Touching the Untouchables

by Ruvini Jayasinghe

Place: Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
Dates: Sept. 22-Oct. 3, 1994

Event: RYS regional service project organized with Tamil Nadu Harijan Sevak Sangh and Gandhi Memorial Museum, Madurai

They were lying on tattered mats, dead to the world. Some had to make do with the bare floor, which did not look too clean, even in the dim light.

But what did it matter? As we met more of the inmates of the orphanage who were not in an afternoon slumber, it was difficult to pick out a single child who was spotlessly clean or well dressed.

Children of harijan (untouchable) scavengers, perhaps these outcast mites had no right to be clean or neat in a country burdened with a past of caste discrimination?

But the hundreds of bright smiles of welcome and sparkling eyes in little faces only reflected the hopes and expectations of the 150 orphans at seeing us. Had the Harijan Sevak Sangh's president, Mr. Pandian, who runs the orphanage, told the little ones about the additional story that would be built for them with the assistance of a group of brothers and sisters from all over Southeast Asia? Maybe.

Because the children, whose innocent minds had not thus far been fully awakened to the fact that society made them different to us, accepted our friendly overtures spontaneously without inhibitions. There were no intangible human barriers between those little children and the RYS (Religious Youth Service) team.

The 30-odd youth representing Southeast Asian countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Singapore and Malaysia were in Madurai, in southern India, to build an additional story in the overcrowded orphanage for Harijan children. The new room would serve as a classroom for residential primary school.

Work involved moving huge mounds of sand and bricks to the upper story. Tough labor. But with spirits soaring high, 30 youth in the prime of life did not find the manual labor daunting until...the burning noonday Madurai sun beat down mercilessly on them, and scorched them to a deep nut-brown, sapping their energy in the process.

At the end of the first day's labor, all bones in 30 bodies creaked and ached. Some were open and honest about their pain and discomfort and took timely medication while others did the same furtively.

"This is only the first day; how am I going to last five days?" must have been a thought entering unbidden into the minds of most. Somehow, mind won over body as every single participant set their mind to accomplish their mission in true RYS spirit.

Accidents (thankfully minor) were many. When passing pans of sand, cement and bricks (each weighing a couple of kilos) became too tedious, participants switched to tossing them. Those with butterfingers, or those who were simply too tired, missed catching them and injured themselves. Dropping bricks is a human trait, but amazingly few bricks were dropped by the hands of a human chain that wended its way up to the second floor during those five days.

The staff at the orphanage, dedicated young Madurai women, diligently prepared refreshments for the team at break time. Somehow their vadai and tea tasted sweeter, better. Water never tasted more divine as the participants took short intervals between grueling work for a quick gulp.

With all this, sometimes morale was at a low ebb. Then there was our project director Hasgawa with his own brand of humor and our worksite coordinator Pips, with his deep concern to pep up the sagging morale. A group song or a short, timely break was all that was needed to revive the group spirit.

As the five days of work drew to a close, and the four walls that would soon become a classroom for our little friends had almost miraculously come up, two emotions ruled the hearts of most participants: a deep sense of accomplishment, and relief!

No doubt the Harijan Sevak Sangh's gratitude to RYS for its service would have been immense, but the experience to RYS participants individually and collectively is immeasurable.

Accomplishment of worksite tasks also signaled the end of another RYS international project, its 36th to date. Projects have so far reached 16 countries around the globe, where young men and women from all parts of the world join hands in unity to serve the needy and the underprivileged.

As the participants sweated willingly, ungrudgingly at their task to help the "untouchable" children, the RYS spirit of caring and sharing gently invaded their minds and souls.

RYS discussions and exercises were experiences in understanding ourselves and each other, lessons in deep soul searching and honesty. In learning to be truthful initially to oneself and to others.

In a world where leisure is a rarity, RYS gave its participants the precious opportunity to reflect upon oneself, life, brotherhood, religion, culture, family, career, development and future.

Living in close proximity with 30 people from different cultures, countries, economic backgrounds, religious beliefs and convictions, food habits, languages, accents and dress, was a solid lesson in tolerant understanding.

No experience is complete without its share of lightheartedness and fun. RYS games, sightseeing, outings and special meals strengthened the foundation of camaraderie among participants.

RYS is an experience in gently but firmly breaking down inhibitions, transcending hidden barriers and learning to think and live globally.

RYS is an enriching experience. It has enriched me.

For more information on RYS please contact them at 4 West 43rd Street, New York, NY 10036.

The Healing Circle and the Completed Testament Age

by Christine Martin-Lothian, MD

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I attended a Healing Circle Seminar in the Washington DC area. I had heard many inspiring reports about the seminar from close friends who had attended previously. However, when Yoshi and Fran Ichijo, the hosts of the November seminar, called to invite me to attend, I hesitated. I was not convinced that the Healing Circle could offer me any new insights into my spiritual course. After several years of concerted effort toward spiritual growth, I felt that I understood my course and the direction I must go to gain victory in my life. However, unable to find peace in my initial leanings not to attend, I made the decision to go. I would like to share with you now some of my thoughts about the Healing Circle experience.

When I think of Father, the picture that often comes to my mind is the well-known photograph of Father carrying an early follower on his back across a river during his return to the south after the Korean war. For me, this picture captures the heart of True Abel. Father has said that living a sacrificial life for the sake of others is the key to our own fulfillment and success. The Healing Circle Seminar is designed not only to make living such a life possible, but to make doing so the source of our own individual fulfillment as well. As the Principle explains, the purpose of the whole and the purpose of the individual are fulfilled simultaneously.

On the first day of the seminar, in her introductory presentation, Beatriz Steeghs offers Father's "formula for a life of faith." Father's formula has three steps. The first step is repentance, enabling me to separate from Satan. After successfully repenting I am able then to take the second step-entering into the realm of God's love. And, finally, knowing the heart of God, I can begin living my life for the sake of others.

