The Ordeal at Hung Nam Prison

by Sandra Lowen

For one month Father remained in the Pyungyang prison. Then he was transferred to the Tong Nee Special Labor Concentration Camp at Hung Nam, which is located on the northeast side of North Korea. This was not like an American prison, where prisoners might do light jobs and spend many hours in clean cells to write letters home, relax, or even work on their college degrees.

This prison was at a nitrogen fertilizer factory. There was a small mountain of hardened lime which the prisoners had to break up and haul to another place. They had to break up the lime, pack it into rice-straw bags holding eighty pounds each, weigh it, and take it off to the loading dock. Each group of ten men was responsible for loading 1,300 bags every day, which meant about one bag every half-minute. The bags were heavy. The lime made their fingers bleed with big sores.

You might think a man would simply decide not to work; but this was not possible at the Tong Nee Camp. If the team did not do its work, they didn’t get anything to eat that day. In order to live, they had to eat, and in order to eat, they had to do the work. They didn’t eat steaks or chicken or vegetables, nor any of the foods we eat to stay strong. They received each day just one small ball of boiled barley, or a few spoonfuls of rice or wheat. Even if a person was lucky enough to eat every day, it was still not enough food to live on. Within a few weeks, the men became so skinny you could see the shape of their bones. Their bellies became swollen from starvation. After six months in this prison, most of them were sick enough to die. At the end of one year, most of the prisoners had died. Father was sentenced to five years! How was he going to survive?

As soon as he arrived, Father began planning how he would stay alive. His plan was very unusual. Most people would think the best plan would be to find ways to save energy and get more food. That was not Father’s way.

First, he looked at the food. If he became desperate about this little lump of grain, he would surely die. He saw how the people acted around him. One day a prisoner, who had been very ill, died while eating his meal. When he fell over, two or three prisoners rushed to his side, opened his mouth, scooped out the grains of rice he had not swallowed and ate them.

Father decided that instead of trying to find a way to get more food he would eat less; then on the days when he ate the regular portion it would seem like a feast. For some time he would divide his little rice ball in half and give one half to one of the other prisoners. The surprise in that prisoner’s face must have been like food to Father.

The time before the Korean War was very difficult even for those who were not in prison. Disciples such as Mrs. Ok and Won Pil Kim were allowed to visit every two months, and they would sometimes manage to bring him a little bag of rice powder. He easily could have gone to a quiet corner and eaten the rice powder himself, but that was not Father’s way. Father would always share it with other prisoners. Sometimes he filled their pockets with the precious powder when they weren’t looking.

One day Father received a package of rice powder. Before he could share it he discovered it was missing. The other prisoners became outraged. Who would do such a thing? Finally they found the guilty man and dragged him before Father, so he could be punished. Father looked at him and said, "You must have been so very hungry to have to steal my food. He who is hungry has the right to eat. Give me your bag." Father then poured into his bag all the rice powder he had left.

Father looked at the work load. He decided to work harder than anyone at the camp had ever worked before. The nine workers on his team found that they could fill enough bags of lime when they worked with Father. Soon other prisoners were trying to get on Father’s team. Twice Father was given a special award by the communists for his hard work. So, even Satan had to admit Father worked hard!

Then Father looked at his spiritual life. He had suffered so much, but he never complained to God about his situation. He never prayed to God because he was weak. His first thought was that God must be suffering so much to see what he was going through. If he acted sad it would make God suffer more. So he spoke brave words to God.

"I will never give up, Heavenly Father," he prayed with great love. "Please don’t worry about me," He also told God he would fulfill his mission; he would be victorious.

The prisoners never got enough sleep, but Father used his sleeping time to meditate and pray. A prisoner later said that when they went to sleep, they would see Father kneeling to pray; when they woke up, he was still praying!

The prisoners came to love him. Many times tears came into their eyes because they loved him so much. Father could not say one word about his mission to them, or even speak about God or religion at all. The communists would have killed him if he spoke of God. Therefore, spirit world spoke out for him. Many prisoners were told in dreams that he was a very special person, and that they should become his helpers.

At least twelve prisoners became his disciples. One of these men was named Jung Hwa Pak. Mr. Pak was a leader over a group of prisoners. Father was in his group. He tried to give Father easier jobs and extra food whenever possible, but Father always refused these favors.

The summers were extremely hot. Father always kept all his clothes on. Mr. Pak kindly suggested, "Why don’t you take off your rubber shoes and long sleeved shirt? I’ll take you somewhere to wash."

"I cannot," replied father. "Heavenly Father directly told me not to expose my body to others."

At one point, Father got very sick with malaria. He could have rested in sickbay. But he said, "No, I didn’t come here because of my sin, but for my mission." He continued working, sweating greatly, barely having the energy to stay on his feet. No one else could have survived such punishment.

Father’s number in prison was 596, which-when translated into Korean, sounds very similar to the word which means "innocent," or "not being treated fairly."

The Holy Mother and Her Friends

uViews Sept 2

"Having created man 'male and female,' the Lord also wants to place the New Eve beside the New Adam in the Redemption ... Mary, the new Eve, thus becomes a perfect icon of the Church …" Pope John Paul II, April 1997 cited in Newsweek, Aug. 25, 1997, p. 51 "Hail, Mary" by Kenneth L. Woodward

Over the past century, the devotion to Mary, mother of Jesus, has been booming in the Catholic Church, the mainstream body of Christ. This is unavoidable and obvious in its origins. Human beings are constituted male and female and need a feminine referent for our spirituality. And we cheer the articulation of this longing within the greatest structure of Christian faith, even as we note the variations on the theme manifested in various spiritualized forms of feminism (goddess worship).

What is wonderful is the correlation of Catholic and Unificationist teaching in this arena, which the devotion to Mary highlights. Mary is celebrated, reports Woodward, as the "free woman" who chose to say yes to God at the Annunciation where Eve said "no" in the Garden of Eden--and thus, adds Woodward, made salvation history possible. Not only possible, sadly, but necessary.

But there is something overly spiritual, let us say, about the Catholic Church. It is a world of Fathers who are not fathers and Mothers who are not mothers. It is wonderful to have father and mother figures as spiritual leaders and counselors, but is that word, "figures," really a part of God’s plan of creation?

I once read that breast milk is the model for manufactured baby formula. The closer Gerber can make their powder to match the real thing, the better. And we wouldn’t use the term "father-figure" if "father" is not the model. The model is not "priest," it is the human, biological father. The father-figure is a substitute, a supplement.

Finally we must ask, "of what is he a father, is she a mother?" The answer is, good Catholics would agree, that the priest participates in the power of Christ to re-create us as children of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit. That is fine, as far as it goes. But still, priests and nuns are not complete parents. There is something very crucial missing. To boil it down, that something is sex.

Sex, for Catholics, is a messy way to get us sinners into the world in order that we may be saved. The best of the best exclude sex from their lives. And, of course, the paramount sign of Mary's sainthood is that she was a virgin. The biblical record that Mary had a number of children seems not to register. Nor does it matter much that she "did not understand or approve of what her son was up to." (Woodward) That is putting it mildly.

The Catholic exaltation of Mary to the status of co-operator in the Redemption makes of her the veritable new Eve. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that place her in the position of bride to Jesus, the new Adam? Is a mother becoming a bride a good family model? Shades of the Oedipus complex!

We would like to consider a different interpretation of this same history based upon the assumption that God created sex for a good purpose, a very good purpose, and that people in His will have the capacity to participate in that very good purpose. By "people in His will," we would include in particular those involved in the birth of His Son.

Jesus’ conception was through an act of God, by the mediation of angels and a physical act of love. The one who denies the full humanity of Christ, including his coming in the flesh, is called antichrist by the apostle John. A flesh body requires a fleshly father. That in no way demeans the birth of Christ. God is the owner of love.

Theologian Thomas Oden stated that "Jesus obviously had to have a physical mother." Why is this so obvious? The reason, from the traditional Christian point of view, cannot be biological, because it is equally true biologically that Jesus had to have a physical father. The reason therefore must be theological: Jesus had to have physical mother because Isaiah said he would. But that begs the question of why God would do such a thing in the first place. Well, all things God does, including the Virgin Birth, are to His greater glory.

Martyrdom and Family Values

There is a new book out entitled Fools, Martyrs, Traitors: The Story of Martyrdom in the Western World, and it is reviewed in the current New Republic magazine, by Michael Ignatieff, who has some very interesting things to say.

For one: "It was Socrates who first bequeathed the idea that the ultimate test of a proposition’s truth is our willingness to die for it." This idea, Ignatieff notes, no longer holds in the global era. In this era, people are martyring themselves for a wide variety of ideas, not all of which can simultaneously be true.

