Belvedere
Translator - Sang Kil Han
This is a huge subject! Billions of people are living on the earth today, yet each person is focused mainly on himself instead of thinking about others. This is our world situation today. People tend to concentrate on themselves and where they came from rather than thinking about their family first. Most people consider themselves first and their family second.
When we refer to "people," we mean both men and women. But stop to think for a moment what it would be like if the world's population were comprised of only man. What would it be like? People talk about the world's problems, but the greatest, most troublesome problem of all would be if there were only men and no women!
Before we can expect oneness in the world, men and women must come together. Before I focus on myself, I need to think about men and women. Mankind's key problem is the difficulty between men and women. We may talk about heaven and earth, we may contemplate the universe, but the most critical challenge is how to work things out between men and women.
Can money be used to settle this problem? Can it be resolved through superior knowledge? Could anyone assert his authority and order people to work out the problem? No. Such methods may help slightly, but they can never settle the basic problem. The fundamental, indispensable key to solving the problem between men and women is love. Love offers hope for a solution.
There are many kinds of love, however. What sort of love is needed? Yes, true love. What exactly is true love? When we call anything true, we mean it is consistent; we mean it has been the same from beginning to end. People seek that genuine quality in everything. We look for what is true within ourselves.
Everyone, even the most famous and respected people, must follow the path leading to true love if they expect to find it. True love does not flow randomly; it is not sporadic, influenced by the ups and downs of emotion. True love follows a definite pattern. Three principles guide true love: purpose, direction and order. True love has an unchanging direction and operates to produce specific results, such as peace, happiness, and goodness.
To say that true love has a certain purpose, direction, and order has several implications. Our purpose in life becomes the quest for true love, but no individual can achieve it alone; each person needs a companion in order to fulfill love's purpose. Furthermore, whoever wants to be a part of true love needs to be heading in the same direction as true love and living by its strict order. If someone just wants to be left alone and not bothered by others, he can never attain true love-even if he seeks it-because he is going against the order, purpose and direction of love. Individualistic thoughts and actions will prevent a person from finding true love.
In the cosmic order, not only human beings but also the animal and vegetable kingdoms are all comprised of male and female elements existing in harmony. There is a kind of love in the animal and vegetable kingdoms and centering on this love, generation after generation of offspring are produced. Everything that exists on the face of the earth is part of a subject and object relationship. On the foundation of a true subject/object relationship, all things can be secure and flourish. Human beings are different from other beings in that we have a vertical dimension as well. If we have our subject/ object relationship and our vertical dimension intact, we can be sure of maintaining these connections throughout eternity.
Is it possible for any being to deny this one overarching principle of subject/object relationships in the animal and vegetable kingdoms and work out something different? No one who denies this principle can survive. Every being must head in the direction of true love; only by following this very strict order can anyone fulfill the purpose of true love. Without living by this principle, no being-no seed, no plant, no animal-can exist for long. Human beings are not only bound by this principle, but we must obey it even more faithfully than other creatures because of our vertical dimension.
A family is formed by an individual man and woman. Both a man and a woman are needed; neither of them alone can achieve a family. The family serves as a model for a race and even a nation. Therefore, the purpose of a family is to expand to the level of a race and a nation. This is the direction the family should take. However, our focus is on forming not just any race or nation; we are resolved to establish an ideal race and nation. The very basis of an ideal race and an ideal nation is nothing other than an ideal family. We must achieve such a family because it is necessary for all future developments.
The word "chunjoo" in the title of this speech means cosmic universe; "chun" means heaven and "jog" the universe. The invisible universe of spirit world is encompassed in the expansion of the ideal family. People in the spirit world want to attain unity, just as much as people here on earth. How can the spirit world achieve unity? Is it by forcing people to do some things and not do others? Do people like to be ruled by laws?
Are there people in the spirit world who would say, "I will respect any law, and obey it no matter what. I love laws"? No. A law is something people have to obey or face the consequences. A person might have a lot of power in the spirit world, but can he achieve unity by exercising his power? No. Just like people on the earth, people in the spirit world do not want to be forced or coerced into doing something.
Now you know what can unify the cosmic universe, don't you? It can be accomplished only through love. While we are dwelling on earth we need true love, and after we go to the spirit world we will need it there as well. Do only human beings seek true love? Animals, vegetables and minerals all seek true love; they all seek the person who has true love, all welcome the personification of true love. They want to cling to and follow whoever embodies true love. All things-animal, vegetable or mineral-would like to live harmoniously with the person who has true love.
Considering all this, what is the greatest treasure here on earth and in the cosmic universe? Your first answer might be true love, but it is also the man and woman who embody true love. They are the most precious beings in the entire cosmic universe. Such a man and woman can step forward confidently and ask everyone to follow them, because the direction in which they are heading is guaranteed to be correct.
