Section 1. God's Will
What is God's Will? It seems to be a very simple question but actually it is a very difficult question. I asked one theologian to explain to me the Will of God and he said to me, "It seems like a very simple question but actually it is very difficult to explain." Of course he is right. So what does Rev. Moon of the Unification Church think that God's Will is? We have to give an explanation concerning the Will of God. This is an absolute necessity. The reason for this is because God is the origin of the whole Providence of Salvation and is the central point of unity and the driving force of providential history. So I think that giving a conclusive definition of the Will of God is of the utmost importance.
So what is God's Will? It is to realize His ideal of creation, which is to complete His purpose for creating the universe. It is simple. So what is God's Will? It is to realize the Purpose of Creation. God did not create the universe without a purpose; He definitely had a purpose. So it is natural that God's Will is to realize His Purpose of Creation.
Who was the center of the Purpose of Creation? It was Adam and Eve. This is why, in the Unification Church we say that God's Purpose of Creation is to realize His ideal of creation. So why did God create the universe? It was to realize His ideal centering on Adam and Eve. And we say that this ideal is to establish the Four Position Foundation.
Then what is the Four Position Foundation? It is for Adam and Eve to become absolutely one with God so that even if they tried to leave the realm of God's love they could not. They would attend God above, in the position of Father, and on the earth they would be the central family standing in the position of being the ancestors of humankind and be the unified starting point of love. Then the position in which Adam relates to Eve, which would be realized by following the ideal that God had when He created Adam and Eve, would be the position of united love.
If God's Will had been realized centering on God's love and if Adam and Eve had become husband and wife and had children who in turn had realized the love which would have enabled the parents and children to become one, then the Adam cultural sphere would have been established.
There would not be the countless races and tribes that we see in the world today. Also culture would not have been formed by the tangled mess of history. There would be one race. And there would be one cultural sphere, which would have arisen from one ideology. From the point of view of culture, there would be one historical root and all the customs would be the same.
If they had done that, then the family would have multiplied into the clan, the race and the nation, all within the realm of God's love. Which in turn centering on Adam's family would have expanded into the world. Then God's ideal world based on the Adam culture and thought would have been established. And what would this world have been centered on? God's love. Then with God above as the Father, all humankind would have been like brothers and sisters. Like a fruitful tree of love, the roots would have become the trunk, the trunk the branches, the branches the leaves and this world would have been like one body of God's love and thus the eternal ideal world would have been realized. This is a summary of our worldview from the point of view of God's Will. (110-213)
1. The Four Position Foundation
The purpose of creation can only be realized when the Four Position Foundation is completed. The first is the perfection of the individual and the second is the completion of the reciprocal foundation.
Man has an emotional side, love and family, and a mission side such as work. If a person doesn't have both of these things in the world of existence, he is like a dead person.
Jesus is the break in the line of the Three Objective Purpose of God, Adam and Eve. This means that because Jesus didn't have any children he couldn't stand in an upright position in front of God. (19-21)
When a man and a woman become one body through true love, their relationship as a couple becomes inseparable; then eternity exists there. This is what the Unification Church thinks about the family. Do you understand? [Yes]
So we are looking for this kind of family. Because we are seeking for this type of family the Unification Church teaches that the Providence of Salvation is the History of Restoration, and the Providence of Restoration is the realization of the Purpose of Creation. And we can say that the Purpose of Creation is the complete fulfillment of the Four Position Foundation. Then everything centers on the family. If there is no family there can be no proper tradition. How can you inherit tradition without the family? [You can't] What can't you inherit without a family? Money? No, you don't need a family to inherit money. Power? No, you don't need a family to inherit power. You can't inherit love without a family. This is why you need to know about the Four Position Foundation. Do you understand what I am saying? [Yes]
Then what is the Four Position Foundation? Men and women both have minds and bodies. This is the Four Position Foundation. You have a spirit man and woman and you have a physical man and woman. What does the spirit man represent? It represents the vertical. It is a vertical concept. (187-47)
As a husband and wife it is only when we gain the victory with our children, together as a family, that we can say for the first time that we are a family that has realized the ideal and purpose of creation. It is only after the father and mother have become one and then the children and parents have become one that a perfect Four Position Foundation is formed.
God has not been able to find one such family on this earth. There has been no family, there has not even been an individual who has been able to overcome the power of Satan. Unificationism teaches that this purpose is not achieved by the individual alone; it can only be achieved in the family together with the children. (52-307)
2. If the Standard of the Four Position Foundation is Realized
What must fallen man seek for? We must seek for God and God's love. If Adam and Eve had completely become one, centered on God, then because they had become one with the absolute being, even from a relative position, their love would have become absolute. If that had happened, then sons and daughters born in that absolute realm of love would have received absolute love and would have remained naturally in the realm of God's love. In the absolute realm of love there is no conflict or high or low, and when they enter the position of complete obedience they would have received God's absolute love. Then their sons and daughters would have grown up in the peaceful realm of God's love, In that kind of atmosphere, parents and children could have lived in harmony and praised God's love. This is what in the Unification Church we call the true standard of the Four Position Foundation. It is the multiplication of ideal families. What would happen if the mother, father and children become one and realize the True Four Position Foundation? If the mother and father become one centered on God's love, then the children automatically become one. Do you see?
If the mother and father are at this standard centering on God, A and B are the same and C and D are the same, and E, F, G and H are all the same. If A is absolute, then what about B, C, D and E? [They are absolute] The same applies to F, G and H. They are all absolute. So when God's absolute value is made absolute three-dimensionally then this is the realm of the Kingdom of Heaven.
3. The Law of Love Based on the Four Position Foundation
The theory of the Four Position Foundation applies to all universal principles. So if something, be it internal or external, can't have give and take action centering on the vertical and horizontal then the foundation for existence cannot be established. If there is no pivotal axis then everything will be dissolved. We need an axis. (181-186)
What is the root of Heavenly Love? Somebody has to love before "I" can exist. In other words, the parents' love has to exist first. Next, if "I" am to remain, then I have to have conjugal love. This has to happen for children's love to come out. These are the Three Great Loves. So parental love, conjugal love and children's love all appear in God's love. These three great loves for humankind have the eternal actual reality and authority, which can transcend the absolute. So when these three great loves join together, then man can become happy. When they are all complete, then happiness is complete. If they are lacking, then unhappiness arises.
Do you think a person without a mother is happy? A person is unhappy to the extent that he doesn't have his mother. Do you think you can be happy without a father? A person who has lost his father envies a person who has a father.
In order for happiness to exist, there should not be any kind of envy. You can't be happy without a father and you can't be happy without a mother. No matter how big a person's scale of thinking is or how loud he can shout, he still needs a woman. He needs a wife. If, after an interesting married life, the husband passes away first, then the wife cries. You can't do without a man and you can't do without a woman.
Next, no matter how loving a couple may be, what happens if they don't have any children? Are they happy? [Unhappy] Do you need only sons? No, you need sons and daughters. And if the couple only has one son and daughter, what happens? The son needs an older sister and brother and the daughter needs an older brother and sister. They also need younger brothers and sisters. If they don't have all of these they are unhappy. God protects the family where the younger brother and sister and the older brother and sister become completely one. This becomes the foundation for the clan, the tribe, race and nation.
So how many people are needed? I have a father, mother, an older brother and sister and a younger brother and sister. [Seven people] This is why we call the number seven the number of perfection. You must know that perfection here refers to love. Why is the number seven the number of perfection? Why do Christians say the number seven is the completion number for the creation of the cosmos? It is because seven contains these contents within it. The number three is the number of heaven and the number four is the number of earth. The number three here means my father, mother and me. Then what does the number four mean? It is adding younger brothers and sisters to the number three mentioned above.
Since the beginning of human history, has there been anyone who has realized true love centered on his parents, true love centered on his spouse and true love centered on his brothers and sisters? True love is an absolute necessity. I said that we need seven centering on true love, didn't I? You must know that the number seven is the number of completion. The Father, Son and Holy Ghost represent Adam and Eve centered on God. Parental love replaces heaven and earth. The father represents above and below, namely the connection of vertical love. From your point of view, this means your older brother and sister are east and west and your younger brother and sister are north and south. If this is established, then three dimensions start to exist. This is the law of love. So there is nothing that is not governed by all the laws, mathematical principles and formulas in science. The law of God's love, the original concept of the principle of creation, arises from this. When the law of love is properly established, then the beginning of peace will be realized. (20-40)
4. The Need for the Family
Why do we need the family unit? It is because Satan can never invade it. This is why the family unit is an absolute necessity. If the family becomes completely one and with your parents you shout, "God, I was born to fulfill your will. You have to come and live with us." Don't you agree? Then God will say, "Yes, you are right!" (135-37)
People must have a family. Centered on the family we can say that there are parents, children and things (of creation). Then, what is needed to expand the vertical history of the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Completed Testament horizontally? We need parents, children and things of creation. This means parents, children and the things they own. These are what are needed inside the family unit. (29-157)
The ideal of the Unification Church is nothing more than this. The start is the family, the conclusion is the family. Until now no one has dealt with this problem, so this is our hope. The reason is this is where we can find true happiness. Unificationism is the systematization and universalization of this principle. And by doing this we will gain official recognition. Accordingly, if everyone is persuaded by Unificationism and bow their heads before the principle concerning God's family of love, then the world will become unified. (26-103)
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Section 2. Formation of the True Family and Lineage [Part 1]
1. A Family Needs Three Generations
Do you like a complicated thing or a simple one? [We like a simple one.] Really, you like a simple family? [Yes] Then, where has what I said lead to?
I mean, let's live together with our grandfather, grandmother, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and grandchildren. Centered on what? Three generations of Formation, Growth, and Completion can settle down in a family, being centered on the center. What does it mean? It means that you can love God when you love not only your father and mother but also grandparents. When you put grandfather above father and mother's position, then you can love God.
Then, why do we need a husband? Why do we need parents? Why do we need sons and daughters? It's just because we can't serve God without them. That's why we need them. It is the principal that we need to have parents, sons and daughters. Now, what does this mean? One, two, three, one, two, three (speaking while writing on the board) Here is the center with an angle of 90 degrees. An angle of 90 degrees should be fit for it. These are all the same. So is the Center.
Now we understand why we need three generations. Do you need parents? [Yes] Then, do you need a husband and a wife? [Yes] You need a baby? [Yes] Why do you need them? From this, the theory must be reasonable, that we need parents, a husband and children, in order to make a relationship with God and the very good center as well.
We have to surely know why we need parents, a spouse, and children. You should know that by all means. You are bound to go up and down, to the center and side, to every direction. Even grandchildren can't help going to these directions.
When you act toward your grandfather with love, then he may say, "Good, good." You know this fact? [Yes] So you should know that it is a really surprising thing that the Unification Church has trained people how to build this type of family, which is centered on original love, in order to realize the original world which has not come true yet. (128-17)
There should be parents, a husband and a wife and child in a family. Then, the family becomes a foundation of happiness. The reason that God has sought human beings is to seek His own happiness.
So in order for God to seek such a foundation of happiness, He cannot achieve the ideal if He were away from human beings. When God makes a relationship with people, then He can achieve it. Just as we feel happiness in the family where there are all kinds of emotions and sentiments, so God can feel that in that place. (132-198)
We need to feel and face each other. Therefore, we are absolutely in need of a wife and a husband as well as the young and the old. Thus, we have made a common shape, regardless of what others say. What would our future be like, if we say we don't need the old? When you neglect the old, then the nationality of your country may disappear. You understand that? From the viewpoint of racial traditions, if you would dislike the old, you would become a traitor to your racial traits.
