Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
When you hear about a new record being set, you think first of the Olympics and athletic records. But in every area new records are set every day. The routine activities of daily living also have records set, such as in eating, or going to the bathroom. In nature also there is a state of perfection, and as all things near perfection they get closer to setting a record.
When we look back, thinking about the past, present and future, we can think what kind of record we want to set. Everyone has aspirations for setting a record in some way, a record no one else can break. That aspiration is universal, whether a person is young or old, man or woman, of any race. If the first marathon champion in the Olympics set a record which has never been equaled since, he will be remembered for all time; he will be in the central position when people talk about that event.
Why do people aspire to set new records? They know that as long as history is recorded, a champion will be remembered as the center of all in his area. What kind of record could be remembered by the whole universe, throughout all history? What kind of field or area could such a record be set in? You mention religion, but religion is just a tool thrusting man toward a goal; it is not a goal in itself.
If there is anyone in the universe who would be remembered for his records, that is God. He holds the record for being the oldest and living the longest under the sun. No one has vision sharper than God's, or more sensitive hearing. Hunting dogs have good noses, but no one can smell better than God, or taste more precisely. No creature can compete with God in expressing emotion. No one could beat God at the Olympic marathon. God is always working, but even at having a good time no one can do better than God. When God laughs, the entire universe shakes with Him. If God is omnipotent, He must have that record setting capability in every area.
Is God the champion in fighting for a righteous cause? Does He also hold the record for working for bad causes? Why do you say no? How can we define what is good or not? Goodness always parallels the central goal and purpose, while evil detracts from the center by trying to follow its own purpose instead. Then why couldn't God be the champion at engaging in bad things? God is the center of goodness, so if He indulged in evil then He would destroy Himself. God is a champion in not doing bad things; in that respect He is a record setter.
We aspire to set records in a way that will thrust us toward the central purpose. Why do we need to parallel the central subject? Because the standard of value begins right there in the center. Value is the capability or quality of something that enables it to make everything joyful and happy. What is most valuable in the entire cosmos? You answer that true love is most valuable, but can you show it to someone? True love may have hundreds of eyes and thousands of hands; how can you say what it looks like?
We see love expressed through action. So what does love look like? Love resembles God exactly. You can say that if love looks like God, or like Reverend Moon, that it also looks like you. You can logically say that you are the shape of love and you carry love inside you. No one can deny that. Why do parents love you, their children? Because your parents like love, and if love is shaped like you then by loving you they are loving love.
The true beauty of love is that it is invisible, and so it gets great mileage. If love had a particular shape, then anything that didn't contain that particular shape wouldn't like it very much. If love was round then maybe the sun and moon would like love because it looks like them, but what about trees? If love is not tall then how could the trees like love? A tree would say that love is shaped like the tree. Grass would say love is shaped like grass. If God was visible and limited to a certain shape, He could not be loved by anything that didn't look like Him; those things would feel separate and different from Him.
We like love because it has value. We said that value is something that gives joy and pleasure to all things. For years now in our Science Conferences world famous scientists have discussed absolute value, but they haven't been able to find absolute values yet. Not only that, they don't even have a conclusive definition of what true value is. Value is the capability of giving good joy and hope; absolute value must give absolute joy and absolute hope. What can give all things absolute happiness? You said true love; however, when you try to define those two words, you have a hard time.
I know the most valuable letters in the future dictionaries will be TL, for true love. We are heading toward the central subject because we find value there. Thus, we want to set the record for goodness in reaching that center. Do you have that ambition? You may be the absentminded type, but when you think about setting a world record, you really wake up. Do you think you can fulfill that ambition and set the record?
Do you have a conscience? Where is it? Everyone recognizes that somewhere inside themselves is the elusive element of conscience. Why should conscience be located inside of you? If your mind is contained within your body, then your conscience must also be contained within your body. The universe is filled with your mind, yet the center of that mind is within you. Logically, then, your conscience should be within you. The subject and object can relate and become one because the body is the point where they can become one.
