Reverend Sun Myung Moon
November 6, 1983
Belvedere
Translator: Bo Hi Pak
Good morning, everybody. My topic today is our position from now on. Where is the Unification Church going from here? What is our position? We can develop further and march forward, or we can stand still, or we can retreat. There are many directions in which the Unification movement can go. That is true not only of us but also of the free world and communist world. Where is the free world headed? Where is the communist world headed?
Three distinct worlds are existing simultaneously and competing with each other: the free world, the communist world, and the Unification world -- the new world that is coming into being. The Unification movement is not defined by any particular nation or limited to one land. For example, you cannot refer to the United States Unification Church, the Korean Unification Church, or the Japanese Unification Church. The Unification movement cannot be defined by such boundaries. Why? Because five different colors of skin have come together to create a global movement.
On the other hand, look at the United States. It is centered upon the Christian culture. This culture has a global perspective but now is at a deadlock; it cannot move forward and embrace all races, all boundaries, and all cultures. So today the United States is not meeting global expectations. Even if this country hopes to be a global catalyst, the rest of the world is not responding to it.
The same is happening in the communist world. Communism also has a global ideology and tries to embrace all races, nations, and peoples. However, its shortcomings and inherent difficulties are becoming evident to the world. It is actually a failure. The way the communists are presenting themselves now, it is virtually impossible for them to embrace the world.
Communism proclaims one ideology, one world system, and one world culture, but look at how the rest of the communist world relates with the Soviet Union. For example, there is an Euro-communist movement, but it doesn't want to come under Soviet communism. Likewise, there is a conflict between the Soviets and Red China. These are just two manifestations of the fallacies and shortcomings of communism. It is now evident that world unity cannot come through communism.
What is the real difficulty of both the free world centered on the United States, and the communist world centered on the Soviet Union? Both are plagued by self-centeredness. Both the United States and the Soviet Union focus upon their own self-interest.
The United States has become the central leading power of the free world, but what would happen if that center were moved from the United States to another nation? Which country is ready to take up world leadership? If the new leader of world culture were a country of an entirely different cultural background from the United States, there would be problems of adjustment. If the United States had to give up world leadership and adjust to new leadership, two things could occur: it could decline, or it could retreat for a time while it adjusts to the new situation. The United States would be in a dilemma to which there may be no clear solution. Even today it is suffering.
The same things can be said about the communist world. Suppose Red China were to become the future leader of the communist world. It would be very difficult for the Soviet Union to humble itself toward Chinese leadership. It would face the challenges of arrogance, cultural barriers, and a different mentality.
The superpowers talk about world peace, but they themselves are obstacles to unity for the sake of peace. Who shall be the center of that world peace? The superpowers have incredible difficulty determining that. In order to be truly peaceful, the world must have a center. There are so many different cultures in the world and not everybody can play the central role, even though most nations probably think they would like to become the center of the new world order.
Since everybody wants to project himself into the central position, the guidance of religion is needed. Both the communist world and the free world are trying to mobilize forces for one unified world. The ideal of the United Nations, for example, is a good one. Both the League of Nations and the United Nations were founded to promote world unity; but instead of unity, division resulted.
The Unification movement will definitely reach the point of global unity. The Unification movement does not exist just for the sake of the free world, and it is not totally abandoning the communist world, either. The free world and the communist world both aim for unity, but greater divisions and confrontations are the fruits of their efforts. So what kind of role should the Unification movement play? I am constantly thinking about that.
What is the basic difference between the Unification ideal and the ideals of the free world and communist world? Both the free world and communist world are seeking horizontal solutions. The democratic world is based upon a universal religion Christianity -- but Christian culture is declining because people are pushing God behind the scenes, excluding Him from daily human problems. They relegate God to a secondary level. The communist world, of course, had no vertical dimension from the outset, since it is only horizontal and material. Therefore, both the democratic and communist world operates on a horizontal level.
From its outset, the Unification world has been a vertical one. Our goal has been to unite the world and all things, but what is our starting point? Who marks the beginning? Not people, but God. God occupies the driver's seat. A second distinction is that, while the democratic world and the communist world talk about peace as a goal, the Unification world talks about peace as a starting point. Therefore, history mandates that the other two worlds will decline and the Unification world will rise.
The communist world, however, is trying to destroy the rest of the world and subjugate everyone to its will. Also, it is bent on destroying all religious heritage and practices. So until the mandate of history unfolds, we must be able to defend ourselves.
