Original Way Of God's Will

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
July 8, 1984
Belvedere
Translator - Sang Kil Han

All people have an original nature which connects us with the rest of the creation and the whole universe. It transcends the past, present and future. Our original nature is not limited to history but instead goes beyond it. It goes beyond the broadest realm of the universe. That is why our minds direct us to strive for something greater than history, to become bigger than even the universe.

These statements about the original nature were true at any time in the past and they will be true in the future, just as they are true now. All value is determined in relationship with the original nature of man. The person who is in conformity with the original nature can be said to be a good person, while the person who violates that original nature is not good. The questions of good and evil and what is a true person and a false person are determined according to the original nature.

What is the source of that original nature of people? We could trace it back through our parents, who came from their parents and so on, all the way back to the first ancestors of man. Likewise, it will be passed on to all the succeeding generations. Any one generation can last at the most for 100 years or so. During his life span, every person will participate in that original nature and then go to spirit world, passing it on to his descendants.

We can see that before each person came to be, that original nature of man was here. Even after each person's life ends, that original human nature continues to exist here on earth. So where does that quality come from?

We can ask the age-old question, which comes first, existence or consciousness? Materialists claim that existence and matter existed prior to consciousness. But when you examine it, can matter contain all the essence of consciousness? We say that consciousness is greater than anything material. In other words, consciousness is the subject of matter.

We can take a seed for an example. A seed is comprised of two parts enclosed within one hull; this is true for every seed, without exception. Also there is a tiny little embryo nestled between the two parts. At the earliest stage of human existence, the point of conception, an embryo is created through the love of the father and mother. It represents both the plus and the minus. Whatever the form of life, all the qualities of the future existence of each new being are contained within that embryo, including a tree, a flower, or a human being.

That tiny, one-celled bit of matter contains all these invisible characteristics; nothing is left out. We can only imagine how small is that amount of material, yet it contains a staggering amount of potential.

How is it possible that such a tiny amount of material could contain so many characteristics? All the qualities necessary for that embryo to develop into a completed human being are condensed within that tiny embryo. It contains the qualities from both the father and the mother.

Can we say that we existed before we were actually born? That something was there and was deployed into the form we took? Which comes first, consciousness or existence? According to how we answer that question, our beliefs and lifestyle will be largely determined.

It is more reasonable to conclude that the original nature and its qualities were there before the individual came into being; and as the individual grew, those qualities were developed. No matter how small the embryo, all that information is still there. The nucleus of the plus and the nucleus of the minus are contained within that embryo. From there it starts to expand and grow. This is comparable to the way the physical body grows. We eat and feed our body with nutrients to enable it to grow.

The small, one-celled embryo contains the blueprint of what a person will become one day. It is not an accident how a person develops physically. Thus we cannot even think in terms of a person just happening to develop certain qualities as he grows; they were there in the beginning, regardless of what happens afterwards. That means the original quality of man is his consciousness; it was there before his existence was. Thus we can never claim that the physical body is the subject over the mind.

Let us focus upon one aspect of man, his eyes. The eyes you were born with were contained within that original blueprint. The eyes of all beings, whether it is man, animal, birds, or insects, have a common quality to them. Thus they must have a certain common ancestor.

When your eye came into being, do you think it had its own opinion about how it would look and function? Can the eyes think and plan for themselves? Can the eyes decide that they will be comprised of three parts-the white, the colored part and the black in the middle? Can they think, "Well, I will have to rotate and I must have eyelashes above me for protection. And I must be able to lubricate myself so I won't dry out."? Do you think eyes themselves have thought like that?

Of course, the eye itself cannot think in such a manner. But on the other hand, we can see that all these things have been part of the eye's development. Thus it is logical to assume that there was some plan, of which the eye would become a part, and that plan determined how the eye would be. Thus it is reasonable to think that there was an original plan or a blueprint and that according to that blueprint, the eye took its shape.

We explain the eye in this manner for the sake of analysis, but we cannot separate clearly the material and spiritual parts of the eye. When we speak of an eye, we are including both the material and the non-material qualities. It is not difficult to believe that wherever there is a spirit or consciousness, material will follow and not the other way around.

Human beings, in the course of their efforts to understand their existence, have separated the qualities of spirit and material, yet neither exists alone. They must both be blended and understood as a combined whole. We cannot understand and analyze them separately. Unless mankind becomes aware of this and comprehends life as an integrated whole, we cannot think of any sort of ideal society or happiness.

The eye itself never even thought about coming into being or what sort of existence it would have. However, there was a consciousness guiding that eye to exist. Who determined that the eye would be movable? There was a purpose for the eye and that was for seeing light. The source of light is the sun. Thus, although the eye itself was not aware of it, its purpose existed even before it did. The material eye, of course, could not think and know about this purpose and the plan for its existence. Could the material eye realize, as it was coming into being as a part of a man or an animal, that the sun was there?

However, since we know that the eye has not only its material aspect but also its spiritual one, we can say that the eye pretty much knew what to expect after it came into being. Did the spiritual part of the eye know before it took a material form what was its purpose and function, or only afterwards? Yes, it knew before.

This may seem to be a small point, but actually it is an important part of the Principle. We can confidently say that the consciousness level came first before the material took shape. Thus we know that the contentions of materialists are completely groundless as well as illogical and they contribute to the confusion of people, rather than teaching them the truth. For the sake of analysis, it may be permissible to divide the spiritual side from the material, but when considering a real being, one cannot separate the two.

The eye's spiritual aspect knew that there would be a sun. The material eye did not know it, but the consciousness which existed earlier knew that the sun would be there. The eye also knew that there would be dust particles; the material eye did not know this, but its consciousness which existed before knew. So the eye came to be protected by the eyelash. The eyelash came into being at the same time as the eye.

Can you imagine where the eyelashes came from? They are hairs which grow right out of the flesh of the eye, with a totally different color and fiber. Can you say, "Well, material just took shape on its own and formed an eyelash."? That would be unreasonable. The spiritual eye knew very well that there would be air and within that air would be dust and other particles floating around.

Also the eye has its own little sprayer for moisture. For those tear ducts to exist, it took the skill of an artisan- they are so tiny and they must be positioned at just the right place. The consciousness that preceded the eye's existence knew that evaporation would dry it out, so it would have to be resupplied constantly with moisture. Something knew this. Why does the eye blink continuously? It is for the purpose of spreading around the moisture. Have you ever tried not to blink and to keep your eyes open for ten or twenty minutes? You can't do it, can you?

When we point out all these things to a communist or materialist and then ask him if indeed material came before consciousness, he will be baffled. How about you? If someone asks you sincerely whether consciousness or material came first, how do you answer? We cannot deny that such a small part of a person, namely the eye, came into being with knowledge on a universal level. It knew not only what the eye was supposed to do but also everything it would need to relate with the rest of the world. The eye already knew it was a part of that world.

Many people today, without understanding this reasoning, have come to believe that all things-including eyes-came into being as the result of simple power or force. Someone exerted force and the eye, for example, came into being. But that is too broad-what sort of a power was it? Why, when, and how did it happen? They cannot answer that. They say that the universe is run by power, but they cannot describe precisely the nature of that power.

All beings are dominated by a clear law; nothing exists beyond that law or without it. We can measure and understand that law precisely. Scientists experience this all the time. In the study of physics or chemistry, they set up a hypothesis and they test it, trying to disprove it. If they cannot disprove it, they accept it as a theory and eventually it becomes a scientific law.

Where does power come from? Does power or force exist prior to action, or is action first? This has been an age-old question. A force tends to act upon something; thus force and action seem to be hand-in-hand. Yet, which existed first, force or action? You can see Reverend Moon here, and certainly I have a certain power. Also I am doing many things and making many actions. Based upon those actions, then I have a certain force which you can observe.

Consider electricity. Does that force exist first, or does it only come into existence when there is electrical activity? Is it because of action that electricity comes into being? Or was-the electricity there and then when the proper action occurred, power was brought forth? That is the point we are pondering. As we know, electricity is composed of plus and minus charges. Without the combination of these two, there can be no force. So action is an indispensable pan of the force.

Does an action occur accidentally or haphazardly? Then what must come before that action takes place? We can see clearly and simply that there must be a subject and object relationship before any action is possible. Only through this action is force possible. So the classic question about the source of the power of the universe can be answered. Is that power the result of action? Yes, it is very much the result of action, but for the action to be possible, there must be a subject and object relationship. There must be a subject and object relationship within the universe that engages in action, in order to produce power or force. We must be clear about this point.

We can follow this logic backwards. Let us consider the power of the universe. Where does it come from? It comes about as a result of action. Is any action possible without any law or purpose? No, before action can occur, there must be subject and object in relationship. Thus we can know the chain of events-what happens first, second, and what is the root or origin.

Furthermore we can understand that consciousness and matter were blended in order to form the universe. It wasn't just matter alone nor was it just spiritual quality alone-they were both necessary. That was God's creation. He integrated the spiritual and the material and then deployed them according to His plan. All the aspects of His plan came into being upon that foundation.

Thus we are back to our original question: Which came first, consciousness or material? We can clearly say that it was consciousness. Consciousness and matter were the beginning of the universe, and man is no exception to this.

The most sophisticated computer can put out a tremendous amount of information and do many important things, but in order for it to do that, someone had to program it. Without the necessary data, no computer can function. A computer cannot produce anything which it is not programmed to produce. It only puts out, in effect, what is already there. Even if we could build a computer as large as the World Trade Center with the capacity to deal with information about the entire world, it would not be as great as the human brain. Yet the human brain is quite small and it is limitless.

As a matter of fact, as we said earlier, an enormous amount of information can be transmitted by just one human cell. There is a mysterious quality to the brain, but it does contain a very concrete subject/object relationship.

Within the human sperm and egg is contained all the information about the baby that is to come. What causes the sperm and egg to join with each other? Someone might say, "Due to the infusion of force." But that is not the reason. Certainly it is not knowledge, either.

It is by the power of love that the sperm and egg join together. We can observe this phenomenon to examine how God merged the spiritual essence into the material essence. When God created the universe, including mankind, it was not knowledge or power that He used to do His work. It was love itself which He used. Love transcends everything else. Love is like the power of an electrical generating station.

We can ask another very important question and that is, why does man exist? Some materialists try to say that there is no specific or understandable reason for man's existence, that we just came into being. However, we know that nothing just comes into being by accident. There was a plan in the beginning that later came to be translated into the actual being. The concept of love was there before any object of love came into being. That object of love for God was a couple, a man and woman.

When there is a big plus, it naturally takes a big minus as its object. The plus charge is on one end of a magnet and the minus charge is on the other end. That means there must be some shared qualities between the plus and minus, otherwise they could not coexist on the same piece of metal. Even though the plus charge is very strong, it still has a small amount of minus charge. Because of this fact, the plus and minus ends can stay together on the same magnet. The same is true of the minus. Although it is predominantly minus, it still contains some small amount of plus charge.

The larger the subject, the larger the object it will take. We can say that evolution must have occurred, but only according to this law. Most scientists fail completely to understand the process of evolution, thinking that it "just happened." However, we know that there is always a reason for things to develop and come together. The overall reason is the power of love and through the relationship of subject and object.

The whole world is composed of only a hundred or so chemical elements. These elements exist as the result of plus and minus interaction. When we try to make these elements combine in certain ways, they will not do so unless the proper subject and object, plus and minus, relationship is brought about. Then they react immediately.

The chemist in the laboratory may try to force two elements to combine and he may use all sons of means, such as heat and pressure. However, unless they form the right subject and object relationship, they will not combine. When any two elements come together according to the universal law, the scientist doesn't have to do anything-they merge automatically.

From this we can draw an iron-clad rule. Even though evolution did take place, it could only happen when proper subject and object relationships were formed. When those relationships were missing, evolution could never occur.

We can see that the whole universe is in a state of readiness for the subject and object relationship. All things try to come together through the power of love. The whole universe is dominated by the principle of love. Why is this the case? It is only through this principle that smaller beings can become pan of larger beings.

We can observe that the law of the material world involves a certain entropy. In other words, output is always smaller than input. That is a law of energy. When a certain amount of energy is expended to produce a certain effect, there will be a loss or consumption of energy. Nothing is added. However, there is a different law guiding love. That is the only instance in which the output is greater than the input. Thus when two beings join together through love, they become greater than just the sum of their parts. Added power is generated.

This is a clear law. It can even be applied to business. Suppose there is a businessman who has to decide whether to drive from here to Manhattan. If he can derive a profit, even a small one, from going there, then he will go. But if he will not, then he won't go. Even the smallest amount of profit makes the difference. That provides him with the incentive and the power to go to Manhattan every day. He knows that his property is expanding through that activity, and thus he will never quit doing that activity.

Love operates like this, too. The more love you give out and engage in, the more you will have. It grows and grows. This is the way the universe is joined-through the law of love.

There is a huge plus within the universe and every other entity in the universe seeks to be joined with that greatest plus. The only way for that to happen is for each small minus entity to make unity with a somewhat larger plus entity and thereby become bigger. That huge plus is complex, not simple. Likewise the many smaller entities become more complex and reflect that plus as they interact with love.

A human being tries to go beyond himself and reach out to the highest ideal, precisely because of this law. No matter how small a person may be, he still wants to be bigger than the universe. That is because his ultimate subject is that huge, universal subject.

In addition to our religious understanding, we can look materially at this world and it still conforms to this law of the universe. The law of love guides the material world as well.

When we dearly love our spouse and our family and then together we love our country, our family will immediately grow as big as our country. In other words, when the family as object takes the country as subject, then it takes on the value of that subject. When the country goes beyond itself and loves the world, the country will realize the intensity of worldwide love. Eventually everyone can be joined with the whole universe and God, through original love.

The original nature is common to all people, even to a bad person. Every human being has an original nature which he wants to discover and develop.

If this were the original world, then the man of original nature would be accepted automatically. But since the world has deviated, it has to be corrected. That means we must put in great amounts of power to do recreation. Indemnity is the power by which we neutralize the opposition.

It takes more effort to repair an old, broken-down building than it does to put up a new one. The extra effort to repair all the old things is what we can call indemnity. The indemnity power is needed to repair and restore the deviated self. Thus the need for indemnity can be explained logically. There have been times when our American members have asked, "Why can't we do the restoration in a joyful way? Why do we need indemnity?"

You can welcome indemnity if you understand the purpose it serves. Because of our indemnity, all things can be recreated and brought back to their original nature. It is only after the original man emerges that it becomes possible to walk the original way of God's will. Are you original people? No, you were born as the result of the human fall. Thus, in order to be recreated, you must also pay indemnity.

Jesus was the original man, yet he too paid indemnity. Why must the original man pay indemnity? It is because nobody else even knew about indemnity or was capable of paying it. Why do I push you through the indemnity course? Indemnity is not something which you can be forced through by somebody standing over you. Once you understand the need for indemnity, you must go through it voluntarily, according to your own will. We must even volunteer to go to prison if it will be a good condition of indemnity. If you don't want to go but are forced to go, the indemnity loses its effect. Is that clear?