Another: "Thinking about martyrs also confronts us with what Flaubert called the incorrigibly bourgeois character of modern moral evaluations. We have turned family values into a synonym for values tout court. So to us the martyrs’ willingness to sacrifice hearth and home to the demands of truth looks like pathological selfishness."

Ignatieff observes that the Christians posed a challenge, therefore, to "the civic virtues–to the virtues of family, city and empire–(rousing) the persecutorial ire of the authorities."

Ignatieff takes as mutually contradictory the bourgeois idea of the family and classical civic virtues, on the one hand, and the willingness of an individual to die for what he believes in, on the other. Upon reflection, he is taking the mother’s position, appropriate in what is still a liberal journal, that my child’s life is more important than the nation, the religion or the ideological cause.

Ignatieff mistakenly separates the "family" from the nation, religion or larger social cause, that is, he is depicting martyrs as people who fail to recognize the greatness of the family values/civic virtues and go off allowing themselves to be killed for great but questionable causes.

His analysis is weak, I believe, for two reasons. One, the nation, religion and cause are outgrowths of the family. They reflect the imperfections of the family, because they are created by individuals, each of whom is shaped by his or her family. So if one is mounting a serious criticism of the social order, then one’s criticism includes the family order as well.

His second error is his pat assumption that everyone knows what family values are, that he knows what they are, and that whatever they are, they are just fine, whether among right-wing Christians in contemporary America or among the Stoics of second-century Rome. This position is fraught with fallacy.

And one more: "Our ideas of identity are connected to reflexivity: to having thoughts, mostly skeptical, about our thoughts. For a martyr, identity is not reflexive. Finding yourself means throwing yourself so utterly into a cause that the self is suffused with what it believes. The martyrs of the past make us uncomfortable because they put our ironic standpoint into question. They make us wonder whether irony will be the death of principle. They make us ask why we never dare to take ourselves more seriously."

I think that modern Americans do not take themselves seriously because their consciences tell them that they have not found the truth which is worth dying for. Their reaction is to challenge all truth claims, to the point of becoming cynics and mockers. Testing truth claims is one thing; giving upon the possibility that truth exists is another. The effects upon culture and personality, in the latter case, are tragic.

No Rest for the Wicked

Where can God rest? He can rest where His creation is completed.

Let us compare rest and work. Reverend Moon is actively calling for development of the "hobby industry." The hobby industry, he explains, is a very broad category because it finally means that you are enjoying life, being happy about what you are doing. This is conditioned by your state of mind, of course. A person whose mind and body are in harmony will enjoy doing something which would be deemed work by someone whose mind and body are in conflict.

For example, running miles and miles a day to deliver letters, let’s say, would be deemed oppressive labor, but people jog miles and miles a day as a hobby. Hunting to put meat on the table is work; hunting for sport is a hobby. Thus, as a result of the separation of mind and body, mankind views "work" as something distasteful.

Growing up, I was very disturbed with the bifurcation of work and leisure. I determined that I would not "work" in the sense of having an occupation I did not enjoy. So I found me a rock'n'roll band in need of a helping hand. I like rock, I like playing it, and if I can earn a living doing what I like, it doesn't get any better than that.

But my mind and body were still not united, so rock music was not enough. It was not that it was "work." The problem was that I was doing what I liked but was still not happy. Then the whole of life became "work," in that my life was seamless; I could not relegate my mind/body disunity to the category of work. My mind/body disunity was exposed.

In traditional work, one can attach one's mind/body disunity to their occupation, and "enjoy" the rest of life. Why? because when you are "off" from work, you can allow your body to be subject without the complaint of conscience. The conscience is quelled because, after all, you've done your work and deserve to rest.

God's situation is analogous. His mind and body are united, but His relationship with His children is not good. Therefore, everything is drudgery; nothing is enjoyable. From our side, God appears as the Big Boss. Everything is great for the Big Boss, He has everything He needs; He is always happy and taking it easy while we are sweating away. Religion explained why this has to be. Those who reject religion are rebelling against the Big Boss and His minions, the priests who take the fruits of our labor. This rebellion culminated in communism.

But we see that communism and religion are based upon the same falsehood, namely, that God is just fine, resting and enjoying His existence. This is the God accepted by religionists and rejected by communists. If we deepen our understanding of God, then we can transcend this struggle.

The Four Great Realms of Heart: The Family as the School of True Love

by Antonio Betancourt

This was presented at the Second Annual Meeting of Scholars for Social Justice, Pallotine Renewal Center, St. Louis, Missouri, on August 21-24, 1997

"The life of the family is, beyond doubt, the thing which suffers most from the great poverty of our times, whether in material or in spiritual things, and from the countless errors which are its miserable consequence." (Summi Pontificatus, 52). Thus Pius XII in the 1950s highlighted the need for taking care of the material as well as the spiritual needs of the family, both of which are seriously neglected today. Without an infusion of absolute values and a proper economic structure that takes into consideration the need to empower and protect the family unit against the unwarranted intrusion of outside forces, many of which are inimical to traditional family life, the family as the basic unit of society faces utter dissolution.

Therefore the importance of our gathering here to promulgate the formulation of a new paradigm that will allow individuals and families, as we move towards the 21st century, to address in a fundamental way the causes of poverty, the absence of real economic participation, and spiritual stagnation on the part of the majority, not only in a America, but around the world.

As the basis of my presentation, I refer to the "Universal Declaration on the Sovereignty of the Person Under God" that is being presented for your consideration and signatures. I have been asked to contribute to the draft of the document's section on the family and its importance in the context of universal values upon which the declaration is based. I'd like to quote from the proposed declaration and share with you some thoughts regarding this important subject.

Let me also say for the record that the ideas introduced here on the family have been taken from the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, a global organization working actively in 185 countries and territories, and whose role is to uplift and restore the family to its original ideal. We recognize, however, that parallel with this, a movement for economic empowerment must be advanced to harness the goodwill of the families and to create a better world of justice for all.

The family, as the cornerstone of society, should be the school of true love. In this basic institution, created by God, individuals should be able to learn about and develop the 'Four Great Realms of Heart'. The Four Great Realms of Heart expresses a new understanding of the totality of God's love and therefore human potential to reflect this love as the image and likeness of God.

Man is the imago dei, made in the image of God. Our responsibility in life, in fact, is to perfect the image of God in us, to perfect our "response-ability," our ability to respond to God, especially to the love of God through a loving process that enables our bodies to align themselves totally with the purpose and intent of our original mind. God is the almighty creator, we are created beings. The difference is vast. Yet we are the image of God and are meant to become one with God (God said, "let's make man in our image and our likeness.") "Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect." The only way this can happen is through true love. To become one with God, to become perfect as God is perfect we must not just be loved by God, but learn to love as God loves. We must experience the love of God in all its intended forms. Where can this be done? In the family, which is the original institution established by our creator.

The development of the Four Great Realms of Heart enables individuals-male and female-to become mature in heart, mature in their capacity to give and receive love, mature in the resemblance of invisible God in creating and giving as true sons and daughters-wholesome and complete. As a child, being loved unconditionally by the parents, as brothers and sisters loving each other and living for each other, through the union of man and woman in conjugal love and through the procreation and raising of children. These different forms of intended love are the Four Great Realms of Heart.

True Children's Realm of Heart

True Child's Love: Beyond the natural love of children for their parents, every child should be taught filial piety and reverence for each of his or her parents and God, the source of all true love. Within true child's love, the child's conduct is guided, not by fear, coercion or the desire for personal reward, but by the deep love and empathy the child feels toward each parent and toward God and to avoid the unbearable pain of knowing that he has hurt or betrayed his parent's love.

We relate to God as children relate to their parents and grandparents. The first experience of God's invisible love for the individual is through his parents' unconditional love. This is also our first experience with authority, discipline, laws, and regulations. Through unconditional parental love, and countless giving by the parents, the child is prepared to deal with restrictions imposed upon him or her by the parents. Because of love the child yields to parental authority.

All religions exalt filial piety. (Ten Commandments: Honor your father and mother) Individuals function in society through a process-brake and acceleration tendencies in their behavior, and a series of do's and don'ts. In order for the child to shape his character and accept norms from parents on what to do and not to do-true love, true giving-an unconditional care has to be present otherwise this balance is broken. Lack of parental loves damages a child's heart.

Parents who have not developed good character cannot give true love to their children. Their children's personalities become crippled, unable to relate evenly with all types of people. When children's love is lost later in life they distrust and disobey their elders and all forms of social authority, including teachers, law enforcement officials, etc. Children with damaged hearts often become dysfunctional and live a life of violence and disorder:

In the 1990s, more than one-third of all murders were committed by someone under the age of 21. Since 1960, the juvenile crime rate is up 600%. 135,000 teenagers bring a gun to school daily. Many schools are scenes of senseless violence, one child beats another who accidentally bumps him in the hallway. Such random violence scars children for a lifetime. They also turn to sexual promiscuity, as they seek to fill the void in their hearts from lack of true parental love. The child's conscience is shaped through relationship with parents, the heart of filial piety.

