Book Four - True Family
Chapter Three - The Family Is the Model for the Kingdom of Heaven
Section 1. The Family is the Central Model for All Beings

When you stand in the world of space, you need top and bottom, left and right, and front and back. Only then is the status of your position stable. Your shape will vary depending on the position in which you stand: top and bottom, left and right, front and back. When dealing with matters that concern the relationships of top and bottom, left and right, front and back, and also problems in the family, nation and world, there is only one solution. Just as there has to be top and bottom, left and right, and front and back with the individual at the center, there also have to be parents and children, husband and wife, and brothers and sisters.

The same applies in a nation. With the leader of the nation at the center, all families should embrace the civilizations of east and west, and the civilizations of north and south, and all the people of the world as their brothers and sisters, and eventually establish a family model. This model is the same for all. You yourselves are the center of that model. This model represents a principle that requires that from you should come your family, which then expands to the nation, world, heaven and earth, and all the way to God.

You not only want to be the center of the universe, you can be the center. In the same way, the family is the center of the universe. If you think of heaven as the parents, then earth represents the children. When considering east and west, the east symbolizes the man and the west the woman. So after marriage, the woman goes to the place where her husband is wherever it may be. This is similar to the west reflecting the sunlight that shines from the east.

It is the same with the relationships of brothers and sisters. When the eldest brother leads a task, the younger brothers and sisters will cooperate. Therefore each person should be in a parent-child relationship, a conjugal relationship and a sibling relationship. In other words, these three relationships must meet at one point. The central point is one. The centers for top and bottom, left and right, and front and back should not be different.

If their centers are different the relationships of top and bottom, left and right, and front and back will all be unbalanced. So top and bottom, left and right, front and back, and the common central point add up to the number seven. To form the number seven in this way means to be a family that is united in true love with God at the center and where all these things form a complete sphere bringing about harmony and unification. We often say seven is a lucky number. So when we hear this about the number seven it seems believable. As long as true love never changes, this central core will turn forever without changing, realizing the ideal of the true family.

Also since everything is connected to the core, then each position, one, two, three, four, five, six and seven from this central core are equal. If the grandfather and his sons and daughters want something and the grandchild is not against it, then all three generations will come to want it. The grandfather and grandmother, husband and wife, and sons and daughters all follow the center. In terms of love, we say that the parent-child relationship is one, the conjugal relationship is one, and the sibling relationship is one. They are one body. What are these relationships revolving around? They are revolving around the true love of God who is the center of love. Based on true love, the parents and children, husband and wife and brothers and sisters all become one. In this way the value of everything becomes equal. (299-114, 1999.2.7)