Sun Myung Moon
March 1, 2009
As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen, Pages 148 and 331-334
Photo date and location unknown
Funds accumulated through business operations are sacred. For business profits to be sacred, it is important not to lie or to take excessive profit. When conducting business, we must always be honest, and we should never take a profit of more than thirty percent. Money earned in this honorable manner must, of course, be spent prayerfully. It must be spent with a clear purpose and intent. This is the principle of business management that I have promoted throughout my life. I believe the purpose of business is not simply to make money. It is also to support the missionary work, which is the work of God.
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Everything We Have Is Borrowed from Heaven
People say I am one of the richest people in the world, but they don't know what they are talking about. I have worked hard all my life, but I don't own so much as a single house in my name. Everything is for the public. Virtually every adult Korean has his official stamp that he registers with the government and uses to sign legal documents. I don't have such a stamp.
You may wonder, then, what benefit I have received from working hard and not eating or sleeping while others ate and slept. I didn't work so I could be rich. Money has no meaning to me. Any money not used for the sake of humanity, or for the sake of my neighbor who is dying in poverty, is nothing more than a piece of paper. Money earned through hard work should always be used to love the world and carry out projects that benefit the world.
The message that I give to our members every year is "Spend money carefully, and conserve on everything." I don't tell them this so they can save money and become rich. I want them to have a consciousness of conserving in order to help the country and save humanity. We don't take anything with us when we leave this world. Everyone knows this, and yet for some reason people are desperate to get their hands on as many things as possible. I plan to give away everything I have built up during my life before leaving this world. The Heavenly Kingdom has plenty of treasure, and there is no need to take anything there from this world. When we understand that we are going to a place that is better than where we are now, there is no need to become attached to the things in this world.
Happiness is always waiting for us. The reason we can't find happiness is that our own desires block the way. As long as our eyes are fixed on our desires, they cannot see the path we should follow. We are so busy trying to pick up the scraps of gold lying on the ground near us that we do not see the huge pile of gold that is little way up the road. We are so busy stuffing things into our pockets that we don't realize that there are holes in those pockets.
I have not forgotten what it was like to live in Hungnam Prison. Even the most terrible place in this world is more comfortable and more materially abundant than Hungnam Prison. Every object belongs to Heaven. We are only its stewards.