ORDER NUMBER
84-02-05
REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON
SPEAKS ON
TEXTBOOK OF LOVE
February 5, 1984
Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
The topic this morning is the textbook or the Bible of love. Jesus
said, "The Kingdom of God is within you." According to that
statement, where does the Kingdom of God have to begin? It must begin
within each person. All believers today, including ourselves, are
longing to dwell in the Kingdom of Heaven. We must think, "Within
me is the Kingdom of Heaven and because of me, that Kingdom is
possible."
Love is the fundamental core of the Kingdom of Heaven and we are
going to enjoy the essence of love in that Kingdom. What do we mean by
the essence of love? The essence of love is not for just an individual
but it is for the sake of the whole. For that reason, that essence is
enjoyed and appreciated by everybody.
Who is the center of that essence of love? Human beings cannot be
the center because we are created, or resultant, beings. Therefore,
there must be a causal existence and this being must be the cause of
the universe' the cause of the entire creation, including humanity.
That first cause is indeed God.
It is important to realize that when people speak of God, they
often think of an entity which has nothing to do with themselves or
their lives, but that is not the case, God is someone who is already
entwined within you and you are within Him. Let's consider magnetism.
The two poles of north and south are automatically related. We could
say that they are entwined; they cannot be separated.
Human nature is such that we always desire a fuller relationship of
love; we always want to go deeper and deeper into love. It is important
to know how we can be harmonized with the essence of love in the
universe. First of all, we must think of God as our subject. Each
person is always in the position of object to God. What is the
subject/object relationship centered upon? It is centered on love. Thus
the essential relationship between God and man is that of the subject
and object of love. The Parent/child relationship is the essential,
universal relationship.
You enjoy saying, "God is my Father," because it sounds
good. But I want to know, is God really your Father? A father touches
and embraces his child when it is growing up; he takes the child to the
ice-cream shop. Has God ever taken you to an ice-cream shop? Actually,
God is the closest being to you. He is the center and the essence of
love and you are the fruit of that love, so there is an intimate
closeness between you and God.
Each morning when you first wake up, you stand in front of the
basin to wash your face and look at yourself in the mirror. Have you
ever thought at that time, "I am not just seeing my physical
appearance but also my spiritual self."? There is a connection
between your physical senses which Perceive your physical appearance
and your spiritual senses which perceive your spiritual appearance.
A woman might look into the mirror and say, "I have a pretty
face and I know I can attract any man I want because of that." But
have you ever thought about attracting God with the beauty of your
spiritual face? Just as a man pursues a beautiful woman, have you ever
thought that God finds you irresistible, too? Have you ever imagined
God coming to you, saying, "You are my lovely daughter. I want you
to be with me."?
When you women know that your husband loves everything about you,
including your skin, your fingers, your eyelashes' your lips, your hair
color, everything, doesn't this make you happy? It is a great comfort
to know that you have a husband who loves you from top to bottom. But
the question is whether that love is only a physical love or whether
your husband loves you spiritually as well. Which of the two is the
cause, the mind or the body? Do you think love should start from the
cause or from the effect? Love comes from the invisible, spiritual
God; this is where everything starts. For that reason unless you begin
from that cause, there is nothing permanent in your relationship.
Nothing will remain but your body. You must grasp that cause and be
centered on it.
Let's say that God as the cause is a big plus and you are a small
minus. If some kind of action is taking place in the minus, will the
cause stand still or will it respond to that action? Whenever the
object does something, it will immediately trigger a response by the
subject. Action always evokes a reaction. Love must begin from the
mind, but whose mind, God's or yours? No, it is not from God's mind but
from your mind. Your mind arises out of God's mind, so some urge of
love must initiate from your mind.
What kind of mind are we talking about? Unless you have a mind that
exists for the sake of the whole, the love of God will not respond to
you because God's love is for the sake of the whole. If you have a
closed, selfish mind there is no way that the love which exists for the
sake of the whole will respond to you.
When Jesus said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you,"
it was the mind that he was speaking about. The Kingdom of Heaven must
begin within a mind which exists for the sake of the whole. Such a
mind is so broad that the entire universe can be embraced by it; the
whole Kingdom, including all of mankind, can come within that mind. In
that case, who should be the center of your mind-the nation, the world,
or God? Yes, it should be God. If your mind is embracing everything,
that means you are trying to capture or embrace the mind of God.
Have you ever measured the size of a mind? How many inches or
centimeters does it contain? The size of the mind is not measurable;
nevertheless, it can be so gigantic that it can embrace everything in
the universe. Let me give an analogy: Let's say there is a rich man
with billions of dollars. His mind tells him, "You have enough
money, so why don't you do some philanthropic work? Give some to
charity." It happens that he loves Unification Church members, so
he distributes billions of dollars among Unification Church members.