The democratic and communist worlds have a common shortcoming: before world peace can be established, they always start to divide. National interest makes it difficult to transcend racial and cultural barriers. Americans, for example, think of themselves as primarily an Anglo-Saxon country. How can we overcome such a nationalistic and racial shortcoming? The United States has been a melting pot; people came from Germany, Italy, France, and throughout the world. But even with these nationalities, the melting pot system did not quite work out; people cannot completely digest the barriers of former enemy relationships. The English, French and Germans have all been enemies in the past and since they came to America, they have been unable to completely overcome that.
Also, the Anglo-Saxons have had a super-culture mentality, which demands that all others unite with them. However, they have no clear worldview to offer. Therefore, racial problems have beset America throughout its history, even though the Constitution proclaims a universal ideal. The same thing happens in the Soviet Union. The problem in our world today is that no worldview has had the power to transcend barriers of race, nationality or culture. Without such a worldview, communism will come and go, and democracy will come and go. They cannot remain.
On the other hand, the Unification movement offers truly new horizons. I talked deeply about this yesterday. We want to make the world one. We are not just pulling people on a horizontal level; we are uniting vertically with God and jointly possessing Him. We share a common parenthood and common heritage. This is how we want to unite the world. Our worldview is on a totally different scale and it gives the Unification movement incredible appeal.
Yesterday I talked about the Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel countries. After the human fall, all these relationships became enemy relationships. The Unification movement is trying to pull these enemies into unity, as a demonstration of our new worldview. But even unity among enemy nations is not our goal; it is just the starting point. This is the kind of foundation our movement has.
We have something to offer in international affairs. Our worldview has the power to digest cultural barriers as well as racial barriers and national barriers. Whatever we gain, we want to offer to God -- not just to the Anglo-Saxons, or the Koreans, or the Japanese, or the Germans. We aim to unify the whole and bring it to God.
When this God-given worldview becomes a reality, we will see a new culture, a Unification culture. None of the cultures of the world has ever been centered on God, but when we make the God-centered world view a reality, a God-centered culture can begin.
Where do we go from there? We are talking about cosmic unification, universal unification -- not just of one nation, one people, or one race. What's more, this is no vague concept, but precise, logical, scientific thinking. We are not talking about something in the clouds; we are living that ideology now.
What controls people and the world? Many people would answer economic power, knowledge, or political power. Of those three, which is the center? It is knowledge or wisdom, but even that needs some organized system of thought, some philosophy, or ideology. By knowledge, I do not mean encyclopedic knowledge, but an organized system of thought, based on specific principles and philosophy. Can force conquer knowledge, or knowledge conquers brute force? Knowledge can overcome power; so ultimate power stems from wisdom and knowledge. By ideology I mean the sum total of knowledge, from the individual, family, tribal, national and worldwide level; the common knowledge operating on all levels is called ideology.
The democratic world considers freedom their goal. The communist world proclaims the goal of peace for those who are suffering now -- the "proletariat," or the laborers and workers. Is the democratic goal of freedom something permanent? In Western society, freedom used to be based on morals, ethics, values and traditions; but now freedom has become whatever people wish it to be. Music, for example, used to control musical instruments, but contemporary musicians use their instruments like weapons, pounding on them, breaking them into pieces. Is that freedom? Freedom is still the goal, but its definition has changed, therefore, it has no permanency.
The same applies to peace. Is the communist world's goal of peace something permanent, if it depends on the workers? The communists proclaim peace, but actually they are bringing war. Peace is a disguise, since selfishness is imbedded in it.
The communists brought revolution to places such as North Korea by proclaiming, "Workers, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains." That was an incredible slogan, and with it they gained power. But what has happened? Kim Il Sung is trying to make leadership hereditary by passing his power on to his son. Can you imagine what a heresy that is within communism? They proclaimed the People's Republic and they talk about peace; but their definition of peace has changed. Let's think about the Unification world and ourselves. Are we going to base our goal on some variable definition, or something permanent? In Unification ideology we recognize the relationship of sung sang and hyung sang. The democratic and communist worlds talk about peace only on the hyung sang level. They do not realize that behind the hyung sang there exists a sung sang world as well -- the world of cause and substance. Sung sang is subject, permanent, unchanging and absolute. It can progress without altering. The hyung sang world can make progress and still retain its basic nature, as long as it recognizes the sung sang. There are the four directions of north, south, east and west and they all take their turn, like the four seasons; but they bring variety, not fundamental change. As long as we recognize that the sung sang is unchanging, there is no problem.
