Hyung Jin Moon
July 3, 2010
The graduation ceremony for the Special Education Session for World Leaders Organized by True Parents (the 120-day workshop) was held on July 3 at Cheon Bok Gung. This is the main content of Hyung-jin nim's speech on that occasion.
Good morning everyone.
Brothers and sisters, you've worked very hard. Thank you for completing the 120- day (127-day!) workshop.
As you know, Father is in Yeosu. On July 1, Father held Hoon Dok Hae for twenty-three and a half hours. This is a world record! He really pushed himself to his limits.
I arrived in Korea from Brazil at six PM on that day. Father had already spoken for thirteen hours. People told me that Father was pushing himself too much; it would be nice if Shin-joon nim could telephone True Father, they said. Instead, I called Father myself. Father said many things; he said, "Eog mansei!" So I thought that after thirteen hours and my phone conversation, Father would finish Hoon Dok Hae. But the next day when I was doing my Jeong Seong and Hoon Dok Hae there was no news in the early morning. When I asked, they said Father was still speaking [from the day before]. As you know, Father feels great impatience, and his burden is on the global level. We cannot imagine how heavy a burden that is....
True Father then went out to sea at around seven o'clock in the morning and caught a very large fish, 97 centimeters long, the largest this year. And on that day! [Applause] So we could see the blessing of Heaven upon True Parents....
Through this workshop we were able to bring together our devotion and effort and had an opportunity to prepare for 2013 by inheriting True Parents' teachings, which they wanted us to do, by making a proper plan by which to begin our future work.
Our choices lead us toward our destiny
When I think about this task, I recall something I shared with the members in Brazil this time. It is from a story about King Solomon who is known as "Solomon the Wise." He is looking from his window at the street below and sees a young man walking along the street. He has seen many men walk this way before. A lady is waiting for the young man. From Solomon's point of view the young man doesn't know where he's going. He compares him to a cow bound for slaughter but who knows nothing of its fate.
The young man's viewpoint is different. He sees his prospective encounter with a woman as an experience with a lover for whom he has waited all his life.
It is clear to Solomon that the young man is walking along a path to his death. She has lain in wait for him. She persuades him with her seductive talk, and he is taken in by this. Watching this unfold, King Solomon understands the reality. In choosing a certain path, the young man is determining his destiny. Depending on the path we take, our destination will be different.
Solomon knew that this was not just a one-off event. He could see this young man was choosing his path of life. It would not be just one day; he would go back the next day, and the next. And this would become his path. Even though the young man could not see it, King Solomon could see this person's future, his destiny.
In light of this, what is the path we are following, and what will our destiny be, therefore? Our destiny and our path are inseparable. This is important. We may think we are concluding a one hundred and twenty day period, but if we think like that, we are no different from the foolish young man in the story. This is not just a workshop; it's not just an event. As you went through the training and spiritual practice of this workshop, you were determining a path. You are deciding the path you are going to follow. It's not a one-day event. It's not a hundred and twenty days; this workshop determines the path we will take to eternal life.
A special path
Ordinary people are not following this path, and its purpose, its destination, is different from an ordinary person's. Ours is truly a path without an end. All paths but ours have an end; the leader's path never finishes.
Why is this? We are following the path True Parents have blazed. It has no end. Even if we fully realize Cheon Il Guk, we still need True Parents. Aju! It is not as if we will just arrive in Cheon Il Guk and no longer need True Parents. Our path is an eternal one. Even though we will pass on to the heavenly world, we must still follow True Parents.
Therefore, our path at this time is in pursuit of eternal elements. The elements of earthly life, such as material wealth and fame, are not eternal. We must not pursue such things. Ours is a path on which we are focusing on eternal matters. Do you see the eternal reality of the universe? The origin, creator of the universe is God. God's essence is true love. True Parents are God's eternal second selves.
Our path is to seek these things, and there is no end. It's not as if we will reach the point where we become True Parents. Of course, within our family we must stand as parents who are true, but that is quite different from being the True Parents. The True Children are also completely different from True Parents. There is an overall difference. We cannot become the True Parents. True Parents are the only second self of the eternal God. Could we give them a round of applause! [Applause]
[Hyung-jin nim tells the story of how, as a young boy he would go to Gloucester, a town on the east coast of the United States in the early 1980s. After fishing, Father and the members would walk on the beach. Hyung-jin nim relates his memory of trying to step in Father's footprints in the sand.]
Seeing Father was like seeing God
We were small and we kept falling over. We were unable to properly follow in Father's footsteps. Father's stride was so big, but we were so small. When we fell down, we got back up and kept going. For those who were watching this, it would have looked funny and cute. On the other hand, for us, whether we could do it or not was a serious matter. If we concentrated, we could do it.
I've thought a lot about this. Our life of faith is the same. We cannot become True Parents. Only one person can be the king of kings. No one else can become the king of kings.
There is no "next" True Parents. This is the eternal era of True Parents. Our responsibility is to eternally elevate True Parents, to eternally testify to them, and to become people who help bring to eternal life, through True Parents, those that have died.
We cannot follow perfectly in those footsteps. By that, I mean we cannot become the True Parents. But we can make effort to follow that path, even if we never complete it, even if we fall down, like children, because we are the children.