Therefore even though a member might be quite young, he may be asked to go fundraising. If the way of the multitude is an evil way, then we must go against the multitude in order to go the good way.

When the flowers bloom in spring, the butterflies come to drink the nectar. Why do the leaves of a tree multiply and become green? Why do the branches grow? That is the way nature can stimulate us to improve our actions of love. Does love multiply in isolation? No, love requires give and take. A tree must relate with its environment in order to grow. The members of the plant kingdom relate with each other through love and in that way they grow and multiply.

Why should a tree want to grow bigger and bigger? What is wrong with a small tree? It is because the bigger the tree, the more leaves and then seeds it can produce. Thus the next generation will be more numerous. Trees and plants are like our textbooks for love. Some trees require six or seven years to blossom. None of them blooms after just one year.

In the mineral world, veins of gold and silver are not found in little isolated patches but in large areas that stretch for long distances. Likewise the insects do not dwell in isolation. There is one form of fly that incubates for several months and then hatches to live for only one day. On that one day of life it mates and then dies. This is like the salmon, which lives for several years and then makes its way back to the place where it was born. Then it mates and lays its eggs and then it dies.

Man is a privileged being to be able to engage in lovemaking over and over again, for his whole life and on into spirit world. All of nature-trees, the minerals, etc. -exists as the textbook for the inspiration of human beings. When men and women, as the representatives of the whole universe, engage in love, the rest of the universe can rejoice with them.

What makes a happy person? All of mankind feels a yearning for happiness, but unless we know what it is, how can we attain it? Happiness is the state in which you can give to an unlimited degree and you can receive to an unlimited degree. When you can give and receive unlimited love, then you are a happy person. In other words, the happy person represents the original universe. Do you understand?

We can describe happy people in another way. They are those who have the original marriage relationship, those who have original, perfect parents, and those who have original children. In other words, those who have the original four-position foundation are the happy people. This is because they represent the universe. That is a wonderful happiness!

Upon first learning about the four-position foundation in the Divine Principle it sounds like a good concept' but when you really understand it, you realize that the four position foundation is more than that. It is necessary in order to become a happy person. Thus, you too are capable of becoming a happy person, isn't that correct? The reason I matched and blessed you couples in marriage was so that each of you could become happy people, having perfected children who could, in turn, become happy people. You can eventually become perfected parents.

In order for someone to become perfect, he cannot exist just for his own sake. In order to grow, a person must learn to love others more than himself, even sacrificing himself for their sake. The logic of love is that once a person denies himself he becomes greater. When you deny yourself, then something else greater fills in that space.

This can be understood also by observing the way a low pressure area is filled up by a higher pressure area. This is symbolic of what happens when we sacrifice ourselves and get filled up by a greater amount of love. By this process, each individual unites with a bigger and bigger plus.

Everyone, including the True Children, lives according to this law. It is the law of the universe, something that no one can breach without suffering the consequences. You will become smaller and smaller if you break that law. Thus one's spouse is a very important person in the fulfillment of this law.

I could continue for days talking about this point within the Principle of Creation, since there is so much to discuss.

Will any of you ever become a communist? How about a materialist? Or are you going to remain Unificationists? Now you know how you will lead your life. The law for our lives is extremely simple: the individual lives for the sake of the family; the family lives for the sake of the clan; the clan lives for the nation; the nation for the world; and the world for God.

Within any certain area, there must be a center. Originally, mankind was supposed to be one happy family but we know that society is divided on every level. Now there is the communist world opposing the democratic world and each feels it is superior to the other.

We must belong to something which is bigger than ourselves. By the individual aligning himself with the family, the family with the clan, and so forth, and everything having the same universal center, then the universe itself takes on a perfectly spherical shape. When you achieve this alignment, then you and your family are one; you and your country are one. The same is true for the universe.

When the universe has taken its perfectly spherical shape, only half of it will be visible; the other half of the sphere will be invisible, which is the spirit world.

No matter how much good you may do, no one will tell you to stop. You can always do more and more good. All people are destined to reach the top of the universe. Your destiny is to be as large as the universe in your goodness.

If man had never fallen, Adam and Eve would have loved in the original way and they would have created a family, society and world with the proper universal center. God would have been in the midst of that world. Man is meant to be the master or the center of both the visible and the invisible worlds.

We must work hard to nullify opposition and then input more effort to advance in the direction of goodness. This is why our lives are harder than they were originally supposed to be.

The world is divided between the free world and the communist world-the God-accepting world and the God denying world. If they ever clash, then the world will be shattered. That is why Unificationism is working to mediate every level of conflict in the world, ultimately to work up to the level of these two conflicting world powers.

Individualism is extremely harmful to universal harmony, but that is the common way of thinking in America today. At best, people have expanded themselves to the family level but hardly anyone goes beyond that level to the country, and certainly not to the world and the universe. We must go against this way of thinking and re-direct ourselves in the original way of God.

Each individual is destined to be as big as the universe, but how can he do that? It is only by denying oneself and giving to others on higher and higher levels.

Now we know what is the original way of God's will. We must first be able to understand that it is God's will for the individual to become as big as God Himself. Once we know this, we can go the way of God's will through the law of love and reconstruct the original world. Centering upon love, we must recreate the world. Without love, we cannot recreate anything.

Nothing has any value without love-whether it is democracy, communism, or whatever. Human history has progressed to this point in which two world powers are on the verge of violent confrontation. We must be the mediators that prevent that conflict. Thus Unificationism will become recognized more and more. The communist theory is inadequate and so is the democratic way. Now the new ideal will emerge, which we call Godism. That is the historical transition point where we are now.

This is our goal and the purpose of our way of life. Unless we achieve the God-centered world here, we cannot achieve it in spirit world. All these different steps from individual to family, family to clan, and so forth, are only achievable through the practice of love. No other quality or power can allow us to do it.

The very nature of love leaves no place for the individual alone. It is within the nature of love to sacrifice the self for others. Because this is the law, it is only through self-sacrifice that we can achieve our goal of a unified world centered on love. Then we will become one with God-that includes every individual, family, clan, nation, and the world. and all the way to the universe-everything will become one with God.

By exercising the law of love horizontally, we expand vertically toward God. Wherever there is a perfect minus, a perfect plus will come into being. And God will dwell there.

Through love, God creates and recreates. When we live for the sake of others, we become wider and bigger- we expand. But when we live just for ourselves, we shrink. Living for the sake of others and centering upon love is the way of God's will for us. Unless we live by this law, we can never reach the great destiny that God wills for us. Can you understand?

Why must we go the suffering way of life? Why must we pay indemnity? This is the reason-unless we do that, we cannot neutralize the opposition against goodness, that power which pushes the world in the deviated direction. That must be straightened out and turned around in the right direction. But without the Messiah and his teaching and guidance, nobody on earth will be able to do this. I have been teaching you the formula and law by which you must redirect your life.

Therefore, we cannot be subjugated by the fear of death. We must face death itself squarely and rise above it. Many people have been talking about the upcoming prison term, but I haven't been thinking about it so much. I know that the war has already been won by God and it is only a matter of time and how hard we work before it becomes completely apparent. That is why I don't give so much thought to whether I do or do not go to prison. The important thing is whether or not we are going according to the original way of life.

Even when death itself is hovering over us, we cannot stop our way of life. We must keep going, striving to climb higher and higher. Satan does not have this understanding or this confidence. He is full of confusion. Thus, when we advance courageously, he will be exposed as weaker than he appears.

(Father speaks in Korean to the blessed children who have completed their 21-day training.)

Col. Han: The workshop the children will be over in two days, so Father is summarizing things for them. He is saying that the law will be observed rigidly from now on; up till now, we have been rather lax but from now on, we cannot afford to make any mistakes. The laws are very rigid in the future world. Now Father is stressing the importance of the blessed couples.

Father Continues

This law is not something I made up. It is something which I tested, investigated and determined without a doubt to be the law of the universe. You have learned the law, so now you have to practice it.

Those of you who lived a lawless and unprincipled way in the past-are you going to live according to this way that I have been explaining this morning? If you say yes, please raise your hands. God bless you.

Tuna Fishing and the Way of Life

Sun Myung Moon
July 5, 1984
Morning Garden

How do you feel when you look at the ocean? Sometimes it rains and more often the winds blow. Do you have any questions that you would like to ask me? Did you learn how to do things, how to put your bait on the line? Not yet? Did you want to come or did someone tell you to come? Is this is your first time here? The days are long, but you will learn how to go beyond the tiredness.

It takes two or two and one-half hours to go to Provincetown where the fishing grounds are. That means fishing begins at five o'clock in the morning. To get there you have to leave at 3:00 a.m. or even 2:00 a.m. You have to be the first boats there and get ready for the tuna guests. That's courtesy. You are ready for everything. The tuna is already here, but not many fishermen are catching them yet. We have to think about that with our common sense. Why are they here, but cannot be caught?

Patterns of Life Within the Ocean

Sand eels migrate and move according to the season. These sand eels, hordes of them, are coming up from the south. The water temperature is still cold, and the lower you go, the colder it gets, although the temperature stays a little warmer on the surface. The sand eels are beginning to gather; the fish are going after these sand eels, but they are not concentrated yet. They are in the area, but they haven't made their home here yet. These sand eels will settle down when the water temperature goes up.

As the summer goes on, the temperature goes up. Then, they will gather in one area, somewhat like a plateau where the depth is only between seventy to about one hundred and twenty feet. Other depths are 200 or 300 feet and are too deep, too cold. The larger fish know where these tiny sand eels are and they all concentrate in the general area to feed upon them. The whales and tuna stay in the deeper area, but in the morning they come up to eat. One can honestly say it is their breakfast time. That breakfast place is where we are now going out and waiting.

Herring, mackerel and cod are smaller fish which tuna also feed upon. They all come around where the temperature is warm and where there is an abundant amount of sand eels. That is the area we are going to. The tuna, when they come in and out of the feeding area, have a certain approach where they tend to go in and out. That is where we want to place our boats. That is usually on the edge of the area, a ledge. Tuna do not like rough things, just like anything normal. So where there is a cliff, the tuna don't want to come there. Rather, they will come where there is a slope. They prefer a gradual slope and come in and out that way.

First you have to study the charts and see what kind of terrain there is, and then you have to go there and try it out. I spent a lot of time investigating this, scientifically and also intuitively. That is one reason why the New Hope has been catching lots of tuna, more than many other boats. Also the boats around New Hope have been able to catch a good number of tuna. For this reason, even people who are not Moonies try to fish close to the New Hope.

You have to know substantially about these things. You have to have an in-depth perception. You might say, "Well, the ocean is the same everywhere and the fish come here and go there and it's a matter of sheer chance." Not so. Not at all. Chance is not involved. Tuna have a manner of doing things, they have habits. We have to understand about their habits. The smaller fish gather together where there is plenty of food, where there is shelter and they can hide and protect themselves.

These small fish move around by schools. You will see some schools that are miles wide and long, and hundreds of feet deep. The tide comes in and out and these schools move around with it. Sometimes the currents are very strong, while other times the currents are weak. The smaller fish go in very large schools for protection, and they are looking for places where they can hide, such as the very big rocks. There are many places like this in certain areas of the ocean and we have to study these kinds of things if we are going to catch the kind of fish we want.

For example, we might want to catch striped bass. Sometimes the schools of very small fish are moving too fast because the currents and tides are pulling them, so the fish in front cannot slow down even if they want to. Instead of being able to hide behind a rock, they collide into it. This leaves them somewhat knocked out, dizzy, just like a man would be if he did the same thing to his head. This is where the striped bass hang around. When the small fish hit the rock and swim slowly about in a dazed manner, they are easier to prey upon. You can find striped bass in places like this. You have to think like the striped bass and then figure out the logical place where they will be.

Tuna fishing is the same. You reason everything out; you have to think everything through. Don't just go somewhere and throw your gear into the ocean and just hope the tuna will somehow get hooked. The small fish go with the currents. There are places along the ledge where the currents slow down. This is where the small fish go and where the larger fish come after them to feed. You have to look at the charts and find these places where there is a drop-off and the depths change sharply.

You have to perceive whether the bottom is a sandy, muddy or rocky bottom. There are different types of worms and small creatures. You have to study about that as well. Some live where there is seaweed and others where it is rocky or sandy. If you are going for the smaller fish, you have to understand what the bottom is like. The weight on the tackle is important in rocky areas. If you just throw the hook down there, it will get snagged. Sometimes you might get your gear back, but most often you have to cut your line.

To prevent that, you place your weight about ten feet below your hook and bait. Then, you have to imagine what your tackle will look like down there and be able to feel your weight when it hits the bottom. You have to have some sensitivity about that. And you have to consider the current pulling your hook and bait. If it isn't much, then it won't be ten feet above the weight. It will be more like five feet or just two feet. So, you have to be conscious how your bait will hang on the line and be able to judge from that how high from the bottom it actually is.

In Alaska, where there is halibut, I put my thoughts about this into practice and it worked very well. When I am out tuna fishing, I am always thinking like this, how to do things and what to do next. My mind is never idle. When I went fishing for halibut in Alaska I caught twice as much as the others. They wondered how I did it, but I didn't tell them. However, there isn't much to it. You just have to think, and when your assumption is right, you will catch the fish you are going after. You have to know the habits of the fish, the tendency of the fish and the terrain. The rest is logical reasoning. You think to yourself, "This is so and this must be it." You then try it out and you discover, "that must be it." That is how it works. In the ocean, there are different fish at different layers of the water. Fish live along the bottom and then a few feet above that, and then still above that there are other fish. At different layers and water temperatures, there are different types of fish. Fish are very sensitive. They want to live in the environment which suits them best. They don't live in unfavorable environments like man does. Generally, the differences in depth of water determine the difference in temperature. It tends to get colder as it gets deeper. The difference is only a little, but this difference means quite a bit to fish. Remember, the fish will also go where there is feed. Each different species of fish preys upon fish smaller than themselves. They never prey upon fish that are larger.

Someone may assume that whales and tuna are big fish, so they must be in deeper waters. But don't just assume that. Think of where they would feed. The smaller fish are up in the higher levels. Even if the tuna like to be down deep, they must come up to feed. And sure enough, they do. That's where we catch tuna the most. If you only drop your bait in the deepest waters, you will never catch them. The temperature of the water, the type of feed and the environment, especially where they can be protected, all determine where the fish are going to be. And also, fish spend some of their time playing and resting; that is where the water is still and calm. After they feed, they go to play. The afternoon and early evening are the times when they usually play around.

You have to think about the currents. The small fish don't want to feed in the fast moving currents. Even the large fish find it difficult to feed and swim in strong currents. A lot of this is learned through experience. However, you have to have some idea of things before you also experience them. On the other hand, even if you know the basic theory of something, you don't really know it until you experience it. Think about the moon. There are different phases to the moon. According to what it shows you, quarter-moon, half-moon or full moon, the tide changes. Every day of the month is not the same. Sometimes the tide moves more strongly. At high tide, the water moves faster. Look at the water mark. You can tell if it is the high tide of the month or the low tide of the month.