After the introduction, the remainder of the first day is spent sharing with the group our life's goals. Difficulties encountered in our efforts to reach our goals are also expressed. Then, in attempting to determine the best course of action to bring victory in our lives, each of us creates an affirmation. In essence, this positive affirmation is a pledge before God, True Parents and our brothers and sisters to fulfill our portion of responsibility in the re-creation of ourselves, our families, our nation and our world.

Five years ago, after my husband and I relocated to southern Maryland from New York City, my frustration in my inability to live a personally meaningful and fulfilling life led me to dedicate myself to deepening my relationship with God and True Parents. Through meditation, prayer and personal writing, I worked hard to build a strong spiritual foundation. It was a deeply fulfilling time. I came to know God and myself in new ways. For the first time in my Church life, I began to see my original self consistently reflected in the heart of unconditionally loving Parents. My heavy burden of inadequacy and failure began to be lifted. Through this experience of resurrection I became hopeful not just for myself but for others as well. By the beginning of this year, I felt God was asking me to begin making an effort to expand my spiritual foundation outward. The time to bring substantial results in my life had finally arrived.

However, as I made this effort, the old "heaviness" surrounding me continued to prevail. I was dismayed. After my dedicated work to break through on the spiritual level, I could not understand why I continued to struggle. I knew that my course was heading in a new direction. The guidance I had been receiving through my meditation and writing was no longer there for me. I also knew that my growth would continue as I substantiated my spiritual foundation in the "real" world. But I could not understand why the way still continued to be blocked. I began to understand on the second day of the Seminar.

On the second day, Beatriz teaches two lectures, "The Principles and Process of Spiritual Growth" and "The Spiritual Causes of Illness." Using Father's words and her own experiences in healing work, Beatriz maps out the path we must go to grow toward oneness with God. She explains clearly how this path embodies Father's formula for a life of faith mentioned above. During these lectures, it became clear to me that the spiritual "heaviness" surrounding me is a direct result of unresolved problems in my ancestry. I am blocked from advancing in part because of ancestral sin. In order to resolve this sin, the first step is repentance.

The Healing Circle prayer, on the evening of the second day, provides the opportunity for repentance. With a clear understanding of the consequences of sin, repentance can be deeply heartfelt and effective.

The Healing Circle, itself, is a large circle defined by stones. On the rim of the circle are four positions: God's position, Father's position, Mother's position and Child's position. True Parents' position is in the center of the circle. Beatriz explains that the inspiration for the Healing Circle came to her from the Native American medicine wheel. In the Native American tradition, the medicine man of a particular tribe consecrates the ground chosen for the medicine wheel. The medicine wheel then becomes a place of physical as well as spiritual healing for the members of the tribe.

Finally, on the third day of the seminar, each of us shares our testimony about our Healing Circle experience and reaffirms our commitment to bring victory in our lives. My experience would have been incomplete without the insights I gained on this final day.

Satan uses my personal struggles as a base for accusation. Because my understanding of my personal course of restoration through indemnity is limited, I am receptive to these accusations. As a result of my constant negative thinking about my difficulties, I developed a defeatist mind-set. Without a clear understanding of my situation, a complete solution is impossible.

The Healing Circle Seminar provided both a clear "diagnosis" and an effective "remedy". The Healing Circle itself is a powerful "medicine". My goal is to get well and to grow spiritually. In order to grow, it is important that I understand my present spiritual condition. Certainly, if I died today, I would go to the spiritual world knowing without a doubt my current level of spiritual growth. This knowledge would enable me to make meaningful choices necessary for my growth. Furthermore, growth requires openness and honesty. I must stand before God and True Parents naked as I am. I cannot run and hide. With an attitude of humility and repentance, I can receive the guidance needed for my growth. It is my responsibility to turn away from Satan, and toward God and True Parents. Only after I have made this 180-degree turn can I begin to live a life of daily attendance. Again, repentance is always the first step in moving away from Satan and toward God.

Since my Healing Circle experience, many doors are opening. I know the years of frustration in my inability to bring substantial result are coming to an end. I realize now that our Church's lack of result is in fact my lack of result. It is a new age. True Parents and True Children are trying to convey this message to us. Last year when Jin Sung Hyung Nim came to the Washington DC area to speak, he pleaded with us to leave our old thinking behind and to help herald in the Completed Testament Age. He told us it is the time of the fulfillment of human history, the time to bring substantial result on all levels.

In his recent speech, "The Time of Liberation in the Providence and Our Safe Settlement" (Feb. 27, 1994), Father explains our position to us:

"Because Satan created the misery we now face, we have to leave Satan and follow True Parents. This is the only way. You were born as children of the first ancestor, second ancestor and third ancestor because Father restored all of them. You should understand this clearly and have the conviction that you have within you the completion of Adam, the completion of Jesus Christ and the completion of True Father. Do you understand?"

The Healing Circle Seminar has provided a bridge or a gateway to facilitate my crossing into the Completed Testament Age. By crossing this bridge, I am truly liberated from the Satanic world. Father explains it this way:

"Just as it says in the Divine Principle lecture on the Last Days, this is the crossing point. Father won all the victories, received God and came back to this original point so that we can live with God together and prosper. This crossing point is the time of the proclamation of True Parents and the Completed Testament Age. It doesn't have anything to do with Satan whatsoever. Therefore, the more aggressively we move to do God's work, the more severely the satanic world will be damaged and go down.

"At such a time when True Parents can do as explained here to the world, we are already beyond this time of liberation, and are actually at the time of settlement of our own selves. In this liberation place there is no Satan, no hell. Do you understand? True Parents have already won a victorious foundation throughout the cosmic world."

-The Time of Liberation in the Providence and Our Safe Settlement, 2/27/94

Like that early follower who made it across the river on Father's back, I am here today only because of the love of True Parents. I am grateful beyond words for the countless sacrifices they have made for me. 6,000 years of providential history was necessary for this day to arrive. When I think of those years, I know without a doubt that I am the most fortunate woman ever born on earth. Today I am being given the opportunity to inherit our True Parents' victorious foundation, and to expand that foundation horizontally through the providence of Tribal Messiahship. True Parents are showing me the way. By becoming a daughter of filial piety, attending True Parents daily, I have complete confidence in my victory.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my elder sister Beatriz Steeghs for sharing with me and others her insights from her work and from her own life of faith. Her sacrificial way of life and her dedication to God and True Parents have been an inspiration for me.