After that, his mind would not say, "OK, you did enough
charity." Instead, it would say, "Now why don't you
distribute something to all 240 million Americans? Be like Santa Claus
and give money to everyone in the country."
So after he did that and gave money to everyone in the country, his
mind would say, "Bravo, well done," but it would not say,
"That's enough." It would continue to urge him on, "Go
on-there are four billion people out there, so take care of them
too." Even if he did give gifts to each of the four billion people
in the world, his mind would still not be satisfied. It would say,
"What about the spiritual world? There are 200 billion
there!"
Even after he gave something to the population of the entire
spiritual world, his mind still wouldn't be satisfied; it would
continue to push him forward. When would the mind be satisfied? The
mind will only be satisfied when it knows that the ultimate universal
center which is God has been embraced. From the lowest extreme to the
highest extreme, the whole universe and cosmos have to be taken care
of.
Only after the mind can see that the universal center is fully
satisfied will it say, "You have done it. Everybody in the cosmos
is happy." But suppose that man was so rich that even after all
that charity, he had money left over. Then the mind would say,
"Don't keep it to yourself. Put it in the treasure store of
God." When he does that, the mind will say, "Bravo, you have
truly done it."
So if that man gives up everything, is he in a tragic position? He
may be empty as far as money is concerned, but he will receive enough
love to intoxicate him! He will be drowning in the love of God. The
mind is a tricky thing; it cannot be satisfied easily. It always seeks
to go another step. When the mind has exhausted every possibility to do
more, from that point on love starts to flow from the universal center,
which is God.
The mind is the greediest thing under the sun, in a way. No matter
how much you accumulate, the mind never says, "That's
enough." Even if you have more gold, diamonds and money than you
can handle, the mind is not filled up. What can fill the mind? The mind
cannot be filled by anything material; only true love can ultimately
satisfy the mind. With true love, the mind is totally satisfied and
filled up.
True love exists for the sake of the whole. When your mind is
filled with true love, everything is within your mind: the nations, the
world, all of creation, even God. God comes and dwells within you.
Would you like such true love?
Imagine a very beautiful woman who wants to adorn herself with
jewels to appear even more beautiful. She decides to wear not just one
diamond ring but ten, one for every finger. If she has diamonds
sparkling all over her body, do you think that will make her absolutely
happy? Suppose that woman thought she was the only one to wear so many
diamonds, but suddenly another woman comes along wearing just as many
diamonds. Suddenly, even though she is covered with diamonds, she is
unhappy because she is jealous. Her mind is craving for more, as if
she had nothing. Her satisfaction level falls back to zero.
Or in another example, suppose that beautiful woman is all dressed
up in her diamonds and gorgeous clothes, expecting to be noticed and
admired by the men around her. Instead, all the men are passing her by
and virtually ignoring her, while women are coming to her, saying,
"You look absolutely beautiful!" Do you think she will be
satisfied in such a case? When she was dressing herself, she was
anticipating the attention she would receive from men; she didn't want
to get a lot of compliments from women! So for that woman, are men more
precious than diamonds or are diamonds more precious than men?
No matter how many diamonds you possess, what a woman ultimately
needs is a man. Isn't that true? Why do you need a clumsy man? What
does he have? His pockets are probably empty; he doesn't have any
diamonds to give you. What is so good about men? Men possess something
called love and that is the most precious thing to a woman. Where does
the love of a man come from? The source of his love is ultimately God.
When will the love of God visit you? The love of God, true love, comes
to you when you have a mind that exists for the sake of the whole.
We can apply everything we have said so far about women to men. We
can say that men are craving the love that comes only from women.
Therefore a woman's love is the ultimate thing that will satisfy a
man's mind. Nothing else can fill the big, gigantic mind of a man
except the love of a woman. The man's mind can only be filled when
woman's love, embracing the whole universe, comes to visit. No matter
how greedy the mind of that man, it will be filled by such love.
Who is the king of greediness, in this sense? It is God. But even
the mind of God will be filled when true love comes to visit. What
does man have that can fill the mind of God? There is no aspect of tiny
little human beings that can satisfy the mind of God except for true
love. At the moment when the true love of man and the true love of
woman, both embracing the entire universe, come together, they jump
into the heart of God. At that moment their true love explodes and
fills the mind and heart of God. Does that sound good?
When you hear these explanations, you can understand what Jesus was
saying when he said, "The Kingdom of God is within you."
