ORDER NUMBER
77-03-16
As a leader you are not only responsible for yourself but for your members. Anytime you are not leading you should always be thinking about what you will do when you are. You know very clearly that as a fund raising team leader your members will all resemble you. You have to clearly show them the way because unless you show them they will never learn.
Do you know which is the best team in the United States? Do you know who the best team leader is? I want each one of you to think all the time about who is the best leader and then pay close attention to him so that you can learn from him. You should ask him what he does to be the best team leader in all America.
If 74 people fund raise they will use 74 different methods; however, there is only one best way out of the 74. When someone is the best then everyone should learn his way. Those who have no idea who is the best can never be the best themselves. The way to improve yourself is to follow the example of the most successful man.
The first criterion of leadership is organization; you have to organize efficiently. Second, you must always have a sense of responsibility for your own team, and in addition you have to teach each of your team members to have a sense of responsibility. After you have done these three things then check how intensely you work. At that point your enthusiasm and long hours of work will mean everything. You will succeed when you have all of these.
You have to standardize your method of doing things. You must have a clear idea of what you are going to do, and all your members must know what they are going to do. If any of them has a better way of doing things, of course let him suggest it. Organization, a strong sense of responsibility, enthusiasm and long hours of work are all very essential, but there is still one more crucial element: clear direction.
The fastest, easiest way to find the best method is to adopt the best man's technique for yourself. After I came to America I first thought about how to create the most efficient organization. Once that organization was built then I felt that I had to take all the responsibility on myself. As long as I feel that way I can make you men of responsibility also.
I put these things into practice with more intensity than anyone else. I put in longer hours than anybody else. I am always thinking about which direction to go and which method to use. When you move into an unfamiliar area, you must first analyze the situation. When you think you know the best way, then put it into practice.
How are you going to learn about that precious new area? Going there to feel it out yourself will take too long. The fastest way is to send a few people ahead of the team and let them talk to real estate men and taxi drivers. Such people usually know an area and can describe it better than anybody else.
I had to really grasp the heart of the matter in planning for the Washington Rally. Because I could see the situation very clearly and other people could not, I just pushed ahead. In the same way you have to make a good estimate of your area. If you send some people out as your sensors, like nerve endings, and have them bring you back information, then you can immediately come to a conclusion and succeed.
I am telling you this because we should have the best organization in the world. We are not just writing names down on cards. Our planning and organization must be workable, not just idealistic. It is good if you have a sense of responsibility yourself, but it will not accomplish anything until all your members also have that same sense of responsibility. Your problem is how to transfer your standard to them. You have to study this process all the time.
Does anyone here think that he has the best organization? Can you say that you have been thinking about this all the time and training your members in such a direction? When Mr. Kamiyama reports to me, he tells me about the teams-who he thinks has an aptitude for fund raising or who might be better witnessing-but I never believe a word. A slow starter can prove to be the fastest runner. I only consider a person after he has had a chance to improve himself.
Just because a baby cannot run the moment he is born we certainly cannot say that he will never run. We have to give a person a chance to improve himself, and explain many things to him so that he will feet a sense of responsibility. In the beginning you may have to carry him along, not on your back, but by working with him side by side for two days, teaching him how to do everything. Do you ever think in that way?
Unless you feel that, you will just be using the people on your team, and after they finish working with you they will go downhill spiritually. You cannot borrow a person from another area or from other people and just expect him to work. You have to love and feed him, care for him in every way; then he will work wholeheartedly with you.
Who is a man of responsibility? He is the one who is determined to make his followers also men of responsibility. A false leader is always saying, "Do this and do that," but never does those things himself. He never works. The man of responsibility, the front-line leader, should always work harder and better than other people, then they will follow him. If you live that way yourself then you will not have to tell your members to follow you; they will want to follow you on their own. Perhaps you have lots of enthusiasm and your members are inspired to work very hard, but if they get very little result they will stop working. You have to be smart as well as enthusiastic. One good quality in a leader is not enough; you have to be good at everything.
If you know how to shoot a rifle or artillery but in the heat of battle you don't aim correctly, the shells may land on your own troops and kill your own men. This happens in real life. To know where to shoot, a gunner has to know generally what the terrain is like and where his men are, and then he can adopt the best method.