The Unification point of view looks at sung sang as the cause and the beginning point; we anchor our ideology upon the sung sang level, not just the hyung sang level. Do you follow? We deal with this hyung sang world, of course. We work with the democratic world and the communist world, but we remember that they are only the hyung sang level, and our base is on the sung sang level. We are working to achieve the Unification world, where all races and colors of skin combine to create one harmonious family. That is our ideal. That has been the dream of many saints, sages and prophets of the past. That has always been the ideal of the greatest thinkers.
People come to the Unification world from different backgrounds, cultures and races. Are they capable of creating harmony on their own power? How can you make unity? Through me? Through my ideology? No, this is not my ideology, but God's. The power of God's sung sang is what creates harmony; I just interpret it.
Yesterday I gave everyone a very strong mandate to learn Korean. Some people might think "What kind of Father is he? He is destroying our culture!" That is a problem!
I spoke on this platform yesterday; I speak here virtually every Sunday. No politician or philosopher in history has ever spoken so much or to this extent. It may seem incredible, or sometimes crazy! But you Moonies come here totally focused, not wanting to miss even one word of the message; you take it very seriously. Even when I seem to be relaxed and speaking casually, you listen as if every word counts.
Your thoughts are based on a completely different kind of foundation; that makes it possible to build a Unification culture based upon one God. In my messages, I am interpreting God to you. That is why you take everything I say seriously, isn't it?
This morning you had pledge service at 5:00. You said, "I am proud of the one sovereignty, proud of the one people, proud of the one land, proud of the one language and culture centered upon God" As you said it, did you immediately say, "That's impossible"? Or did you pledge it because you know it is possible?
Has it ever been possible in any culture for a black and a white person to get married, with a yellow person in the center, bringing them together? Such a thing has been beyond people's imagination in the past. No national president has ever sat down and thought about the day when a white man and a black woman would get married, even without sharing the same language and needing an Oriental to interpret for them! Such a culture was never even thought about. But in the Unification world, that is an everyday occurrence as normal as eating breakfast.
Think of the scope and power of the energy we generate compared with the energy generated by democracy or communism. Shall we follow the communist tradition? Shall we follow the democratic tradition? Or shall they follow our tradition? Righteous and intelligent people will surely conclude that our view is far more advanced. Our way of life is a truly new concept, and they will have to come to us.
Both the democratic and communist worlds are caught up in the same dilemma: they cannot transcend the barriers of nation, culture and race. They are stuck at their level, and are unable to break through. How about the Unification Church? Will our tradition come to a standstill at a certain level? Will we be able to make a breakthrough?
We are extraordinarily strange people. We recognize that we are strange, but the important thing is that we are hopeful strangers! People may say you look the same as you did before joining the Unification Church. "Your eyes are still blue, your hair is still blond -- nothing has changed. But how can you make such extraordinary plans?" they may wonder. What changed was your way of thinking.
From such objective evidence people must eventually recognize that the future world is the Unification world. That world will eventually come. When you listen to me, does it sound logical and scientific? Are you completely convinced that such a world will come?
Without your realizing it, such a new culture is being constructed. Think of the international marriages. When a British and a French person are matched, or when a French and a German person are matched, they may not be so happy with each other; but they do get married! Blacks and whites marry, Orientals and Occidentals marry. As this happens, national, cultural and racial barriers are transcended.
Unification families are multi-colored. When a German marries an Englishman, where does their family belong? When an American marries a Japanese, does their family belong to Japan, or to America? Neither. The only place they belong is in the Unification movement. They belong to a universal nation. Therefore, when the Unification movement eventually stands up and manifests this culture, don't you think that nations and sovereignties will follow this ideology?
You have a very special position in relation to me. America has always taken pride in being a melting pot; whoever comes here becomes absorbed in the American culture. It is a process you call Americanization. But 10 or 12 years after coming to America, instead of becoming Americanized, I have made Americans "Moonized" Furthermore, these Moonized Americans are flying off to the Orient, to Africa, to Latin America; they get married and go away from America. Is this bad news for America?
Dr. Durst sometimes says that Americans are joyful, exuberant people; they do things because they are fun. That is all right; however, such a culture cannot digest all the other cultures of the world. American people like to talk; they have a great sense of humor and make lots of jokes. However, joking will not bring world unity; it cannot digest the rest of the world. Joking is like loosening the belt. What is needed is a tightening of the belt. Joking may lead to openness and eventually promiscuity and free sex. Joking encourages permissiveness; people laugh and laugh and feel they can do anything. People even laugh at immorality today; they can undress a woman and laugh, attributing it to their sense of humor.
