Blessing Candidate Preparation Workshop

By Farley & Betsy Jones

7/22/95

The Family Federation is an important vehicle to allow couples of diverse religious traditions to receive True Parents' Blessing and be educated in the traditions of Heaven. The following talk was given by Farley Jones to couples preparing for the 1995 Blessing.

Farley Jones

Over the past few months we have been conducting Blessing workshops introducing people to the Blessing. Many times people ask, "Well, what is the Blessing?" What's so blessed about the Blessing? It's a very legitimate question. One person said to me recently, "Well, what I've been saying to people is it's like getting a blessing from the pope, but even better." People value the blessing from the pope. So that dimension of it is an historically recognized phenomenon, that is, that a person of spiritual stature by expressing some spiritual energy toward another can affect that person's destiny.

But when one comes to True Parents' Blessing, one puts himself or herself in the position to inherit the spiritual and physical lineage of True Parents. Through the Blessing we come into a new position as a new Adam, or a new Eve, because we are placed in the position of original Adam and original Eve, prior to the fall. We also cross a threshold. What is the threshold? The threshold is that under True Parents' auspices, we commit ourselves to another person. That's the threshold that we pass, the critical threshold of which True Parents teach. The new relationship with God and True Parents that begins with the Blessing comes through our beginning to fulfill the spiritual ideal they teach and by making a commitment to become the people of true love whom they urge us to become.

Marriage, it is said, is an institution that's made more for giving than for taking. That's a very interesting description of marriage. It's an institution that's constructed in such a way, that it works best if we approach it from the point of view of one who is going to give to it.

As some of you may know, two of our children this time are participating in the Blessing. Our oldest child, our son, was talking with my wife about his coming matching and Blessing a couple of months ago. Her advice to him was this: Think of it as an opportunity to make someone happy. That's great advice. An opportunity to make someone happy. Have you heard the song? "Make someone happy. Just make one someone happy." Jimmy Durante used to sing it. Marriage is a precious opportunity, if you think about it. Each of you through the Blessing will have that enormous power to make another human being profoundly happy. That's the opportunity that you are given. And of course, to succeed is a fantastic accomplishment. Think about it, that, at the end of your life, you can say to yourself, "I have made my spouse happy." It is wonderful to be able to say that. This is the horizon that faces you now. So if you have this orientation toward your Blessing, it will help you greatly.

Others have said that we should think of the Blessing as an offering of ourselves to God. We have a profound belief in a God of love, but how is God's love to reach one's spouse? Who is in the best position to give God's love to that person? Well, obviously, it's "me". So in coming into this relationship it's helpful to think of this whole process as an offering; we are making an offering of ourselves. And it's not an offering that we make once; rather, this is the attitude that we need to carry with us into the years ahead of us; we're always trying to be a channel for God's love. Always the task is to be mindful of that kind of orientation in our daily life, and to practice that kind of spirituality.

Another way to think about the Blessing is as a gateway. No doubt it's a gateway. It's obvious it's going to open a whole new horizon. There are several areas for which the Blessing serves as a gateway. One is self-transformation. You will be changed. You will be changed for the better over time. We understand that as individuals we can grow to a certain level and from there we grow as a couple. Well, I firmly believe in that model: there's only a certain amount of growth one can achieve as an individual. When you are in a relationship with your spouse, a whole new reality is going to unfold to you, one that will challenge you, and change you. Further, as long as you remain vertically connected and apply the principles of our spiritual orientation, the change is going to be for the better. The change is going to make you a more God-like person. So the Blessing is a gateway to personal transformation.

Secondly, it's a gateway to crisis. In October my wife and I celebrated our 25th anniversary. Honestly, there were points in our marriage where we wondered, "Are we going to make it? Can we continue?" There was that kind of strain and internal anguish that we encountered. However, by God's grace we got through those crises. Over time, 25 years, our marriage has come to a very solid foundation. Well, I don't want to discourage you to think that you will have 25 years of struggle. But honestly, somewhere around the 13th year, I felt as if something settled down in our relationship. So you have to give yourself time. But you also have to expect that it's not going to be easy.

