Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
The literal translation of the title is blood family, a family or a people united by the same blood lineage. But you don't use a phrase such as blood race, do you? So a better translation might be the original race from one lineage.
Where did all of us come from? The key question is always one of origin. Consider yourself: what are you? You consist of mind and body. There are also various other symmetries and relationships in your nuke-up: right and left, up and down, etc. Everything is relative.
When you look at your face, you may wonder why it happens to be the way it is. You can imagine some very funny variations. Suppose the various facial features were arranged differently. Everything might be upside down, for example. If your mouth were higher dun your eyes, your eyeballs would move up and down every time you brought food to your mouth. If your meal consisted of soup, every time a spoon carrying hot liquid went up, your eyes would declare an emergency! Then what if your nose were upside down, with the nostrils facing up? Any liquid failing from the mouth would enter those two holes and create tremendous problems.
Why do the eyes happen to be in their particular position? If they were on the top of your head, you would have to make incredible effort to look down. Any time you try to select a better position for the eyes, you come to the conclusion that this is the best place for them. Generally speaking, the eyes are centrally placed. Why? It is so you can see straight; your eyes move back and forth at a 90 degree angle from your standing position, which is a vertical line.
When you sleep at night, how do your eyes move: up and down, or right and left? When you are lying down, it doesn't really matter whether the eyeballs move right and left or up and down. They still operate on a horizontal plane, don't they? You probably never thought about that.
What if you didn't have eyelashes or eyebrows? Look at someone and try to visualize him without eyebrows. In the summer when you work hard and the sweat pours down from your forehead, what would happen if the eyebrows were positioned upside down like a bowl? The sweat would stay in the bowl and spill over into your eyes! It's almost incredible how the features of your face are arranged.
Now, when you look at someone's eyes, you realize how strategically they are positioned and how well they are protected. The eyes are normally set in and the bones around them stick out. They are framed by eyebrows and eyelashes so they are well protected by their surroundings. In addition, the eyes are recessed and the eyelids extend over them, so liquids, including sweat, cannot get in. Suppose the hairs of the eyelashes extended over the nose. Have you thought about why them is hair around the eyes?
Many people probably look at their face and take it for granted. But so many things were considered in the creation of that face; so much thought went into making certain that it would function perfectly. Incredible thinking was invested in the face.
Suppose the eyeballs were immobile and the only way to look to the right or to the left was to move your face, or even your entire body. If the eyeballs didn't move, the neck would have to work double, triple, or even quadruple time. It would protest to the eyes: "You rascals, you give me such a hard time!"
Your eyelids don't stay still; they blink steadily. But do you feel uncomfortable blinking? Does blinking inconvenience you? Are you aware of your eyes blinking? From the time you get up in the morning and as you do your mission throughout the day, your eyelids blink without resting. Have you ever thought about how your eyes have to blink all day long? If they remained open like windows, without blinking, what do you think would happen? Your eyes would dry out; they would become sore and bloodshot; the various disturbances coming into your eyes would make them painful. So think what a priceless gift of fortune it is to have even one perfect eye functioning for you!
Suppose the line of your nose went downward and then suddenly turned up. Suppose it were circular. Suppose it ended right in the mouth. Why is there a slight bulge on both sides of the end of your nose? It is to keep any min or sweat from entering your nostrils. Any liquid coming down the top of your nose will fall to the side and never get into your mouth.
Why is there a line separating each cheek from your mouth? Each line and each shape has meaning. When I look at someone's face, I can tell a great deal about that person by the shape of those two lines. Those lines can tell me, for instance, whether a person works hard and sweats a lot. Your eyes also reveal a lot about you. Some people don't look straight at you; they always look up or down. Other people constantly look from side to side as they walk. There are even distinctive ways of closing one's mouth. Some people press their lips tightly and thrust them out. One person may shut his mouth, making a long horizontal line, while another points his lips out.
What was the original kind of face? What do you consider the most natural face? Is it a smiling face? The original face may be that of a newborn baby crying and shouting out to the world. A brand new baby doesn't just whimper, he puts his last ounce of energy into his cry. Actually, crying is an excellent exercise for an infant. His lungs contract all the way and his chest moves up and down; in this way he is exercising his lungs.
A baby who has just been born makes a declaration of life as he cries out to the world. A mother loves to hear her newborn cry. If the baby doesn't cry, something must be wrong. For nine months prior to birth, the baby was compressed into the small space inside the mother's womb. It had no elbow room; it needed exercise. The baby has to be curled up into the smallest possible mass inside the womb. Finally, when the baby is born, his body can stretch out; his lungs expand and he starts to breathe.
I don't know what the medical books say about this because I haven't read them, but I know what nature says very well. The newborn baby's cry is a cry of joy, a cry of bursting into nature. It is an incredible outburst of life.
Both crying and laughing are extreme expressions of feeling, linking emotional and physical functions. When you look at someone laughing, you see not just the mouth but the whole body is involved. It is awkward and unnatural for someone to laugh only with his mouth. Laughter is an emotional expression of the whole face and body.
