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The Words of True Parents from 1982 |
The Deep Desire Of Our Original Nature Reverend Sun Myung Moon
February 14, 1982
Belvedere
Translator - Sang Kil Han
What is the desire of our original nature? When you say "nature" to most people, it conveys something they can see, something which is manifested. In other words, "nature" refers to the result, rather than the cause. But when you say "original nature," you are referring more to the cause than the result. What is the deep desire of that original nature?
It is generally understood that there is some general background or cause for a person's nature; something which formed it. The direction of the effect is determined according to that cause. The destiny and direction of the result will be different, according to its cause. This is also true with individuals. People receive certain surnames from their parents, such as Smith or Jones. The way they are formed from their parents is different also; each individual comes from a different cause from which he takes a certain direction and moves toward a certain destination. We can see this in the fact that some people like a certain thing, while other people don't like it at all.
The universe is a big sphere. We as individuals are in that sphere. All spherical shapes have a central point from which a line can be drawn outward in all directions, as on a graph. Each person has a certain position within the largest sphere, and he forms his own sphere, centering on that central core. From that point he will proceed toward a certain direction, according to what he inherited from his ancestors. Another person at approximately the same point within the larger sphere might take an opposite direction; it depends upon what he inherits.
You as individuals within the giant sphere of the universe occupy a certain position; some of you will go toward the north, others will go toward the west, and so forth. But when the person who heads west reaches the limits of the west, he has to do one of two things: either he can stop there, and cease to move, or he can change directions and keep moving. We know that everything in motion wants to perpetuate itself; without exception, everything wants to keep moving and continue forever. Since we are talking about a sphere, the person who has reached the limits of the direction of west can turn to the north and then turn back toward the east.
If a person is willing to think, "I have been going in a western direction and it is very meaningful to me, but I can also go east; I am flexible," then he can keep moving. If he insists upon going to the west however without flexibility, then he is really in trouble when he reaches the limits of the west. He will be forced by the nature of the sphere to change his direction. Perhaps he will be pushed toward the south. He can then do one of two things: either he can allow himself to be absorbed by the environment of the south, or he himself can digest the environment of that new direction. The person who is moving toward the east may feel the same way: "I will move in an easterly direction and I will never deviate from it." But unless that person can move to a new direction once he has reached the limits of the east, he cannot continue to progress.
Why should it be necessary for someone who has been going in a western direction to start going to the east? Why can't he just ignore the east and keep moving west? It is the will of the universe, which is in the shape of a sphere, to maintain that spherical nature. Therefore, changes of direction are necessary.
Here I am, Reverend Moon, an Oriental man. People wonder, "Why doesn't he stay in the Orient? Why did he come to the west and face all this criticism?" Externally, there are many barriers for people to understand this, but internally I am well understood and able to communicate. Your original nature, your true nature, can estimate your own value, the value of Reverend Moon, and the value of the relationship you can have by uniting with me. Although I came from the east, it is also important for me to move toward the west.
When a person goes a certain way and he comes to another person's property, he must ask for permission to enter that property. He can't just enter freely. When you are asking to enter another person's property, you must tell him, "I will obey the rules in your territory." The same thing applies to the existence of men and women. If a woman says, "I am sufficient unto myself. Why should I need a man?" She does not understand her need to move in a different direction. Or a woman may have been searching seriously for a man, but once she finds him she tells him, "Now that we are together, you must do things the way I want." Certainly, the man would not like such a woman. In other words, her movement towards another direction-towards a man-only came to a certain point. She cannot actually enter into the territory of a man if she has such an attitude.
By the same token, a man who has been in search of a woman must be willing to accept her and behave in a way that pleases her. Otherwise he too stops right there and does not actually enter into the territory of a woman. He does not actually change his direction.
Why should men and women live according to the desires of the other? By doing so, they make a spherical movement, not a linear one, and there will be no end to their movement. They will continue forever. While they move in a spherical manner, they are headed in a certain direction or along a certain path. When a man and a woman are in perfect harmony with one another, they are able to go as a couple to any place in the world and adapt, no matter where it is. That couple might move toward the east and say, "This is what we want. We don't want to go to the west." But once their motion has brought them all the way to the end of the east then there is nowhere else for them to go; they will stop right there and cease to develop.
Again, we need to ask why we must be able to change our direction from east to west. Why do we actually need the opposite direction? It is because we need to keep moving and a spherical motion requires that we embrace the opposite direction.