If you have any questions regarding the Healing Circle Seminar, I will be happy to speak with you further about my own experience. I can be reached at (410)741-1415. You can also get additional information by contacting:

The Healing Circle
PO Box 15588
San Antonio, TX 78212
(210)804-1104

The Family Is The School Of Love

This are some selections from the book: True Love & Forbidden Love, An investigation into the cause of immorality and suffering its historical origin and its solution. If you like a copy of this book or more information or counseling on this topics, please contact the author:

J. Gonzalez,
504, Hillview Mansion,
21-23 Macdonnell Road, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 526 38 42
Fax: (852) 526 38 56

The Family Is The School Of Love

All people have the innate desire to love and be loved. Love is what everyone is always thinking about, what poets write about, what singers sing about. Love is the greatest and most powerful force in the universe and the source of life and happiness.

Directly or indirectly, we are searching for joy and happiness through the experience of love. Only when we have harmonious relationships of true love with others can we experience lasting happiness. We have to come to the conclusion that love is the most precious thing in life. It does not matter how long we live: our biological existence does not have value unless we experience love.

Where is the institution in which we learn about love? The obvious answer should be: the family. The family is the school of love and the training ground for the realization of true love.

In the family, one is to grow to experience and learn the widening realms of love: initially children's love towards one's parents, then love among one's brothers and sisters, then conjugal love with one's spouse, and, finally, parental love towards one's own children. When we learn and practice this four realms of heart we can graduate from this school of love. Through this process we become prepare to master all human relationships in the larger society. Because we are different from animals, human beings have few instincts to guide them. How to love and live we learn basically in our family and culture. For this reason, it is essential that we establish patterns of behavior in our families which will constructively shape human life for the generations ahead.

Of all the existing institutions in society, the family is the first, most basic and the most important. The family is the fundamental unit and the indispensably building block of any society. If we cannot establish peace, love and happiness in our homes, there will be no hope of creating peace, love and happiness in the larger world. The purpose of our existence is to realize this ideal of true love and happiness in the family, which will naturally extend outward into the society. Good families are the basis for a healthy, prosperous and happy society anywhere.

When we look at a family, we see that parents stand in the center. The family could only be formed because of the love between a man and a woman. Love is like the glue, the very element that brings them together and also maintains continuing unity. The love of parents is the origin of our physical and spiritual life and transmits the blood lineage. Therefore it s crucial to talk about the value and purpose of love in human life. Mature, unselfish love can be the foundation for the fulfillment of joy throughout our lives, However, if love is misused, it can cause great suffering and conflict. Illicit love bears tragic consequences for individuals, families, and for the society as well.

An analogy can be made between the physical power of atomic energy and the spiritual power of love. If atomic energy is used wisely for peaceful purposes, it can allow for unimaginable prosperity and progress. But if it is wrongly used, atomic power can cause unimaginable destruction and death. In the same way, love experienced in a constructive direction gives us the greatest happiness, but when experienced in an immature or improper way it can result in divorce, unwanted pregnancies, abortions, incest, domestic violence, etc.

We need to consider a fundamental principle in the pursuit of a happy and stable family: that sex belongs only to marriage.

If we observe adolescents, we can see that they are preparing themselves physically and spiritually for the experience of love. They are usually very romantic, idealistic, sensitive and passionate. These are the signs that they are opening themselves to the complete sensation of love, in body, mind and spirit. They are like a blossom before opening. The sweetness is kept inside. Before being blessed in marriage, each young person should carefully keep his or her deepest heart and love in the core of their being, not giving it away. Man and woman must grow first to full physical and emotional maturity before they are ready for marriage. This is the best guarantee for the success of their future family. Chastity and purity of heart before marriage allow for the continuing growth of one's personality and spirit. There is a definite correlation between one's development of a healthy sexuality and one's spiritual growth towards a virtuous adulthood. All this elements are needed in order to successfully build a bond of true and lasting love in marriage. On that foundation, man and woman can establish a strong couple and become good parents for their children, transmitting to them a true tradition of love to follow.

Our virginity represents our first and true love, and is the most valuable and holy possession that no amount of money can possibly buy. When virginity and innocence are given in the wrong circumstances, they become irrecoverable lost, making it very difficult for that person's inner growth to continue. It is like unripe fruit that, once pulled off a tree, cannot be put back again to continue its growing. Once we are aware of this fact, it is a real tragedy to give away such a priceless possession in a moment of passion or lust. Such an action can have devastating consequences for those involved, and for their future attitudes and behavior.

Many of the modern programs of sexual education for the young present purely physical (genital) information, focusing only on the biological, medical and hygienic aspects of sex, with a range of details about all kinds of possible methods and devices to avoid pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. This teaching is devoid of ethical and moral values, and pitifully fails to acknowledge the true and sacred purpose of love and its sexual expression, Not surprisingly, the result of this type of education has been to increase the very problems it claims to avoid!

Instead of emphasizing the value of chastity and a serious preparation for true love and marriage, these methods have served in many cases as an open invitation to a premature sexual experiences, spreading the attitude that sex is a mere biological necessity and that the repercussions only constitute a problem if the appropriate measures are not taken.

In the face of the increasing AIDS epidemic, which will plunge whole nations into a crisis of catastrophic proportions, let us honestly look at our options for sexual behavior. Let us recognize that the best acceptable preventive measures against AIDS are: purity before marriage and fidelity within marriage.