Father's Love: Prov. 3:11-12, 4:3-4. "...as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you." Deut. 8-5

Mother's Love: Hasidic saying: God could not be everywhere at once, so He gave each child a mother." Isa. 66:13, "As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you."

"If the proper bonding and subsequent attachment does not occur-usually between the child and the mother-the child will develop mistrust and a deep-seated rage. He becomes a child without a conscience." Dr. Ken Magid and Carole A. McKelvey, High Risk: Children without a Conscience (New York: Bantam, 1987) , p.3

We receive life and unconditional love from parents which are the image of invisible parents, God. Therefore, we have a debt of life and unconditional love to parents and God.

The child should be taught to create a virtuous circle of receiving love and then giving back love. In this virtuous circle, joy is created. As children grow to adulthood they understand their parents' and grandparents' deepest ideals and longings. Children of filial piety fulfill their parents' dreams to be and to develop as good as they can be. Children should pay the debt of life and love to God and their parents through learning to live through serving others.

One of the greatest forms of filial piety is sexual purity on the part of the child. All parents dream that children will find true joy in marriage and family. Sexual purity is the best foundation for true brother and sister love.

Filial maturity brings spiritual authority. The goal and purpose of children's realm of heart is to learn the way of true love, through practicing filial piety. Children learn to go beyond themselves and become aware of and sensitive to others. Thus children develop the capacity to give of themselves and be responsible for others and grow to become true patriots for the nation, saints for the world and eventually true sons and daughters of God which is our highest possible value and position.

True Brother / Sister Realm of Heart

True Sibling Love: All children should share their love with their brothers and sisters and other family members, and, by extension, with all members of the community. To express this love, every child should be taught to live for others. In the family, as we grow from infancy, we are challenged to master a different level of love from the passive love of the newborn infant to the greater sharing between brothers and sisters, the individual becomes aware that not only does he or she have parents, but also has brothers and sisters or other relatives in the horizontal plane.

With the help of the parents the relationships between siblings do not need to develop in the Cain-Abel type of relationship. But rather, the understanding comes that all siblings are equally loved by their parents and because of my parents' love I have to give myself to my brother and sister. For this to take place, the role of the mother is essential as a peacemaker, unifier and harmonizer of the natural tendencies of competition and rivalries between the siblings. Any negative feelings between the siblings can be resolved in the realm of the love of God under parents. Children should learn to relate to individuals of every sort of personality, becoming big-hearted, generous and caring, learn not to be insecure or grasping in love within the extended family of brothers and sisters, cousins, uncles and aunts and beyond that to neighbors, communities, cities , nation, and the world. These qualities of love cultivated through many mutual relationships make for harmonious individuals and later successful marriages.

Sexual purity is a precondition to mature true sibling love. Children should be allowed to be children and to relate to each other in brotherly and sisterly love devoid of erotic content or spirit. Brotherly and sisterly love should never be confused with the sexual love that should develop at a later stage in preparation for marriage. The tragedy today is that children are misguided through peer pressure either by personal relations or by cultural influence of TV, music, movies, etc. to experience adult situations which damage the children's realms of heart. The tragedy of pre-teens and teenagers to not only lose their sexual purity but prematurely become parents themselves creates an epidemic of children having children with all the consequences of pain, dislocation and broken lives.

In preparation for marriage children should learn to respect and have reverence for their sexual organs and sexual energy as the most supreme and sacred since its through this part of the body and energy that life, love, lineage and conscience are multiplied. No other organ of the body-heart, lung, eyes, stomach-and no other energy has this important function. The girl and the boy should be taught early not to fear or feel dirty about their sexuality, but rather to have a profound respect for it since it is through the capacity of multiplication and continuity of life, love, lineage, and conscience that we truly inherit the attributes of God who is the origin of life, love, lineage, and conscience. Therefore these tools and this energy should be handled after proper training, education, and maturity. The individuals who spread their sexual love cheaply are also spending or wasting the potentiality of true conjugal and parental love.

True conjugal and parental love has two elements: physical and spiritual. Both can be crippled by the experience of cheap, false sexual love. The child should be taught in preparation for true marriage, that within him or her, there is a prototype of a true family. They should be challenged to dream, dream big to see themselves as a happy person, loved and being loved by a partner, children and grandchildren for eternity, since their encounter of the first love always has the ideal element of eternity.

True brother and sister love should eventually mature into a perfect empathy for the extended family from every race and nationality. This love should allow the individual to develop true solidarity with all humanity and the creation, to feel the pain and anguish of those in need of shelter, food, clothing, or health, to fight for justice and freedom for the weak and the voiceless, to restore the beauty and health of the natural environment, and to truly see and feel everyone as one human family under the invisible Fatherhood and Motherhood of God.

True Husband-Wife Realm of Heart

True Conjugal Love: Every child should be taught the responsibilities of true marriage, where both spouses subordinate themselves voluntarily to the sovereignty and dignity of the other, and both give total loyalty and commitment to the well-being, development and happiness of the other. Conjugal life between husband and wife is meant to follow on the maturity of the children's and sibling's realms of heart. Sexual fulfillment is an essential dimension of happiness. Its proper expression occurs in the conjugal love between husband and wife. God created human beings in two kinds and ordained that they become one in sexual love. Genesis suggests that the image of God is not totally to be found in individuals, but in man and women together (God said: "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness....male and female He created them.") Jesus said, "Have you not heard that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female and said, 'for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and become one in flesh?'" So they are no longer two but one flesh. What God has brought together let no one put asunder." Matthew 19:6. Sexual love is not just for procreation, the Bible counsels husband and wife to enjoy each other. "Rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely hind, a graceful doe. Let her affection fill you at all times with delight, be infatuated always in her love." Proverbs 5:18.

All mating behavior in the animal kingdom is for reproduction only but human beings were created to enjoy conjugal love throughout their adult lives. This is because human conjugal love sustains a relationship, both physical and spiritual, soul to soul, as well as body to body. God has given humanity this special privilege as the lord of all creation that we have the blessing of love's unlimited joy. Although sexuality begins with infancy it remains latent through childhood developing deep within in preparation for love's expression, each boy and girl should cultivate his or her love through the child's and fraternal realm of heart. Each develops his or her conscience, the higher manifestation of God within.

Conjugal love is also meant to occur after cultivating and maturing true fraternal love. For couples who have not experienced true fraternal love, marriage has a way of exposing every flaw in each partner's character leading to quarrels and strife. If our love is immature and impartial, sooner or later we will discuss incompatibilities with our partner. Couples will then be tested and may want to divorce and look for that ideal mate with whom they will be completely happy. This is an illusionary dream leading couples nowhere.

Couples should better utilize the challenges of marriage to work on themselves and smooth those sharp edges. When rough rocks are put in a tumbler and ground together eventually they become smooth and lustrous stones. Marriage is a tumbler where we can work to perfect ourselves by surrendering to the sovereignty of each other. The psychologist M. Scott Peck appreciates this aspect of marriage as a arena for spiritual growth, "Marriage is generally the best vehicle for whittling away at our narcissism .... The tentacles for narcissism are subtle and penetrating and must be hacked at one by one, week after week, month after month, year after year."

Ownership of the Sexual Organs.

St. Paul says, "The husband should give to his wife his conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not rule over her own body, but the husband does; likewise the husband does not rule over his own body, but the wife does. Do not refuse one another except perhaps by agreement for a season, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, lest Satan tempt you through lack of self control." 1 Cor. 7:3-5

True conjugal love creates such a unity that the partners belong to each other. The husband is the owner of the wife's sexual organ and the wife is the owner of the husband's sexual organ. Each no longer owns this part since they have surrendered to each other. As was mentioned earlier, the most important organ of the human body-male/female-is the sexual parts and the most important and sacred energy that humans can exchange is the sexual energy due to the fact that through this we can give and multiply life, love, lineage and conscience. If husband and wife have been educated as children to have this kind of respect for their sexuality, then the idea of being unfaithful would be unthinkable. Also, since every embryo in the mother's womb is the carrier and continuity of life, love, lineage, and conscience, the idea of abortion would also be unthinkable.

The highest experience of God's divine love, happens through husband and wife. Just as the bodies of men and women are constructed differently, hard and soft, convex and concave, wide shoulders and wide hips, the marriage relationship requires different roles. The husband gives his seed to his wife; she receives it and allows it to fertilize her womb. The husband is like heaven; the wife is like the earth. Heaven sends rain and scatters its seed on the earth; the seeds sprout and grow within her rich soil. It is the nature of a man to be forthright and initiate love. It is the nature of a woman to be modest and wait for love, to be filled with love which she stores to later give to her children.

