Sun Myung Moon and Hyung Jin Moon
January 17, 2007
Hoon Dok Hae
Cheon Jeong Gung Museum
Translation by Kunduk Koh of unofficial notes taken by the Unification Church History Compilation Committee
Sun Myung Moon, Hak Ja Han, and Hyung Jin Moon April 26, 2011
The following is a summary of what Father Moon said that day:
If you don't know the reality of the spirit world, you cannot go on the path of faith that can support your life.
I have completed the Peace Messages and thus believe that my mission has ended. I have my own path to go. You who have inherited from me have your own responsibility to fulfill. Times have changed. People do not know that the times have changed. Is there anyone who perceives continuously the coming of each new day? You don't know that the times can change in an instant even within providence, vast as it is. You need to have the wisdom to infer from your environment to make a decision. It is impossible with just the knowledge you have. The emergence of this booklet is a tremendous event. There is nothing more to add or deduct from this. You cannot leave behind an imperfect history as you go in the presence of the heavenly parent.
Geomundo will become a holy ground where everybody will visit. We must build a palace of the southern nation in Geomundo.
It sounds like a dream but it is not. You must know all the Peace Messages. You have to study it. I am an expert in the Word and thus extracted these words. You should understand how valuable these words are as you read each page. I have already read this thousands of times. Every day you should open the book and have some relation to the contents of the book.
By practicing and carrying out restoration through indemnity on my behalf you erase peoples' faults. Billions of people in the spirit world know who I am. That is why they listen to my words and send their reports (to the earth). There are many people who speak ill of me in this world but there are even more who sing praise of me in the spirit world. A wave moves from where there is a lot of water to where there is little. In a similar fashion the world will be purified within that current.
During my lifetime you must complete your job in this world in which you live in.
I can give guidance to any field in the spirit world. The people living on the earth can give orders to the people in the spirit world and to their ancestors, and have them go on errands. This is only possible within the Unification Church. That is why the Unification Church has come this far despite the persecutions from the world. Yet we still have a long way to go.
(At 6:40 AM, Father asks Hyung-jin nim to sing and give a brief testimony of the deepest moment in his life.)
Hyung-jin nim's testimony
Seven years ago, my closest brother ascended to the spirit world. Before Young-jin hyung ascensions, I just had liked to have fun and was an immature kid who fooled around and caused trouble. Young-jin hyung on the other hand was a model son. He was the best in carrying out anything Father told him to do. Everybody called Young-jin young, 'the saint.'
In my high school years I fell in love with martial arts. When Young-jin hyung entered Columbia University, I was studying Spanish in Uruguay. At that time, Father suddenly asked me if I wanted to get married. I told him yes and was blessed after graduating from high school.
I went to a college in Connecticut which belonged to a Catholic Society of Jesus. After a year studying there my son was born and I took a year of absence from my studies. I spent that time traveling with Young-jin hyung. He gave me a lot of guidance and passed on to me his method of study. Thanks to him, my grades improved and I was able to enter Harvard University.
Before Young-jin hyung's ascension I didn't know what I had to do. I was just thinking of maybe studying sociology or management. Yet, after his ascension, I began to struggle deeply about life. I became interested in religion and began to study it. That was when I began to enter into a deep relationship with Father where I could have sincere conversations with him. Before that, True Parents were always busy for restoring the world. As a result, I had little time with my parents and had complained about this.
I one time, it was difficult to just go to church. At that time Young-jin hyung told me, 'It's much quicker to change yourself than to wish for others to change.' At that time I didn't understand what he was talking about but now I think I understand it more that I did then.
In the Cheon Il Guk citizen's workshop I talk about how there are Unificationists and divisionists within the Unification Church. By divisionists I mean those who create walls around themselves and blame others. I too was such a person.
There is a profound truth in the Principle. We are all individual embodiments of truth and connected beings. If we forget that we cannot call ourselves a true Unificationist. A connected being means that we are connected to other individual embodiments of truth. If you persecute others you are persecuting yourself.
