Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 3, 1988
We know that God cannot live in or with a fallen world. An agnostic who does not know about the fall or whether or not God exists simply cannot understand why the world is as it is. The fact that man fell means the roadway to the perfection of a man was cut off. Mankind who was born out of absolute and eternal God was supposed to have these same properties, but we have not been able to reach that original value. The world also has lost all its value. No matter how hard any human being has tried, male or female, rich or poor, beautiful or handsome, no one could fulfill his original value.
Hell had to come into existence to accommodate people of low value. Imagine you are a hardworking farmer and your cabbage has been eaten by worms. The cabbage is simply not even presentable, let alone able to be sold. The only thing you can do with it is throw it away in the wastebasket.
What is the original value that God wanted to give every human being? God created man to become mature, to become a fruit of true love. Each person is supposed to be a representative of the rest of mankind. As we see, even though he is fallen, man tries to represent other men by excelling in different ways. But we were supposed to be examples of true human beings. Suppose you have a choice: You can have a lot of money, power, or knowledge, and you can represent man in these kinds of ways. But if you are given the choice, would you rather have a woman, or would you rather have all these mighty three things?
(Woman!)
How about women? Do women love power, knowledge, and money just as much as men? We will even throw beauty in for American women! Would you choose these mighty four, or would you choose an ugly man? (Man!) Then you see that both man and woman find in each other something that has greater value than anything else in the universe. Actually, when you think of it, it is so simple, but no one knows it!
Look at me, for example. The world may think, "Oh, Rev. Moon has a great deal of wealth which he can use for all purposes. He has such power that people will bow to him; and he has superb knowledge which no institution ever teaches." But if I do not have a true woman, the world would be bleak for Me. Maybe that's because I am Oriental! If I were a white or black man, would it be different? What is it, then, that both man and woman are struggling to find? True love. This is one way of explaining true love: True love is something which both man and woman can appreciate eternally and cherish the most. Even God, too. Do you want that true love to be changeable or unchangeable?
(Unchangeable!)
Why? Because God is eternal, meaning that He never changes. Therefore what He cherishes most has to be like Him -- unchanging, eternal, and unique in each individual self.
Then you ask, what is unchanging? As you know, knowledge is always being updated. The value of money changes. And the way that power exists also changes. In this ever-changing world, man is looking for something which is not changing, even though he does not know what it is. A person who does not know God is really very unfortunate, yet everywhere we look, the world is full of these kind of people. We may even tend to be affected by their skepticism and ignorance, but we must resolve ourselves to jump to a much higher realm of understanding -- the realm of true love.
Along with true love, we must have the right environment in which to freely propagate and live true love. We must also have science, good political systems, and a good economy, supplying the material things we need. Yet, all the high religions have advised people to stay single; or they encouraged people to forget about the world, their families, their nations, and just pursue a religious goal. Religion wanted to bring man into the place where it thought God would want a man to be. Religion advised man not to get involved in love teaching that it would be a false love.
Now when I say go to your home town, that means go back to your original position, which was centered on true love. When we go back to our home, we want to bring true love -- a very precious gift which cannot be bought anywhere in the universe. Therefore the greatest religion will direct us to return to our home town. Every person can evaluate themselves by this criteria: Am I going towards true love and living with true love? How much? Then you decide yourself how valuable you are.
Throughout history people have thought and talked about what is good and what is bad, but nobody knew the definite standard. Now we can say that those who are pursuing true love and trying to help other people to maintain that direction as well, are righteous and good. We call those who are going towards the goal of true love a true husband and a true wife. How about True Parents? Same. Then how about God? Until now we cannot call God true God, because if everywhere people are far from true, then how can He be true all by Himself? After the fall of man, God became a sorrowful God -- and that is not the original God.
