by Deanna Cooper-Tasmania, Australia
In going the course of Tribal Messiah, we find ourselves with many large goals given to us by True Parents. At first glance, those goals seem rather daunting, and it is easy to feel that we can't meet them, even before we try.
As most of us are no longer single members, along with True Parents' main goals, we have the task of raising up our children, meeting our financial needs, and the small day-to-day tasks we would rather not have, such as doing the washing-up, and keeping our lawns mowed so the neighbors won't get upset.
With all the things our lives hold, it is easy to feel that bringing 12 members to the Blessing is fine for everyone else, but not me, or that our larger goal of forming our tribe is something so far beyond my reach that I put it out of my mind.
So, I pose the question, how can you and I put these goals into perspective and take the necessary steps towards accomplishing them without feeling defeated before we start? I have been praying and thinking about this for a while now, and would like to share some insights.
Something I have experienced deeply in this year of '94 is that we are not alone. Pledge #5 says that we pledge to advance positive development daily in order to unify the subject spiritual world with the object physical world. As children of True Parents, a natural fruit of our spiritual growth is that in time, according to each individual, the veil will be lifted that separates us from the spiritual world, and we will be more aware of their work in our lives.
Each one of us has a myriad of friends, angels, saints, relatives, and guides who accompany us on our spiritual journey. They work with us on a very internal and intimate level, and know us better than we know ourselves. Their viewpoint is broader than ours; they can see the whole picture, while we see only the part that concerns us. The key word here is "with". They work with us. We're a team. They cannot force us to go out witnessing, but when we go out with a serious heart, you can know with a surety that these invisible partners go before us to prepare the way.
Father has said many things about the reality of the spiritual world, even pushing us so that we too may have spiritual experiences as he has had. His spiritual growth has taken him to a point where he can commune with the two worlds with ease. He has achieved his rightful position as "ruler of both realms of the cosmos" and "medium of interaction and the center for the harmony of the Creation." He has achieved what we now strive to achieve as was written in Pledge #1 of the former pledge service: "As the center of the cosmos...."
Our growth will surely take us to the place where instead of "seeing through a mirror darkly" we will see face to face these things that our father speaks about. While maintaining the heart of a parent and grasping hold of the Divine Principle, the barriers in our lives will break down, and coupled with our sincerity and determination, nothing will be able to stop us from going forward.
My thoughts about our seemingly hard-to-reach goals encompass these principles which I have just shared. In my understanding, "the subject spiritual world" means that something is first created in the spiritual world before it emerges in the physical world as a reality. For instance, before we experience an illness in our physical bodies, the blockage or discrepancy first appears in our spiritual body, and if not taken care of, eventually manifests in our physical body.
So too, those things which we truly desire in the deepest levels of our being create a "spiritual template" for the thing or event to be manifested in the physical world. This is why fervent prayer helps to create desired results. Prayer is a concentration of our sincerity, a manifestation of our soul's deepest yearning. Thought also falls into this category, and this is why most spiritual disciplines stress purifying your thought-life. What you think about day-to-day is what you will create.
So how shall we bring 12 candidates to the Blessing-how shall we achieve the goal of restoring our tribe? I've come to the confusion that it is through our internal attitude of owning these goals, of becoming one with them, claiming the victory, and then making effort in conjunction with our spiritual helpers. As you walk into your witnessing area, you can speak to them, ask them to lead you to that prepared person. With your own spiritual sensitivity you can discern the direction you are to go in, and if you go with faith and without reservation, one hand holding on to Heaven and your feet on the earth, the way will be made clear, the goal will be achieved.