All living things move like a spiral which is small at the center and large on the outside. We breathe in and out; all living things go through the motion of shrinking and expanding. This phenomenon ensures that the central point will eventually move to the outside and the outer point will eventually move to the inside. If we draw a large circle and trace a spiral from the outer rim gradually moving inward, we will eventually reach the core. From here, the movement can only go in the opposite direction, retracing in the spiral until it returns to a point on the outer surface.
Why does this spiral motion lead toward the center point, the core? Since the cause lies in that direction, the result is naturally drawn to that central point where the cause is. Then, the spiral also moves outward because the inner cause naturally moves out towards its result. The spiral moves outward and becomes big, then it moves inward and becomes small. A point will lie in the outer position, then it will move to the inner position, while another point moves from the inner to the outer position. This is the natural way of movement.
Our bodies go through this normal shrinking and expanding in the exercise of muscles. People breathe in different ways; some people take in a deep, long breath but exhale in short puffs. Others take in a short, strong breath which takes a long time to exhale. The earth itself expands and shrinks; A line moving up and down in a wave would represent the normal kind of motion, not a straight line.
What can we understand by realizing that the inner and outer points on the spiral must be connected? We can see that we must be connected to the rest of the universe and have a relationship with it. For instance, do you only want to be recognized by others in your school, or by everyone in the United States, or even by the whole world? Ask yourself why you want to be recognized on the largest scale. You might not know why. Actually, the reason is that by being recognized by the largest element you will be connected with it and can move out to the largest level of value.
Another way of expressing your desire for recognition from the world is by saying that it is only natural to want to relate with the cause of your being. It is good to go back to our cause in order to participate in the value of the whole universe. Your value as an individual can be involved in the value of the universe. If you pluck out a strand of hair from one person's head. to whom does it belong? The hair is found in one place on the body, but the elements of that hair are contributed by the whole body.
All beings are perpetually in a spiral, spherical motion, homing back to their cause. We can draw a spiral, beginning at the outer rim and going to the inner point, but we can also draw a straight line leading from the outer point directly to that inner point. You might ask, "Why not take this direct way to get to our cause? That is the shortest distance." But the universe doesn't work in that way. Only in a drawing can we move in such a straight line, not in the realm of the ideal.
Where should I go after having been here in the west? I will go to South America and Africa, then to the north and such countries as Russia. There is work that needs to be done in the southern and northern countries. When a person goes to another country, he has two options: either to be absorbed by that country or to digest everything there. I came here to the United States, traditionally a place where other cultures are quickly absorbed. Have I been absorbed or have I tried to influence America to become a better place?
America has been going in a certain direction, and Americans feel it is the best direction because they have always been successful. Americans don't even want to accept the suggestion that they ought to move in other directions. They insist that America is the greatest and they refuse to think that any other nation can be great or is worth understanding or learning from. Actually, according to Principle that viewpoint will never work. If a nation moves forward in one direction, when it comes to the end of that direction it simply will perish if it is not willing to change. This is the law of the universe.
I have been teaching you Westerners that you must change your direction. After coming to the limits of the west, you must go toward the south. The people of southern countries are predominantly dark-skinned. Can you digest that? If Americans go to the southern counties with the attitude that their way is superior and black people should bow down to them, this is not good. This is the same attitude manifested by the man who refuses to harmonize with the woman, which I explained earlier. Of course, the woman will not accept that man so he will be isolated. If the western people refuse to recognize the value of any other direction, saying, "We have been going in this direction and we have no intention of changing," then they are going to be isolated, with no place to go.
All over the world there is strong anti-American sentiment. Some nations are very bitter towards America. You, of course, sitting here in the heart of New York and the coziness of the American culture, can never know until you are exposed to that feeling. Somebody has to point out this fact and tell Americans, "You have been successful so far, but you must recognize that you have come to the end of this direction and you have to turn and go another way." Who in the world can teach Americans this important lesson? Why do I do it? America was started from a certain cause and has come to a certain result. Now the spiral must begin to turn inward toward the original cause. Perhaps someone is agreeable to finding God, but still he wants to continue to expand himself. However, to go inward toward the cause means that one must become smaller. The spiral motion can go inward only by shrinking, not expanding; therefore, modesty has been traditionally considered a virtue. A selfish person is not normally a modest or humble person. By becoming smaller, a person can return to that cause in the center.