The first necessity is organization, the second is a sense of responsibility and the third is knowing how to put these into practice. In carrying these out you must first have enthusiasm. For instance, I automatically felt that I was going to come up here very early in the morning. Why? I never plan that I will work at one hour, and then rest at another hour. I never know when I am going to work and when I am going to rest; I may work for 24 hours. When other people are sleeping and eating then I always think about getting ahead by working more hours. In that way I will surely be the winner.
When the time comes I will put you to work in the middle of the night rather than in the day time, and then I will start your training program early in the morning. Do not ever think that because you never heard or thought about such a method of working that this is the Oriental way. In the Unification Church we have a unique way that is unparalleled by other people.
Are you going to be a loser? No one will sympathize with the loser. But you will never be losers. Never be discouraged by everything that people say to you; just go forward and win. So far in America, have I lost or won? I had to win because no one else is living up to my way of doing things. Are you going to be losers or winners?
Being winners will be relatively easy. The way do to it is to put in more hours and have more enthusiasm than others, plus excellent organization and a sense of responsibility. I know that all 74 of you have these qualities, but still you have 74 different methods to win, which are not all equally good. They rank from the best to the worst. To be successful you must adopt the method of the best man out of the 74 of you.
If you have put in longer hours and been more enthusiastic than other people, but were still unsuccessful, then there's only one explanation: your method is wrong. This is the one thing that you must always be wanting to learn; I am always thinking about that also. If you seek out the best method all the time, then in two or three years you will have much experience and you can become the top man.
At the same time, let your members give suggestions about the best method to use and give comments about themselves. If you are confident of having the best way, do not just insist that your members follow your way. If one of them comes up to suggest his own idea, even if you think he is wrong, do not say, "No, just hush up and listen to me." Rather, try to find the good points in his suggestion and agree with him on those. If you come to realize that someone is actually better than you in some ways, then you can always accept suggestions from him. You need to have vast information.
We do our best when we are competing with each other in a good sense. Do you have that sense of competition? Whether you succeed or not in the long run all depends on how I lead you. The criterion that I go by is not your face or your attitude; I give you a chance to come up with the best result. Naturally that has to be my criterion, no matter what faults you have. Is that a wrong way of evaluating people?
The man who is closest to the Principle should always bring in the better result, but even a genius may go up and down. If you notice in yourself a tendency to go up and down, then you must find a way to correct that. You have to make yourself dependable. A person may win some victories, but if he is also often at the bottom, then I cannot afford to depend on him.
If I see a high team average, I think that is good, but if I see that each member has a similar high average then I value that team even more because I know that it is a stable team. Once you are stable as a leader your team will grow. For your first few months or even the first year it is too early to tell about you. But after a long time, if your teams are still up and down, with some members having very high results and others very low results, even though your team average is very good, the situation reflects your poor organization. By looking at all the results together I can tell very much about what has happened on a team. Can you see things the way I do now? A good leader has to be leader of heart, but at the same time he has to be smart. He must be able to evaluate the whole environment.
When I came to America I broadened the way for fund raising all by myself. Did you know that? When I first came to America one leader was really elated because of the fund raising he had started. I understood the situation, but I thought to myself, "I can do ten times better than that."
I had an idea and told them the new standard. Nobody believed it in the beginning, and people said that I just didn't understand America. To that leader it was like a dream because we had no factory or capital. But very soon I accomplished that goal.
But now you know all these things and you are actually doing it yourselves. Now that we have bought the New Yorker Hotel and the Tiffany Building, when I say that I am going to buy the Empire State Building even business men are not surprised. They know that eventually we will have much more property. Now that people know that I can do anything I set my mind to, even Congress is uneasy for fear that I will want to control it.
We must have a more efficient organization and greater sense of responsibility about America than the Senators and Congressmen. Often they only think about how to stay in office, worrying that after the next election someone else may take their seat. A Congressman's wife may nag him to not work such long hours.
But we will think about America's whole situation and will work longer hours than anyone else to put these objectives and sense of responsibility into practice. I know how to do this, and once we all have this standard it will be very easy to outdo any existing organization. Does it stand to reason?
Be sure of what you are fund raising for. The objective is not to make a few thousand dollars; your overall goal is much greater than that. While you are Teaming how to get the best result, without even realizing it you are also walking the road to perfect leadership, so that in three years you can go to a state and effectively lead a thousand people.
This is not just wishful thinking. I am not just trying to stimulate you to do more in the short run. By doing this I am training you for the future. To amount to anything in the future you have to be able to raise your own money. Now you are pretty confident as far as that goes, right? You know now that you can at least make money, but you are still learning how to raise people. What you are hoping is that I will give you more people so that you can do even better.