It means this. When you know it is high tide, but the water mark is still higher than that, you know that it is the low tide of the month. Do you follow? There is a six hour interval between the high tide and low tide. There is high tide, then mid-tide and then low tide. From low tide it goes back to mid-tide and then high tide. The cycle moves like this and it covers twenty-four hours, two high tides and two low tides.

When you are tuna fishing, you have to consider the tides. You have to think, "What kind of tide is it now, high or low? Is the tide going out or coming in?" You have to ask, "If the tide is going out, what is the tendency of the fish? If it is coming in, what do the fish most likely do?" You have to put all this information together in your mind. And then, you must go out and experience it.

There are fish who eat when the tide is coming in, so when the tide starts to move in, you cast your bait and you can catch a lot. On the other hand, when the tide is moving out, you can even see the fish and yet, no matter how much you cast your bait they do not even touch it. Fish tend to feed at certain times of the day. They feed according to the tides, currents and also the time of the day. This is true of land animals. Did you ever watch the rabbit? There is a certain time the rabbit feeds. There is a very good reason for when they come out to eat. The rabbit does not want to eat in the middle of the day when the hawk is able to spot him clearly. The whole animal kingdom operates like this. They move about at the best times for their protection. For example, the tiger feeds at night. They do this when the small animals are sleeping. They travel up to 100 miles in their excursions. Elephants feed early in the morning when it is not too hot; the rest of the day they look for shade under the trees or they go to the watering hole. This kind of pattern is less and less predictable when it comes to lower animals. The small fish will feed at any time, but the larger fish have a distinct time when they come to feed in full force. Don't over emphasize that fishing is simple. Don't think you can go out anywhere, anytime and just throw out the bait. Don't think it just comes by luck. There is a whole lot more to catching fish than that. You have to study in detail. Then of course, after all that, there is some small element of luck.

Putting Theory into Practice, Practice into Life

I don't expect you to memorize this from one end to the other. You think you understand everything now, but when you get out there in your boat, you won't remember the first thing. However, teaching you in lectures is necessary. Even though you have never put this into practice yet, it is like a seed planted in your mind. By next year, you will begin to realize things and say to yourself, "Oh, what Father said has real meaning; I'm going to put it into practice."

It is like martial arts. The first thing you learn is basic form. However, when you are involved in fighting, you forget all about those forms. You just try to do whatever you can. Later, much later, as you keep using it, you come back to those forms and even use them naturally when you are sparring or fighting. How do you eventually learn anything? Through the practice of it. This is how you learn martial arts. It is not so much the lessons that teach you, but having to fight. In fighting you learn to put together all the lessons. And the one who becomes a champion is the one who challenges to fight again and again, even if he has to fight for twenty-four hours at a time. That kind of commitment eventually makes him the best in his class. It is not the big guy who wins, but the guy who has the most determination and trains the hardest.

It is the same with fishing. The message for us here is that we have to work hard and experience all the aspects of fishing, even twenty- four hours a day. For at least three years, you should fish in these grounds and you explore these areas much more than anyone else. When you become familiar with all these things, you catch more fish in two or three hours than all the others who come and fish the entire day. You must become an expert like this. You just have to start trying things and find out for yourself what works and what doesn't. There is some distance between Provincetown and Gloucester. Also, the fish behave in a different way according to the different tides, currents, depths of water and terrain below. You have to know all about these things.

You have to study about other kinds of fish besides tuna. You have to study the fluke and flounder. In other areas we could catch a lot around twenty feet deep, but in these waters you can't find them at twenty feet at all. So, we have to look for them, perhaps in fifteen feet of water or even less. The New Hope is a large boat and it is hard to get into shallow areas. The captain is always worried when I tell him to go anywhere near ten feet of water.

The One Hope can go into that depth of water easily. In that sense, it is an all-round fishing boat. I designed that boat with the greatest fishing ability in mind. It can truly go fast and it can fit into almost every fishing situation. Some people think the boat is not economical, but if you know where to fish, you can get there quickly and get home quickly. If you don't study and know where you are going, you have to travel all over the place and still not find the fish. In that case, the boat is not so economical. However, if you study and know exactly what kind of fish you want and exactly how you are going to get it, another kind of boat which is slower is less economical. You waste time. You might save on some gas, but you waste the whole day and come back with nothing. What is so economical about that?

The New Hope is a slow boat. You cannot fish eight hours and then come back. It takes time to go out and come back. Actually, you don't get a full eight hours of fishing unless you go out very early and come back very late, and that is what we usually do on the New Hope. The One Hope is much faster; it is much better than the New Hope for all kinds of fishing. You have to show that this is the case. I have confidence in you and know that you can do it.

You have to study and then apply the principles which you find. The one who tries the most and also studies the most is the winner. Study the high tide, low tide and mid tide. These are three typical times which you have to try and discover what kind of results you can get. According to the depth and terrain, you go out and fish. You think, "Oh, this is the area where the fish are." And then, when you go out, you catch nothing. Don't just run away. Fish there all day and see what happens at different times of the tide. You have to consider all the factors when you are out fishing.

The striped bass is an extremely difficult fish to catch. I had an experience last year for three hours in the middle of the night when they were in a frenzy. At that time, you can't think of going in for any previous appointment or plan. Just forget about anything else except catching them because when they are eating, when they are biting, that is your opportunity. However, if you planned poorly, you might run out of bait. What will you do then? You cannot run into the store at three o'clock in the morning.

Well, this is what happened to us and we had to find a place at 3:00 a.m. last year. We had to look for bait. Someone had to go and do that. They had to knock on the door above the bait shop where the owner lived. Since the owner was a pro fisherman himself, he understood why we had to do that. But what if you don't have a place to go to and get more bait? I had already caught a lot of striped bass that day. Most people would have given up at that time and said, "It's been a good day and we caught more than anybody else, so let's go in." However, I didn't do that and after we got more bait around 4:00 a.m., we kept fishing and I caught still more striped bass.

Setting a record is very important. It is important for yourself and it is meaningful for the people in that area. When you set a record for striped bass in some area, people recognize you for what you've done. They respect you. What happens when they respect you? Well, they come to you and discuss where to catch a lot of striped bass. They want to know where you fish too, but you don't have to say as much. They may take you to their best spots, and you can then take them to one of yours. If you can set a record with one fish, you can gain tens of years of fishing experience in just one year by sharing with other fishermen like that. However, if you don't have any kind of record, they will never tell you much of anything. For example, I have an unusual story about fishing in Alaska last year. One man had led us to some far out retreat where there is some very good fishing. I asked him, "Who is the best halibut fisherman out here?" He and some of the other men there pointed to one fellow and said, "This guy is called Red. He caught a 400 pound halibut last year. He is the best fishermen in this area."

Then I replied, "Oh, that's a lie." I said it so seriously that I really agitated the man named Red, and he got so angry that he took me to the best spot on that first day, just to prove that he knew where the good fishing was! I also proved that this man knew a good fishing spot, because I caught a 100 pound halibut on the very first day. After that, I gave him full credit and this put him on cloud nine.

At the same time, I showed him a better way of fishing for the halibut and this really impressed the other fisherman. With my method I caught twice as many as the others did. It had to do with time. I was able to work much quicker and save more time than the others. I didn't reel in the line like the other man, but pulled it in just like a tuna line. And then, when I put the line back out, it went out much faster than the reel as well. By sheer mathematics I caught more halibut.

At the end of the day, they asked me about my method. I tried to explain it to them, but they didn't believe it right away. When I argued with them, they were impressed. They had already tried fishing like that, but the line always snagged on them. I had studied that too, but I had found a way to do it so that the line wouldn't snag. I showed that technique to them and they agreed that I had brought a much better result than they had.

This is why you have to study things. You have to assume something and then try it. That's what keeps you going. Assume something and then prove it. That's what makes you men and women. There are many different kinds of fish, but each fish has different habits. You have to come to know these habits. You have to research and study. Don't just sit there. Study, practice, make effort. You have to put in a lot of time and give a lot of effort. It is like this for everything.

Witnessing is like that. You have to put in a lot of time. That is the first thing. At first, you might not get much result. So then, you have to study what you are saying and who you are talking to. Apply this principle and put in a concentrated effort towards accomplishing your goal. Don't you see that this is just a basic principle that prevails throughout your life? It isn't just for fishing that you learn these things this summer. Once you learn this principle down to your bone, you will never forget it. What you learn here can go with you into anything, anywhere. If you learn something by doing it, you never forget. What about the person who doesn't want to study, research and give serious effort to something? We cannot have much hope for him. You have to remember that what begins small now has a big difference later in your life. If you pick up these habits now in your young years, later on in your life you will become somebody. However, if you keep on living without investing yourself in this way, studying and applying the things you learn, in thirty years' time, you will be nothing.

I have lived in an intense way all the time. There is nothing that doesn't interest me. Fishing is just one area for me. I am not just a fisherman am I? Yet, I became one of the best fishermen around. This is because I apply the same principle to everything in life.

Become Worthy to Inherit from the Best

Another thing for you to remember is to get hold of the top person. Get hold of the top fisherman. Don't worry so much with the mediocre ones. You have to have a sufficient interest in fishing in order to approach the best person in your area. Even if you have a great deal of interest, you must also have a solid preparation within yourself before you can invite him over for dinner and talk with him. It's important to connect to the top people if you want to get things done. If you want to influence history, you have to become a quality person and be able to move the high quality people in your area. In order to reach these people, you have to be serious and study and be able to gain success in some area. Then, you can move the minds of people who are making the same kind of effort in their lives.

People who accomplish things in life want to have someone whom they respect to inherit those things. Who can they respect? They will respect the person with these qualities: the one who is serious and willing to study or research, and then make real effort to apply what he learns. This is the one who will gain such respect. You have to become like that.

Around the top person are usually four or five people and you have to study them. Each one has some good characteristics. One of them might work hard, but when his time is up, he's immediately gone. Another one might spend more time, but he doesn't work as hard. A third one might spend less time, but he is so serious and his sincerity tops them all. From them, you can figure out which patterns to follow. You take the best habits from all of them. For three years, don't say anything. Talking just drains your energy and takes away your concentration. Just put things into action. Be silent and learn. You must become one of the people to be missed. When you aren't there, the top man will ask, "Where is he today?" And the others will ask the same question as well. They have to become interested in you and they really have to need you to be around. Everyone should miss you. I look at all of you. I am thinking about someone whose face I want to see. This year I don't see someone's face which I remember from years before and I miss him. If I don't miss you, it's because you are not a needed person for the tuna season. That isn't so good is it? The one who has been fishing for a few years and is eager to teach things to others, is the one who has learned something the difficult way and wants to share with others. That person will have little tricks of how to do things and he will be able to teach about many different aspects of fishing that he found out for himself.

You will see someone who is faithful to his own job, but not so serious about the sake of the whole purpose. Then, you will see another one who doesn't spend so much time on his own job, but is more concerned about the whole group and how everyone else is doing. Some people are very faithful to their own boat and they don't pay attention to what others are doing. Such people think that is the best way of life for them. On the other hand, another person comes around, giving a hand to other boats and giving suggestions on how to improve things. The second person in both examples is the more precious person. The second kind of person never seems to bicker with other boats. He has already done his share on his own boat and with his extra time wants to help other boats. He isn't thinking of just his own boat, so how can he be in conflict with another boat? He is interested in all the boats. This way he keeps clear of all the little arguments that can come up.

All of us must become such a person that other people want to have around helping them. This doesn't mean you don't accomplish your own work. That's not it. It means that after you finish your own work, you are free to help others with theirs. You must learn how to be quick and efficient. I have practiced this since I was very young. As a student I developed these habits. In school, no one wanted to do the cleaning jobs, but I always took those jobs. In my school, I helped the teacher with more cleaning jobs than anyone else.

When I go to the toilet and find some litter I always pick up that litter without anyone seeing me and throw it away. When you make a habit of that, the difference will show up later on. Don't only do your own share, but be interested in others doing as well as you. Then, you will really contribute to the effort of the whole class.

I recently came back to Morning Garden after being gone for four years, and immediately I could tell whether the caretaker of this house had been doing a good job or had been neglecting the small things. In the boat it is the same. I never look at the boats on the first day out. On the first day, everyone is meticulous, but the day you finish is when I go to take a look. Some of the boats are really messy by then. The boat which is as clean on the last day as it is on the first day is the winner.

I have that strong standard of judgment in everything. Recently, I was looking through a machine shop. There were veterans of twenty and thirty years working there. I gave them some very strict comments, but each time, they were humble to what I said because they had only thought so far and not beyond that. They recognized that I had thought way beyond their thinking. This impressed them.

People who build boats think they build pretty good boats, but I go through their shop and pin-point things they had not thought about. Not a single point is a mistake on my part. I apply this kind of serious thought to everything. For example, the Washington Times newspaper won twenty awards this year in an international competition. Not just one, but twenty awards, and it's just beginning, just in its first few years of existence. This did not come about by accident. The people at the Washington Times know it was my serious attitude which produced this result. They don't think they could have put such a thing together on their own.

Basically, this tuna fishing is not just to go out and get the tuna and make some money. That is not the central point at all. This is good basic training for the rest of your life. If you apply the principles you learn faithfully, you can make a success out of your life. Do you understand? Like anything else you do in your life, you have to put a lot of time in. Study everything, discuss it with others and read it again, then put in concentrated effort.

Actually, I didn't have the time to come here, but I felt so much that I wanted to give you a good start, so I came yesterday and went fishing at four o'clock in the morning. Today I am here with you. Tomorrow I may go out too, but that will be the last day. I cannot stay with you all summer, so please, do your best. The last ten years, I devoted every single day of the season out on the ocean. Rain or shine, I went out. Literally, rain or shine. There were storm warnings and still I went out. One time there was a storm coming and everyone could see it clearly, but in the middle of the night I said, "Let's go." The captain obeyed and we went out. I've gone out in the midst of a frenzied ocean and endured it. And then, in the morning I came back in, having won over that.

While I was in the boat waiting for the tuna to come, I thought over and over again of the providence in America and planned what to do. I thought about the problem of world hunger and planned what to do step by step. I didn't just think one or two years ahead, not like that. Instead, I thought about hundreds of years to come and what to do to prepare for that. I thought about how to farm the tuna and how it could be nurtured and used for millions of pounds of nutritional food in the future. I thought like that all the time. There is nothing that I didn't think of in the long hours while I was waiting for the tuna to come.

Every morning I went out, no matter how early. I was always full of hope and expectation for that day. I came back when the sun was setting, returning with elation that I had done my very best for that day and wondering what the next day had in store for me. I expect you to take pride and to go the same path that I have gone. You are now privileged to tread the very same path that I have walked these past ten years.

Everything you do here is directly involved with me. Many things I have invented myself. I have paved the road and pioneered everything for you. Take that as your pride, and just as every rock along the pathway has witnessed what I have done, so your footsteps will also be recorded. All that we do has a deep religious significance. Don't just go out and catch fish like other fishermen, tie it up and bring it home. Please don't fish like this, not in any way like this.