Another amazing thing is that tears are produced both when you laugh and when you cry. The emotions of laughing and crying are extreme opposites, but both are expressed by the same tears. Does that mean the two emotions are far apart or close? Is it bad to cry? Do you want to live a crying life? Would you want to spend your entire life as a crying baby? Would you prefer a laughing life or a crying life? One is an upward expression and the other a downward expression, so the two emotions are different. What kind of face would you want to wear daily? You say a happy face. Show me one.
Happiness can be described as a smooth, natural and harmonious expression-a full circle. Unless your circle is completely full, there is no true happiness. We could say that the universe exists to fill the circle. The various parts of your body are rounded; there are no sharp edges. Even a person's face is generally round; a person's head is rounded. A round face and head are good.
There are distinct features that differentiate Oriental and Western people. Oriental heads are normally broad in front, but short in depth, while Western heads are narrower in front but quite long. People usually evaluate a person's attractiveness from the front, but I think the most important angle is the rear view. A good-looking person should be attractive from the rear, side and top as well; all directions should be perfect.
When I look at someone's mouth, it tells me lots of stories about him. From the shape of the mouth I know whether someone speaks bluntly and honestly.
It is not easy to become a totally original, natural person. To be natural, everything has to be straight, parallel, and organized. It even means walking in the most natural manner possible. To conform to the original human standard is not easy; to reach the original level is an almost insurmountable physical task.
It would be absurd to say that the intricate human body just happened by accident. By looking at the human face alone, one cannot deny the existence of God. You sometimes wonder how I can match so many couples in such a short time; now you have been given a glimpse into the process. This is a very elementary explanation, but it still offers some hints about how I get insights into people.
A person's chin and cars offer insights as well. A person's chin generally protrudes slightly. Do you know why? It is for the sake of harmony. If all the lines go straight down, the face looks too flat, so the chin makes the face more interesting. The shape of the ears is absolutely beautiful. There are even three stages to the ear.
Just as them are three focal points in the face-eyes, nose and mouth-them are also three distinct areas: from the hairline to the eyebrows, the eyebrows to the tip of the nose, and the nose to the chin. Each of these levels also has three distinct areas. Everything, even your fingers, has three parts.
The features of one's face are also proportionate to the face as a whole. When God gives someone a long face, for instance, He has to give him a long nose. Can you imagine how unbalanced a long face with a very tiny nose would look!
Everything we are talking about hem is scientific. What does it mean to say something is scientific? The scientific process involves making logical, organized links between cause and effect. This whole discussion of facial features is very logical.
Let's talk about the ancestors of your eyes. Where do your eyes come from? Which do you think came first, the eye or the environment? Why did the environment come first? Before the eyes were even created, they knew there would be a sun; eyes were designed on the assumption of sunshine. Perhaps someone would claim, "No, no. The sun knew what kind of eyes them would be, so it adapted itself to them adjusting its brightness to give them enough light."
We might ask another question: how did the eyes know they would need some kind of moisture to keep from drying out? Whoever designed the eyes provided tear ducts and eyelids to protect the eyes from dust. So did that somebody create eyes first and then put dust into the air? No. Your answer is correct: the environment came first; nature came first.
Therefore, it is obvious that even before they came into being, your eyes knew them would be sunshine, rain, sweat, dust, atmosphere, and so on to deal with. When the very first eyes came into the world, did they know they would encounter sunlight, dust and moisture, etc.? The eyes didn't know that, but their designer did.
Then who is that designer? You say God, but have you seen Him? How do you know He did it? We can conclude, very logically and scientifically, that before the eyes ever came into being, some intelligence which knew the circumstances of the atmosphere designed the eyes to function properly. If eyes had come into being on their own and encountered some unforeseen circumstances, do you suppose they would go searching throughout the universe for some hairs they had neglected to provide!
Your eyes are like two windows opening out to the universe. So when you open your eyes, you are not just moving muscles but you are exposing yourself to the universe. You can acquire universal knowledge through them.
Why do the eyeballs move left and right and up and down? Many people believe that everything happens by accident, that life evolved through random mutations. But you must recognize that there is direction and will in evolution. If there were no discipline in development, your eyes might have evolved in all kinds of ways.
A crucial question in philosophy is which came first, consciousness or existence. If you say consciousness was the origin, you are calling it the seed of everything. If you say existence came first, you mean that matter is the essence of the universe. So what is the answer?
How many eye doctors do you think there are in the world? Tens of thousands, right? If your eyes are healthy and don't need the care of an eye doctor, that means they are protected and beyond the realm of knowledge of the doctors. All the intelligence of all the eye doctors together is not enough to fathom the eye. How many volumes of books do you think would be needed to describe all the knowledge about your eyes? What's more, your eyes are not just physical organs; they perceive the universe. Therefore, a comprehensive book about eyes would also have to describe universal phenomena!
In addition, your eyes, mouth, nose and ears don't just function separately, but they are all interconnected. If you take a deep breath and hold your nose, for instance, you can feel your eyes and ears pop. How many books would be needed to describe the five functions of your face? Would one book be enough? A million books? That and many more. You have never seen anything more intricate, sophisticated, disciplined, or more organized than the organs of your face. What a lot of nonsense for someone to say it all came about by accident!
Actually, each person contains the essence of the universe including solid, liquid and gas elements. To bring one person into existence would require mastering the total knowledge of the universe and projecting it into one perfect microcosm: a human being. So you are not an accidental phenomenon. It would be nonsense for a person to declare, "I don't care about the universe; I have nothing to do with it. I happen to be here by accident."
