Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
Every country has a body of national law or a constitution from which all the laws of that country are derived. Every home or family also has some central policy which is set up by the parents, the central persons, and the rest of the family follows that policy. We find that there are basic principles everywhere, including the animal world, the mineral world, and the plant world. All these have governing laws which are invisible yet central to them.
The entire universe with its great numbers of heavenly bodies is also governed by one central natural law. Our own physical bodies are maintained by certain fundamental laws. For example, the five senses must gather certain types of information and impart direction to the rest of the body. There are certain common means by which most animals take food into their bodies.
The world can be seen as one global unit with certain basic laws or policies which need to be followed. The entire religious community needs to follow certain basic laws as well. We can expand the same principle to the spirit world, which exists and is governed by certain laws which must be followed by all of the inhabitants there.
Without exception, everything that exists and maintains life must follow certain principles or laws. All action is permeated by law. When we examine all of the existences of the universe and their actions, we can conclude that all of those existences are composed of the subject and object relationship. Through the give and take interaction of subject and object, the power and energy is derived to exist, multiply and engage in all activity.
One of the greatest discoveries of the Unification Church is the universal law of dual essentialities. Are these dual essentialities simply static or do they continually move forward and interact? They move forward. How and why do plus and minus move? Do they interact in order to lose themselves or to benefit themselves? If any interaction occurred for the basic purpose of losing something, then the entire universe would eventually become diminished by give and take action. Large give and take action would become smaller and smaller. But on the contrary, the smallest plus and minus, when they are in motion for the sake of mutual benefit, multiply and grow until they become much bigger.
Someone might wonder how it could be that every entity is supposed to benefit by give and take action and nobody is the loser. Some people think that if someone makes money then somebody else must be losing that money. What do you think? The entire cosmos is very flexible-it moves out and goes in, expanding and contracting like breathing. When you breathe in, you gain air inside of yourself; when you exhale, you lose that air. But by the overall action of inhaling and exhaling, you gain the total benefit of maintaining your life. That is a wavelike action; there is a certain climax and then the wave curves downward. That action is in every existence.
This curve exists in human life as well. From childhood we grow towards adulthood; eventually we reach our peak and then start to decline in physical strength and energy. When a human being is climbing upwards in his life there is another factor which is going down at that time, creating balance. While going up on the curve you create a space for something else to go down. Humans exist in the dual dimensions of physical world and spiritual world. Generally speaking, when one is young and energetic, the physical dimension of his life is usually his primary interest, while his spiritual aspect is rather neglected.
Think of yourself. Before you joined the Unification Church, many of you thought, "Who needs religion? That's for old people; we young people don't need it." When you are young and energetic, the physical part of life usually takes the initiative and the spiritual part tends to follow that. When you get older, however, the spiritual side takes the initiative and the physical side follows it.
In all of existence there is a certain shrinking and expanding within every system. In the Unification Church, we want to reverse the trend of the rest of the world. Therefore, while we are young we are placing our emphasis upon spiritual pursuits. We try to subdue our physical self so that it will follow our spiritual self. With this kind of attitude, we keep the spiritual aspect on top all the time. It continues to rise and maintain its subjectivity over the rest of ourselves, without declining or diminishing.
When plus and minus are equal, they offset each other and the result is neutral, or zero. Thus when the spiritual aspect is emphasized in old age and the physical aspect in youth, the result becomes zero. But when you change your focus and become spiritually strong when you are young, that plus on the spiritual side will always remain and will become your eternal asset. The total never declines to zero; it is something you earned. It is your property, or equity, which cannot be taken away by anyone.
That equity belongs first to you, but then it also belongs to the universe. The entire universe has been that much enriched because of your work. There are many people who live and die and whose plus and minus contributions balance each other out so that they have a zero result at the end of their lives. After those people are gone for a while, nobody remembers. However, there are some people who go beyond that normal pattern of life and sacrifice their youth for the sake of humanity; those people earn for the universe a shining store of equity which remains after they are gone.
The natural law for electricity works the same way. Electricity moves in waves but it builds up a certain "equity" in the form of positivity; otherwise, it would only cause a blinking effect. Thus light illustrates the natural law that works within our lives. We have two choices within our lives: first, you can follow the natural flow of things, going up and then going down, and then coming out at the end with a zero. That might be called the "normal" way of living. But the second way is by exercising one's will and exerting a certain amount of energy while one is young, thereby creating an equity which can be left behind when one leaves this earth.
There are all kinds of waves-short, medium and long ones. Which kind of wave would you like to create within your own life? You would naturally want to have a long and tremendously high wave. In that way, you cover a tremendous amount of territory and claim it as your own.
We have established that all the give and take action within the universe is for the sake of overall benefit. What is the law by which that give and take begins? When you have reached the maximum height of a wave, you must then go down because there is no higher place to reach. Once you hit the bottom, you cannot go any lower so you have to go up. This is why religious people start out from the very bottom, especially the Unification Church! Reverend Moon is not a dumb person so why has he brought everyone down to the bottom line? It is because when you start at the lowest possible place, you will create a certain momentum as you go up. You can go up in proportion to the depth from which you began. Therefore your wave becomes truly gigantic if you started from the very bottom. The Unification Church started out from the very bottom with a goal which is beyond the family, beyond the nation, even beyond the world. How high are we aiming?