I will say this, too: Marriage is also a gateway to God's close support, to heaven's support. In miraculous ways I believe God lent His hand to our marriage and to our relationship. I express my gratitude this morning.

Next, I consider that Blessing is destiny. My experience is that God is profoundly concerned about the success of families. We have the notion that God is an integrated being of masculinity and femininity, a harmonized being of oneness. Well, that's what we are meant to achieve in our marriages. Rev. Young Whi Kim says that in the spirit world a husband and wife who are truly one can actually meld their spiritual bodies. So you have the image of one body with two heads. Whether we think of the unity of spiritual bodies as a metaphorical image, or a true spiritual unity of heart and mind, nevertheless that's the place we are meant to get to. That's our destiny. Again, that takes time. But to achieve that unity is our internal purpose here on earth.

Finally, the Blessing is mission. I think of this in two senses. First, we have the mission of giving birth to a new lineage ourselves. True Parents have given birth to this historical lineage. We are participating in that lineage, but through our own children we are going to pass on this new lineage. There is an American novelist who wrote that, in his words, after going through a divorce he realized that divorce represented the "death of a small civilization." So parents have that kind of power and destiny to create within their own families a microcosmic civilization: a new culture and a new lineage. That's our mission.

The husband and wife relationship is so central to your children's destiny. My wife has quoted to me, on more than one occasion, the teaching of a Catholic priest, that the best thing a husband can do for his children is to love their mother, and the best thing that a mother can do for her children is to love their father. When the children see that quality in your relationship, it's going to do so much for them spiritually and emotionally.

We are aware, too, of the international matches that True Parents have inaugurated. Cultures are coming together in such matches. That's a wonderful aspect for those of you who have an international match. I am happy for you. You are people who are going to help bring the world together. Again, it is a profound opportunity, another dimension of your Blessing.

The second aspect of mission that I want to mention briefly is that: given our high vision, and profound spiritual understanding, we want to be able to lead others along this same path. True Parents clearly are in the process of creating a whole new history and a whole new society on a global scale. The August wedding is a wedding of 360,000 couples, but you may know that True Parents are now envisioning that the next Blessing will consist of 3.6 million couples. So we have a big job to do and we need to do it successfully. Let's all take responsibility to lead others on this same path. By doing that, definitely we are leading them and the world in a very positive, promising direction.

Blessed Children's Workshops-Cultivating the Hope for the Future

by Edy Iversen-Palm Court, FL

Just days before the new year, my eight-year-old son David participated in a very exciting blessed children's workshop in central Florida.

Our inspired state leader, Mr. George Beutl, along with several wonderful sisters from Miami, organized this delightful event, with special help from Charles Spacek and his wife Mitsuko. They generously provided their home for the invasion of over 40 eight- to twelve-year- olds from across the state. He also provided us with an excellent workshop setting, a community center in a park by his home near a lake, which is where all the activities were held.

For three days the children participated in a number of planned activities which included fishing, sports, Divine Principle and morning services, games, skits, heavenly competitions with prizes and sleeping bumper to bumper "Boonville-style" at Charles' house.

The highlight of the event for our family was being able to bring my son's best friend Bavik Patel to the workshop. His parents are devout Hindus and therefore he felt quite at home in a spiritual atmosphere with all the brothers and sisters. He testified afterward that it was the "best experience of his life" and he was able to develop new relationships with other children from the Unification community besides my son. Also, he caught his first fish, one of 40 caught by the children, which was cause for great celebration by all.

Personally, the most inspiring aspect of the workshop was watching while the group leaders were able to bring out the innocence and beautiful original hearts and minds of these precious children. Every day our children get inundated and corrupted by influences in the public schools, the media and their non-blessed peer groups and friends.

Recently in desperation I asked our city leader's wife, Barbara Sapp, how she managed to have such excellent children. She insisted it was the influence of the blessed children's workshop and the relationship that was made among the children which helped them to sustain themselves against peer pressure in school and remain pure.