I think that you have already accomplished half of your qualification. But the other qualification for leadership concerns manpower. If you can fund raise well you shouldn't have too much difficulty in securing manpower. This is what you will have to do in the future. I am thinking about using the top team leaders for witnessing.
Why would I change your mission when you are so experienced in raising money? Actually money is of secondary importance; restoring people is our primary goal. To do that, there is only one rule-to love the people in the same way that a father loves his son. That is the greatest rule in raising people. After that you can apply the basic principle of leadership which I just explained. Once you have a knack for good organization then I think that people will easily come to you and you will have many members in a few months or years. After that your success will be guaranteed.
If you know how to win people and educate them, and if you know how to earn money, then what else can you do? Actually even many Congressmen or Senators do not have these qualities to a great degree. You would be surprised how many Congressmen depend on other people to subsidize them in running for office. They depend on other people's help, whereas we depend on our own abilities.
Once you are trained I think that whether you will win or lose is just a formality. I will figure out how to give you a college degree, but that is no problem. We already have a newspaper, and the seminary that is underway is the prototype of our university. Always remember that you are well along the path with this clear objective. Some people accuse me of trying to use the American people, but that has never been true.
You may be wondering how this connects to the dispensation of restoration. God created the world of all things first, and then Adam and Eve. Because of the fall we must recreate Adam and Eve. This is our responsibility in the restoration.
When we have good organization, a deep sense of responsibility, and we carry out our plans meticulously then we can pull the spirit world down to cooperate with us. With the help of spirit world we are going to re-create all things. The next 31/2 years will focus on restoring men, very much like the period of God creating Adam. If we have the confidence to restore all things through fund raising, then we will have the confidence to restore mankind through witnessing.
Then what would you do to be with God? You must become parents, in which case your responsibility is to love all things and all mankind. That is the position of the True Parents. You are going to accomplish this with the True Parents, side by side, and become good ancestors for your own descendants. This course is very clear; we have to restore the lost creation, the lost people, and then become one with the True Parents and establish ourselves on God's side. This is the basic course which you will go, not only on a small scale but on the worldwide scale, even including the spirit world. This is why it is important.
We cannot help but win if we work hard enough to never be outdone by the past, present or future. Even the people who oppose us acknowledge our enthusiasm and say that they respect the Unification Church at least for that. If they have the least bit of respect for us they will eventually come to us.
When you are competing with other people to bring the result, you must automatically remember the steps for winning as well as the path of restoration. Have you ever thought about that? When we start to do something we had better be confident; otherwise what we do is not substantial. Before I do anything I always make sure I am confident.
The media tends to put labels on people; for instance, they call me an industrialist. Actually what they are getting at is that I know how to make money. I see great opportunities for raising money, even fortunes. They also call me an evangelist, meaning that I know how to win people or how to restore people. We know that their labels do not give the whole picture. Otherwise, how could we even continue here, with all the negativity and pressure from your families and society? However, we are still confident to go on, even stronger than before.
God created the world in a certain sequence and we are going to restore the world in the same sequence. When we examine history its pattern follows that same sequence. In the Old Testament days people offered animal sacrifice which represented all things. Through doing that according to the Mosaic Law, people of that era could show their faith in God.
In the New Testament era man was emphasized instead of the things of creation. Jesus Christ gave himself as the offering and many good men were martyred in the New Testament era. Now in the Completed Testament era God is restoring the True Parents and the true children.
In what position are we? It is impossible to go on the growth stage without the foundation of the formation stage or to enter the perfection stage without both the formation and growth stages. To make restoration complete we have to have all three stages, not just one. Since the formation and growth stages have been accomplished already, we are Dow in the perfection stage. There has been a vertical development of history, but now we are expanding it horizontally. Now beyond the level of the Old Testament and the New Testament age offerings, we are coming to the very core of things. In God's view the Old Testament stage is the outer layer, the New Testament stage is the middle layer, and the Completed Testament stage is closest to the center of the universe.
It is in perfect accordance with the Principle that the essence of each age is now being developed horizontally. The Old Testament era is represented in the things of creation; the New Testament era is represented by people, and the Completed Testament era or perfection stage is represented by the True Parents and true children. Now all mankind is being elevated to that stage.