We have assembled here early in the morning, even before sunrise. What is our purpose? What are we here for? You can easily answer true love, but have you ever seen true love? True love is invisible. No one can see it; yet it exists and exerts tremendous influence. Concepts are invisible to our eyes, but they are real all the same. You cannot see truth or goodness, for example; yet they are real. True love has an influence much stronger than truth, goodness or any other ideal people have pursued.
The only way to confirm the presence of true love is through experience. You cannot tell whether someone has true love until you have gone through difficult times together. In reflecting back on your time together, you can determine whether that person exhibited true love or not. To verify true love, therefore, it is necessary to go through a period of trial or testing.
Where is true love more likely to dwell: in high society where everything is glamorous and comfortable, or in difficult circumstances that most people would rather avoid? True love is not easy to find, but it shines under adversity.
What kind of people are we? What is our purpose in life? If the path of true love happens to be a straight line, rather than a crooked one, the seeker of true love must follow that path. A person of true love is dependable, regardless of his position; wherever he may be, he acts in a consistent manner and heads in the proper direction. Other people may wonder why he acts the way he does, but he doesn't care because his quest is true love and he cannot waver from the path, no matter what others say.
The path of true love is not an individual path. Not even the greatest man can travel it by himself. No woman can achieve it alone either. Man and woman must go together, in harmony and unity. People cannot take separate directions or live in an individualistic manner, because the path of true love is the model course for everything else. Those who embark on the path of true love need to resolve to stay on it and persevere in love all the way to the very end.
Suppose the husband has fixed his course on the path of true love, but the wife says, "I don't like that patio." True love cannot blossom in such a relationship. True love is not the kind of course that one spouse can continue alone after the other has dropped out. Both husband and wife must be really committed to true love because this love existed before either was born. True love was present before your birth and will continue after you go to spirit world. A couple should travel this course together every second of the way, filled with happiness, purpose, and hope. They should nurture these feelings in each other and devote their lives for this purpose.
The birth of a child is obviously a very precious and marvelous event. What makes it great is not the fact that a boy or girl is born, but that another person destined for true love has arrived. This is what makes childbirth such a special event. Every person can draw true love; the power to attract true love is what makes people so great.
What children eat or wear is not as important for their growth as reaming true love from their parents. When parents develop true love for each other, they create the kind of atmosphere that will sustain and nourish their children. A family may be facing poverty and hardship and everyone may be hungry and cold, but as long as the parents demonstrate warm, true love for each other, the children will grow up satisfied. In contrast, a prince or princess born in a luxurious palace can never be happy if the king and queen are always fighting each other.
All human beings need parents w truly love each other. Whether their origins are noble or humble, whether their nation is great or small, all people ultimately seek true love, and when they find it they treasure it above any material possessions. The boy who grows up in an atmosphere of true love comes to realize that he needs a mate in order to become like his parents. The girl who observes true love in her father and mother will not be content to live alone but will want a mate in order to become like her parents. As children grow, they want to emulate their parents. They absorb the experiences of every moment and every day. Brothers and sisters nurtured in a family centered on true love all want to become like their parents. This is the basis of harmony in the family.
True parental love is not limited to one's own children. Truly loving parents will not only love their children but will also seek to link their family with the emerging race and country of true love. The parents should always seek to live for the sake of the larger whole. Their children will learn the true way of life from them. Parents may not always express love directly to their children but will be caring instead for other people and other children. However, even as they care for children of the larger race and nation, they will be loving their own children. Actually, this is the ideal way to live because the family that cares the most about the race will be the center of that race and serve as its model. Everyone else will follow and emulate them.
If you love your race and nation beyond your family because they are a greater entity than your family, your family will become a part of that larger whole. On the other hand, if you care only about your family and nothing about your race or nation, eventually the race and nation will not want your family and they will become isolated. The direction and purpose of true love always leads to the highest level. True love elevates those who embody it. Therefore, if you want to be prominent as a family, you should make true love your goal.
Would you rather be accepted by just a small number of people or by everybody? We all share a desire for approval. There are many national boundaries today, but you want to transcend those, don't you? You want to be accepted by people of other races. You want to be welcomed by people beyond your clan. Why does your mind work that way? It is because true love always seeks to extend itself and embrace ever wider circles.
Suppose everyone living on earth accepted and welcomed you: would you be content? No, you would want to extend your circle into the spirit world and be accepted by all people there. If you think and live this way on earth, when you go to the spirit world, you will fit into its rhythm. Your outlook will be compatible with that of the spirit world and your path will be automatically open. Your success in living this way on earth will carry over into the spirit world. The laws there are no different than the ones here; all beings are governed by the one consistent law of true love.