Relationship with True Father
I am very grateful for having a very good relationship with my father. It was not always like that, because Father has been working so hard for God's will all his life. He was away from home a lot. Those from the second generation know what I mean [about parents being absent due to mission work].
Because there were many of us, he didn't have time to spend with each child individually. So when I was a child, I had no relationship with Father. Of course, I would greet Father and Mother and kiss them on the cheek; on that level, yes. But we were never able to have special conversations with each other; it was a somewhat formal relationship. We knew that True Parents loved us a lot, but we were not able to share our affection for each other.
After Young-jin hyung went to the spirit world, and I began to study religion, I asked Father questions about religion, about the Unification Church, about his thinking -- many things. I wrote a lot about these things in my book A Bald Head and a Strawberry.
From that point, gradually I was blessed with a deepening relationship and sharing of heart with Father. I feel that no matter how great the work we do is, no matter how great a victory we bring, we are always True Parents' children. In my relationship with True Parents, I truly feel liberated and set free when I am their child, rather than when I stand in front of Father as an adult with a sense of having important responsibilities. Feeling I am True Parents' child is not something I feel ashamed of. Think of your heart in relation to your own parents when you were a child.
When I had my first and second children, two sons, my wife and I were very young. I'd shaved my head and every morning I was doing martial arts training. My children saw me doing that a lot. These little children started to ask if they could have their heads shaved -- well, not shaved, but their hair cut very short. I have some pictures of that time. Because I was doing martial arts, they would make paper swords or spears and come out and pretend they were training with me. I remember how cute they were.
Children want to be like their parents in every way, even though they are very small. They still try to follow their parents and be like them; they have that beautiful heart. As we grow into adulthood, however, we come to feel a great need to save face, look dignified in front of others, and preserve that dignity. We lose the innocent heart of a child that loves its parents, sees only its parents.
In the Bible, it is recorded that Jesus said that we must become like children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. We know this. Father also likes this passage very much.
In my relationship with Father, I've truly found the greatest joy when I am able to relate to him as a child to his parent. I know very well that I cannot replace Father and I acknowledge that fact, because I will always be a child to True Parents, a baby, even. In this father–son relationship, I can feel extraordinary love.
When I enter the room, does Father think, "Oh! The international president has returned."? He doesn't think like that. "The church leader has come." I may hold a position but that is not what he thinks about when he sees me. No, he thinks, "Oh my boy is here!" That's it, really. That's the most beautiful thing.
As you become an adult, you may think, "I'm not a baby. I'm an adult -- I'm a father; I have a grandson. What are you saying?" We may think like that, but if we live like that, our lives of faith will be painful. If we live with this mind-set, we cannot be happy in relation to True Parents.
I am speaking from personal experience. We must remember we are True Parents' children. If we put anything else around that, it will just become an obstacle, inhibiting our relationship with them.
We should shield ourselves from praise
During these hundred and twenty days, you offered Jeong Seong, you studied many materials and you undertook hard training from the early hours of the morning. Even so, brothers and sisters, if you offered those up to True Parents, you must now forget about them, forget about all the effort you've made in the workshop.
You should not think, "Oh, I got up every morning and offered Jeong Seong in front of True Parents." You should get rid of that kind of thinking. If you continue to think like that, it means you did not offer it to True Parents completely. You have to let it go. You have to forget about it. I know you've been told how hard you've worked but I want tell you to throw those words of praise away. If they come in one ear, let them quickly flow out the other.
There is a saying that one should respond to persecution and praise in the same way. When persecution comes, we set ourselves so that it cannot penetrate our hearts. You don't allow negativity, temptation or evil to enter you. In the same way that you shield yourself from persecution, you should shield yourself from praise. If you allow praise to penetrate you and you welcome it, you become attached to it and don't let go of it. As you receive praise and eat it up, coming to like the sweet taste, you turn into the devil.
That's why, when we are praised, we should shield ourselves from it just as we do with persecution, temptation and sin. You should not draw it down into yourself but push it up to Heaven. Rather than receiving it, think instead, "I did not work so hard for a hundred and twenty days; it's True Parents who have worked hard for so long." Return that praise to Heaven! [Applause] This is the difference between the path that Satan takes and True Parents' path.
It is right for me to say thank you for your hard work, brothers and sisters, but whenever someone thanks you for your hard work, you have to hate that praise. Transfer that praise to Heaven. Then your devotion and investment will not be in vain. If you can do that, you can return joy to True Parents as a little child does to his parents.
It's very important to have such a pure and unblemished heart. As we come to a close, we cannot send you back to the mission field and just tell you that you did a good job. Our lives are being offered. We must always think that any success we have belongs to True Parents. It's important to have that heart, like a young child.
On this final day, I want you to remember that your choices and decisions are deciding the path you are going to take. In that light, we choose our path from today, the eternal path. That path is the one on which we seek God and True Parents. If we follow that path, we will not only return joy to True Parents, but after we reach the beautiful world of Cheon II Guk, we will meet again and we will be able to completely rediscover True Parents and follow them again as their beautiful children. I believe this!
I would like to thank you as we conclude this one hundred and twenty day workshop. Let's give a big round of applause to God and True Parents.