By the way, children deny their parents, and even ethics and morality these days. It will be the Last Days when people deny ethics and morality. Our Unification Church members shouldn't do so. And we shouldn't dance to the tune of current thought. The Unification Church has to make firm human relationships, which are really positive and upright forever. Parents, children and teachers, all of them, should make relationships with others respectively. So young people by themselves cannot make it perfect. Without exception, God also needs the old people in order to establish and fulfill His Will.
Therefore we must look upon the old as very important. Hereafter, you will set out to do this kind of work, centering on Rev. Moon. We need adults, sons and daughters, all members of a family in working for God. (21-120)
Is it true that a lot of grandchildren and daughters-in-law hate to see the cane which grandparents are carrying with them. Why? Does it mean that they may wish the grandparents an early death? However, good grandchildren and daughters-in-law who have a lovely mind and heart may think, "Oh God, when the cane disappears someday, I will be drenched in tears." Then, are they good or bad? Which one? [They are good daughters-in-law and grandchildren] What about all of you, then? You want to just manage to get along, without being serious, don't you?
These people don't have the proper direction of life and can't find the center in life at all. (184-270)
These days, the basic foundation of family ethics is being shaken. So far, those who believe in religion have thought that it's not good to get married.
But we have to sing in praise of the great divinity of marriage. The way for a man and woman to love each other will be built through their marriage life.
Thus, they can become one. Then who are man and the woman supposed to take after? That is God. Only when they become one, can they resemble God who made the man and the woman from His external image. Then, God can be together within them.
The power of the universe is like this. Why does a wife cry over her husband's death? Well, we can think, "death is just death He died because he did not want to eat meals? (Laughter) Death, it's just nothing but to be all over. Then, why do people cry for that? You have to know this point. When you don't have any sons and daughters, what makes you cry and be sad? The point is that you should be fully equipped with all the constituent family members. That's the basic principle of the universe.
Therefore, we can say that the existence-power of the universe is composed of power and will to advance the object's ideal. For this reason, they all can have give and take with each other. For instance, the South and the North can have give and take with each other, can't they? Just as the South Pole and the North Pole create give and take action, so one star and another star can do so. Nothing can exist without its counterpart. Such an ideally unified being which has perfect give and take action can deserve the support of the universe.
It means that in order for this type of unified being to remain, heavenly fortune should come around it. Then, everything cooperates for such a being. That's how the principle works. Also, we absolutely need sons and daughters. Nowadays, Western society has been filled with the way of thinking that there is no need for children. But just see if they really will not need any children later. You may understand why you need children, if you go to the spiritual world. The place where you are standing has an upside and a downside at the same time. It means that our existence is bound to pass through three numeric stages.
Everything is made up of three stages. Three stages! There should be parents, a husband and a wife, and children in these three stages. None can run counter to this Heavenly Principle. If you divide the stages into three parts, there are three stages of man and three stages of woman. If these are added up, three numeric stages can be formed and thus the ideal world comes true. Speaking of something ideal, it means that there must be a grandfather and a grandmother, a father, a mother, and yourselves. The family ethics of the Unification Church originate from this ideal. (70-76)
What is Heaven? Heaven is where one can love others just like his family members. Also it is the heavenly people who do so. Grandfather and grandmother, mother and father, his wife, brother and sister, and children! What do these four generations mean? A family is just like a textbook where heavenly people can experience a perfect love, the true love of the universe. We all have to understand that a family is like a textbook that teaches you what the cornerstone of your life is. (129-98)
What is the Satan like? What is Satan? Here! Let's see what Satan is. We need to know what kind of fellow this Satan is. In other words, we should understand how in the world Satan is so bad.
Look! There is one family. How many generations usually live together in one family? [Three generations] Three generations or four generations? Which one? There are a grandfather, a father and you. They are three generations. By the way, there can be a great-grandfather. So there are four generations living together in one family. Thus, we should know that four generations can live together. Is that right? If there are over four generations in a family, there are eighty years total, when we count 20 years for one generation.
Considering it in this light, where shall the people before these generations go and live? They shall go to the spiritual world.
By what should a family on the earth live? By money or by power? What matters is what we have to live by. [We should live by love.] (124-138)
2. The Family is the Unchanging Pillar of the Family
What is an unchangeable thing? These days man and woman love each other and get married; nevertheless, the marriage is still changeable. Is the love of father and mother also changeable? Even parental love toward children may be changeable, but it may be less changeable than the other is. If we seek one thing in common which is not changeable among every changeable thing around our human world, that is mother's love. A mother loves a child more than the father does, doesn't she? Of course, we should be aware that the father is the center of love. Where does the origin of love and life come from? The origin of life doesn't come from the mother. The mother can be compared to flesh and father can be like bone. After taking something from the father, then the mother can have a child. This is why we have to think of father and mother. No shape can be formed without bone.
So if there is an unchanged person in a family, that one must be the father. You may be afraid of your father, aren't you? Father is somewhat hard to access. Also he usually is inclined not to act rashly but goes in an orderly way to keep his position and dignity. But the mother is not like that. Although the father makes so many turns in one place, he will keep his position like a pole holds its place. Don't you think so?
Some time ago I went to Chung Pyung and saw a turbine and generator turning. And I found that the shaft, which connects both side-parts is very thick. It can make 450 turns in one minute. When I saw it turning, it looked as if it didn't move. In the same manner, the mother makes turns, centering on the father. Because of her turning, she can be changeable. If she goes to the East, she forms the shape of the East; if she makes turns to the West, she makes the shape of the West. In the same way, she does so toward the South and the North.
For this reason, when we look for a person who is not changeable, that one is the grandfather. Then who do you think will be the next one? The grandmother or the father? [It's the father] Well, you knew that. Who is the next, then? It's the grandson, the son of a father. All of them are male. You had better not talk about all these secret things to women, because a woman is changeable. In talking about something secret, when the mother is around them, the husband and the son may say, (Mother, could you stay out for a moment?" (Laughter) It indicates what oriental philosophy is.
For some important matter, it is not the father and mother but the father and son who are supposed to talk about that. Who knows if she would be false to her husband and get married again? (Laughter) It might be somewhat OK if she married a king, but what if she got married to an enemy? You don't think so? It means that you have to consult with the grandfather and father about an important matter. Why do we have to do so? That's because they are unchangeable beings. Something important requires something unchangeable. The subject, which is never changeable is eternally valuable. That's the way it is. (141-280)
What is the center of a family? That's the parents. Then why is it the parents? It's because the parents exist and live for the sake of all the members of the family. Does that mean that parents are unique beings? It means parents are the sole central beings which are absolute, unchanging and everlasting.
Now we have learned the fact that it is the parents who have such an unchangeable volume of love within themselves. There is a cloth which wraps any diamond or gold. Is the wrapping cloth valuable or not? The cloth may have an equal value to a diamond, if it is used to wrap a diamond. From this point of view, we have understood how valuable parents are. Once more, we have to keep in mind how precious the parents are who have an unchanging, limitlessly valuable love. Have you ever thought of parents in that view? The word "unique" or unique parents, comes from this view. Parents are unique, unchanging and eternal, from whom all these concepts come. That's what parents are. True or wrong? Yes, it's true. Parents can be changeable? [No]
After all, even if any revolution breaks out, we can not revolutionize love. So the origin of this love will remain for good. And such parents, as the subjects of love, must need you absolutely, continuously and permanently. (74-19)
Have parents ever been taught how to love their children? Here, ladies! You have a baby and you love it. Then, have you ever learned how to love the baby? Is there any elementary, middle, high school, or a university teaching love? Is there any need and use of a bachelor's or doctor's degree in loving a baby? No conditions are needed for this love but a perfect standard of love, which everyone wants to reach. The less one feels love toward children, the more he wants to make efforts to love them, even to the extent of 100% love. Right?
A perfect thing needs nothing more to make it better and it needs no more learning for it. The perfect thing is the thing that one doesn't have to add to or subtract from any more. Accordingly, it is something unchanging and eternal. (38-227)
What in the world are parents? There may be a son who is a world champion in both physical force and brain power. And he may think his parents are a big problem in his life. Then he might want to go back on his parents and do as he likes. But why couldn't he do so? You have to know this point. He can do as he pleases because he thinks he is the best in force and brains. Where does the origin of love come from? From yourselves? [From parents] The origin of love is not yourselves but parents. There is no result without cause. Understand that? One knows he is not the subject, from the light of love. So he shall not do as he pleases. That's why children say, "Yes, mother; yes, father" in front of their parents. So when your parents say, "You may be famous and have authority in the world, but in front of your parents you should be reasonable," then the children can answer like this, "Yes, yes, yes, mother and father." Why? Because there is love between them. While parents are the subject, children are the object. Can you understand this?
It is the principle that the subject should take care of the object and the object should obey the subject. When this order is destroyed, a family will lose its value. However stupid a person may be, since he was born with the original mind, he would know that this is the heavenly principle. Therefore, no matter how powerful he may be, he has to bow toward his parents. Am I wrong? [No] (50-135)
The human world has kept fighting continually, resorting to force and knowledge. But the time hasn't come yet to have a fight of love and with love. Religious leaders say that when the Last Days come, their time will come. The power of the sword and the pen would have disappeared. The only thing that will remain is the power of love.
Such a final age of hegemony is the Last Days. One day a physically stronger elder brother comes home, but can he act as the boss? That's possible or impossible? No matter how strong he may be, that's impossible. He may be a champion in the ring, but not in the family. Understand that? Is it possible? [No] Why? Because there are parents in the family. (50-135)
3. The Grandfather's Position is that of God
The grandfather is the man who has love. When husband and wife, sons and daughters or grandchildren have words with each other, grandparents with heartfelt love dissuade them from fighting, saying, "Please don't do that any more," as if they were servants. Thus they encourage their offspring, saying, "You are excellent, better than we are." You've got to know that the most serving person with love is the grandfather. When the wife grumbles for something, the husband says, "All right, honey, I will get you what you want."
Well, what is the conclusion? It is that the follower of love in a servant's position has the most surprising and greatest authority in the universe. It is the philosophy of God, Rev. Moon and the Moonies. That's the conclusion. (135-122)
In an American family, the grandfather makes a phone call in advance before he visits his son's house. Do you think it's a good thing? See, imagine there is a daughter-in-law who wants to give more to her grandparents than to her husband. How lovely she is! Then, she can inherit all things of love from her grandparents.
Well, who is the oldest grandfather in the world? [God] Right. (Laughter) We learn how to love God through our love toward our physical grandfather. We can have all the lovely and secret treasures of God through this tradition. How wonderful it is! (107-329)
From this point of view, when you hear your grandfather coughing, do you think in your mind, "Damn, the old man should go to the other world" or, "I like it?" As they get older, old men don't sleep too much. Just think about that. So we'd better think, "Our grandfather is like God, protecting us without sleeping too much!" When he gets much older, his puckered lips just tell of his aging. So you have to obey absolutely what he says. Now you may know how beautiful that is. You will not have any break-ins, any fires in your house, when you are serving and living together with your grandparents. You should remember this.
What do you think they are doing without sleeping then? They pray, "May God bless my children." Through prayer, God tells them what to say to their children, "Hey son, you need to watch out, when you go out; please listen to me." "Don't go out today! Don't quarrel with others. Don't go out too far today." That's how they teach their children. (Laughter)
Accordingly, do grandchildren need such grandparents or not? With love, happiness can come down to all of the grandparents, father and mother, brothers and sisters so that they can dance with their all heart. (107-327)
When parents send their children someplace, they have to get permission from the grandparents. Parents can't do as they please, because grandparents are in the position of God. Do you understand what I am saying? From the light of the American way of thinking, it's hard to accept and understand. When parents go out somewhere, children may beg, saying, "I want to go with you." Then, it's hard to say, "No, you can't." (107-326)
4. The Order in the Human World
What is the human world composed of? There is an order in the world. That is to say, there is an order among grandparents, parents and children. What matters is how well they all get along. We believe it is the best thing that all of them become unified into one.