Sometimes a person may be criticized for being too humble. He may be told, "You should express yourself more; reach out to the world and give yourself more." Such a person has become small, and has gone to the inside of the spiral, but then he has to move out again to the outer part, toward the result level. Once he has gone all the way down to the smallest point, there is no other direction to go but up and out. If he lingers and doesn't want to go out, someone will come and push him.
Why must there be continual motion? This is the nature of eternity; and eternal motion is the purpose of all movement. Once the cause and the effect have become one with each other in perfect harmony, they can move in any direction, as in the example of the harmonized couple who will be welcomed anywhere in the universe.
As a human being and a small universe, you have within yourself a mind which is the cause, and a body which is the result of your mind. They want to be in motion. The mind wants to express itself and get outside of itself through the body. The body wants to get inside of the mind. Who is subject and who is object? The one who takes initiative is the subject, so the mind is subject over the body. Sometimes the body will refuse to respond to the mind. The general nature of Satan, as we know, is to resist ever becoming smaller. Once he is up, he never wants to go down. But the true, original nature of man works according to the principle of perpetual motion from inside to outside, from up to down.
If this is true, do Western people need Eastern people? Yes, because both directions are required within the sphere of the earth. By going around in a circular motion we change positions and occupy different places. The one who gets closest to the center is the one who is adaptable and willing to go in all four directions no matter how difficult it may be. That kind of element is qualified to be closest to the center. There might be a small, humble woman who is close to that central point; but by just looking at her others might not be able to see how good a person she is. However, she actually has the quality of beautiful adaptability to all four directions.
She never demands for herself but is always harmonious within all four different directions, able to digest them all. Even if she doesn't realize it, as such a person continues to move she will eventually end up at that central position.
Do you need yourself, or do you need your neighbor more? If you are a Westerner, whom can you learn the most from-another Westerner or a Northerner, Easterner or anyone from another direction? We come to the inevitable conclusion that because of this principle, all people must live for the sake of others.
A student may be asked why he goes to school and he may answer, "Because I want to promote my position in life. I want to marry a better person and have a better life." Such an answer is not universal. The better answer would be, "I go to school so that I can have more to offer in service to my nation and the world." That actually makes more sense.
If an individual starts out in a very humble way, moving step by step up the ladder of success until he becomes a rich man of great influence, eventually he returns those accomplishments to his cause, his parents. Even though the whole world may be willing to bow down before a man of greatness and influence, will he demand the same attitude from his own parents? No, he will still have to be humble to his parents, like the day he was born. This is natural, more so than someone trying to remain in a lofty position and never wanting to go back to his origins.
In the English language, there is no simple word which expresses the idea, "Please go out and come back soon." But in Korean, with just one word you can say it. (Tonyo oseyo) It is a common word which parents say to their children, meaning, "Go out and come back quickly" and is a way of wishing their child well. Implied in such a wish is the knowledge that unless you are welcomed by the world, you cannot go out and come back quickly. So they want the world to welcome their child.
You may feel proud of your own eyes. Perhaps everyone tells you that they are beautiful. But do the cells of the eye feel isolated from the cells of the rest of the body? The eye is a part of the whole and it wants to be harmonious with the rest of the body.
It is a common desire for parents to send out their child to become successful, then to come back. An individual wants to go to the level of true family, for the original mind needs to reach that level before it can move on up to all the other levels. This is the standard way, and no one can change it. Some people might think, "I just don't want to move up to other levels. I am very satisfied by myself. I don't even want to reach for the family level." If someone insists on such a position he will be miserable, eventually.
Once a person reaches the world level, he must come back and make contact with the lower levels of the nation, society, tribe, family, and his spouse, then he is ready to move out toward the world level again. Such a person will be welcomed everywhere around the world, no matter where he goes. He will be sought after by all other peoples and cultures.
Deep in our minds we know that this principle is the true way for a person to advance to his fullest potential. Do you support me in my desire to go to the south, after leaving the west? If I go to the southern countries, will you stay here? I'm sure you will want to go where I go; but since we cannot all go to the same place at the same time, we are spread all over the world and constantly changing positions with each other. But the objective of each person is that the spiral motion from outer to inner and from inner to outer is always in progress.
