First Directors' Conference
Master Speaks
Translated by Mrs. Won Pok Choi
You are now here. With this place as the center, you have four directions: east, west, south and north. You are from the Netherlands, France, England and America. Your ages are varied. You are male and female mingled together. We are studying what God's will is and trying to carry it out, and to realize it. But outside, there are people around us making merry and enjoying themselves in the worldly sense. There is an absolute being, unmovable in a sense because of H Is high standard. But our situations are varied, and there are many situations in which there is a distance between us and God. Some are closer to Him, some are more distant from Him, but still others are on the vertical line on which they can communicate with God. However, some are entirely situated in other places, making it difficult to associate with Him.
Seen from Master's point of view, the places you are situated are all different from one another. But all of you, I am sure, would want to sit closer to him. Directly in front of him there is only room for two or three. Wouldn't you want to be seated in the front seat? When you have a central figure, or any leader, you want to come closer to him. Is there any single person here who wouldn't think of things in that way? Would you say, "I don't need to receive anything from him, because I am contented with my knowledge, I am satisfied with my position and my wealth"? There is still room left in your thought so that you can come closer to him at any time. But suppose there is only one chance to be near to him. If you are seated right here, that will never change, you can never concede the place to another person. It will go on for eternity. But this will be a serious matter. If there is only one place of love and ideal and you get hold of that place, you will never leave it and no one else can deprive you of it. Then, how seriously you must consider that place.
You can well imagine that you are going to be very serious about how you are going to get this place, but in the intensity of seeking, there are vast differences among you. Some are grave and intent -- and some are just very shallow. Master, too, wants to look at some persons. With some he would want to look into their eyes; but with others, he just looks at their faces, vaguely. Sometimes his glance is drawn their way. If you, from your part, are so serious about that, then if there is any being, an absolute one, who will make the situation or tries to restore the situation, then how much more serious must he be? You can imagine. If God, too, is so serious as to do that, He would focus all His five senses on one personage, and He would want that one personage to focus all his attention by using his five senses to meet Him at one point. As we think of where to situate ourselves, we become more and more serious.
I imagine all of you in the Divine Principle Family pray hard. Hungry or full, satisfied or dissatisfied, you are always praying hard to God. But the degree of your fervor will decide how much your prayers will be answered. In praying, too, your attitudes will differ from one another. I am sure, if you pray to God, then some are confident that in some degree your prayers will be answered, but some of you think, "I want to do so much for Him, but He's got to answer my prayer," while you are not quite in God's sight. God would not want you to change the way you are praying just because you want to adjust yourself to a way that is suitable to Him. However, some others are not praying so diligently, and God would want to have you pray harder and with more fervor. When you pray it is something like this: Suppose that God is looking in this direction, and your voice comes praying so hard and diligently -- He will turn His head and look to answer your prayer. God is looking closely at everyone of you and He will find that someone, without even praying, is doing things in such a way that this prayer is already answered. Then, God's glance will be drawn to that person.
If He has two children, and one is praying so hard even though he was not told to pray, and the other is only reluctantly praying, after he is told to pray, to whom would God be drawn? I don't think there is anyone among you who does not know the answer. Suppose there is one child who would nod to his father after being told something; and there is a wise child who has already found out things, and would come to his father and would say something is true, isn't it? And he would tell him that what he has found is true. Whom would he love more of the two? One child is aware of what is happening around his father, but another child is so anxious to know what is happening around his father that the first thing in the morning he would think, "is father up? What's his plan today? " To whom would the father's attention be drawn? There may be still another child who is so anxious to wake him up because he has wonderful plans today, he would knock at his door or just rush into his room and wake him. But the father would still love that child.
It was just yesterday he visited you to say he would not be coming again today. Some of you must be happier to have him here, rather than grumbling about his being here, breaking his promise. But, when this much is said, you can imagine what my conclusion is going to be. I may just stop here. What would you think of that?