The sexual impulse is the most powerful inner force. If we are not able to control, conquer and use it in the correct direction, then this sexual drive will be the very force that will conquer, dominate and eventually destroy us. This is the reason why it has been so difficult for people to overcome the desire for illicit love. The act of love is destined to be the most beautiful, sacred and sublime experience. But if this act is carried out in an illicit way it becomes the dirtiest, most degraded and shameful experience. Therefore, illicit or forbidden love is also a very destructive force that causes enormous frustrations, disappointments and suffering.

Sexual corruption has caused the fall of important and famous people, nations and empires throughout human history. From the very early times, sages, prophets and people shared the belief that sooner or later uncontrolled sexual conduct would bring misfortune in the form of decadence and self-destruction. Modern investigations corroborate this belief. Arnold Toynbee, one of the most prominent modern historians, writes: "Out of twenty-one of the most notable civilizations in history, nineteen perished not by having been conquered, but because of internal decadence." Another historian, Dr. J.D. Unwin from Cambridge University, who made a study of eighty civilizations that existed over a period of four thousand years, came to the conclusion that those civilizations who chose sexual promiscuity degenerated, but those who exercised sexual discipline created prosperity. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, expressed: "I could say over and over again -because I was never able to prove otherwise-that sexuality is the key to disclose the problem of psychoneurosis and neurosis in general." (Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality).

Numerous statistical and sociological investigations demonstrate that many delinquents and criminals come from disintegrated homes and that most of the problems of alcoholism, drug addiction and violence are linked to the distortion or lack of love received at home. Indeed, where there is homosexuality, free sex, drugs, and alcoholism, the world of true love is far away. How many have been touched by the cruelty of infidelity and divorce? Where is love in all the one-night stands? What about the nightmare of the children who are sexually abused by a parent? Is free sex worth the price of a broken child? A world of free sex is absolutely contrary to the ideal of the family. Love comes from the stimulation of unblemished emotion, but free sex is totally devoid of purity or true emotion.

As William Graham Cole wrote: "Stolen objects can be returned or compensated, lies and defamation can be retracted and corrected, envy and jealousy can be overcome. But a sexual act committed with another person cannot be nullified. The mutual relationship suffers a radical change and the affected couple will never again be the same as before. Something indelible has marked them."

At the present time, many problems can gradually be solved by the advance of science, technology and the employment of new and more advanced political, social and economic systems. But, despite the magnitude of these advances, it seems that the more a country develops the less capable it is of recognizing and controlling sexual immorality, adultery and all the sexually related crimes. Immoral acts are always committed secretly and in a free society there is almost no way to prevent them, except to elevate our heart and conscience. Simple laws, punishments or other acceptable external methods, prove, so much now as in the past, to be ineffective to control them. As human beings can not live without experiencing love, if we are not able to live by the principles of true love is evident that the alternative is illicit love.

Man exist for the sake of woman and woman exist for the sake of man. So we can say that from the moment a person is born he or she was born for his or her mate. Throughout history, numerous viewpoints addressing life and the world have presented unresolved problems. The solution to those problems will be found when a true man and a true woman unite with the absolute standard of true love, creating an absolute unit, due to the fact that this is the original purpose for our lives and the source of absolute value.

Where are man and woman finally connected for the consummation of their love? Through their sexual organs. From where did humanity originate? Not from the eyes, the nose, or the head, but from the most sacred place: the reproductive organs, the organs of love, the sexual organs.

These organs should be the sacred palaces of love. They are supposed to be the most important and sacred places, through which love is consummated, life created and lineage transmitted. Our ideals, our existence, life and happiness, everything is connected to that central place where love is consummated.

Men and women are made in such a way that they harmonize sexually. The man's sexual organ is owned by his wife and vice versa. They exchange ownership and then there is only one owner forever. This is the simple truth and no power can change this truth. The problem has come thought the idea that we have ownership over our sexual organ and we have the right to use it however our body dictates.

Only husband and wife have the access key in order to open those sacred places for the consummation of heavenly love. The act of love is meant to be a husband and wife's most holy possession and should never be defiled by allowing a stranger to enter and corrupt it. This is the only correct way to understand the relationship between husband and wife. Once a man and a woman find their true love, it is something permanent and eternal and an alternative sexual love could not exist.

The first night when the sharing of the first love, the moment when husband and wife join together in total unity through a complete physical and spiritual love, when the sexual organs join in total harmony -that is the point where the whole purpose of our existence is fulfilled.

Men and women have their sexual organs so they could join together, which is the most incredible blessing. Through their coming together, they feel joy in the True Love Palace. This is the beginning point of true happiness. That is not only the consummation point for men and women, it is also the point of consummation for our Creator. This is the beginning of happiness and hope and we must restore this, we must attain this. This is the life which our Creator envisioned for every man and woman here on earth and when you finish this kind of earthly life, you will go to the eternal world. The experiences of true love are our true treasures which shape our personality, identity and character. That is the only wealth or possession we can carry with us to forever. The ultimate fulfillment and true satisfaction of any man or woman will be found, without doubt, in true love; nothing better can exist. Sexual intercourse between a true husband and wife is the state of true love. This union is meant to be the most valuable and beautiful, the holiest of all holy things. The experience of true love will always be the supreme experience, the climax, ecstasy of life. The anchor that will give us permanent stability. Although we can have many different experiences in the course of our life, we will always remain connected to that central anchor. When a husband and wife's love consummate at this sacred level, husband and wife could feel totally satisfied and fulfilled forever. In the same way that each one of us could not change the parents who gave us birth, once a man and a woman get married under the absolute power of true love, they could not be separated.

Love, life and lineage are connected with the sexual organs. The linkage of love, life and lineage is what gives history its continuity. They connect the past, the present and the future.

That is why the act of love should be the most precious, beautiful and sacred act of our life. But, in spite of that, it is very shocking to discover that constantly throughout human history, the sexual organs and the act of love have been seen as something dirty and shameful. It is also symptomatic that most languages frequently use the most obscene and vulgar words to describe the sexual organs and the act of love. It degrades sexual love, the most sublime, beautiful and sacred experience, into something casual, obscene, impure and very often vulgar. Each experience of love should have been a rejoicing and heavenly explosion of energy and creativity.