Why do you go out witnessing so enthusiastically? Why do you do missionary work? You go out with a desire to get good results, but also you want to be able to come back and give a proud report to me. In that sense, you are coming back to the cause of your activity and not just staying at the level of the result. This is the way to unite the result with the cause.
We know that man is not a causal being but a resultant being. Certainly any resultant being would want to know and become one with the world. Eventually, he would desire to go back to God, his ultimate causal being, and report all his experiences to Him, both good and bad. The resultant being wants to share his life with the causal being. Everything we do is part of this process of going back to our cause, which is God.
Do you think this is something I made up, or do you think it may be true that returning to God is the ultimate path for all mankind? You have to have the right reasons for saying yes.
Every existence or any pair of subject and object has to have these two tendencies: to move towards the center and to move towards the outer expression. Nothing is in motion at random. There are two controlling factors which determine the way everything moves. These two directions always exist to ensure the purposefulness of the object's motion. One pushes the object in a certain way, the other pulls it in a certain way. In this manner the motion of going from the causal point to the resultant point is continually repeated. This is the way the universe moves.
Your mind and body want to have good give and take during your life, so a person with that good give and take is a happy person. A man with that harmony wants and needs to meet a woman with that harmony. Together, they want to have the same kind of good give and take that they achieved between their individual minds and bodies.
The ideal within the Church is to achieve a good give and take relationship between the subject and object. In this case, you receive direction from me and you work hard to achieve your goals. Then you return to me with your good results. In this way we can expand the influence of goodness to the largest level. Sometimes a person will live according to this ideal for a while, but then he may start to criticize the directions I give. Let me give an illustration of this. In baseball, the catcher stands behind the batter to catch every ball the pitcher throws. Does the catcher judge which balls he wants to catch? No, he tries with all his might to catch every ball that is pitched. Even when the pitcher throws a very fast curve ball, the catcher reaches out and may even turn all the way around in a circle as he catches it. No catcher will just stand still in front of a fast ball and try to stop its motion with a stiff arm. When he catches it with a turning motion, absorbing the strength of the pitch, his action contains a quality of beauty. You should think that when you make some motion, even just raising your hand, you are moving with the universe.
This principle of motion applies to everything in a person's life. Today many American youngsters have what they think is a great time, by just going off with their friends and ignoring their homes and families. If they are really having such a great time, then they would naturally come back home and have an equally great time with their parents and family. But unfortunately young people don't regard their parents as being very valuable. They scorn them as being part of the "older generation" and even try to ignore them completely. This is not really a great life. The natural way of enjoying life for a young person is to go out and have a good time, then to return to his home and share his experiences with his grandparents and the whole family. It is not natural to go out and have a good time and then to come home and isolate oneself from one's family. How can the grandparents and the parents really want such a child to come back home? It would be a very painful existence. If the youngster lives in his own world without sharing in a positive way, the family will feel very offended.
Most intelligent people today don't understand the universal reasons why it is good for a child to come back to his home, sharing his experiences in a positive way with his family. Now you know that going out and coming back in harmony is the law of the universe, and no one can live happily in violation of this law. Now you can understand that a person who lives according to this law is a person of health, a natural person. Such a person will be sought after by others who desire to learn from him the proper way to live. He will naturally become a teacher to all people who don't know how to live naturally and harmoniously.
This principle is the standard for what a man should be. The president of some country should not be decided by any external element such as what skin color he may have. The person who lives according to the law and standard of harmony should be the natural center and leader. He will be the one who is welcomed by everybody, not only in his country but also in the rest of the world. This is the criterion which God uses; it is also the standard of all living things of the universe. All the things of creation live by this standard. It is only natural, therefore, that the person who leaves the boundaries of this principle of harmony will gradually lose power.
While a person is growing up, he gathers and absorbs all the elements of his environment; but once a person is grown and mature, he starts giving of himself to his surroundings. As people age they become smaller physically, not bigger. When a person dies, his body returns to the earth completely. Whether it is invisible or visible, everything is guided by this cycle.
It is clear that the people who are recognized throughout history are those who did the most for the sake of the world. It doesn't matter whether the person was from the east or west or black or white. Whoever gives the most for the sake of the world is the person the world wants to remember. Do you think I have come to a hasty conclusion here, taking a few examples and trying to make up some general statement? Actually, everything I have said here is applicable to your own life. Beyond this physical world of mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms the spirit world is guided by the same principles which I have been discussing. God Himself is guided by these principles. Once we as people are living according to the universal principles, we can begin to relate with God in an intimate way. We can talk with God, dance take with Him, and have deep, personal give and take with Him. All men, according to their own inherited characteristics, want to perfect their natures because they need to come back to that cause, God.