What is the most valuable and precious thing in human beings? That is not something external, but something internal. For this reason, we ought to seek and establish a good relationship with people in the world of the object and with our inner self, good grandparents, good parents, good brothers and sisters, and a good couple. (161-314)
Teenagers these days, when are given something by their mother, they are not willing to take it. (Laughter) Even some parents, in order for them to go out for fun or pleasure, let their children stay in a room tied up. Do you like such parents? In reality there are many parents like that. We've got to know that there are lots of men who are worse than animals.
Why do we, human beings, need to understand what the concept of family is? There are four types of people in the world: they are in the position of grandparents, parents, husband and wife, and children. Yes or no? [Yes] The concept is that a family is a textbook and the Bible is given to all the people in the world in order to lead them to be Heavenly people.
Then, who is supposed to establish the order and rank in the family? The person who serves the family more and knows the family better will be in charge of the family. This order is not against the democratic doctrine. Then, who should be the center of the family? [Grandparents] That's right. It's the grandparents. Is that wrong? [No] Why? Because they are aware of the whole. So we can say the grandfather is the king of the family. Right? As your grandfather himself feels too old and hands over his authority to his son, then finally your father becomes the center of the family.
Later, if your father hands his authority down to you, you also can be the center of the family. This inheritance will be continuous, from grandparent to parents, from parents to children, from children to their descendants. That's how our tradition can be established. Accordingly we have to know that this tradition ought to be the principle of a family system representing the universe.
But there has been no such God-accepting family since the fall of man. So God has made efforts to build again this ideal family by establishing religions, passing through a complicated and tough course in human history.
Seen from this historical background, the fact is that it is the Unification Church that starts the ideal family-making movement in the name of God for the first time in history. (130-269)
Just as one loves his children, parents and grandparents, so he has to love other children, parents and grandparents in his neighborhood. There we can form relationships in every direction. That's the way it is. Understand? There can't occur the heavenly principle centered on a vertical standard of heart without forming these relationships. So I want to say, "Let's put that in practice." That's why we can say that the Unification Church is building the ideal family because we are practicing it to make it come true.
Then, what do you have to do in this vertical center? You have to make it again on a horizontal level. That's what you have to do. So you can't help loving grandparents. Well, I will also become a grandfather soon. [Yes] Yes, I will be a grandfather. So will you. It goes the same way. You are born as a son or a daughter, get married, become parents and grandparents. That's our life. That's the official course of our life, You have to accept and love these facts, otherwise you run counter to the Heavenly Principle. That's how it goes. You understand? [Yes]
Basically if we do not fix these relationships, there will be no way to put the world in order. If you go to a Western society, you may feel that the old people there are poor. You may not know how much they miss and envy Eastern customs. They might say to themselves, "The Eastern people serve their grandparents like God, always consulting with their seventy or eighty-year old parents about whatever in order to make any decision. How good it is!"
Who is the oldest grandfather? Isn't it God? Also, who is the youngest? It's also God Himself God is older than a grandfather and younger than a baby, so in order for us to love God, we have to love the whole man. Do you understand? When it comes to age, God may be the oldest and youngest.
When you say that you love God, it should mean you have to love your neighborhood, the people around you, and even people in the spiritual world who passed away in history. That is logical. (70-152)
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Section 2. Formation of the True Family and Lineage [Part 2]
5. Grandparents and Grandchildren
You may know some grandfather and grandmother who have grandchildren. But just imagine that the children might think, "Seen from your physical body, you are doomed to die at the age of eighty. I don't like old people. See the puckered face, I don't like it. Don't come close to me." Imagine how ugly the grandfather is with his sunken eyes, a withered face and a strange-looking head.
There might be persons who have received a grandfather's love and those who haven't received it. The former may say with pride, "I got grand-parental love as well as parental love." But the latter received only parental love. Which one does your mind want? Which love do you like more between the two? The love from both grandparents and parents or only the one from parents? [The one from both.] Really? That's the basic foundation. (188-197)
Let me ask you something, everyone! Do grandparents like their grandchildren or not? [Yes, they do.] It's true that as one gets older, he comes to have gray hair and his face and hands are withered. Moreover, old people smell nasty in their body. When they are trying to get close to their lovely children to touch them, the children want to stay away from them. However, grandparents want to give them more and more, what they want. I also have experienced such a feeling. What about you? Grandparents habitually want to help their grandchildren, although the grandchildren don't want it. Even if they pass away, such merciful grandparents could not but like their grandchildren. Would it be right or wrong?
Think about this. When your ancestors like you, do you feel good or bad? You must feel good. (41-140)
See your grandchild, a toddling child, as soon as he comes home and asks, "Where is Grandpa, Grandma?" even in front of his Daddy and Mommy, brothers and sisters. Do you think the child's question is polite?
Think about how the child daringly asks about his grandparents who may be over eighty years old. In spite of his acts and words, nobody blames him for his words. If it applies to an unfamiliar person who acts and asks that way, it would bring trouble. Probably you will scold him, saying, "How dare you be so impolite?" But when it applies to the grandchild, contrary to a normal expectation, the grandfather rather likes it, and far from blaming him, says, "Oh, you want to see me." When the child asks, "Where's Grandpa?" he means that the child wants to see his grandpa and expects something from him. So what matters is the real intention of the child. It's just that the child wants to see grandpa and wishes to be together with grandpa. Then, is it a good thing or a bad thing? Needless to say, that's a good thing.
Well, there is a child who is trying to find a lap to sit on. He stares at his brother and sister near him. And he thinks in his mind that after looking at his brother's face, it will be at most three minutes before he can sit there. Then, the child turns his head toward his father and finds the father is very busy and tired so that the child thinks inwardly it will be ten minutes before sitting on his father's lap. Actually a child knows how the situation is going at a glance.
But the child believes that his grandfather or an old person on the whole, is -- how to say -- more generous than others. The grandfather holds the child in his lap over one hour or two hours and even longer without showing any slightest sign of dislike. So the child believes that his grandfather is the man who holds him most among the family members. With all his love and heart, the grandfather holds and caresses the child in his bosom so that the child may not resist it. What a wonderful and beautiful scene it is! It just means that the top of the main stem and the root of the tree want to become one. (139-13)
Your mind and body should be the core of love, which are harmonized and unified with love. You ought to be a respectable person and the successor in your family. What is something eternal? See, when a child has something really good, then the grandparents also feel happy without being jealous. So do the other family members. Then, what makes it possible? What is the thing that makes the whole party feel happy in their hearts. It's love which makes this possible. It's impossible without being centered on love.
Are grandparents very happy when their child has a baby? What makes them feel happy? That's just because the foundation of love is being broadened. (141-290)
What makes God lament? As a matter of fact, God hasn't had any grandchildren. When God's wish and Will come true, His range of foundation to move and work will be broadened. The universe should start from your family, otherwise your family isn't able to enter into a connection with the universe. It's just because the horizontal foundation is not realized yet. (180-109)
Grandparents feel lonely because they need the love of their grandchildren. It's natural that they should feel lonesome, when they are not given love. (104-147)
6. Watch the Phenomenon of Indifference to the Old in Western Society
These days, does the American family live together with their mother and father, grandfather and grandmother? [No, they don't] Is that a good or bad family? [That's bad] Then, why? I was wondering if the old in America like to go to a nursing home. Which park is in New York? That's [Central Park] Yes, one spring day, I once went to Central Park. I found that all the benches had been filled with the old people.
I came close to them, and asked them if they like to live together with their children or live separately.
They answered that they don't like living alone but prefer being together with their sons and daughters and grandchildren. They said that they always had missed their family. So many of the old in America have lived alone, missing their sons, daughters, and grandchildren, and thus, they passed away in such solitary places.
Originally all people were destined to be born, live, and die within love and with love. But such lonely old people don't have any partner to give love to or be given love. It may be their happiness and wish that they love and live together with their sons and daughters and grandchildren. So God is just like the old man in a family. (98-45)
Is there any home in America? There is something, like old people's homes, right? Then, are grandfather and grandmother happy there? It must be an unbearable life for them in that place. Is that American freedom? [No] (184-69)
Well, what about the Americans? Should they look down on the aged? [No, they shouldn't] It is natural that the young should respect the old. Seen from this point of view, Eastern society appears more moralistic than Western society. In other words, it can be said that the former is more high-minded than the latter, compared to God's ideal of love. So the West should go back to the East. It is high time for them to do so.
If Rev. Moon lived in Western society, would he find this idea and concept? [No] (Laughter) They are far distanced in the field of ideals and concepts. What I say is far closer to the Eastern idea. Which family system do you have to follow? [We have to follow the Eastern family system.]
If you go somewhere in Eastern society, you may find a young woman who won't get married until she dies, in order to serve her grandparents. Well, she may be miserable. But seen in the light of the universe, is she still miserable? Or is she happy?"
From the individual point of view, she might be unhappy, but from the universal point of view, she must be a good example. She might be too old to get married and too old to have a baby, just serving her grandparents, which is miserable individually, but she will bring a blessing into the family of her brothers and sisters, seen from light of the universe and the future.
What does this mean? It means that the family can get a blessing thanks to her. For instance, if a woman of the Moon family would do so, her family will receive a multiplied blessing. In the same manner, if Korean women would do so, Korea will have lots of blessing. (184-66)
7. Brotherhood
What are brothers? They are the persons who share the same love of parents. Then, can they fight each other? They are not supposed to do so. When I asked my daughter, Sun Jin, "Whose feet are these?" she answered that the right foot was her father's and the left was her mother's. She was really right. Why is it so? Because of love. (106-80)
When you talk about "brotherly love," what is that for? It means that you ought to broaden the foundation of love beyond yourselves. Namely it also means to "broaden and multiply your relationship." Love of humanity! But do the words "centered on life" make sense? There aren't any such words, something like "Life of humanity," right?
So, the starting point of all the origin should be the thing everyone likes. The core of the purpose of existence of something should be the thing from which everyone can draw the same end and conclusion. Only with such a life, we can't make it. (188-195)
A woman in the neighborhood dislikes the man who doesn't love his family. And villagers don't like the person who hasn't been given any love by his parents and brothers and sisters.
The person whom his brothers and sisters would welcome is not the one who thinks and acts centered only on himself, but the one who acts for the sake of the whole family. Is it right or wrong? It means that you have to go the opposite way. In other words, if you make up your mind that if you would take, wear and live in something bad, the others will like you. (120-112)
You have some people around you who are older or younger than you. You ought to be someone who is the center or the standard among people. You can know the principle of how to become so, without being taught. That's why you need to listen to what your parents say and to follow the way of husband, and also to love your brothers and sisters. Everybody knows this principle. You haven't understood what it means until the providence of the Unification Church. (123-134)
There are different characteristics of children who are growing up under their parents' wings. Even in your family, right? In spite of their various characteristics, the reason that they may insist on something is because they are rooted in the love of parents. So the other older brother or sisters cannot neglect the youngest brother or sister's insistence. Why can't they do so? It's just because the youngest's insistence is the one centered on the parent's love. No matter how young he or she may be, because all of them have the same value from the viewpoint of parents' love, the others should accept the youngest's insistence. So a good family life means that such an insistence is welcome. The problem is that the insistence shouldn't be accepted in a relationship where they haven't become one with their parents.