If you are waiting for your region to have a regional workshop, don't wait! Blessed children are desperately in need of heavenly companionship and relationships. Especially, since we are spread out in our hometowns, and are sometimes not so close to regular church centers, the need is even greater. Statewide and citywide workshops can give our children the strength and support they need to overcome the pressures of the fallen world.

As parents we must insure we are truly "cultivating the hope for the future," our beautiful blessed children. Many thanks to group leaders Carol Miyazaki, Barbara Masuyama, Joe Gonzales, Jan Breslin and Christine Okano, who lovingly organized the cooking, and to all assistants and parents who willingly participated in making this workshop an unequivocal success.

African Student Wins 20th Oratorical Contest at UTS

by Gareth Davies-Barrytown, NY

Passion carried the day on February 21, when Raymond Otika, a junior student from Uganda, won the twentieth David S.C. Kim Oratorical Contest. Eight finalists from eight nations addressed the topic "Why Reverend Moon is the Messiah" and, at the end of the evening, Dr. Michael Mickler explained the view of the judges that those who spoke from their hearts came closest to true oratory.

Mike Armstrong, a Divinity Senior, gave Raymond his strongest challenge. He immediately captured the attention of the audience of 70 with his whimsical allusion to the well-known movie A Miracle on 34th Street in which a man claims to be Santa Claus and demonstrates all of the appropriate attributes. "He had a beard and a cheerful disposition and he knew all of the reindeer by name and yet nobody believed him except for one child!" Mike took an increasingly serious tone as he made his point. "Reverend Moon is striving, through his many works, to build the Kingdom of Heaven. Like the child in the movie, I believe in Reverend Moon - he has awakened me from a nightmare."

The eight finalists were chosen from an original field of 16 entries. They represented Zaire, Australia, England, Uganda, Canada, Nigeria and the Philippines. The variety of cultural influences was evidenced in the variety of approaches and styles of the finalists, ranging from rational persuasion delivered from the lectern, to emotional assault delivered on the move!

Perhaps it is fitting that a man who joined the Unification Church 20 years ago should win the 20th oratorical contest. Having recently arrived in the United States, Raymond Otika referred to his experiences during his recent travels. "When I went to Japan, I thought it was the Kingdom of Heaven - but then I met the Yakuza in a bath house. When I arrived in America, I thought it was the Kingdom of Heaven but then I read in the paper about two boys who threw another child out of a window and how another boy, aged five, dashed down the stairs to try to save his brother. This is our world; we are throwing each other out of the window and one man is dashing to save us."

Raymond also told the audience about his own powerful experience at the time of the matching and Blessing when he first met his Japanese wife. "In 1982, Reverend Moon took me by my shirt collar and said to my wife, `Take this black man,' and to me, `Take this yellow woman, and save the world from racism.' When my wife left behind the comfort of Japan to join me, I was deeply moved and knew that this must be the work of the Messiah." Raymond ended his speech with a challenge to the audience. "If you doubt that Reverend Moon is the Messiah, please take over."

Mike Armstrong took second place and Serge Brosseau of Canada was third.

Reprinted from The Cornerstone.

A New Collaboration Between IRFF U.K. And A Cancer Hospital

by Chris D. Hays-London HQ, U.K.

Based on the foundation of bringing four Bulgarian doctors from Sofia, Bulgaria, to London, England, in the summer of 1994, for health-care management seminars and voluntary sector training, as well as medical networking-a continuing relationship was forged at this time with several specialist units, within major hospitals, around the M25 orbital and slightly beyond.

As a result of a successful 12-day stay by these Bulgarian doctors and partly as a result of continued networking IRFF's name, with senior medical consultants, nurses and house staff, at these specialist units and hospitals, I am happy to report that:

* Some staff at the General Infirmary, Leeds, will now begin an "exchange" program of working medical papers, journals, clinical research and manuscripts, with their counterparts in the former Soviet Union, centering on Ukraine. This was accomplished as a result of marketing our IRFF Long Distance Child Sponsorship Scheme to them over the course of one year. The Lymphoma & Leukemia Unit there is keen to begin "bridge-building" development and networking with Ukrainian doctors.

