Contributed by Nancy Oldenettel, Federal Way, WA
The following are some excellent points Un Jin Nim shared with Nancy after her speech in Seattle.
Un Jin Nim spoke to us in a casual and personal way about the direction we need to go to be effective in our own lives and in reaching out to young people. She said that it is important for us to stop looking at True Parents to find our source of inspiration and relationship to God. It is vital that we go inside ourselves and find the source of God within us. She said that there is no difference between Father or you and me except that his will is stronger. He needs sleep just like everyone else, but he wills himself to sleep only two hours a night even at the age of 74.
She said that we should acquaint ourselves with and be able to express sincere interest in what young people are interested in. We should be able to meet them where they are and not expect them to meet us where we are at. We have to reach out with an unconditional attitude and with genuine interest and enthusiasm; otherwise there will be no attraction. If we think they are evil and we can't relate to them, this is not unconditional love.
Don't think that there is a generation between you, or dwell upon it when you talk to them. You are how you think. Your spirit inside you is a young person. If you just listen to them talk about their lives, their hopes, dreams, and difficulties, they will come to trust you and seek you out. . . . If you don't offer exciting ideas and programs, there is nothing to attract young people. It has to be more personal and relevant for them.
She said that witnessing now isn't like before when a member left in the morning and crawled back into the center for safety at night.
Think, act, be new. Be reborn, whatever it takes. Find the spark of life that brought you to the movement and set you on fire. Without that spark, there is no life inside. This is the point of the Principle. Without it you can't hope to inspire someone else. Whatever it takes, find that spark inside of you again.
She said there is too much focus in the blessed families on their own children. This will eventually create a foundation which will crumble on itself. Children won't "get it" in the future if the parents don't set the example to love their community and their world at the sacrifice of the family.
The Principle is basically simple but it is deep. If we could understand Father in his native language we could understand so much depth which is never captured in the translation or the opinion of the one relating the information. She emphasized that it is important to hear or read Father's speech ourselves because once it passes through one or two leaders, it is filtered to fit their perception of the message. Each person receives Father's words from their own perspective and needs. There may be a message only you can hear.
If a leader is crushing you, remember that the point of the exercise is to learn how to love your enemy. Don't let them crush you inside. True Parents don't want members to be crushed. Our only main point is to learn unconditional love in any of our activities. Unconditional love is our goal in life. It is our final goal.
Nancy says: Just in the short time I was with her, I felt that she is a very natural person. She feels uncomfortable in unnatural settings. I felt in her a confidence which comes from who she is and recognized that this is not meant to intimidate or judge but to move us so we also find the confidence to live from the center of our true self. Then we are completely liberated to express love freely to the entire world without reservation.