Why should we make an effort to make unity between them? Unless they become one, they cannot unite with and find value of love. When this theory is understood, can we say that God also has a mind? Where is God's body then? His body is all over the place, so He includes everything. What is the center of everything then? It is man.
Then where is God within us? God lies within the mind of the mind. How deep is that mind of the mind? Where is heaven? Wherever God is, there is the Kingdom of Heaven. If God is in the mind of mind, then we know what Jesus meant when he said that the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you. More clearly, we can say that the Kingdom lies within the mind of the mind, or center of the mind.
Everything depends on and is moved by the true mind. What is the location or base of true love? It is the mind of mind of mind. True love is deeper than the center of the mind, so even God becomes helpless when you talk of true love. Logically, then, God is inside you. You know at least that you have a mind, so there must be a center of that mind, right' Is that mind of mind content, or uncomfortable?
When spring comes, the minds of beautiful young ladies wander and float around everywhere. They want beautiful clothes to wear and want to hear beautiful words of love. But if they already have love inside them, why do they look somewhere else for it? It is because love can only be visible through action, and to have action you need a plus and minus circuit. Naturally, love is looking always for a circuit. When spring comes, everyone feels uplifted, and women in particular want to be out somewhere. Why? Their love is looking to initiate some action, and then through action to form a visible fruit. If spring is women's season, then is the autumn men's season? Actually this description applies to men too.
Why then are their minds floating, trying to meet someone? The mind is reaching out in order to meet love and meet God. Through action the mind is searching for love and God. According to the Principle, you can meet God when the subject and object have give and take and are totally united, because God will dwell there. According to this theory we know how to invite God's presence-first we need subject and object, and then give and take.
When you understand God this way, does God feel closer or more distant? How close is God now? God is closer than anyone else because He is within you. You can feel that every cell and tissue contains God. Why do you love yourself, and take care of and beautify your body? It is in order to care for God inside you. You want to protect Him so He will dwell there permanently. If you are evil then God will go away, so you have to speak only noble things. You cannot afford to lose God, so to keep Him you have to be good. That is a wonderful way of taking care of yourself.
If you really feel that God is inside you, don't you want to take care of Him? The person who tries his best to be good so that God will stay will always have God with him, even if he is kicked and hated by other people. Now God is your close friend; you want to talk with Him and have conversation. If you truly concentrate on eliminating all evil elements, then when you meditate you can truly hear God's voice speaking within you.
God is like a pure diamond inside a person, but because of the fall He is surrounded by all kinds of dust and foreign elements, so He is helpless. You have to clean away all the dust from your five senses. The human senses wander a great deal, even though they mean only to do good. Your hands work evil, your eyes see evil, and there are unclean elements in your thinking. This is why the pure God cannot expand.
If there are foreign elements within a metal, it cannot conduct electricity as efficiently as a pure metal. What percentage conductance do you have in God's circuit? Even precious jewels have defects; is your mind absolutely perfect, with no defects? I have spent one hour explaining this to you because it is a necessary ingredient for daily life.
Where are you heading? What is your goal and direction? We have to find some goal which all five senses can enthusiastically agree upon. Sometimes you are led by your eyes, or by your ears. Sometimes you nose leads you somewhere-like to a Chinese restaurant! If your body is being led by one of your senses then why don't the other senses speak up and protest that they don't want to go in that direction? Generally we associate a record with running; a runner follows a track that leads to a goal or target. Do you know what your target is?
In the initials TL, the horizontal lines represent the horizontal universe, while the vertical lines represent vertical relations. This bottom line in the L parallels the top of the T. In these letters there are no other lines but vertical and horizontal, all perfectly parallel and working harmoniously. That is the characteristic of true love; it parallels and harmonizes with everything. These letters truly symbolize true love.
By remembering this you can associate everything with TL. This microphone looks like TL. If you look at the Korean alphabet. all the letters look like some form of T or L. This must be the best alphabet in the world then! Now you know why you have to learn Korean. How much do you like TL? True love is so nice that, even if a person is dozing, when he hears about it he wakes up smiling.