This is a very precious opportunity. Don't be discouraged. Do you think that in my time of fishing there were moments that were difficult? Sure, there were. There were up times, and down times of doubt and worry. When you are very happy and elated, when you are catching the tuna, think of what kind of experience I had in the same moment. Would I have just thought about getting one more tuna, or would I have been happy because one more aspect of creation, of the world, was coming under the influence of God's love?

You have to relate the experiences you have to how I would have thought and experienced things when I was fishing. The success of your own mission is tied to all the other One Hope boats. Not just in this area, but wherever they are, all along the coast, even down into South America. When you are operating the Good Go boat think to yourself, "We made this boat with our own hands. Brothers and sisters made this boat." Also realize that we will make larger boats with our own hands as well. Someday there will be hundreds of ocean-going vessels that we will have made with our own hands.

These dreams all began here. They are realized here. The New Hope and the Flying Phoenix were the modest beginning of the future fishing fleet which will go all over the world. The first time I put my foot into Gloucester they all rose up against me. In a sense, it was ridiculous because they didn't know me at all. Anyway, in ten years they have seen more of us and they know how hard we are working to make the fishing industry successful in the future. Now, some are thinking, "What if Reverend Moon were to quit now like we once kept telling him to?"

Reviving the Fishing Tradition

In the very beginning, tuna was only ten cents per pound, when I first started. Now it is over $4.00 per pound, going up to $5.00 per pound and someday it will reach $10.00 or $20.00 per pound. You will see that day. If we can farm the fish, hundreds of fishermen can hope to make a good living out of tuna fishing. I have been paying the price for that to happen, literally. Our movement has invested millions of dollars to bring the foundation up to this level. We lost all that money in a real sense. It was just a sacrifice in order to bring things to this point.

The middle men who exploited the whole situation were really angry when I came on the scene. However, the fishermen know a different story and many have come to care about us. Not all of them see what is going on. Many fishermen don't look very far beyond their own boat, but some even love us and look for us to come each year.

The consumer will come to find out about tuna and they will begin to like it very much. Just last year, the price began at $1.25 per pound and it went up to $3.00 per pound. The buyers were upset about that, but you know how hard the fishermen work. They get up so early every morning and face the difficult weather. Did the buyers ever have to work so hard? No. They have never worked like that, yet they get most of the profit. That is why the fishermen really loved what we did. Because we paid more, the other middle men had to pay more too; they lost some of their profit margin. They are the only ones who complained. We wanted more of the margin to go to the ones who worked for it. That was our motivation. Those middle men don't have the right to take what belongs to the fishermen. Someone had to come in and fix that situation.

At one time Gloucester was a great export city for cod and other kinds of fish. When I came here the situation had gone so low that many fishermen didn't leave until the afternoon. They didn't even get up until noon! I really wanted to bring back the spirit of Gloucester. I wanted to change it. So, I started going out very early in the morning, as early as 4:00 a.m., and I would bring back a tuna by 9:00 a.m. This motivated them to start going out earlier.

When I saw they were leaving by 4:00 and 5:00 a.m., I started leaving at 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. When some of them even challenged that, I determined not to even leave the tuna grounds and just stay awake all night long on the boat. However, no one left earlier than 2:00 a.m., and so they gave up in a spiritual sense. Also, they had larger boats and they thought they were better because they had more expensive equipment. We proved it is not the size of the boat which brings success; it is the spirit of the man. We proved that.

After a few years of fishing, something like a morning ritual began to occur. In the early morning there would be a tuna strike and everyone's eyes would go searching to see which boat had dropped anchor. They would look for the red anchor ball and see which boat was moving away. Almost every morning, the first boat was a Moonie boat. We had less boats than all the other boats. Out of proportion to the number of boats we had, and the number of boats in the entire fleet, we came up with the first catch in the morning. This is the tradition which we built up with our own effort. Don't disregard this. I don't want to hear, "Well, Reverend Moon didn't come fishing this year so the Moonie boats are only doing a mediocre job." I don't want to hear that. They are thinking that we will be discouraged because I am going to jail. Why should we do less this year than any other year? Why should we be outdone this season? After ten years, we have built up the standard. Now, we can go way beyond that. Will you keep the standard really tight, or will you be defeated this year? How? How will you keep the standard? You have to catch up with my spirit. Whatever you do, do it in my spirit.

The essence is this: put all your heart into it. Talk to God and talk to the tuna. For the sake of the world, for the sake of God, do everything with all your heart. For ten years, we have fought against injustice. We have fought here in Gloucester and now we are beginning to win. Morning Garden has been returned to us, the fishermen are beginning to understand us and the mayor has apologized for Gloucester's earlier unfair treatment towards us. In all these ways, we have won a victory.

We have fought on all three coastlines. When we started building steel boats in Alabama, 3,000 people came and demonstrated against us. At that time, there were thirty-one other shipyards. Now, what has happened? We are the only ones to survive there and we continue to contribute to the economy there. Can you believe that? It has only been five to six years since we began working there. If we hadn't gone there, no one would have survived the crisis.

It was the same way in Alaska. Everything we try to do, the people come and try to stop us, but they have no real reason to do so. You can imagine how it is for me to hear all the reports coming in from everywhere in the United States. Every report that came in when we first started something was very bad.

I have put so much energy into this country. Our movement has invested so much time and money, bringing so much from all over the world and investing it into the United States. I often thought I should give up everything and go invest in someplace else. However, since God truly wants to use America, I have persevered. Everything I have done in this country began under full opposition. No one tried to understand or help me. Still, I have gained a tremendous foundation to uplift America. And you are Americans. You will inherit all this. No one will oppose you as they have opposed me.

They will welcome you. From now on, people will begin to see our motivation more clearly. We will win every fight. We have that foundation. First, you must save your nation. Second, you have to secure the future of the ocean. There used to be at least forty large fishing vessels working out of Gloucester. Now, there are only a few. There is no hope in this country for the ocean. We are bringing hope to this nation.

You cannot complain about anything. You are inheriting everything. The ocean has a great and wonderful future. I know it. You believe it. Who is that future for? For who? For us? For America. You came here, not because of your leader, but because God was calling you. You are here because of God's calling. You have to know how special it is to be here. Don't complain about being here.

I have already endured this course. I have already invested long and tedious hours. Not for myself. I didn't do it for myself. I did it for you. I know young people will come here every year. I did everything for the sake of the young people of America. You represent those young people. You have to receive and inherit all these things from me. If you complain, you won't be able to get what I am giving to you. I am concerned about this.

The One Hope is made with everything equipped to catch a tuna. It was made for you! I don't need all those boats. I designed them with you in mind. Before you came, I was working hour after hour. Will you go this course? Will you do everything that I am asking you to do this summer? Think about the tradition that I laid down here with my own sweat and tears. Every day, working on the boat, I was thinking about you.

I spent ten years preparing everything for you. From now we really have to go out on the ocean and inherit everything that is there. It is there, waiting for you. If you miss this point, you will miss something great in the future. I have been so serious to make the standard -- for you! Please remember this. If you don't make a foundation, then someone else will come and take it from you.

I did not pioneer all these areas for that. I have pioneered Gloucester, the Gulf and now Alaska. Many people already stayed here, but they never thought about my effort. No matter how early, I woke up and worked hard all day. Many young people would never work as hard. If you Americans don't take this from me, I will give it to the Japanese. If they don't want it, I will bring Korean members to inherit everything. If they don't, I will get the blessed children and make them take the inheritance. Do you understand? Are you clear about this point? Do you know what I mean?

From this moment, make up your mind. We start the program from this moment. Each day is a step towards the future. May God bless you.

Why We Have Ocean Training

Sun Myung Moon
July 2, 1984
Morning Garden

Let's look at the Good Go boat. Water can come in as much as it wants. You can bore a hole in the bottom of the hull and make a test. Even if people are inside the boat, they can still stay there because of the foam construction within the hull. It's been built for safety. At the same time, it's a very fast boat. If a storm is coming, you can outrun the storm. Of course, it's not the most economical boat because it takes a lot of gas to run it, but for a training program, its well worth it. We want a boat that is safe and fast, rather than slow and economical. For training purposes, the Good Go is best.

The Value of Training

In any training course, the harder the training is, the more you learn. The training itself is what makes the program worth it. Ultimately, we want to go into the fishing industry. That's the future. How can we help America and the world solve its problems if we don't have any money? In the fishing industry the work is incredibly hard, but the return is good. In order to accomplish any task however, one first has to accomplish the training period.

Some members are now in the process of creating Japanese restaurants. You may think that a restaurant business is just a small thing, but it has many implications. First, it is a business where many customers come in and out. You can reach out to these people. You can talk to them and make good relationships. You can serve them and display the real spirit of service. We are religious people, and we also have to work in this world. For this reason, the restaurant is an excellent type of business for us to be involved in.

Now, the Japanese restaurant is in fashion. Everyone wants to try out this new kind of food. When your customers come, it will probably be their first experience. You can serve them with your full heart so that they fall in love with the food, with your restaurant and come back again and again. We are beginning with Japanese restaurants, but we need not confine ourselves to them. We come from many backgrounds, Italian, French, Indian and all kinds of cultures. Our members will have no problem making their own special restaurant because they come from all over the world.

There are not too many businesses where you can invest all your money and then, in just three years see the return. With restaurants, a certain amount of money is invested and within three years one can see the investment come back. We can make even more restaurants, and after the success of these restaurants we will have made such a track record that we can borrow money from the bank and they know it will be safe. It will be no problem to pay back all the money. We will lay that kind of foundation. Most importantly, we will teach people how to eat fish. The future diet will be fish. Once we make our investment and make success from that, we can branch out and further success is guaranteed.

In your restaurants you can serve many people every day. You can make a difference in your community in this way. Think about it. The spirit of America can be uplifted in this very meaningful and yet practical way. The American people can be making friendships with us. They can get to know us in a real way. How can we save this country? In a real way, how can we do that? We are making a foundation to really save this country through everything that we do. We can reach people through practical service. We may be selling machines, boats, cars, fish or sushi. What's important is that we truly serve people and make a good relationship. We are simply making our foundation and though it is modest, it will someday extend all over the country and have a very good effect.

It's your country. Don't you want to see a good future for it? You have to be able to offer your time, your money, your effort. People misunderstand us now, but in time they will see the real motivation behind our work.

In the fishing industry, we have to make a whole new foundation. We will go out and catch the fish. We will buy it and sell it to our restaurants. We will be the distributor and the retailer. Why is the fishing industry so low at this point? It is because fish is too expensive to take home every night, so most people don't think of buying it, except for special occasions. However, is fish expensive when it comes from the boat? No! The fisherman gets the least of anyone for all his work. From the boat the price is so cheap, but who gets the money? The middle man -- he buys the fish cheap and sells it at too high a price. That isn't fair. It isn't fair to the fishermen and it isn't fair to the consumer.

We have to think about the profit for the public. We will have to supply a good meat for a cheap price. Someday, people will welcome the Moonies because of this consideration. When we began to train for tuna fishing there was nothing but ridiculous opposition. That was because everyone was so afraid that they just panicked. However, when they fished with us, side by side, they saw how we behaved and they knew that we were sincere. Then the price went up for the fishermen. Our movement had an influence upon that price hike. We lost everything in that investment, but the fishermen were really happy. They could sell their fish to us for a higher price. This year they were even expecting and hoping for something of the same. They were concerned about my having to go to Danbury. They were wondering about the price and they were worried that we would give up on helping them. You can reply something like this when they ask you if I am coming at all this summer: "You put him in jail. Everyone for so many years wanted to get rid of Reverend Moon, but now you see that if he isn't around, the American people suffer." Make them think about that point.

We must train now. That is the only thing we have in mind for this summer. I have been looking at your faces and I have studied them. Your fortune brought you here. You may not be extremely happy to be here; you may be thinking about the hard work ahead of you, but there was no choice in a sense for you. You did not arrive here by accident. You felt something calling you and pulling you here. However, you must focus and put your heart into what you are doing. If your heart is not here, then something may happen.

I am especially concerned about accidents. Don't make bad relationships with one another. On the boat this is serious. We have to be careful and train ourselves. On our own boats, with one another, bad things should never happen. It is even more serious if you work on a boat where no one has any religious background. On a regular commercial boat, if you make enemies, it would be very easy just to "lose" you over the side of the boat. An "accident" could happen and no one could prove it was otherwise. Do you understand? Things like this happen, so we have to learn here how to make good relationships.

The ocean is a very difficult place. Always follow all the safety procedures on your boat. It's important to know how to swim. If you don't, you must always wear the life jacket. You will see many different things on the ocean. Sometimes a huge whale will come by your boat and mess up your lines. You are students and you will have to learn all kinds of things this summer. You will learn about fishing, but you will also learn about life as well. Think about the future, about the past, about the people around you. Think about your life of faith and why you joined.

Don't be anxious. Take your time. Don't try to be a Ph.D. while you are still in elementary school. Those who are Ph.D.'s may look at you "greenhorns" and think, "Oh, when are they going to have experience with things like me." We must understand that there are many unexplored areas in the ocean. We are going to discover things in the ocean that others never even dreamed about. Such things will come to pass. I am serious about developing a submarine which will explore deep underneath the water.

I am also extremely serious about building a marine college here in Gloucester. We bought the land to build that college, but the community became scared and cried out, "Oh, Reverend Moon is going to take over and exercise some kind of tyranny." Well, now they know that this just isn't true and they are beginning to accept us. Someday we will make the marine college come true. Imagine, America is such a developed country, a nation that honors God and is a first rate nation in the world. However, this beautiful house was closed to us for four years. They didn't allow one person to come in. They said, "The Catholic Church was okay, but the Unification Church -- no!" Is there any other nation in the world that has freedom of religion like the United States? We had to fight back and claim our rights. We had to threaten to sue them in order to use the Gloucester property. They thought about it and realized in the long run that they were going to lose. Our motivation was not to fight, but we had to challenge such an unrighteous act.

Now we are to begin our training and this is a new era for the ocean. A new age is beginning. This is a truly historical happening in which you are now participating. Why? Because someday in the future, all the people in this area will know clearly about Unification Church. And many of them will join. Don't you believe that? There will be millions and millions of people who will join from all around the world.

They will come here to this very port of Gloucester, to this very house in Gloucester where you were able to hear from me personally about the meaning of this training program. You, the class of 1984, just seventy-six members will be considered the "Pilgrim Fathers" of this new age. Now, you have responsibility for a Good Go boat all your own during this summer. In the future, people will have to be selected. Maybe only one out of one hundred thousand can be selected and only seventy or eighty people can come here and be allocated a Good Go boat. Today, you can train to be a captain for a boat without much competition. Those of you who came here and are already complaining about the long hours and hard work, raise up your hands and tell me, "I want to miss this chance to pioneer and be the forefather of Ocean Church." You are free to leave. If you have no vision of what it will be like ten years from now or twenty years from now, you can go. You must realize that this is a historical moment we are in.