What would happen in such an inharmonious relationship? The brothers and sisters may be different from each other in their will. But they shouldn't be different from their parents' will. The will of the brother and sister should be connected to that of their parents. They can keep their authority, when they discuss their will on such a foundation. When the older brother or sister insists on something through the foundation which parents can accept, he or she comes to hold authority on behalf of the parents. You ought to stand by your opinion on the base of this foundation.
Even though one is younger, he can have the same position as parents have, if he asserts himself on the foundation where he becomes one with his parents' love. It means that he has the right to be able to participate in the same range as the parent's position. When he is in the place of the object, centered on love, all the authority of the parents are involved there. Namely the inheritance is involved. When one holds the same standard and opinion that the parents have, then he can stand together with his parents and can have the inheritance. That is a surprising fact. (170-64)
You see a child growing up. What do you think he is following? He grows up following his parents' love. "Here is father's love, mother's love; I like it." They find that parents' love is connected not only to them but also to the society, the nation, the world, and the heavenly world.
When a woman goes up to this position and a man goes to that position, then they think, "Which way can my father and mother come up?" That's how they follow their parents. Also, they may wonder how man and woman can live together, although they are so different. Thus, they learn how their parents have lived.
Everybody, do you like your mother and father? [Yes] You may wish to live with your parents but not together with your brothers and sisters, right? (Laughter) You may insist on yourself only. Do you really want to live together with your father and mother or together with all your brothers and sisters? Which one do you like?
Why are there brothers and sisters with you? The reason why you need brothers and sisters is that through them, you can come to understand how your mother and father have been growing up, seeing how your brothers and sisters are growing up. You have to know that is brotherhood. You are to grow up like that and then become one with each other.
Then, do you have to love your brothers and sisters, or don't you have to? [We have to love them.] Why do you have to do so? It has something to do with the past, when your parents were growing up. If you should go to the spiritual world, do you think it's possible to see and meet your father and mother at their younger age? [It's possible] Well, you are a grown-up there, then you might meet your mother when she was three years old. Then, will you kick her away? Or will you make a bow to her? [We will make a bow] Maybe, a baby doesn't know what a bow is. (Laughter) What will you let the baby do?
You have to learn how to love your little mom as you love your brother, your father and mother. You cannot love them without learning how to love her. Then you shall love your brothers and sisters, thinking of them as your mother and father in their younger age so that you have to love your father and mother if you encounter them at any age in the spiritual world. In order for you to be a person who can love your little mother and father, you need your brothers and sisters. Do you understand that?
The father and mother have several children. Then, is it good that those children love each other more than their parents or less than their parents? [Yes] Why should they do so? It is to establish the condition that the children can love their father and mother from birth to death by loving their parents as young figures, which is shown through their brothers and sisters.
The mother comes to learn how her husband had been growing up through watching her son growing up. To love her son makes a condition so she can love her husband before marriage. The husband understands through his daughter's growth how his wife had been growing up. So he can establish the condition to love the whole life of his wife.
And parents love their sons and daughters without any distinction. It is to realize an all-round love in a family where you have brothers and sisters. How wonderful and surprising it is!
The father and mother want to treat their children equally. You should know this. That's what a parent's heart is. You understand what I am saying? [Yes] To hate your brothers and sisters is a more serious sin than to hate your mother. That's the conclusion. This is the most important in family education. (184-60)
The closer you become one to parental love, the more harmonious your life becomes. That's very theoretical. Why should you become one with your brothers and sisters? From the fact that your mother and father, man and woman become one, we know that brothers and sisters should become one. That's how the public law of the universe is made up. Do you feel good when you fight your brother or sister? [No, we don't] Then, what makes you feet sad? [It's the natural law of the universe] You may know about air pressure but not about the law of the universe. In the same manner, people are dominated by the power of the universe.
For this reason, people are destined to make this vertical relationship. And in order to make this relationship, we say "love your parents." It doesn't mean to only "love your father" or "love your mother" but also "love your parents!" It is plural. When we say "Love your brothers and sisters," the term of brothers and sisters is not the singular but the plural. Why is it plural? It is because of the concept that love originates from the plural. You do understand what I am saying? [Yes]
Then, are you supposed to fight with your brothers and sisters? [No, we aren't] Are you to do so with your parents? [No] So this up-and-down relationship is absolute. No one can overturn it. Nowadays, the young people say that there is no need of such up-and-down relationship, but I think that the thing that is not needed is the one who says that the relationship is not needed. (104-127)
When brothers and sisters fight with each other in a family, how do your parents feel? It is just as if you hit your parents with a bat. If you would fight with each other so often, would your parents want to live longer or die earlier? [They would die earlier] Would they be happy or unhappy? [They would be unhappy] So you should know the following point, that your neglect of your brother may lead to the unhappiness of your parents and the whole family.
If one of your brothers or sisters does wrong, all the rest of the brothers and sisters should cure him of his wrongdoing, centering on the love of parents. Well, how wonderful the family is! They may think in their heart that the mother and father are like God for our descendants. Thus, if they love each other for the sake of others, then God will be together with the family and the children of the family will be in the position, which represents God. (184-63)
8. The Order in a Family
Do you want to think first and act later or, on the contrary, do you want to act first and think later? [We want to think and then act] Because you are Moonies, you think so. But you may say to yourself, "I don't like to think," and you may just act. You just do something first and think about that later, right?
Then why does the society around you not agree with that idea? Why does the society tell you to stop doing it? One may insist that you are wrong. "I am going the right way for justice." There breaks out a fight between the old generation and the new generation. Which one do you like? Why are they opposed to each other?
If all members of a family would have their own opinions and desires, there would be six selfish ways. Each member of the family would want the others to follow his or her ways. Thus, they all insist on their own way. There would be a fight breaking out every day. As they fight more and more, are they supposed to go up or go down? They are supposed to go down. If they fight two times, the steps of their position will be two more steps down than before; if they fight three times, they will drop three more steps. When they repeat it, the relationship would be destroyed. Is that a fact?
Or is the following true? You may think, "No, we can go up while fighting; yes, that's the principal." [No, it's wrong] The truth is that a fight makes you step down from your position. Is it true? [Yes it's true] Democracy originates from this way of thinking: "Let's go our own way." We cannot help doing so in order to develop and protect the whole.
Well, those who may think I am wrong, raise your hands. Let me ask you something. What conclusion can we draw from this? It is just to choose and go on our own way where we can help each other through. You are obliged to do so even if you don't like to do. When a certain way is beneficial to others, would it be the way to make you go up? [Yes]
We come to the conclusion that we absolutely need a common goal, centering on the way that is able to make you go up. Then, which way is the one that makes you go up? The way that make a family, nation and the world go up is the one that can be beneficial to the society, the world and the ideal of the world, respectively. People are inclined to deny the fact, but it is true.
There are two types of law. The one may be the law to prevent a fight and the other is the law to lead people to live for each other's sake. Then, what should we do in order to prevent people from fighting? If they are in the relationship between brothers, the younger should obey the older one. The one who is born first becomes the subject in the order of the universe. The senior one is connected to God. In addition, God is the most senior being who exists before everything does. So God must have established such a law.
If you are situated between parents and brothers, naturally you have to obey your parents, because your parents are born before your brothers were. That's the law. Such a law of order should be applied to each case. Do you understand what I mean?
You may say that you are just born so that nobody can interfere in your life. But you have to recognize that you have uncles or relatives. It means that you are born within the range of the clan. It is wrong to think, "Let's do as we please." On the contrary, you ought to live up to the law of order by which you can be in step with others.
You may say, "Do we need any law?" Yes, absolutely, you need the law. Only insisting on yourself to the end may lead to fighting. Then, only the strongest man could survive and the rest of them may die off.
That is the law which tells man to live for woman's sake, woman for man's sake, parents to live for children's sake, children to live for parents' sake, and brothers and sisters to live for each other's sake.
Do you understand what I am saying? It is possible to live up to the law, if you would do so through and by true love. You have to make sacrifices with true love for the sake of others. All laws are bound to yield under true love after all. Wherever you may go, if you go there with your hands raised like this, you will not be caught in the web of the law. You can pass through it. Understand? [Yes] That's why I always say to you that you have to live up to true love, making sacrifices and serving others. That's simple.
Imagine that the position of the older brother and the younger one might be overturned. It must not be so. The overturned position will be automatically put in order, even if it had been so. The older brother may call his younger one "elder brother," but it doesn't mean that their positions are disordered. Parents want to do more and give more in favor of their children. But can their behavior overturn their positions? Can the children be rude to their parents? Well, on the contrary, they must make up their mind to do more for their parents' sake. It's the function of their original mind that leads people to keeping order. Do you understand what this means? (117-216)
9. The Family as a Textbook of Heaven
You are standing in the place and the position of children. Also, you are destined to inherit the fortune of your grandparents and parents. Why do you need grandparents? It's because they represent the past. They represent the real history of the past. Next, what do parents stand for? They stand for the present age. Consequently, the children stand for the future. That's how everything is involved there. The center of all parts, grandparents, parents, and children, is moving toward true love. You had better remember this, when you think of your family. To love and respect your grandfather is to inherit and learn the past. You can learn the present from your father. To love and cherish children is to learn the future. What you could inherit from grandparents and parents is true love, the lineage of true love. If the grandfather and grandmother become one with each other, then the mother and father will become one also, centering on true love. We should be one and inherit the future. We can't inherit the future without forming a true family. Through these three things, we can understand the universe. God stands for all history, and the true family represents the present and the future.
It means that the family is a textbook to show how to learn the love of the universe. If there isn't a grandfather or a grandmother in your family, you may feel something lacking. Accordingly, a family should have the necessary parts. Then the family can be realized in the Kingdom of Heaven with the same shape and with the same members. The person who deserves to go to the Kingdom of Heaven is the one who loves the true grandparents, true parents, true children, true family, true nation, and the true universe. The family is the textbook of the heavenly world.
The grandfather loves the father and mother even at the risk of his life. How amazing and wonderful he is! In the same way, the mother and father love their sons and daughters at the risk of their lives. How amazing and wonderful they are! In conclusion, true love is something which makes a person die for the other's sake in a family. The grandfather lives for grandchildren's sake. The parents for the children's sake. The children for the parents' sake. The elder sister for the younger's sake. The younger for the elder's sake. The husband for the wife's sake and the wife for the husband's sake. The grandmother for the grandfather's sake and the grandfather for the grandmother's sake. (162-140)
Now that the young members of the Unification Church have understood the Will, they should take the old grandmother and grandfather out of the nursing home. It is high time for them to do so. If they would do so, would the old grandparents like it? [Yes, they would like it] What do the young people think? [They will like it] What makes you think so? It's because you have learned the teaching of the Divine Principle from the Unification Church. Before you learned that, you might have disliked the old.
You fellows, you will be a failure if you send your father and mother to a nursing home. You have to offer a prayer, "Oh, Heavenly Father, my father, my mother, and myself, these three generations must become absolutely one in heart and love, so please God, be with us." You should pray like that, then you are able to go to the Kingdom of Heaven. Otherwise, you could not go there.
Well, of your grandfather, father and you, who would be the closest person to God? [It's the grandfather.] That's right. Then, who can be the second closest person? [It's the father.] And then? It's you. Therefore, you should understand that you can't restore the original state until you inherit the blessing of the grandfather, grandmother, father and mother. You alone can't connect yourself to the kingdom of Heaven, if there is no vertical world. That situation can't establish any Four Position Foundation. (130-134)
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Section 3. The Family as the Training Center to Learn and Develop Heart (Shimjung)
1. The Family is the Textbook to Make Up the Kingdom Of Heaven
What is it that we have been shedding tears, blood and sweat with a parental heart and servile body for? It is for the sake of the world. It would be a lie to say that we live for the sake of the world without living for the sake of our sons and daughters. When one lives for the world's sake, he can become a representative. Therefore, I am the one who has done so. And I am the one who decides the criterion and the base for realizing the Heavenly Kingdom.