When you make true love your end goal, how will your five senses respond? They will unanimously agree. What kind of champion would you like to be, and what area would you set a record in? Of course, in true love. Now, who is going to win? Are you a mere candidate for the championship, or are you actually a champion? When would you really become a true champion? Who in history has made the utmost effort to win that championship? Yes, religious people. Those who do not have religion can't even talk about being champions; they are immediately disqualified. What about communists? For them the material universe is the most important, so those people can't even talk about true love. What are the differences between religious and non-religious people? If you say there is no difference, you immediately disqualify yourself as a champion.
Does a person have a chance to become a champion if he wants to stay away from a religion like Unification Church because people speak badly of it? What about the person who wants to be a member, but wants to do it secretly? Is there such a thing as a secret champion? There is no such thing! Would those people who are dozing right now be qualified?
Now TL is a code word in the Unification Church. History will record that at Belvedere, October 12, 1980, at 7:05 a.m. I created the word "TL," and you can say you participated. You young religious people who qualify to talk about TL, why do you get up early and disturb Tarrytown with your Sunday service, bothering people with fund raising and witnessing? Why are you so weird? Now you know that fund raising is a great commission; you are given the field and a chance to prove you are a TL champion. Is that chance good or bad?
You might wonder what you are doing fund raising on the streets when everyone thought you had the promise of doing great things in politics or business instead. I have become a giant figure in the world. How did I become a TL giant in sixty years? By doing controversial things and being spit at by people. I was so disliked that even dogs didn't like me, but now the entire world recognizes me.
You have to know that winning the TL championship means going a miserable, suffering way of heartbreak. True love is located in the lowest, deepest place, and also in the highest place. You cannot find it in between. Since TL is positioned at either extreme, it can contain the universe. When you hold the North and South poles, you have the world in your hands.
You need a long, long ladder to reach the highest place. The highest goal is visible to all, so everyone tries to go there first, but they keep pulling each other down in their effort to get up first. But the true love that is down deep is so well hidden that no one sees it. There are so many satanic defenses surrounding this love in the highest place that you cannot penetrate them. So the guaranteed way to find love is to go down deep; first, no one else knows about it, and second, Satan never expects you to go down there.
One thing Satan cannot do is become humble, for then he would no longer be Satan. Instead he is boastful and arrogant, trying to put himself up higher Satan's barriers are those of self-centeredness, but going down low, in the other direction, requires the opposite qualities. Where a person puts himself in the humble position, Satan cannot defeat him. In the world of self-centeredness you cannot find the truth or true things. Truth comes through the other direction, where Satan has no defense, and that is where we go
The Bible always taught this truth. This is why Jesus said that those who try to make themselves higher will go lower, and why he who loses his life for Jesus' sake will find it. It shows there are two ways of achieving the goal. The powers and principalities of the secular world lie in one direction, and because you cannot penetrate them, you have to go the other way. Once you know the secret, however, going down low is actually the easiest way. The greater the pressure you get from people who want to stamp on you, the faster you go down to reach true love! That's the blessing of it. I discovered that billion dollar secret.
Once you go down far enough, you are no longer just a candidate, but a champion of true love. Once you become the target of an entire town, you are really a champion, and because you are a champion, people want to hit you. When the whole nation comes against you, you are a national champion. When the entire world comes against you, you are a world champion.
Mohammed Ali used to be a champion and boasted that he was the greatest. When you hear that, even small sisters wish they had a chance to knock him down just once. That would be a dramatic victory, and then the world would recognize you as a champion. If even you women feel that way, how about you men?
To qualify as a TL champion, you must first of all be religious, for religious aspirations are spiritual ones. Yet even among religions there is a minority group which lives for the public purpose, and thus is being oppressed and rejected by society. If you can find such a group or individual, you know they are the TL champions. Have you ever thought of yourselves as TL champions? When people sneer at you for being Moonies, do you cringe, or do your shoulders straighten up and get broader?