Suppose there is one child who would pour out his whole energy, whole being, in trying to know his father, trying to know what is taking place around him all through the day -- 24 hours. Another child might do that for 23 hours, then another for ten hours, another for five hours, another for one hour. Whom would he love most? [24 hours]
If you were in the position of the father, would you love him when he just clings to you all through 24 hours, without letting you sleep? If you are loving and concerned with your father, even though you irritate him and even if you prevent him from doing anything else, if you are so concerned about him, he is forced to be concerned with you and love you. The same thing is true with God, with our Father. On the other hand, when a father has several children, and the father knocks at the door of his children and asks, "Would you want me to do anything for you? " And if you turn him away from the door of that child, would he be sorry and regretful and indifferent? How could He be? You said he cannot be angry while he was turned away? Is that true? You know too well. That's what makes the heart of the father happy. Even though turning away from him, the mind of his father would always turn toward him and feel like looking back. He would like to run to him and see what is happening, and see what he is doing. He is anxious to know what that child is doing, and he is anxious to help him when he is in difficulty -- more than he would be for the rest.
I am going to tell you an unforgettable story about Hyo Jin, my son. He is very active -- a tomboy. Also, he runs so fast that he stumbles. He injured his legs one day, and they were swollen. He was just a tiny boy like this when Father asked him, "Does it hurt you? " He was bleeding, and he told his Father, "it doesn't hurt, I am all right." Master has never forgotten that scene. Instead of crying, the boy comforted his father. With all this said, I'm sure you know too clearly how to go this way -- with one purpose -- with God's will and ours set with one goal. Suppose you are a child of his and you are studying hard and intoxicated in a novel, or in doing something to improve your life -- then your father would not get mad at you. But suppose the Father says: "I want you to work for me and go on an errand." Then you think: "Oh, He always knocks at my door at the wrong moment." You wouldn't feel like going on an errand. Then, another child might jump up at his father's request, drop whatever he is doing, and obey his father. Which of the two would the father love more? Suppose there is still another child who would always lend attentive ears to what his father had to say, and he would distinguish even his father's footsteps and jump up and welcome his father and be ready to do anything his father wished. Which would his father love most?
There may be still another child who already knows and who senses what his father is going to do today. He gets up early in the morning and he is anxious to stay at home so he can rush to the father's door; but because it is still too early, he has to stand outside his door and wait for him. Wouldn't the father love him the most? You are in a father-and-son relationship to God. God is in us: an absolute, ultimate being, and what He would want is to be our Father.
If you were in the position of His children, what would He expect of you then? To be ultimate and absolute in loving Him, in doing things for Him, and in returning joy to Him. Among the children who are doing best, too, there are two kinds. Some among you would want to serve your Father because you are anxious to be loved by your Father, and in return, enjoy His love. You are contented and satisfied with His love. But still others are worried about your Father's being anxious to reach out to other children, so much so that you would tell your Father that He has lost so many children and you want to bring them back to Him. Would you say, "Wait for me Father, even though I may be away from you, don't worry about me"? If you would go out in search of those lost brothers, and work so hard, and never return to your Father for a long period, would your Father hate you or be discontented with you? It is only too clear that Father would love you more if you are the child who would want to go out in search of your lost brothers and bring them back. Suppose the child working to restore his lost brothers should die in the front-line -- would the Father be angry at him and say to Himself, "He disobeyed me"? Would he do that? He would be angry, of course, but He would be so proud of His son -- His child. He can boast of His child to other people, and He will cherish the loving heart of His child and love him all the more. So, since your Father is in the subjective position, and you are in the objective, completely responding to Him, you do things without being told to do them and without complaining; you are more anxious than He is to carry out things which He has in mind.