Jesus gave a description of the relationship between himself and God
and mankind which seems tricky, in a way. He said, "You are within
me and I am within you and God is within me and I am in God." It
sounds confusing, but in fact it is not. How can we understand that
passage of the Bible? You have to understand the relationship between
love and the mind. When there is a mind that embraces the whole, there
is always room for the love of God within it and vice-versa. In that
case, every mind is filled: God's mind, Jesus' mind, and your mind. Not
only God's mind but also man's mind is gigantic. God created only one
item that can fill your gigantic mind-true love.
When a woman with the mind of true love and a man with the mind of
true love exchange their love, is God dwelling within them? God has
true love and men and women become instruments to channel that love.
That is why men and women were created. In that respect, men and women
can say about themselves, "What a wonderful creature God has
created." Doesn't that make you feel good?
To what extent does God embrace the universe? Does He say, "l
only embrace the people I like"? or, "I embrace only during
the day. I don't like the night time."? Is that the description of
God's attitude? Does God say, "I don't like all four seasons. I
only embrace in the spring time."? God loves not only during
spring but also in summer, autumn and winter. Furthermore, God
embraces not only all good things but also the bad things.
What about you? Do you also embrace good and bad together? When you
have the spark of true love, it melts and purifies all evil things.
Jesus told us to love our enemies. He forgave the Roman soldiers who
hung him on the cross, but would you do the same? If you were treated
so evilly by someone, could you forgive him? This is the secret. When
evil is forgiven and embraced, it is eventually melted and purified.
When you embrace your enemy, the spark of the love of God will melt
away evil. Even Satan cannot help but surrender in front of the true
love of God. When you are giving the true love of God, the smallest
woman should feel, "My love can melt even the biggest man."
That is the kind of confidence you should have. That is the way I live
my life. I want to embrace the entire world and every kind of person,
even the most disagreeable ones.
Once a person tastes true love, he cannot go away fromit. An
analogy is the honey bee: when it is sucking honey from a flower, you
cannot pull it away. Even though its tail comes off, the bee will not
release the honey. The same thing happens when people find true love.
Certainly, true love has an even stronger power than the power of honey
for the bee. True love has the power that enables people to sacrifice
their lives. It goes beyond the power of death. That is why in God's
world death has no power.
The greediness of human beings has caused problems throughout
history. Why did God give man the quality of desire, ambition, or
greed? He wanted to fill the greedy heart of people with true love. No
man-made object nor anything material can fulfill the desire of human
beings. The communists try to explain the world through the concept of
dialectical materialism but that does not fill up the heart of man.
Let's say that world-famous scholars came together and created a
seminar, asking the question, "How can human beings find ultimate
satisfaction?" They might suggest all different things, such as
wealth, freedom, power and so forth, but they won't be able to agree
with each other. Finally, Reverend Moon comes along and presents his
solution. Those scholars would have to agree.
When God sees this, He will say, "I have been waiting for this
moment when someone finally got the right answer to that question. I
want to give Reverend Moon a certificate as well as a big prize because
he deserves it." Do you think that everybody will resent God's
blessing on Reverend Moon, or will they say, "Yes, he deserves
it."?
The real truth is simple but it is not easy to find. Because you
have been following Reverend Moon's tradition and way of thinking, you
are different from the rest of the world. That is why you can be proud
to be a Unification Church member.
The men and women who possess a mind of true love have to be tested
on the street. All kinds of people will pass you by: white people,
yellow people, black people, and they will point their fingers at you.
Sometimes they even shove you and say, "Look at that Moonie."
How would you respond? If you respond in the normal, secular way, you
will not survive. You will become completely frustrated.
Perhaps when you go out fundraising, someone will come up to you
and say, "Hey, Moonie, you follow that yellow man, don't you? You
are brainwashed! Get out of here!" How would you feel? Can you
embrace the whole universe and very specifically that man? Can you say,
"I want to meet thousands more men like that" and feel that
you have not yet begun to fight?
Let's look at two different people. One embraces and accepts only
those people who are good, positive and respectful to him, while the
other embraces people full of negativity and hatred. When God looks at
those two people, which will He pay more attention to? Yes, it is the
second one because God knows that the second person is more like Him.
Think of how much ridicule and negativity God receives. The worst
things have been said about God. People say, "God is dead, God is
helpless, God is too old." Communism rises up and claims that
there is no God. God has been thoroughly ridiculed and persecuted by
mankind; you have no idea the extent of it. What you experience is
nothing in comparison to what God has received, yet God is still
embracing and calling out to the most satanic people.
Many people accuse God, saying, "Look, God! Look at how evil
that person is and how unworthy he is of Your love!" Yet, God
replies, "Is that so? Well, I will still embrace him." That
is the nature of our God, our Father. We have to ask ourselves a
question: How much do we resemble God, our Father? How about you? Don't
you have something to repent about? You have no idea of the suffering
God has endured.