The complementary roles of husband and wife in a relationship make for a strong and delightful attraction. In their love, they honor each other's distinctive roles and contribute their different abilities to the welfare of the whole. Moreover, as they become one in love, they revolve about each other in circular motion, moving in and out of each other's roles. In true love, therefore, husband and wife are equal.

Contemporary feminists have advocated absolute equality based on rights not on love. The focus on rights and the neglect of love has a done a disservice to family life. It is paradoxical but true that spurning the natural differences between men and women, feminism has impoverished and weakened the family. Families centered on true love start by honoring the natural diversity of roles out of which loves grows and end by achieving true equality.

Divine conjugal love has two elements of male and female love that comes from the origin, the cosmic mind that exists as the essence and source of male and female love, therefore husband and wife should bring God into their union in sexual love making a conscientious effort to be a vehicle for God's love, male and female to attend and bless each other.

Each man represents cosmic masculinity and as such, masculine divine love. Every women represents cosmic femininity and as such is the vehicle for divine female love. When their relationship brings God to the center, each partner fills the other to the fullest extent.

This experience of true conjugal marriage manifested by God's expression in the love relationship will help them deal with the roughness of character and differences of personality, taste, views, etc. which are sources of conflict, and later, divorce. Love should increase and transform the couple as they grow older in grace to become parents, grandparents, and even great grandparents in love, and after, to continue their eternal union in the realm of the spirit.

True Father and Mother's Realm of Heart

True Parental Love: Just as God offers absolute love to each human as a child of God, every parent should provide unconditional love to each child and raise each one to become a responsible and loving citizen, with a true parental heart beyond the family toward all others and all of creation. The first three stages of the realm of heart allow us to share and experience the heart and love of God, and prepare us for the most significant of the four which is the true father and mother realm of heart. How can we become one with God, share the heart of God, unless in some way we have shared God's experience? But how can we, as creatures, ever share the experience of God as creator, of creating new life out of His love and relating to that new life with unconditional love, a love that does not count the cost?

The answer is that in marriage we can share what it is like to create new life out of love. And as parents we have the opportunity to love our children unconditionally, as God loves us. This more than anything is why marriage and the family is not just a social institution, culturally conditioned, but is the school of love in which we can meet God to a depth not possible in any other way. In resembling God, men and women share His creative nature. They can bear children, just as God created human beings to resemble himself the parents can produce another entity-their child-who can fully resemble themselves. Just as God pours His love into the married couple, they pour their love into the child. When God sees the smile of an exhausted new mother on her hospital bed cradling her new born baby, He recalls His own difficult labor at bringing the creation into birth. There is incredible joy and peace in that moment of communion between the two, the creator and the co-creator, the parents. Here is the starting point of parental love.

In the parental realm of heart, parents share God's creative nature as they invest their love to raise and educate their children. Parental love should be as true and faithful as God's love. In raising their children, parents must be sacrificial, generous, patient and forgiving. In creating the world and conducting his saving work, God gives and gives and forgets what He has given. The parental heart bequeathed to children and grandchildren sees all people, regardless of their nationality, religion, or socio-economic status, as God's sons and daughters. The voice of the weak and the poor is heard, as well as the oppressed, the handicapped, the elderly, and the enfeebled.

Individuals with a mature parental heart experience a deep love and respect towards the creation and the environment. They develop a protective and loving attitude that recognizes our planet's natural resources and the sanctity of this larger home, we call earth and the surrounding cosmos. They will care and leave behind a legacy of a much gentler, caring world for future generations.

Parents want their children to grow up to be successful in life. (Prov. 23:24) Should their child surpass them, they are not jealous. Even Jesus looked to the time when his followers would surpass him, saying, "he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, for I go to the Father."

Parents also share the pain of God as they discipline their children and strive to bring a wayward child back to the right path. God has suffered over the millennia trying to reach out to His people who stubbornly turned their backs to the truth and sank ever more deeply into the mire of fallen life. When a father disciplines a delinquent he feels his child's pain, but his heart aches even more over the fact his offspring's wounds will continue should they remain on the path to ruin. How much more painful it is for the parent when their grown child no longer takes discipline or instruction. What then can do to bring a prodigal son or daughter to their senses? Until they decide to change of their own free will their parents can only endure in silence, just like God has endured for thousands of years.

Our Hope

In these diverse ways, the parental realm of heart affords us opportunity to fully embody the love of God. Parents share God's nature. They embody God. When their child sees them, he sees God. This is the perfection of the Four Great Realms of heart when human beings and God become inseparably one. By cultivating the parental realm of heart we complete the purpose for which God created which is the purpose of our life. We call such complete human beings true parents.

Upon becoming true parents, people then initiate a new cycle of the Four Great Realms of heart in their families. Their parental love for their child induces in him a loving response which flowers as children's love. As they bear more children, their love for each child unites them in bonds of fraternal love. Furthermore, by inculcating the ethic of sexual purity in their children they are preparing them for the day when they can stand before the altar as brides and bridegrooms and enter the realm of conjugal love. Through their constant love and guidance, the parents help the next generation to fulfill the Four Great Realms of Heart and grow into the new generation of true parents. Generation after generation, the parents use their authority and wisdom to bring their family to its fruition.

To reemphasize, as previously stated, in marriage and as parents we can share what it is like to create new life out of love and have the opportunity to love our children unconditionally as God loves us. This more than anything is why the family is not just a social institution, culturally conditioned, but it is the school of true love, in which we can meet God to a depth not possible in any other way. And the road to achieve this is the development of the Four Great Realms of Heart.

Antonio L. Betancourt is the Executive Director of the Summit Council for World Peace, the Association for the Unity of Latin America (AULA), the Deputy Secretary General of the Federation for World Peace, and President of the World Institute for Development and Peace.

The Emergence of a Marriage Culture

Diesa Seidel

Diesa Seidel is 17 years old and attending high school in Red Hook. This is a paper she wrote for her English class. Her parents Dietrich and Elisabeth are from the 74 Couples Blessing (in New York 1977).

We now live in a culture which believes the need for marriage and family is a thing of the past. From the nineteenth century industrial revolution to the late twentieth century sexual revolution, the need for a vision of marriage has been crucial to society. As times change, so do our values. The question arises whether it is an acceptable change. However, are we happier now than we were fifty years ago, or is America on a moral decline?

One aspect of change which has affected our standard of living is the misunderstanding of personal fulfillment. Lifestyles have become more and more hedonistic, which is reflected in our contemporary culture of self-gratification. The well-being of the whole is now second to well-being of the individual. How can a community work together if everyone is only interested in his/her status? How can a marriage be successful if the husband and wife only care about their individual happiness? Thus, the foundation of prosperous societies are stable marriages within them.

Another factor which has changed marriage culture has been the declining value of the institution itself. Whether one takes the secular or religious point of view, the outcome is the same. The vows which are taken reflect a lifelong commitment; however, there are exceptions. From 1900 to 1992 there was a 700% increase in divorces, 56,000 to 1.2 million. Other statistics show that within six months of their marriage, 50% of newlyweds begin to doubt the marriage will last, 39% report weekly big fights, and 4% have separated for at least one night. How can modern society find time to strengthen families in its hectic technological uprise? Now that divorce is accepted as an easy way out of commitment, can Americans ever regain the responsibilities necessary for a valued lifestyle?

These changes produce a lack of obligation and dedication in many fields of life (not only marriage), which results in a low self-image and a pessimistic outlook on life. To restore the present condition of the marriage institution, it will take a selfless attitude and unconditional devotion to that one spouse.

Most people would agree that marriage expectations and traditions have altered during the years. The chart demonstrates marriage in changing times.

---

By interpreting the chart above, marriage life has become less and less valuable. Not only has it begun to lose its high moral standing, but it has also begun to diminish completely. In 1960, for example, 243,000 children were living with a single parent who had never married; by 1993, this figure had risen to 6.3 million. National studies have confirmed that between 1970 and 1995 the percentage of married couples with children dropped by a third, but single-parent families nearly doubled. The need to change our present practice of marriage is urgent.

Does marriage lead to a more fulfilling life? Many liberals have argued that marriage is an outdated formality, and is nothing more than a convenience, to avoid the censure of society, for example. If two people are willing to commit their lives to each other, then marriage is unnecessary. Obviously these thinkers have misinterpreted or have not fully understood the concept of marriage. If this train of thought holds true for America, what lies ahead for the future? Are we living up to standard?

According to "The Family in America," some Russian communist groups eagerly experimented with alternatives to marriage and family. This emphasizes the point that successful married life is crucial for the well-being of a nation. Will we enter the new millennium with absurd family living conditions? How can we change the present apathy toward this institution?

