up your minds that Korean and other Eastern languages are virtually impossible for you to learn; that means you are already limiting yourself and you are actually retreating.

Western technology is the most advanced in the world. Japan has been able to excel by digesting the Western technological ways and developing even better ones. When I went to West Germany, I could see that they didn't understand the Japanese mentality; they didn't even want to know about it. They cannot speak the Oriental languages, nor do they know anything about the Orient.

God needs a champion who can embrace all the cultures of the world, including the East and West. Since Easterners have that ability to digest and embrace the West, then that champion his to come from the Eastern culture; God would certainly decide in that way.

The ideal culture of the future will come out of the harmony of the two extremes of East and West. For this reason, you must learn to embrace and digest other cultures. If you try to resist or repel each other, there can be no way to bring about the unified world culture. Is that true?

Here in the United States, people might say, "We don't need anybody's help. Don't come here, you Easterners, because this is our territory!" That is actually a retreat. Some people say to me, "Reverend Moon, you go home! We are all right, we don't need your help; leave us alone." I did not come here to wage a war or confront the Western culture; I came here to digest it, to understand and harmonize with it. Which direction will the world as a whole follow -- the attitude of negative Americans, or the harmonizing attitude of Reverend Moon? You answer "Reverend Moon's attitude" because it is common sense, not because you are a Moonie. Everyone, even an elementary school child, can see the truth of that.

What are the characteristics of Moonies? Moonies are the people who can harmonize with and digest Eastern and Western culture and create God's culture. That's what Moonies are all about. You have been mistreated thousands of times on the streets; people give you a hard time, laughing at you, spitting at you and scorning you. You feel like striking back, but then you say to yourself, "No. I can embrace them." This is the greatness of the Moonies! It is not from cowardice that you ad in such a way, but from strength.

We men and women are here, determined to digest not only the cultures of East and West, but also the spirit world culture and the culture of God. We are going to bring harmony to them all. With this attitude, we can digest millions of things. Therefore, when your wedding comes, you can look at your spouse from an opposite culture and achieve unity that is unbelievable in normal cases. In our families, we are going to have all different colors -- the multicolored families of black, white, and yellow. Through your generations to come, you will create the one, God-centered Unification culture. That is the determination of the Moonies.

This is not easy to practice; this kind of philosophy, as we know, is difficult. But we can digest it and overcome it, not out of cowardice, but greatness. This is the kind of family which all of mankind has been dreaming about for centuries, and it has come to the world through the work of the Unification Church.

In a way, the Unification Church is strange. In the Western world, people don't sit on the floor as you are doing now. In the Unification Church, though, you come here and sit on the floor and listen for hours and hours. That's why your parents have so much difficulty understanding. They say, "You are brainwashed," but you are here to digest the Eastern culture. Those people who oppose us have no capability of understanding what we have perceived - -they have no taste of it -- so they cannot handle us at all. But we have the ability to deal with all the different cultures, so we are standing on victorious ground, while others are already defeated. We are marching forward and they are retreating.

We in the Unification Church have pride that we are people of great capacity. Around the world, there are all kinds of racial conflicts -- between white and black, between Muslims and Jews. Who will be the mediators between these factions? The Unification Church and Reverend Moon. All the hot spots of this troubled world need a mediator. Who has that capacity? The Unification Church and Reverend Moon. Our attitude and way of life is not one of confrontation, but one of unity and harmony.

We are here to harmonize with Buddhism, with Islam and the Jewish religion; we are here to harmonize and unify. Ultimately, we will even digest communism. In order to digest communism, you must be stronger than it is. You are stronger and more determined than the communists; you are trained for that. Is that good or evil? Why is it good? Because you will be capable of inheriting that future culture of God, the culture of unification. Our attitude is that we want to take on the worst problems of the world and digest them.

I am always asking God, "Father, what is your worst headache?" God told me that communism was His worst headache, along with the immorality of youth, also the degradation of world religions, especially Christianity, causes God great pain. I said, "Now that I know what your headaches are, let me take care of them for you." Therefore, I have led the Victory over Communism movement; I launched the great movement to bring moral rearmament to American youth.

I know that sometimes this constant training is very difficult for you. For example, you are engaged for three years and still your wedding day is uncertain. You are still waiting. You know who your future spouse will be, but you obey and wait for that day of wedding. You have told your parents that you must go your own way because you have the determination to do what you want. But why don't you leave Reverend Moon and go your own way? You are clever enough to know that once you go away, you would just hit a wall and eventually have to come back and be embarrassed. You are wise.

I am not so dumb, either. If there were some way to escape this path, I would have done so a long time ago; I knew that no matter where I went, I would have to return to this route, so I just wanted to spare myself the embarrassment! I knew that this was the only path to take. In a way, the Unification Church is like holding on to the tail of a tiger; once you grab hold, you can't release it. But you can never be bored either. If you are true Unification Church members, you cannot be bored by this way of life.