Some people claim that human beings evolved from monkeys. All right, but who determined the way the monkey is? Who decided there would be male and female monkeys? Was there some clever monkey who chose whether it was going to be male or female? Perhaps a female monkey declared she wanted to be a male from then on. Suppose none of them wanted to be female, and all the monkeys ended up being males. What would happen then? Male monkeys ire tall, strong and powerful, while female monkeys are smaller and weaker, so maybe nobody wanted to be a female monkey. But does a monkey have the right to decide?
The theory of evolution leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Who determined the direction of evolution? Who said that monkeys should become humans? Why shouldn't the monkeys become more primitive and go back to being amoebas? Did the monkeys make up their mind to head one way and not the other? Who decided that life should evolve from a primitive state to a more advanced, sophisticated state?
In order to become something else or to achieve a higher state, one needs extra energy. Where can one get that extra energy to invest? Can you say, "I don't need anything. I will create my own energy?" Does created matter generate creative power within itself? When we really understand scientific logic, communism has no ground to stand upon. But scientists are too timid, in a way, to come out and declare it.
When you think about it deeply, nothing is accidental in the human body. For instance, why do men have a beard and women not? Whoever designed men knew that men were going to sweat a lot; therefore, when the sweat comes out, it is absorbed by the hair instead of dripping all over the face. Everything has a reason. Nothing on your face or in your body is there without a reason.
Which comes first, consciousness or existence? A long time ago I had many friends who were communists. I kept teasing them, "Oh, you conic from a monkey, so you are a monkey boy. Why don't you evolve into a man? I'm a man, but you're a monkey. You can be my friend when you conic up to the human level!"
When you look into a mirror, you are looking at a mystery palace. How big a price tag would you place on your body? One human being is so precious that even if you offered the entire universe, it would not be sufficient compensation. What are the distinctive human attributes and qualities? We have consciousness; we have the ability to think. But any discussion of human lineage requires understanding of the original human beings.
What was the original human being like? The original human being looked like you! Every person has the same number of features in his face: two eyes, two ears, one nose, one mouth. How many holes are there in your face? Seven: two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, and the mouth. The number seven comes from four plus three.
Where can we find the number three in our face? It is divided into three levels and each part has three aspects of segments. Where can we find the number four? Your ears hear from all four different directions; your nose also deals with four directions. In the Bible, the numbers three and four are very important, as well as seven (three plus four) and twelve (three times four). Nature is designed around twelve months, twelve hours, and twelve directions, for example.
The number one is a symbol of God. The thumb has two joints, representing God who exists in dual essentialities. The hands of an unborn baby are clenched, with the thumb inside the fist. Why is the thumb inside? Because God is the center of the universe; His position is the pivotal, inner position. The other four fingers of our hand have a total of twelve joints, signifying the twelve months, twelve directions, and twelve hours that represent the universe. So the four fingers represent the universe and the thumb represents God at the center.
Your face is also a microcosm. The most mysterious part of your face is the eyes, because they represent God. The nose, at the center, represents Adam and Eve. The mouth represents all things of creation. A normal, healthy person has 32 teeth, four times eight, representing the whole. Also, the mouth deals with all things, represented by the food it takes in. Only the mouth takes in food but it also corresponds to the mind because words come out of the mouth. Of the five sensory organs, only the mouth has a dual responsibility: eating and speaking. Speaking is a spiritual function, while eating is a physical function. Taking in food deals with physical elements, while speaking deals with spiritual elements.
The connection between your mouth and your mind is a crucial one. This is obvious, because when your mind feels it wants to go somewhere, your mouth should immediately say it wants to go. The mouth responds to the mind and is completely harmonized with it. This is another way of explaining that the mind and body are not separate; rather they are one harmonious whole. Mind and body cannot be separated.
What would happen if your mouth disobeyed your mind? What if the mind said, "I want to go there," and the mouth replied, "No, you don't?" 'Your mind would be saying "Yes, yes," and your body "No. no." Actually, in the original concept, there was to be no separation between mind and body. But what has happened? Do you sometimes feel a contradiction between your mind and body? Does your mind belong to the spiritual realm and your body to the material realm, or vice versa? Your mind deals with consciousness and your body with matter, but the problem is that we have found no way to harmonize the two.
Disharmony exists on all levels, from the individual to the worldwide level. On the global level, two fundamentally contradictory worlds exist: democratic and communist. Their conflict has caused tremendous confusion and chaos. Do you have such confusion and chaos? Since you don't, Moonies are number one! You are clever, aren't you?
This disharmony of the world was not the original intention. We can say that universal consciousness or intelligence is parallel with our minds; both have the same essence. Also, our body and the material world have the same origin. Is it possible that the two were designed to be fighting a the time? The original concept was for mind and body to be harmonized, but our problem today is that they are divided and contradictory.
Throughout history, philosophers and secular thinkers could not determine why this division came about. Only religion has a clear understanding, teaching that man fell. To say that there was a fall means that something is out of order. Fallen men and women are like broken-down instruments that need to be sent back to the manufacturer for repairs. Who is the owner of all these broken-down instruments? It is God. Looking at such disorder, God thinks, 'They need to be sent to a repair shop."