Therefore, you cannot help but be loved by Him. No father can desert those kinds of children. If you are physically close to Him and loved by Him at this particular moment, that's good too. But if you are in the position to go out to the frontline always away from Him and never seeing Him for a long time, even if you have to die there, you will be praised by God; your Father will be proud of you. Any father loves any one of his children. But those who have done such are loved more by him. Take the case of the child who is always ready to help his father in any way possible, and who would like to leave his father for the sake of a great task to be carried out. The father's love and patience are with that child, in spirit, and the father would long to have him around to take care of his children and his great grandchildren. In that way his love would be multiplied through this child. He would be ready to do anything to reach him. If anyone would be scornful of the child who died for that great cause, the father's indignation would burst out. After the loss of this child, he would be ready to beat them, smash them to pieces. There are also various types of hearts: some would tell you, "You must love me and no one else and you must serve me and no one else for the sake of myself." But there are still other types of fathers, and they would tell you, "Instead of loving me and doing things like this for me, why don't you go around and do things for others, because I love them as much as I do you." That kind of father is the real father. If this father, when you are unwilling to sacrifice yourself, would drive you out to the death for the sake of many other children of his, that father is the true father. Which would be truer, the father that would want to have you around and never have you do anything for the sake of other people, or the one who would like to teach you and drive you out to do things for the sake of all his children? As I see it, there is none among you who does not know the answer. But in order to carry this out it is another thing. If you are able to do that, you are the true children of God -- of your True Parents.
That's why, in the Bible, we read many dogmatic or paradoxical things. In one place you are taught to love your Father, with all your heart, all your might and sincerity. That's the first commandment you are told to do by God. Then it tells you, you must love your neighbors as yourself. Both might seem paradoxical, but if those two are carried out, you can have the whole world. When God tells you to love Him more than anyone else, it means that He wants you to carry out what He tells you to do. So it is natural for you to have to love your neighbors and to love your brothers and sisters as you would yourself. If you are to resemble your Father, would you love just one person who will be satisfactory for your aims, or would you like to love Him for the sake of all the people of the world? God is loving the whole combination of them, including the people of the past and future generations. The broader the scope of the battle is, the more you are loved by the Heavenly Father.
First of all, you value the fact that you are the most precious individual. Isn't that true? Don't you think you are the most precious person? Is your Father also precious? [YES!] You have only one Father and would you want to help Him first and then take care of yourself later? [YES!] If many of you would like to do that for your Father, then wouldn't you like to be part of Him, like His flesh and bone? Then you would be a tumor -- always clinging to Him, a burden in a way. Would you still do that? [NO!] Then, you wouldn't want to have your Father. You are not attached to Him. Still, would you like to have your Father first and then yourself? [YES!] Do you like that idea? [YES!] But there is no freedom in that position. Would you still like that? [YES!!!]
In conclusion, we can say that there is no such thing as freedom when you are by yourself. When you are with your spouse, with someone else, real freedom can come. You may say, "I am born out of my father and I am already a part of him and I want to be with him and I want to do everything for him." Then you are already in the position to be loved by him and to inherit from him -- even after your death. In that case, even though you may have to die before your father, you know you will be living in the other world in spirit, and he will miss you and love you all the more. What would you lack then? If you are in that position that means that you will be with Father in spirit, you are going to live with Him wherever you are, all through eternity. So, asleep or awake, spiritually or physically, don't even think that you are alone. You are always with your Father, your Father is always with you.
When you are in the position to be loved by your Father, what will happen in the world? Once you get to the front-line, leaving this place, you will be faced with different situations. Maybe, on your way back, you will see a traffic accident, and one person killed there. At the very moment you may think you don't want to pass by, but you want to stop to think: "What caused him to be killed there? " Perhaps his ancestry, perhaps he had to sacrifice himself for the sake of the whole world, his ancestors? You would feel sympathetic, as though it were someone very near to you, and you would like to help the situation out in any way possible. You would want to tell the people standing around to be sympathetic. You can do such a thing if you have inherited Father's Heart. If he is seriously wounded, when other people are just watching him without doing anything, you would be so anxious, as if it were your father, to get him into your car and dash him to the hospital; you would be so anxious to keep him alive. You can even be thankful to God that you have learned a lesson from this.