Perhaps in your pragmatic way of thinking, you wonder, "Why do hundreds of us have to go up to Belvedere every Sunday morning? It seems like it would be so much simpler if Reverend Moon, just one person, would come to the World Mission Center and save everybody else all that trouble. But that is exactly what I am aiming at -- you must be able to push yourself, discipline yourself to do what you do not want to do, go where you don't want to go.

You encountered Western teachers in your schooling from elementary school through high school, and on through your Western universities. But now you are under an entirely different kind of teacher Reverend Moon. You tasted a little bit of this teaching and found it sweet; also, it was kind of peculiar -- it gave you new energy and power. Those of you sitting in the front row have the choicest seats, so you have to get here earliest of all. Why don't I dictate who will sit on the front row each week, in advance, to save all the trouble? In order to get the first-class seats you must come first, and maybe you have to come here as early as 2:00 in the morning! That is a precious example of the true value of our way of life. Is it good or bad?

What about you college graduates who go out to do MFT? Is that good or bad? Normally a person wants to climb up; he never wants to learn how to come down. But in the Unification Church you go way down to the bottom and start over again. You are almost like a man who must walk on his hands, it is not easy.

How do you like the taste of kimchee and kochee chan? It makes such a burning sensation in your stomach. So this is the chance to discipline yourself for the time when you might go to the Orient, and then you will not be bothered by the food.

Is this a wonderful place to be, or is it terrible? Can you sit here as men and women of pride? You women don't live the way normal American women live -- you don't have time to manicure your nails and put on a lot of makeup, but you don't worry about all that. I am not insensitive to the difficulties, which you are undergoing. The reason I am asking you to Eve such a way of life is that I know where true value lies. Maybe someday I will come to you with gallons of makeup and direct you to paint yourselves all over with it-that would be indemnity, wouldn't it?

What is our pride, then? We are proud of who we are, of what kind of character we have. That pride transcends the color of our skin. True love doesn't recognize differences in skin color or races. What is the color of true love? The true love color is the color of harmony-harmony between white, black, and yellow, East, and West. We have come to the conclusion that throughout all of history, the one man who has pioneered to bring a world culture of harmony is Reverend Sun Myung Moon.

People call us Moonies; we didn't ask for that name but whatever they call us, it doesn't matter. We are proud of what we are, where we are. Phonetically, the word "Moonie" in Korean means, "design of the fabric"; also it has another meaning: "harmonized discussion." We harmonize, discuss, and we are embroidering a certain pattern of fabric. So it doesn't bother us to be called Moonies. When people call you a Moonie, tell them the phonetic meanings in Korean; that will be a good way to start a discussion.

Normally, when ministers from established Christian churches meet with us they are virtually trembling and thinking, "Oh, I'm dealing with heretics; maybe I'll get possessed from being around these people!" Sometimes they become so scared that within one hour, they just run away. That indicates they are defeated; they have no capacity to deal with us. It is this defeatist attitude which they convey from their pulpits when they say, "Don't even talk with Unification Church members; don't look at them, even." They are trying to frighten their congregation by telling them Moonies do evil things. They talk about Moonies being clean-cut and leading a pure way of life with no immorality and they almost make it sound evil. Being clean-cut, for them, becomes a sin simply because Moonies are that way. What kind of rationale is that?

We are Moonies and we are proud of it! We are the people who can digest the cultures of the world. Wherever we go, we will not be defeated by the culture; we will not fight with it but digest it. Even if we go to undeveloped Africa, it doesn't matter; we will harmonize with the people and elevate their way of life. That does not make you small-minded and cowardly; rather, you are dramatic people of righteousness.

I can deal with all levels of culture, even the most intellectual. I can give a sermon that will enlighten the most knowledgeable people. Professors come to hear me; I don't go to them, but they seek me out. Those who came to the first Science Conference ten years ago were very boastful saying, "We are the top-level scientists in the world." After ten years, those same scientists came to the Chairman's address, listening like little children. In the last Science Conference over 1,000 people adopted a resolution supporting my peace formula. Ten years ago, that would have been impossible. Who digested whom? Did Reverend Moon digest the scientists, or did they digest Reverend Moon?

Some of the top-notch U.S. theologians have joined New Era. They came to East Garden and listened to Reverend Moon, and they ate up every word I said. They wanted to know what I had to say about many things. Amazingly, the average person on the street is opposed to me because of the media and because they don't know any better, but those world intellectuals and scholars are coming to support and appreciate me. Average Christian laymen oppose me because they simply don't know, but those who really know about religion, the highest theologians, come to listen to me. Who is the winner? Reverend Moon or the world?

The battle has been fought; judgment has been made. The umpire has declared the winner. Some think they can still stop Reverend Moon, but it is impossible.

Another amazing thing is that many colleges and theological seminaries are now taking up Reverend Moon's philosophy as part of their curriculum. Dr. Rubenstein, an eminent scholar from the State University of Florida and a foremost theologian, recently confessed that after he met Reverend Moon, he began to understand the Orient and conceded that he needed guidance from the Eastern world. To him, an entire new world has opened up.