Then, what is the criterion? That's the family. Also, what is the base to establish a nation? It is the family too. There you should be a love-centered person, who doesn't want any rewards, even if you might have sacrificed your children and experienced every severe trials. You should have the thought that you feel sorry for not giving more and more. When you make up your mind like that, then your children would thank you for what you have done for them and voluntarily take over the responsibility on behalf of the parents. You have to make and offer such an environment. Without doing so, you can't go beyond the state of regret in the Garden of Eden where the people had fallen. (29-101)
There is the love of your grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, and brothers and sisters in your heart. Our Divine Principle calls it the love of the three-objects. Right? Husband and wife stand for the present. So they should have the mind to live for the past and the future. It means that you have to establish a vertical foundation.
Do you like your mother- in-law? [Yes] Do you need sons and daughters? [Yes] Well, you said, "Yes." Then here are grandparents, husband and wife, and children. By the way, which one is more important, a vertical relationship or a horizontal one? [The vertical one] Why? It's because that is the root and base of the universe. Love comes from Heaven, the upper place. It doesn't originate from the horizontal base. Therefore, the vertical one should come first, and from it, the horizontal one would originate. This is a plus and that is a minus.
After the horizontal husband and wife become one being, then whom should they love more strongly? [Parents-in-law] These two loving-beings should return to this place (speaking while pointing to his writing on the board). They have to make one circle, moving around. How can they do so?
The husband should love his parents as he loves his wife. And he should more strongly love his children. These three types of love should be located like this: first, the grandparents and then the father and mother and finally the children. Here are the vertical love and the horizontal love together. Thinking from this point of view, we find that when an American couple becomes divorced, they are able to desert each other but not the baby. Why is it so? Because the baby has everything, the love of man, the love of woman, the love of God. So, there may be no need for a man or woman, but there is the need for a baby. Why? It has God's love.
Do you understand that? So once a couple get divorced, there is a fight to take the baby. Right? [Yes] Just as a husband loves a baby, so he has to love his wife and God. In the same manner, a wife should love her husband and God as she loves her baby. When such three types of love come true, it will be really ideal.
Speaking of Western society, the husband and the wife in Western society are moving around, centering on this. But it doesn't have a center when moving. (Speaking while pointing to his writing on the board) Where is the center? Without bringing the love center here, Western society and civilization will be under darkness. Otherwise, even the universe would not tolerate it.
Seen from such a type of family organization, the family can be like a textbook. That is also a textbook to show how to realize an ideal nation. And such an ideal nation is a textbook to build an ideal world.
Do you understand what that means? [Yes] So there are four types of textbooks. These I are the family textbook, the national textbook, the world textbook and the universe textbook. Where should this training take place? Basically, it should be done in the family.
What should a family be like? Man must go beyond woman, woman must go beyond man. Husband and wife must go beyond grandfather and grandmother.
That's the content of the family textbook, which is for the nation. The nation comprises the group of grandparents, mother and father, the future daughters-in-law. So it is possible to say that one can build his own nation. (118-232)
There are four generations: God and True Parents, parents, husband and wife, and children. The parents are the beings who are realized horizontally on behalf of true parents. If you had not been fallen, you would not have any need to believe in God. It means that you would be supposed to recognize God automatically. So if you love God as you love your parents, you deserve to go to the Kingdom of Heaven. Then, there might be no need of religion. It's needless. Understand that?
In the same way, children should love grandparents as parents love grandparents. There is no need of education. It can be applied to the animal world in the same way. The textbook says that God, parents and sons and daughters should become one like one body, centering on love. Also, it tells us that love shouldn't be applied to your home only. (164-94)
The family is the textbook to show how to make the Kingdom of Heaven. There is one common thing that every nation can agree upon. If you love the whole of parents and old people in the world as you love your physical parents and grandparents, you are surely supposed to go to the Kingdom of Heaven.
Any border in the spiritual world could not influence such a man. In other words, if you treat all the young in the world as your sons and daughters, you will be welcome anyplace in the heavenly world.
The family is the textbook to show how to make a relationship with the Kingdom of Heaven. It means the textbook for education. If you apply what you learn in such an ideal family to the nation, the world and God, you will become a patriot, the son or daughter of God, namely the holy son, respectively. It is not the holy man but the holy son. All men have such a desire to be so.
2. The First Training Center to Build the Kingdom of Heaven
For man, one needs a family, nation, world and the original world of the universe. That can be four grades or four steps. You need a family, nation and the world. Speaking of the Unification Church, it needs the universe. You've got to connect these things with love. And such love is eternal. Love is the thing that connects God, holy men and patriots. Let's see the parents in a family. The parents are the representatives of the nation, holy men, and God. Also, the family is the stage of the first step for learning such love. That is to say, a family is the first training center to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. And Korea as a nation is the second training center, which needs patriots.
Next, the third training center is the world, the fourth one is the spiritual world. Then, one is to become the sons and daughters of God. The holy men themselves don't mean the sons or daughters of God. So all parts should become the sons and daughters of God. One at the position of a holy man ought to become one with God and he can go to the place where he can inherit ownership from God. Then, all that God has belongs to him. Can you understand it? (142-302)
3. The Family as the Textbook Where One Can Feel Universal Love
What is the universe? It is the amplified family. You've got to know this. Seen from the order of the family, it comprises the up, middle, down, left, right, front and backside. That is the principle. When we speak of the up and down side, it indicates parents and children; when speaking of the left and right, it refers to husband and wife; when it is the front and backside, it means brothers and sisters. How can all those parts become one? By power? [ No] Knowledge? [No] Money? [No] Then what makes it possible? [Love] Love doesn't mean ordinary love. It is True Love. Nothing can make a round circle but true love.
Then, what are the up, middle and down sides in a family? That's the textbook to let you feel the love of the universe. I want you to spread such love to the world. How to love yourself? Jesus said, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." What does that mean? That's unclear. When you meet another grandfather, serve him as you serve your own grandfather. In the same way, you have to serve other mothers, fathers and children. Also it can be said that all those kinds of people are exhibited in the exhibition center, the world. It's like a world people exhibition.
When you love others with love as you love your family members, God will be with you. In addition, when you see a child, love him as you love God.
Well, what is the heavenly world like? It is like an amplified family and exhibition center of qualified goods. So it should have some shape to hold such a qualified family. (128-23)
Here, can we live without learning the love of the universe? [No, we can't live.] God gave you a textbook, the holy script, and promised that you shall love your grandfather and grandmother, who had been sent to you on behalf of those grandfathers and grandmothers in the spiritual world.
In the same manner, if you absolutely love your father and mother, who stand for the other parents in the world, it makes the condition for you to love the rest of all parents. It applies to the case of men and women, and children in the same way. So a family is the training center to teach people what love is and how to love people through the Holy Scripture. If these trainees answer "Yes" when they are asked to love other grandfathers and grandmothers as they are love their grandparents, then they can establish the conditions to save this world.
In loving people, you shouldn't discriminate among people just because they are Black, Asian, poor or uneducated. You have to love people, whatever they may be like, just as you love your family members. That's the formula by which one is taught how to love. (130-273)
4. A Testing Place for the Kingdom of Love
God's Will is to realize the Kingdom of Love in this world. The world is an amplified family. If you look at the world, what can you see there? There live other grandfathers, grandmothers. uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters, children and so on. The world is an amplified family where lots of people from the old to the young are living. (147-28)
5. The Family as the Training Center for Love
For what is man born? It is for love. One receives parents' love from the womb until marriageable age. And one meets his partner and falls in love. In the meantime, he comes to experience God's love by having his own children. Through this course, you learn how to love God, as you love your children, partner and the other family members. And the course is the most basic step for man to go to the Kingdom of Heaven. A family has grandparents, parents, husband and wife, brothers and sisters. All human beings indicate an amplification of the components of a family. A family that can love another family is able to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. It's a surprising fact. They can inherit all the God-given privileges and powers.
Even in a noble family a long time ago, the most sacrificial and effort-making person was supposed to be the heir of the family, no matter how many candidates there were. (143-285)
Everybody! Have you ever known the origin of love? [Yes] So you have to love your family. The family is the textbook, which shows how to get the ticket to the Kingdom of Heaven. The family is the training center for love. The world is an amplified family where there is a world of grandfather, a world of grandmother, a world of parents, a world of husbands and wives, and a world of sons and daughters. So it is the straight and proper way to the Kingdom of Heaven for you to love other people as you love your family and God.
So the first commandment says, "Love God, the Lord, with your all heart and mind." The second one says, "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." Love God love people; that's all. Training will be in vain. It is just nothing, if you can't do so. Religion teaches how to train yourself. Without loving people, the universe and God, it can be nothing.
Frankly speaking, the family is the place where you experience love and practice it in the world and where you and your parents have grown up and lived. It's like a microcosm. And the Unification Church has built a new type of family as a new training camp, centered on True Parents.
So you have to love your parents much more than you love your wife. It doesn't mean that you have to abandon your wife. If you love people like that, your love-receiving people will come to love your wife, There is no more glorious thing than that. (142-242)
What is the family? It is the training center to realize the ideal nation and world with love. Furthermore, it is the place where you can experience God and the heavenly world. And such a power of love attracts this world, the spiritual world and even God. Just think of the day when God will feel happiness at last.
Then, what is the ideal family? That is the place where you fish in the universe with love. Realize that the family is the place to fish with love! So, you will still feel happy, even if hooked. For this, we come to have a home, the ideal home. Also, it is the ideal man who can live in such an ideal home. (106-26)
6. The Family as the Training Center of Heart
In a family, the parents should be the center. And in society, a teacher must be the center. Parents rear up children. Then, what is school for? It teaches people how to well live in society, which is the future stage of their life. The family is the training center to develop your senses. And the school is the place to learn social life.
Society is not the last teaching. What is next? That's the nation. The nation has a president. What is the reason that all people miss the president and want to be closer to him?
The president indicates a complete fruit, which has gone beyond the state of the fruit from formation and growth. It can blossom, after passing through three stages. It starts from a seed and becomes a flower and finally becomes a fruit.
From this point of view, a school has to foster and train the man of ability. What are people doing in school? They are training and preparing themselves. They need good preparation.
What is the family? That's the training center of Heart. In school, you've got to make brother-like relationships with your schoolmates. Such an education of parents is for the sake of the school, the society, and the nation. The parents have to hand over all the foundation of sentiments to their descendants, which teaches them how to live in this society and nation.
Parents often say, "Why don't you study?" in your home. And teachers say, "Get on in life," in the school. What school teaches you is how to lead a nation and how to be a good man.
For instance, good professors provide a good foundation for this nation. So people are willing to initiate those who they like into their social foundation. (180-130)
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Section 4. When a Family is in Perfect Harmony, All Things Can Be Accomplished
1. The Reason Why a Family Is Good
Why is a family good? Because there is a foundation of freedom where everybody can give and take his or her love. That's why people miss their hometown. And a family is the place where their brothers and sisters are. (38-328)
A family is a good place. Why is it? Because there are the father and mother, brother and sister, and relatives. All people, without exception, miss their hometown, the original land. They miss their hometown more than they miss their nation. You like Korea, you want to live in Korea, you are living in Korea, but what do you miss? That's your hometown. (23-151)
2. Parents Prefer the Child Who More Closely Resembles Them
Something should be so valuable to you, when its contents resemble you, even if it has no value. It is the same for your child. Parents like the child who more closely resembles them. It is natural that there should be children who more closely resemble the mother or father. Of course, parents do love all of the children, but they may prefer the one who more closely resembles him or her. Parents often talk to each other about who has more resemblance to them among their children. For a smart son, the father says, "This guy just takes after me," then the mother complains, saying, "No, he resembles me very closely."