Although adultery is the biggest imaginable betrayal against true love, we nevertheless see this problem unfortunately repeated in all types of environments and cultures through the ages, as well as the fact that prostitution degrades sex to a mere commodity. Incest, abortion, rape and all sexual perversions are carried out through these love organs, that had tainted human life in all races and cultures throughout human history.

These are clear reasons which prove that something terribly abnormal and wrong exists in human conduct in relation to love and its sexual expression. It need to be corrected, if not, we will never find true and lasting happiness on this world.

True worldwide peace and harmony does not begin on the national level, but in the perfection of our moral character. This is where worldwide peace starts. Each one of us is the true starting point of a better and more ideal world. We need to completely restore our spiritual sensitivity, so that we can never mistreat or harm others. We must come to feel the suffering and pain of others as our own.

We have to recognize, therefore, that of all the transformations which affected the destiny of history, the biggest and most important transformation has yet to be realized.

Of all the battles that have ever been fought, the most fundamental one is yet to come. That is the internal struggle in which each one of us individually to finally overcome immorality within ourselves. We must thus purify and liberate ourselves. To be more specific, we must erase false and illicit love completely from our heart and memory. Such love has poisoned humanity for such a long time.

We realize that these are high goals to reach, and that most people who are successful will rely on some strong moral or religious belief to enable them to go against the tide of prevailing permissive attitudes. And yet, we do believe that they are attainable goals, and the most worthwhile guidelines towards the fulfillment of true love.

The Bankruptcy of American Education

by Haven Bradford Gow

In his new book The Fall of the Ivory Tower (Regnery Publishing, Inc., Washington, D.C.), Hillsdale College president Dr. George Roche observes: "Higher education in America has become a popular bull's- eye, and with good reason. In spite of the massive infusion of money, including federal aid, which has doubled over the last few years, tens of thousands of students do not know when Columbus sailed to the New World, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, or when the Civil War was fought."

The sad truth is that "Businesses complain that they must reeducate college graduates in such basic subjects as grammar, spelling, and practical truth.... Meanwhile, growing numbers of professors receive huge salaries for teaching one or two classes a semester. Though constantly complaining about a lack of sufficient research opportunities and funds, they, as well as many administrators, have found ample time and resources to politicize the campus and to lead a frontal assault on the traditional liberal arts curriculum-all under the banners of `political correctness' and `multiculturalism'."

In his new work Recovering American Literature (Ivan R. Dee Co., Chicago), Dr. Peter Shaw, an eminent literary critic and professor of English, tells us that use of political and radical feminist criteria to evaluate works of literature and their authors has resulted in misinterpretations of such American classics as The Scarlet Letter and Billy Budd and also in a denigration of their authors. Dr. Shaw insists that literary critics and English professors display intellectual integrity and honesty in their examination of great works; and if they will, they will see the important and much needed wisdom, truth and moral lessons contained in the great works.

Clearly, we desperately need to rediscover the meaning of wisdom and virtue. In our institutions of learning, we need to re-emphasize the kind of education that cultivates minds and characters, communicates and affirms ethical normality and helps one develop the moral and intellectual refinement needed to distinguish between truth and error, right and wrong, noble and base, virtue and vice, good and evil.

Such an education demands the rigorous reflection on and conversation about the great works of the moral and intellectual giants of civilization. If, for example, one seeks to understand the meaning of love, what modern works can compare with George Eliot's Silas Marner, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and St. Paul's First Corinthians 13? If one is interested in the nature of law and of justice, what contemporary writings can compare with Plato, Cicero, Aquinas and Blackstone? If one wants to know what qualities a good society must have, why not read Confucius, Aristotle, Thomas More, Edmund Burke, John Adams and the founding fathers of this country?

If one wants to learn about the arrogance of power, why not read Shakespeare's Macbeth and Julius Caesar? If one wants to know about the pernicious effects of envy and jealousy, why not read Othello?

If one desires to understand how suffering can lead to wisdom, why not read King Lear, Dickens' Great Expectations and the Book of Job? If one wants to understand why justice sometimes must be tempered with mercy, why not read Measure for Measure? If one wants to understand better the intense and persistent demands of the human spirit, are there many contemporary works that can compare with Sophocles, Dante and Hawthorne? The intense study of and discussion about the great works of civilization will remind us that the true aims of education are wisdom and virtue.

Single Mother

by Vicki Rivera

I read novels to unwind after my son is asleep at night. My job involves constant tension, and the strains of single motherhood weigh on my shoulders. But at least I try to find novels whose protagonists, preferably female, are struggling with spiritual issues or operating from spiritual principles. (There are more of them out there than one would think.)

And sometimes they give me deeper insights into the course I am walking, or put my situation into perspective, as I read how others before me have dealt with harsher hands than I have been forced to. I've only had to deal with a husband who left me eight years ago in January, when our son was only 18 months old. Eventually he reached the decision that he would never come back and proceeded to get a divorce and write a letter releasing me from the Blessing. That was in 1991, a critical year for me, as it turned out.

After months of secret expectation, I gave notice at The World & I, where I was an assistant senior editor, that I was going to leave to work at New Hope Academy, for $10,000 a year less but at a job I'd coveted: librarian of the small library I'd almost single-handedly created from scratch when the school opened and working in the office as well. I'd been reading Louise Hay and believed my dreams would be fulfilled if I had the right attitude toward life. It's not that simple, I found. Sometimes, as we walk the path of individual restoration, other factors intervene. Six months later I found myself, stunned, standing in line at the unemployment office. The only job I really wanted had been snatched away by the school board in the face of dropping enrollments. The dream was shattered.

I found employment, but my life was empty of meaning. In desperation, I kept telling myself that since I didn't really care about anything anymore, God was preparing me for a re-Blessing in 1992 that would focus my life on something meaningful and fulfilling again. It didn't happen, and I'm still recovering from the ramifications of that.