What then is true work? Working towards true love. What is true study? Whoever will propagate, broaden, and maintain true love is doing true study. What is a true human life? Actually the way of life of a man who is true includes six categories: getting up and going to bed; meeting and departing; and feeling good and feeling bad. So simple, isn't it? You wake up with a determination to go the true direction towards true love, and you go to bed wishing that as well. You are happy when you are going toward true love, and unhappy when you feel that you should do better in going towards that direction. When you meet somebody, you are very hopeful that together you can go in the direction of true love. When you part from each other, you hope that you will go separately toward the same common goal. Then you are living a true life.
How can this country prosper pursuing free sex and individualism? Don't ever be confused anymore. For what have you been walking out and coming home every day?
(True love)
According to how you lived up to that standard, are you true selves or false selves? Then we can decide the world must be bad because it is not seeking true love. The Moonies are a little better, but there are bad Moonies also. If you are trying to decide whether politicians or politics in a country are good or bad, you can ask: Are they working towards propagating true love? We must remember this simple and universally applicable criteria all our lives.
Those blessed couples who would welcome me into their home at any time, day or night, whether I called before he came or not, raise your hands. What if I came when husband and wife are making love? Is that a wrong time, or would you say, "Father, any time is the right time for you! You are welcome! "If a true man and a true woman are engaged in true love, then nothing is shameful. It's something to boast about and be proud of. All the universe will rejoice! Don't you think even God can see through us, whether we have clothing on or not?
If God wants to see the best of man and woman, and we say that's true love, then what is true love and how is it achieved? The more of your body that comes into contact with your spouse, the more beautiful such union becomes. The most ideal union would be when everything is so tight there is no space, like a ball. Sexual intercourse between a true husband and wife is the state of true love. Man and woman are ecstatic. Would God say, "Oh, that is something unclean"? Think about it. This union which is meant to be most valuable and beautiful is now regarded as most unclean and most valueless, because of the fall. But originally, this was the holiest of all holy things.
Women, would you rather have a husband who is common, ordinary, and mediocre, but who you can trust to be honest and have true love, or would you like one who is handsome, and fashionable, with a lot of money, knowledge, or power, but maybe he cheats a man or two sometimes? You always know the right answer, but why can't you act it all the time? Trying and really acting is different. So many times I heard Americans say, "I'll try! " Trying really should be out. Don't try -- live! Those who do not act end up in hell.
You might think, "Father, I heard about true love a thousand times but what has it got to do with me? " Yes, you have heard it so often that every time something unusual happens, you think about true love now. Even when you are constipated, you may somehow connect it to true love! We should maintain this criteria based on true love for eternity. In order for the true love church to propagate we must have a true country, world and cosmos. After that comes liberation for God and mankind. This is our inevitable course.
Every one of us has, without exception, a desire to represent the rest of mankind. If there is an ambitious person who truly represents true love, a true love country, and a true love family, and he wants to be the highest in the entire world, he's not wrong. We all want to become great, and we can, whether we are a farmer, a laborer, a worker in a factory, a teacher at school, or a good politician, as long as we actually represent man in a true way.
But there are so many ambitious people who don't want anything to do with representing goodness. They want to be recognized as the greatest because of money, or some other self-centered accomplishment. However, that is false because all such a man thinks about is himself. The person who doesn't want to represent the true thing, but still wants to be recognized as the greatest, is arrogant. What is the difference between being arrogant and being humble? When someone represents all things in a true way, then he is great and good. But if he does not truly represent everyone and he still wants to be the greatest, that's bad.
I am trying to transform America into a good country. Can you call someone truly great when he just wants to save good people and forget about the bad people? If one is going to save good people and bad people as well, he can become great. Why? Because true love embraces everybody.
What kind of a representation would God want me to have when I go to spirit world? To represent everyone past, present, and future throughout history is obviously God's idea for the Messiah.
