Children's Day
World Mission Center-Grand Ballroom
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
Those who are seeing me for the first time, please raise your hands. Are you the new crop of the Unification Church? Can anybody read - the title I wrote on the blackboard?
When you look at all the people in the world, are they just the same or all different kinds? Let's consider the sparrows. Is there only one kind of sparrow, or are there many different kinds? What about the language of sparrows in different countries? Do you think they use the same language? What about cows? There are obviously many types of cows and many different colors and shades of cows. When they "moo,' do they do that in different languages?
What about this man standing here beside me, Bo Hi Pak? Why does he have to interpret my words to you? In the original world, is it natural to have an interpreter beside you or to speak directly? Therefore, do I have Dr. Pak standing beside me because I like it or because I have to?
As you can see, there is obviously a problem in our world today. Imagine if all people spoke the same language. There would have been fewer world problems, such as war and crime.
In the beginning of human history, do you think there were many pairs of human ancestors in many parts of the world? God created all things but He created one being supreme, with the most sophisticated development. Would He have started with many duplications of that being or one set, one prototype? If the Supreme Being desired to have a perfect, absolute, supreme form of creation, He would begin with just one.
What is the one thing which the Supreme Being would like to own? What one thing is the finest, the best, the ultimate thing for God? God longs to have true love. When you talk about true love, it always denotes two parties. No one can dwell in love all by himself; you cannot just speak the word "love" over and over again and experience it. Likewise, for God to engender love, He must have an object.
What kind of object has God been yearning for? Mt. McKinley is the highest mountain in the United States. Has God been yearning for that tall mountain as the object of His love? Do you think God has been thinking about a beautiful bird as an object because it can sing and fly so well? No, He has been yearning for true man and true woman. What is the definition of a true man? Is he special because he has an eye on top of his nose? Does a true man have two extra shoulders so that he can have four arms instead of two? That would certainly be a powerful man, wouldn't it? No, rather than all these things, we know that a true man is the man whom God loves and in order to be loved by God, he must resemble God. He must be that ideal object for God.
Whether you are a man or a woman, you must resemble God Himself. When we speak of humanity, we speak of both men and women. What do you think God is more like, a man or more like a woman? God bears a resemblance to both men and women. So there are two objects of God: men and women. Are the two objects the same or different? Do they have the same or different features?
Are these two different beings, men and women, always trying to pull away from each other, or do they always try to come together from their opposite positions? What do you think? Are they supposed to come together or go away from each other? When are they supposed to be perfectly united-when they are just crawling babies? When they are little children playing on the playground? No, it is only when their minds and bodies are perfectly united that they are supposed to come together as men and women.
Thus when men and women reach a certain age, they start to experience feelings of love. They want to know and understand love and they want to be together. Why do men and women want to be united? The reason is very important and simple. As individuals, a man or a woman cannot be a total object to God. Men represent one half of God and women represent the other half. So in order to reflect the total image of God, men and women have to come together.
Just as we have two eyes that can focus properly only together, when men and women come together in unity, their focus will also converge properly. Men and women are supposed to come together in that kind of unity, which we call love unity. Then God can come in; the dwelling of God is with them. When men and women come together in such a manner, God will embrace them saying, "Indeed, you are my image, my perfect image. I take delight and joy in you"
Then to whom does love belong? Love belongs to God, to man, and to woman. Love is the uniting factor of all three. When men and women are horizontally united in love they can be vertically united with God. That is the fair way. Otherwise, if God just came down to men, the women would complain; or if He just came down to women, the men would complain. God doesn't want to be unfair, so it is only when men and women are rejoicing together in love that God can come down and dwell with them.
Love is eternal and permanent; it must have a storehouse. Men and women are meant to be that storehouse; love is meant to be held by them. So love does not really exist within just a man or just a woman, but rather between them; both must possess it together. That is the whole purpose of the differences between men and women, according to the original ideal.