If you are really a TL champion then you don't worry about opposition, for the simple reason that you know if you don't knock down the opposition you can't become a champion. When people look at you, you shouldn't shrink, but challenge them to come forward. People miscalculate your strength when they look at you, and that is a good time to demonstrate the power of your punch. The President might think he is powerful, but a TL champion would knock him out with one punch. One TL punch will knock even communists down. The difference is that the opponent won't feel any pain from that blow. In addition, it is so sweet that he will enjoy it!
Why am I so persistent and eager to do unusual things for the sake of the world? Why couldn't I live a normal life? I am going after the record, and that requires total concentration and commitment. In 1976 the TL champion really punched the world and set the record. Now we are going on the offensive, and when the media prints false allegations, we confront them and then they have to surrender. They have to acknowledge my record.
Volunteer joyfully for suffering; turn around and head for your goal at the bottom. There is no shorter distance for reaching the goal. There is always some risk in taking the short cut, but it is always thrilling and adventurous. You may not have any nice food to eat when you are hungry, or time to rest when you are tired, but that doesn't matter when you are strongly motivated to reach the goal. You would be glad to see all 200 million Americans sleep because then you could run by yourself. When they have elegant parties and en joy themselves it doesn't disturb you because you are still running. When they have three big meals, you are satisfied with having only one meal because you have extra time to keep running.
You don't need Coke and coffee breaks, but only one drink of Ginseng D a day. Our way is so incredible that when you are following it you know automatically you are going the champion's way. When you move forward in the suffering way, no one will bother you because they couldn't make themselves go that way. I purposely give your leaders a hard time, because through that suffering they can become greater. The other day I gave Bo Hi Pak a real hard time and thought he was overwhelmed by my pressure, but he was honored to be pressured by me! When someone does very well, I deliberately give him bad comments and pressure so that person feels crushed. Dr. Durst is a good example; I hear from many people what a good job Dr. Durst is doing speaking to many different groups, but when he came to meet me in Boston, the moment I walked into the room I blasted him! But actually I gave him a blessing by pushing him down to the bottom. Definitely it hurt him, and he was awake all night in his anguish, thinking what he was doing here. But that's not the attitude of a great champion. A great champion would say, "Thank you Father! Next time you bring your baseball bat to hit me, I will be ready."
Do you think God is always sweet to me? I knew that God was sweet to everyone except me. He was cold and unappreciative when I worked hard. I know how God trained me. and that's the way I want to train you. You have to set a record under the most adverse conditions that other people are overwhelmed by. Jesus was the son of God, but God allowed him to be nailed down on the cross. Even Jesus himself shouted out, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But God gave him that suffering so that he could set the record. In that moment true love can be born. Under incredible circumstances Jesus passed the test, and no one can go beyond his record. Satan has no way to accuse Jesus.
I discovered the secret of the TL championship and no one has walked this way as I did. Recently Mother and I received some philosophers and theologians at East Garden. One Harvard PhD said to me, "I am a Moonie. What can I do for you?" He may have expected me to say he was a scholar and to send him traveling to speak and receive glory, but I told him to be a lightning rod and receive more persecution than I have received, even if he should falter and die. I told him if he did that then people would heap unending honors upon him at his tomb. Was that a cruel statement or a great blessing? That's how I want him to set a record.
I have set a record in my life of sixty years, and I want a challenger to come from among you to break that record. I have stayed 26 hours at a time out on the ocean, so you should feel you want to stay there 27 hours. If I have stayed two days on the ocean, you should feel you want to stay three days. I want you to be greater than me. In the secular world everyone wants to maintain their championship, but the heavenly way is different. I want to see someone come forward who can break my record. That will be God's victory, and my victory as well, actually. Everyone who wants to challenge my record is my son or daughter, and parental heart always wants to see the children do better than the parent. In order to make them champions, parents sometimes do cruel looking things. Is that good or bad?