Some people may think, "Why can't we be enjoying the highest possible Heaven?" but if you were at that place now, your destiny would be to go down lower. That is why the highest possible spirit world is coming down to the earth and the earth is moving up toward Heaven. When the Unification Church positions ourselves in the lowest possible place, the highest possible place in spirit world has to come down to us. Extremes come together-the lowest with the highest. Thus the greatness of the Unification Church is that we are starting from the very bottom in the lowest possible positions, and are aiming to the highest possible place. We must have the will and determination to cover the incredible distance in between; with that we can create the momentum with which we can reach the goal.
Every time we try to move upward, we must meet with a certain amount of pressure trying to push us down. We call that pressure persecution. From this point of view we can understand why persecution is not really a bad thing for us. If you are trying to move yourself upward and are always encountering some opposing force, you build up greater momentum and strength. When there is an area of low pressure in nature, an area of high pressure will try to push it down. Once it is pushed down, it has to start to climb, and that makes the motion of a wave. The high pressure area pushes the low pressure area down and then when it reaches the lowest point, it rises up on the strength of the momentum created.
When the Unification Church is welcomed by everyone in society, we will have reached the highest position. Thus we will have the destiny of going down again. As soon as the top is reached, destiny pushes you down. Exactly what is it that pushes you down? It is all the positivity which you have accumulated. In other words, within the Unification Church itself we generate the energy to push ourselves down. Before nature does it, a wise group will do it for themselves-Reverend Moon will push you down and humble you, once you have succeeded and won great fame.
The Unification Church is always living in this way. Whenever someone gains a lot of prestige and people are saying, "He must be a wonderful person. He has done great things for the church," I come along and criticize that person-even in public-and in that way I push him down. That is the way I apply the universal law in my way of leadership. Therefore the person whom I push down should not think, "Father doesn't understand me. I have worked so hard and he doesn't show any appreciation!" I am following the universal law.
For example, you seminary students and PhD candidates might think, "I should be a leader now that I have gotten my degree. I shouldn't have to do menial work." But I will be kicking them down even further, to the bottom of the pit. My plan, and this is no secret, is to push those members down to do the most difficult possible missions. Therefore, they start out from Ocean Church or CARP; then they might become state leaders and then missionaries. You seminarians might think now that you have climbed up the hill you can stay there, but that is not the case!
Because I want to make the church leaders even greater, I will push them down. It is almost like driving a nail with a sledgehammer. Some nails bend and resist going down into the wood, but the best nails just take the blow and penetrate the wood without hesitation. In that way they can be driven completely down into the wood. Do you think the principle I am teaching this morning is just something "interesting" or is it true?
When the Unification Church becomes accepted and praised by the whole world and Reverend Moon is appreciated, I will be the one who will push all of the members of the Unification Church down. If I just push you down but I continue to stay in the upper position, then the universe will reject me and kick me out. Therefore, I must follow the law and go down, too. Anyone who wants to remain always in the highest position is a person who becomes recorded in history as a dictator or a tyrant.
This is our policy and our basic attitude. With this basic attitude, no matter how great the amount of persecution, we will move upward and make progress; we will have no way to fail. This is because we are traveling parallel with universal law; therefore everything within the universe is pushing us and assisting us.
Should we start out from a lofty position or a low one? We should begin from the lowest place, but should we stay there? No, our goal is to reach the highest place. In the Unification Church we start on the individual level and move up to the family level, the national level, the worldwide level, the universal level, and all the way up to the cosmic level.
The usual cycle of human life is for an individual to spend his youth having "fun"-eating, drinking, playing. However, when such an individual gets older, he is bound to suffer because of universal law. Therefore if a person is strongly motivated when he is young and strives for a certain goal with tremendous effort, that person will have a prosperous future.
Reverend Moon is a good example of this. When I was young I was totally motivated for one thing; I gave up everything for that goal. I went to prison and endured torture but by doing so I have been able to reach the worldwide level of the dispensation. My life has been like a wavy curve-certainly there have been ups and downs, but the overall motion has been upward. There has been tremendous persecution against me throughout my life but I have used that persecution as the extra energy to kick myself up higher and higher. By maintaining that upward curve eventually it will reach up to God.
The person who is centered upon himself will not be able to create an upward curve. If he faces persecution he will not be able to use the energy to go upward but will be shaken and weakened by one incident of strong persecution. When you are heading all the way up toward God you have to expect anything bad to happen to you. The key is to make one simple determination-no matter what happens to you, even if your ears and nose are cut off, you must push yourself upward. Reverend Moon started in the lowest possible position but he made up his mind: no matter what came to me, even death, nothing would stop me from making my journey to God.
If my life goes according to a certain curve, then all the Moonies are following the same direction because they are going parallel with me. Perhaps my curve is higher and deeper than yours but at least yours maintains the same direction and looks like mine.
There are many waves on the ocean. Why is it not smooth and still? It is because air moves in waves, influencing the water to do the same. The motion of air is to push and then retreat, push and retreat.
We have discussed the universal law but now we have to come to our own individual situation. Where are you going to begin? Will it be from a spiritual standpoint or a physical one? Will it be from a high place or a low one? Nobody else can make that determination for you-only you can do it. I have been teaching you the basic principles but it is up to you to fulfill them.