In God's sight, religion is the repair shop, but there are many different levels of religion, from the most elementary to the most sophisticated. The Unification Church is one of God's repair shops, but which kind? As our name indicates, we are the repair shop that brings unification; the end result of our work is unification. In the Unification shop, everything must harmonize; all parts must click together.
I am the shop foreman. When I speak to you and rap your forehead. you feel good because you can say, "I am being remolded; I am in the process of being repaired." Those who sit in front want to be fixed first. Clever people who want to be repaired first look for the right position!
When you have a choice between a mediocre repair shop and an excellent one, which would you choose? Do you look for meticulous work? Do you want to be worked on a lot or just a little? Is the Unification Church repair shop an easy place, a mediocre place, or a hard place? Do you like such a hard place?
Why is this a good repair shop? Once you have been through this shop, you become a superior product and everybody in the world wants you! Who can determine the quality of product you will become? You can. Compare what you get here with what you could get from the world. You have come to the right repair shop, haven't you?
Is MFT duty in the Unification Church okay? How do you like witnessing? You go through a great deal of hardship when people criticize and persecute you for witnessing, but is it okay? Why do you have to endure it? I know it is tough for you, but through this process you are being molded into a new being; you are actually elevating yourself.
Are you confident that you can become a new person through following faithfully the Unification Church doctrine? Do you really mean it when you say yes? Once you are repaired, your mind and body operate in harmony what the mind wants the body does, and what the body wants the mind does.
Do you find my way of thinking and describing things ordinary or extraordinary? You learn a lot in this repair shop, don't you? How much tuition do you pay? If we were to charge tuition, it wouldn't be cheap. You aren't dumb! You know these are expensive lessons.
Once you are repaired, I will give you a final test; every product will be tested, and I will seal you with my signature, Sun Myung Moon. Furthermore, I will give you a guarantee not just for one year or ten years, but for eternity. Once I sip the eternal guarantee, you will be welcome not only here on earth but everywhere. People will say, "Hem comes a perfect specimen. I want it." Isn't that what you want to be?
To gain a worldly Ph.D. from Harvard University takes 10, 15, or maybe 20 years. But you have come to the Unification Church and learned incredible, extraordinary lessons. Can you say that three years or seven years is too long? At the end of your course, you will receive an eternal guarantee. A university degree represents competence in basically only one area, but I want you to become multi-faceted people, able to understand every phase of human life. The only reason I can lead you is that I understand every facet of human life.
People admire champion athletes. But do you know who was the greatest wrestling champion of all? It was Jacob, whose opponent was an angel. God was the umpire of that competition. When you ask other people who is the most famous boxing champion, they might think of the movie Rocky, but we in the Unification Church think of biblical characters such as Jacob. How different the two are! There is no comparison.
If there were a tournament for religious leaders, don't you think I would be an extraordinary champion? In any competition, the important point is who will be the judge. Who will decide whether I am the champion? Jesus was the chosen contender and he fought in the ring, but did he win the battle? My opponents have always been nations or governments. In Korea, I faced the government, in North Korea it was the communist government, and here in the United States, the legal battle is defined as the United States of America versus Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Ultimately, when I go to Moscow, I will contend with the Soviet government.
Today I am definitely struggling with the U.S. government. It is like Reverend Moon and Uncle Sam are wrestling! You Moonies form an incredible cheering section. Uncle Sam's group shouts out, "Uncle Sam, you cannot be defeated. Go on. Hit him!" "Booo," the Moonies reply. Who is the umpire? It is God. Even if the United States declares a victory, God will say, "No, you made a misjudgment. That is not the correct verdict." Who will be the ultimate winner? The key question is always who will be the judge.
To be a religious person, you need some religious purpose in your life. Is the Unification Church the right place to come? Among religious doctrines, does my teaching come first or last? Who knows? God knows. No matter how loudly you may declare it, I won't believe you if you are the only ones saying it. But if God declares that my teachings come first, I will trust His word.
I am a religious leader, but that does not mean I focus only on religion. I may speak about business, health, art, literature, science-every aspect of human life. All human pursuits, even journalism, should serve the highest purpose.
The United States is a country with a free enterprise system. There are an incredible number of wealthy people and wealthy groups such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, who should be serving this country. Therefore, when Washington, DC, the nation's capital, ended up with only one, very liberal newspaper, The Washington Post, I waited for some rich people with a lot of resources to come forward and publish a patriotic newspaper there. Since no one did, I stood up and said, "Let's do it."
Was creating The Washington Times a good or bad thing to do? For whose sake was the paper created? It was to serve America and the largest purpose. Ultimately, God shall be served. Did I get any personal benefit from it? No, but that is perfectly all right because I am not seeking personal benefit. I am a religious leader, but every day I have to deal with finances because there am so many projects that need money. People always come to me requesting funds for one project or another.
There is a lot of money in the Chase Manhattan Bank, in the Bank of America, in the various Swiss banks, but my bank is a pocket bank! That's the only bank I have. My pockets are always empty, however, because the needs are always larger than the pockets! I am always looking for more funds to support our various projects.