I feel that if my own children fail to live up to my standard then I will find other people. If white people fail to do it, I will find black people who will do it. It doesn't matter-I want someone to achieve that goal. Race or culture doesn't matter; anyone who wins that standard will be rewarded with the TL championship. In our movement, international marriage is no problem because barriers of nationality and language and race are broken down. If someone says that he cannot act outside a restricted area, he has limited himself and cannot win the championship.
A member who has a Ph.D. might ask what he can do, and then I will send him on the MFT, telling him that the MFT certificate is better than his Ph.D. People spit and kick at you when you fund raise, yet you keep going; these things cannot bother you. Perhaps you have set a good standard in fifty states, but you should want to set the record in New York; I made my command headquarters here because it is the most difficult city. We want to make a new New York. When you can overcome persecution, a new New York can be born. This is an immoral city, but you should feel you will be the TL champion who will clean it up.
Today you have heard an important, dramatic message. The stronger the power that pushes you down, the higher you can rebound. When a ball is thrown at the ground, does it just stay there? No, it bounces back, and the harder it is thrown, the higher it bounces. You are like a ball hitting the ground under the pressure of persecution and accusation, so you zoom down to the place of true love, and then bounce back again.
I have been called all kinds of names here in America, even names like Hitler and Stalin. People thought they were hitting at a super evil, but instead it turned out to be a super good to the same degree.
People today have to take account of my presence in America and research what I am about. Later on those people will look for the true Moonies so they can study and write papers about them.
I don't want to be indebted to anyone; I want to give everything instead. Is God dependent on anyone? No, God wants to be completely the center as the Creator and subject. In the same way, I don't want to be indebted to anyone, so in my thinking there is no such thing as "I can't do that." When I started fishing in Gloucester, the local business people wondered what a religious leader had to do with a smelly business like fishing and wanted me to go home, but I made my home there. American people want me to go home, so I go to East Garden and Tarrytown and New York. That is my home.
With the energy with which they push me down, I can jump all the way up to the top. Why do you young people come and follow me when the rest of your country hates me? Every Sunday I push you out to tribulation and try to knock you down, but you keep coming. People can't understand this, so they assume I am brainwashing you. I tell you to pack and go home, but even when your parents feed you nicely and want you to stay with them, you come back here!
If a bee is sucking the nectar from a flower, you can try to pull him away, but instead of letting go, his body will tear in half; he will never stop sucking the nectar. You people are like honeybees. People outside our Church are pulling at you, but you never let go. The honey of the Unification Church is true love, and once you taste it you cannot let go. The world knows that I must have something to offer because they cannot separate you from me.
Recently I sent word to the seminary that I was coming to visit, and for hours everyone was waiting in excitement. But when after a long time I didn't arrive, they got tired, and when I finally did come no one was waiting. When they assembled to hear me I told them that they flunked the course-they said they were waiting to greet me, but then no one was there when I arrived!
When we say something is true, it means doing things the way no one else would do them. Everyone prays at certain times of day, such as mealtime and morning and evening, but no one prays at 3 a.m. That is the time you can make a personal relationship with God. Only something that is true can conceive of such an extraordinary thing. You meet God in the lowest place, not the highest. Your direction should be down to the valley.
When you reach the lowest possible point, your mind is joyful and light like a feather. On the way your body will be tired and complain, but if you are dominated by your body's standard then you are lost. The Bible teaches that those who persist to the last moment shall be saved. When is that last moment for you?
You joined an incredible church, where we talk about setting the record. But we have to determine whether it is a good or bad thing. Why is it good? There is logic and sound reasoning here. True things must be logical and clear. There is no contradiction between word and deed if something is true. Do your actions parallel your words? For whom do you work hard and fund raise? You don't do it for me, but for the noblest purpose, for God, and mankind. You do it for others. People can see that Moonies' actions come from unselfishness. If you are working for yourself then you always want to put up a fence to protect your accomplishment, but when you work for others no boundary is necessary; everything flows freely. You can communicate with the whole world at any time.