God and the universe are expecting Unification Church members to go around and knit everyone together in true love, uniting all areas, all sectors, all fields. We are uniting people everywhere, but we start with one very small unit: a man and a woman. We should think that our purpose in life is to follow true love and, since true love means unifying all possible beings, unity is the goal we must strive to fulfill. Every single one of us should think like that. True love reaches out according to a specific formula: an ideal person seeks an ideal family; an ideal family seeks an ideal clan; an ideal clan seeks an ideal nation; an ideal nation seeks to form, or even recreate, an ideal world.
Each of you would like to be the greatest person on earth if you could, wouldn't you? Everybody, without exception, has this ideal and goal. How do you expect to achieve this goal? By competition? No, there is a way for all of us to achieve this goal together without hurting each other. Are you ideal men and women? If you aren't there yet, then where are you? You change in the morning, you change in the evening, and you change in between!
American women are especially changeable. Do you take pride in such vacillation)? Do you justify yourself by saying that you are an American woman? Actually, American women speak so much and in so many different ways, it is difficult to know their true mind and which words they truly mean!
What does it mean to be a true man? If you are not a true man, what are you? Are you a true man, or are you in the process of becoming one? (True women, too!) Okay, true women, too!
Within a true person exists something very genuine; no matter how you penetrate him, the essence is always true. You have to have such truth inside you. Also, true love has to dwell in your mind before you can say you are a true person. That's true. Do you have true love within yourself'?
You may claim that you love the Unification Church even at the risk of your life, but along the way you become unsure. You might change your mind at some point and later change it back. Are you going to be like that? Can you say you have never wavered since joining the church? Would you like to be able to say that? Even your heads are wobbling back and forth!
I see all kinds of evidence that you have not yet fulfilled this ideal. Still, you are seeking true love. As long as you hesitate, you can never grasp hold of true love, because vacillation is not part of the nature of true love.
Where did true love come from? You say God, but have you seen Him? God surely must have some quality by which you can identify Him. Do you know what it is? Is it because of His power that everyone wants to live with God and follow Him? Actually, no one likes a person simply because he is powerful. People focused on power tend to be ruthless and squash the rights of others. We are not against power, of course, as long as it is based upon true love; then the more power the better, because it gives protection to goodness.
Knowledge is precious, and everyone wants to gain it. But there is more to life than gaining knowledge. Someone may attend Harvard University and do nothing except study; but would you women be attracted to such a man? However, if that bookworm has true love and his motivation to study so hard is true love, it is all right. Then you might be willing to say he's your kind of man and you would accept him as a husband. Still, it is highly unlikely that such a person could be found. When someone studies to gain money, power, or position, others don't like it.
Speaking of money, one can do many things with it, but so much depends on the kind of person who has it. Money is happy to be possessed by a true person. The more such a person has, the better because it gives that person an opportunity to make the world happier.
If a true person has great knowledge and an immense amount of money, so much the better because a true person will use that knowledge and money to bring equality. Such a person wants to spend money to make life more comfortable and heavenly for everyone. Money used in such a way is truly precious. All money and all knowledge want to belong to the person who embodies true love. Even power wants to be wielded by the possessor of true love. In this world, wicked people have always blocked the way for such resources to reach true people. All people and all things can return to God and belong to Him through uniting with a true person.
People often use the word ideal in a vague way. What is the true, clear ideal? In the ideal, cause and effect, beginning and end are completely consistent. An ideal is not variable. The essence of life is not money, power or knowledge. The most precious thing a person can ever do is to find someone who embodies true love and become an heir of that love. Until now, the fallen world did not know that something like true love even existed. Many people thought they saw love, but the love they found didn't satisfy them so they gave up the search. They didn't even realize that true love existed until now.
How attractive is true love? Imagine someone holding a bag full of true love. The whole universe longs not only to follow such a person, but to embrace and penetrate him because through him they can find fulfillment. You too want to be a part of that true love. Even if you aren't handsome or beautiful, you still want true love. Why is that? True love is the basis for equal rights. Everyone is equal in the ability to possess and embody true love.
The greatest people are those who practice true love. Everybody longs for true love, but it is so difficult to obtain. Many people embark on the journey, only to drop out one by one. Perhaps only one out of a billion perseveres in the quest. Such a persistent seeker will one day occupy true love.
When we focus on the quest for true love, it is exhilarating. Once we get hold of that true love, we discover that we have found God Himself. Therefore, whoever seeks earnestly after true love finally comes face to face with God. "Oh, so we meet!" God might exclaim. Then He will extend to you an invitation: "I want to go further down, to a more difficult place, and find a greater true love. Do you want to come along and compete with me?" If God speaks to you like that, you should answer, "Yes, God, of course I do. I'll bet I can even outrun You."