In the world today, particularly in America, love has become a "fun" thing, and people go hopping around from one bed to another. One night, one person, another night, another person. Many young people think that is the way they can fulfill their happiness. What do you think? Is that God's definition of a human being? Such a person doesn't really deserve to be a part of humanity.
The world has gone far away from God's basic principles of love; people have let themselves fall below the animalistic realm of love. But the Unification Church has reestablished the moral principle of human love. If this were merely a theory, still we would have to accept it because of its logic; however, knowing that it is truth, how glad we are to accept it and live by it!
The love of God is absolute. In order to engender such love, God needs an absolute man and an absolute woman. He needs to bring them together in love into absolute unity. This is the total principle of original love. This is the nucleus of unity. To obtain this nucleus we need these three components: God, man and woman. How absolute they are in unity!
Where did you come from? How were you born? The important thing is whether you are the fruit of just fun love or the fruit of serious, true love. That is the key question. It is a tragedy if one is born as the byproduct of promiscuous love. Men and women pursue their fun love and suddenly someone says, "Oh, I made a mistake" That mistake means a baby will be born. If we were born in that way, then it is most tragic. This is very fundamental.
What are the most important and precious words we can think of? A scholar might say, "The most important words are my scholarly works, my dissertation on economic theory" Many people believe that economics are most basic and therefore most important to everyone. Let's say that you wanted to become a university student, but you wanted to pursue a special major. If there were something like the Department of True Love Studies, wouldn't you apply? Is there any university with a department of true love?
However, you Moonies are enrolled in a university with a Department of True Love. You experience many ups and downs and some people get tired and trunk out, but those who are trying to succeed in the True Love Department are called the Moonies. You are attending True Love University, right? True Love University and the True Love Department offer probably the most difficult courses you can ever imagine, but then they are the most worthwhile. Even if you lost an arm and a leg, you would still want to pursue these studies, wouldn't you? Even if you were nothing more than just a stump of a person, you would still want to graduate from the True Love Department. Today you are listening to the college president who has come to preach to you on the true love theory. Do you like it or not?
We are talking about an absolute standard in which there is no room for compromise or discussion. The true love principle is uncompromising. The opinions of different scholars and experts simply do not have any bearing on the absolute true love principle. Those who want to receive their diploma from True Love University, raise your hands, please.
I know that many times you have thought, "Why does Reverend Moon lead us this way, which is so alien to our country?" This has happened many times. Is it good or not? We are pursuing the absolute standard of true love; therefore, there is no room for compromise. True love cannot be negotiated. Imagine a loving husband and wife enjoying their relationship-would they want a third party to come in and discuss their love with them? No, they want to maintain that love just between the two of them. They do not want to decide matters of true love in a democratic forum.
I have always been seeking for one thing: true love. The way of true love must be established for the individual, the family, society, nation and world. True love is meant to be practiced within the framework of the family. Through the family, all other important levels of love can be achieved, such as the love of one's neighbor, altruism for one's country and the world, as well as saintly love. We have talked about all kinds of love, but family true love is connected to every one of them.
This tree I am drawing here represents true love. It has many branches, some of which go all across the world. But all those branches are connected to the same tree and have the same roots; therefore their quality is the same. The energy flowing from the roots goes to every leaf and every branch in the tree and vice versa; they have give and take that way. True love has many, many flowers, many branches, many leaves. All people were supposed to be born into this true love family tree but they were not. That is the great tragedy of all tragedies.
Springing from the true love root, a branch goes toward the west, where it becomes white people; when it goes to the east, it becomes yellow people; to the south, it becomes black people; to the north, it becomes Eskimos. The human family is supposed to be connected to the same, universal root. All people were supposed to be attached to the one most important institution which God created: the family. That is the essential building block.
The elements of family love -- love between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters -- were supposed to be exactly the same, regardless of where those families were located, or whether they were white families, black families, yellow or Eskimo families. True love is the common denominator that brings all people together into that family unity. True love is the common denominator for east, west, north or south.