When I wondered what I should do to support our projects, God said, "Reverend Moon, don't you know there is a beautiful solution? We have great young people. Let them go out and bring in the necessary funds." What kind of attitude should you have as you raise funds? Will you go in slow motion, or run and challenge the goal? Actually, the ideal motion is that of a fighting spirit.
Also, since we need more people, I am sending you out to witness. Suppose God said, "We need not only a Washington Times but also a Boston Times or a Baltimore Times," how should I respond? God is telling me we need all kinds of Times, so maybe we can create a Times Club-the Times Club News Companies! This is plural thinking, rather than singular thinking! Is it a good way to think?
Such a connection of heart fills us with joy. We are happy people because even though we receive all kinds of persecution as we go out, when we get together we can laugh with heavenly humor, rejoicing over the truth.
When God looks around, what location will He find most amusing? None other than Belvedere. Why is God's attention so drawn to this place? Nowhere else can God find so many Westerners sitting in front of one Oriental leader and laughing. This in itself is an extraordinary vision of unity. Another aspect of Belvedere's humor is that the Western world is a chair-culture, but here nobody cares about chairs. You can sit on the floor for hours and hours and enjoy yourself! So God must really love to look down at this unusual setting.
Most pastors worry keeping their services short enough. Their sermons rarely exceed 15 minutes because they say no soul is saved after 15 minutes! They feel that the entire service should not exceed 40 minutes. But you come here and don't even look at the clock. One hour, two hours, three and even four hours pass, and you still laugh. So God must find this a fun place to be!
Is God really interested in this place? Where else can He find such an unusual assembly of people who work hard but give every ounce of their energy to serve the world? Where else can He find people who raise funds and never keep one penny in their own pockets? If there is a God, He has to be on our side. The conclusion is that simple.
Let me ask you another tough question: To whom will you listen, your spouse, me, or God? Suppose I tell you that since you are over 30 you should start your family life, and then God suddenly overrides me. Whose direction should you follow? Certainly, if I give a certain instruction and God says no, you would follow the higher order. If you have a rare opportunity to go to the theater with your wife and suddenly I call you, would you still go on your outing? Would you cancel it?
Would you like to live deeply indebted to others or be debt-free? One couple may borrow money to go to a movie, but another husband and wife make a love-pact and then leave for separate missions. Which life would you prefer? Are you sure you want the second one?
This morning I have been explaining the universal principle that the mind and body need to unite and harmonize, centering upon truth. When you extend mind and body to the ultimate scale, they become the spiritual world and the physical world, or heaven and earth. One is internal and the other external. When they are harmonized, everything in between becomes harmonious and free from contradiction.
I have also been helping you understand the significance of your face. Every day when you rise, look at yourself differently in the mirror. After listening to this morning's sermon, look at your eyes in particular and by examining them, you can tell if your thinking is lowly and physical, or more lofty and spiritual. The eyes are clear indicators. Because the eyes represent God, their shape and their brightness reveal your story. When you ask your eyes whether they like this world of truth and spirit, they should say, "Yes, yes, that's it!" When you have MFT duty and you tell your eyes you are going fundraising, will they cry or laugh?
Your nose represents Adam and Eve, therefore, you should be straight, true and faithful. The nose develops last on the face, because Adam and Eve were the final beings created. Because the nose represents the center of the universe which is able to communicate with God, it is vertical. Also, the function of the nose is breathing. That is a symbol of mankind inhaling both the physical and the spiritual elements.
Why do people get married? A nose functions properly when it has two nostrils. By the same token, a single man or woman is not complete. All your organs should function for the sake of truth.
You should tell your mouth to speak the one truth. You have only one tongue, not two. Looking in the mirror, tell each organ you want to take in only the truth and digest only the truth. Don't listen to anything that is lowly or ungodly. You are responsible to control the organs of your body.
There are seven openings in your face, plus your hands and feet, making 11 items. Tell your hand not to touch anything except godly things. Your original, pure mind says your hand should not touch a woman's hand until you are married. Your eyes should look only in the right direction, your nose should smell only the right things, your mouth should eat only the right things, your hands touch only the right things and so on.
As soon as a man and woman see each other, 12 different organs, or instruments, are mobilized. The opposite sex is the most effective mobilizing force! If a woman asks her eyes what they would most like to see, would they answer another woman? No, they want to see a very rough, hairy man! What do your eyes exist for? They seek an object. Likewise, the nose seeks an object to smell. It is most logical that the organs of your body function for the sake of your object, not for yourself.
Is a woman supposed to live for the sake of another woman? A woman's original purpose of creation is for the sake of man. And a man exists for the sake of a woman. Therefore, men and women need each other; they have to meet.
In what phase of your life do your faculties reach their peak function? It is when you have the greatest sensitivity to love-in your youth.
American women usually don't want to be in the lower position; they want to take the upper position and have power. They want to be in control. But biologically, God made women as a container. Therefore, in order to fulfill that function, you need to be in a low position. Only love brings a man and a woman together. A new baby, new life, is conceived in the very center of a man and a woman. This is where each of us originated.
This brings us back to today's theme: the original race from one lineage. Where did each of us come from? We came from the center of love of our parents. Which comes first: life or love? Love gives meaning to life, now let us ask which comes first: love or God? This is a very huge question, but the explanation is very simple: God also exists for love. Without the reality of love, there would be no reason for God to exist.
