Twenty-second Annual Commencement Founder's Address
Reverend Sun Myung Moon, Founder
Unification Theological Seminary
Barrytown, New York
Distinguished guests, parents, graduates, alumni, trustees, administration, faculty, staff, ladies and gentlemen:
Welcome to the 22nd annual commencement exercises of the Unification Theological Seminary. Today we are here to honor 34 graduates of the class of 1998.
The topic of my message to the graduates today is "True Self, True Family, and True World through True Love."
I know that you all worked hard here at the Seminary to study theology, philosophy, Bible, church history, and so on. In my address today, however, I am going to make a point which you should always remember after graduating from the Seminary. This should be the essence of theological education here, and I want you to clearly know it as you are leaving the Seminary to work for God's will in the field.
Let me begin with what true love is? True love is love which desires to give and give again, and then forgets that it has done so. The source of this true love is none other than God, who cares for His creatures with that love. We were all created originally to resemble His nature in this regard. This true love is more precious than anything else. For it is true love and not anything else such as money, power, and knowledge that brings the realization of true selves, true families, and a true world of peace.
The first thing to be realized through true love is a true self. You can realize a true self within you by completely uniting your mind and body through true love. As you know, the body by instinct tends to seek its own food, clothing, and so on first, whereas usually the mind wants to serve public purposes first. There is this kind of gap between mind and body. Therefore, you are to have your body unite with your mind completely by practicing the true love of God absolutely. That way you can realize a true self within you, and you can become the temple of God. When that is accomplished, you can become a true person who, in resonance with the true love of God, feels and experiences true love for everybody and everything in the universe. In that state, you will be intoxicated in true love.
By nature, however, true love can never be fulfilled separately by separate individuals. It can only be fulfilled through a relationship between individuals. So, when true individuals, from each of whom true love emanates, get together, they will resonate with each other in true love. Especially, when a man and a woman, who have both achieved the complete unity of mind and body, marry and truly love each other as true husband and wife, they can become true parents centering on the true love of God. By having their own children, they can build a true family in which God fully lives and in which His true love is completely practiced and expressed in four different forms: conjugal love, parental love, children's love, and siblings' love. It goes without saying that all the four expressions of love, as long as they are true love, have one thing in common, which is that you, whether you yourself are a spouse, a parent, a child, or a sibling within your family, will give and give again to your true love partner within the same family and then forget that you have done so. When all members of a true family unite with one another this way, they become one in heart despite their discrete individualities.
When members of a true family experience the above-mentioned four kinds of true love among themselves, it provides a good education on how to relate to various people outside of that family. Hence a true family is an indispensable school of true love for the creation of a true world, in which the true love of God has absolute dominion. In this true world, people in true love will live for the sake of one another. Because of this harmony of love, they will also be able to enjoy true equality and freedom and true joy and happiness. Once true love is completely realized in the world this way, therefore, there will be no political, economic, industrial, cultural, or environmental problems. If any problem occurs in any of these areas in the world of true love, it will never persist long. It will be solved swiftly by true love. This kind of true world, once established, can be called God's kingdom.
Unfortunately, however, the first human ancestors fell, as is recorded in the Bible. Their fall meant that they practiced illicit and selfish love instead of true love. Consequently, no true self, no true family, and no true world have been established since then. Satan's selfish love has dominated human selves, families, and the world through his undesirable lineage. So, every human self has suffered from the problem of severe conflict between mind and body; there has always existed the problem of family breakdown, including infidelity, divorce, child abuse, and so on; and the world has been full of war, crime, deception, and immorality. When human beings suffer from all these problems, God sees this and agonizes tremendously because He is a God of true love.
In this miserable situation, true love, which is the very foundation of true self, true family, and true world, has been lost. So, in trying to solve problems in selves, families, and the world, human beings have been unable to find true love as the best solution to the problems. They have rather had recourse to all kinds of external measures such as money, power, and knowledge. But, as you know, those external measures have not succeeded. Today the problems human beings have faced for centuries still persist and even seem to be worsening, unfortunately.
Dear graduates! I want you to understand that true love is still the best and only solution in this world. The problem is that no one in the past really tried it thoroughly. We must rediscover it and practice it courageously. That is the task especially of UTS graduates, who are messengers of this Unification gospel of true love. Please believe that this gospel will revolutionize the world, eventually solving all its problems completely, whether they are political, economic, industrial, cultural, or environmental problems.
You are going out to the field as UTS graduates to work for the realization of God's kingdom. In your work, you will perhaps face a lot of practical challenges and difficulties. But please have absolute confidence in the power of true love. Already the Complete Testament Age has come. God's power will be fully available where you are serious about true love.
May God bless you all! Thank you.