* Tenured medical consultants and senior nurses also at the General Infirmary, Leeds are being short-listed now, a maximum number of three, to participate in IRFF's "Mobile Professionals" scheme, come this summer in July. Through normal nurturing of VIPs, I have progressed some relationships and now these individuals would like to share their advanced and specialist know-how with counterparts in Ukraine, dealing with the ongoing situation of Chernobyl.

40 Days Pioneering - News from the Second Generation Office

by J. J. VanderStok-Hose

On Dec. 30, 1995 True Father spoke at East Garden to the Second Generation. He asked all second generation 17 years old and above to go pioneering in a foreign country for 40 days this summer.

For all you Second Gens out there who haven't heard the news yet, the 40 Days Pioneering will be from July 20 to Aug. 30. Please make time in your summer schedule to take part in this awesome activity. Nothing is as mind-expanding as getting to know new people and a new culture in a strange and foreign place.

Years ago Father asked members to go out to pioneer in almost every country. They had to learn about the customs and culture of that country, and try to survive in it. They went out to find people who were willing to change their life, receive the Blessing, and live for more than just themselves. Father is giving you a chance to learn from these members, by participating in the activities of center life in each country. Life is all about growing that heart of yours as much as possible, so take this opportunity and take part in something which could become the most unforgettable experience of your life. Hey, life is short, so live it to the fullest, deepest and highest!

* We will organize teams consisting of five to ten members, so that you will have the support of other 2nd Gen. friends.

* We are trying to find possibilities for you to make the necessary money. (The amount necessary for the 40-day pioneering would vary depending on which country you will go to-from less than $1000 to possibly more than $3000. We are trying to arrange work positions for the summer with some of the church companies. World CARP MFT would be one option, as well as flower selling on Mother's Day and other possibilities.)

* We will try to help you in your travel arrangements.

* We will hold a preparation workshop before you depart, and you will have an orientation period in each of your countries, for you to adjust.

* We also hope to encourage each country to offer some form of service project.

* Please apply for a passport a.s.a.p. (like: today!) even if you are not sure about going. Just do it.

* Get at least a part-time job, and start saving up for this unique experience.

* Try to find your own sponsors; ask parents, local church, rich uncle, neighbors, friends, basically everyone and their grandma, to support you with some donation or contribution.

* Note: Jin Hun Nim defined the qualifications for the participants as: age 17 years or older, and grade High School graduate June 1996 or higher.

* Please direct all questions to bcoffice@aol.com or (212) 382-3821.

"Gangsta" rap-degrading?

by Richard Panzer-Westwood, NJ

C. Delores Tucker commanded a responsive audience with a stately and elegant presence at the February 1996 WFWP conference in Philadelphia. She spoke on the topic of "gangsta rap." Mrs. Tucker, who worked with Dr. Martin Luther King in the Civil Rights struggle against segregation, now sees the gangsta rap culture as a new threat to be confronted.

She said, "We want to get this music out of the reach of children. Gangsta rap is porno rap. It glorifies irresponsible sex, drugs, gang rape and violence and is not for children." Due in large part to the efforts of Mrs. Tucker, who chairs the National Political Congress of Black Women, and former Education Secretary William Bennett, Time Warner dropped Death Row and Interscope, labels which produced records by "gangsta" rappers 2Pac Shakur, Snoop Doggy Dogg and others in 1995.

She told about the time when she heard a six-year-old grandniece say, "I want to be a mother f-- gangsta." She arranged to send this six- year-old to live with relatives in a small town in the Bahamas, but the little girl quickly became isolated because she carried the "gangsta" music, lyrics and culture with her and none of the families in the town wanted to have their children infected with "this filth."