A true person must be able to say, "My Father, even if You change, true love cannot change. Therefore, I will carry on the quest. Even if You die, I must continue." If that person perseveres, God would reply, "Yes, that is the way it ought to be, My son."
What greater scene could we imagine? Isn't it wonderful to aim for the ultimate goal? How privileged you are to have a goal like this! Then why do you change every day? Isn't it true that you do? At least you are candid and admit it.
What do you think God loves the most? He loves unchanging, original true love. That is what God really loves and seeks. Actually, you don't even need to include the adjective "unchanging," because true love doesn't have any modifiers. The question is whether you have the original true love.
Unification Church members should not waver. As long as you are inside these doors and listening to me speak in this room, you feel inspired and you pledge you will carry out the task; but once you step out the door, you become numb once again! Do you think I should give up leading the Unification Church and follow you instead? On the other hand, if you really become people of true love, then I will follow you. Even God will follow you then.
One individual cannot practice true love alone; it takes two. Love must have an object. Suppose a man with a large quantity of true love sets out alone on a journey, looking for people to love. Would he be joyous and happy all the time, or would he encounter continuous difficulties? Why difficulties, if he has so much true love? Because the world is so far from the ideal, it is very difficult to give true love.
We need the kind of world where true love can be invested and shared. This is God's deep desire. To build such a world is the mission of all Unification Church members. We have the true love needed to build the perfect world and the perfect cosmos. Who is the center of true love? It is God. And who is next to Him? It is me, you, every one of us. We are next to the center. No matter how big God may be, no matter how big God's radius of activity may be, He always has to return to the same place. That place is right where He started: with true love, true parents, true children, true family, true tribe, true nation, true world, and the true cosmos. That is the formula which directs true love. True love is always moving in this direction, and we must accompany it.
If mankind had not fallen, would the palace of the Kingdom of Heaven have been built first on earth or in heaven? Why do you say on earth so confidently? Earth is the visible world. What we see came into being from what we cannot see. The beginning is hidden from our sight. We are resultant beings and we are visible to each other, but we have both visible and invisible components
A lot of people are willing to believe something once they see it, but that is a lower standard. Something invisible brings harmony between people and enables them to love each other. When a man wants to become one with a woman, first he must make that his objective. Such a determination is invisible, but he expresses that invisible idea in his actions. Then the visible and the invisible become literally one.
Where is the main power of life generated: in the visible or the invisible side? The invisible side is the principal part of our life and the visible side merely follows it. This piece of chalk can be good or bad, right? If the person holding the chalk has a good mind to begin with, that piece of chalk will become a good piece of chalk. But someone with a bad mind can illustrate a lot of bad concepts with it. We must focus on the cause; cause is always the domain of the invisible world.
From this perspective, it is very easy to distinguish between good and bad. Good is something that is easily accompanied by true love and linked up with it. Everything that is consistent with true love is good. Something is bad if it cannot be connected with true love.
Those of you who are blessed, raise your hands. Almost everybody. How would you women like your husband to relate to you: with true love and a true mind, or by saying nice words but thinking something different? Do you want an animal standard of love, or a human standard? By looking at actions alone it is not always easy to distinguish between a husband with a noble mind and someone with an animalistic mind. The mind is invisible. Although an action may be the same, the mind behind it may be a human mind-high, noble, and lofty- or a less noble, generally baser attitude which we call an animal mind. Moreover, we would prefer not only a human mind but a true, loving human mind, wouldn't we?
In addition to distinguishing between animal love and human love, it is important to understand horizontal love and vertical love. Vertical love is directed toward a higher being and links us with something beyond ourselves. Before a man loves his wife he should concentrate on the higher dimension of love; then he can express true, vertical love. If a man simply goes to a woman without vertical love, he is acting just like an animal.
True, vertical love remains constant, regardless of the circumstances. You blessed couples may have a relationship and conceive children. but have you really loved each other in this fashion? Have you concentrated on vertical love, shared your insights about it, pledged your devotion to it-before bearing children? Why is everybody suddenly so silent?
Families may not differ much from each other in their pattern of life; people live, eat, and work in similar ways. But for every thousand families there will be a thousand different standards of love. What matters most to God is not the degree of horizontal love but the standard of true love. Once that is established, both horizontal and vertical love can develop and become complete. Horizontal and vertical love produce motion, similar to any two strong forces that meet and revolve around each other. God would like to see in every blessed couple such fullness of love, a love as round or spherical as the earth itself. Love has an axis through which all things must pass; this is the junction where vertical and horizontal love cross.