Each year that I came fishing here, every single fishing day, I went to the boat, whether there was a storm or good weather. No matter how late we had gone to bed the night before and how early we had to rise, I went to the boat. But now, it is not as safe for me to go about freely. This is a reality that I have to contend with. I am making a firm stand against atheism, against communism and many of them would like to strike me down. It is difficult for me to be with you every day as I have done in the past ten years.

I expect you to be autonomous. You must become independent and pioneer your own way, especially this year. Otherwise, how will you become a self-supporting person? How will you support others on your way? Each and every one of you have to understand the meaning of this training period and live up to its standard during the next two months. If you experience how difficult it is to go out on a boat every day, think about my experience on the New Hope for the past ten years. Never once during any of those ten seasons, did I lay down and sleep on the boat. I put my entire will power and whole heart into this training. Every moment while I was on the boat, during the long tedious wait for the tuna, I was always praying to commit myself even more for the sake of God and mankind. That is what I want you to inherit here.

The Tuna-Fishing Training Course

As you know, the tuna also has some spiritual aspect, being part of creation. Sometimes when your spirit is dull, the tuna may even be more spiritually sensitive than you. The tuna which you are after weighs more than 500 pounds. To get to that size, it is eighteen to twenty years of age. Think about it. To get to that age, what kind of dangers has that tuna already escaped, time and time again? Over and over, the tuna was on the verge of getting caught, but it somehow escaped. By the time a tuna is 500 pounds, it is a very smart fish.

The tuna know that the lines hanging down are there to catch him. For a tuna to bite the bait is not a normal thing. It is an accident. Just like human beings who have an accident after drinking alcohol, the tuna gets drunk on eating the chum and then, in one mistake, it reaches out and bites the bait. The secret which makes the difference here is for you to concentrate and with all your heart, mind and effort, draw the tuna towards you.

If you really concentrate and become spiritually attuned, you will wake up one day and while you wash your face and prepare to go to your boat, you will sense at what hour that day you will catch a tuna. Sometimes you are waiting and waiting. Your mind starts to wander and then, you have a sharp awakening in your mind. At that moment, you realize, "Oh, in five minutes a tuna is going to strike the line." As soon as you feel that, the tuna strikes. Every one of you, if you apply yourself, will experience this at one time or another.

There is some kind of law or principle at work here. If you invest all your heart, you will catch a tuna. You have to be able to know and envision what is going on underneath you, when the small fish are coming in and when the tuna are moving with the currents and tides. You must be able to see it without even seeing it. This takes concentration.

I am thinking about dedicating the money made by the New Hope to some charity in Gloucester. If that is the case, then wouldn't you expect the tuna to bite even more? The spiritual world would encourage the tuna to bite the New Hope's lines. This year there is a quota and I am hoping that two-thirds of the quota is caught by Moonie boats. In order to do that, you really have to love your bait. Bait is the direct cause of catching the tuna. You have to connect with God's love and then put that into the bait. You are the connecting point.

A clean boat reflects a clean spirit. An orderly boat also reflects an orderly spirit. This means that all your jigs, rods, reels, lines, hooks, everything is in the right place. I can tell immediately if your boat has received a lot of heart or very little heart. And if you are praying deeply, the spiritual world will help you, inspire you and bring tuna close to your boat. Through these experiences you will discover that God is alive. If something bad is going to happen to you, you will be sensitive to that. This year, we have to be concerned about safety. The best way to avoid accidents is to be serious and put our whole heart into what we are doing. You must take care of yourself spiritually. Always keep yourself orderly.

I want to ask you an important question. "During this season, how many times will you fight with your brothers and sisters?" You don't want any such circumstance, but sometimes you get involved and a situation arises. What will you do at that point? You should not allow any fights to happen. You have to avoid creating the circumstances on land before you even go out to the boat. In the morning, while you are fishing, don't let the things inside of you get to you, even if you are burning up inside. On the way home, you can bring something up and try to discuss it then.

Sometimes you will be in the boat and the wind will be blowing, a storm will be coming. This is a very dangerous time and it is very bad to let your feelings out at this time. It is better when you come home and have a hot shower and a good meal. Then, you become generous and you forget the words which might have made you angry. Don't let things bother you while you are out on the water. No matter how someone might agitate you, just ignore him. Think to yourself that it's some neighbor's dog barking at you.

Keep your goal in mind. You didn't come here to fight. You came here to fish for tuna and this is your purpose. Don't get involved in anything that is not the purpose of your coming here. Some days you will dedicate your whole heart and there will be absolutely no result. Then is a good time to repent. You can repent and try to find the area that you missed, that you didn't understand and apply. You have to be so serious. After this training course, you will become an independent person at some time in your life. If you go out on the ocean as your livelihood and cannot catch fish, who is going to help you? Will the government subsidize you? Will God give you money? Probably not. Don't count on my coming to help you. I cannot always do that. Can you do it? Will you come running to me or will you be very serious and do it? Those who can, and will do it, raise your hands. How about the women? What will you do if you cannot catch the fish? The tuna will laugh when they see women coming to catch them. If you want to get quicker results, just listen to the men for once. And then the tuna will say, "Well, even though they are women, they respect the men; we can tolerate them." So you women, don't fight against the men. However, never be outdone by the men in putting your whole heart into it. You can beat the men that way, that is okay.

Do you wonder what I am doing all day long while waiting for tuna? Catching and landing the fish is only about one hour out of the day. What am I doing the rest of the time? I seem to be doing nothing, just sitting there watching the lines in the water, but every moment I am putting my whole heart into the effort. I check the bait on the hooks. Every once in a while, if the fish aren't biting, you have to reel in the line and look at the bait. You should change the bait three times a day, even if the fish don't seem to be around. When I look at the buoy, I can tell if there is bait at the end of the line. I don't know if Gerhard can tell this or not, but Gerhard should be able to. It's a normal thing to know this. If the bait is gone, you have to reel in the line and put new bait on.

The Relationship of Heart with All Things

The human being is actually a very sensitive, knowing creature. You should be able to tell from experience about the current and what it is doing. You should be able to tell how the hook is hanging from the line in the water according to the current. Especially two lines, the seven and a half fathom and the ten fathom line are the ones most likely to catch. You have to be really attuned to your bait and how it goes down the lines. You will also discover many related kinds of phenomena. You may use six or eight lines, but all season long, there is just one line that the tuna will bite. You may think, "Well, that's just the favorite position for the tuna." So you change the line's position, but still the tuna bite that line. How do you explain that by today's science?

The spiritual world is like the dark horse in a race. It may be the most unlikely thing, but it happens. Maybe you pick up an old line that someone else threw away. They caught lots of tuna on that line, but finally they made a new one. And you have all new lines, but you put that old one on. Then suddenly you catch a tuna. How can you explain that? It has happened. That's why I am telling you these things. You have to love your equipment, your hooks and lines. You have to cherish the ones that catch, even bring them to your bed because you never want them out of your sight. That kind of feeling, that kind of love is okay. This love is connected everywhere and it connects in an invisible way, in a most unlikely way.

The Japanese members come around to me and say, "The New Hope is becoming an old boat, it's more than thirteen years old now, Father, let's change it." I don't want to hurt their feelings, so I say something like, "Oh, you think so?" Actually, I am wondering, "What are you talking about?" Already, if we were to write the history of how we began this training program, 99% of it would center on the New Hope. Even if we got a brand new boat, even if someone donated it to us, we would never write as much about it.

It is like a marriage. If you are married for ten years and your wife gets old, do you try to get rid of her and get a new one? How would the New Hope feel if that happened? Would it be happy or sad? It would cry out! Instead, I am thinking of when I give all these things to the next generation I will change the boat and give the new one to them. At that time, I will retire the New Hope and put her in a special museum. The New Hope will understand because this is normal. The boat knows it cannot live forever and it will agree to a replacement at that time. I truly feel that way. I have that kind of sensitivity to the New Hope. This says something to all of us. How are we different from the rest of the world? Through our heart. We are making a heartistic world which is quite different from what most other people are doing. If we are going to ride on the New Hope and on the One Hope boats, we must really love them.

When you are allocated a boat, don't ever say, "Oh, I want a new boat." Don't ever say that. Just love that boat and eventually that boat will return all the love to you and catch a great deal of fish. Talk to your boat. Say, "I know you worked hard last year. I'm going to take really good care of you this year. Let's get together and be successful."

At the end of the day when you are coming back, clean out the chum area and get rid of the bad smell, take care of the boat and really clean it. Then when you look at the boat, you feel good about it. And the boat looks so good too. Take care of your boat and treat it right. This is your responsibility. In the daytime, you are too busy to keep it clean because you are trying to catch fish; the boat understands this. However, on the ocean, if something goes wrong, even if it is a small thing, you have to take care of that.

After a few weeks of serious experience you will understand how the engine sounds. You will be able to hear when the engine is going over its capacity. You have to slow down at that point. The engine is like the heart of the body. In the ocean, if the engine quits, you will be in a serious situation. In fact, the engine is almost more important than your life. You have to think like that. We should never overwork the engines. Sometimes you cannot help it if the case is an emergency. However, never push your engine for no reason. Love your engine just like a member of your family, like your wife or your husband. Then it will never go out of order.

When the birds are flying around and looking for a boat to land and rest upon, which boat will they pick? We can see this particularly in small villages. There are lots of houses, but always one house has lots of birds that come there to rest. Remarkably, that house is the one which is very prosperous. It's true. The reason for this is that such a house has a great deal of love which has probably accumulated from generation to generation.

We have to bear in mind then, that Moonie boats are to be loved with one's whole heart. Actually, I wondered if you needed me to come and talk to you this year. Then I thought about the New Hope and said, "I've been coming to the New Hope every year and it will miss me." I couldn't tolerate the thought of that. The New Hope has recently been fishing in Montauk and I have been there fishing on it. I asked for it to come back to Gloucester, however, it has just been sitting here for several days, so I couldn't help but thinking of coming to Gloucester and visiting it. I wanted to talk to the boat and tell it, "I fished with you all last summer, every day, but this summer I can't fish as much with you. I hope you can understand." I know that the New Hope will understand if I am not around so much. I am telling you these things because I want to urge you this year, not to let your loved one, your boat lose its spirit. Don't let it be damaged. Just as you would protect your own body, take care of your boat with all your heart.

Learning to Work Together

I have a reason for bringing you together this summer. Some of you are Ocean Church members and you have already tasted this training experience. Others of you have sold fish, but you never knew how hard it was to catch them. You simply said to the fishermen, "Go out and catch the fish; I will just sell it for you." However, this wasn't right. Those who sell the fish should also understand how hard it is to catch them.

When you have separate channels, when there is just the one who catches and the one who sells, the one who sells always makes demands. He will say, "Oh, I don't like the fish you are catching. You should do this and you should do that." If they have to catch the fish, they will understand and they will not be able to blame the other so easily. At the same time, fish are often wasted after they are caught by bad handling on the boats. They are spoiled in many different ways. Therefore, you have to learn from each other and work together more closely.

Americans can learn a great deal from working with Japanese members. They have an advantage. I have watched them closely for the past several years. The Americans manage boats and they are always sloppy. On the other hand, the Japanese boats are always very tidy. Do you agree that the Japanese are tidy people? They keep everything very neat and orderly. There is very good proof for this: go to New York City and look at the automobiles parked on Fifth avenue. They look really dirty even though they are owned by rich people. However in Tokyo every automobile is spic and span. There is no dirty looking car in the streets of Tokyo. This tells us something about the personality of Japanese people in general.

These are observations. Please keep your boat tidy and up to the Japanese standard. Another point about Oriental people is that they tend to be more frugal with money. Look at the Japanese people, the ones in Happy Group. They are small, they are not so aggressive, but every single one knows how to manage money. Even though you may not like it, you have a lot to learn from them. That is why I am putting you together, so that you learn from each other. The first step is for the Western members to observe the Oriental members.

Let me ask you another question. Do you like me? How come you like me? I am not a Western man. My eyes are slanted and smaller than yours. My skin is brown, not white. I am a Korean man. What if I were to say, "Okay, I'll put someone else in my position. Well, how about Gerhard? He is a very big man. He is seven feet tall and has a big face and big hands. His one foot is larger than both of mine. Maybe I should put him in charge of Unification Church because he is bigger." Do you think that's a good idea? Should Gerhard replace me? You don't think so? Well then, how about Mr. Reagan? Do you think he would fill my shoes? He would never be able to perform as well in my place. I have a capability that cannot be replaced. In the same way, the Japanese are capable of certain things and you cannot replace them. The American leaders and the Japanese leaders are different. In the face of difficulties, the American leader tends to think of a way to retreat. On the other hand, the Japanese leader would never think of retreat. Also, in the religious life, in the life of faith, they are your elder brothers. They were blessed earlier and have pursued this life much longer, so don't complain about them.

I am not favoring the Japanese. Americans may have a better potential, but the Japanese have already proven themselves. Be honest with me. Which one would you take? Once the Japanese have made up their mind to do something, they will do it for the rest of their life. If they get a job in a company, they serve that company for all of their life. How about an American who runs a Japanese restaurant? He hires two cooks, one is American and the other is Japanese. After one year, the American cook gets offered a better salary and without a single regret says "good-bye," and leaves right away. The Japanese would never do that; he would stay with that same restaurant for ten to twenty years. For this reason, the American owner should learn a lesson and hire the Japanese. Once their heart is tied to something, they will never cut from it. You have to become just like this. I have a great deal of hope in you and that is why I have brought you together with the Japanese members.

This begins your training for the summer. Go out and learn from the ocean. I am asking you to be serious and especially have no accidents this year. In tuna fishing, if you don't catch anything for one or two weeks, you begin to lose concentration. You may kick the baskets around and the lines may be on the deck and you just don't care about it, but the tuna strikes without any warning. Your feet must never be standing on any lines. This is very serious. Always pay attention to where you are and where you are moving on the boat.

Keep everything orderly on your boat and this will minimize accidents happening. What will you do if your feet get caught in a line? Be very careful about this point. If you ever get to that point, you would care less about the tuna. It's your safety, your life that is in danger. This summer I am stressing the point that you protect yourself from danger and accidents.

Organize yourselves like a tree. Each ten boats will have a leader, and then, each three boats will have a trinity leader. These three boats should especially be together as a trinity. Look out after each other and help each other. With this kind of organization make sure that no boats are out of order. Take very good care of one another. Three trinities should back up each other and one boat should look out for all three trinities. That is how all boats should be organized for the training courses to come.

Your main concern is not to let your boat get out of order. If your boat goes down, you cannot go out. You should do everything to prevent that. This is the way we shall do it. Today is the beginning. After three more days, we will finish the training on land and we will all go out and begin fishing. Whether I continue to be here or not is not the focus of this training. Don't be concerned about that. I have already done enough tuna fishing. I already know enough about that. Don't worry whether I am fishing or not. Every morning, we will go out at a certain hour. This is our tradition. You have to follow that. However, I am now exploring other kinds of fish, such as striped bass and flounder. Later I will go to Alaska for halibut fishing. Those who make a good record here can go with me. Your concern this season is to become real fishermen. Sleep in the boat and eat in the boat. This summertime is priceless. It is valuable training for you, for the rest of your life. I only want you to put in all of your heart and effort. God bless you.