A young woman said after the talk, "I listen to gangsta rap, but I come from a close family and am not influenced by it, so what's so bad about it?" Mrs. Tucker responded that others maybe more influenced by it, especially if they come from a difficult home situation. She pointed out that music which glorifies gang rape, calls women "bitches" and "hoes" is dehumanizing (to put it mildly).

Mrs. Tucker has also initiated a campaign against Tower Records, a national chain which distributes the music. "This is not just a national phenomenon," she says. "This is an international problem. People all around the world now believe that black people talk and act the way they see us in these videos and hear us on these CDs. All over the world our image is being shaped in ways which will make it that much easier for us to be marginalized as a people and even destroyed, if we don't wake up."

She recounted how a young rap artist with a positive message went to the West Coast and was told by producers they had no interest in promoting her kind of "clean" message. She became the gangsta rapper called Boss and carries two guns now as part of her act.

Mrs. Tucker also shared a letter from a 20-year-old prisoner who wrote: "I began listening to rap about three years ago, and it's a big part of me being in jail right now, facing 25 years to life.... Ice Cube and a lot of other rappers made it sound so good and look so real (that) I would drink and smoke drugs (just) like on the video.... My hood girls-whom God made to please me and multiply the earth with respect-became hoes and bitches. What's so bad is that they accepted it.... Because of a lack of knowledge, we begin to think this is the only way we can be somebody. I mean, everyone wants to be somebody. And after all this, look at where I ended!

"Something I really wonder about is whether Ice Cube has or plans on having kids. I would really like to know.... Or wait till you see the (video) about Bonnie and Clyde! Wait until the women start killing like Yo-Yo in the Bonnie and Clyde theme. And guess what they will call them? Gangsta bitches. Now, it's bad enough that men describe you (women) this way, but now you (women) have accepted it."

Kittura Dior, an attractive African American artist in her 20s, commented: "In many ways I'm pretty liberal and don't like anyone telling me what to do, but this gangsta rap is sickening and destructive to women. The words you think and speak do have an effect, especially on certain people. There's already so much violence and negativity out there, why would you want to add to it? I support this campaign against it."

If you would like to support Mrs. Tucker's campaign or just want more information, contact:

National Political Congress of Black Women
2556 Virginia Ave. NW
P.O. Box 196
Washington, DC 20037
or call 1-800-225-8511

April 1996

World University Federation Gets Boost in Uruguay

by Gordon L. Anderson, Secretary General, Professors World Peace Academy

On February 19, 1996, 275 university presidents, professors, and distinguished educators from the Americas gathered at the Hotel Victoria Plaza in Montevideo, Uruguay. They came on short notice at the invitation of Sun Myung Moon, the founder, to discuss his vision of education for the twenty-first century and the World University Federation. He emphasized the values of harmony, purity, peace, and unification.

The conference, titled "A Worldview for the Third Millennium," was organized by a preparatory committee made up of leaders of Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA), the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS), the University of Bridgeport, and the Summit Council for World Peace. Representatives of the PWPA in the countries of Latin America gave immense support to this conference by helping to locate and invite university presidents and prominent people in government ministries of education.

I am very grateful for the support that church members have given to all the academic projects founded by the Reverend Moon, but feel particularly called to recognize the yeoman work they performed under the direction of Reverend Zin Moon Kim in the preparation of this meeting. In 1983, at the First International Congress of PWPA, the Reverend Moon spoke of his desire to see a worldwide network of universities that could foster global exchange of knowledge and educate young people around the world to be leading citizens of the 21st century.

Having created Sun Moon University in Korea and investing over $100 million into the University of Bridgeport over the last five years, the Reverend Moon is serious about the education of the people who will be responsible for the world in the next millennium. The Uruguay conference served to give a boost to the creation of the World University Federation and to more clearly understand the foundation upon which the Reverend Moon would like to see the Federation built.

The conference consisted of several aspects. There were discussions of the World University Federation and how the participants would like to see it develop. There was a presentation by the University of Bridgeport on distance learning and the technologies available for global educational exchange. However, the primary focus of the conference was to acquaint the participants with the founder and his world view, which was presented by Dr. Thomas Ward and Lecturer Jesus Gonzales Losada.