This is clear from an observation of life. Human life didn't precede love; it was love which created life. Where does consciousness originate? It is the same answer: consciousness starts from love. Even your eyes originate from love. Your eyes, ears and nose all look forward to living with love and going to a loving place; your entire body is heading towards the destination of love. You are searching after love.
It is entirely natural for you to search for love because this was how your life began. When a newborn baby cries out, it fills the father and mother with joy. Would a mother criticize her newborn for crying? Even wet and messy diapers are a source of joy; the parents are glad to serve the baby by changing them. Do you write down a charge slip for every time you change a diaper or feed your baby so you can present your child with a bill later? Would you tell your child, "It took this amount of money to raise you, so please repay me"? A parent's mind does not function that way. Parents always want to give mom and serve mom; they find joy in giving.
As you keep on giving, do you find yourself depleted and empty? No, you will be replenished over and over, beyond what you have given. When you invest energy you receive some return. In the physical world, it is impossible to obtain 100 percent return on your energy output. The output is always greater than the return. However, there is one exception and that is the power of love. In the realm of love, you always get back mom than you give.
God is eternal and cannot be diminished. For thousands of years He has been pouring out His love without becoming any weaker. By giving love, God has prospered. According to the laws of physics, fuel and energy are always needed to operate a machine, and eventually the supply of energy runs out. God has been operating this entire universe from the beginning until now and He has always been spending without receiving. He has been pouring out Himself, but He has never become empty because in the realm of love, the more you give, the more you receive. Therefore, everything balances out and a revolving action can exist.
This replenishment of love is an incredible new discovery. Because of this, eternal life can be seen as very logical, even scientific. In the world of love, by giving you become more active and by receiving you be-come more prosperous. Therefore you can go on for eternity. You were born in love and you live and grow in love; you will continue for eternity in a love that will never diminish. This is the most beautiful secret in the universe. Do you follow?
Eternal life is made possible only with love. That is why the philosophy or creed of the Unification Church is always to give out to the world. Can anyone of you say you have nothing to give? No, you can always give love true love that will never be depleted, true love that will never diminish.
Think of it. When you know someone is giving you 100 percent genuine love, you want to reciprocate, don't you? What's more, you don't want to reciprocate just 50 percent of what you received, but more than 100 percent. That's love. According to the principle of love, when you receive 100 percent, you want to return 100 percent, or even 150 percent.
Eternal love is created in the family. When individuals are joined as husband and wife and live together for eternity, their interaction is a spiraling motion that goes to the core and then heads outward. It is always circling in and out, in and out, like breathing. There is a mother's side and a father's side, but there must be some circuit of interaction between them; otherwise a child could not be conceived.
The father and mother breathe in harmony and rhythm. Father and mother experience ecstatic joy when the child is conceived and take delight and satisfaction in its birth. We are born as individuals and grow up with brothers and sisters; then we become husband and wife and live with the universe. So we experience three levels of life while on earth. The final stage of life is linked to universal consciousness; human beings are the center of the universe and dwell in love forever.
What kind of world is the spirit world? It is the eternal world. It has no air like ours on earth but its atmosphere is love. There people breathe the air of love. All human beings are meant to experience this.
The original race comes from the same blood line. We all go through three stages of life. These three stages create the heavenly four position foundation. We experience brotherly love, parental love, and ultimately divine love. Along the way, we become husband and wife and develop conjugal love.
We start life in the watery atmosphere of our mother's womb where we receive oxygen and nourishment through the umbilical cord. However, even inside the mother's womb, lungs are developing for breathing air, which is the atmosphere of the next life. Do you follow? The unborn baby has a nose, but since the umbilical cord provides oxygen the nose doesn't function until birth. However, along with the lungs, the nose perfects its capacity to function within the mother's womb.
When the time of birth arrives, the baby experiences a revolutionary shakeup! The previous system for receiving oxygen and food-the umbilical cord-is cut and tied. Since the former existence is severed, as far as the baby is concerned it suffers a kind of death! The end of the world has come! All its previous environment-the placenta, the umbilical cord-is broken, and the fluid that surrounded the baby drains away.
But birth means entering a new womb-that of the universe. We are all living now in the universal mother's womb. In the previous life, we lived in a liquid atmosphere; here we breathe air. While surrounded by amniotic fluid, we were preparing for this present atmosphere. By the same token, while living in this universal mother's womb, we are breathing air but also we are developing our capacity for love. We are preparing for one final stage.
Before birth, many of the baby's capabilities we re latent; the nose and the lungs had developed, but they remained dormant. By the same token, the capacity to live in love which we must nurture while we am on earth remains dormant until we experience another birth. This new birth is a revolution like our first birth; it involves some destruction as well.
In the spirit world we don't need a physical body, a physical atmosphere, or physical clothes. There, we take off our shackles and see new horizons as our latent capacities begin to function. We put our ability to breathe love into action. In the sight of God, what people call death is actually a new birth and our entry into eternal life.
To be able to live in that atmosphere of eternal love, we have to prepare our "love lungs" here. Thus in our short time here on earth, we must nurture our capacity to love and our sensitivity to it. Eventually, we will leave this universal physical womb and be born into the divine womb-the spirit world, the universe centered upon God. God exists at the core of love, so when we awaken into the new world, we too, can exist at the core of love. We can become. the center of love.