Reverend Moon is one man who has been embracing everyone, including
good people and evil people, trying to melt all their qualities with
the true love of God. No one has thought in that fashion, let alone
lived his entire life that way. Without a doubt, all mankind shall come
under this one tradition. The True Father and Mother have committed
their lives for the sake of their mission, for embracing the enemy
world.
As a Moonie, how do you feel when you hear these things? How much
have you done so far? Perhaps you have done the best you could, without
understanding the depth of these things, so your first deed should be
to repent. You know you have not come even near to the standard of God,
but you know that standard now; you have heard the truth and you must
make effort to achieve that goal.
There are many people around me, many people following me,
including all the leaders. Among them, who is thinking of how to
embrace the whole world? Who is trying to take responsibility for the
bad things and melt them? There are many who are analyzing and accusing
others. I know which of you are trying to embrace from the viewpoint of
God and who is accusing others from the viewpoint of Satan.
What do you think? Is my observation correct or not? Is it correct
only in the New York area or is it universally correct? Whenever two
people are quarreling, I can immediately see who is wrong and who is
right. Jesus demonstrated that spirit in the court of the governor,
Pontius Pilate. He did not speak; he was silent. He did not want to
make excuses. He was absolutely silent because in that way he was able
to embrace the court. Jesus lived that way of life and history
protected him.
Today Reverend Moon is controversial, not only in one country but
throughout the entire world. More and more, communism is looking at
Reverend Moon as their mortal enemy. Communists are forming all kinds
of plots to try to eliminate me. But you must understand that no matter
what happens to me, even if they are successful in physically
eliminating me, that will not stop the march of the love of God. That
love will prevail. The world will eventually be enlightened and united
by the teaching of Reverend Moon, whether he is physically alive or
not.
We are truly on the threshold of the most gigantic and glorious
task in history. When you embrace the universe, you embrace yourself.
What kind of self? The true self. When a person achieves that, his mind
and his body are entirely harmonious and united. In that case, you will
never put the desires of your body before the desires of your mind.
Your mind will be the master of your body. When your mind is filled
with true love, your body will be obedient to your mind. That was God's
original ideal. The original God-given mind has the tendency to embrace
the universe, not to just search after selfish gain.
However, Satan always uses man's body as the stage for his
activities. Thus your God-embracing mind should control your body
before Satan can control it. That is why we need training. The mind
knows that the body is always susceptible to satanic enticements. There
are all kinds of temptations coming to you and the body is always
trying to look in that direction, but the mind is saying, "You
rascal, look at me. Don't look at the world, look at me." The mind
is always trying to turn the attention of the body towards it.
Because that is man's original nature but Satan is always trying to
use man's body as his stage, there is always a battle going on between
body and mind. That is the basic struggle within human beings. The body
wants comfort and sensual pleasures. Unification Church members must
know that unless you have a straight mind such as I have described,
centered upon God, it doesn't matter how beautifully you dress yourself
or make your body healthy. That body will become the prey of Satan and
a sacrifice to him, like Satan's altar.
You must change your body. Your mind must be able to control the
actions of the five senses, the five organs: the eyes, ears, smell,
taste, and sexual desires. Don't search for your universal enemy
anywhere else: it is right here within you. The self can become the
stage for Satan and therefore your worst enemy is within you. That
enemy is worse than the Soviet Union, worse than any criminal in the
world.
Your body can be susceptible to becoming Satan's instrument. You
want to embrace your good self, not your evil self. You don't want to
become a partner of evil but rather a partner of goodness. First you
must become the kind of man or woman whose mind and body are united,
centered upon God, and then you can embrace a person of the opposite
sex with the same qualifications. That is all right; that is
principled. When a God-centered man and a God-centered woman come
together and together they embrace the nation, the world and the
universe, that is good. Otherwise, it is not good.
Please raise your hands if you are blessed members. Compare these
criteria I have given with your own married life and relationship.
Sometimes I push you couples out for the sake of a greater mission.
You may feel, "We are blessed now and I want to live with my wife.
She should be with me all the time." But I am saying, "You
should separate now and go out for the sake of the nation, the world,
and the universe." When that happens, you should realize that I am
pushing you and God is pushing you for the sake of your greater self.
You were only thinking about the embrace between a man and a woman
but you have never thought about a man and woman together embracing the
nation, world and universe. Is that heaven? Can you make it into
heaven? A man and woman may be separated physically but they are going
out to embrace bigger things such as the world, humanity and the
universe. After having accomplished that, when they meet again, they
will embrace each other with the universe at the center. They will be
a truly fulfilled couple.
Compare two couples, one who is just busy embracing each other and
the other who is dedicating themselves, giving their youth and their
lives for the sake of the nation, the world, and the universe. Which
one is more meaningful and more valuable?