Joking in a secular sense is a satanic weapon. To have some sense of humor is fine, but when you use it in such a way, it becomes a destructive force, instead of advancing goodness. Joking may be 80 percent moving backwards and only 20 percent moving forwards. With an 8 to 2 ratio it can only bring negative, destructive results upon mankind. This doesn't mean I object to a certain sense of humor. Humor in itself is a good thing, and there is a lot of good humor in the Unification Church. I myself have a strong sense of humor. The important thing is that humor be constructive.
I have already talked for an hour and 20 minutes. My conclusion is that the Unification world will become a reality. You also have concluded that it is on the way. Our position from now on will be to influence and have dominion throughout the world. I don't mean that Reverend Moon is the one who will have impact; I am bringing God's dominion over the world. As the prophet, I am bringing all these messages and revelations from God to the world, but I don't claim ownership over them. I give all the credit and glory to God. My proclamations are simply Godism, a God-centered ideology.
When great scholars develop a new philosophy or discover a new formula, they hold onto it. Karl Marx came up with a new idea, which became known as Marxism; Lenin's interpretations were called Leninism. But the idea I am bringing is Godism. That is my conviction. What is amazing about my work is that I am a spokesman for someone else, and that someone else is God. Once mankind realizes that, they will stage a grand celebration that will last forever.
I have brought the message of Godism, and I am investing my whole life and energy into it. I am not merely talking about it, but I am living it and sharing it with the world. No great honor has come to me in the process -- only mistreatment, persecution, imprisonment, and even tortures. So am I doing it for my own benefit and well being? For whom am I doing it? For God and for humanity. My proclamation is centered upon one thing -- selfless love; my ideology is to live for the sake of others. This is the core of my teaching.
Now I want to ask you, for whom are you working? Why are you here? I am not teaching you to live for me. I live for the sake of God and humanity, and I am teaching you to do the same. The content of my teaching belongs to the public; I am offering it for the sake of the world. The ownership belongs first to God and then to mankind; I am the mediator. This way of life is large enough to embrace all kinds of small contents; there is room for many thousands and millions of people.
Let me ask you another thing: Was it a good or a bad thing for you to join the Unification Church? You did not come here seeking your own personal pleasure, but you have encountered suffering; so was it a good or a bad thing to do? Why was it good? Because God takes delight in your actions, and humanity will receive the benefit of them. Why does God take delight and humanity gains the benefit? Because by our work, God's ideal is being fulfilled and manifested and the dream of mankind is becoming a reality.
Even if I suffer, even if I must become the sacrifice and die, God takes delight in my deeds and humanity gains the benefit. Therefore, my life goals are also automatically fulfilled because my aim is to serve God and humanity. It gives me boundless joy to see that God takes delight and humanity gains benefit from my actions. Is there anything else that counts? Ask that question of yourself.
So is it good or bad for me to teach you to live for the sake of others? Good things are related to eternal qualities. I am clearly instructing you to live sacrificially for the sake of others -- not for yourself, but for your family, your tribe, your nation, and the world. Why am I teaching such a way of life? Because I know that this is the only way God's ideal and God's goodness can become a reality. When you live this way, you leave a legacy of tremendous joy in this world; that joy will not diminish or disappear, but remain forever. You are creating an incredible permanent asset.
Then by what power will we accomplish this? By the power of knowledge, politics or money? The weapon we use is the love of God. Yesterday I talked about "GL Power" God's Love Power. Because God's love is the sum of everything and every goodness, it represents all goodness. How does GL Power come? Through great orators? Through geniuses? Or perhaps through a woman covered with diamonds! People love wealth and honor; perhaps GL Power belongs there.
No, GL Power comes wherever people practice living for others. You can be absolutely sure of this. GL is most comfortable with a sacrificial way of life. I have an excellent brain. If I saw that you were losing everything by sacrificing yourself, I would not teach you to do so, and I would not practice it myself. But I discovered that to the degree that you sacrifice for the sake of others, an equal degree of God's love and greatness will come to you. Your reward is parallel to the amount of your sacrifice. The quantity of GL you receive is equivalent to the quantity of service you give to humanity.
Every day I look at my own children in East Garden and wonder who is going to be the champion, or king, of GL. My sons? My daughters? My sons-in-law? My daughters-in-law? Who will be a GL champion for the sake of the world and God? I also look at our church leaders that way. When I look at the Korean leaders, I see not just their appearance but also their deeds. Who is really sacrificial? Who genuinely wants to give himself for the sake of our church and for the world?