If we all individually live as an example of true love, then we too would be a disciple of the Messiah. If one qualifies for heaven, he goes there automatically. He doesn't need an invitation. If you live like me, you will go to the same place as me, which is heaven. How do you know that I have true love? America and the world have acted like enemies to me, putting me in prison when I did not even commit a crime. Why would I return to America in 1984, knowing that a prison term was waiting for me? To save America and to save the world. I thought to myself, "It's not me that matters; not even Korea matters -- the whole world matters."
True love entails loving your enemy. Even while I was in Danbury, I initiated six projects to help America. Similarly, when Jesus was being crucified, he did not curse his enemy; because he was an example of true love, he loved and blessed them instead. Even though man turned his back against God, He doesn't turn against mankind. There are three layers of heaven, three different steps of spirit world. If we have an enemy here on earth, we cannot go to the original heaven. Man originally was set for a journey. Adam and Eve were to grow toward love, anticipating love, really dreaming about true love. Everything was dreaming about it -- including God and the universe, and human beings started out their journey that way.
Would you rather be born in a presidential family, where you have wealth and fame and power, or would you rather be born in a very poor family which has true love? We are born into a certain family to establish, maintain, and protect true love in that particular family. How worthwhile this is. The universe is shouting, "Yes, you are born to protect the true love of the whole universe. Mansei! " That means long prosperity.
In search of true love we Unification Church members have journeyed into the wilderness. If mankind hadn't fallen, God would have protected us, centering on true love, no matter what. There would be no way we would sin. Mankind was supposed to be born in that kind of a true family, nation, and world, always protected, always living in true love. That was the way we were supposed to go to heaven without even trying. Now Unification Church members are going through the wilderness, but our ultimate goal is to go to the true heaven, our original homeland.
Are you confident that you can say to God when you go to spirit world, "I brought a true friend who loves You and this friend of mine represents all the good world"? God would like you to report that about your life on earth. This is not just talking; to bring a friend who is true is very difficult. Religious life itself is very difficult to live. To become a true spouse and to raise up true children is even more difficult. If creating a true family is so difficult, how challenging will it be to make a true country and a true world? We must even liberate God so that He can be a true God. If we think our work should be easy, then we may fail. The path we are on is not easy at all. We must understand what lies ahead of us and act on it.
Satan created divisions in each level. Even within the individual, Satan divided our mind and body. He became self-centered, unlike God. Satan has been centering on himself and going one way, but we are sacrificing our own selves and families for the higher levels. When Satan reaches the higher levels, he becomes a self-centered dictator. But if we sacrifice ourselves for the highest level, we become the center of the world of true love. Satan's domain here vanishes; he cannot exist here anymore.
Every step is a step of indemnity. Who caused the fall of mankind? Satan and mankind's parents. The Messiah, True Parents, must indemnify all the different levels and restore the fall. Originally, God wanted to do this through established Christianity, centering on the country of America. But since that failed, the Unification Church has had to go a 43 year course. All of my nerves and cells have been focused on the thought: "I exist for the sake of the restoration of the universe! " Thus I have been willing to put in everything I have for the sake of the restoration of the universe.
There are no two bordering countries that still love each other. Do you think Canada and America are in great love? France and Germany? Who made them turn against each other and created borderlines? And who put up the walls? Satan did. Here in America, there are many properties, and each property is owned by an individual, surrounding himself with great big walls. Who made this? God didn't! If God created this country, then the true person should be free to come in and out and walk about as he pleases.
Everywhere I go I take down walls so that between two nations there comes unity and harmony. I am trying to make every one of us contribute, not depend on somebody else, or ever be indebted. I want to change poorer people so that they don't want to live off the richer people, but instead, can have the heart to want to even give something to richer people. If all the people from South America come to contribute to America, for example, would America despise them? No, it would welcome them.
Many people want to take advantage of the Unification Church. Even though they are going to come and drain us or do some damage to us, still we should welcome them. Obviously we need a boundary between what is good and evil, but we want to broaden this boundary, make it larger and larger, so that more and more eligible people can come in. God wants to bring everything into unity; that's His nature. Satan wants to divide it up so that he can have easier control.