True Way Of Life

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
July 1, 1984
Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

Today I want to speak about the true way of life for every human being. Let's think for a moment about the word "true" and what it means. Does "true" have a particular shape, such as round or square? What is the definition of "true"? What is the standard from which we can draw that definition?

Let's take the example of a true man. What is a true man? He must have eyes, a nose, a mouth and so forth - so he is not different from ordinary men in that respect. What makes a man a true man? Do you think that quality is a limited capacity or is it universal? That which is true must be measured against everything in the universe; without any limitation, it must be true.

The mathematician always searches for a formula, a small thing which can be universally applied. But if the formula becomes distorted, it cannot be used to measure other things. Without that formula as the scale, there can be no way to measure the true value of other things. There are different systems of measurement, such as the metric system which is based upon the number ten. There is also the system of time measurement, which is divided into twelves-twelve hours of the morning and night; twelve months of the year, and so forth. Within those systems, the basic measurements must be correct or the rest of the system will be incorrect. Unless that basic unit or formula is correct, then nothing else can be quantified or measured properly.

Human society is no exception to this rule. We must have a unit of measurement, that of the true man, by which we can measure all people. The physical life of human beings requires being born through a certain biological process from the mother's womb, and that cannot be violated. It is the law of existence. By the same token, there are certain spiritual laws or formulas that must be followed in order to live properly and avoid catastrophe.

All of human life comes under law. In the earliest, embryonic stages of life, we are guided by certain natural laws. While we live on the earth, we are under certain laws and when we go to the spiritual world, we are under certain laws. These natural laws are not limited by any person's language, culture, or nationality; every person must follow them. For example, every unborn child must be guided by natural laws in order to develop and be born; otherwise, it will be stillborn.

These are the kinds of laws that all mankind has in common. Westerners and Orientals are just the same in respect to these laws. But there are certain areas of differences among people and an example is our eating habits. In the Western world, you have the custom of using a lot of utensils to eat with-you must have your fork, your spoon, and your knife. In fact, you have several different forks and spoons of various sizes. But consider the

Japanese, all they need are two wooden sticks. The specific methods by which people eat may be different, but the fact remains that all human beings have to gain nourishment by taking in food through the mouth. Everyone has that in common.

Furthermore, all people need to be able to use their arms and hands to lift their food to their mouth, then swallow it and have it go down into their stomach. That is universal. So it doesn't really make any difference whether one uses chopsticks or a fork or even two fingers. You must get that nourishment into your mouth; that is the important thing. It doesn't really matter if you are fed by your mother or whether you lift the food to your mouth with your foot. The important principle is that you have to take the food in your mouth-not in your ears or your eyes-and then it must go down to your stomach.

Imagine if your hand did its work to bring the food to your mouth but your mouth refused to work and went on strike! Because it is universal that the mouth must take in food, whenever food gets near the mouth, it naturally and automatically opens up to welcome it. Once food goes into the mouth, you don't have to think about it or issue a special order; the mouth just automatically starts to work.

Everything in the universe cooperates with the common, universal truth. There are many different ways in which people dress, but we all have one thing in common-we all wear clothes for the protection of our bodies. Clothing helps us to maintain our body temperature. It doesn't matter whether we are wearing beautiful, expensive clothing or cheap and unattractive clothing, since all clothing serves that one common purpose. Many people like to dress up and be boastful about their beautiful fine clothing, but that is actually a very trivial thing. As long as one's clothes fulfill their basic purpose of protecting the body, there is not much real difference between people's clothing.

What is the common truth of the eye? The eye is supposed to perceive the world; its purpose is to provide you with vision. The human eye is prepared to provide a certain kind of vision. It cannot see things that are microscopic, such as viruses and germs. It sees things in our environment such as the things of nature.

There are doctors who specialize in the treatment of specific parts of the body, such as eye, ear, nose and throat doctors. They work to help those organs of the body to function and fulfill their common purpose. The doctor tries to restore the function of those organs to the level which the organ was created to provide. That organ is supposed to provide a certain quality of vision, hearing, or sense of smell, and so forth.

The creation of the universe started from the smallest level. At that level, the common law and purpose were fulfilled. Things came together and fulfilled a greater purpose, then they came together and fulfilled a greater purpose according to a greater formula. Ultimately the universe itself was created.

This morning all of you look healthy and your bodies seem to be functioning normally. Even though you are sitting here quietly and just listening, there are more than four trillion cells inside your body working very hard at this moment in order to maintain your peaceful, healthy situation. There are all sorts of things going on inside of you at this very minute-certain actions of repulsion, actions of taking in and giving out, and many others. Your cells are working very hard to keep you in balance, but sometimes that balance is lost. At that point, you will start to feel some pain; suddenly you won't feel normal.

In order to maintain your good health, universal laws are in action within your body at all times. This is true today; tomorrow, ten years from now, and so forth. If we expanded the distance between each cell to kilometers, the human body would be incredibly gigantic. The body is a small universe, but if it were expanded, it would become a giant universe. Maintaining your normal functions of walking, laughing, eating, and so forth requires an enormous amount of effort on the part of your body. To maintain the proper law and order, your body must maintain the strictest discipline. It can never operate randomly or by accident.

Each cell is like an independent entity, with the ability to perceive its surroundings. As an independent entity, where does a cell want to go and what does it want to do? It naturally seeks to go to the place where it is comfortable and can feel good. Imagine that a cell had the opportunity to choose between two paths. The first path is to climb a big hill, while the second path is to go across a flat plain, which is an easy and comfortable way. Your cells function just as you do. You would not voluntarily go the difficult, painful way unless it was absolutely necessary. You don't willingly walk into a stone wall and neither would a cell.

Where do you think a small cell would prefer to be? Would it prefer to establish itself in one spot and just stay there, all alone and stationary? Or wouldn't it want to travel all around the body, back and forth, making relationship with the other parts of the body? Why would it prefer the second way? It is because each cell is like you: a human being naturally wants to move and travel; nobody wants to stay in one small place.

This is the general tendency of the tiny cell as well as each human being; they want to experience the good, rewarding and comfortable way of life. How can we relate to our environment in such a way as to derive more meaning and joy from it? Why do we want to live in such a way? Is it your purpose to diminish yourself or to increase yourself? Everything you do is designed to increase and improve your life.

Do you prefer to take a long time and go slowly toward your goal, or do you want to get there quickly? Certainly, you want to get there quickly. Why is that? Imagine that you were a propeller with a central axis. When you turn fast, the law of acceleration allows you to move ahead faster. When you are turning fast, you can control yourself better and achieve more. Therefore we go after fast movement; we naturally want to go faster and faster because we can cover greater distances in shorter time.

Faster movement eliminates resistance and therefore you can achieve greater results. When you move really fast, you go into the realm of timelessness; eternity begins when you are moving that fast. If one little cell tries to move very fast, it can bump into a lot of different things. Imagine four trillion cells trying to move around at such a speed! If the cells were trying to move like that, you would feel all sorts of commotion inside your body! Your ears would be hearing inner sirens, signals of traffic accidents! Therefore in order to avoid that kind of catastrophe, the cells follow certain laws and procedures.

According to the law, the cells can move in certain ways and not in others. This law guides the whole universe, as well. In the Unification Church we use the terminology "individual truth body." Perhaps that sounds awkward, but it is precise. It is difficult for you Westerners to understand what I am trying to express with such terminology.

All the way down to the smallest entity such as the cell, everything has its own distinct, individual character. It naturally expresses itself in its own unique way. The position of an entity will vary, such as being in an upper or lower position. For example from the point of view of the west, when you are facing the west, you are facing the front; but when you turn around and face the east, you are facing the back. Thus your direction changes but the distinct and unique character of your body doesn't change.

Each cell has a distinctive law to follow. If it doesn't, it will cause destruction. By the same token, someone such as Chun Sook Kwak, the third daughter of Reverend Kwak, has her own position within her family. She can never be the eldest daughter or the youngest; she is always the third. Her position and the love she has received is unique; it cannot be duplicated by any other daughter. She simply has the characteristics of Chun Sook. These include being charming and serene. She cannot try to take other positions as well, such as her eldest sister's, her dad's or her mother's. That would mean that she would lose herself by being so greedy.

If anyone tries to distort his position within his family and tries to be father, mother and siblings, then he will bring destruction and chaos to that family. Anything in the universe which tries to operate with a self-centered motivation will be repelled by everything else. Do you think of yourself as a part of the four-billion-member human race, or do you consider yourself outside of it? What do you think would happen if four billion people determined to live just for themselves? Would it even be possible? Each individual within the human race exists to serve others. That is the only way people can coexist.

Therefore, individuals come together to form families; families come together into societies; societies come together to form nations; nations form the world; and the world is a part of the universe. There are certain differences in our world today. Cultural and environmental backgrounds are different. Therefore, it is only when all people come under a common formula and law that we can survive. Our methodology may be different, but we must all serve one common purpose.

For an individual to survive among all different people, what sort of demeanor should he have? If that person has a belligerent manner, fighting with everyone and knocking them down, would that be successful? Or wouldn't he prefer to find a way to be welcomed by everyone wherever he went? Why is the welcoming way the better way? When you are constantly struggling for your own way, you will lose all your energy. But when you are welcomed and live in harmony with your environment, you can easily make progress and move further. You even gain greater energy.

Therefore, the cardinal rule is this: any movement that is self-centered will always be resisted, while any movement that is selfless and for the sake of others will always be welcomed. We must ask ourselves how we can go everywhere and be welcomed. How can you go to the level of the family and have them open their door to you? How can you have the society open their doors to you? How can you have the nation, world, and universe welcome you? What is the necessary method by which you will be welcomed, all the way up to God? It is the selfless way of life. You must exist for the sake of others. That is why selflessness is the most fundamental teaching of the Unification Church.

As you serve others, you will become the central person, the responsible person. The more you aspire to live for the sake of others, the more central you become to them.

The same principle applies in your school. Suppose you have a very harsh teacher. If you continuously serve others with a kind disposition, when you come to that harsh teacher's door, you will be welcomed inside. Among your brothers and sisters, those who are the most serving and giving will be the ones who are the most liked. Among acquaintances, there may be selfish ones and unselfish ones. When the unselfish one comes in, other people are always glad to see him.

If Reverend Moon had come to America and declared, "I am here to gain things for myself," every door in this country would be closed to him today. But even though the government is now rejecting Reverend Moon, many other doors are opening to him. Why is that? This is happening because I have been following the principle of a selfless way of life. For that reason, although people persecute me out of ignorance, they will eventually come to realize who I am and will appreciate me.

Universal law is not on the side of the government; it is on the side of Reverend Moon. So when Reverend Moon follows that law scrupulously to the end he will be the winner, not the U.S. government. In this crowded world, the only way to live your life successfully is to live it for the sake of others.

Imagine that Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Mohammed and even God Himself came here to Belvedere to listen to Reverend Moon. When they heard my words, do you think they would shake their heads in disagreement or would they say, "Yes, Reverend Moon, you are absolutely right."? They would agree because I am speaking of universal law. This is the true, universal way of life.

In any family, the person who gives the most for the others will become that family's central figure. Generally speaking, the parents are the central figures within a home because they are the ones who unselfishly love the children and work for their sake. The patriot who gives himself for the sake of the country is in the same position. The longer that sort of person lives, the more he is admired for his patriotism. What is a saint? A saint is a person who lives selflessly for the sake of the rest of the world-for humanity as well as for all creation. This is the criterion for sainthood and no one can deny it.

What about the one who created the universe according to this principle? God is the being who wants to live a selfless life for the sake of His creation and for the sake of His children, human beings. What must a person do in order to meet with God? Can you think, "God is the king of knowledge, so I will gain all the knowledge of the world in order to meet with Him."? That won't enable you to meet God. Nor can you garner a lot of power and then meet with Him. Can you gain a lot of money and then go before God? No, the only way you can meet God is by following in His footsteps and living His way of life. God is not looking for people who have a lot of money, knowledge or power. Those are trivial things in His eyes.

Some Unification Church members feel, "I graduated from the seminary and I got my MA and even my Ph.D., so l am entitled to a lot of respect in the Church now." But you will not be respected according to those qualifications. The only way you will gain respect in the Church is by following in my footsteps, living my way of life.

The key phrase is "for the sake of others." Thus whenever you speak of a true friend, that is a person who lives for the sake of others. True parents or a true brother or sister are those who live for the sake of others. A true sovereign is one who lives for the sake of others. On every level of human society, the standard for "trueness" is whether a person lives for the sake of others. Do you agree with this? Are you sure that this is the truth? Are you speaking automatically, or have you thought about this many times in order to say yes?

The truth is an automatic response. For instance, when food is placed in the mouth, the mouth automatically starts to chew. When the food goes down to the stomach, the stomach automatically works to digest it. Even this giant country of America operates according to the same principle. Anybody who strives to serve this country will be automatically welcomed by others. However, as soon as the people of this country see some greedy person trying to take things away from them, they will close their doors. That is the Principle.

Anybody who tries to live solely for his or her own sake will eventually become the child of Satan. A person who lives that way in his home will end up in a hellish situation. But anybody who lives for the sake of others can be labeled a true person. This is a universal principle and there is no exception to it. There is no exception for me or for Mother or for the True Children; there is no exception for anybody in the world.

Let's suppose that you are very hungry and you are passing through a grocery store. You might think, "There is plenty of food here, so why can't I just steal some for myself? I'm so hungry!" Actually, this is the communist way of thinking. Why is this so wrong? It is because the sole motivation is oneself-"I am hungry. I need food. I don't care about anybody else, as long as I am satisfied."

However, there is a better way. If you are very hungry and you have no money, you can go to the owner of the grocery store and with a respectful, considerate attitude ask, "Could you spare a little food for me, because I am very hungry?" When that person gives you his food, that is perfectly all right. You respected the other person and he was able to freely choose to give you his food. Therefore, that person is doing something for someone else. You engendered that kind of action so there is nothing wrong with that. This is the reason we should be law-abiding citizens and respect the laws of our society. Social laws are set up to respect and conform to the universal law.

Suppose there is a man who yearns to go to heaven. He might pray earnestly every day, "God, give me that great blessing of going to heaven. Also, my children are good, so please give them some blessings. Also, please give me some money." His attitude is "God, give me this and that," all the time. When that man's prayer time comes, God will just plug His ears! That kind of prayer is not pleasing to God.

When you pray, pray for the sake of your mission and your work. Ask, "God, I am eager to give everything necessary for the sake of this world and this society, but I am limited and not able to do everything that needs to be done. Can You please help me to do my job to serve this world?" That kind of prayer will bring God to tears.

Put yourself in the position of God. You have to listen to all kinds of prayers all the time. Which kind of prayer would you like to hear? If you have a friend who is always asking you for favors-"Hey, loan me a dime, will you?" "Give me a pencil, will you?" "Can I have some of your food?" You might not mind the first, second, or third time that happens, but finally you will feel like saying, "Get out of my sight! Don't even come near me!" You certainly won't welcome him after a while.