When all this materializes, you will find yourself in a much more elevated situation than Adam and Eve. All they could do was pick fruits to eat, and they did not even have decent clothing to wear. If you cannot raise yourself to the parents' position, how can you say you are better than Adam and Eve? if you boost yourself to perfection then you are the fruit of the Old Testament and New Testament eras. When you are in that position, the world will move when you move, and it will stop when you stop. Is this more real to you than your breakfast which you can taste?
I always teach you substantial things, not vague ideas. The point is that we should want to work even more than we desire to eat. If you are hungry and want to eat, but even more than that you want to do your work, then you understand how you ought to be. If you are concerned least about your appetite then you are OK. Do you think you can fail if you feel that way?
When you go back to your teams are you going to put all these things into practice? Do not ever think that rain is a barrier, or that you should stay inside and not work because of cold weather. Can you kill your appetite because it is too cold or because it is raining too much? Likewise we cannot say that we should not work because it is raining.
We have to work longer than the time that we spend in eating and sleeping. Then we will be successful. We must want to do our work more than we ever desired to love someone in the fallen world. nose who think they can do that, raise your hand.
Then why are you going to work so hard? Is it because you want to make a lot of money or because you want to get married? First you have to occupy God and His love and then get married. All of these will come to pass in that order. We have to go to the highest level of giving before we can occupy God's heart and receive God's attention; otherwise, God will elude us. We will not catch God if we do not do our utmost.
Now you know the real reason why you should do your utmost: to win God's love and recognition. Then and only then will you know the living God. Then you can receive all of God's love, and have His power welling up inside of you.
When you get plenty of sleep, then repent and re-determine yourself to work harder than you slept. After you eat some good meal then, too, you should think about working harder than you enjoyed your food. No one is watching you all the time except the only one that matters: God. I am telling you again and again that this is the kind of person God loves and that the True Parents love.
Because of the fall we must offer our economic activity and witnessing to God; this is the price we have to pay for the fall. Since this is ultimately the purpose of all men, we are going the right way. What can I be proud of after I go to spirit world? God will say to me, "You have so many true children of your own." This is my only source of pride before God. In turn you will go the same way; God will be proud of you when you have your own generation of restored children.
We must always review our lives and check whether we are going the right way or whether we need to be corrected. If we need to correct something, we must repent and do it. Our criterion is this: we need to be shameless before all things and all people. We have to do everything in order to achieve that. After that we must also be qualified to have children who care more for us than anything.
Do all things belong to you or to the universe? Before anything belongs to you it belongs to the whole universe. Before you can claim that things belong to you, you must have the perfect universal character. We have not known this because of the fall, but now we will elevate ourselves to become real children of God. Then God will say, "Yes, the universe is yours." God's children have the privilege of inheriting their Father's belongings. We have to understand clearly why we should do these things. Do all the people belong to you or to the universe? We cannot think lightly of anyone because we do not yet have a universal character. With such a character we can have all of creation with us, and all people and we can even possess God.
Do you feel confident that you have that universal character? We have money here that you can spend freely, but when you are hungry what do you think about first? Do you think first about eating, or about all the creation, all people and God?
Even the pocket money you can spend at will must first belong to the universe. The universe would want you to spend it for the larger purpose first. If you do not do that then you are violating a strict heavenly law. In the future, when we ask, "Are you a man who is not shamed before man or creation?" then you ought to be able to say yes. When you are dealing with people, do not ever think of yourself as being in a higher position. Do not ever think of people as handsome or ugly. A person of universal character would never view someone else that way. We must become people unashamed of ourselves. If you can think about God and still not be ashamed, then you have passed the most difficult examination. If you are a man of universal character then all things will come after you and all men will try to belong to you. Even God will come to you. This is so basic that if it were not true, then there would be no reason for God to exist either, and even if God existed He could never realize His ideal without a universe of this character.
This training session is very short, but after hearing the words that I have spoken to you during this time you will certainly change, won't you? This is not only my philosophy, but this is in accordance with Principle.
I can make friends with all of nature, even with insects. If I go out to a field and find some insect then I quickly become friends with it. Can you understand what that really means? I know you are amazed to realize how much closer you feel to nature after a few minutes of my talking like this. Without knowing these things you will never get close to God, man or nature, no matter how many thousands of years you try. This is why the Bible clearly promises that you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
If your team has earned a certain amount of money, can you then make a false report? Can you keep any of that money for yourself? That is just as dreadful as cutting your own head in half. Usually I do not have any money because money no sooner comes in than I spend it. But I always spend it for the larger purpose. I know the value of the universe, and I know that mankind and all things would want to see money spent that way. I ask the money in my pocket, "How would you like to be spent-on the New Yorker Hotel or on shoes for me?" A person should apologize to his money when he has to spend it on himself. I really think that when I buy things. As I give the money in payment I say, "I will see you again when I buy greater things." Since this follows heavenly law, don't you think the money would feel good?