Without any question, I love you. You are precious and I absolutely
wish you well. I gave the Blessing to you because I care for you and
love you. But sometimes the consequences of that Blessing make my face
red; I feel ashamed in front of the world and mankind. I feel that
something was not good about it. Therefore, when you go out to the
mobilization, go beyond my expectations. Go out to suffer for the sake
of humanity. In that way you will be doing the greatest thing and you
will comfort me. Then my heart will be touched and I will want to give
out more blessing. I will pray for God to remember your sacrifice and
bless you much more. Whatever you generate, whatever your action, you
receive the reaction.
I have heard that some blessed couples are trying to have three
children as quickly as possible because then they will not have to be
mobilized. But if you think that way, I will change my thinking, too. I
will say, "Until you have ten children, you should go out."
If you go out on the mobilization leaving ten children behind, that
means you will be embracing ten times, even a hundred times, your ten
children. This is more important for the benefit of your children; more
blessing will come to them because you are working, instead of focusing
on them.
Sometimes I feel sorry for you. You are unlucky men and women for
having met me, aren't you? If you had not met me, you wouldn't be
seated on this hard floor right now. You would not have been pushed out
to work and be separated from your spouse. You would not have had all
this chastisement. You could be doing anything you wanted if you hadn't
met Reverend Moon. You could go out and date as much as you wanted, and
go dancing as much as you desired.
Instead, here you are, having met Reverend Moon. What a tragic
life-you can't even go on dates. You have some old girlfriend and you
can't meet with her or hold her hand. In the secular world you can just
come together with anyone you desire, without even bothering with the
formalities of marriage, if you choose. You can live with some woman or
man as you desire.
But you say, "After ten years in this movement, I am still
waiting to be matched! I don't even know what kind of girl is coming to
me!" The fact is that I know very well how you feel. I know
exactly how things go out there but still I must enforce the Principle.
That is my agony, also. Do you think I should be lenient and say,
"All right, you have suffered enough so now you can go out and do
whatever you want"? What do you want me to do? Do you want me to
continue to enforce the Principle of God, without compromising even one
iota? If you say yes, you are very smart.
To comfort yourself, just say, "This is my destiny. Nothing
else matters because I was born for this." Think of this: a dog
has a dog's destiny; he will always be a dog and nothing else. A cat
has a cat's destiny; he cannot become a tiger or anything else. By the
same token, a Moonie has a Moonie's destiny. Thank God we are Moonies!
I have had to think in the same way. I was born for this destiny so
I just cleared my mind and refused to think about anything else. I
said, "This is my God-given destiny and I am living it out."
My life has been full of amazing things. Even when I was very young,
whenever I walked into a village, dramatic things started to happen.
I knew that a legal battle would be coming to me once I moved to
the United States. It has been a part of my destiny wherever I have
gone, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, and now the U.S. So my attitude
was to embrace that destiny. I am only interested in what kind of
blessings will come after the fulfillment of that destiny.
Many people sneaked away from the Unification Church in the past,
seeing no hope here. In Korea, Japan, and the U.S., people thought that
they were wise and left the church, thinking they would live their
lives more fully. But what happened? They thought that Reverend Moon
would be ruined but he has not been ruined. They thought their lives
would become better but instead they became more and more difficult. So
after ten, twenty or even thirty years, people have come back and said,
"Please remember me. I was a member thirty years ago!"
These people see that God is indeed on Reverend Moon's side. If God
is on Reverend Moon's side, anybody who tries to follow Reverend Moon
will be on God's side, too. They will flourish and many blessings will
come to them; they will be seen as good men and women in the sight of
God. This is Reverend Moon's thinking: that anybody on Reverend Moon's
side is on the side of God. Anybody going the other way is going
against God. In the meantime, I am not standing still. I am moving
forward and embracing the world, step-by-step.
Do you think that what I am saying is true? How do you know it is
true? I know that it is true through my own experience. My own
relatives, my brothers and sisters, did not believe in me; my own
mother doubted me. My aunts and uncles thought I was in deep trouble;
the Korean nation thought I was in deep trouble. But many years later,
these people have come to realize that Reverend Moon represents the
only hope for them and their survival.
This is happening in the U.S. as well. In the past, many Americans
thought that Reverend Moon was a thorn in their side, an obstacle that
should be eliminated. But now that I have been here for twelve years,
those same people are recognizing that there is no other way to counter
communism than by following Reverend Moon's guidance. They are seeing
that Reverend Moon is offering them hope, not only for themselves but
for the nation and the world.