Therefore, the true measure of your happiness is whether you are close to the central standard of true love. Happiness or unhappiness cannot be determined by how much money you have but only by the purity with which you exercise true love. If a third party is trying to invade a marriage, those spouses cannot be happy people. When the purity between husband and wife is preserved, love is preserved and that is the happy couple. This is how happiness can be measured. This standard applies equally, whether you are black, yellow or white.
"Absolute" in love means only one. Therefore, a couple cannot be involved with other people. In the Unification Church, the marriage principle is absolute. Once you are blessed, that goes on for eternity. Your couple shall be preserved as a true family coming out of this root. I know it is not easy in many cases, but no matter how difficult it may be, would you like to pursue my teaching and way of life? Or would you like to be like a butterfly, flitting from one love to another? You are following this way because that is how you can be connected to God and possess God's absolute love. Once we possess the love of God, we possess everything in the universe. With true love, we can even control God. How much happiness that can bring!
Reverend Moon is a smart man; if there were some easy or convenient way, I would have found it and gone that route a long time ago, but there is no such thing. Therefore, I have been investing my entire life to live and propagate this way of love. In that case, do you think Mother is a happy woman? What about me, am 1 happy? Why are we happy people? It is because we are united centered upon God's love, which is absolute.
This is how we understand the concept of True Parents. Centering upon the absolute love of God, the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, were supposed to unite absolutely in love and become husband and wife. Then they were to become parents. That is the way humanity was supposed to have begun-from such true parents. If you do not know the definition of true parents, you have no way to know the definition of true children.
We have come to the Unification Church in order to become true children. All of mankind was born into the fallen lineage. In order to transfer our lineage to become true children, we must be engrafted into the true tree which is the True Parents' tree. There is no other way to change your lineage.
Let's look at the engrafting process. First you've got to find the true olive tree; that is the tree of the Messiah. Unless the Messiah comes, there can be no true olive tree and no engrafting process. What is the end of the world? It is the time of the coming of the Messiah. That is when the engrafting process becomes possible. Then, throughout the whole wild olive tree farm, trunks will be cut everywhere. As you know, God does things according to His timetable. Unless the preparation of the true olive tree is ready, He will not cut the wild olive trees because the timing would be wrong. But at the end of the world, we will see both phenomena: the preparation of the true olive tree and the cutting of the wild olive trees.
What is the Unification Church, then? The Unification Church is a branch of the true olive tree. Therefore, when the Unification Church is blooming and spreading around the world under the parenthood of God, that means the grafting process is ready on every level: the social level, the national level, the worldwide level.
God is moving through all the levels of society today, shaking them up. Many people are saying pessimistically that the world is dying. There are cries from the communist world as well as the democratic world and even the religious world. That means there is another outcry for life-people are ready for the engrafting process. The Unification Church represents the true olive tree and, therefore, it is our responsibility to go out as soon as God cuts the wild olive trees and get to those places, engrafting health into those roots. Do you follow?
My sermon today is on the way of true children, or the children's road and responsibility. As I said, your responsibility is engrafting the true olive branch into the world. The wild olive trees have been cut, and now our responsibility is to go out into the world and engraft the true olive tree into those roots. If at least two-thirds of a tree is preserved, it can survive; it can get enough nourishment from its roots. But if 50 percent is cut away, that tree will die. So before the trees die, true branches must be engrafted into them.
This is why I am busy sending out branches to South America, Central America, Africa, Europe, Asia, all over the world. The missionaries may complain, "Oh, Father, we are helpless, yet you send us into a remote country all by ourselves?" But the branch has to be, in a sense, autonomous. You must go out and find the root and engraft the branch yourself. Throughout the world, cries are ringing out for the true olive tree branches. We are the only ones who have those branches, so we have to get out there. Before they die, we have to engraft ourselves into their roots firmly and give them life.
Therefore, I have declared this an emergency time period in the Unification movement. This is the time for the wife to go out to the world with more love than that which she has for her husband, and to love other people and give them life. The husband will do the same. This is the time. We must become the most loving and great parents so our expression of love must be nobler and deeper than anyone. Instead of embracing our own children at this time, we should be going out to prepare for the generations to come. This is the time for this kind of historical activity.