One's resemblance shows that he has the same characteristics and elements. Due to their same identities, they can become one eternally.
Because there can exist different ratios in the state of resemblance, one knows who has a much closer resemblance to him. (39-230)
If someone says, "That guy takes after you," then no one will dislike it. For this reason, if one has some extent of resemblance, the other may feel that degree of intimacy in proportion to the extent of that resemblance.
3. When a Family is in Perfect Harmony, All Things Can Be Accomplished
There is an old saying in our Oriental culture, which is "When a family is in perfect harmony, it brings success in everything." Those are really good words.
Man must be the center in a family, which has a grandfather, grandmother, parents and children. But it has something else. A family has all things in it. It means that there exists everything in a family.
You may think that a family is the place where your mother and father, your wife and children are. But it has something more than those. A family includes a house, a garden, grandfather, grandmother, and so on. A grandfather and grandmother will be happier when they live in better surroundings. There is no comparison between the laughter of grandparents and that of a young couple.
The puckered-up laughter of grandparents is more wonderful and valuable. Their laughter brings harmony into the family. There are parents who may be called "middle grandparents" between grandparents. Also there shouldn't be too much gap between the two. All things are to be connected with each other through the relationship of three stages. All harmony takes place in three stages of a perfect harmony. When a family is in perfect harmony, all things can be accomplished. (139-12)
4. A Good Man in a Family
From what can we draw a definition of a good man? The question is who will be good man and who has a right for decision-making in your family. It is more valuable to decide whether something is good or bad from the public position on behalf of others.
You may have beautiful eyes, a good-looking nose and mouth, but what if one finger is somewhat abnormal? You might want to hide it. You don't feel like bragging about that. What does that mean? It means that something representing the whole should be a thing that gains public approval. That is the principle. We call something good when it gains public approval for representing the whole, the perfect foundation. So we can be proud of that.
From this point of view, you may insist that you should be the best man in your family, being supported by your parents. But your sister may not agree with you, saying, "You are a grumbler, you are a greedy guy." In order for you to be accepted as the best person, you should throw away your own insistence and then be able to draw the approval of the whole family. Nobody can deny this fact.
Then, how can you be such a good person among the family members? For you to make it, you should have a higher level of standard. Otherwise, you cannot get unanimous approval. Then, what is the foundation from which you can get approval? That's the question. (105-89)
5. A True Person in a Family
Who is a true man? A true man is a very good-natured man. Then, who is a good-natured man? A good-natured man does not wish that all obeyed him. He is the man who wants to live for the sake of the others. When we are speaking of the most valuable, promising, and best-natured child in your family, that child must be the person who can get the answers "yes," which means the agreement of all the family members from his grandparents to even relatives. With no doubt, the child is not the one who wants his grandfather to make him happy but the one who likes and loves his grandfather. Although he is a little child, he always considers how to act and how to serve, in order to make his grandfather happy.
He also tries to help all his family members including his relatives, day and night. Such a man is a really promising and true son or grandson. None could deny this point. Such a person is the man who can inherit goodness. 360 degrees of a circle have one point in the center. When something crosses the circle and goes to the opposite point, it can't help passing by the point of the center. And a circle can be formed and balanced, centered upon the point in the middle. Every line that crosses the center from a different angle has the same length to the opposite side.
Then, what's the central line? It is the thing which holds all the power and pressure running through the object. That is to say, in a family there are parents in the center, and brothers and sisters, relatives in the front, back, right and left side. That makes up a round-shaped family. Then, who can be the central being, like the hub of a wheel? Who is the most promising and true man in the family? He must be such a person with whom every member of the family wants to be together. This kind of man can deserve being the central being. (174-11)
6. Who is the Master of a Family? The Most Sacrificial Man
Who can be the master of the family? He is not the one who wants to satisfy his desire at the cost of another's sacrifice, but the one who makes sacrifices for the sake of others. Thus, he can be approved as the center of the family. Even parents wish to give him an everlasting blessing, on their knees. (60-69)
For example, there are parents, six brothers and sisters, a total of eight members in a family. If the youngest brother is the most sacrificial among them, even the parents will bow their heads. As time goes on, his brothers and sisters will look upon him as the central being of the family. They come to recognize that such a sacrificial youngest brother should be the central being. That's why people always say, "Do something good, do something good!" What does that mean? It means that you have to do something good for another's sake. Then, you will be the central being. (77-298)
Who do you want to be the master of your family? Who do you want to sit on the throne as the master of your family? Who does every member of a family want to be the heir? Who deserves such a blessing is the one who has more love and heart for others.
But these days the young people have not recognized this fact. They are inclined to think, "What is use of sacrifice? Man can not survive without fighting."
That's the wrong way of thinking. A best friend is the one who lives for the other's sake, and he is the most serving, sacrificial person. The essence, which makes it possible, is not knowledge, power or money, but love.
So however childlike a young girl may be, if she loves her grandfather with her whole heart and gives something to him all the time, then she will become a sign of love in that family. The man who can inherit the family and its tradition is the one who loves all the members more than himself. (141-292)
In the instance where there are ten family members facing danger, if one of them is bound to die, in order for the rest of them to survive, the best way for everyone's survival is to sacrifice the chosen one. What if those ten members fight with each other, insisting they would like to die first? Would God say, "Go ahead"? [Yes] God would let them fight with each other and wants the strongest one to make sacrifices? [Yes] Maybe.
In an other way, what if one young brother would voluntarily insist that he wants to die for the family, although the rest of the members tried to dissuade the young brother from sacrificing himself? What if the young brother would still want to make that sacrifice for the sake of the whole and in spite of that, the others say, "You shouldn't sacrifice yourself, you don't have to pay indemnity. The whole family will pay indemnity."
There are two types of responses, like the above. Which one is better? The first one or the second one? Which one does God like? Which one does Satan like? The first one? [Yes] The second one. [Yes] That's an important matter to decide. Because it is the fundamental problem as well as a very serious matter.
Both of the two may be good. But one is on God's side and another is on Satan's side. We need a clear answer. Which one? [The first one, the second one] Let me answer it. It's the second one, It's number two! Understand? It's much closer to God's side to make more sacrifices. Where there are many more sacrifices, there must be love, especially the love of God. (130-230)
7. The Family as the Training Center for Making Relationships
You might have fought with your sisters or brothers. If you did so, you should go back and give a feast to make them happy, and must apologize for your past behavior. And you've got to become reconciled with them and love them again, as you love your mother and father. How wonderful it is! It means that after your parents pass away, the remaining brothers and sisters have to help, serve, and love each other and regard each other as parents themselves. From such a mind and heart, the Kingdom of Heaven starts to come true. Understand? [Yes]
Through all members of your family and relatives, you can see the image of your mother and father. Furthermore, they are like gifts from God. And you are taught how to love other people even at the cost of your life. The Kingdom of Heaven is the place where people love each other and live together. Everyone! Speaking of an aunt or uncle, you'd better think that you can see the image of your grandfather and grandmother through your aunt or uncle.
From this point of view, the world is an amplified family. There in the world are the same age groups of grandparents, aunt, uncle, parents, brother and sister as a family, which has such groups. If something is round-shaped, we can call it a circle. You should love and serve the old people as you do your grandparents.
If you encounter some beggar who is your father's age, you need to pity and love him as you do your father. If he is your brother's or sister's age, treats him or her in the same way as you do your physical brother and sister. If you do so, what a wonderful thing you are doing!
Well, from the light and position of God, all human beings in the world are His sons and daughters. Then, does God feel happy when they fight with each other? Absolutely not. The same principle and concept is applicable to your family relationship, too. Do you understand? (184-65)
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Section 5. Lessons Learned from the Crane, the Salmon and the Trees
1. Lessons Learned from the Crane
Can a crane fly well? No, it can't fly very well to start with. However, once it starts flying no bird can follow it. This is what is so great about the crane. When the crane starts to fly with its big strides it doesn't look as though it's going to be able to. When it lifts up its leg to take a nap it looks very crafty. The beak always looks like this. (Shows with gestures) It is meditating. It spends such a long time in devotion standing on one leg that its legs have become quite thick. Even God feels sympathy. However, no one can follow the crane once it has started flying. It has that kind of authority. (141-308)
You should not act as sparrows. You must be like cranes. Have you ever seen a crane fly? Small birds fly from here but they should really fly from here because it is longer.
In order to transmit its energy well it flies in an S shape. Little sparrows fly like this. But the crane flies with a rhythm. This is what I think. They make the shape of an 8. (Showing with gestures) Isn't that right? The crane flies high in the sky, always looking into the far distance. Why do cranes have long legs? Why do cranes always stand on one leg? They always stand like this. Why is it? ... [Because if they lift both legs up they will fall over.] No, you rascal! Don't be silly! They are trying to adjust to the universe. They have one mouth.
The universe's vertical line, the ideal vertical line, is only one. What does ideal vertical mean? The universe revolves around a life that is centered on lofty ideals and a lofty love. The crane doesn't look interesting when it is looking to the side. It acquires its majesty when it lifts its neck up and stands up straight. The long neck is really majestic. It's like a high antenna. It is aiming for a high place. It has the power to extend itself out. Then it becomes vertical to the earth. Because the body of the crane is vertical, the wings are not very thick. Then, in a streamline shape it lifts its wings up to the horizontal line.
Once the crane starts flying . . . What is the bird that can fly the longest distance without moving its wings? It's the crane. It is not the eagle. Because it lifts its head so high it is natural that it flies high.
That's why it can see the furthest. This is right in theory, isn't it?
Even if you shout at it or say, "Why do you make such a noise when you fly?," it will just continue flying regardless. It just keeps on flying and flying. It flies towards the ocean. Even if there is uproar down below, even if the sparrows are dying, even if all kinds of things are happening, it just keeps on flying. It flies over the oceans and over the continents and when it finally lands it finds its place, saying, "Only I am the master." It never lands amongst the riffraff. It always finds some majestic place to rest. It is really noteworthy.
I have not been able to settle yet. I have been looking for a place to settle. Where do you think that place is? There must be a place somewhere. Because God is the subject, I should go and settle in front of God. What do you think about that? Rev. Moon goes forward, keeping this within my heart as my destined path. I may have even been born like that.
So if you are following someone who was born with that kind of destiny and you have joined the Unification Church, are you going to become a baby goose or a baby crane? Geese are quite nice birds. When they walk around with their feathers spread out on their behinds they look quite nice, too. They'd make good disco dancers. Would you like to be a champion goose disco dancer? Would you? Or would you like to be cranes? Which one? [We want to be cranes!] In the Unification Church group there are two types of people. Do you want to become geese or cranes? [Cranes!] Are you sure that your necks are long enough?
So those in the Unification Church look beyond the wall. If you live in Korea, then you look towards Japan or America. If I try to educate you and raise you up, you should just follow. This is the reason why many people want to follow me wherever I go. That kind of mind is okay. So if you want to become cranes, at least you should have some resemblance to a crane, enduring on one leg. But some of your legs are shaped like this. This does not meet the standard. You shouldn't try just to take it easy when you study. You have to fly high in the sky!
