The Path to Happiness

Sun Myung Moon
May 18, 1980

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What is the criterion of happiness? What is the true blessing? These are things to think about. To determine the true definition of happiness we should know the relationship between the individual and the whole. When an emergency strikes a nation, that is an opportunity for the true patriot to emerge. You know the story of David and Goliath. That emergency was David's opportunity to confront danger. David represented the good force and Goliath represented the evil force, not just for David, but for all of David's people. The more they were united with David the more they would hate Goliath. God and spirit world would view Goliath as their adversary as well. Thus, the battle between David and Goliath was not just a personal battle, but a showdown for the universe and God.

The true beauty of that confrontation was that David stood as the champion of the godly forces and was determined to die for the cause. That was David's greatest opportunity to show his true loyalty and service to God, and in doing so he could find his own fulfillment. What happened? By winning that battle and fulfilling God's will, David was totally united with God and the people.

David's victory was a victory for God and all people of the world. When the people offered David whatever he wanted after his great victory, David did not ask to be king but only for a few sheep to make his living. The people were disappointed and asked if he didn't want more. God would say that David deserved not just a herd of sheep but the crown of the king.

When David walked down the road of battle, death might have been at the door, but do you think his march was still a happy one? There was opportunity for glory and victory, but he also could have been defeated and killed. This was the opportunity that could bring David the greatest happiness and fortune.

Thus, the road of death is not necessarily a terrible thing, and sometimes dancing and fun is not always happy either. You determine your happiness and blessing by your attitude and motivation. These provide the meaning of your happiness. If you prepare yourself for the good cause without sleep or food, it may seem to be a suffering way of life but it is rewarding nonetheless. That person has a future and hope, and no one can take it away.

What kind of people truly felt happiness and reward in history? People who had great wealth and were always happy? And learned scholars? What about politically powerful people? What did bring happiness? You tell me that the ideal, true love, and the opportunity to confront life and death situations bring happiness and all of these are correct. Many things could represent a happy life, but the unity of a subject and object who are one in true love for the sake of mankind sums up everything. They become the central figures of everything.

We could say that they become the central figure or personality with true love, and anything that contributes to that goal will bring the true happiness and blessing.

When you say that something is "central", does it include God or not? All of mankind? The whole world? The past? The present and the future? The center of true love includes everything. If you ask God what He desires, He will reply that he wants to be the center of true love. If you ask men and women, they will answer the same. That includes black, white and yellow, and also all things of creation. But if you depart from the central theme of true love, no ideal or love is good enough.

Would you rather own something precious or trivial? What is something precious that you want to own? Why do we need parents, a husband and wife, and children? Some people think that such things just give them a hard time, but actually these relationships are the workshop for the center of true love in which you can come to personify true love.

Why do we have five senses? Through our senses we can feel true love. Our eyes want to shed tears of joy at seeing true love. There is no boredom in true love, and you always want to see and hear more and more true love. With true love all of your senses are filled with joy and your whole body is a chunk of true love. If you are nothing but a chunk of love, then when you are rolling down the Himalayas you will burst into pieces when you hit the bottom and the entire world will be shaken. When you burst, it is not just you as an individual but the center of true love which is bursting.

God is almighty so that He can protect true love and keep it intact. No one can accuse God of misusing His power because He will only use it for true love. When you represent central true love, the whole universe will act to protect you because you will be the most precious entity in the cosmos. If by chance true love should be hammered into pieces, God would reassemble the pieces into something better. Certainly then God would never release love because it would be so precious to Him. Nothing is more precious to Him than that.