Was God, then, an uncaring parent who didn't see or care how much I was suffering? Was He just a distant Supreme Being? I didn't trust my intuitions anymore; after all, I had convinced myself that it was God's desire for me to go to the school and abandon a 25-year career as a journalist. I had convinced myself that my anomie could only mean I was being prepared to drop everything and follow a new husband to...wherever. So, what did it all mean? I've been struggling with those questions since August 1992, when I didn't go to Korea.

Getting back to reading novels, as I lay in bed reading last night, I had a flash of insight that had eluded me for two and a half years of anguish. I'd been angry and hurt because the God I'd talked myself into praying to, the Father who understood my needs and would take care of me as His daughter, hadn't come through for me. Suddenly I realized that this is the conventional concept of God, not the one True Parents have taught us to relate to.

That God is sorrowful and sometimes has to ask us to walk a painful course, to restore a historical situation or ancestral inheritance, or just to grow our own understanding of His heart. Sometimes He has to seem to turn away His face. In searching for answers, how small my mind had been!

School in Korea

by Malcolm & Suemi Allan, Steve & Jerry Tamayo

By the time you receive this, exams and the school years will be over for our students here in Korea. 1994 was a long year. Some notable occasions were the arrival America of our new dormitory couple, Steve and Jerry Tamayo, and the departure of Mrs. Gertrud Koch, who served the students and staff of this program with sacrificial devotion and a mother's heart for eight years. Replacing Mrs. Koch was Mr. Lee Young Whi, a 430 couple, who began Oct. 1. The main news at school is the requirement that all students graduating our program and entering Middle School must take an arts major. This means additional expenses and workload for all Middle School students. Please pray for them to learn the heavenly language and culture so that they can truly become ambassadors of True Parents.

You should be very proud of your children. They are all growing quickly despite the challenges of living away from home in a very public environment. They are beginning to see that the Principle can change people's lives as well as transform their own. It is with this hope that we march forward into the new year.

Field Trip to Kyongbok Palace and Museums - by HH

On the last day of November, all GOP and PREP students went downtown to visit Kyongbok Palace, the National Museum and the Folklore Museum. These buildings are all beside each other, so we just walked from one to the other. First stop was the palace. Much of it is under reconstruction at the moment but we still gathered at the large assembly area where the king once held court. We all agreed the palace houses and public rooms must have been bitterly cold and drafty in winter! Within the palace grounds is the Folklore Museum. This contains many exhibits of Korean lifestyle, such as food, clothing, pottery, housing and various customs such as wedding traditions, coming of age ceremonies, as well as notable achievements in science such as rain gauges and wooden printing blocks, all of which were invented here before comparable developments in other nations. Of special interest was traditional clothing, which has remained unchanged for 1000 years, and the detailed models of village life with full-size cattle hauling plows. We left with a very good idea of life in ancient Korea.

After lunch we went to the National Museum. This building was built by the Japanese in front of the palace and was for a time their administration building. Now it is a national museum, but is due to be replaced by a new building and torn down, thus restoring the street frontage to the palace. The exhibits here recorded early Korean history from the prehistoric era, as well as some exhibits similar to those in the Folklore Museum. Korea's war torn history is amply recorded with dioramas and relics of many conflicts between China and Japan as well as more recently the Korea War. Also many paintings and sculptures were on display completely informing us of Korean history, culture and religion.

All in all it was a busy day, and one well spent. The exhibits brought to life many aspects of Korean culture that until now we had just spoken about in class.

Thanksgiving in Korea - by KY On Thanksgiving Day all those in the western program, whether American or not, went out for lunch. Instead of turkey and the trimmings, we ate pizza. Turkeys are not so readily available in Korea, especially for 50 people. But we were happy to be doing something different for a change and special for Thanksgiving. As we sat around the table we shared about what we used to do at Thanksgiving and thought about what our families were doing at home. For almost all of us it was the first time away from home for an extended period, so it was natural to talk about what it's like back home. After we were seated we sang "America the Beautiful." The Korean restaurant staff were smiling ear to ear. It's natural in Korea for people to sing wherever they go so it was no surprise for them to hear us, even though it was in English. Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time, as it was our regular lunch break and we soon had to head back to class. Later at the dormitory we heard Father's speech "God's Hope for America" where Father speaks of the special place in God's heart for America and its people. As Americans we want to take responsibility for our country and enable it to fulfill its providential destiny by becoming one nation under God.

About Prep - by SS & TK

After graduating from GOP, 10 students go to the PREP program. This program is for those who want to attend Middle School in Korea, and lasts six months. Korean language is studied intensively as well as regular school subjects like science and math are taught in Korean language. Sung Hee Seewald from Germany shares: "I personally like this program because there are only blessed children here and I feel more comfortable around them. I am looking forward to going into Middle School after all this preparation. I know it won't be easy but True Parents really want us to learn Korean, so I will stay in Korea until I do." Tamami Kawamura from America says: "I hope to stay in Korea as long as I can. It can sometimes be stressful with all the study, and demands of dormitory life, but I have learned a lot and also had a lot of fun. I feel as if my character has broadened here. This program is a great opportunity and I'm grateful to be here."

Sailor

by Ken Morgan

First Printing 1994 Published and printed in the United States by: Imagine Ink 503 E. Schubert, Fredericksburg, Texas 78624 Ph: 210-997-2970 Fax: 210-997-0538 All rights reserved.