All of you children of blessed couples who are here for the workshop, please listen to my message today. If you ever have the attitude that you are someone special or think, "My mom and dad are a 36-couple so I am in a privileged position:' you will be heading down into the pits of hell! What is a 36-blessed couple? They are the first offering to God so they are the ones who are in the position to give themselves up totally to God, saying, "God, please use us as Your sacrifice."

Before the 36-blessed couples can love their own children, they must go out and love the Cain world, the Cain children. When they go against that principle, regardless whether they are 36-couples or whoever they are, they will crumble. Do you think that is correct? So you blessed children, unless you are going this God centered way of life, don't expect a good blessing.

If anyone thinks, "The Unification Church principle of living for the sake of others is not realistic. I'm not going to bother to do it," then you are very wrong. Do you think I am right for teaching this or are those who disagree right?

The purpose of the workshop for the blessed children is not to treat them in a special way but to give them 21 days in order to practice living for the sake of others. Hyo Jin has been given the responsibility of leading this workshop and I am watching very closely to see how he does. If he is going to succeed, it will only be by serving the group lovingly and sacrificially. If he does, then everybody will love, respect and follow him. But if he behaves in a different way, then he will not be popular and he will not succeed.

This is the principle-when you serve for the sake of others, you automatically become the subject and the responsible person. Do you think that is right? I can bestow all kind of responsibilities on the person who wants to live selflessly for the sake of others because I can trust that he will do the right thing. I evaluate a person under this microscope in order to determine how far a person will go-maybe one day, one year, or for his entire life. The only criterion is this principle.

Anybody who thinks of his own brother as less than himself and his own family cannot pass the test. I recall one instance many years ago in Korea when I asked one person to exchange his house with another blessed couple but he said, "No, I don't want to." I haven't forgotten that answer. From the American way of thinking, that is an absolutely normal response. After all, you think, "How could someone give up his house?" But in the Heavenly way, that is not the normal response. How can the person who cannot love his own brother more than his own house be worthy of God? That is the criterion.

If God ordered Reverend Moon, "Give up East Garden for someone else," I would do it. I am not attached to the building or land there. If God felt that someone else would serve a better purpose by living at East Garden, then I would say, "All right. I'm all for it."

This is the principle that will prevail for eternity. It will never change. If I were living for my own sake, the smartest thing for me to do at the time of the court indictment would have been to stay in Korea. However, I came back to America knowing that God could use this kind of tribulation to awaken America, particularly American Christianity. Therefore, I put that purpose above my own comfort. What is happening now? The American religious community is uniting around my cause and the American people are uniting with me as well. Now the truth is coming out and there are rallies being held all around the country.

On June 26, I went to the hearing before the Senate subcommittee on the Constitution and the truth was spoken clearly there. Now the world can know who Reverend Moon is, why he came, and what his aspirations are. People there were flabbergasted to realize that the image they had of Reverend Moon was completely wrong. Instead of coming here to take money away, Reverend Moon has been pouring his heart, sweat, tears, as well as hundreds of millions of dollars into this country in order to redeem it. Finally people are learning this fact.

When the American people finally come to realize the truth, they will have to repent for their misunderstanding. Furthermore, in that Senate hearing I stated that a certain memo was circulated within the Justice Department directing the prosecution of Reverend Moon. I asked the subcommittee chairman to find that document and allow the world to see it because they have a right to know the truth.

There are a lot of long-time Unification Church members here from Korea. There was never a single instance in which I became indebted to them and for that reason I indeed became their central figure. Nowadays, my own children have come to a new realization about me. They have been somewhat empty-hearted in the past, thinking, "My Dad and Mom are always taking care of the world and pay all their attention to Church members. Why don't they care about me?" But lately they have come to tell me, "Now we can understand better why you did what you did. We see that you truly loved the world's children first, before you loved us. We love you for that and you are great in our eyes."

In order to become a true father and mother, Mother and I have been living according to the Principle. Before we loved each other or before we loved our own children, we had to love the world and be willing to give up our very lives. This is now being understood by the East Garden children. Ultimately, the Cain world will say, "Father and Mother, you gave too much to us. Now we want to give something to the True Children. We want you to be with them and do things for them."

If my way of life had not followed this principle and if the Unification Church had not been guided by it, then we would have diminished and would not have survived up till now. It is only because of this principle that I have been able to prosper and continue this far.

I have been well-protected because of this principle. Even though there has been so much opposition and negativity, the universe has protected me. If I go to prison, the same law will protect me. One amazing fact is that those individuals who have tried to exterminate Reverend Moon have been the ones destroyed instead. Reverend Moon, who has constantly been the target, has been moving further and further along the road of prosperity.

How could this be? What is my secret? My secret is my way of life, this principle. Because of the way I live, I am protected by the universe itself. Even if I go into prison, as long as you members know that you must live for the sake of the nation and the world, our movement will never diminish but will grow and prosper.

Can you love the world more than I have? Even if Reverend Moon tells you, "No, you must not love the world," will you continue to do it? You must say, "Father, no matter how many times you say no, we say yes and we are going to live up to the Principle." That is because the principle is the absolute truth, and that way is the absolutely true way of life.

Do you want to become a central figure and subject? Be a big person, like a giant tree whose branches extend far out. The huge tree has to be able to accommodate everything, such as the insects and birds coming to dwell within it. There are many worms among its roots. The tree must let all those things live there, even though they may sometimes have little fights among themselves. The big tree must embrace all these things.

I am a mysterious person-even though I haven't gone to all the 120 missions around the world, I can close my eyes and pray and know what is going on in specific countries in Africa, South America, Europe and so forth. This is due to my spiritual perception, my special vision. For that reason, I can handle the most important matter of your lives, and that is your marriages.

You look at other people from a purely external viewpoint when you are at the matching, but I can see the whole person. When I look at a person's hands and feet, I can see a lot. A truly handsome man must look good from the back as well as the front. I can see something significant in the way a person walks. I rely upon my intuition that enables me to see everything about each man and woman, like special "X-ray eyes."

You believe that I have that ability, don't you, and you have confidence that I am a champion at matching people? Is it easy to get the autograph of a champion or a celebrity? No, it isn't. You know, I could start a big business pretty soon! My reputation as an excellent match-maker will grow and grow, and then everybody will want to come to me and ask me to pick their spouse for them, whether they are a member of the Unification Church or not.

Truthfully, if my goal were money-making, I would be able to find a thousand different ways. I would never have to worry about money. But I want each of you to learn how to be a giver, not a debtor, to others. This is the true way of life-living for the sake of others.

When you live for the sake of others, you will become a person of responsibility and a central figure to others. But that is not all there is to it. The most important thing is that when you live for the sake of others, you will find the fundamental energy of life within you. Life and love come from that way of living.

Between husband and wife, true love comes only when each of you is trying to serve the other. It can never come if you are trying to get the other to serve you. This is very basic. When you are serving others for their sake, you will find true love. Parents will have true parental love when they are serving their children; brothers and sisters will find true love when they are serving each other. It is only within this way of life that eternity can be spoken about. That is because you will receive more power of life and love and then you will increase each day, becoming greater and greater.

This is why the universal teaching of all the major religions throughout history has been to live for the sake of others, sacrificially giving oneself. What is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is the place where those people who lived their lives on earth for the sake of others will go. The Unification Church is a powerful place, not in any political sense, but because we practice this way of life and gain tremendous life energy. Of course, the members of the Church are not perfect but one thing is true: between the members and myself there is a relationship based upon this principle. I want to love and serve the members and the members want to love and serve the True Parents.

If you think I am comfortable living in East Garden, you are wrong. Even from the secular point of view, I am miserable. Every day I am bearing the cross within my heart. Whenever it is a rainy day, I think about our members and think, "The MFT members must be soaking wet today. God, be with them." When it is cold and miserable, I think about our members living in Soviet satellite countries, some imprisoned and even on the verge of being executed. All of these thoughts are my constant burden.

Since I cannot deal physically with every member around the world, Mother and I try to love and care for those leaders who come to East Garden, as representatives of all the rest of the members. Mother may buy them clothing or I may give them some gift. We want to serve the members by serving their visiting leaders. Mother and I discuss this often and we always have the criterion that we want to buy nicer things for the Church members than for our own children.

Therefore, those who have been martyred in the Eastern satellite countries have ended their lives shouting "Mansei" and facing East Garden. They have not felt complaint or bitterness about losing their lives. They have been victorious and grateful, even in dying. Such people are a great pride to their ancestors and all their future descendants.

Whenever you practice the way of life of serving others, you gain greater life and love, enjoying growth and prosperity. Women were born for the sake of men; men were born for the sake of women. There is no such thing as just "me." Even when someone marries, he cannot say it is just himself marrying-the universe itself is marrying.

The emotional feelings of teenagers are a universal reaction-it is the universe feeling, rather than just yourself. For that reason, it is most crucial that a young man and woman in their teens preserve the purity of their minds and bodies. You women will be presented one day to your God-given man and you men will be presented to your God-given woman.

Within the most common home, in order to be loved by the parents, you have to be able to appreciate what they are doing. When you can appreciate them, you are in the position to receive their inheritance and their love. Think of children throwing away things that the parents cherish. Such children don't value the things that their parents value.

The time of the teen years is the time in which a person can grow into a common understanding of the parents' tradition and can inherit that tradition. Your parents love your grandparents, so you love them too. Your parents love their children and that is why you love your brothers and sisters. Your parents love their relatives, such as your uncles and aunts and so forth, so you love them too. Thus you are like a mirror of your parents; you reflect what they do. What about the love of God? Do you think this principle applies in that realm as well? Yes, although the love of God is of a different quality and height, it is still conveyed in this manner.

Within a kingdom, the subjects should inherit the tradition of their king; whatever he loves, they should love too. When a woman becomes the empress, she must be able to love whatever the emperor loves. The same is true between husband and wife. If a man truly loves his wife, he will love her tradition-the things she does, the things she owns, the art and literature she appreciates and so forth. With such love, the wife can trust her husband. On the other hand, if a husband says, "I don't care about your interests and your hobbies, but I love you," that kind of relationship won't work.

There is a pragmatic way of thinking among some Unification Church members who are not yet married and are awaiting their matching. They think, "When I see the suffering of the state leaders and the missionaries and so on, I don't want to be married to one of them. I would rather be the spouse of someone in business, someone who brings home a salary!" However, that is a most external and materialistic way of evaluating someone. The real question is, who is the one who is really living for the sake of others? What is more valuable to you, in the ultimate sense?

My thinking is very different from that pragmatic way. I think you young women, particularly the children of blessed couples, ought to be married to the front-line Church leaders. Some of the male blessed children have been thinking about studying business or something that can enable them to make money. But if you are thinking in that way, I can tell you that you will be assigned to the exactly opposite mission from what you have studied.

I want you to understand that Reverend Moon is not going to be indebted to you or to anybody. Already I have established so many things. Already there are many highly esteemed professional people who are seeking out my guidance and trying to establish a relationship with me.

I do not want to be in a position to be indebted to the blessed children. I would like to train them and raise them up to a position where they can be respected, productive, and honored by the tradition. The person who just wants to be comfortable and take the easy way is just one step away from hell. But the person who is willingly suffering for the sake of his mission, for the sake of others, is moving right into the Kingdom of Heaven.

There is a mysterious quality about the way I see people. The person who is very close to God always seems to be very close to me, even though he might be physically at a distance. But those people who are really distant from God seem not to be in my presence, and I often forget their names. Sometimes I will see someone whose name has been familiar to me, perhaps on a daily basis, but all of a sudden I draw a blank and can't think of his name. And when I look at his face, it seems to be fuzzy, as if it were an unfocused image.

I am making effort more and more to cut down on my sensitivity, because the more sensitive I am, the more clearly I can see someone and therefore the more judgmental I can be. I do not want that, so I am deliberately trying to cut back on my sensitivity: however, my nature has that special quality.

You can recognize that I must have some sort of extraordinary quality because without it I could never have survived the arduous path I have gone through. In comparison to my path, becoming president of the United States is very easy. Many American leaders think, "Father, your way is not the right way here in America. If you are going to succeed, you have to do things according to the American way." You may think that my way is impossible here in America, but the amazing thing is that God is making that "impossible" way work.

At least one change has occurred among the American leadership. In the beginning when I gave some direction, they would always offer their critiques and their opinions about it. But they don't do that any more; they know better. They don't have total acceptance yet, but at least they think, "Let's wait and see." But still I am frustrated because of that. Certainly, our way is not easy. It is like the North and South poles trying to come together. It is an arduous, virtually impossible task to bring together such incredibly opposite people but I must do it.

It is only because of the Principle that we can do it. If you go the way of the Principle, God will be opening up doors for you. But if you just try to go your own way, although everything seems possible at first, you will soon find every door blocked. You know that God exists, don't you? What is it that belongs to Cod? The entire universe, including all mankind. Nature is God's creation, so everything within it has its own purpose; it is not up to mankind to determine whether or not something is valuable. By the same token, every human being has a purpose.

God loves every season-spring, summer, autumn and winter. He doesn't like just one or two of them. Therefore, you have to be able to love every season that God created. Look at the gigantic snowstorms that come in winter and love them as another beautiful aspect of God's creation. Love the special characteristics that God built into summer, autumn and spring as well. Many people are frightened by thunderstorms and hate them. But you should appreciate the fact that God is displaying a dramatic aspect of His love through the thunder and lightning. It is like the explosion of a man and woman coming together in love.

When people are feeling very joyful, they will burst out laughing. Another person might think, "Those people are crazy," because his point of view is different. You must align your point of view with God's point of view. Love nature. Love people. There are five different skin colors because God does not want just one. He created every different color.

Suppose all you white people were forced to wear only white clothing and not allowed to wear different colors. Imagine that your surroundings had to be totally white. You had to have white walls, a white piano, and even your blackboard had to be a white board! It is clear that white people use black. You need black. If God made such a rule that white people had to use nothing but white coloring, they would complain bitterly. "I would rather die than live in nothing but whiteness!" That would mean that white people couldn't ever have a night time, since night is black. This is the logical extension of the "white supremacist" attitude. How long could someone last with such "supremacy"?

When I came to America, I declared, "God is colorblind. Everybody is equal and white supremacy is totally wrong." The established white people in this country didn't like me. That doesn't mean that I am promoting only the minority causes, although many Hispanics, Blacks, Orientals and other minority groups feel that I am their champion. You white-skinned, blue-eyed people have to be very watchful because you are just like anybody else in the sight of God. He does not grant any special favors.

If a racial war ever started on the earth, the white people would be in the minority. Such a prospect would be very threatening because all the white people could be exterminated. If you think that the supremacy of white people and the sovereign, governing nations will continue forever, you are wrong. God will raise up the people who love Him to take power to govern the world. Those who live their lives for the sake of others will eventually have the governing power of the world.

God is the universal God and He loves every color of skin. Furthermore, He not only loves the people of the contemporary world but also the people of the past, as well as those who will come in the future. He loves those people who are in Hell and He is devising a plan of redemption for them.