We are speaking of the textbook of love. What is a textbook? A
textbook is a guide; anybody who follows the same guide or formula will
achieve the same results. With the textbook of love, you will first of
all embrace your family. What are the components of your family? First
there are the grandparents and then the parents. Then there are the
children, which is your position, and then the grandchildren.
The question to ask is, do these four levels of couples belong to
God? Are they God-centered or not? The family is the center of the
universe; it is the building block and when you duplicate the building
block, you build the world. Unification Church members should know
that. What are the elements of the universe? First, God is there, then
spirit world, the physical world and all the creation. Those elements
are all within your family. The universe has all these elements and
your family also has all these elements.
Whether in the present, past or future, human character is the
same. The human mind remains the same; it is the same container. The
important question is what substance fills up that container? With
what do both God and human beings want to fill up that container? With
true love. That desire is the same, whether you are on the
grandparent's level, the parent's level, your level or the
grandchildren's level.
For you members of the Unification Church, where is the Kingdom of
God? The Kingdom of God is within your family. That Kingdom is desired
by the grandparents. the parents, yourselves, and your children.
If your own physical parents are divorced or separated, raise your
hands, please. Among those who raised your hands, if you think this
situation brought you great happiness, please raise your hands again.
Those who feel it was unfortunate, please raise your hands. No matter
where you are from, you all arrived at the same conclusion about this
question. Do you think that in a thousand years, people will change and
they will say, "Yes, I am glad that my mom and dad
divorced."? No, that age will never come.
Just by observing nature, you can find unchanging truth. When you
see a family of wild ducks swimming in a pond, it is natural to see
both parents with the babies; you don't normally see a single duck
parent trying to take care of a brood of babies. The mother duck swims
in front, and the proud, good-looking father duck is behind, protecting
them. Does this look good or bad? Will this phenomenon change when
technology becomes more advanced? No, it will not.
The smallest bird knows how to feed and protect its young. In fact,
the smallest birds are the more alert because they are more vulnerable.
They know that all kinds of predators will to try to get their babies.
On the other hand, the eagle is quite confident as it watches its
babies. It knows that nobody is going to come and attack its young. If
necessary, the eagle can fight off any predators.
The baby eagles are perfectly trusting under the protection and
care of the mother and father eagle. The baby will accept anything the
parent does for it, even taking a snake for food if the parent gives it
to him. It doesn't resist and say, "Oh no, Mommy, I don't want to
eat a snake!" It just opens its mouth and eats. But the supreme
creation of God, human beings, are not that way. So many children are
mistrustful of their parents' judgment. This is what is called the
generation gap.
What about the conduct of parents? There are cases of parents
wanting to go out to a party and not having a baby-sitter, so they just
tie their child into the bed, saying, "You stay here until I come
back. Don't move." That is a terrible thing for a parent to do.
The degradation of human moral character has fallen far below the
insects, the birds or the animals. Because of the degradation of the
family, the world has become what it is.
The family is the microcosm of the universe. God gave us this
microcosm as our textbook of love, the school in which people can be
trained to relate with the rest of the world. Who should be the master
or the subject of the family? It should be whoever knows the most and
serves the most. Who knows more, experiences more, and has more power
to control? It is the grandparents. Why is this correct? The
grandparents are in the position to have more experience and they
certainly know more. Thus the grandfather is like the king of that
family.
At some point the grandparents know they are getting old and so
they say, "My children, you should take over. I dedicate
everything to you." Then the parents will say, "If that is
your wish, we will take that responsibility." Eventually the
parents will say, "Now, my child, you are ready to take over the
responsibility of this family." Then you will come up into the
responsible position. That is the way responsibility is delegated. That
becomes the tradition: the grandparents delegate the responsibility to
the parents, then the parents give it to you, and you to your children.
As each generation of grandparents goes to spirit world, the
responsibility moves along.
The family is the microcosm of the universe and the textbook of
love for universal relationships. However, because the world is fallen,
there have been no totally God-centered grandparents, parents, children
or grandchildren. For that reason, God wants to remake or restore this
textbook of love from the very beginning. He wants to make one true
model and that is the reason religions were begun. The ultimate purpose
of religion has been to recapture the ideal family.
Finally one religious movement has come, declaring clearly to the
world that the family is the building block of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Perfection must come to the family and the family must be God-centered.
Furthermore, it is teaching the concept of True Parents. This is the
teaching of the Unification Church. The Unification Church has brought
forth a new concept of the family and through that family, a new
concept of the world, the universe, and all of humanity. The mission of
the Unification Church is to create that model, the textbook of love,
and to expand it to the universal level. In that way, we can remake
society. That is the goal.
What is the purpose of the Blessing you have received? It is to
create that new family tradition as the textbook of love for the world.
