Sun Myung Moon
April 10, 2006
Excerpt
Peace Message 3 The True Owners in Establishing the Kingdom of Peace and Unity in Heaven and on Earth
Ladies and gentlemen: The human mind is more elevated than the human body and the spirit is more elevated than the mind. In a place more elevated than the spirit world, to which our spirits are destined to pass on, resides God. Therefore, only when we have become completely one with God in true love are we complete. From this perspective, a perfected person might be a small individual but would represent all of history and all potential future relationships and so could be said to possess infinite value.
Once we became aware of this cosmic value, we would realize that our lives should be led by and in service to our minds. That is why your conscience knows and remembers not only every action you have performed but also every thought you have entertained. Your conscience is aware of these things before your own teachers, parents or even God is. Hence, if you were to live in absolute obedience to the commands of your conscience, which is your teacher for eternity, you would be absolutely guaranteed to have eternal life. Such is the way of God's creation.
When viewing the structure of a human being from a different angle, we can perceive that God created us as dualistic entities. He created our physical bodies as miniatures of the corporeal, tangible world and our spiritual bodies as representatives of and lords of the incorporeal world. Accordingly, a human being is intended to live for a hundred years or so in the physical world and once the physical body ceases functioning to pass on naturally and automatically into the incorporeal, spiritual world. In this way, though it cannot be perceived by the eyes in our physical bodies, the spiritual world is the automatic and inevitable extension of our lives on earth, humankind's eternal, original homeland, created by God.
As you can see, the spiritual world does actually exist. It is not a world that has been fantasized or imagined into existence. We do not have the right of choice concerning it. It is not a world we can go to if we please or refuse to go to if we would rather not. Just as God is eternal and unchanging, the spiritual world created by Him is also eternal and unchanging. In like manner to our living in the physical world in our physical bodies and forming all sorts of relationships with the existing world, even in the spiritual world we are destined to go on living in our spiritual bodies, and to form and maintain close relationships with all phenomena of the spiritual world.
However, in the relationship between the spirit and the physical body of a human being, the spirit is the more important of the two. The physical body lasts for about a hundred years before it stops functioning, but the spirit lasts eternally, transcending time and space. No matter how well a person dresses and fares in the physical world, he is bound to die. Therefore, before you pass on to the next world, you should achieve unity between your physical and spiritual bodies by living your earthly life in such a way that you meet the standards of both the physical and spiritual worlds.
In other words, you have the responsibility of perfecting your spiritual selves within your physical bodies based on the finite life you live in the tangible, physical world. This does not mean, however, that the perfection of a spiritual self happens automatically. Only on the basis of your having achieved complete unity between your mind and body during your earthly life by expressing true love through actions can your spiritual self fully mature.
Ladies and gentlemen: In order for fruit to ripen and be put into storage in autumn, it must first pass through the process of spring and summer and be provided with the nutrients supplied by nature and the tender loving care of its owner. Fruit raised in an orchard by a lazy and ignorant owner will be afflicted with all kinds of diseases and be affected by foul weather. Eventually it will fall from the tree before it is ripe or be classified as worm-infested. Though it would be fruit, it would be different from other fruit since it would never be good enough to sell in the market.
Fruit that has fully matured on the tree will automatically go into the owner's storehouse. Similarly, only when the spirit of a person has reached perfection in his life in the physical world, which can be likened to the tree, can it automatically enter the incorporeal spiritual world of the kingdom of heaven. In other words, a person will enter the kingdom of God in heaven automatically only when he has qualified for and enjoyed the kingdom of heaven on earth by living a fully matured life in his physical body.
While living on earth, your every action and movement is recorded on your spirit self, without exception and with the public laws of heaven as the standard. Accordingly, you will enter the spiritual world in the form of your spirit self, on which are recorded your lives on earth with 100 percent accuracy. Your spirit will show plainly whether you have led a ripe life of goodness, or a wormy, rotten life of sinfulness. What this means is that God will not judge you; you will be your own judge. If a person has been made aware of this astonishing and terrible rule from Heaven, would the end of that person's life on earth be spent in selfishness and immorality, as a descent into all the temptations of Satan and in pursuit of nothing but pleasure? You should abstain from injuring and scarring your spiritual bodies at the risk of your earthly lives. Please bear this truth in mind: Whether you are bound for heaven or for hell is determined by your thoughts, speech and behavior in each moment.
This does not imply, though, that the spirit leads its own life or that it can express true love thorough actions on its own. Your spirit self grows, matures and finally becomes perfected only within your physical body, through an earthly lifetime of having actualized true love with your mind and body in a smooth relationship of give and take.
Nevertheless, undeniably, your outer selves and inner selves are in a constant relationship of conflict and struggle. How much longer will you allow this fighting to continue? Ten years? A hundred years? In contrast, there is undeniably order for all forms of existence in the universe. This indicates that God did not create us human beings in this state of conflicted disorder. You need to know that it is your duty and responsibility as a human being to dispel all temptations directed at your outer self -- your physical body -- and achieve victory in life by following the way of your inner self -- your conscience. Heavenly fortune will be with those who lead their lives in such a way, and they will attain the perfection of their spiritual selves.