Young-jin hyung ascended to the spirit world sometime at the end of October in 1999. After that I began studying at Boston. During that time, Young-jin hyung's spirit often came to see me. I was lying down after studying one day when Young-jin hyung appeared sitting by my head. He was holding my hand. It felt so real! My hand is a little long and slender like a woman's. Young-jin hyung's hand is a little thick. He was grasping my hand and I could feel the thickness of his fingers. He said to me 'I will always be with you. Don't worry.'
I was able to go to the best school and live in a safe and wealthy town in New York thanks to my parents, and not by any virtue on my part. I was loved greatly by our members because I was a child in the True Family. But I did not know how to be grateful. Yet, after Young-jin hyung's ascension I began to think about may things. I thought about what a valuable life would be like, how I should attend Parents.
Young-jin hyung was a true filial son. From a young age, he was always at the top when he took the Divine Principle examinations. He guided me and my younger siblings and the second generation members. He held workshops every week for the second generation members, many of whom were deeply moved by Young-jin hyung. Rather than wishing to be understood, Young-jin hyung understood the second generation members. He would hold discussions with them and helped them if they had any problems. Young-jin hyung was successful even at school. He had excellent grades and was very athletic. Yet he was humble.
My life changed after Young-jin hyung began to visit me in spirit. Once when we were walking to the apartment I was living in at Harvard University, I wondered whether he was really with me. So I told him, 'If you are really with me and if you hear what I am saying, turn off the street lights.' Then during the next 2-3 minutes as I was walking to my apartment, the streetlights began to go out one by one. From then I knew that Young-jin hyung was with me.
On the weekends I had to use the highway to commute between Boston and New York where my family was. Each time I felt that Young-jin hyung was sitting at my side. When I was driving once I fell asleep and could have ended up in an accident by driving to the side of the road. At that very moment though the street lights went off. Young-jin hyung flashed in my mind and I returned to me senses. As I drove 3-4 hours from East Garden to Boston I felt his presence by my side and talked with him along the way. From then I felt that I had to abandon worldly thoughts and live differently.
Before Young-jin hyung's ascension I loved fashion. I enjoyed going about in expensive clothes and felt good when people told me I looked like a model. But after Young-jin hyung's ascension I discarded such things. From then I began to make many promises with Young-jin hyung. I shaved my head. Once you are bald, people stare at you. It is not easy to go around places like that. In other words you have to always be looking at yourself. I shaved off my hair and wore a Taoist robe that look like hanbok to school. My brothers and I, like our Father, are popular among women. The women around me used to be interested in me but after shaving my hair and going about in a robe, they began to lose interest, making it much easier for me.
Once I thought about burning off a finger so that I would never forget Young-jin hyung for the rest of my life. I was going to do that in resolution to do together with Young-jin hyung what he was now unable to do. I was going to burn off my finger but my wife stopped me. In the end I did not burn it off but I will always remember my brother wherever I go and even after I become 40, 50 or 60.
I am working hard now so that when I look back later on in my life I can confidently ask myself whether I did what Young-jin hyung wanted and kept my promise to him.
The scholars and students at Harvard University actually hate our church very much. Yet, I continued to talk with them. I became close to the teachers. I talked with the other students and religious people and explained to them about Father. After completing my master's degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Theology, I was asked to pray and talk about my experience at the graduation ceremony. For the prayer, I read one of Father's prayers. After the prayer I talked about Young-jin hyung and about Father.
Father always talks extensively before you. So most of you know Father as someone who talks very much. But being with him up close, I found that Father does not speak at all. He spends most of the day in silence and listens to others speak.
I too have only seen Father giving speeches or instructions and thought it was difficult to have a conversation with him. Yet, after I begun studying religion and spending time with him, I discovered that he was different from what I had thought of him before. I talked with him for 2-3 hours and he listened attentively to what I said.
Spending time with him I was able to see how Father lived and conducted himself. Father would share everything each moment, each day with God. When he brushes his teeth, or when he dresses himself, or even when he goes to the restroom to relieve himself he would be with God. 'Ideal world' is what comes to my mind when I see Father in this way. Father's life has always been one in which he lived with God.