We are really fighting on every frontier. We have to protect ourselves, and also we have to broaden and embrace everybody else. Satan exists where things are divided. So when unity is accomplished, then Satan simply just does not exist, because he has no influence. We must understand that paying indemnity is something we must do in order to protect the higher level. To protect my family, I have to sacrifice. After sacrificing, always something bigger is gained. Those who do not want to pay indemnity actually end up only in one place, which is with Satan. We must meet and win over the challenge of the satanic world, not coexist with or be pushed by it. Why do we emphasize indemnity so much? Because that is the greatest weapon to safeguard us from Satan. We make a boundary that Satan can't penetrate. Then Satan will have to retreat and we will advance and broaden.
Indemnity is for protection, but there's no such thing as protecting myself while not caring about others. Protection means that if we are going to protect ten or a hundred people, then we must bear the indemnity for that ten or 100. Otherwise we cannot hope to offer protection.
In protecting someone how do we make Satan give them up and go away? Things can't be done the easy way because Satan won't give up. Not only is our blood stained, but also Satan has a lien on our blood. We must connect with and grow our roots in God. We inherited the wrong blood lineage; to cut off our fallen lineage and reconnect to God, we need indemnity.
We know that Satan indeed has a lot of influence, a lot of territory. We must have a clear understanding of how to win through indemnity and not only want to be liberated by God, but liberate God through these steps.
I am always pushing to create an ever-bigger area where Satan cannot reach. Satan's side will have to say, "Oh, I cannot fight against him because he is going to win anyway! " Finally, there will be only Satan and me -- and beside me there is God. Beside Satan there is nobody.
Only four years ago, in 1984, I proclaimed from Danbury that Communist imperialism in Russia will perish. All the world experts disagreed, but on December 7th of the same year Red China proclaimed, "We are going to give up Communism and go on our own way." Now it is eight years since I proclaimed the International Highway, and China says it makes great sense and wants to work together with us. Now, wherever I have a meeting, there will be crowds gathering, wanting to meet me. How about in Moscow? At Washington Monument, 1976, I proclaimed the Moscow rally. On June 29th of this year, Russia declared the separation of the political party from the government administration. It was always one before. That means that the dictatorship has come to an end, and Russia cannot help but follow the democratic system.
In America and the world everybody is wondering what is going to happen. There is little hope or plan ahead of them. But Korea is hopeful because of the Olympics; it really has a future under the guidance of Rev. Moon.
I have a great melting pot of true love that is 100 times more effective than the American melting pot. God will also come into that pot and live with us! How great a melting pot that is. Here's a big umbrella of true love, and everybody seems to come under that umbrella. Who holds that big umbrella? God.
When God created, He created all things for their sake. He invested everything He had, including His being eternal, unchanging, unique. True love is to invest completely and intensely, so the concept of living for the sake of others came into being here.
We see all things are created in God's image, male and female. Then what was the purpose of my birth? Why was man born? For the sake of woman. When American women begin to represent true womanhood or humankind, and when both men and women are standing in the true love center, then in your home your husband is king, and you are the queen. As long as there is true love in that family, you are the queen, living for the sake of others because you are ready to give everything you have for the sake of the family.
Now all of us, men and women, want to pursue true love. If man goes one way, woman goes another, and God is right in between, there will always be division in the three and no hope to come into unity. To have unity, when both the man and woman would like to own God first, if the woman happens to be owning God, then she must own Him for the sake of her husband. "For your sake, I am going to own God first." For man, the same thing goes. In being selfish, we lose everything. Without a solution to selfishness, there will be no unity.
From this point on, we will begin to really notice the treasure, the happiness of bringing everything into unity and creating the ideal world. The greatest thought is this idea of protecting and living for the sake of others, not living for the sake of myself.