People can be roughly divided into two categories: one focused more on the spiritual side of life and the other on the animal side. The two approaches are completely opposite. Families also can be characterized according to whether they focus on spiritual qualities or just the animal aspect of life. The first type will be welcomed by both the spiritual world and the physical world, while there may be some families of the second type that even the earth dislikes!
What determines the vertical element? It is something invisible. The cause of everything, even the simple act of walking, is invisible. The body does not start walking somewhere on its own; something higher-the mind- first decides to walk and chooses the direction. When you laugh, do you do so without any prompting? Something motivates your laughter; something invisible gives the signal, and the body responds in laughter.
Then which dimension is central-the physical or the spiritual? Our mission in the Unification Church is to restore the world, but this physical world is not the origin; the origin is above it. We must deal with that origin, who is God.
Why did God create people? Was it in order to manipulate them and make money off of them? Did God inspire the creation of churches as a social arena through which people could gain fame and fortune? Then why? God wanted to experience joy together with us, not joy based on money, knowledge or power, but on love.
What is the origin of men and women? We are the effect, and God is the cause. Are God, men, and women supposed to exist independently of each other, or do we all tend to come together? What must happen before we can become one in love? If the object is fundamentally different from the subject, love and harmony cannot result. Subject and object have to be essentially the same. Even though they may not be aware of each other, they have to resemble each other before they can come together. Therefore, even though we cannot see God, we can recognize that He must be like us, because we are destined to unite with Him.
We are born as visible expressions of the invisible image of God. God has the qualities and characteristics of both men and women, the harmonized duality of masculinity and femininity. The Principle of the Unification Church establishes the fact that God is like human beings, containing both masculine and feminine aspects, and is our invisible subject. Thus, God is our Parent; He is our cause, and men and women are the visible effect. Our physical parents are our visible parents, and God is our invisible parents.
People have sought to explore and control the whole earth. Each of you wants to be the greatest person you can be, don't you? Both women and men seek this goal. We have this desire because God wants to govern the invisible world, the spirit world. Therefore, this desire to reach beyond ourselves is an original quality.
Will the palace of the Kingdom of Heaven appear somewhere automatically? Will it just find its way here, or does it have to be made? Should it be made on earth first or in heaven? You say earth, but the idea begins in heaven and will manifest itself on earth.
Why are men and women separate beings? Why aren't masculinity and femininity one on earth, as they are in God? They have to reach out on the horizontal level in order to come into oneness. God separated man from woman and allowed for a time of growth, but God's desire is to bring them together when they become adults. This is in order to develop horizontal love as a base for vertical love to manifest itself. The unity of man and woman is meant to be the dwelling place of God Himself. If Adam and Eve had established a family and perfected their horizontal love, God would have come and lived with them. God longed to live within Adam and Eve's family. Their home was to be His permanent dwelling place.
Please understand that heaven is inaccessible for an individual. Everybody wants to go to heaven, but heaven is where men and women form families with true love. Only such families can enter heaven. We learn from the Principle that Adam and Eve fell and that as a result mankind has had a different position: under the dominion of Satan. People may look the same as before the fall, but the internal quality is different. Many families have come from Adam and Eve's lineage. People had to end up somewhere, didn't they? Where is that? It is hell. Hell is not part of the original creation; it is a result of the fall. Where exactly is hell? It is a specific area of the spirit world.
So far, heaven's sphere in the spirit world has been empty. The original ideal of creation must first manifest itself on the face of the earth. That means True Parents must come to the earth. The Kingdom of Heaven has True Parents at the core; this is the very palace of the (- heavenly kingdom. Centering on True Parents, clans, nations and eventually the entire unified world will move into heaven.
Each individual, clan, and nation may have a different ideal now, but that will not always be so. No matter how many variations there may be, the original goal and ideal is the same. That sameness comes from true love.
After the Kingdom of Heaven is achieved on earth, people have to go somewhere, don't they? They will go to heaven, their original destination. If there had been no fall, people would have automatically dwelt in heaven. In fact, it would not even have had a special name; it would simply be our environment.
If Adam and Eve had not fallen, there would not be a multitude of nations on earth; there would be one nation. The inescapable conclusion is that the ideal world would have been achieved and there would be no such world as we know it now.
According to the requirements of the blueprint of heaven, individuals do not enter. In fact, even families cannot achieve heaven by themselves because a family needs a clan to achieve heaven, and a clan needs a nation. When all these levels of restoration are achieved, we can call it heaven. Our families should live with this ideal in mind.
What is the task of the Unification Church? Each member must clearly know God's original blueprint. We are to bring the world back to its initial pattern by restoring what was lost. All things have been divided, so we must bind them all back together with love.