We all know that even small insects have a direction; when the sun rises it has one direction too, doesn't it? Likewise, a godly mind has a clear direction. All things try to act like that.
When you are working on your mission do you sometimes think of me? Actually you should be shedding tears and then thinking about me. Do you sometimes want to see me more than you want to eat? Once you become like that then the spirit world will open to you and teach you everything. Then you will know what will happen to you and your team, and you can be prepared. You will not know intellectually but spiritually.
If you deeply want to learn more about God then that desire becomes like an invisible antenna and God and the spirit world will communicate thoughts and feelings to you. This will work for anyone, not just for some people. The most profound experiences will come when you really shed tears and want to see me in the midst of difficulties. Then spiritually I will appear in person and explain exactly what the difficulty is and how to solve it.
Such experiences are 100% possible. If you are not like that already then you still have room to improve. I have cried more than anyone else on earth, past or present, wanting so badly to see God. Only in becoming like that can you know my heart and receive this heritage. The world of that heart is absolutely real, and you are not very far from it. You need only to break through a few layers to also become like that. You have already heard the simple rule for meeting God. Compare which is stronger-your sense of hunger, or your desire to meet God. When you love and miss someone then compare that to your intensity of feeling toward God. If your feeling toward God is stronger, then you will know that you have passed the test.
When you go to sleep with this longing then the moment that you first open your eyes you will again find that longing for God. Even when you are hungry, try to think about other people. We may launch a week-long campaign of not sleeping and then you will be better prepared to understand this. Without exception every worthwhile religion advocates denying yourself by overcoming your desire to eat, to sleep and to have sex. That is your checklist. You must always evaluate yourself according to these criteria.
Another way of putting it is that you should always have the feeling that you are in debt. Even if people do not quite develop a universal character after a lifetime of trying, if they have tried then they can at least stand on that, and they will go to paradise. But we have to think about the ideal and then actually carry it out. Our ideal is never static. Before you can carry it out you have to know all these things.
When you have finished your day's activity, then you ought to do still a little more if you really want to see God. In witnessing, if you feel that you have done a full day's work, push yourself a little more in hopes of seeing God instead of resting. This is an incredible way, but this is the only real way. It is not contradictory to say that it is a glorious way, too.
I can imagine all the things that have gone through your mind, feeling fear, wanting to be transferred to another position, wanting to go to seminary, or thinking how unfair it is that you are still on MFT after three years. But I want to remind you that in these three years you have been re-creating yourself, and that life in the world of the heart is actually the most profound. So no matter how long you are on MFT it can only improve you; that is why you stay there.
Always remember one thing--God has never forgotten you. You may have forgotten Him, but He will never forget you. So as long as you are called to go this way, do it; that is the best way for you. No one is more qualified to complain than I am, but if I started complaining, it would make a mountain. Instead I dig deeper, like going down in a mine, and I find even more precious jewels. This has always been true. Actually the one who complains cannot go forward because he is putting limits on himself. Nobody is making him stop except himself.
So far, have you worked as a qualified man of God, or are you still experimenting? Do you cross back and forth over your boundaries or do you stay on one side most of the time? From now on, where will you dwell? On God's side? As long as you abide by your promise I can guarantee your success.
I have given the standard and it should be carried out. After accomplishing it then you can realistically hope for something better. But without achieving it first, your hopes are not so realistic.
As a team captain you should always figure out how much better you can do this month than last month. Then you can make a plan, taking into consideration all the personalities on your team. Make a workable plan and really stretch yourself to fulfill it. Are you going to do that?
Before leaving here for your own area, pledge to God in deepest prayer to show Him your new standard. Once you go out, try your best to meet that standard.
Your objective this month is to break your old record. Each one has to work in a very integrated way. You have to evaluate your situation correctly, so spend some time in prayer. Once you go back you will be different and will be a new example. Once you make your standard permanent then even if you make mistakes in the future, you will never fall below that standard.
It is important that you achieve that standard, because even though you may lose everything else you will still have that standard. Once it becomes established it will become your record which will never change. Now you know clearly the path and direction to take. This has been our best meeting, and I will watch and see if you have truly understood what has been said.