We can conclude that those who oppose me are false people, centered on the material world. But the true American will recognize my value; something inside his heart will say I am right. There is no boundary for such people, so even though they come from other nations, they can freely communicate with me. There is no boundary of nationality in spirit world either. There is no contradiction between our logic and our actions. Will that change when I am dead? No, this is such that you can live it in the past, present and future. This has been logical throughout history and will be logical in the present and future, and will bring about parallel action.
If I had brought an incredible truth but failed to accomplish and live it, it would be useless. For whom do I do all these things? Not myself, but for others. Thus, there is always a relationship between subject and object, and harmony can be seen. This is a formula that can be lived by people anywhere in the world; it is the cure-all for everyone. I have practiced this truth in my lifetime, so I am a father to people of all races. I am taking care of all kinds of people. No one in history lived this way on earth, with both the theory and the practice.
I don't do these things to get glory. Certainly people are giving me more criticism than glory, but even so I continue to live this way and love all people. True love is my motivation. Anyone who has anything to do with true love must eventually recognize and unite with me. The movement of true love alone can unite all mankind. No one can object to that, or offer a better proposal. Are you merely candidates for TL, or are you champions on the course?
When you are hit, are you knocked out, or do you spring back as hard as you can? Many people are trying to win this TL battle, but only under certain conditions. Some people are hindered by their honor. which they don't want to give up. Some people feel they cannot disregard their children or their wives. Others think they can do anything as long as they have money in the bank. Can these criteria be accepted in the TL race?
Your final problem is figuring out whether this is true; you know it is the truth, but only in your brain. You don't want to do it. I know your tendency not to act, so I not only teach you, but push you out to act, kicking and knocking you down. This is my true love. Can you accept that?
I have only one body, so I must designate my representatives. You might think you can accept being kicked by me, but can you accept it from my representative? Again, I want you to be unconditional, regardless of who wields the bat. As long as you fly off the bat and make a home run, it doesn't matter what kind of bat it is or who swings it.
Your goal is to make a home run. Can you make a home run if the batter thinks he should just tap at you? The only way you can do it is if you and the batter both have kamikaze thinking. You may not understand completely, but you feel this is right, don't you? If you understand, you don't need me any more! I am suffering in order to train you, but if you are already small Reverend Moons then I don't need to work on you any more.
You might think that you can do better than I have done even if you eat and live well. Is that right? Once you declare the victory you are free to drink a big keg of beer. Even if you dislocate a woman's shoulder in dancing at the victory, that is all right too. Knowing that that person is rejoicing at the universal victory, she will not mind and will even dance with him! Her joy will be so great that the pain in her shoulder won't make any difference. If you have bruises and bandages everywhere from the battle, God won't wonder what happened, but will fully understand.
The Unification Church is a dramatic, adventurous and romantic place to end up. We have logic and a goal and plan of action. I set the universal record and you are rejoicing over my victory, but you have to set your own record, and furthermore defend it. That's the job ahead of you. There is a cold and cruel battle ahead of you, but by fighting it you can set the record. If you are mediocre there is no way you can do it.
In order to set your record you get up early and run fast, doing everything possible to set an extraordinary record. We go beyond the society, nation, world and spirit world, setting the record on every level. If you get bored, there is no way you can win. Actually every moment is exciting.
My topic is Let Us Set The Record. I have a record, but you haven't set yours yet. If you really challenge me in this respect then you have to roll up your sleeves and get down to work. Are you interested? In this dramatic life your laughter can turn to crying, and your crying to laughing. Your life goes up and down, up and down, whirling all the time.
Today is a beautiful day. Now you make up your mind whether you are a different person who wants to set his own record, making a new beginning. If you are determined to do that then even if I had nice buses waiting outside to take you to a picnic with me, where would you go? Would you go back to be persecuted and hit, and to set your own record? Does that mean you would rather go to the bottom of hell instead of to the heavenly picnic?
If you go to the picnic you might have heaven for one day, but if you go down to the bottom of hell, it will eventually bring you eternal heaven. Raise your hand if you want to go to the bottom of hell, the TL heaven.
God bless you.