Do you think I have received a great deal of persecution here in the United States? There are many reasons why I have been persecuted. For example, I engaged and blessed many of you in marriage but the church rules require that you stay separated for three and a half years. How could anybody in his right mind expect such a thing here in the United States? In this nation of free sex and absolute self-indulgence, I am imposing such an impossible rule! But no matter who opposes us, I shall continue to teach this rule because it is not my rule, it is the universal rule. In order to maintain universal existence and action, the universal law must be observed. Do you think my mind is crazy or clever? If you want to be clever, then you want to follow my way, is that true? Then I will push you out, even if you don't want to go.
In the secular viewpoint you are going the worst way but from the Heavenly point of view, it is the best. In order for a nation to prosper, a tradition must be built by its young people of giving themselves for the sake of their nation, without complaint. If that particular tradition is established, there is no doubt that such a nation will prosper.
This is the way Reverend Moon thinks and this is why Reverend Moon is different from ordinary people. When you teach others the Divine Principle you speak of the dual essentialities of God, but you are often just saying the words. Actually, in order to reach that understanding I had to start at the very bottom and climb all the way to the highest levels of the universe. How high has Reverend Moon come? Let's say there is a horizontal line which would represent the zero level. He started at the lowest possible position, below the line and has come up higher and higher, above the line.
Often when someone first hears about Reverend Moon he thinks I am a terrible person. Later he might even start to feel fear when he learns about all the accomplishments Reverend Moon has made. But sooner or later that person will see all the reasons why great credit should be given to Reverend Moon. No matter what, in our world today there is only one person who is on an irrevocable, head-on collision course with world communism. When there is a big clash between communism and Reverend Moon. Who will be shattered? If two identical moving objects hit each other, the one moving faster will shatter the other. Therefore since Reverend Moon is moving like lightning, when the time comes for confrontation I will have no hesitation at all. I plunge forward at the right moment with no thought about myself.
On March 1, the entire movement was mobilized. Should that mobilization be lightning-fast or slow? When you are moving very fast toward your goal, do you have a lot of time for looking around? Let's say you were driving a race car several hundred miles an hour in the Indianapolis 500. Would you have the leisure to look around and see what other people were doing? Certainly not. You would have to be focused on your own goal and nothing else.
You should propel yourself forward and pierce the goal like a spear, with no hesitation. When you look from the point of view of universal law, are Reverend Moon's tactics right or wrong? I want you to understand the principle by which I am leading the Unification Church movement. Sometimes I will skip breakfast and go out at four or five o'clock in the morning, bringing other people with me. If this were accomplishing a downward effect and self-destruction, it would be wrong but because it is for the sake of moving upward, it is correct. Whatever the hardship you may suffer, if it is for the sake of going up, it is the right thing to do.
Anyone who complains against this principle must eventually decline. Ultimately his destination will have to be the depths of hell where darkness reigns. Those who have given their hearts to the Unification Church yet later leave and try to give their hearts to something else will always end up in misery. That is only logical, given the principle. This is why the Unification Church is a dangerous place, in a way. It is the place of showdown where there can be no halfway commitment or mediocrity. Either you make it or you don't.
Some of you might have been thinking, "I just don't understand why Father always does such strange things," but now you can see the policy and formula I am applying. A good example of the way I treat some of the leaders was with the late President Eu of the Korean church. He was the true pioneer of our movement and a number-one disciple, but I still criticized him all the time in public, humbling him constantly. Mr. Eu was very close to me yet he was also fearful-every time before he walked into the room where I was, he would hesitate and think, "I know I will be criticized again," but he would get up his courage and then say, "OK, I am ready," and then enter the room. That was his habit.
Why was I so hard on Mr. Eu? It is because Mr. Eu was in the highest position as a leader of the church and I didn't want him ever to become arrogant. I pushed him down and he became an example to all the other members. I could teach many lessons to other people through him. By pushing Mr. Eu down so far, I was creating for him a great area in which he could rise upward. Therefore he had tremendous territory in which he could maneuver.
The best school teacher is the most stern and demanding one. When a teacher demands quality and good work from his pupils, he is helping them. The student who follows his direction most faithfully will end up as the chief disciple of that teacher. This is the principle. Am I a fearful teacher to you? Yes, you have some fear of me but at the same time you feel love for me. As long as your loving feeling is a little bit bigger than the portion of your fear, then you are OK. If we are truly united as teacher and pupil, then I would be able to go to your home and freely inspect your bookshelves and check out everything. You would feel comfortable and have no complaint, but at the same time you would feel free to come to my home and do the same thing. In other words, my world is yours and your world is mine. Within the formula of love there is total freedom.
That is the way I want to make my relationship with God. God is a loving God, but at the same time I feel fear of Him because He has been so demanding of me. But I know that God loves me and therefore my loving portion toward Him is a little bit bigger than my fear of Him. But God is truly a cruel taskmaster; all my life He has been giving me work and is still giving me more and more. He has never told me, "Take a rest now." He just keeps pushing me forward.
When God approaches a place it must open up to Him, even the gates of hell. There is no secret place- even hell must be open to His inspection. The principle is very simple but very profound in its implications.