Suppose there was to be a meeting of superior people from each part of the world. Do you suppose they would struggle among themselves to decide who is the best of the best? Can that be decided by fighting? Actually, the best person would have to be recognized by all the others on their own volition. The greatest person would be recognized as having something which all the rest want and lack, so naturally they would want him to be their leader. The person who possesses the universal characteristics of every direction is the one who is acknowledged by those from east, west, north and south. This is simply logical.
The Unification Church has been training you to become such universal people. Well-educated western members have gone willingly to backward countries and offered their time and effort to help the people raise their standard of living.
In the past, Western countries have sent out their best people to less developed nations only for the purpose of gaining dominion over those countries; but we have reversed that in the Unification Church. We take the best person and send him to the backward country to live in the worst position there. His purpose is to raise up all the people there to a better position, instead of raising himself over them and keeping them in their miserable situation.
Are we going this direction simply out of a desire for something different? No, we do this because this is the original, true way, no matter how many people have gone in the other direction. There is no other way to go for the unity of the world. Do you think this is the solution? This is the law of the universe, and if anyone goes against it, he will eventually perish.
I have sent missionaries from America, Germany, and Japan because they represent well-developed nations. They come from nations who have a history of never wanting to bow down to any others. I told them that the one among them who was most willing to sacrifice for the sake of others should be the leader.
Let us consider the reality of the world situation today. If America continues along her current path, she will be totally despised by the poor nations. The black people of Africa who are struggling with poverty and misery will turn against predominantly white America. All the people around the world are beginning to wish bad things would happen to America. Even if they don't express those thoughts, many people are wishing America would perish. They didn't have such an idea twenty or thirty years ago. At that time, they looked toward America as their ideal. The terrible thing is that, as resentment toward America continues to spread, the voices of negativity will become stronger and stronger. According to the principle of the universe, if there are many, many people who wish you to decline there is no way to avoid that decline.
If some person, nation, or entity boasts of its great success in the realm of result, unless it connects itself back to its cause-the central, internal part-that entity simply cannot continue to exist. This phenomenon is everywhere. In the American family there is a breakdown between inner and outer in the relationship between the younger and older generations. Also, there is rarely a feeling of good give and take between the American President and the citizens.
Somehow people have come to use an economic standard as the measure of their success. Money and economic concerns are only the results. If this nation continues to be concerned only with money and resists connecting itself again with the causal element, the consequences will be terrible. There is nothing wrong with money and economic well-being, but why do we need money? If we want money only to enjoy ourselves and live well, then we are wrong. Money is the result of a fruitful cause and it is meant to serve the purpose of that cause. America needs its money only in order to make the world a better place-the way God would like it to be.
The purpose of wealth is to make God happy when He looks at a healthy, good world. If you recognize this, then it is fine for you to acquire money. Even if your level of concern is only the nation and you want to use money in order to reverse the destructive trends in America, this is fine. Suppose someone wants to make his parents' lives more comfortable and easy. This is good, too. Everybody will approve such a person having money because he will spend it for the sake of a larger purpose than just himself. If a person clings to his money for his own self-centered purposes, even his parents won't approve of him.
The person who lives for the sake of the whole world is welcomed in any place and has unlimited freedom of movement around the world. However, if a person wants to live in a small, self-centered way, all the other elements of the universe will wish him ill. Those self-made millionaires who only live to acquire wealth are never loved and welcomed by the world, especially if they hurt others in their quest for money. Such people are considered violators of universal law. Their success is not looked upon as a virtue but as a manifestation of their sinfulness.
Money is not the only thing which falls under this principle. Knowledge, too, can be used properly or improperly, depending upon whether one uses it for the sake of others or just to advance his personal goals. Likewise with position and prestige. All these things must be guided by this principle of harmony, and then there is nothing wrong with them.
When a person is living his life in violation of this principle, someone else who doesn't seem to have much power may step up and criticize the unrighteous one. Eventually, the unrighteous person will become the loser, not the one who criticizes him. But now that we know the correct way to live we need not criticize others; the only thing we need to do is go the right way. We will make money and spend it for the sake of the world. If someone else doesn't want to spend his money for the right purpose, leave him alone-certainly it cannot benefit him to live that way.