If you want to become like the crane you have to learn how to align yourself to the vertical line of the universe. In other words you need to have the right kind of attitude. People have to have an upright conscience. For this to be achieved, the vertical line already has to be drawn in your life. You have to know this. Where does the sentence, "He has an upright conscience" come from? Already the vertical line is standing in the cosmic center and upright means that your line is parallel to the cosmic vertical line. That's the line you have to compare yourself to. But your line is bent. The crane is the only animal that stands vertical.
The crane is dazzling white with black patches. It flies in the sky but it also digs in the filthy water. Did you know that? It even sifts through feces. It can also go in low places. If the black crows say to the crane, "Hey, you were born to fly high in the sky. Why are you down here?" The crane will say, "You silly things. Hold your tongues! I also have black patches, don't I? I have the necessary requirements to be here."
It also has red streaks. This means that it has passion. And it always follows the passion of the leader. It is very impressive, isn't it?
What does a crane eat? It eats on the land but it can also eat on the sea as well. It can combine both worlds. If in the Unification Church Mr. Moon so and so is a crane, then he should be able to deal with the world of religion but also with the world of business. He is in a high place but he can also go into the dirtiest places. He can adapt to any level. So the tail of a crane is black. Why is the tail black? It is because it lands on its behind. I think this fits the universal law.
Because the Korean people love the crane they always embroider it into their pillows. Either the crane or the mandarin duck (which is also called the love-bird).
On the stage curtain of the Little Angels Theater there are four cranes. This symbolizes the Korean nation. The Unification Church people often make a "kweck!" sound. They don't know how to speak properly. The goose makes a "Kyu" sound, as does the white crane. The sound may be the same, but the content is different.
What kind of sound do you make? The goose just eats and does its business, whereas the crane flies. There are two types of people. There are people who live to eat and people who live to fly. Are we people who live to eat like the goose or to fly like the crane? Do you want to eat a little and fly a little? [We want to fly a lot.] Perhaps you are too fat to fly. [No!] Let us fly high and far together. Do you think because Rev. Moon is a little fat that I can't fly? It is not true. I can fly very well!
Mrs. Moon's name is Hak Ja. "Hak" is the Korean word for crane. "Ja" is child. She thinks it is because she was born to join together with God's child. Because she was born with this name she could become the mother of the Unification Church. This is what she thinks. It is a splendid attitude, isn't it. "Han" means one person who can represent Korea and represent the universe. Han means one, which also means the best. I think Mother would be happy to hear me say this. Anyway, this is how we live. This is the Unification Church style, isn't it? [Yes] I never prepare a sermon like they do in the Christian churches. If I did, you wouldn't be able to digest it. I have to speak like I am doing today for you to be able to digest it well.
This is why you should not say I want to live well. Just a little high. The crane flies really high but we can't fly so high. Even if you can't fly really high you should at least fly to the middle level. In order to follow Father and Mother you have to look high. You should not keep your eyes fixed on the ground. Even if you start flying in the middle level, the more you fly the higher you should go. You have to fly in a line parallel to the neck. In other words, you have to go up. Your whole body needs to go up. I haven't even reached the conclusion but your look as though you are wondering whether or not I am going to ask you to make more sacrifices. You are right. That is your destiny. So fly in the middle level, but your head must be going upwards. (140-82)
2. Lessons Learned from the Salmon
Humans have many things they should reflect on. The sea is full of many different types of fish. If you study them carefully you will find them to be quite mysterious. How do they return to the same place according to the seasons? People who live by the sea know about this. Sardines, squid, Alaska Pollack, and the most numerous mackerel. All of them, without fail, return in April and May. They may have swum throughout the oceans of the world but when the season is right they return to the same place without fail.
The Alaska Salmon is even more impressive. Let us think about the salmon for a moment. They swim around as young baby fish for some months to half a year, and after they have grown a little they start off and they follow the flow of the water downstream. There are over 4,000 of them at a time. And after 4 years, when it is time to lay their eggs they return to exactly the same spot. Modern science has no way to explain how they do this.
It is really miraculous, isn't it? Why is it that one small little freshwater fish, the salmon, contains such a mysterious content and lives its life dancing and playing whereas humans who are full of desire have not been able to fulfill their desires for thousands of years? Why is it that they have lost their direction and live in such a complicated and mixed up society and in this time of transition everyone is clamoring to be saved? The problem is that many of these people have almost no possibility of being saved.
You have to know this. All of the creation is leading a public life. Isn't this true? In the solar system the earth revolves around the sun and the moon revolves around the earth. The earth revolves following a set path. There is no change in this path. In the millions of years of history the earth is saying to us, "You may change, but I won't."
Look at the small sparrow; it goes, "Cheep, cheep, cheep, cheep." For most creatures the sparrow is just like a plaything to catch or kill as they please. However, even this sparrow knows how to build its own house. After it has baby sparrows and the nest is threatened with danger, they will risk their lives to protect their young and they will continue to do so, for a thousand years or even ten thousand years.
But what about people? Some people say, "There is no parental love. We don't need parental love." (140-82)
The salmon dies after it lays its eggs. However, in order to fertilize the eggs the male and female salmon become one. It is like they experience conjugal love under the death penalty. Don't you think this kind of love transcends the usual conjugal love? When it is time for the female salmon to lay its eggs, the male salmon digs the ground and protects the eggs. In that way they become the ideal couple. And when it is time for the eggs to hatch, they both die. I was really shocked when I observed the male and female salmon dying. The baby salmon eat the body of their mother.
Why did God make them in this way? Through the salmon we can learn just how important having children is and how important love is. God is trying to teach us a lesson through the salmon, that love and having children is the greatest thing in the universe. You should be willing to do anything to realize love and have children even if it means risking your life. The salmon teaches us a truly amazing lesson. (132-81)
3. Lessons Learned from the Trees
After a seed has been planted in the ground, it has to go through various stages in order for it to bear fruit. First it has to sprout roots, then, branches, leaves and then it has to flower before the fruit can come out. The trunk growing out of the sprout is a different thing. The branches growing out of the trunk are different. The leaves growing out of the branches are different. The flowers growing out of the leaves are different. And the fruit growing out of the flowers is a different thing. But we look at all this as one process.
Although the trunk growing from the sprout is a different action, we cannot reject this process. If there is somebody who wants to reject it on the basis that it is different, that person won't be able to see the fruit. It is one process, one event. It is a destined process, which has to be realized for the perfection of the plant. The trunk has to grow from a new sprout. There is no other option. The leaves have to come from the branches and then the flowers have to bloom. The fruit exists inside each one of the flowers. This is a natural process.
In the growth of a tree from sprout to when it bears fruit, all of these processes have to be gone through in order for the desired fruit to appear. When seen in this light, in the world of humans, for one individual or one nation to reach perfection or for this world to reach perfection centered on the providence of God, in this whole process, we cannot just look towards the good times. (59-227)
The tree itself doesn't only need the roots and it doesn't only just need to follow the required order. The whole tree itself with its branches and leaves spreading in all directions has to become one. So this means that if you stand in the position of East, the West, North, and South all have to grow in equilibrium. And then the tree has to bear fruit before it can become a tree of perfected form. If one side is over half way out of shape, then this tree will bear fruit that is lacking. If you plant a seed from such a tree, the same kind of tree will grow again. This is why equilibrium is absolutely essential. (141-180)
Once I went to an apple orchard. And although I am not an expert, I thought that some of the branches of the apple trees needed pruning. From the point of view of reason as well, it needed doing. If the branch comes out like this, it needs to spread out like this (showing with actions). This branch needs to be thick like this; but if this branch is thick like this in comparison to the other branches then it needs to be cut off. When it's growing, if only this side is thick then many problems will arise.
I felt that I had to do something, so I made this branch spread out like this and this branch spread out like that. If I cut this branch then I have to leave that thick branch. If you cut both of them, then the tree will die. You have to prune the tree so that the branches going down and the branches going up, the horizontal branches get as much air as possible.
Anyway I felt that at least two-thirds of each tree had to be pruned. What do you think about that? However, I didn't do it. Why didn't I cut off the branches? [Because the flower buds had started to appear] Actually you shouldn't just look towards this years fruit. You have to think, "How will this tree be next year?" I think we have entered the stage where the trees are almost useless. In fact we need to cut off all the rotten branches. You should begin again from now. This branch is full of bugs, like the mayfly, which has made its house in the branches. These rotten branches need cutting off -- there is no other way. You have to choose a new branch and nurture it. This is what I think. If possible, you have to cut the tree so the air circulates well around the branches. All the restricting twigs and leaves need to be cut off. You may say, "I'm not an expert, but..." I tell you do it today! (66-82)
If you are the fruit of 6,000 years of history, there probably would have been fruitful ages and shriveled ages. And if these ages bear fruit, which slowly starts to ripen, what happens? The leaves shrivel up and fall to the ground and only the fruit is left.
Autumn needs to come in order for the fruit to ripen. The autumn winds need to blow. The autumn winds are different from the summer breezes. They are not the type of helpful winds that help us to overcome trials or distinguish between right and wrong. It is the kind of wind that can suck out all the hidden things. It is the kind of wind that adds minus to the whole rather than plus. Nevertheless, that kind of wind is necessary.
When that kind of truth, that kind of principle, that kind of religion appears, it has to be able to withstand the autumn frosts of this weak world. I think like that. The Unification Church has endured many hardships, many frosts. But that is not the end. The frostbitten buds have to be able to overcome the winter winds and only the thin branches need to remain. In that process it doesn't matter if all the fruit falls to the ground if within the fruit there is one hidden seed.
The true owner doesn't think about the fruit; he thinks about the seed. Salesmen desire fruit from the orchard but the true master of the orchard seeks to find the true seed within the fruit.
We in the Unification Church have suffered countless hardships and difficulties from the surrounding environment and have become the fruit hanging from the thin branch. But we shouldn't be concerned about the external appearance of the fruit; we should worry about whether there is a true seed within that fruit. So when we are judged in the coming new spring, the question is whether or not our seed contains without doubt the power of life representing the number one Unification Church disposition. If it doesn't have this, then there is no life.
In order for life power to exist, until the tree grows up it has to endure all the winds and frosts. It has to have all the frosts of history. With the life power which has the power to pass through the rugged trials and hardships it has to have hope for the future in order for it to be able to greet the new spring where the buds of new life can appear. Then passing through the summer and the autumn it will become the seed which contains the power of new life. Have you become that kind of seed? Not just become a seed, but do you have the natural power within you to be able to develop infinitely so that no one can knock you off your course? When the new age arrives do you have the life power within yourself to be able to stimulate yourself? The person who doesn't have this is like a dead person. The seeds and the fruit and such things have to go within the fertilizer. Do you understand?
All the hardships I have endured until now have been to make this kind of seed. Even if we have to overcome the gales of the summer season, the cold winds of the autumn season, the snows of the winter, it is no problem. After you have passed through all these stages, then your seed, which contains the power of the ideal life, has to bud.
In the same way that God has helped me to cross over all the critical paths of history in my struggle to realize God's ideal, can you also renew your bond with God? From now those in the Unification Church have to make a new beginning so that no matter where you are put, no matter what storms blow, you can take my place and tread down this wretched environment and become the living body which can grow and prosper. Can you do that? (19-42)
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Section 6. My Family as the Model Family
1. The Family Code of Conduct in My Family
The reason why I feel grateful to my mother and father is because it was one of our family practices never to let people who visit our house go away without feeding them first. My mother never even gave a beggar a cold reception. My grandfather was like that, too. It was a family tradition. If a beggar came to our house asking for food, if my mother or sister-in-law didn't prepare food for them in the kitchen straight away then my grandfather or my father would take out their own dinner tray to give to them. It sometimes meant they didn't eat. However, in their eyes it was all right to miss a meal if you were giving it to a beggar. This is why I am doing what I am for the world, today.