The United States is a great nation, but it has many terrible problems. Would you call it a fallen nation or an original nation? Without exception, every nation in the world is fallen. We already know that the basic attitude of fallen people is individualism. Now we know clearly what heavenly thinking entails, and why it is that way. We need to wash away all distractions, cultivate the original way of thinking, and concentrate on the original ideal. Many people say that the United States is the greatest nation on ( earth, but when we know the true ideal of God, we suddenly realize that there are no legitimate grounds for saying that the United States is great. It is far from it.
On the one hand, there are the True Parents and on the other hand, one's family. Could the True Parents be traded for the family? A family is but one fraction of the whole, while True Parents represent not only all mankind but the universe as well. If mankind had not fallen, all parents would have been True Parents, representing the whole universe and fulfilling their responsibility to it. The great cultures of the world have always taught love and respect for one's parents. Without respecting the parents' position, there is no way to connect to True Parents' love. If one learns to respect his parents, he can respect the True Parents when they arrive.
In the ideal, parents love their children even more than their own life, and children also respect and love their parents so much that they would die for them. We can do anything to preserve the welfare of our parents. Such true concern between parents and children has been revered throughout history because this was supposed to be our original state. Now we understand that to be connected with true love is our only true link with the universe; without it, our life has no universal meaning.
Our physical existence lasts only for our brief lifetime, doesn't it? Even though life on earth is limited to a certain period of time, true love endures forever. Therefore, securing true love is far more important than preserving one's own life, which is temporary. But such an attitude is non-existent here in America. Even in the animal kingdom there is ample manifestation of the sacrificial nature of love: many times animal parents are prepared to die to protect their offspring.
One way in which humans differ from animals is that human children are willing to die for the sake of their parents, if necessary, while animal offspring are not. The bonds in human families are meant to be that powerful. One day, mankind will inherit the right to dominate the world, including the animal kingdom. It is important for children to dedicate their lives for the sake of their parents, who are their center of true love. On the basis of this devotion, the parents can bequeath their position to the children. Do you understand?
If you are not capable of dedicating yourself to this degree, you have to respect the family that is. In a clan, this is why the lesser family serves the more central family. Members of a clan are equal, but other families willingly serve the one central family, even though nobody tells them to do so.
If our earthly life is consistent with the laws of the spirit world, we will experience no problems when we go there. If we go against those laws, however, we will be different, even alien, in the spirit world.
When American society can adopt these principles of the parent/child relationship we have been discussing, it can lead the world. However, the current attitudes of American society have absolutely no place in God's world. We have to embody these points so we have something worthwhile to offer the people because otherwise they cannot change. We need to quickly implant God's original ideal so that America can live once more. This is the mission of the Unification Church.
Heaven is empty now. No one has been barring the door, but no one has reached the state of being able to enter naturally. In order to go to heaven we have to connect God, true man and true woman, and multiply that family to the nation and world.
Those who haven't understood the true nature of my teachings have opposed me because I am starting something they never even thought about. I have been persecuted all along the way. We will come to the peak in 1988, which will be 43 years after 1945. The period following World War II has been the era when the world has wandered in the wasteland for 40 years and has still not settled down.
In the past, many people had great hope for communism and it had much strength, but today it is on the decline. Communism lacks godliness and true love. Even democracy no longer inspires much hope; citizens of democratic nations are confused and unable to trust others. The principles of democracy are deficient in so many areas that the free world too is declining. Now is our time. Godism has emerged, and it is stronger than either communism or democracy. Godism is based upon true love, which is the essence of the ideal of creation. God made mankind and all creation for true love.
We can conclude that the unification of the cosmic universe, including the spirit world, was the purpose of creation. It can only be achieved, however, through the ideal family centered on true love. Without that, unification cannot take place. That is the whole purpose of the family: true love. People should be able to find in the blessed couples the manifestation of a true family and see that true clans and nations can emerge from them. Others should be able to pick up such signals from your families. Are you living in that fashion? The family is the most important unit; everything else depends on it. When its families function well, a nation's morals are high; if families are not exemplary, a moral nation cannot be expected. The family is the crucial building block for society.
If people of all five different colors of skin come to live within your home, can you embrace them with true love? Would you discriminate between them and your own physical family? If I or someone else were to bring people from 12 different nations to your home, could you live with them and love them as if they were your own family?
Jesus needed people of very different characters as his disciples. His 72 followers represented 72 nations, and the 120 who gathered after his resurrection represented all people. Jesus' example shows us what we are supposed to do. True love must be able to travel freely everywhere. We have to go far beyond our personal concepts. We should be living this way in our family.
(Father begins speaking in English:) We should have seen the expression of that invisible concept long ago. Both the invisible and the visible worlds have longed for true love. You are living in this world now and you have a family. You have to fulfill everything in it: the individual concept, the family, clan, nation and world concepts. Those have to appear in your family. You have to testify to true love on all these levels. Because you don't have that-you are not exhibiting those things-this is the problem.