Do you want to begin in the highest place or the lowest one? Do you want to start from the position of a first-class American citizen of the world, or do you want to go down to the position of the underdeveloped nations in Africa? No matter what the world says about me, I know the principles of the universe so I have absolute confidence. Even if I were pushed down into the dungeons of hell, it wouldn't make any difference or make me abandon the principle or change my formula.
What kind of husband do you women want? Do you like the kind of man who just listens to you and follows everything you say? Not necessarily. The husband should be stern sometimes, standing strong like a pillar. You may not always like him that way, but in the long run you will trust him better.
You American wives, if your husband wrote you a letter and said, "I have just been appointed commander of a mobile team. For the next ten years, I have the mission of going around the entire world. I will see you in ten years," what would you do? Would you accept that and even welcome it? Suppose your husband was out doing his mission and you were left at home to care for the children and raise the money for all your household expenses. If the money got low, would you write a letter to your husband saying, "My dear husband, please send us some money for groceries and school for the children!"? The great Moonie wives would say, "No, I will take care of the family completely."
My first wife was in this exact position. I was doing my mission, far away from her and our child, and she was in the position to say, "I will take this as my destiny and free you to do God's work." However, at that time she said, "No, I can't do it. I don't understand your mission and why you have left us alone." From that point, history changed. If my first wife had fulfilled her 5% portion of human responsibility, the Unification Church would have been doing much better and would not have received such persecution. I was younger then and the success would have come much faster; we would have been able to make an impact on the world and the world would have been in a totally different position today. Your parents could have joined the Unification Church instead of you, and you would all be here today as blessed children. The providence would have advanced several decades sooner.
Now you women are being given the same position. You should be thinking, "My husband is in the same position as Reverend Moon was." You must be ready to accept your destiny according to only one principle: for the sake of God. If I had wavered back in those days because of my family-level of persecution, today's Unification Church would not even exist. You may think you are the first ones to worry about your parents trying to kidnap and "deprogram" you, but actually the first target for "deprogramming" was Reverend Moon. My parents tried many times and in many ways to persuade me against pursuing my mission, telling me, "You are not doing a wise thing. Be a good son, get married and have your own home," but each time they tried to persuade me, they were the ones to be persuaded. They couldn't stand against my reasoning and determination. I told them, "You will see how Korea will change in the next 20 years. The whole world in the next 40 years, too, will change so much and you will find out that I have been correct."
In 1960 when I was 40, there were 40 more years until the year 2000. From the end of World War II in 1945 until 1985, will be 40 years. During this time the world has been changing drastically. Western civilization has been enjoying a golden age up till now. However can you feel that it is such a noble and lofty civilization any more? By the same token, you can size up the communist world and see that they are below the Unification world in power and breadth. This is not empty talk but this is reality.
March 1, 1983, was the date of our new marching order. When you add up the numbers 1, 9, 8, and 3, you get 21. The first day of March, the third month, equals four. These are all important numbers. Adam was supposed to fulfill the meaning of the number 21 and the number 4. Therefore on 3-1-1983, all the Japanese women were mobilized. What should the American women be doing, then? How do you American husbands feel about it? All the Japanese women are working hard on the front line, so do you feel like just enjoying your own home life with your American wives? What about you Korean women?
Should the American women follow the Japanese women or should they be the first to go out? Why didn't the American women go first, then? It is because I know America very well. If the American women had been mobilized first, I'm sure there would have been tremendous upheaval among you. You would have complained, "But Father, you blessed us and said we should live together and then immediately you tell us to go out!" Well, that is certainly dramatic! Do you want excitement? You have been living together very happily as husband and wife but then all of a sudden you get the direction to go out. You wives should turn to your husbands and say, "Well, I got the mobilization direction so bye-bye, see you later!"
You will never find anything like this in the secular world. It is very dramatic indeed. The husband waves his wife goodbye as she goes off to work for the mobilization and every day he thinks of her and wishes for her success; perhaps he waits for even ten years. Think of it; in a husband or wife in the secular world doesn't come home one night, the next morning the spouse will probably be packing to leave. However, even though Unification wives don't come home for ten years, their husbands are faithfully waiting and praying for them. Certainly such couples will be truly happy.
With such determination, there is nothing we cannot fulfill or accomplish. Everything I am doing is to fulfill God's will, so there is no way you can lose if you are following me. Amen?
If you are following this principle faithfully, then you will have no concern for whether or not others are understanding or praising you. The sun doesn't rise nor the earth turn because somebody praises them. They do what they do because it is their own, ultimate duty. We are like them. Everything in creation gives itself for a larger purpose. The mineral kingdom exists for the sake of the plant kingdom; plants exist for the sake of the animals; and the animal kingdom exists for men and women. Ultimately, men and women should be existing for the sake of God. That is the kind of circular motion which God intended.
God and mankind exist together in a plus and minus relationship. Should their give and take benefit both of them or should one of them be the loser? Certainly they should both benefit. The consummated relationship between God and man creates a circle, and something higher is gained-the fulfillment of true love. People can go right into the heart of God and God can penetrate the hearts of people. This is like the balance between centrifugal and centripetal forces-the force moving all the way into the center and the force moving from the center to the outer limits. These two forces exist in a balance of give and take.