In order for people from the Honam area or the Yongnam area or from all over Korea, to go to the north, they all followed the main road. So if they came to our village to find a place to stay for the night they were always told, "If you go down there you'll find the Moon family's house. You will be able to stay there for the night." So the guestroom was never empty all the year round. Sometimes three rooms were all full up.
I know well what a hard time my mother had all her life. But even though we fed everyone from all over Korea we weren't ruined. A descendant who could be welcomed by all of Korea was born. That may be why someone like Rev. Moon was born. I am the same. I am feeding the people of the world. If, when I about to eat, there is someone who has not eaten, my spoon doesn't move from its spot. It is all stops. That is why all those people who accused me have perished and the Unification Church, which has endured all sorts of persecution, has risen like the morning sun. (147-306)
The whole Moon family is like that. I think, "Feed the people of Korea" was like our family motto. It was like that long ago. When the Dongjok Company was established, the Japanese took the land from everyone and sent them to Manchuria. So people from Kyungnam province, people from Cholla province on their way to Manchuria stopped at our house because they didn't have any travel money. You see, our house was not that far from the main road.
And all the beggars that lived in or near our district, all of them visited our house. It was like a meeting place for beggars. There were always one or two beggars sleeping in the guestroom. There was an old mill in our village and it was a meeting place for beggars. I made friends with many of these beggars. If we made rice cakes in our house I always took pity on them and brought them some. If they leave our house in the morning, then who is going to give them lunch? Because there was no one to give them lunch, I remember that I often took them lunch. I often did it secretly without my mother knowing. It was a good deed. My mother had set this food aside to feed me but I took it to feed the beggars without asking my mother. Thinking about it now, I think I did well. Yes, it was a good thing to do.
I think I was raised up on a blessed foundation, which helped me to think about the salvation of the world. So people like us are born with such a family background. And I even wonder whether or not this was the origin of being able to raise up Korea and the world to receive God's blessing. When I think about it now I am thankful to my ancestors. But actually, I haven't been able to fulfill any kind of responsibility that I have to my ancestors. (27-111)
In order to become king you have to be a person who is going to feed the whole country. Do you understand? If you want to be king you have to feed and clothe them. No one will be punished for feeding the poor and the wretched. That is why I am telling you to feed many people.
People like my father and grandfather, when on a cold winter's morning a passing beggar stopped at our house saying, "I've just dropped in for breakfast," already had the breakfast tray in their hands to give it to him. If my mother was doing something else, they would take the tray out themselves. Because I received this kind of education I am always eager to feed the people of the world. (138-127)
2. My Mother Who Showed Me the Example of Love
My mother told me something once. My mother had many children. She surpassed as many as ten and had three more. So how many all together? [Thirteen!] She had thirteen so you could say that she had a similar number to Jesus' group. If you add the twelve disciples and Jesus that makes thirteen. This is what my mother, a mother of thirteen, said: "There is nothing more interesting than raising children. Having a baby and breast-feeding it and watching it grow is the most interesting thing there is. I don't know what I am going to do when I am an old woman and can't have any more children."
When I looked at my mother's face I saw a haggard, worn face. It was a face that had experienced all the different types of hardships. But the face that is worn by having lovingly raised children is beautiful to see. Love accompanies difficulties and sacrifice but it also makes you forget all your sacrifices. If you have true love you forget all your sacrifices. Those kinds of sacrifices become your fertilizer. It becomes your flesh and bones and your joy. Loving means becoming.
But if the husband says to his loving wife, "Darling, you were born to love a million units but please love me ten million," then what will happen? True love will not be realized in that family. Love given because it is asked for is not true love.
True love is not "I love you. Let's begin." It is a love that just appears naturally. Without realizing it, I just long after my partner. That is how it is. Love is something that is given and received without fanfare. It is not something that starts with the order, "Let's begin!" There is no such love as that.
So you shouldn't say to your wife, "Love me a million or love me ten million." If you want true love you should say, "Even if you were born to love a million I will be satisfied with a hundred thousand." Then even if your wife loves you a million she will want to love you even more.
It is strange isn't it? But that is how it is. You don't want to give to those who ask you to give. You want to give to those who don't ask. This is love. You don't want to give love to the people who roam around wild. Love finds the person who is decent and modest. Love spreads gradually without anyone noticing it. When the husband and wife make love together, should other people watch?
Love should be without anyone else knowing it. It should flow naturally without any kind of force. With this kind of love somebody who is born with ten love can love a hundred or a thousand or ten thousand. Everything is possible and there is no harm or loss. (44-200)
3. Mother's Pains, Hard Work and Hardships
The wife of a saint needs to become a bad wife. Do you understand? You don't know why, do you? You have to understand the reason for this and then you will be able to understand history. Anyway, it's true. It's true.
Do you think Mother is a great person? [Yes] Mother is great because she restored everything through indemnity. (188-319)
Let me talk about Mother for a minute. Mother gets up at dawn and after pledge she has a cup of coffee. I told her it's not good for her. I told her that I had heard from a grandmother that someone who had drunk coffee for three months had had to have a stomach operation and so I told her not to drink the coffee. What could she do? If she didn't drink the coffee she felt sleepy. She said the children could leave after pledge if they wanted to but in her position how could she leave? So she had no other choice but to drink coffee in order to overcome her sleepiness. It is a pitiable position, isn't it? Other people could sleep with peace of mind. Even the men could sleep soundly even for 24 hours if they wanted, to but Mother wasn't able do that. It is quite pitiable, isn't it? (91-310)
Mother worries about the children but I don't. It is because I have to love mankind before I love my children. And before I love humankind I have to love God.
In a year I never worry about my children once, even in my dreams. I embrace mankind and protect the universe and God's love which is in the subject position. They grow so rapidly. I don't interfere and just let them grow. That is how I have to be at this present time. (171-247)
Before you stress your own importance and center everything on yourself, stress the whole. I need people who value the relationships of above and below. We need a complete restructuring. We have reached that stage now.
In our family Mother has been trying to educate the children until now in these things. From that point of view Mother is even greater than I am. So I said to Mother, "Because you are in this position, the children are showing your internal side. So you take responsibility for the children's education." This is what I told Mother to do. (123-282)
4. Father's Love for His Children
Until Hyo Jin and Ye Jin were 12 years old, no matter what I had done, no matter how tired I was, I prayed over them while they were sleeping. Do you understand what I am trying to say? It is not easy being a parent. The children should be able to feel automatically, "Just as my father loved me so we must love our children." You have to be able to make your children feel that you are the best father in the world. You have to do this. Do you understand? [Yes] (97-311)
Once seven of my children were waiting for me in Korea. I thought about them like this: "It is not the original will of God for you to become dirtied and starved by the satanic world. But I understand everything. But right now there is nothing that can be done about it. Even if it difficult, please endure." Every time I thought like this, even if I am with the children for one day only, I go into their room while they are sleeping and kiss them. Why? Because even through that condition, every time I meet them and feel joy at seeing them, I am reminded of my responsibility and I am stimulated to work to realize God's Will as quickly as possible. That is my situation. The problem is the realization of the Kingdom of Heaven.
So whatever it takes I want to have them live in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is my fervent desire to be able to bless them in marriage in the Kingdom of Heaven. I feel responsible to do this. When the children see how their parents are suffering in this way they must think, "Even if I don't go to heaven and receive the prayer and blessing, receiving the blessing here is more precious than receiving the blessing in heaven." They need to be able to stand in the position in which they tell their parents not to be sad and not to worry and they will try to comfort them. If this doesn't happen then big problems will arise. We have to have our children inherit that kind of tradition. (66-289)
For 15 or 16 years I went and prayed over the children until they were twelve years old. It is not easy being a mother and father to such precious children. I always think, "What can I do for you? I am not going to be indebted to you. I will pray for your blessing while you are sleeping and I will embrace you and kiss you. Because I have no time I cannot hold your hands all the time, so with a sorry heart I tell you that my embraces and kisses are for eternity." This is how I am living. (85-136)
5. Don't Fight in Front of Your Children
How long have you been in the Unification Church? Even if it is 10, 20 or 30 years you still want to follow me. Why do you think this is? Because everything I am doing -- going the way of the original mind, the way of true purpose -- is right, God protects everything. You mustn't fall; if you do, there will be big problems. Knowing all this I don't want you to fight in the future. I want you to become the model family...
The thing that we can be proud of in the satanic world are the blessed families. Do you know how precious it is to have received the blessing from me? Do you know? [We know] You know? [Yes]
Your sons and daughters need to live their whole lives being able to say they never saw their mother and father fight. Just now Mother and the children were here... It is true, isn't it? All sorts of things happen in life. Sometimes you have to give a scolding and some things don't turn out so well, do they? Sometimes you feel like you have to say something and try to educate the one who is wrong. However, when you do that, if the children enter the room you must stop immediately and return to your normal state. No how matter big an argument you have with your spouse you must not face the children with a red face. This is my philosophy.
That is why my children think we are always a peaceful and nice father and mother. They think Mother is the best of all mothers and Father is the best of all fathers. Mother and Father are like a second God. If you ask, "Are they like God or like a mother and father?" When they answer they are like mother and father, God is also happy. This is a very precious thing. This is the most precious part of education.
People have an emotional side. If the mother and father fight and shed tears and cause strife, then the children will cry, too. Do you think this is acceptable? Do you understand what I am talking about? [Yes] That is a really shameful way to act.
Your children are the God of the future. They are the God of the future. Do you understand? Who holds God's ideal? You have to bequeath the future to them. They are the God of the future. They have to be the God of the future. They have to be God's substantial object. That is why they are the teachers of teachers for you. You can, not deceive your children. There is no way. They know immediately if the father and mother are lying even if you don't tell them.
That is why the parents also have to be teachers of teachers to their children. You have to stand in the position of being the second God and become the teacher of teachers.
Their emotional standard and direction must come from the father and mother's emotional standard and direction. "I want to become a husband like my father and I want to become a wife like my mother." If they don't feel like this you should educate them to feel like this. This is the beginning of heartistic education. So God dislikes fighting in the family. Fighting will destroy the family, destroy the husband and wife, destroy the children. It will bring about ruin. (165-94)
6. Don't Shed Tears in Front of Your Children
The mother and the father should not shed tears in front of their children. No, you must not show your children your tears. Your children are God. There are many times when I had to educate Mother. I had to admonish her many times. But the mother and father should never cry in front of their children. Do you understand what I am saying? [Yes]
You love your children, don't you? [Yes] The mother and father are everything in the hearts of the loving child's mind. They know that the most precious thing in the whole world after God is their mother and father. More important than the country's president, more important than the greatest saint in the world, more important than their teachers, more important than anything. The family has to advance on that kind of foundation of heart.
7. Receive Permission before Going Out
My children are the same. They can't go out as they please. They have to receive my permission first. Why? There are all sorts of terrible things taking place in the world today. We are not living in the kind of environment where we can say yes to everything and let the children do what they want, are we? We have not yet reached the environment in which we can say centered on true love from the position of true parents, "My son or my wife."
Even if your children eat and sleep and go in and out as they want, and even if the mother does the same, you have the position of being a watchman to keep your family safe. You have to continue living that kind of life as long as you are conscious. That is the life I am living. Does God rest? As yet, God has not been able to bequeath His throne to me and say before the whole universe, "This is my son," You never know what is going to happen. You must always be careful. Things could change now, couldn't they? (181-267)