Marriage is a very practical institution which recognizes and makes allowances for human failings. Simply living together without benefit of marriage does not provide the security of knowing that this is forever. The most important factor about marriage is that it is a community building act from the very beginning. Living together, on the other hand, implies that the relationship is nobody’s business but one’s own and has no community blessing to go along with it. Single couples tend to feel quite alone when problems arise in their relationships, since the community may feel it is none of its business. However, the striving for individualism in American culture has brought people to believe that it is a sign of weakness to admit that we need others. If we can accept marriage as a community event, surpassing our selfish ideals would be an easier task.

In an interview in the Washington Times, Tiger Woods and his parents Earl and Tida expressed their beliefs in the importance of family life. "Your priority is the welfare of the child first. Who he is and what is going into making him a good person has priority over making him a good athlete. The cement that holds all of this together is not love, because love is a given. It is respect and trust. Parents figure they don’t have to earn diddly from a child. That’s not true". This shows how important it is for parents and children to work together throughout various circumstances in life. It also emphasizes the importance of keeping everything in perspective, and always having a clear goal. Tiger Woods, the winner of three straight U.S. Amateur titles and three straight U.S. Junior Amateur titles, was obviously the player of the future. Woods became the youngest man to win the Masters with his record-breaking 18-under par performance on April 13. Unquestionably, without the full support of his father and mother, Tiger Woods could not have been as successful as he is today.

Recently statistics have shown that 12 to 18 months after the divorce "family after family are still in crisis, their wounds wide open.... Their symptoms were worse than they had been immediately after the divorce.... It would have been hard to find any other group of children-except, perhaps, the victims of a natural disaster-who suffered such a rate of sudden serious psychological problems" (Wallerstein). Children ages 19-23 of divorced families have surprised researchers with how scarred they have become from their own parents’ divorce. They implied how divorce was the single most important cause of enduring pain throughout their lives, as well as telling us time and again of how much they needed a family structure, guidance for moral behavior and so forth.

The following points are from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development:

1. Divorce is the leading cause in childhood depression.

2. 75% of adolescent patients at chemical abuse centers are from single-parent families.

3. Every 78 seconds a child attempts suicide; every 90 minutes, one succeeds.

4. 63% of youth suicides are single-parent children.

5. 70% of teenage pregnancies are single-parent children.

6. 75% of juveniles in youth correction facilities are from single-parent families.

Martin Luther and Pope John Paul II called the family "the school of love" and "the school of peace" respectively. Pres. Bill Clinton, in his 1996 State of the Union address, stated: "Our first challenge is to cherish our children and strengthen America’s family. Families are the foundation of American life. If we have stronger families, we will have a stronger America." If stronger families are the key to a successful nation, then how do we make them? First of all, the experiences which form our character take place in the family. Without a stable relationship between their father and mother, it becomes extremely difficult for children to learn teamwork harmoniously with each other as brothers and sisters. Many children from broken marriages tend to find it difficult to form a stable marriage; some find it difficult even to hold a steady job.

Another survey concluded that Americans value lifelong marriage and parenthood less than they did a generation ago. After a divorce, the children tend to remain with their mother. Thus, it seems that the relationship between child and mother would strengthen; however, the mother-child bond is also weakened as a result of divorce. About 50% of all children who were close to their mothers before divorce remained equally close after divorce. Nicholas Zill’s studies have found other long term effects, such that family disruption strongly affects school achievement. Children in disrupted families are nearly twice as likely as those from intact families to drop out of high school.

Another problem which results from the failure of marriage is that of the teens who end up on the streets. When they run away from home, they are usually not running away from a healthy home. Robert W. Sweet, Jr. of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, stressed the importance of family background.

As we can see, today’s marriage institution needs rebuilding. More and more people have realized the crucial importance of a successful marriage, and the responsibilities they must pass on to their children. Since today’s marriage is badly wounded, society is full of instability. This creates a need for reversing the cultural trend of attacking the institution of marriage. The Council on Families in America urges the public to participate in a national discussion on "recreating a marriage culture." (Marriage in America: A Report to the Nation, March 1995, p. 5) From political leaders to all-star athletes, the emphasis on having a strong family remains the same in all areas. Whether it be to strengthen the nation of just to feel supported in everyday life, the family plays an enormous role in the development of our lives.

More and more psychologists and other researchers have begun to realize how the effects of dysfunctional marriage (or divorce) on children have been underestimated. As Albert Schweitzer put it, "Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will-his personal responsibility in the realm of faith and morals."

It is this agenda of an internal change of human beings which will be the driving force for creating a marriage culture. In its essence, it is a change of the human heart from selfishness to unselfishness.

Can America increase the levels of its standards? What would America be like without broken families, out-of-wedlock childbirth, divorces, and stepparents? Would we be living in the same type of society? We may continue to deny the effects of family disintegration, but the evidence is overwhelming that strong families will improve American society as a whole.

The Cosmic Sabbath Is Declared!

I attended the very special ceremony in Korea when True Father established the eighth holy day--July 7. He called it the Seven-Eight Day. The Seven-Eight Day consists of eight sevens. Father proclaimed it this year, 1997 in the seventh month, on the seventh day, the seventh hour, the seventh minute, the seventh second and it is True Father's seventy-seventh birth year. And so we gathered for the Celebration of Seven-Eight Day.

At that time, Father proclaimed the "Realm of the Cosmic Sabbath for Parents of Heaven and Earth." Or in Korea we say, Chunji Pumo Chunju Ahnsik-gwon Sunpo. This means, Parents of Heaven and Earth. Who are Parents of Heaven and Earth? God is Parent of Heaven and True Parents are Parents of Earth. The Father is the Parent of Heaven and the Mother is the Parent of Earth. Heavenly Parents are vertical and Earth Parents are horizontal. Heaven's Parents are internal Parents and Earth's Parents are external Parents. Heavenly Parents are the invisible God and the Parents of Earth are the visible God, True Parents. This is what is meant by "Parents of Heaven and Earth."

We also need to know the meaning of Cosmic Sabbath. "Sabbaoth," the Hebrew word from the Old Testament era means 'rest'. God created the Earth in six days and on the seventh day He did sabbaoth, he rested, ahnsik.

The meaning of ahn would be the following: In a house there is a mother; the mother always prepares a very comfortable, very peaceful and serene atmosphere. Sik means: a mind that is free and peaceful; a body that is free. In other words, in our home we live a free, peaceful and comfortable life because that atmosphere has been created by our loving and peaceful mother.

We already celebrate seven official holy days in our church, but Father said this eighth one is the most important day of all. There is a key point here that I would like to convey: Within this new holy day, this Sabbath, there are eight elements: 1) with unity of mind and body one becomes an individual House of Sabbath; 2) husband and wife united become a House of Sabbath; 3) a family united becomes House of Sabbath; 4) a tribe united becomes House of Sabbath; 5) a nation united becomes House of Sabbath; 6) a world united becomes House of Sabbath; 7) the cosmos or Heaven and Earth united becomes House of Sabbath; and 8) God united becomes House of Sabbath. So here are our eight Houses.

Everything begins with mind/body unity. That is the most important, fundamental issue, because Sabbath must begin on the individual level. Principally and theologically we need to develop a good definition and explanation of mind/body unity. God wants to dwell within the individual House of Sabbath. He needs to dwell inside our mind and body. Just as our mind dwells within our body, so God wants to dwell there. He wants to rest within our mind. If one asks "who or what is God?" ...God is love. (1 John 4:8) As a person begins a spiritual walk they realize God is love. This is the greatest of all realizations. We find 'love' printed in the Bible more than any other word.

God sent so many prophets to Earth to speak for Him. That tells us how much God loves us. God is love. For our sake He sent many special people to tell us about Him. That is the greatest expression of His love. God always forgives us, supports and protects us. He loves us with a true parental heart, with a true teacher's heart and a true owner's heart. John is known as the disciple of love. This is because he received such amazing love from Jesus. True Father himself quotes most often from John's words: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son... (John 3:16)

Jesus Christ 2000 years ago brought the message of good news of the Kingdom of God. "Repent," he said, "the Kingdom of God will come soon." What is the Kingdom of God? Christian theologians cannot give a clear explanation of these words because Jesus gave symbolisms for the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven. Clearly, the contents defining the atmosphere of the Kingdom of God is JOY and HAPPINESS--a very joyful world. Everybody can agree on this. And if we ask, "where is the Kingdom of God?" just as the Bible says "it is within you." (Luke 17:21)

House of Sabbath means that God dwells there. And if God dwells there, it means that it is the Kingdom of God. Isn't that logical? In the 2,000 years of Christianity, believers have not been able to establish the Kingdom because it begins within themselves and even God's people are always looking outside themselves when seeking the Kingdom. "If we change this society, the Kingdom of God will come on Earth," they say. Or "if we can bring about a [political] revolution on Earth, that will bring the ideal." Marx, Lenin and Stalin thought this way. They hoped to bring to the society, nation and world a systemic human society.