Suppose there is a spinning top, turning in a certain direction. If we turn it upside down, the spinning doesn't change but the direction is the opposite now. People are like that-their spiritual dimension is turning in a certain direction and their physical dimension is turning the other way. Actually they are not turning in opposite directions, they are only upside down from each other. When the two are merged, they create a spiral motion.
Every form of give and take on the material level requires the expenditure of energy or fuel; that energy always decreases. However, when human beings engage in the give and take of love, material energy is depleted but there is an infinite increase of spiritual energy. The power of love alone can embrace the entire universe, going all the way up to God or all the way down to the bottom. Therefore the central power behind the motion of the universe is love.
Not only humans but also the other forms of life want to partake in the love of God. You may think that only humans feel they are the supreme creation of the universe, but actually every being feels he is the supreme creation! But universal value is determined by the amount of love which a creation can receive and reflect. God occupies the center of His creation by His love; thus every form of creation is connected with Him.
God's love moves into and out of the center of the universe in a spiral motion. When this is drawn on a graph it is represented as an up and down wave. It is absolutely true that human beings exist in dual dimensions. Universal law dictates that all existences must have a center. Since God is the center of the universe then God's true love is also the center of the universe.
Within God's true love is the desire to give and the desire to receive. If we had to divide everything into two parts, we could do it according to their subject/object parts. There is no exception to the rule of subject/object give and take, and the center of all that give and take is the love of God. God created the universe for the fulfillment of His love. Thus, He created everything in subject object relationships.
This is universal law. Therefore, the best possible way of life within this universe is to live for the sake of others. This is because we recognize our universal center, that universal plus. All of creation is in the position of universal minus; that universal minus is destined to unite with the universal plus. The best possible way for that to happen is for the individual to live for the sake of his family, the family to live for the sake of the society and nation, the nation for the sake of the world and the world for the universe.
Only humans can become the center of true love. No animals or other form of creation can take that position. Centering upon man, there are two worlds, the spiritual and the physical. Thus man must go up and down. The creation is pushing man upward because they recognize man's position as the supreme form of creation. It is natural to want to go up higher but people must only be elevated centering upon their true subject, God. People forget they are the object to God in many cases and thus they become arrogant. When people go up and meet with God and receive His love, then they go down. This is the way of motion-up and down, in spiral motion.
America is declining in the world today because America has been going against this principle. It has become selfish; instead of living for the sake of others, everyone is pursuing his own self-interests. Young people are labeled the "Me generation" because "Me" has become the center of everyone's interest. In such an atmosphere, when ten people are together there are ten battles and there is no harmony or unity. But when ten people are living for the sake of others, everyone benefits and an environment of harmony and unification is created. There is no other way to bring harmony.
You want to receive parental love, don't you? If you serve your parents, instead of standing back and demanding that they serve you, they will automatically feel loving toward you. Suppose there were a war and a man were drafted into the army. If his wife protested to the nation, saying, "Where are my human rights? Why did you take my husband away?" would that be a valid protest? No, because her husband had to step into a higher mission, a larger realm of living for the sake of others. For the survival of the nation, that man had to join the armed services and thus perform his act of love for his nation. When you serve for the sake of the nation, you are expressing patriotic love.
Thus this nation has the right to draft its own president into the armed services for the sake of the world. Then, God could draft the president of the world, if there were one. That would not be the end because when you reach the top of service, you bring God down into the world. As you go up and up, higher and higher, once you reach God you can come back down, bringing His love into the world. By the time you return here with God, the entire universe will have become yours. You will be "breathing" with the universe. Do you follow?
Everything is looking to unite with a higher being in order to step upward toward God. The lesser seeks to become a part of the greater, according to universal law. Life came into being because of love; therefore, for the sake of love you must be willing to sacrifice your life. That is a law of life. Do you want to receive love throughout your life? Then go ahead and give your love and you will receive love.
Which comes first, love or living for the sake of others? Living for the sake of others comes first. This is because of the dominion of principle between God and men; you are still living in the indirect dominion of God. You must tread the path of the indirect dominion on your own. As a small object, you must find larger and larger subjects with whom to unite; in that way you will grow. As the small object unites with a small subject and becomes one, together they create a slightly larger minus. They are protected by universal law as they dwell in harmony. As the minus continues to move forward, uniting with greater and greater pluses, it follows the universal law.
The basic law of the object position is to live for the sake of others. Thus you look for and unite with a plus or a subject. Therefore, during the growth period you must continue to apply this formula of uniting with greater and greater subjects and ultimately you will reach God. Do you know now why you must live for the sake of others? Each person must pass through the indirect dominion of God before he can reach union with God. Then true love permeates a person. In order to reach that true love, one must practice living for the sake of others. Nobody yet has been fulfilling this law to the fullest degree. We can make our settlement only after we become the recipients of the true love of God.
Therefore, I want you to understand that our Unification Church way of life is always looking for ways to serve the world and humanity. In order to understand Reverend Moon's credo and policies, one need only look at our mass weddings. That explains a lot. When white and black come together as husband and wife, they are bringing two extremes into unity. We bring together every extreme- east and west, north and south into marriage.
Within the Unification Church we seek to digest the things which the world hates to touch. Since division is caused by Satan, we are striving now to bring people into unity; Satan doesn't like that. We want to bring about the unity of world Christianity as well as the rest of the religions.