This is the first time in human history that the terminology of True
Parents has been used. Without True Parents, how can we expect to have
true grandparents? Without True Parents, there is no way we can have
true husband and wife or true children. Thus the focal point of this
historical event must be the True Parents. From that point on, all
things start to happen.
This is the first time ever that True Parents have appeared on the
face of the earth. Who is the central figure on the True Parents'
family level? Once True Parents become true grandparents, who will be
the central figure then? According to the tradition, the grandfather
must be the center, so when he is promoted to the grandparents'
position, he remains the central figure.
In order to spread this textbook centered upon True Parents
throughout the world, the Blessing has taken place all over the
world-from the 36 couples to the 6,000 couples and later on to 60,000
and even 600,000 couples. When 600,000 couples are blessed, who will be
their center? As long as True Parents are living here on earth, they
will become the True Grandparents, True Great Grandparents, and so
forth. Thus they will still be the central figures. When they go to
spirit world, they will ascend to the top of the restored clan, society
and world, just as it was supposed to be at the beginning.
As blessed couples, you are inheriting that tradition. You must
receive it and uphold it, clean and pure. In order to inherit that
tradition, you must become like the True Parents. You must live like
them and embrace heaven and earth, the entire world and humanity. Then
you can say, "Yes, Father, we inherited that tradition."
Now I am pushing you couples out to the world so you can live like
the True Parents. In this way you can embrace the world and humanity
and thus you will be entitled to receive that tradition as your
inheritance. If you do not do that, you will not become the central
figures of your family. Unless you have inherited that central
tradition, you will not be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Will you inherit that tradition as a Japanese, a Korean, or as an
American or a Black? Before the fall of man, were there such
distinctions? There was supposed to be one race, one tribe-the True
Parents' tribe. In that tribe, there was supposed to be one universal
language-the True Parents' language.
This is like a grafting process. The blessed couples have to be
grafted to the mother tree to learn the mother tree's language. When
you get married, if your spouse is from another nationality, you have
to learn that new language. By the same token, in the heavenly world
you have to learn the eternal spiritual mother tongue. How can you be
entitled to inherit the heavenly tradition if you don't even know the
customs, the culture or speak the mother tongue? Therefore, those who
do not speak the mother tongue have no power and no privilege to
receive the inheritance. It is clearly stated in the Divine Principle.
Therefore I gave everybody some time, almost too much time, until
1990, to learn and speak the mother tongue. In that year I will issue
the inheritance. I will open a heavenly family registration and the
heavenly families will be recorded. That record will be like a birth
certificate into the Heavenly Kingdom. It will remain there for all
time.
When you study the mother tongue, you will understand the
difficulty Oriental people encounter when they try to learn English.
Although I am over 60 years old, I have been studying English. You must
taste that effort in reverse. You will have no excuse; you cannot tell
me that you are too old to learn a new language since you are all
younger than I am! Keep practicing; have a small textbook of the Korean
language and study the letters and the words every day.
The True Parents happened to be born in Korea and to speak the
Korean language. If you don't want to learn Korean, go ahead and find
some English-speaking True Parents. Unfortunately, there are none. God
anointed only one set of True Parents, so you have no choice. Perhaps
you want to find Chinese or Japanese True Parents? Go ahead, ask Mr.
Kuboki if he wants to be the True Parent!
The remarkable words "True Parents" will unify language
around the world. You will not regret it because the Korean language is
the most advanced, descriptive and beautiful language ever known to
humanity. Korean people have to be smart because of their language;
they have to keep up with it. Korean has so much variety in its sounds.
Therefore Korean people can learn any other language. This is
different from Japanese, which has very limited sounds. I am not
saying all this just because I am Korean. It is based on the
Principle.
When I speak to you, you have to depend upon a translator. When I
listen to the translation, I can tell that at least 30% of the meaning
is lost. You should be able to hear my words directly, receiving 100%
of what I am saying. When you are able to read the Korean language, you
will read the Korean textbook of my sermons and you can compare them
with the translations. Then you will see marked differences. It is
virtually impossible to perfectly translate the original. In the
future, scholars will not bother with any translations; they will go
right to the original language.
No one is able to go around the world and love everyone, so God has
given us a microcosm of the world in our families. By loving your
grandparents, God will say, "You receive credit for loving all the
old people of the world."
When you love your parents, God will say, "You receive credit
for loving all the parents of the world." When you love your
spouse, God will say, "You receive credit for loving all the men
and women of the world." When you love your children, God will
say, "You receive credit for loving all the children of the
world."
Your family is your textbook of love; practice your love while you
are in this school and you will be well trained to go out into society.
If you are asked, "Can you love old people, parents, and
children?" you can say, "Yes." Then you have
accomplished everything.