Even if you are engrafted onto the true root, you need to have three branches; otherwise, that engrafted tree will die. As Unification families, you must reach out to families of all different skin colors-to the people of the whole world- and give them life by connecting them to the same root of True Parents.
The nourishment of the tree will be distributed fairly. Thus where there are more limbs and more leaves, there will be more activity and that area will receive the most nourishment. Where there is little activity and little growth, nourishment will not be attracted. The love of God is always flowing to the place where there is more activity. That's most natural. Therefore, the active places will flourish while the inactive places will flounder. God wants to give more energy to the people who are doing the most, bringing the most results. This is a law of nature. The root will provide more strength where there is more pulling power.
The branches go up toward the clear blue sky and the beautiful sunshine, while the roots go down deeper into the dirty soil in order to gain more nourishment. In that way the roots and branches coexist. When you move the roots from one place to another, the branches will also be moved; they will go together and flourish together. In order to survive, a branch must be united with the roots; it cannot exist by itself. The branches and the roots cooperate with one another in order to create a healthy tree.
By the same token, the people who shall eventually govern the world are the ones who have the highest ideals, like the branches reaching up into the blue sky, and at the same time who are willing to dig down deeper into the dark, difficult places. When both characteristics are found in a group of people, they will truly flourish.
When we analyze the world today, Western civilization is something like the branches, striving to go up higher and higher towards more sunshine and blue sky. The Oriental culture, on the other hand, is like the roots, digging down deeper and deeper, trying to gain deeper meaning and therefore more nourishment. These are the opposite characteristics of Western and Eastern civilizations.
So far, Western civilization has been rather boastful, looking down on the Oriental cultures and saying, "They are dirty people and look at how clumsy and backward they are" But Western civilization must recognize that Oriental cultures have a great depth and quality of energy. That sort of energy will go on and on and will flourish no matter what happens. But branches can break off easily when the tree experiences turbulence.
Western civilization, like the branches, cannot create its own roots. But in the Oriental civilization, like the roots, there is always the power to make new branches and to continue to grow. Therefore, Western civilization is looking eastward for hope and to learn how to survive. Look at how the hippie movement spurned cleanliness and expressed their disgust with modern Western culture. We can see that they were emulating many Oriental values.
Many people in the West today have a tremendous interest in Japan; they are watching what Japan does, seeking to learn how they have been so successful. This is in a way, a survival tactic of Western civilization. Therefore, my direction to you Japanese members is this: do not become Americanized Japanese. The American people must themselves become Orientalized.
I am not saying this out of any sort of prejudice. I am speaking from the point of view of providential destiny. East and West are supposed to work together in harmony, like branches and roots, and when they come together, both must flourish. In the Unification Church there are certain Oriental traditions that you have learned to follow. For example, you are sitting on the floor now. Some people may think that Reverend Moon is primitive and a destroyer of Western civilization. However, do you think that I am harmonizing East and West, allowing each to learn from the other? What do you think? Doesn't Reverend Moon want to see Westerners align themselves more with the providential destiny? I am teaching you the universal way.
What I am preaching right now has a prophetic quality. As time goes by, what I am saying will be recognized as truth by more and more people.
Today I am speaking with a special purpose and meaning because this celebration of Children's Day is the first Unification Church celebration since my victory in Danbury. Therefore, we must renew ourselves, beginning with the president of the church and extending to all the members of America. We must make a new commitment today to grasp a new understanding of God and develop a new unity with the True Parents. Amen?
We are all privileged to belong to the True Parents. True Parents are our root, the root of love. Therefore, with this privilege we can go forward limitlessly, truly fulfilling our purpose of connecting the whole world with the true root and creating a new, moral, God-centered world. That is our responsibility.
The Unification Church, therefore, is pursuing the absolute standard in everything-absolute men and women, absolute family, absolute culture, one absolute language. The Korean language and culture has become very important within our movement and it will soon become important on a global level.