By knowing Reverend Moon, scholars come to know not only the Eastern sector of the world, but also another sector of the universe -- spirit world. Dr. Rubenstein had actually become an atheist after studying the Bible and trying to understand all its theories. He had come to the conclusion that there is no God -- until he met me, and then he came back to God.

You see these things happening and you feel that you have the best teacher. Once you digest my teachings, your accomplishments are incredible. But the problem is that often you don't digest what you have been taught. Another problem is that you don't realize who you are and where you are. You begin to suffer from spiritual diarrhea because you cannot digest what I am teaching. What is the best medicine? Endure it, suffer through it, and the diarrhea will go away. Sometimes you feel sorry for yourself: "I'm suffering too much, working so hard every day. Reverend Moon doesn't seem to have any compassion for me; even Dr. Durst doesn't show me any compassion! Oh, I must go away!" But the best medicine for such a disease is not to pet or coddle it, but to kick it out.

Perhaps some of you came here this morning to hear comforting words from me: "Father, I'm weak and suffering; can you have compassion on me?" But the best medicine is for me to be strong with you -- then your diarrhea will stop right away! You've got to win by your own effort or else you will always be dependent on others; God won't be able to trust you.

God told me His three headaches and I told Him that I would take care of them, so how could I expect an easy way out? But I determined that I would continue until I completed my mission -- without stopping or even hesitating no matter how many people fall away. I don't need weak, cowardly people to help me; I need strong champions who will strive to live their whole lives according to the Principle. Do you want to be a champion or a coward? If you want to become a champion and a strong soldier, you've got to be trained, without exception.

You must be determined to go over hardship many times worse than what you are doing now; if so, you will never be deterred or weakened. You can know that you will overcome and be victorious. That is the kind of person each of you must become.

I came back to face this court battle. Most people, even the U.S. government authorities, expected that I would not come back but would just skip the trial. Even though I am not an American citizen, the American court is judging me. I am not going to shrink from this battle or this responsibility; no matter what, nobody can stop me.

The Moonies' pride is both your pride and my pride. It is our pride. Suppose there are storm warnings and everyone is tying up their boats; but Reverend Moon is calling, "Let's go out to the ocean!" I know that during bad weather the enemy is likely to strike; I will never let God down, particularly in bad weather or difficult situations. That is a dramatic, not a foolish way of life. By living this way, we can stop the corruption of the nation and the world. History is made under those circumstances, not under commonplace, ordinary ways of living. New cultures and leaps and bounds of civilization always come through difficult situations and such opportunities.

When people ask, "Are you a Moonie?" do you respond with pride or humiliation? You say you are proud, but why have you sometimes tried to hide the fact that you were a member of the Unification Church? Why can't you proudly declare that you are a member, a follower of Reverend Sun Myung Moon? A couple of days ago, I went to New York City. The streets were filled with crowds of people, thousands of them. I knew I could stop those crowds by saying to them, "I have an important message I am a Moonie; listen to my words!" If I could disguise myself with a wig and a mask, I would go out and do it.

Why are your mouths so silent? Why don't you go out and tell the world, declare to the world our message? Do you have the guts to be a Moonie? You say "yes" here at Belvedere; perhaps you have said a thousand yeses, but how many of those have been fulfilled? Are you fulfilling those yeses? There are all kinds of levels of fulfilling, so which level are you on? The intense or mediocre level? You may think you are being intense, but from God's eyes, you look like a mediocre movement. From my eyes, too, you are mediocre.

Christmas is coming and everybody is shopping and celebrating. You wish you could celebrate, too. But what kind of celebration can God have? What is the meaning of Christmas when the nation is crumbling, churches are becoming corrupted and millions of young people are dying from drugs and evil behavior? Christmas is about salvation, and we are the ones who can truly celebrate Christmas by stopping the people, telling them the way they can begin to prosper and live a true life.

Which way would make us proud? Stopping work for Christmas and taking a couple of weeks' vacation? Or is it the time to intensify our efforts and reverse the decline of the nation? Which way of life would you like?

I visited West Germany for four months, during which time I stayed in a very small room. A good number of people were away on vacation for the summer. I went around to many factories in Germany, morning to night, sometimes going from 2:00 in the morning to 2:00 the next morning.

Which way is your pride taking it easy and going on vacation, or intensifying your efforts to work even harder? I feel that no matter how difficult it may be, I will consummate my mission. Once I do, I may ask God for a vacation, but until then nothing can slow me down. Would you like to adopt my way of life?

Christmas should be a time of greater dedication for you and greater inspiration. Double victory can be won. Everybody else wants to stop working and take it easy, but we work double time and we will have a double victory. You say you want that double victory, but the fulfillment will not be easy. Do you still want to go that way? Your "Yes" answer is our pride.

During this Christmas season, we want to demonstrate what Moonies are. We are going to celebrate Christmas by marching forward to the ultimate victory. Think of yourselves as soldiers and flag-bearers, marching toward the unified culture. Shall we do it?