We know that with mind and body unity we become Temples of God; Almighty God, the God of True Love can dwell within my heart; He will guide me, inspire me. So our words, our thinking, our expressions, our lifestyle will be divine, God-like. We enter perfection. Jesus said, You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matt. 5:48)

The Kingdom of God on Earth has not come because our minds and bodies have not been ready for God to dwell here. Instead, God has continued to guide us, inspire us and supervise and rule our lives through prophets and religions. We did not permit God to dwell within us individually or to dwell collectively in our society and world.

In the Beatitudes of Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.. (Matt: 5:8) If your heart is pure, you will see God. Also he said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God. (Matt. 5:9)

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matt. 5:10) If you are persecuted that means you are dedicated and you are putting forth effort, investing for a righteous world; then you will gain the Kingdom of God.

When we make mind and body unity, we become pure in heart, develop a peaceful and righteous personality and desire to sacrifice for God and the Messiah. But we will not see the Kingdom of God if we practice evil ways which are contrary to the Kingdom. We can learn about evil practices through the following verses in the Bible:

That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man. (Mark 7:20-23)

But I say to you, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in oppostion to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery. enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

(Gal. 5:16-21)

How can the Kingdom of God come into us if we are living in any of these evil ways? It cannot happen. This kind of divided flesh and mind cannot find unity. It is centered on satanic love. We must overcome this fallen, satanic nature and reverse the process by the Blessing. Through the Blessing, God and True Parents give undying, eternal new life; through the Holy Wine Ceremony we can receive the seed of new life.

Jesus said, ...Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. (John 3:3) We must be born again. After we are reborn, we need to grow. Just as children who are born physically must grow over a period of time, so we must grow after our birth (or rebirth). So again, when we get the Blessing, we are given the 'potential' to change ourselves into divine personalities, with changed hearts and minds and bodies. Then we can say we are the image of God, children of God, citizens of the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven.

We must invest our effort to develop our human personality and unite our mind and body in order to become children of God. Or as Jesus said in the book of Mark: The foremost [commandment] is, HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH. the second is this: YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29-31) True Father quotes these verses so often.

With God dwelling in our heart, our heart and soul become completely mobilized to unite with God, have give and take with God and take care of God, This is the most important commandment. And physically, horizontally we must love our spouse, our family, neighbors, nation and world. This is developing a goodness of heart, a divine heart. We also need good, fresh and divine physical bodies.

St. Paul said in Galatians, For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:22-24)

St. Paul said clearly, if you have the nine fruits of the Spirit mentioned above, your life will become a divine life, a God-like life. We can experience this kind of life on Earth, in our physical bodies.

I strongly urge everyone to work at uniting their mind and body. This is True Father's constant teaching to us. He knows we have not achieved this completely. He knows everything begins at that point.

This is the fundamental cornerstone for world peace; this is the cornerstone for the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven; and this is the cornerstone for the House of Sabbath for God and True Parents. It is important for us to realize this.

Some members say they do not want to give the Blessing to others because their personal and family situation is not happy so how are they to go out and inspire others? I developed an answer to this: Please go out regardless and knock on doors. Observe what is behind the doors--broken families, single-parent households, struggling, unhappy people. This is among believers as well as nonbelievers. Then look at your own family. It is still intact. It still maintains itself with no divorce. This is the power of the Blessing. In comparison to other families, your family looks good and you have to be grateful. It is not yet perfect, but God and True Parents have given the Seed of Life to us, the potential for perfection for the ideal blessed family. We have to receive this seed and grow it to perfection by working the soil, investing our 95% responsibility; love and serve our spouse and our family. This way we gain victory.

There are some couples who have not invested in their own marriage. They have not served their marriage with gratitude and repentence. They have not paid the necessary indemnity nor sacrificed with True Love (living for the sake of others). If I say of my own marriage, "it is not happy because of Mrs. Pak," that is wrong. If my marriage is unhappy, it is because of me. That is how we must think. My practice of love, my dedication, my attitude, my personal standards, my character, my lifestyle is not ideal for my wife. So I could say then that my family is not happy yet "because of me." Too often couples point the finger of accusation at their spouse. This has been the basic cause of trouble in families. If you are not a happy blessed person, then the first step is to repent within yourself, not pass the blame to someone else.

President John Kennedy spoke his famous words to his fellow Americans: "ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country." Well, this must also be our attitude toward our family, our mission, our nation, our world and toward God.

Knowing all this, can we still say we cannot give the Blessing to others because our own life is not happy? No. Do we all start out in married life without problems? Impossible. In my own marriage we had to work out many things, change ourselves, our attitudes to make it a good marriage. It takes work! Our children learn from this. They also benefit from every problem that is worked out. They see the parents' unity in working things out and they appreciate and are proud when they can be in a peaceful, loving atmosphere.

When the wife and husband are always struggling and fighting, the house is a fearful place; broken or divorced families make our second generation suffer so much. We all know, including psychologists and scholars, that crime, drugs, alcohol, all the troubles of youth, come from the family in crisis. The whole world crisis stems from one big factor--the troubled family. And the family crisis comes from our own mind and body disunity.

We need to make the family House of Sabbath by creating husband/wife unity. We need to repent individually, saying "Heavenly Father, I am not grown up yet; I am so sorry; without my husband, without my wife, I am only half of a small cosmos, I am handicapped. Because of my wife, my husband, I can become perfect, a perfected cosmos. Without husband, without wife, we cannot have eternal life in the Kingdom of God. Joy and happiness are impossible.

Christian churches always encourage individual salvation, not husband and wife, not family. That is an Archangel religion. Unification Church is a family church. We next need a House of Sabbath for tribes. We are urged to reach for a goal of 185 couples and we can understand the value of this number. To bless, educate and develop these tribes requires a great deal of love on the part of our families.

Next we need restoration of the nation. For that, True Father has sent out National Messiahs to 185 nations of the world. They must reach every facet of society in their nations and educate their nations.

In Blessing successes, Korea was the #1 nation (with well over a million); #2 was the Philippines (952,000); #3 was Nigeria (748,000); #4 was Ghana (658,000). These nations received awards. Now Sudan has stepped up as #1.

Father knew Jesus was happy with all this success so Father was happy.

To reach these goals, in these nations, was not an easy thing. But with the help of Heaven they did it.

America is the Bride country to receive the Bridegroom so America should be #1 in the 36 milion couple Blessing. We must work to attain this so that Jesus' heart can be healed. America has been prepared to receive the Lord of the Second Advent. Should America be #1 in Blessing numbers because it is a super country? No. Or because it is a powerful and rich country? No. Because of Jesus Christ. That's why it should be in the lead.

Just as national messiahs in all nations are responsible to bring many Blessing couples, so American state and district leaders should think of themselves as equivalent to national messiahs during this time and work very hard to bring up their Blessing quotas. There are districts and states that have far more numbers in areas than some of the nations out there with national messiahs so you should feel this same responsibility. Especially in this Christian nation of America. For the sake of God, Jesus and True Parents we must fulfill our heavenly responsibility.

People are so inspired as we share with them this worldwide movement for True Families and Blessing '97. As tribal leaders we can proudly take the good news to our communities as the Willet family did in Kentucky, reaching out to their whole community, kindling the fire of enthusiasm.

The Willets are a good example of how we make a House of Sabbath for Tribal Messiahs.

America has made some success. We have six Indian nations (tribes) belonging to the Blessing now. I was asked to give a report on North American Blessings while I was in Korea. This was significant. There were important leaders from all around the world present there. This is really revival time for America. After the report was given, many leaders told me how inspired they were by the report and how secure it made them feel to hear the report.

The world looks to America. It expects great things from America. From you and I. Are we going to fulfill our heavy--and glorious--responsibility. Do we dare to be lazy or disunited! If we do not bring victory, then all the world and the spiritual world as well will bring blame and shame upon us! Especially the East Coast, New York and Washington, DC areas in particular. These are vital areas. We have received so much benefit here. We eat good and do not have to sacrifice so much in comparison to other countries.

For example, in my new nation of Switzerland, my son In Ho and his wife Eun Jin returned to New York after a visit there this summer and told the story of how the Japanese National Messiah Mr. Wada, went out on the streets witnessing to the Blessing, not knowing the language at all and sacrificing so much, not even eating much food. My son was so impressed. so touched by seeing what Mr. Wada was doing that he turned over to Mr. Wada the couples he and Eun Jin had blessed while there. Before starting the second generation workshop which In Ho went there to lead, their couple had witnessed publicly to some very substantial people.

So here in New York, in America, we must be very grateful for what we have compared to other countries. We must change our attitudes and begin to sacrifice more and work harder. The more we Bless here, the more the spiritual world benefits. We must also consider Registration. More and more is being revealed. There will probably be a horizontal registration as well as a vertical registration. So it is wise to continue Blessings even after you have reached your quotas.