Even though True Parents were not able to be with us their children because of their busy schedule they would call us and send letters to each and every one of us. They personally wrote each letter. I am also a father of five but it is not easy writing letters to each of my children. Yet, True Parents wrote such letters to all thirteen children. They were doing this when we were not. I realized what a parent was through my parents' lifestyle.
One linguist scholar said that 10% of our communications are conveyed through words while the other 90% are conveyed through unspoken words. Discussions we have in words amount to only 10%; the rest, 90% is conveyed through our actions.
We should resemble True Parents. We should emulate their actions in forging a relationship with God and in liberating God.
What Father says may only be 10%. I discovered during my time with Father that he teaches us not only through his words but through his life.
Once when I was having lunch with True Parents, Father suddenly displayed an act of love by caressing Mother's leg. That scene was so full of love that I laughed in joy. I believe that this was not just a passing moment but was a profound moment of education.
We must be able to express love to our wives whom we may live together for decades in such freedom, unity, peace and happiness that Father had shown. At that time I realized that was a very important way of cultivating one's love. I believe that was a profound expression and act of the principles true love.
Ordinary couples do not often express their love for each other in the presence of their children. But I believe Father does in order to educate us. There are many teachings that Father gives to us without expressing it in words. I think the leaders who attend Father in person would know about this.
I could receive many spiritual teachings from Father just by being next to him as he fished. From morning to night, when he is awake and even when he is asleep, Father leads an ideal lifestyle in communication with God. I did not know how priceless it was to be together with True Parents.
After Young-jin hyung's ascension, I came to realize how precious life is. I came to appreciate how precious the members next to me were. When I think about Young-jin hyung who no longer breathes, who no longer walks, I am grateful to be able to breathe and walk. I am grateful to be alive.
People promise that they will be grateful once they obtain happiness but this is 180 degrees wrong. People think that they would be happy once they have a nice car, some money and position but that is actually not the case. It is 180 degrees off the mark. If you are grateful first, then you can be happy.
Before coming to Hoon Dok Hae, Father quietly meditates and prays for about ten minutes. It is a very deep moment. It is the most profound moment with Father. The ten minutes he meditates before coming to Hoon Dok Hae is the most profound and precious moment.
At that time, I do not want to hear praise from Father. I am but grateful just to be with him at that time. I learn many things.
A couple of days ago I went to Paju. I visited the wonjeons of Dae-mo nim, Heung-jin nim and Shin-gil and also went to Young-jin hyung's wonjeon. When I went to his wonjeon I couldn't stop crying. There I told Young-jin hyung what I was going to do in 2007. I thanked him and told him that I knew he was safe with Heung-jin hyung.
Climbing up the stairs I thought again about what I was doing now, what kind of life I would live, and what kind of life I was leading before True Parents, Heaven and all our members. The mysterious thing is how we come to know the value of life in the wake of the death of a person that was closest to you. After Young-jin hyung's ascension I came to think about the value of life.
Father talks about how he may go anytime. I plead to him not to say such things. I ask him why he says that and to not say such things. To be here together with True Parents is truly a tremendous blessing that is beyond words. We must really show True Parents when they are here with us how wonderful we are as their children regardless of whether we are Cain or Abel.
There will only be one set of True Parents no matter how many thousands of years go by. We are all their children. There is only one king of peace in God's eyes. Even though we may see blessed second, third, fifth, a hundredth generation members, True Parents will always be at the center. We must emulate their words, action and lifestyle. You must remember the value of True Parents being here (on the earth.)
Members worldwide must realize how precious it is to have True Parents here (on the earth.) I believe our world will become a good world.
My dear brothers and sisters! Please shower your love on Father and Mother. You have followed this path your entire life together with True Parents. Love from their children is important but your love also has a significant impact on True Parents. Your love fills True Parents up with vitality elements. Do not concern yourselves with the children (True Children) as we are still young. Please love True Parents the most.