While on a long trip you may visit a wonderful person who is doing wonderful things, and you may stop there and encourage him, you would be so grateful to Father that you had met such a righteous person who was worthy of your praise. You would want to be associated with him and get to know him and then you will have won that person's heart. If you place yourself in the position of mother to that person and endure for him, and pray to God that what he has paid will be received by God, and his ancestry forgiven, you are with him in misery, in spirit. Also, you may be with that man, encouraging him, being grateful and giving glory to God, by becoming one with that person in joy and sorrow. Then, could God desert you, could He hate you when seeing you do that?
Some of you can be different from the attitude of this person. At the moment of seeing the injured or dead person you think, "Oh, he must be from evil ancestors and I am glad and proud that I am born from good ancestors. I don't like to see him." You would leave that place. Upon meeting this other person, you say that "God, you have blessed that person. Why don't you bless me all the more? More than him -- I want to be blessed more than he is." If you are so greedy and if you are of such an attitude, would God like you? There can be also the third type of person -- always being ignorant and indifferent to whatever happens. He wouldn't pay much attention to the dead person or to the person doing good things. Would God like seeing that kind of person as His child? Out of the three kinds, which would you be? [THE FIRST!] Why wouldn't you be the third one -- making it easy for yourself? If I were you, I would choose the third one. Which one would you choose to be? If and when this father of yours would like to have the third type of person, you must desert him and go on being the first type of person -- then you are right.
You [should] love the world in such a way that you would want to have God bless a prosperous country all the more, and you would pray to God that He bless the nation to such an extent that this nation would be the leading nation of the world: "I want to see You being joyful over this prosperous country, after having poured out all the blessings You have concentrated on this nation." On the other hand, if you see a miserable people, an underprivileged and underdeveloped nation, then you [should] feel the zeal swelling up in your heart to make that nation see the sunshine some day. You [should] want to help elevate the standard of living in that nation, because you hate to see Father in anguish over that nation, and you are anxious to make it equal to other nations. You say to Father, "I am going to do that for the sake of You and for the sake of that nation. I will make that day come for that nation." You desire that without reservations. That kind of person cannot but be loved by God, your Father. In that position you would do this, because you want to see your Father happy over the fact, and you want to do this thing because you hate to see Father feeling miserable over these people.
So, if you are in that position, you can draw the heart of your Father, and you can have the love of God, your Father, in your possession -- which is the core of everything. If that kind of son were empty-handed after having given out all that he had, what would the Father do for him? He would tell him, "I am yours. You can have Me." With this in mind you can interpret everything contained in the Bible, so I don't have to give you a more detailed explanation. If you would walk your way in this manner, even though you are faced this way or that, and God is the other way around, He will turn to you and follow you and you can meet Him wherever you are. However low the place in which you are situated, your Father's glances will be focused on you there. However far away you may be from Him, He will be there with you. The Kingdom of God in which God would take delight will be right there in your mind, wherever you are. Will you be the one who will build and establish the Kingdom of God, which God would like to have on the earth, or would you like to live in the Kingdom of God? You must be so aware of the fact that you are not born out of your own accord, you are born for the sake of the whole world, and you are living for the sake of the whole world, and you are dying for the sake of the whole world. If you live this idea to the fullest extent, then you are already carrying out what you have to do for your Father. Then the whole Creation will want to belong to you, and God will be yours, too. Even though you don't want to have them, they will volunteer to come to you and be yours. Which type of person would you want to be? Would you be always anxious to see God, to have the world, and never do anything -- or would you go on doing things for the sake of the whole world? Then God would want to come to you from His part, and have the whole Creation desire to come to you and to belong to you. Wouldn't you be that type of person? I must still tell you, that when you want to be that kind of person, you must not be calculating what is coming to you: "Well, I am doing this because I want to be something." Without minding what is coming after that, you will go on and do this for the sake of the whole world and for the sake of God -- and then you will be rewarded. Would you want to be that kind of person? God wants you to be that kind of person; then all will be realized. After you carry out your mission, victory will be ours and God's also. In this way, I want you to bear in mind what I have told you this morning. And I want you -- all of you -- to be that kind of person. Let us pray.