Looking On

The fog he saw lifting was violet-
having wisps brushed with ocher and a breeze,
and soft light measuring furzy leaves
in a neighborhood of barks.
A song in the cadet
takes wings past radar images of varied trees;
past the rustling breath of waxed leaves,
past the coiling light of fragrant vines!
Delightful comparisons of detailed soils:
burrowed veining and chance encounters,
poise on a roll of images in his left shirt pocket.
And who choreographed this enchanted set-
when after years of consummate toil,
the best from this side compares to:
which flower?
which grain of sand?
which billowy wave?
Returning home,
who ever thought;
by the stairway,
indigo and yellow dappled,
irises could look so lovely, gently swaying?
Who ever dreamed;
the undulating wedge of geese below clouds
softly illuminated by village lights,
could melt the criminal's heart?
Waves and cycles roll,
births and periods return,
epochal revolutions smolder for decades,
and when sparked by a fateful pass
convulse the world overnight-
but it doesn't just happen!
So you see, there's very little
that's not been blithely glossed over-
leaving the object itself untouched!
But despite the spleen of cronies, court-ladies and regents;
already the "rays" streaming from His hand
have roused the fateful seed;
already the prophets are rising from their sleep!
And if the same resident forces;
which caused the codification
of early laws and ethical systems,
now impel neighbors to commune-
what event at home or abroad could be more compelling?
more ridiculed?

West Wind

A car growls up
spitting gravel in the flood light.
Time passes and dotted lines indicate the path of the door
squeaking shut-
and boot heels click across the lino
on a routine line.
Saguaros, trains and snarling badmen;
affect these walls-
Familiar tongues and common tones
hum through the kitchen door,
and timeless streams through the fabric of life!
Toward the back, the characteristic step
and a second's glance says it all:
either he's someone you know,
or the over moulded skull of an ancestor!
The chair slides back and the chair slides forth,

and it's dark in this town,
(a town that sprouted on the cotton market),
until the first lame filaments
faintly sparkle in the curtains.
"Della, can I get some syrup with these?"
and he sticks the gingham cloth into his collar.
Somewhere:
beneath the monogram of her red-checked apron,
beyond the crypt,
as far as the manger;
surges Della's heart!
Syrup buoyed on a rattling platter,
she bends and reaches-
"thanks dear",
and he pours the golden viscid on his stack.
Somewhere the hum of deeper currents runs swiftly,
and somewhere she dreams of slowly melting-
walking with an added lilt
toward the order-window bell!

Collegiate

Between bells,
curious hearts and minds
mingle along highly charged halls,
in the student union, in cool bowers....
What could be more contrived
yet more ingenuous than this,
more pivotal than these?
The potter, the clay;
which niche to stalk,
whose agenda untie,
which herd to ride off with?
In the entry,
a great composite stone studded with crystals
seems to brighten;
as the debate over absolute values heats up!
Now we step into the atrium
reminiscent of a drift net drawn from an exotic sea:
these fresh creatures out of their element,
shimmering in the web!
These insights of every discipline coming into play!
These heroes of each context,
who could as easily been standup comedians
crying out for attention,
or mobsters busting in the door!
These perilously young, these dangerously rich,
their smooth skinned elan,
their games,
their theater! Little do they know how few moment are theirs to find the thread! How could they know that behind the playful screen of common myths, so many lurid figures crouch? How long until some salivating impaler jumps into their lap?

Cold Hard Look

Always in the summer as in the winter,
eyes that run their course
rely on rhythms
for protection from the unknown.
Spheres of drum beats
drift in and out through the reeds-
fading toward darkness;
still the blades of night
reflect as far as the eyes of beasts!
It's no quaint Pastoral hung in the parlor,
warmed by hymns;
but those earthen pots
that don't lie shattered by the din of midnight
may now lift their tousled worlds,
slowly up from gutted bunkers-
and blink in disbelief at what they're seeing!
Scenes lurch from stinking shadows,
where living proofs
of the parable of the unforgiving servant
walk around in a toxic cloud!
Yet somehow the original mind
still reads the waves of covert moves
and the repulsive hiss of falling bodies-
it keeps working!
And yet,
drained by indulgence;
we lack the energy to store even one
history shaping concept which might unchain us!
We lack the heart to debunk the cycles of alienation;
and so must relive them!
In the background meanwhile,
unnoticed as a ticking clock;
Providence;
patient as a school mom,
taps the chalk board-
gradually raising her voice.
And if you care to know,
they're still looking for the remains of the last ones;
who failed to take a cold hard look!

On the Virgin Birth

by TOH

Jesus' conception came through what we call the virgin birth. Evidence of a literal virgin birth is scanty in the New Testament; the account is a product of the early church. But whatever the literal or figurative nature of the virgin birth, the significance is the same: Jesus' birth was completely different from usual births. Jesus, as the Messiah, could not be born by usual means, even to very excellent people of pure faith. There had to be an intervention from beyond this world, and the only terms by which we can depict this is as something extraordinary, inexplicable, and beyond the reach of all fallen men: a virgin birth.

The proclamation of the virgin birth, whether literal or figurative, is a revolutionary declaration by Christianity that something is radically wrong with our conception of children, and thus that the Messiah could not be born through normal means. Christians know this in their hearts, but they have never known what to do about it.

The procreative act of the parents was the decisive act in the conception of Jesus, as it is with all children. What is wrong with the conceiving of children in the world? Is there something wrong with the physical means? No; the creation of life in the womb is the most miraculous of nature's creative events. This is not a prison planet; the flesh body is not a material shroud, as various dualistic philosophies believe. The problem is with the spiritual dimension.

One aspect of this is the parents' motivation, the mixed, impure motives brought to the conjugal bed by the partners in love. Joy, commitment and stimulation notwithstanding, seduction, manipulation, lust, irresponsibility, guilt and shame are common features of this act. These emotions are passed onto the child which is conceived.

There is a larger problem as well, which renders it impossible even for the most excellent of married couples to avoid this problem, and that is the spiritual realm of love in this fallen world. The love practiced in this world is not divine true love but is Satan's false love. That is, Satan has a claim over our love; hence he has a claim over us (since we are constituted by the love which created us) and he has a claim over the offspring of our love, our children. This claim is referred to traditionally as the original sin. Original sin is not an obscure, arcane doctrine. It simply means that people cannot escape selfishness when they make love, and selfishness is ungodly, and it is inherited.

The Messiah could not be born out of selfish motivation or within such a fallen environment. The significance of conception by the Holy Spirit and the virgin birth is that Jesus' conception was not tainted by fallen motivation, and it took place in an environment separated to a sufficient degree from Satan, by the 2,000 years of preparation of the chosen people, Israel, to receive the Messiah.