Suppose God threw all the religions of the world inside of a gigantic bed sheet and tied them up together. Underneath that big bundle, God would light a fire; all the impure, untrue things would be burned away and only the pure and true things would remain. When you melt gold over high heat, all the foreign elements are removed and only pure gold remains.
In the Unification Church, each of you is melted down into your purest elements and then cast into your ideal mold or form. You are being sculpted by God into a new form.
For winter to turn to fall, it must first go through spring and summer. That means winter has to melt and lose its cold, severe qualities. Likewise when nature turns from spring through summer to become autumn, it must move in an opposite direction, taking on opposite qualities. One is going up and the other is going down. The four seasons have to meet with their partners (spring/autumn; summer/winter) only by going down and then up; they are not linked side-by-side. Thus, in order for you Westerners to love the Eastern civilization, you must first love the Black civilization. There is always a curve to movement- either negative to positive, vertical to horizontal, etc. By this give and take, you gain your own "equity."
The Unification Church is trying to solve the most difficult problems of our world today, beginning with the problem of communism. Secondly, we are overcoming the divisions between religions, particularly Christianity. Thirdly, the degradation of morality in the world is a tremendous problem. Fourthly, the institution of the family is being shattered. The Unification Church is setting out to digest all these major problems. When you digest something you must have a healthy stomach, so the Unification Church has a stomach healthy enough to melt and digest these problems.
That is why we Unification Church members plunge into all the problems of the world. Look at the CARP movement-they face communists on college campuses and digest all their destructive activities. With the power of the principle we can melt all those weapons of Satan and totally disarm him. That is the formula of the Unification Church.
If a person plays the violin, he has to play certain notes-there are only a specific number of whole notes and half notes. These are written using five lines. If some violinist decided that he didn't like using five lines and decided to try to play music according to only two lines, he simply couldn't do it. The fundamental principle of music requires those five lines. All of the notes on the scale exist according to the laws of harmony; they are not subject to randomness. By the same token, the Unification Church has our own "five lines"-our own formula or form. The formula for the Unification Church is restoration through indemnity. In order to achieve our formula of restoration, we have the strong mandate to live for the sake of others.
Human responsibility and indemnity are the components of our formula. In this way of life, those who give their utmost for the sake of others and who suffer the most, become the mainstream of humanity.
In our universe the five basic components are the mineral world, the plant world, the animal world, the world of men, and then God. The journey of everything is toward love and love can be fully obtained only in the direct dominion of God. Therefore, in order to reach toward the direct dominion of God, each level serves one step higher. The lower forms of creation are absorbed by the higher levels, all the way up to man. Man serves God and receives His love, then he must go back and love the universe. In that way the love of God can simmer down all the way to the mineral kingdom.
Apart from this formula, there is no way you can achieve perfection. The more you serve for the sake of others, the greater your reward. Only by this principle will our universe become one. Do you agree?
Let us summarize what we have said today about our basic attitude. Why should you love yourself? It is because within your own body you have the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, and the animal kingdom. However, man is the only animal who walks vertically; likewise, man alone is linked to the spiritual world. Since all the rest of creation exists only on the horizontal level, eternal life is enjoyed by human beings alone and not any other animals.
People should not become like animals, looking toward only their physical satisfaction, but many people in Western civilization primarily follow their animal instincts for food and sex. Animals will fight for one thing especially - sex. Many times humans do the same thing; men have killed each other for the sake of a woman. But a true man will not act like an animal. Any man who does that is saying, "For a woman, I can sacrifice my life or that of another." A man is not supposed to give his life for the sake of a woman; he is supposed to give his life only for something greater than himself, that is the God, given value of human beings. For that reason a true man of God will say, "I will not fight over a woman. You can go ahead and have her."
Some of you in the Unification Church may be looking at each other and comparing your spouses, saying, "I wish I could have been matched with that person." However, when I tell you, "I don't think that person is good for you. This person is the right one," you accept my advice. Why is that? It is because you value your sacred relationship with God more than the love of any man or woman. It is far greater.
It is good to love yourself because your body is the microcosm of the entire universe-mineral, plant, and animal kingdom, and you have within you the deity of God. Thus by loving yourself you are also loving the minerals, the plants, the animals and God. If you love yourself with this attitude, you will have no problem. The problem is that people do not love themselves with this attitude but rather with a selfish, egoistic concept. That is very different.
Selfish interests drive a person to hurt and even destroy others for the sake of himself and his own desires. Self-centered love is destructive love. Self-centered love can also cause physical sickness because your body knows when your love is not public and God-centered. However, when you love yourself because God loves you, your body will be able to enjoy freedom and true health.
Each person is a small universe. The entire cosmos is contained within God-that includes the spiritual and the physical worlds-centered upon love. Thus the microcosm of the relationship between God and the cosmos is contained within the family. The family is like one cell of God's world. With the family as the formation level, the country is the growth level and the world is the completion level. Looking at it differently, with the nation as the formation level, the world is the growth level and the spirit world is the completion level.
God is like one human body with the cells of the family, society, nation and world. God created humans in His direct image and He created everything else in His symbolic image. Everything interrelates with everything else, centering upon love.