Why should we learn Korean? Heavenly Father installed the True Parents on the earth in a specific land and it happened to be Korea. God has planted true love on the earth through the True Parents; therefore, their language was meant for everybody. We can say that God first spoke the language of true love in Korea, through the True Parents. For that reason, that language has become our mother tongue.
Thus the Korean language is the language of the motherland of love. When all people are pursuing true love, that language must become the mother tongue of everyone. Besides knowing how to speak that language, you also need to know how to write it. Many members around the world desire to be blessed with Korean men and women. Why is that? Korean men and women speak the language in which the true love of God was first spoken. That is a most precious reason, because with this language, you can get down to the deepest corner of your roots, all the way to the central root. You can ultimately reach the deepest place in the heart of God. Our original mind knows this.
You must be proud that you are participating in the Unification movement, which is going after only the absolute standard. There is no halfway standard, but everything is absolute-absolute words, absolute love, absolute actions. This is the way you are committed to go, so you must be very proud of this.
We are on a treasure hunt, looking through a labyrinth for the passage to true love. That is the romantic life of the Unification Church. More than anything else, the most important undertaking is going through the labyrinth and finding true love. Each step is so precious, so vital. Even if it took one thousand years to take one more step, still you cannot avoid this path. You must go and find the way to true love. I am the forerunner along this way and you are following. Do you think you can go your own way or the way that you like in order to find the treasure?
Do you think it is necessary to make a great amount of noise or put on a great show for other people? What do you think? No, you don't need any cheerleaders around you. This is a path which you have to go all by yourself. It is an internal path which is very lonely at times. But knowing that you are moving toward the greatest treasure, you can have the greatest satisfaction going this way.
Western members sometimes speak too much, while Eastern members many times are too silent. But Unificationists must become the balanced point. We know the East and we know the West, so we must balance between them. Know the advantages of both worlds and strive for the best of both of them.
The journey for blessed couples doesn't end with this life here on earth; it continues and improves throughout eternity. We are not talking about material gain but rather gaining the personification of true love. You will become living monuments of true love. That is the single, absolute goal.
When men and women have come together and united with God, no power under the sun can break them apart. God and men and women, if they are united and if they act with absolute conviction, have enough power to move the universe. The one absolute element is true love. Only love can move the entire cosmos. I do not want anything else other than true love and my mission is to create a true love highway for everyone so all can reach the goal of true love. Eventually we will create the Kingdom of God on earth. Such a highway will resemble the true love tree. There is a main highway, the branch highways, and little roads, each ending in some cul-de-sac, resembling the leaves. The true love highway network is not just empty talk or theory-it is attainable. particularly after my victory in Danbury, this can be accomplished here on earth right now.
If someone starts out at the top, at one of the cul-de-sacs or leaves, then he can travel toward the bigger roads, the bigger branches, and ultimately join the superhighway, going all the way to the heart of God. Leading into the super true love highway, Dr. Durst represents U.S. Route 1, so he must guide a lot of true love into that highway. Then there are the regional directors and the fifty state leaders, all interconnecting.
But suppose the person in charge of U.S. Route 1 decided, "I'm an American highway. I don't want to worry about following the superhighway" That would be a crazy idea and it would not work. The ideal is always to bring the branch highways into perfect connection with the superhighway of true love. For someone to reach all the way to God, U.S. Route I alone is not sufficient. You've got to pass through the tollgate that takes you onto the superhighway.
This is like the roots of a tree which dig down deeply but still remain connected with the highest pans that reach to heaven. As each root develops, it relates with the other roots. We could liken this to our national movements in the United States, Japan, England, Germany, South America, or Africa. Only through true love can all these roots be joined together to reach the heavenly throne. All the nations and national characters must be harmonized in the center so that every national movement and characteristic can touch the trunk line. There must be one uniting point.
Any country which tries to follow only its own characteristics and tries to bend the trunk line in its own direction will simply fail. Such a thing cannot happen. The trunk line begins from the True Parents and moves straight up all the way to Heaven's throne in one straight line.