The family is the most important thing. You have to make true love in your family. It must be man and woman, centering on true love, making the formula foundation for the heavenly kingdom. That is the family's responsibility, not the world, not the cosmos. Only in the family can all this originate. You have to know that clearly. Women absolutely need their husband. Men absolutely need their wife, centered on true love. It is not changing; it is not temporary. Once they are combined into one, then it is forever. Forever. This is a universal foundation. Neither Satan nor God can move that foundation. No power, no matter how strong, can shake that foundation. Without that foundation, we cannot make the heavenly kingdom.
The Second Advent is the coming of True Parents into this world. Christianity had to prepare for this, like a bride. Woman is the minus position like the earth. Man is on the plus side, or the heavenly side. The plus and minus sides can combine and become one only through true love. There is no other way. The family base is the most important place: that is where heaven is made. Ultimately, this is the basis for heaven in the spirit world. This was to be the original human lifestyle. You have to follow this law. The family system centering on God's true love is most important. This is the ideal of the Second Advent that the Christian world was supposed to prepare for, but Christian people do not know that. This is the invisible concept that the visible world should follow.
You need to be educated about this. Why did you come to this place in the early morning? To learn this new concept. You have to build that true love world and the center is the ideal family. The ideal race belongs to true love. You blessed families have to embody all these concepts: heavenly individual, heavenly family, heavenly clan, heavenly nation, and heavenly world. Your visible lifestyle has to reflect the invisible concepts. Your lifestyle has to be rooted in these concepts every day, making them into visible reality.
You are not living alone. You are living for every human being, for all mankind. You do not belong to the fallen world or fallen nation. You have to belong to the new heavenly side so you have to break out of the barrier of the fallen world. True love is the only power that will break this barrier. You have to make armaments out of true love and fight the satanic world with them. You can be God's soldier. Ultimately, God's ideal concept includes everything. Talking, acting, thinking should all be centered on true love.
(In Korean:) So. only after attaining this unity of true love in our own individual families can we expect the cosmic universe to come into unity.
(In English:) The ideal family is the visible aspect of the invisible concept. Everything is included in heaven's concept: the individual, family, clan, nation, world, cosmos. Everything. The clan is the center of the nation. One unified nation forms around it. There should be one nation, not two. But there are many clans and many families. This is where the home church concept comes in. If the task is difficult on earth, how could you do it later, when you get to the spirit world?
The fallen world shattered this original invisible concept. We are reversing this situation and following the restoration course. We have to make our world follow the invisible concept, centering on individual families and clans, combining them into one nation, based on true love. Then there will be no national, racial or cultural barriers. The invisible concept means one cultural background. Everything will be included in this concept.
God is working through the Unification movement to make one culture. You have been thinking, "I am American. Reverend Moon came from Korea. He is an Asian man, teaching Asian concepts." How complicated you make things! One world is now in progress. You have to teach your children this. The races and nations cannot stand apart much longer. You know that clearly. For your own nation there is small hope. America is in a miserable situation. The only hope is the Unification movement.
The American people are beginning to realize that Reverend Moon is a patriot. I am not American; I am Korean. But America's high-level people are thinking, "Reverend Moon is the number-one patriot of our country." Why did Reverend Moon spend ten years in this country? It is because I want to unify the world. There are many separated, complicated things, but I am looking for the one unified world. The American people now say, "We need Reverend Moon; he is the only man working for the world."
Who is working for the world? Who is redeeming the communist world and the rest of the world? It is only Reverend Moon and only the Unification movement. This is a serious point. How can we make a foundation on earth in Father's tradition? This is a serious problem for Father. How can we make a true tradition in America? How can we build a true foundation here? The foundation of America is corrupting this world.
Father left his own country to make this foundation in this country. After we make this foundation, saving the world is easy. So Father stays here until he saves this nation. You have to inherit Father's tradition.
The invisible concept goes beyond the visible side. Father is trying to break down all the barriers. You have to inherit the tradition Father is teaching. This is the Unification Church's way. History testifies that Jacob's course, the Israelite nation, and the Christian world are like a formula for us. You have to follow Father's way; otherwise, you cannot reach my place. You will be separated from me. This is the tradition; this is the lifestyle of Unification Church members. It is clear.
The individual, family, clan, nation, and cosmos are included in this formula. How can we break out of the fallen world? Every day Father is trying to plant this new concept and multiply it in Satan's world. The physical world and the spiritual world must be brought together. Until now, history has been filled with fighting and war. Now there is the Unification movement led by Father. Now we are making the foundation.