Dr. Hendricks has produced a letter for the nation giving regional successes so we must keep a competitive spirit. A few members are near or over 1,000.

This is the season of harvest! Also, Dr. Hendricks' office will be forthcoming with material to educate our Blessing couples.

We have a good standard in giving the Blessing in America. We explain the Blessing, we give holy wine and water, we pray, we have good registration forms, we give beautiful certificates, we take pictures. We must continue this way. We should go to the best and worst places, we should go day and night. This is how Satan works so we should too. 360,000 is too small a number for big America. We should determine to go much higher.

We must also update our database quickly. This is our Book of Life. The nation needs its Book of Life. This is our great year in America, our great honor to have this Blessing in Washington, DC. We must take this seriously.

The spiritual world is working actively with us. This is our time for success.

This November 29 is our opportunity of a lifetime! We must think victory, not defeat. We must go down in history as having brought victory at this unusual event, at this special time in history. So we witness, we record, we educate and we bring one bus (20 couples) each and we will bring easy victory.

In John's Revelation 22:2 John said the Tree of Life has a lot of fruit, for a season, but Jesus most hated and cursed the fig tree, because it was devoid of fruit. We do not want to be barren trees before True Parents.

True Father arrived in America twenty-five years ago. I was there. There were few to welcome him. But he promised God at that time that he would practice True Love and sacrifice more than any American founding father or pioneer had done for this country. How much support and love have all of us received from True Father! Priceless Blessing, good missionary positions, protection, always giving us vision and hope. But what have we given True Parents?

Before declaring the "Realm of the Cosmic Sabbath for Parents of Heaven and Earth" Father delivered a most deep and emotional prayer. I have never seen Father so tearful as he poured out his gratitude to God, as he comforted God in remembering God's own loneliness, and True Father's lonely and dangerous path in restoration. Under God's protection, he practiced True Love and is now on the Top of the World. He is the Bright Sunlight and the Bright Moonlight. This is our True Parents. He declared to God: "Now You can rest, now You can relax. This world will now become Your nation, Your world, Your cosmos."

In Switzerland, there is a Catholic theologian and scholar of ethics, Hans Kung, who was excommunicated because his teachings were not compatible with the teachings of the Church. He is known worldwide for his ethical thoughts. Right now he is writing his 'world ethics' which he worked on in conjunction with the UN. Kung said "Today's world is so individualistic, losing the value system, losing tradition, losing integrity, losing all good things. The world is becoming more and more selfish. Struggle is coming." What does Kung give as a solution? "Only one thing: practice love." That is the answer. As Jesus and True Parents taught, "live for others; practice True Love." It is the solution for world peace. We must make our individual self the House of God, our husbands and wives, our families, our nation, world and cosmos. It is not yet time for completion, but we must get started. It will be fulfilled soon. This is the meaning of the Seven-Eight Holy Day. 

Some News On The Tiempos Del Mundo Front

by Paul Greene-Panama City, Panama

With everything totally focused towards blessing related activities, I thought it might be nice to share some news on one of the other major activities of Father's works in Latin America-the newspaper Tiempos del Mundo.

Most, if not all, of the open bureau offices of Tiempos del Mundo have had their inaugurations to officially introduce the newspaper to the general public. Several of the different countries where Tiempos del Mundo held an inauguration were successful.

Two countries (Nicaragua and Ecuador) had their inaugurations attended by the national president of their respective countries; in Panama our principal VIP speaker was the Minister of Government and Justice (along with Ambassador Phillip Sanchez). In Panama, our paper was, with one exception, very well received by the other sources of media in town (TV stations and newspapers). I got interviewed by two TV stations and appeared on the nightly news for a couple days in a row. Most bureau managers in other countries had similar experiences with their newspapers.

In Honduras, the bureau manager managed to introduce the newspaper to a contact who was a member of the Honduran Congress, who in turn introduced Tiempos del Mundo to the table of each and every Congressional member. Many of the congressman were very excited by this newspaper and made some very flattering public comments about it (a bit amazing considering the intensity of negativity towards our founder that exists in Central America at the moment).

The newspaper itself has a very beautiful graphic design that elicits a lot of "oohs!" and "ahs" from anyone who looks at it. It's also a consistent 80 pages every week (TDM is a weekly for now); there isn't a lot of advertising yet, so it's about 80 pages of real "meat"; there's more actual journalistic content in the newspaper than in an issue of "Time" or "Newsweek". I haven't had even a single person, no matter how negative they might be to our founder, criticize the newspaper itself.

Most newspapers in Latin America are run by people who have a certain "agenda" behind it; i.e. to support a particular political interest, promote the interests of some wealthy family, or some other less than altruistic motivation. Tiempos del Mundo is like a breath of fresh air; it's independent of nationalistic interests or the interests of a particular political party. I think this is really the thing that appeals to most people because our quality of journalism is very high.

We are also currently distributing the newspaper in New York City and Washington DC, and will be expanding to other American markets that have a sizable Spanish speaking population as well.

Restoration of Manhattan Center ‘Opera House’ Ceiling

by Richard L. Lewis-NYC

The Holy Wedding of True Parents’ youngest sons on September 6 (see front page story) marked the official opening of the old Opera House in its new incarnation as the Hammerstein Ballroom of the Manhattan Center.

For over a decade this space has been fit for only storage but, in a remarkably short space of time, the space has been transformed. While the renovation is by no means complete-it is not ready to resume its career as an Opera House yet-it is well on its way and was a glorious venue for both the blessing and the banquet.

Perhaps the most startling transformation on public display for the first time at the Wedding was the grand mural on the ceiling. When the hall was first built it had a beautiful, classical mural painted on the ceiling but this had deteriorated almost completely over the years. The previous owners of the building (now owned by HSA-UWC and leased to Manhattan Center Studios) had installed a drop ceiling at the level of the third balcony to save on heating and cooling expenses and its supports pierced the mural and further damaged it.

With the false ceiling removed the full extent of the ruin became apparent-little of the original ornate plaster work remained and only a faded remnant of the painting. Luckily, sufficient had survived the ravages of time to at least get an idea of what was there originally.

The first plan for the restoration of the ceiling came to an abrupt halt last autumn when the contractor came up with a quote of $1,400,000 to plaster and $265,000 to paint with a time frame of two years. The deadline for completion, however, was April 1997-just seven months away so it became clear that if the ceiling restoration was to be done at all it would have to be in-house.

Plastering

The first step that had to be accomplished was the plaster work-the 60 by 40 foot ornate surrounding oval as well as the background to receive the painted mural.

Gregorio Villafana-temporarily relinquishing his position as telecommunications manager for MC-took responsibility for this aspect of the project as he had experience from the restoration of the New Yorker Hotel lobby and Grand Ballroom. In an interview with the Unification News he went over what was involved in this aerial undertaking.

One of the first problems he faced in pulling together a team was the paucity of talent-such baroque plaster work being a lost art in the city. Much to his surprise, all of those with the desired skills who answered his advertisements were from South America where ornate plaster is till a thriving industry, apparently. Eventually a team of sixteen men was assembled and the project began.

Next was how to get at the ceiling.

Its loft of over 150 feet above the floor-which had mainly been removed, anyway, by other works-in-progress-made scaffolding impracticable. The solution was a platform in five sections that was hoisted on steel cables passing through the ceiling. In some cases, the holes drilled for the old false ceiling could be used, in others, new holes had to be drilled to get at the steel skeleton of the building.

Even though the inevitable complications made it take six weeks longer than planned to get the work platform up there, they stuck to the same schedule and just worked faster. For all this, Gregorio was happy to report that no major accidents befell them.

The result was, practically speaking, a whole new work floor that stretched from wall to wall just below the ceiling.

Much of the complicated moldings-especially the four large scrolls-were cast by Monumental Construction in Washington DC whose proprietor, a church supporter, deferred other customers to fit in with their schedule. Much valuable advice also came from this source. Smaller molds were created in-house.

Bit by bit the moldings-hollowed to make them lighter-were cemented into place and, in the period of October through May, the work was completed.

As Gregorio noted, the ceiling is just the most visible and dramatic part of the restoration work being done and that many other ‘minor miracles’ were being accomplished.

Time being of the essence, as the plastering proceeded the painters were right behind them finishing off the great frame of the mural in gold, green and cream.

While all this was going on, the mural itself was being prepared.

The Mural

The artist for the mural was Alistair Farrant whose regular role at MC is that of audio editor.

He recalled, in an interview, being peripherally involved with the mural back in 1980 when Jan Parker, Watanabe and Carlo Zacherelli-artists of renown in the Unification community-arrived from Europe to attempt the task. While they accomplished much-their great paintings decorated the World Mission Center for years-somehow the mural itself was never started. When Alistair-renowned in Manhattan Center circles for painting sensational stage backdrops-was approached last year with the opportunity to accomplish this long-delayed project, he had mixed emotions about taking on such an monumental task. Eventually, however, his heartistic sense of Father’s original purpose for the building won out and he took on the task in July of last year.