Therefore Jesus was born with no connection with the previous lineage, with the world's way of conceiving children. He was born, in other words, with no original sin. Thus he is comparable to Adam, who also was born with no original sin. This is why Paul referred to Jesus as the last or second Adam (1 Cor 15.47). When the wise men were following the star, they were in search of the second Adam. When the angels guided the shepherds, they were leading them to the second Adam. In the stable in Bethlehem, all were gathered around the second Adam, the new beginning of the human race. Therefore Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am." (Jn 8.58) The concept of the Messiah, then, is related to the breaking of the old lineage, signified by the virgin birth. When we recall Jesus' words that "you are of your father the devil" (Jn 8.44) calling us a "brood of vipers" (Mt 12.34), we realize that our lineage is indeed wrong. Through the cross, we are adopted as children of God (Rom 8.23, Eph 1.5), but still our physical lineage is impure. An adopted child of God, after all, has natural parents other than God. This is why Christians realize that baptism is necessary, and that we must be reborn. And it is why Jesus must come again.

That is, Jesus, who broke from the old lineage, must provide the way for all mankind similarly to break from the old lineage. Also, the Second Coming will begin a new lineage. Our engrafting to that lineage is precisely the breaking from the old lineage. As Jesus said, "I am the vine, and you are the branches." (Jn 15.5)

How does this happen? Well, how does lineage begin? It begins through marriage. Thus the Messiah must offer to humankind a new way of marriage. This is why the second coming is couched in terms of a marriage supper, with the Messiah himself called a bridegroom coming to take his bride (Rev 19.7, passim).

What if every marriage could be as pure as that which conceived Jesus, and every child born as a true son or daughter of God? Would Jesus want that? would God want that? would all humankind want that? Of course, the answer in every case is yes. This is a lesson we can take from Christmas, our celebration of the virgin birth.

Those who have ears, let them hear. The Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon have blessed the marriages of nearly 100,000 people of all races, nations and religious backgrounds, creating the substantial foundation for the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. They will be Blessing the marriages of 360,000 couples on August 25, 1994, in Korea and throughout the world by satellite. Whether you are single or married, you are invited.

A Socratic Dialogue to Teach about True Parents

Socrates: So we understand there is something wrong with people.

Student: It cannot be denied.

Socrates: That is, we are false people, not true persons.

Student: Yes.

Socrates: So we must change flase people into true people.

Student: Yes.

Socrates: Then, how do we change people? Is it not by stopping what is wrong and creating in them what is right?

Student: It cannot be otherwise.

Socrates: And are these not one and the same thing, because to stop what is wrong is itself an action of right?

Student: Yes, it is so.

Socrates: So the question is, "How do we create what is right, a good person", is it not?

Student: It is exactly that. Socrates: Well, how are persons created at all?

Student: Parents create them.

Socrates: As created beings, do we not resemble that which created us?

Student: Yes, and so children resemble their parents.

Socrates: Both inwardly and outwardly?

Student: Yes.

Socrates: And that we are wrong, false persons signifies that our parents were false parents.

Student: It is a logical step.

Socrates: And to create true persons, then, what is it we need?

Student: If false parents create false persons, to create true persons we need true parents.

Socrates: And to create true persons is to save mankind, is it not?

Student: Yes.

Socrates: Then to save mankind, we need true parents.

Student: Well said.

Playground Society

I am often struck by how our society is an expansion of playground society of my childhood. There was the inner clique: the dominant boys and precocious girls. There were those who wanted to be in the clique but somehow didn't quite make it. The clique and its hangers-on was a realm of gossip. Who said what to whom and did what where, etc. etc.

Then there were those who rejected the norms of the clique, in favor of other values: for some it was cars, for some, academics, for some, intellectual pride, for some, general rebellion.

Status as an insider, for the smallest kids, revolved around physical abilities and simple aggressiveness. As we grew up, status came to revolve around fashion and style--issuing eventually in attractiveness to the opposite sex. The inner clique were the first to experiment with driving, with alcohol, with dating, with sex. They were hip; they knew what others didn't know but wanted to know. They did what others were too timid to do. They grew up fast. They were headed for worldly success.

Think back to elementary school, though. Do you remember the boys who liked to sneak looks when the girls were swinging on the horizontal bars, to see their underpants? Did you ever participate in a childish chase after a little girl to get her to pull down her pants? Did you play doctor?

I see a headline in a New York newspaper: it says that some starlet is going to take off all her clothes for a movie. Take off your clothes: this is status, this is fame. You're in.

I understand that in order to progress in show business, well, women have to take off their clothes in front of the man or men, and do what children would call nasty things. In return, the women become famous, the center of the inner clique. Lots of magazine articles, photographs, to keep those on the outside interested.

And I think of the playground. That supposedly mature adults, who shape our society, view the opposite sex the same way we did as children. Who can get a girl to pull down her pants? Who can sneak a look at her underwear? And who is so excited to figure out which girl's objections are really come-ons?

On the Call of Greatness

I have a friend whose son of 14 ran away from home to become a rock star. Of course she is devestated as a mother.

Maybe her son will succeed; maybe he'll be a star someday. But at what cost?

Perhaps if he had stayed at home, he would never have been a star. Perhaps he would have lived a conventional life, unnoticed by the nation and world. To make his parents happy.

Maybe he'll be a star someday. Joe Cool, the idol of millions. He is devoured by fans; he brings pleasure to the world by his wonderful voice, his honest and compelling lyrics, his revolutionary message. The world does not care about Joe Cool's parents, about the desecration of love he committed for the sake of his own dream. The world praises Joe Cool. The world wants more of Joe Cool.

When Joe burns out, the world chases another, Joe Cooler, looking for the ultimate, Joe Coolest.

John Lennon said that the Beatles were number one because they were the biggest bastards of them all.

The world doesn't really care. It likes the music.