Adam and Eve sprang from God's roots, but since the human fall all kinds of diverse and perverted cultures have come into being. The True Father's mission is to bring all these perverted individuals, families and cultures into one original point, into one straight line back to God. Therefore, the straight line established by the True Parents must be joined by the rest of the world. They cannot possibly just go their own way, because that straight line is the absolute standard.
If the True Father were swayed by someone else's advice or opinions, whether political or spiritual, then the line would bend and the whole ideal of the Kingdom of God would eventually break down. But when the entire world is united around one central line, there is no room for Satan. Satan has to be automatically expelled from the world.
I went to Danbury in order to expedite this providence. That line which started from the original root in the Garden of Eden must go in a straight line all the way to the Kingdom of Heaven. By the suffering of the modern-day crucifixion, that has been expedited.
Therefore, if you face a barrier, even prison, you cannot dodge it or shy away from it. You have to penetrate that barrier and break it down. If I had tried to avoid prison and had run away to Korea or Japan or South America, I could not have broken that barrier. This is the same reason that Jesus prayed on the Mount of Gethsemane, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup be taken from me; nevertheless, not my will but Thine be done"
If God has a certain plan for you to dramatically break through a certain barrier or difficulty, you must not avoid it. You must stick with it and break through it to the other side.
Satan doesn't like the place of sacrifice and suffering. He is very boastful and arrogant and he likes to live luxuriously. He loves to complain and he thrives on jealousy, vanity, and greed. You have to understand the ways in which you attract Satan and the ways you can repel him. Prison is a collection of people who constantly complain and blame others for their troubles. Nobody in prison likes to admit his guilt; he always has someone else to blame for being there. But when I entered prison, I was silent. I said to myself, "I am not going to go along with this crowd. I am grateful to God to be here and I'm not going to utter one word of complaint"
I knew why I was in prison. It was the most important barrier that God wanted me to penetrate. Throughout history, many martyrs and saints died for the sake of their religion, for the sake of God's love. True love is greater than life itself. Therefore, for the sake of the tradition of true love, you have to go forward and make sacrifices, even if you might lose your life. The absolute standard is this: if you have to die for the sake of true love, you must choose that route. That is my uncompromising principle. Do you understand?
One thing is certain: in the entire history of humanity, no one has persevered more or suffered more for the sake of true love than I have. I have truly lived an uncompromising way of life for this purpose. I am ready even now to give up my life. Ultimately the world is destined to come under the domain of true love. True love and the power of the universe have protected me throughout my life and that is the reason I have come this far. Now I am ready to guide the world to join in true love.
I was born for this mission and I have persevered and suffered for this purpose. Now the couple has been created which is unique in all history because we won the victory for true love. For that reason, that couple is called the True Parents. True Parents are the ones who are victorious with true love.
You are in a position to not only know and serve and love the True Parents, but also to protect them. You also have a mission to fulfill, the mission of creating Heaven on earth. This is truly the most remarkable responsibility.
We are, in a way, swimming in the ocean of true love. We are swimming across the ocean, going around the world. Ultimately we are going to go through the golden gate and reach our goal. We are born for that way of life.
Men and women are supposed to be born in true love, reared in true love, educated in true love, married and have children in true love, become the lords of all creation in true love, and then be elevated into Heaven. That was supposed to be the true way of human life. The Bible says, "Know the truth and the truth shall set you free" Now that you know the truth, you are on the way to achieving total inner, spiritual freedom.
You know that you can go only one way. You must follow the absolute standard; you cannot adjust it to your own tastes or negotiate with it or compromise it. But once you achieve this standard within yourself, you will be able to go everywhere, to enjoy anything in the entire universe. That is the way life should be.
Today, on Children's Day, we should pledge to follow the True Parents absolutely. If you are determined not to complain and not to get tired but to be always full of vibrant determination, then Satan will be smashed. I am very proud of that kind of determination.
The most important thing is that God has given us True Parents. Now we have to fulfill our responsibility. Let us raise our hands high and make our pledge to God. Thank you.