It doesn't matter who is great and powerful and wealthy today-those who live by the Principle are actually going to become the great people of the future. The way of the Principle is the way of success; the way of non-Principle is the way of decline. For whom do we go fundraising? Certainly we don't do it for ourselves. The money which we raise is used for the sake of God and the world, the cause and the result. This activity is acceptable no matter where we go, according to universal law. Consider the money itself. Where does money want to go; where does it want to be spent? Certainly, the material world wants to be in the dominion of God and be used by Him. All things want to be used by the world and then return to God, moving in that universal spiral motion.
Why do you want to witness? Once you have a successful experience, no one can keep you from witnessing. You are opening a way for other people to be connected with their cause, God. You are helping a person to find his path toward health and perfection. There is nothing more valuable that you can give to another person.
A traffic policeman at a busy intersection is there to direct traffic in the most efficient way. That is your function, too. You are in the position to tell people what direction to go. How grateful people are when they find someone like you who can guide them through the wilderness of this world! As the spiritual "traffic cop" you can see that the great power of universal law is about to collide with your country. Naturally you must tell the country to stop moving in that direction. However, the people are ignorant and don't know what is about to happen, so they want to keep moving forward. You must explain to them why they have to stop and show them sufficient reason. You have to explain to them, "If you go to the left, you will come to a decrepit bridge. If you go to the right, you will find a good highway."
People are seeking to find someone who really knows which direction they should take. When they find out that you really know what you are talking about, they will value you more than anyone else. If you are guiding people, you must do so with love. You must love them more than their own parents love them. In this way you will find yourself in the center of love; this is the greatest and most wonderful way to live. This way of life will lead you closer and closer to that central point, God.
The topic of our speech has been, "The Deep Desire of Our Original Nature," That original nature most deeply wants to go back to its center, its cause. This is the center of God's realm of love where we can live for eternity. You were born for the purpose of returning to your center. Every single person has a deep desire within himself to return to his cause and center, God, but often his conscious mind isn't aware of this. People are constantly being stopped by the world's influence. This is why the most conscientious and sensitive people are often in agony-they want to go "somewhere," but they don't know where and they don't know how. All they know is that they are not fulfilled. It is a very painful existence.
Suppose someone has been fundraising with the MFT for three years, or even five years. He may feel, "My central figure doesn't appreciate me and doesn't recognize me. No one seems to realize my value." He should be aware that God and the universe recognize his value, even better than his leaders. The same is true of my own situation. If I do something and work hard for the sake of others, but no one even acknowledges it, still I know that God understands my situation and He appreciates what I do.
This year our motto is "Victory of Home Church." We appreciate home church because it is the result of 6,000 years of religious history. Going successfully through the home church providence enables us to launch ourselves like a rocket back to our source, God. It literally took thousands of years to arrive at the point where we are. If you wanted to, you could spend another six thousand years retracing the steps of Biblical history, but if someone could guarantee that by going in a certain direction you could get back to God in a shorter time, wouldn't you jump at the chance? This is the value of home church.
I have been pushing you in a certain direction, and I recognize that it is difficult for you in the Western culture to change yourselves. Nevertheless, I push you forcefully to go a certain way. Why do you think I do this? Judged from a personal standpoint, I am losing much more than I am gaining. If I were living for my own benefit, I would never live in this way. I live this way because I know that I can teach you the solution to all the problems in life.
We know that there is always a conflict between man's true nature and his fallen nature; but you know that the deepest desire of your original nature is for God. You have discovered this for yourself; thus you understand a profound truth. You cannot say, "I understand that I need to go this way, but I don't want to. Let someone else do it." Knowing that your purpose is to go in the direction of God, it is normal to wish that someone would push you; you know that if you were left to your own weaknesses, you would never get there. It is of the utmost importance that we achieve our purpose and our goal of returning to God.
Now that we understand these things, there should be much less reason to complain. You will not even want others to praise you by saying such things as, "He is a great witnesser." You don't want to hear that because God and the universe know that you are still far away from your perfection. You don't want to hear a lot of praise and you don't want to complain about your situation. You only want to go toward your goal, hoping that you can achieve it during your own lifetime. This is really all you want if you understand how important it is to reach your perfection.
Those who resolve to go toward that goal, raise your hands. Thank you.