Let's consider the qualities of someone you might describe as handsome: thin-lipped, fair-skinned, or whatever. I normally think that the more a person looks exactly the opposite-thick-lipped, coarse features -- the greater the chance he has of being firmly grounded in the Principle and having GL dwelling in him! Think about it.
Think of a telescope powerful enough to magnify things thousands of time, so that even trivial details can be observed. With my spiritual GL telescope I can speak with a person for three minutes and know him deeply. I can tell what kind of GL capacity he has with this GL telescope.
Am I such a great and persuasive speaker that I could tell thousands of lies and make them believable to you? Do you think I am trying to hook you? Or are you personally convinced that what I am teaching is the absolute truth? Which way do you feel? What a lucky and fortunate person I am today, because from tomorrow on the Unification movement will have no problems! With such men and women of confidence and absolute faith, there is no way we can fail!
To return to my sermon topic: do you feel our position looks a little better, a little more favorable than the others, or is it extraordinary and unprecedented in history? Are we one among many, or are we unique?
We are going beyond communism, democracy, and the whole world. The Unification movement has a clear ideological, scriptural and philosophical base. On this foundation, we are exhibiting our new way of life: that of conquering totally the barriers of race, culture and language. In our Unification culture, marriage is very important as a means to fulfill God's ideal. But there are many difficulties in international marriages, so many that people may call them impossible. Only through extraordinary commitment, selfless love, and devotion to others can we create harmony. There is no barrier we cannot melt by following this way of life.
Since you are trying to live for the sake of mankind and God, when you look at your husband or wife, regardless of the circumstances you face, cant you serve him or her as a representative of the rest of the world? You should be people of such great capacity for love that no matter how impossible a person your spouse may be, you can melt and digest him or her. If I give you the ugliest man as your husband, or the ugliest woman as your wife, can you decide to just close your eyes and love your spouse? Eyes are always making judgments, so just close them! Then it makes no difference if your spouse is black, white, or yellow; you are holding another precious human being, another child of God. That should be good enough.
Before the Holy Wedding in 1960, I met candidates from all parts of the world. You can look at black people and white people, examining and choosing, but there is no such thing as perfection. One person may have better qualities in one area, the next excels in another area, and the third has something else that is special. You compare one man with another, or one woman with another, but no one is perfect. When you do meet your husband or wife, you meet your God-ordained destiny. You should have the attitude that since your love is pure and unchanging, whatever woman becomes your wife will be a happy woman, because you will give her your genuine love. "When she is happy, I will be happy. What else do I need?" That is how you should think. It is possible to do it!
You were born once and you only live once. When you know this truth and follow this ideology, your life is worthwhile and rewarding. All your five senses, as well as your arms, legs and body become your pride because they respond to such a great thought. Your heart beats to this truth. The mere fact that you are responding to such an ideal indicates that you are great men and women.
Are you satisfied to just observe life, or don't you want to jump in and play the game? Once you have played the game well, everything becomes so easy, so rosy. When you see things from a positive point of view, other things don't even bother you. Your eyes impart hope. You Moonie women, don't put on too much makeup; don't spend too much money or time on your appearance! When people look deeply at you, they should feel some charm radiating from you; your eyes shine differently, they have a special brilliance.
Was it the right decision to come to the Unification Church? Do you want to stand still at this level, or do you want to launch yourself up to a new height? Whom would you like for a companion? You might answer that you are going with your husband or wife. But I tell you, your companions on this journey are God and humanity. They are your best friends. When they are pleased, then you know you have done your best for your wife or husband and for your children. So even if you are separated from your spouse and children for a long time, when God and humanity are satisfied, people will ask where your wife and children are. When you reply, "They are doing elsewhere the same thing I am doing here," people will bow down to you and say, "Then go and bring them; you have done enough. We will carry on your role; you should have a home now"
Wild animals know how to love their own offspring; lions and tigers will not kill their young because they love them. When they trust that someone is caring for their little ones, they will not harm him, either. If even the beasts understand parental love, how much more will God and humanity want to love your children and care for them. What joy it will give you when the entire world loves them! You will feel that their love is far superior to your own. You can love your children directly, but it gives you even greater joy to see that others care so much for them.
If you want to dedicate yourselves to a higher love and make a deeper commitment to sacrificial living, and if you can pledge this unconditionally, raise your hands and say Amen! God bless you.