These are the two questions: what is the essence of love, and how does it come to me? God just does not come; He established the line of vertical love and must follow it. Yet we cannot think about the vertical line without also thinking of the horizontal line. The vertical line has to intersect the horizontal line at a right angle or else it will always be unstable. The fact that vertical love exists means horizontal love also must exist and form a perfect square. Most ideal is a form with equal distances and right angles. Here in Unification Church we say this is a four position foundation centering on true love.
Standing vertically is the ideal. Look at trees, nature, mountains, and man; they all stand upright. Look at all the animals; they go kind of horizontally, don't they? But man is the only being which is an exception, enjoying the privilege of walking upright. In the Korean language, you write from up to down. Here in America, you write from left to right. Koreans also write horizontally, but when they do, they start from the right and go to the left. The western world begins from the wrong side!
We know God has mind and body because we have mind and body. But even when we go to spirit world, though God is there, we cannot see Him. Our body is God's dwelling place, the Bible says. Therefore we not only need the true God in a vertical way, but also we need the true God in a horizontal way. True Parents fulfill the horizontal position for true God. No matter what role God had to take in our past fallen history, now that True Parents are on earth, God can take His original position, and everything will be solved now. We have to cut away everything, and go back to the original root.
Heaven is not some place; it is within my restored mind and body. Thus both heaven and hell are within yourself. You are the traffic policeman and can command yourself to go to heaven or to go to hell. This is a very dangerous job in a way, because you have to deal with a lot of force, power, and traffic coming at you. If you don't direct well, the world and yourself can go to pieces.
Do you think the Korean sparrow makes a nest one way, and the American sparrow makes it another way? It is the same, no matter where, right? Who taught them? God. God designed and implemented evolution. That evolution occurred somehow naturally without God is false. Just as a small bird knows how to build a nest, we were supposed to know how to build true love relationships. But because of the fall, we are even lower than the animals. We ought to be better than the salmon who, born in a small tributary of a river, tours around for four years and finally returns to the same spot after a journey of about 5,000 miles.
How close are you to God now? You have great reason to be thankful to God and True Parents for solving and teaching you these complicated things in such a clear way. Money, power, knowledge, and material may be important, but love is the thing out of which all things start to be. All the spirit men in spirit world, including your ancestors, now are listening to me speaking in such a clear way and will eternally thank me for finally clarifying everything which was so confusing even to the spirit world. You are the first ones who listened to me. Through you, many spirit people must learn in the future. How grateful do you feel each minute, even though your lives may be hard?
Now we know more clearly every day that this is the reality. We must learn about true love and with absolute confidence enact it and liberate God. I feel my responsibility and goal in life is to liberate God with my own hands. Since I am your True Father, then you must inherit that goal and tradition from me. I am working like crazy to liberate God, even though people say to me "Why do you have to work so hard? " You must say, "Father, I will bring this present of true love and plant it in my home town or country in order to liberate all the people, all the country and even God." Once that is planted in Korea, then I will be the forefather of true love.
Returning to one's home town is not a simple or insignificant thing at all. Behind my saying, "Return to home town," there is a tremendous work. Only after solving all the complicated questions of history can you return to your homeland. Therefore, going to one's homeland is the greatest event. The present I bring with me is the concept of liberating even God, as well as the clan, country, and world.
You cannot do everything yourselves. The one thing you can do is get hold of and engraft to me so firmly that we live and die together.
These are wilderness days. Don't be distracted -- don't be like the Israelites, who lost Moses. If you do that, then we cannot go to the ideal nation. This is the only way you can follow God's dispensation. Never let loose of me. You have to follow me absolutely.
The unity of mind and body can only be achieved through true love. When our mind and body are one, there is immediate resonance. As long as you become one with True Parents who are in the center of the universe, you are also at the center of the universe. When that happens, nobody has to tell you whether you will end up in heaven or hell because you will know in your minds already. You must work and live like crazy -- anything short of that is just not enough. Can you pledge to carry this out? God bless you all.