When we are elevated to the sphere of God's divine love, we have total freedom. We can have a body if we like; or if we don't want a body, we don't have it-we can be like God and function exactly like Him. Love is an absolute prerequisite for this; without love we would choke to death there. Once we are the center of the universe, we can go to the realm of perfect resemblance to God. Ultimately, every person is entitled to be exactly like God; when we move into the divine realm, God is in us and we are in God; we are inseparable.
A seed represents a circle. A seed has a covering called a seed coat. Inside there are two parts called cotyledons and between them, in one comer, an embryo. An embryo contains the mystery of life. When it germinates, the two cotyledons provide its initial nourishment. Before you were born, who was the source of your nourishment? Your mother. Now, who is your nourishment? It is the universe.
Like the seed, everything in this world exists in relationship: there are men and women, plus and minus, subject and object. People are like embryos nestled within this world. The child grows and flourishes, blossoming during the teenage years. Men begin to seek women and women seek men. Love-centered activity ultimately bears fruit: a child, which is another seed.
The Unification Church teaches the incredible truth that God exists in dual essentialities. So we might say that God is like a big, super seed! Within God is the embryo, the life essence. In our life's journey, we begin as an embryo, are born and grow throughout our lifetime so we can ultimately return to God and be like Him.
We need to have give and take with the universe, but how can we keep it up for eternity? It is only by love. The virtues of meekness and humility will sustain love for eternity, because when one is meek and humble he meets no resistance. He can keep giving out and move wherever he wishes because there is no opposition. So the secret of being able to move without resistance is meekness and humility.
Why must we be sacrificial? It's not an easy thing. There is no better way to develop our capacity to breathe the atmosphere of love in the next world than by leading a sacrificial life. Sacrifice is the most dramatic and intensive way to complete the love lungs we need in the next world.
All living things go through the same basic process of growth. When seeds germinate and receive sunlight, moisture, and various fertilizing elements they start to sprout. Plants go through three stages, animals go through three stages, and human beings also go through three stages. This is entirely logical.
Look at a cricket. This little insect comes in the summertime and sings loud songs! The egg was laid perhaps in some warm place underground; it hatched into a larva, became a pupa and finally an adult cricket. The ultimate stage of the cricket is the flying, singing stage.
Mankind also grows through three stages. When you reach the spirit world you will realize why you had to live this way on earth. Our ultimate goal is to become like God-to become perfect like Him and become friends with Him. The fear of death can be eliminated because there is no more death. In the truest sense, death is a new birth! Those who try to deny the existence of spirit world are pitiful people.
Think of the launching of the Apollo and Columbia spacecraft. Once in orbit, they reach a zero gravity stage. They need no additional fuel to maintain their orbit because they meet no resistance at all. By the same token, once we are elevated into the spiritual plane of life, we will find no resistance. We will be able to travel throughout the entire universe in a moment, at the speed of thought.
If there is a star made out of diamonds, wouldn't you want to go see it? Perhaps there is a planet made out of gold and silver. These celestial bodies may be billions of light years away, so even by traveling at the speed of light you would not be able to reach them. But in the spiritual realm, you can go there on the spur of a moment-by thinking, you can be there instantly. So would you rather live here in this clumsy world for eternity, or upstairs?
Each blessed couple has received a special kind of energy from me. When I gave you the Blessing, I actually gave you a special commission. The Blessing is like plugging into the outlet of the True Parents. As soon as you turn on the switch, You receive the energy of True Parents which enables you to fly throughout the universe without any limits. That is what the Blessing is all about: commissioning people as heavenly "supermen" and "superwomen." Isn't that good?
I am eager to explore every comer of the cosmos. Given the physical distances of this universe, it might take many billions of light years, but in the spirit world everything is right in front of you. If you want to see something, it appears before you; you don't even have to wait!
Life on earth is a time of preparation. When you are elevated into the spirit world after your life in the Unification Church, will you look for me? In the spirit world there will be two types of people seeking me: those who really served God, True Parents and mankind here on earth and those who didn't. If you are the first type, you can call me when you enter the spirit world and I will embrace you immediately. But if you didn't live this way and didn't develop your love lungs here on earth, I won't be able to embrace you automatically.
My responsibility is to guide you to pass the standard of the spirit world. No matter how difficult it may be, my duty is to push you out so each of you can meet its qualifications. Inside its mother's womb, the baby is preparing to dwell in the atmosphere of air. By the same token, while you are here on earth, you should be preparing your love lungs for the next world. Are your preparations complete? I want you to attain the highest value. Will you be the center of the universe? Will you live for the sake of God, mankind, brotherly love and True Parents?
When you are fully resurrected, you attain the same value as God. The creation of a human being is actually the creation of another God! This is an amazing truth. That is the true, absolute value of mankind. Today, people have lost that value. People have reduced themselves to dirt, below the level of even insects. Do you like that kind of life? So do you want to undergo this training?
Some women in the Unification Church are very conscious of their beauty. "I was born a beauty queen," they say; "but Father gave me this ugly-looking man for a husband. I can't accept that. I just couldn't live with him. Them are lots of handsome men out on Fifth Avenue in New York. Why couldn't God and Father pick one of those for me?" Is that how you think?