The Reverend Moon spoke at length at the Opening and Closing Banquets and met with various participants at lunch and for breakfast. Most participants were inspired by the fact that there was a group attempting to put education on a moral foundation consistent with natural law and general principles that could be understood and accepted by the majority of religious and scientific thinkers of our time. I met one scientist from Ecuador who said that Dr. Ward's lecture on the origin of the universe was well argued from both the viewpoints of science and theology.

I heard another report of two participants from the traditionally feuding countries of Peru and Ecuador embracing one another in a show of forgiveness after another of the lectures. There were two North Americans staying at the hotel who were so interested in the lectures that they sat through them and paid a fee to attend the farewell banquet. I sensed that the Federation is seen as a source of hope to people in non-Western societies who fear that the secular values infused with Western education are detrimental to the well-being of traditional community life.

At the opening banquet, the Reverend Moon, walking with a microphone among the tables, gave a talk entitled "God Needs a Companion," in which he emphasized that human beings were created by God for the purpose of a relationship of love with God. We see a reflection of this love in the relationship of husband and wife and parents and children. He was critical of university education that did not encourage the seeking of answers to the big questions like, "Why are we here?" and "What is our purpose?" The fulfillment of human beings, he argued will only be achieved when they understand their origin, purpose and destiny. An education that ignores these questions or provides narrow dogmatic answers-by either scientific or religious people-to these questions hinders the complete education of the student.

On February 20, the Reverend Moon invited 40 participants to join him for lunch. After lunch, presentations were made about the "Campo Grande" ideal community project in Southern Brazil and the development of a fish powder supplement which can be mixed with flour to provide nutrition for impoverished parts of the world. Participants were able to glimpse the range of practical activities in which the Reverend Moon is involved and understand that he is no ordinary religious leader or philanthropist.

The morning of February 21 was particularly meaningful for the World University Federation. At a breakfast meeting with members of the University of Bridgeport, the Reverend Moon explained the four principles upon which he would like to see the Federation built- harmony (of mind and body), purity (in sexual and family relations), peace (among peoples), and unification (of the global community with universal principles). He emphasized that if purity would be a focus of the University of Bridgeport, many people around the world would feel safe in sending their children there.

I know that it would be an incentive for me, and I expect that it could prove financially beneficial to the university if it were known as an environment which fostered these four principles. Reverend Moon asked President Rubenstein to help make the University of Bridgeport a leader in the World University Federation and in the education of world citizens, prepared to take leadership in the twenty-first century.

That afternoon, the "Montevideo Declaration of the World University Federation" (see insert) was drafted and signed by participants. As a platform for the creation of the World University Federation, it included the four themes; harmony, purity, peace and unification. The conference closed with a farewell banquet which began as a traditional banquet followed by a magician and an opera singer. Words of thanks to the host were given by participants. Then the Reverend Moon surprised everyone by asking that the tables be pushed aside and chairs arranged in a semi-circle for a "family style" talk. He was determined to talk as long as people were willing to listen, and many of the audience were determined to stay as long as he wanted to talk.

He stayed until after midnight, sharing his ideas about the basic principles of polarity that serve as the foundation for all give and take in the universe, the principle of true love, the human fall, restoration, the change of blood lineage, and the birth of Jesus. It was clear that the Montevideo Conference of the World University Federation accomplished the goal of beginning the Federation on principles which are to become the hallmark of the universities which participate-good, clean principles which will help students to cultivate sharp minds, strong families, and peaceful societies.

Although the main focus of the seminar was on the Reverend Moon's vision, there were displays of many ICUS and PWPA books, the World & I magazine and other university programs. It was clear to participants that the day to day work of those academics affiliated with the network is of the highest academic quality. I look forward to seeing the relationships which were cultivated at the Uruguay conference blossom into a set of institutions which, like the Oxford and Cambridge of a past era, provide the highest quality education together with the infusion of principles of leadership and global culture that can set the next millennium of human civilization on a more peaceful, just and prosperous course.