Someone might say, "I can love only white grandparents, not
black ones. And I can only love cultured grandparents, not primitive
ones, like Africans." But that is not good enough for God's
standards. You must love the people of the world as much as you did the
people of your own family, regardless of their race, culture, age, or
whatever. When you husbands and wives go out and serve other couples in
the world, that is the greatest demonstration of what you have
accomplished within your family.
Some men think, "That other woman is much prettier than my own
wife." Or a woman thinks, "I like that man much better than
my husband. My husband is humble and uneducated. I wish I could live
with that other man." That is simply failure, total failure.
Instead, you should live as a couple, loving even the least attractive
woman or man, giving to them and encouraging them, nurturing them so
that they can love more. With that kind of mind, you can embrace the
universe. That is the mind with which you must practice love within
your family and accomplish the perfection of your love. When you go out
into society, you have to give even more than when you were in the
"school" of your family. This is why we can sacrifice the
family for the sake of the world.
Grandparents should not say to their grandchildren who are trying
to go out and love the world, "Don't love anyone more than you
love us." Such grandparents are destined for hell. The
grandparents should say, "Practice your love in this family and
then when you go out into the world, love others more than us."
Those grandparents are destined for heaven. When husband and wife have
the same attitude, loving the world more than each other, then they are
truly exhibiting a God-centered attitude. That is the world of utopia,
the Kingdom of Heaven.
This is the path I have been walking. I want you to inherit this
principle and these traditions so that you can live for the sake of
humanity. If you do that, your children will inherit the best possible
thing from you. You blessed couples know that your children are
precious, but God demands that you love other children even more. It
should be your standard to sacrifice your children for the sake of
other children, for the rest of the world.
Unification Church members are destined to go to all six
continents. When I first came to America, I knew that America would
not easily welcome me, but would oppose and persecute me. But my duty
is always to love this nation, unconditionally. You will never know how
many tears I have shed behind the scenes for the sake of this country.
You Americans are indebted to me, but don't try to pay me back
directly. I am asking you to pay it back to the world, plus interest.
Parental love isn't like an investment waiting for a return. Parental
love is given to the children so that they will go out and love the
rest of the world. Parental love is unconditional.
I am asking you to love the future generations. Even when I am no
longer here, you must carry on the tradition and teach your own
children the same tradition that I taught you. Your children in turn
will teach the same tradition to the entire world. This tradition will
go on, and this is my only ambition.
God is thinking in the same fashion. God loves this world so much
but He does not want you to repay all the love He has given you. God
wants you to carry that love into the future, to spread that tradition
around the world for the sake of coming generations. Thus this
tradition will go on, beyond this country, beyond culture, without
ceasing.
Within the ideal family, four generations are living together.
Sadly, one seldom finds such a family here in America. Therefore a new
tradition is being erected, centering on Reverend Moon. You are the
blessed couples, so I am elevated to the level of grandparent. Will I
have to telephone and ask before I come to visit you in your home? If
you have only one bedroom, will you give the bedroom to your parents
and sleep in the bathroom, if necessary? No problem? That should be so
normal, you wouldn't even have to think about it.
Since True Parents cannot visit every home, you should have the
Parents picture in a special place. Even your simple daily deeds can be
done with a special heart. When you have some little snack, like a
cookie, you should think, "I wish I could give this to my loved
ones, my parents, my grandparents, my children. Since they are not
here, I will appreciate this cookie for them." If there are a lot
of hungry people around you, you should empty yourself out and feed
them, even if you end up with only a glass of water. That is the right
kind of spirit.
My own family had this kind of tradition. They never let anybody
leave our home with an empty stomach. Our home used to be like a
beggar's gathering place; all the poorest people of the vicinity knew
they would be well treated, so they came to our home. Not one was
mistreated My mother served our grandparents and she also served the
passing beggars. She would feed themwhenever they came by. This was a
heavy physical ordeal for my mother. On one occasion, she did not feed
a beggar, so my father took his own meal and gave it to him. So my
mother had to feed the beggars, otherwise my father would be hungry.
This is the policy at East Garden. Nobody who comes there should go
away with an empty stomach. Nowadays, East Garden is like a cross
roads; people come there every day from all over the world. Everybody
is fed and Mother and I take many people out to buy them clothes. If
the money runs out, all of a sudden more comes in unexpectedly. It is
like a well-you take out all the water and all of a sudden, new spring
water comes in. This is the way I live and this is the way of living
that God is longing to see. Since I do not see so many such people, I
am training you to become like that. As Moonies, will you follow my
tradition?
Today we have spoken about the textbook of love. Those who want to
follow the example of True Parents, learning from them as your textbook
of love, raise your hands. God bless you. Let us pray.