Man, woman, and children make up the family unit. Their love must expand to a larger level-the social level, the national level, the world, and finally to the cosmos level. In this way, you can encompass the entire creation and bring it all into the dominion of God. Thus love, centering upon the unit of the family, becomes the center of the cosmos. The same love is at the center of everything. Once you have fulfilled this formula here on earth you will go to spirit world and be automatically accepted as the center. What you sow here on earth you will reap in the next world; whatever you create here, you will receive the result of there. Thus the right job must be done here.
Many people say they are contented with their family and don't feel the need to go higher up to the society, nation, and world level. But unless they do that, they will be limited within a small area in spirit world and will not be able to enjoy the total freedom of the cosmos. Therefore everything we do in the Unification Church links us to the world level. You do not work just for the sake of your own family but for the world. The principle here is the same there-the individual exists for the sake of the family; the family exists for the sake of the society; the society for the nation; the nation for the world; and the world for the cosmos. Therefore, it is our destiny to complete the journey. We must go all the way to the highest level; then we can turn and come back.
Perhaps someone is thinking, "This is too hard. I just want to die now and escape going through this." However even though you die, you will still have to fulfill this formula. If you do not do it here, you will have to do it in spirit world and it is a million times more difficult there. Think about it. If you die without completing your journey, you will have to come back to earth and work through someone else's actions. Do you think that is an easy thing to do? Not at all. Even your own body doesn't listen to you too obediently now, so think about trying to inspire "John Doe's" actions!
The Unification Church way of life is derived directly out of this principle-love yourself for the sake of the universe; love your mate and your children for the same purpose. Therefore, since the largest value comes first, you are loving God and the universe more than yourself, your spouse, or your children. The problem is that most people want to stop with loving themselves and their families. Nobody really wants to put the universe and God first; but this is the way of life of the Unification Church.
If your love is centered upon yourself, you have nothing to do with the true love of God. Therefore, no matter how much of that love you engage in, you can build up no equity here on earth to take with you to spirit world. Everything you do should be done for the sake of God. It is all right to make money, as long as it is for the sake of God and the universe. When the universe comes truly alive, our families can be truly alive. When God can feel happy, we can feel happy. Thus when we offer everything we have to God, God will meet our needs. That is an automatic action. When you make yourself empty for the sake of God, He will fill you up. That is the universal law.
Consider my own life. Because I have always been centered upon loving God and humanity, I have not had much time to spend with my wife and children. My ideal goal is to consummate the love of God and humanity, and then return to the love of my own wife and children; thus my own life is the example of the formula.
This is not something which can be avoided. The husband must pave the way for his wife and children; the wife must pave the way for her husband and children. The children must think that they want to pave the way for their parents. When you truly dedicate yourself for the love of God, this all happens. The Bible says not to worry about what to eat or what to wear if you are a person of God. Jesus told his disciples, "If God clothes the lilies of the field so beautifully, will he not much more clothe you?" That is a beautiful, poetic expression of the truth. The important point which the Bible is teaching here is that one must seek after God's kingdom above all; once you have attained that kingdom, everything else will come to you. Prepare a "pasture" within yourself where God can come and enjoy a good nap. How wonderful it would be if God could feel such freedom within you. He would like to be able to dwell within you and reach out in every direction and feel no walls, just total freedom. That is what it means to be the temple of God. How precious you are, once you attain that status. That is why you must love yourself- because you were created to be the temple of God.
When I look upon myself, I must bow with respect to the fact that within myself is the temple of God. I am not my own property; I am God's property. That is truly the glorious life of a man and woman of God. Don't you want to give birth within yourselves to such men and women? Don't you want to have such children? There is only one way you can do it-become first the temple of God within yourselves.
There can be no separation or disconnection between you regardless of your different races because it is within God that you are united. This is the way we can understand Jesus' words in John 14: "I am in the Father and you are in me and I am in you." The Bible expresses profound truth but you need to know the principle for everything to be understandable.
You have a choice-do you want to be accused and persecuted Moonies or do you want to be gloriously comfortable secular people? What is your choice? If you truly choose the former, then God will say, "Hmm. I am proud of My Moonies,"-not Reverend Moon's Moonies, mind you, but God's own Moonies. God will say, "My Moonies," and the world will also say, "My Moonies," and the nation will say, "My Moonies," and you will say, "My Moonies." What would you swap for this? There is nothing else of such value in the entire universe.
When you men look at your wives, do not consider her as just your wife. Recognize that she represents the entire universe-the mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, etc. Can you say, "My dear, I love you because I love the universe"? Each man represents the entire plus realm and your wife represents the entire minus realm-that is how you should think before you join together in love. Our love must be directly connected with God. Thus when the plus and minus of the universe come together in two persons, gigantic sparks are produced which brighten up the cosmos.
Suppose God is dozing somewhere. When you make the gigantic spark of true love, He will be electrified with your energy! He will just jump up and down and right into you and your spouse. It doesn't matter if you or your spouse has a Korean face, a Black face, or a White face. You each represent the entire half of the universe, regardless of what race you belong to. Out of your love children will be born who can be a delight to God, to humanity, to everything.
When you kiss your tiny newborn baby, God will be symbolically kissing him and so will the entire universe. Thus your love is the most sacred thing and you must be prepared when you express it. Lightning rods protect buildings because electricity always seeks out the closest available point. There must be the interaction of plus and minus for lightning to spark with a lightning rod. Likewise, a man needs a woman to create a spark, not another man.