The Unification Church theory - the family ideal - is the most important thing. Without the family, you cannot create the ideal world. You have to make this foundation on the earth, centering on the family. The family is the beginning of the new nation. Without the family, the nation cannot be formed. It is the same thing in the fallen world. Society trusts families. Without knowing his family, society cannot believe in a person. In the fallen world, things are built upon the foundation of the family. On God's side too, it is the same. The invisible concept must be manifested on the visible plane.
The Unification movement has to take all the separated families and combine them into one. This is the original concept of creation; it is God's concept. The plus position is the invisible world, and the minus position is this world. These two worlds united will complete, the ideal of creation, the ideal of God.
(Col. Han resumes translating:) That is how important the family is. Is it clear to you now? True Parents may come to live in your house one day. Are you preparing your house so that they can come anytime to visit? Would you allow only Father and Mother to come? Would you welcome True Parents' family, but not other Unification Church families? When the world becomes united and people come to live with your family, would you welcome everyone? Such attitudes automatically determine who rises higher and who grows closer to God in the spirit world. This is fair, isn't it?
When you get to the spirit world, you might wonder how somebody got to such a high place. You will discover that without your being aware of it, he faithfully practiced this way of life and exemplified true love, and therefore everybody wanted him to go there.
Your thinking should be so broad that you can resolve to go to Africa and serve people there, or you can go to Russia and win people there to this way of life. If you live like that, many people will follow your way. In fact, it is our mission as Unification Church members to liberate Russia and the other communist countries. We will spare no sacrifice in doing so because that is our purpose for existing; that is our mission.
Now you know the nature of the spirit world; this is the way the original ideal will be formed. The present inhabitants of the spirit world want to be able to go to the original ideal spirit world that is about to be formed, but the only way they can go is through you. That is how they can attain their proper place. If we achieve the parental position, our many ancestors who have been living in the spirit world for hundreds or thousands of years will become our descendants. Because true love has begun now, whoever is close to true love is above those who have lived before.
Every wife needs this kind of husband. Every husband needs this kind of wife. From this moment on, you wives should go home filled with appreciation for the valuable husband who is waiting for you there. You husbands should have the same attitude. If you respect each other in this way, won't you be fortunate and happy? Are you like this yet?
Maybe you feel you are living more in hell than in heaven. But because you have an ideal and a plan and because true love is sustaining you, one day you will literally reach the top of the world. You should establish your family according to this plan. Far more than what you do or how you are living, what matters is how close you can become to God before you enter the spirit world. Nothing else matters.
The purpose of the Unification movement is to form such original families and nurture them so that they can teach other families how to be that way. That is what the Unification Church is all about. Do you understand? The whole universe will support whoever exemplifies this lifestyle and resolves to make this kind of family. The universe actually watches over such families and helps them improve so that the whole world can become better. I can testify to this very clearly because I have seen examples of it. People who originally opposed me have come to bow down to me because their original mind has finally enabled them to appreciate me.
Does history record anyone who cared about the world? People have cared about their nation, yes, but how about the whole world? What about all five colors of skin? I never discriminate. In my eye, there is no white, yellow or black; all are one, just as in God's eyes. Has anyone in recorded history taken that position?
Now all of you want to follow me, don't you? Is it because some day I will make a great deal of money and distribute it to you? Is it because I am so handsome that you cannot detach yourselves from me? There is a much greater reason. Your mind pushes you to me because something inside you says, "I love Father so much that I just have to be with him." The scope and contents of my words and actions are what appeal to you.
Do you follow me because you are poor and humble? There are great scholars who used to be very arrogant but after working with me for a while, have changed and become like children. Their original minds keep pushing them toward me and they cannot help responding. After a while, they come to love me.
Can you imagine how many people are literally praying that I will decline? How many Christians are praying like that? But have I declined? In fact, we have risen very high. The whole invisible universe that existed long before we were born knows clearly what we are up to, and they have been behind us as well. Therefore, instead of perishing, we have prospered.
You have suffered, haven't you? I know that you have suffered, but for what purpose? Do you look back and wonder why it happened? You may have realized you had to suffer, although you didn't fully understand the reason. Now you can understand clearly that you suffered because you were following in my wake. You strive to fulfill my directions well so that one day you can inherit my mission and my love. You don't even feel the liberty to die, because if you died leaving things unaccomplished you would be in big trouble! We have to be really serious about this life because we must accomplish many things before we go to the spirit world. Now you understand clearly.
You may be small, but true love is large and great. If you are going in the direction of true love, its power will always sustain you. With that confidence, you can build a beautiful home.
You need to make a brand new determination as of this moment. Those who will pledge, "Yes, Father, I will do it," raise your hands. Let us pray.