In some cases I matched a very sensitive woman to a dull, insensitive man. If she can love that man, her love lungs will really develop. When a sensitive woman can make a dense man become sensitive, she becomes a master genius! Actually, the all-knowing God created only 95 percent of our being, and He asks us to create the remaining 5 percent. So a woman can go to God and say, "You gave me 95 percent of a husband, so I will create the remaining 5 percent, making him a whole being." The ideal woman resolves to create her husband.
What do you think I am doing this morning? I am remolding, recreating you. That is the secret behind the ideal, to remake men and women. All morning long, I have been working so hard to remold you! Because love is the motivating factor, I am not even aware of how much time passes. I don't think of hunger, either. When I speak like this for three hours I am working intensely to remake you, and I don't feel any fatigue. But as soon as I return to East Garden, both my legs give out. Only love and desire could generate such intensity; I could never do this out of a sense of duty.
We can reach perfection and become ideal people by passing through the three stages we have spoken about. Therefore we have to adjust our life according to those three stages. The original race means the race connected by the same blood lineage, linked together like the features of the face-eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. All races and all people are supposed to be linked like that.
The eyes represent grandfather and grandmother. the nose husband and wife, and the mouth truth. This forms one family, one blood race in which everything is connected and no one is isolated. I exist for the sake of my grandparents, my parents, and my children. Grandparents exist for the sake of their children and grandchildren. These bonds must develop on earth, which is our workshop for perfecting these relationships.
The original race is very precious. You are born with a certain face. Would you ever want to replace your eyes? No. For your grandparents to divorce and remarry would almost be like replacing your eyes, wouldn't it? Your father and mother are like your nostrils. Would you like it if they were to separate and remarry? That would be almost like chopping the nose in half and replacing it. Don't you want your brothers and sisters to be of the same blood race? You long for your original brothers and sisters.
Something that is original has undergone a continuous process, from beginning to end. The original essence never diminishes or disappears. In conclusion, what is the meaning of perfection? In order to be perfect, you must master all the relationships within a family. You should be able to put up with all kinds of grandparents: bad, good, talkative, cheerful, whatever.
If your grandmother cannot take care of her bodily functions and you have to clean up her urine and stools, can you do it without complaining? You should be able to deal with such a grandmother joyfully and happily. That is a sign of a perfect person. Your grandfather may be the most tough, stubborn, arrogant and demanding person, but you should be able to digest everything he does. You should become the kind of person that your grandmother will reach out to when she is dying, in order to thank you for serving her.
You men may have a wife who fights you or even bites you-someone like Socrates' wife or Lincoln's wife but if you can digest her, control her, and work out a solution, she will eventually surrender before such genuine love from her husband. Or you women may have a husband who is ill-tempered; if so, you should be able to win him over.
You should be able to gain the victory in the six different stages of love: grandfather and grandmother, husband and wife, son and daughter. The number six represents a satanic number, so there are six stages to overcome in your family. In the Bible Jesus said that your enemy is within your own family; your closest relatives can be your biggest obstacles. But later they will remember that they gave you too hard a time, and at the moment of their death they will say, "You are number one. I am indebted to you. I will give you everything because you deserve it." Men and women who win such love are perfected people.
Do any of you protest this conclusion? Do any of you think God will come down and say, "No, Reverend Moon, you are wrong. You are not conveying my teaching. You are giving your own teaching"? Or do you think He will say, "Reverend Moon, your definition of perfection is absolutely correct"?
God's perfection is similar. At the end of their life, all people will say, "God, please take everything I have; it is all Yours. My only desire is for You." So God is in exactly the same position. Now you can understand that when people are hard on you, it is not necessarily bad. They are playing the role of difficult grandmother or grandfather, husband or wife, son or daughter. You can say, "Thank You, God, for this opportunity to develop dignity and authority."
Jesus Christ's goal was to become a perfected man. The greatest saints followed this route he took. Today I am striving to achieve this goal of perfection. Since Mother is too kind and good, I need other women to give me a hard time. That is why I get such a hard time from you American women!
What kind of person do you want to become? You should strive to develop the kind of universal mind God has. If you can think like God and act like Him, you will be perfected men and women. Even Satan will acknowledge your perfection. Then God can "I accept you."
Every day, all kinds of people come to Robert Morton, the editor of The News World, to complain about something, to demand favors, or to argue with him. They take his time and energy. Should he try to deal with them on their level, or should he just love them? If he can treat each person as his grandparent, parent, or child, eventually everybody will say, "He is very unusual, an extraordinary person!" Do you follow me?
The family is your workshop, training you to pass the heavenly test. What an incredible opportunity it presents you! Once you have attained the highest possible standard, you will serve everybody as if they were your grandparents, parents, spouse, or children, and you will be welcomed, accepted, admired, and loved wherever you go. When you continue such a process in the next world, your dwelling will be heaven.
Now you understand the training process which the original race from one lineage must complete in order to become perfected people and reach the Kingdom of Heaven. Would you prefer to hold on to your narrow way of thinking or adopt this gigantic perspective? You must make up your mind and then act on it. Will you do it?