People in the West shake hands with one another very readily-your hands can become numb after a while! In the Orient, people almost never shake hands. In fact they rarely touch, but when they do it is an electrical experience! When men and women are constantly touching each other, that is not so good. Isn't it much better to refrain from touching until the time of your spiritual completion? At that time, your physical contact can be so much more intense. Until you have accumulated a 100% store of electricity, you should reserve it, safeguarding yourself in total purity.
For this reason, the dating system here in the West is not a good one. It is far better for young men and women to preserve their love as they mature to 100% intensity, and then come together. As soon as they touch, the greatest spark of love will result. But most Western young people start dating very early, holding hands and kissing each other freely. Actually, young people who do these things cannot ever realize the true taste of love because they are wasting and dissipating it. They have some sensation of love-perhaps 30% intensity-but not the shining intensity of 100% purity.
Satan has been manipulating the dating system here for his advantage. When a young man is growing up, the most mysterious and sacred thing is the world of women, and vice-versa. But when that is abused, the mystery is destroyed. What remains? Men and women are trying to conduct themselves in animal-like love without any aspect of vertical love.
Suppose Mark here, instead of looking at his wife as the representative of the other half of the world, had the attitude, "Why did Father give me this short woman with a flat nose and slanted eyes? She doesn't even speak my language! Why didn't Father give me a tall, blue-eyed blonde?" If he came together with his wife and made love to her thinking in that fashion, that would be satanic. When you join together in love, you must be aware throughout yourself-in your body, your emotions, and your mind-of God and His glory. You must have the attitude of making love that will be respected by all of mankind. How wonderful that kind of love is!
You must realize that you were born to give love to your spouse, who represents the entire universe, just as you do. That is entirely different thinking from self-centered men and women who see each other only as their own husband or wife. You must unite together as husband and wife in order to complete the universe. That is a truly great attitude-to know that you are entering into your marriage for the sake of glorifying God and reflecting His entire image. Eliminate from your thinking any comparison, of your spouse on the basis of race or other externals. The principled way of life is the best.
When you go to spirit world, God immediately sees those people who lived for the sake of humanity and those who lived just for their own sake or their own kin. Which one will receive a welcome from God? Certainly, those who lived for humanity.
When you enter spirit world, you will discover that what I have been saying to you here at Belvedere is absolutely true. If you go there without having taken my words seriously, you won't be able to come back and do everything over again! You must do it right-here and now. You must come to that realization today, here on earth. During my entire life I have been untangling things here on earth; regardless of what persecution I receive, I cannot change my course. You have met the right teacher, haven't you? Now you must practice what you have been taught. Only by imitating your teacher can you become a great disciple.
Our basic standard is to love ourselves and each other from the universal standpoint and to expand that love to include the cosmos. If there had been no fall this would have been automatic, but because of the fall there is a great barrier to overcome. To overcome that barrier we must tread the road of indemnity. Understanding the law of indemnity can spur you to live that way of life, gladly pushing yourself to live for the sake of other. There are no denominations in our Unification Church because our mainstream is made up of those who live for the sake of humanity, who willingly go through the most hardship.
Any adult or child, man or woman living by this principle shall be welcomed universally-and when those people live together their world will be Heaven on earth. Can anyone object to that? The Kingdom of God will not be built by war and destruction, but by spreading the truth. In just a few hours this morning you have become new men and women; in the same way, the world will become new when this word is preached throughout the world. Imagine this message being televised by satellite; this world could be changed just as much as you are now. This is not too far in the future.
Even if I criticize you and push you, it is only for the sake of the largest goodness. By American standards it might not seem good; many Americans want time to think about everything and protest that they can't work so quickly.
You have to realize that you are new American citizens, not just ordinary men and women. Many people know how to love themselves and their families, but not how to link their love to the world and the universe. Now I have explained how to do all that.
You may not be perfect in everything but at least you can be right in your basic attitude. This attitude of love is what you will leave to your children when you die. This tradition will go down in your family from one generation to another. You can tell your children that this message is the most precious thing you can give them. Show them that they too must live this tradition and leave it for their children.
When you practice this truth the entire universe will open up to you; God and all of spirit world will rejoice with you. Even if we Moonies are misunderstood and persecuted now, it doesn't matter because we have the most precious way of life. The saints in spirit world didn't know this whole truth when they were on earth, but they accomplished to the best of their ability. Today we have greater truth and how proud we can be! When you live this truth you have nothing to be ashamed of before the greatest men and women of history; you can love God and mankind more intensely than anyone ever has.
Such a person is in the position of elder brother of love in the universe. You can proclaim that you made your settlement of true love on earth, that you perfected that love together with your husband or wife and children. That is truly something of significance. You can say to God and the spirit world, "Isn't that what you wanted to see accomplished on earth?" Everyone will say to you, "Amen." When you perfect that love, you will be praised by everyone in spirit world, and your life on earth will be glorified.
Today I am still walking that path. It is our unavoidable destiny. When you go out you hear laughter and secular music but you can feel that these things have nothing to do with you. Some day people will understand how wise it is to follow this path of love. Moonies should not be people who can be criticized for unrighteous deeds; we must not compromise ourselves with the ways of the world.
Can you pledge that you will go this road all the way to the final destination? God bless you.