While he was waiting for the working platform to be constructed, he embarked on two months of research. One thing he tried to track down was the name of the original artist-to no avail-and a large swath of the original that had been removed years ago probably as a keepsake-also to no avail. One thing he did have was a faded, old newspaper photo of the ceiling which, at least, gave a him an idea of the original composition.

Examination of blow-ups of this newspaper photo revealed, after much confusion, that the original theme was that of a heavenly orchestra tuning up just before cherubs closed the curtains on this opening to the sky-a pre-show moment.

Alistair also had great hopes in the few remaining fragments of the original-three cherubs and a part of the false balcony were still in place.

One major decision had to be made early-paint onto the ceiling in the style of Michelangelo or, as was eventually settled on, to paint onto canvas and then "wallpaper" the ceiling with it.

While the work space looks like a perfect oval, it is not. So, with the platform in place, Alistair started tracing the ceiling onto acetate to get the exact shape. He bemoaned the fact that he was actually not able to get all of the original as some of it got pulled down by a work team before he was able to get to it.

Eventually the ellipse-54’ long by 36’ wide-was transferred from the acetate onto the canvas-one half at a time-in an empty space that used to be a Manufactures Hanover bank branch.

Thus the work began on eighteen canvases each 18 by 6 foot.

The basic ideas for the work were captured in sketches of the whole and the details with friends acting as models to get the poses correct-which generated some competition as everyone wanted to be "immortalized" on the ceiling.

A problem that Alistair encountered at this early state was that the original work had not got the perspective of the false balcony correct. Should he retain this flaw in the original or correct it? With the decision to do it right came an unexpected week of pouring over math books to figure out the correct perspective. In the new version, all the vertical lines in the false balcony are actually all on rays emanating from the center of the ellipse.

Draping the canvases over pipes, Alistair next projected his drawings onto the canvas and traced the outlines onto the canvas.

With the drawings now on them, the canvases were laid out on the floor of the ballroom and, with assistant Tomohino Torikai, he started to "slop on" gallons of paint with golf club-like paint brushes. First on was the sky and clouds followed by the figures. The New York Times sent a photographer who captured this stage of the project on film.

Naturally there were challenges, one being that others needed to use the ballroom. The canvases had to be removed back to hang on pipes until the space was free again. Alistair explained this need for mobility was one of the reasons why the work was done in quick-drying, flexible acrylic paint rather than in oils. This choice, however, gave rise to another problem: while oil paint stays the same color as it dries, acrylic gets darker and getting the right look became a problem-as did painting out the seams once the canvas was in place.

With the canvases completed, the next step was to call in professional wallpaper hangers to glue them up on the ceiling. Alistair testified to their skill noting that the glue that had to be used was quick drying and very, very strong. Attempting to remove it after even a few minutes would take the plaster along with it-as happened when a cable being used by a construction rigger snagged on the canvas and pulled a dinner plate-sized chunk of the plaster away. The first piece up was the most tricky-the huge canvas had to be positioned perfectly-and the two-man crew got it right the first time-they were "worth every penny" as Alistair put it.

Once it was up it was possible to see it in its proper perspective from the main floor with all its strengths and weaknesses. The seams were still a problem and some figures had to be reworked. With the work floor now removed, the only way to get at the mural was at the end of an extended cherry picker. This, as Alistair recalled, had a delightful habit of jerking downwards a few inches ever so often, usually when he was busy applying paint.

Eventually, the work was all finished-he thought. The evening before the Holy Wedding Father was given a tour of the building to see the progress of the renovations. He was very impressed by the mural but thought, as a finishing touch, the expanse of sky in the center should be adorned with the sun, moon and twelve stars representing the gates of heaven. Practical as ever, Louise Honey of the MC staff shot off a question: "You want a crescent moon or a full moon?" It is to be a full one apparently.

For those who missed the Wedding it is possible to get a good overview of the progress of the Opera House-oops, the Hammerstein Ballroom-on the MC web page at: www.mcstudios.com.

Philippine Blessing Education By Radio

by Federico V. Niduasa and Wolfgang Schawaller-FFWPU Philippines

About 90% of the nation’s population (70 million people) are tuned to 283 AM radio stations in the Philippines. There are five 50-Kilowatt stations with national coverage, six 20-Kilowatts’ with 200 ~300 Kilometer’ range and the rest of the radio stations are local based stations with 5~10 kilowatts’ with 30~50 kilometer’s range. Our first live radio program was aired last January 26, 1997, few days after the start of our national mobilization. It was aired in DWBL 1242 KHz, Metro Manila, every Sunday at 9:30 - 11:00 p.m. When the number of Pre-Blessing Couples had increased in the provinces, in a period of 6 months, we opened 11 more radio programs in 11 local radio stations in major key cities.

We visited first the major radio stations, then we discussed with the station manager of their available time slot, preferably from 7:00~10:00 p.m. during weekends. This is the time when the prospect listeners are already in their homes. It is very common here in the Philippines for any radio station to sell time slots during weekends. Most blocktimers (buyers) are religious groups. During Saturday and Sunday nights, AM radio stations are saturated with religious programs. Our program proposals to station managers is the most sought program-family values !

Format:

The length of the program ranges from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours, depending on station’s available time slot. This is our basic format.

1. Introduction of the Program: This is to introduce the program, the sponsoring organization, its purpose and the benefits that can offer to the listeners. (With background music - 50-60 seconds)

2. Greetings from the Hosts: Two hosts is livelier in radio broadcast. This is to greet the listeners and to introduce the hosts, their backgrounds and little bit of their social status. Qualified broadcasters with thorough knowledge on the subject matter is very important for the listeners. (With separate background music - 60 - 90 seconds)

3. Explanation of Tonight’s Program: This is to explain the main topic of today’s broadcasts. For 1st broadcast - it is advisable to explain the purpose of the FFWPU and the reason why we are conducting Pre-Blessing Ceremonies. We also explain the different steps of the Blessing Ceremony and its significance (first, a practical explanation, deeper one will be later. In the Philippines, we introduce Rev. & Mrs. Moon as True Parents over the radio. (With soft background music... fading - 60-90 seconds.)

4. Dialogue - Part 1: To keep the listeners tuned-in to the program, the presentation should not be in lecture or sermon style but in lively dialogue between the hosts. Topics include today’s reality but focus mainly on family problems, roots of problems, Introduction to the Principle, etc. (Not more than 15 minutes - no background music).

5. Musical Piece No. 1: This is to entertain the listeners with appropriate music, preferably songs that promote love and peace.

6. Station I.D., Program I.D. & Time Check: Use the Radio station’s standard I.D., Program I.D. (The title of our program is the Voice Of Unity.) Time Check, to inform the listeners the exact time.

7 Domestic and/or International News: To inform the listeners about the activities of the FFWPU, update of memberships, the number of pre-blessed couples, domestic and world-wide results. (With march music or any appropriate music).

8. Dialogue - Part 2: Proposals to solve family problems based on the Divine Principle, True Parents’ speeches and hosts’ actual experiences. Presentation of the Divine Principle should be presented in a very lively fashion in the form of question and answer.(Not more than 15 minutes - no background music).

9. Musical Piece No. 2: Songs to be played must be in accordance with the tenor of the dialogue.

10. Station I.D., Program I.D. and Time Check: 11. Greetings’ Portion: Greet the newly Blessed couples. By mentioning specific names, people will be very inspired. Give thanks to people who are helping the mobilization. (With live music background).

12. Special Announcements: Invite listeners to call our centers (announce addresses/telephones) or invite them to our workshops, or activities. Time to inform listeners about our future plans, projects and how can they be involved.

13. Final Dialogue: This time is for internal guidance. Use Family Pledge or True Parents’ speeches as the basis.(Not more than 15 minutes - no background music).

14. Musical Piece No. 3 ( If there is still enough time): 15. Station I.D., Program I.D. and Time Check:

16. November 29, 1997 Blessing Ceremony Reminder: To remind the Pre-Blessed Couples the importance of preparing for the upcoming Blessing Ceremony.

17. Final Words: (If there is still time).

Recap of the program. Announce the next topic for the next broadcast.

18. Parting Words (Extro): Thank all the listeners. Invite them to listen again. Mention the title of the program, day, time, the radio station and the radio frequency, end with the word "Good night and God bless you!" We inform the new Pre-blessed Couples during the Pre-Blessing Ceremony about our radio program.

While we are raising up more broadcasters, our radio program in Metro Manila is being recorded, edited and sent to the rest of the radio stations in the provinces for "tape broadcast".