We should live according to the truth and we should love others. Without the fundamental way of living for the sake of others, we cannot prosper. The person who lives the truth will become the subject, with more power for life. Also, the subject must have the power of love. The responsible leader and central figure must become the embodiment of truth, life and love.

All these things can be summed up in one simple phrase: Live for the sake of others. When you practice this way of life, you create harmony. Without living your life for the sake of others, you will never create circular motion in your life. Only a round circle can continue for eternity. Once you become a ball of this sort, you can harmonize with anything. Unless you love your parents, your grandparents, your neighbor, your country and so forth, you will not be able to relate yourself with God. When you have that kind of roundness, you will fit in and harmonize wherever you go. You won't stick out like a sore thumb.

You know that I give interesting and lively sermons, but I can also listen to others very well. I can listen to anyone, even the eldest grandmother, for hours and hours and never get tired of her. Sometimes Mother can't understand why I do this and wonders what I could gain from listening to someone telling the same story ten times. However, I know that I can learn new things depending upon the feeling that comes out each time. That's why everybody who knows me feels love for me. They cannot find anyone to compare with me.

Growth comes through give and take. In order to breathe, you must inhale and then exhale. You must repeat this same process over and over again in order to maintain your life. This could be considered a tedious thing, but it is necessary. Suppose you decided to stop being tedious and just inhale a big breath and use only that for the rest of the day. It certainly wouldn't work. Likewise, you have to repeat the process of eating, usually three times a day, day after day. That is what allows you to sustain and improve your life.

If you want to express true feelings toward someone, you must have a truly sympathetic ear when you listen to him. One example of this was during the early days of our Church in Korea. After founding the first church in Pusan, I moved to Yongdo and dedicated a new church. All the members of Yongdo were gathered after the dedication ceremony. I spent that entire night in conversation with one of the eldest grandmothers of the church, while other members waited outside. They were all wondering why I was spending so much time with an old woman. But I told them, "I served this old woman because she represents the entire congregation."

In this respect, I am very different from ordinary religious leaders. Normally when they go to some special ceremony, they will seek out conversation with the most important persons there, such as professors or prosperous businessmen who might contribute money. Even if someone has traveled around the world as a distinguished ambassador, meeting important people such as heads of state, I tell him, "Do you want to join the Unification movement? Then you must come down to the bottom." If I treat him the same way everyone else treats him, he will think, "The Unification Church-so what? I'm at the top of the world, so you must pay respect to me." However, that is not the tradition of the Unification Church.

Do you think I am setting the right tradition? When the missionaries and other Unification Church members come, I eagerly invite them to East Garden to visit with me and Mother, feeding them good food. Often Mother and I will take them out to buy clothes for them. Why? From the worldly point of view, I am giving special attention to people who are "nobodies" while virtually ignoring the "somebodies." How do you think God feels about that- is He pleased or displeased? This is exactly what the Bible teaches. The person who tries to go up higher will be brought lower. The one who tries to go lower will be brought up higher.

Our subject today is a very important one-the true way of life. Do you understand what is that true way now? Based upon that truth, you can gain greater life. But without love, there can be no harmony and unity. Without the qualities of love, life and truth, you cannot become a central figure or a responsible person. Where there is truth, there is life and there is love. They all come together and multiply themselves. When you practice living for the sake of others, you will multiply your life energy, love energy and your truth energy.

Why would you want to become a subject? When you become a subject, you are entitled to truth, life, and love. The same can be said of a central figure and responsible person-you become entitled to more truth, life and love energy. There is only one way of life by which everything can be harmonized into action and that is by living for the sake of others. You can only multiply, expand and grow from smaller truth to larger truth, from smaller life to larger life, smaller love to larger love, and so forth, by living for the sake of others. Practice this and find out for yourself.

I came to this conclusion a long time ago and I have been practicing this principle throughout my life. I found out that this is the truth and have been telling the world about it. Everything you do, therefore, should be derived from this principle. You should strive always to take the initiative and do more than others. You should spend your time effectively. Even when you go on a walk, you should have a goal to walk a certain distance before you take a rest. You should always be ahead of others.

When there is good food to eat, everybody wants to enjoy it and eat a lot. In such a situation, I am always the first to lay down my fork. This was true even when I was in prison. I practice this principle wherever I go. When leaders come to East Garden to visit, I never tell them, "Please go away because I need my rest." Instead they are the ones who get tired and finally I pity them and let them go to bed. Then I stay up later than anybody else. Even though I may go to my room, I don't go to sleep.

This is sometimes very painful for Mother. Because my schedule is so arduous, it is impossible for her to keep up with me. Mother spends a lot of time alone, but she never complains because she knows what kind of person I am. She is always proud of me and she always speaks well of me. She has no complaint but rather gratitude and appreciation and support. Mother knows one thing: I do what I do for the sake of others and for the sake of God, not for myself.

Therefore, I do crazy things such as going out on rainy days like this to work. Even in a storm, I will go up to the mountains. I always ask, "Am I the first crazy person to come up to the top of the mountain during such stormy weather?" And the angels tell me, "Yes." I tell all the things of creation, "Today is a very extraordinary day, so I want to bless all the creation-the rocks, the mountain, the insects, trees, flowers." This is my unique relationship with creation.

When a person climbs a mountain, normally he will feel very tired and his feet will hurt. My feet cry out that they are tired, too, but I yell back at them, "Rascals! You have to step forward another step." And the feet and legs respond, "Yes Sir!" Always there is one more step to take, no matter how tired I become. I never quit. Will you also live that way of life? You may say you will do it, but will you only do it for one day? When you say you will live such a way, that means it is for eternity.

According to that principle, I want to ask you a question. Suppose the most beautiful woman was matched to a very ugly man. That is the most ideal way because that is the most serving way. Isn't that true? When that beautiful woman loves her ugly husband as a representative of the universe, you can know that God will give birth to the greatest men and women through that lineage. Such men and women will lead the world.

One example of this principle is Ye Jin's husband, Jin Whi. When I gave the blessing to the 36 couples, Jin Whi's father at that time was a very important Church leader, having been in the Church for several years and having taught the Divine Principle every day. He was a great lecturer. But Jin Whi's mother was very young in the Church-probably only several months. So when I brought them together and introduced them, Mr. Hong thought to himself, "She isn't such a good match. After all, I am a three-year member and she is just like a green onion. What does she know about the Church?" Mr. Hong wasn't so happy.

Then I told them, "if you follow my advice, something good will happen within your family." And they obeyed. They had children and what happened? Not just one but two of their children were joined with the family of the True Parents. That is something that a person would not even imagine happening, so my prediction was correct.

Many times in the past I matched people totally contrary to their tastes. They said, "Father, what are you doing to me? How can I live with that person?" They felt they would grieve to death but they grudgingly obeyed my direction. And what happened? Now they all recognize the wisdom of my choice and they all say, "Thank you, Father. We couldn't be better matched. We couldn't have better children." Several couples were like that in the 36 couples.

You may think you can judge who would be a good husband or wife, but that is only according to your own criterion. What guarantee can you have that your own wishes are going to succeed? However, I can give you a guarantee. In many cases, I matched people knowing that they would have great children. I knew that God's reward would come to that family, perhaps not immediately, perhaps it would be three generations in the future. But the president of the United States, or some great leader will come out of them. However, because of their own disliking, many have departed from their matches and destroyed them. What will happen? You will eventually learn when you go to spirit world what a mistake you made. You will have intense regret at that time.

For whom do you marry? You men marry for the sake of your wives and you women marry for the sake of your husbands. You must think, "Without me, my husband would be a bachelor! He would never have had children. Thus I marry for his sake." And the reverse is true. You must love each other-give your love for the sake of your spouse and for the sake of all your posterity for generations to come. That is the selfless purpose of marriage. You must not marry for the goal of receiving love. That is the wrong attitude. Too often, women seek marriage in order to be taken care of by a man. But you should marry because you want to give your love, not to receive love from others.

All the features of your body are for the purpose of giving love and giving birth to new generations, not for your own sake. You women have beautiful bosoms, not for your own sake but for the sake of others, for the sake of your husband. Your curved hips and figures are not for your own sake but so that you can deliver a healthy baby. The body of a woman is like a container.

You do not truly belong to yourself but rather to your parents. It was they who brought you into this world. But why did your parents produce you? It is because of love and in order to expand the world of love. That is the reason why children are born. You must marry not to receive love but to give love.

When you marry, you are like a foreigner coming into a new family. All kinds of persecution may come to you from your rascally brothers and sisters-in-law, but you must persevere. That will polish you into a shinier diamond, make you a better person. As a child, sometimes you may have been spanked by your own parents or given a hard time by your brothers and sisters. This is good training for the day when you are married and joined to another family.

Perhaps a girl may have a particularly mean brother who always tries to tease her and make her miserable. He might even go into her room and mess everything up, like a hurricane. Instead of screaming and getting upset, the sister ought to think, "I can look on this as training from God. Thank you, my nasty brother. If I have a nasty husband in the future, I will be prepared."

A lot of American husbands are under the tight iron fist of their wives. They have to go to their wives and say, "Darling, can I have five dollars and bus fare, please?" But that's not my way.

There are things within the men's world that the women's world does not have and that creates balance. Thus the family is the training ground for good husbands and wives. The parents have to be stern and in control. Particularly the father has to be stern. If you are not sure that your sons and daughters are ready to serve totally for the sake of a husband or wife, then they are not ready for marriage, so don't let them do it.

When the character of young men and women is strong, you can be sure that you will have a booming family, society and nation. If this is not the truth, then everything I have said is a lie. For the love of all the things that God created, you can go out and do fundraising. You are restoring material wealth to God. You go out witnessing and show your love for people. These are sacrificial things to do. When you live such a way of life for ten or twenty years, you too will become the kind of person that I am. You can go anywhere and you will be able to see things very clearly.

That is why I could come to this foreign country by myself and take on a subjective role. I have not been passive to anyone but rather have been leading others here. I have been training more young people to be like me. You men and women tell me, are you guided by my teachings? Can you absorb and imitate my way into your own life? Even if you give up and leave the Church, you will not be able to eliminate the truth of the Principle from your mind and heart. You will never be able to forget the things you have learned from me. You may think you will be comfortable in the secular world, but you will find contradiction within you.

It is because I am a tough leader that the Unification Church has moved up in such a short time to the worldwide level. Otherwise, it would have taken a millennium. Within the last six months, I have been able to virtually turn around American public opinion. To grow quickly you have to move quickly and decisively.

In the common way of looking at it, when a person receives a score of 100, he has a perfect mark. But in God's world, we always add one more. The person who gets the mark of 101 is the one who becomes the central figure, the subject, and the responsible person. Thus you must always add one more to everything.

If you are living with ten people, do everything that the other ten do but then add one more. Let's say that the Unification Church had 1,000 members. We all live and follow the same pattern, doing the same sacrificial things. But you should try to do one more thing on top of everything else. Even now I am adding one more, although I am at the top of the worldwide leadership. Mother follows me absolutely as the leader. I have the attitude that I want to do at least one more thing than any president of the United States.

There are many people who are fighting against communism around the world, but I do not follow them. Instead, I am doing one more thing, something they don't do. Looking at the two thousand years of the Christian tradition, I have done all of that, plus one more.

The Lord will come in a different way from what people are expecting. Many say that the Lord will come on the clouds of heaven, but they cannot explain how. I am saying that the Lord will come in the flesh and I am giving logical explanations as to how and why. People cannot fail to be convinced. It is inevitable that I have to become the subject, the central figure, and the responsible leader. Representatives from the entire religious community are uniting with Reverend Moon now and speaking up for me, actively fighting for me.

Reverend Moon does not live for his own sake. I do not seek my own glory. Rather, I want to accomplish my goal of unity of the world and Christianity. In order to achieve this, we must use this principle. You Moonies are welcomed by others because you practice this way of life of service for the sake of others. Even if someone lives with you for ten years, you must serve them and have the heart to continue for eleven years. That is the way Moonies think. You know how you can survive and go on forever. You know how to deal with the world and how to behave. This way will bring you not only survival but also prosperity.

Become harmonious with your surroundings-north, south, east and west, as well as up and down. There is only one way to do that-according to the formula of living for the sake of others. This formula alone will bring about that kind of harmony. Do you understand?

Why do you live? This is a very simple question, yet throughout history nobody has been able to answer it with a simple answer. Now I am giving you the simple answer: you live for the sake of others. The individual must live for the sake of the family; the family for the tribe; the tribe for the society and nation; the nation for the world; and the world for the universe and all ultimately for the sake of God. God Himself is living for the sake of His children. Thus we create a total circle and a balance. There can be no complaints within this circle. God is not a plunderer. He is giving away everything He has. The more He has, the more He gives. Thus nobody has any complaints within that complete circle.

Everything comes to the center, where God is. Does the central figure say, "I'm so glad everything is serving me. I won the world!"? At that point, the center would be destroyed. The center must receive and then give more. It must serve the whole, existing selflessly for the sake of the world. When you are living for the sake of others, you are constantly supplying their needs, giving away more and more. When you do that, energy goes out from you, more energy is created, and then you are automatically supplied with more. This is like a low pressure area which is automatically filled up. You will always be refilled when you empty yourself.

That means ultimately everything will come to you. Now, do you understand this principle clearly? Do you young people understand me clearly? You should be grateful to your parents. Your way of life must be based upon gratitude. Be grateful to your parents, grateful to your spouse, grateful to your children, because they provide you with the opportunity to live this way of life. Have no complaints. After knowing this truth, no one can complain. Complaint is the worst disease, like cancer. Dwell always in gratitude and grace. That is the beautiful way of life. After understanding this truth, no one can escape from this way of life.

Even if I go to prison, you must continue to practice this principle. Seek to love the world and mankind more than I do. If you do more while I am gone than you did while I was present, the Unification Church will never perish. Your parents will eventually pass away-that is according to nature-but do not be consumed with grief. Instead, determine to live more than ever in the tradition of your parents, more than when they were living. The home of such a person will thrive and prosper.

When the Unification Church members work harder in their leaders' absence than in their presence, the Church will prosper. The true leaders of the Unification Church are those who practice the Principle to their bones-to the utmost level. Among several leaders, the one who gives himself more for the sake of his mission, for the sake of the world and for the Church is the truest leader. The most important determination among people is not some external sort of Cain and Abel position. Rather, the important characteristic of a person is if he serves more than anybody else, if he truly wants to live for the sake of others. The one who does that is Abel, regardless of anything else.

A leader is the one who works harder and practices this principle more than others. Leadership does not mean receiving respect or admiration; it means working harder.

You should make up your mind and say, "I know that I have been trying up till now, but I haven't really been giving enough. Now that I have listened to Father this morning, I want to move myself up to a higher level in living for the sake of others." Do you say yes to this? This is the true way of life and that is what will bring prosperity. God bless you and thank you.

Speech of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon to the VIP Senate Hearing Banquet

June 26, 1984
Translator, Col. Bo Hi Pak

Father addresses the clergy at the VIP Senate Hearing banquet following the hearing on Religious Liberty

I have many thoughts to share, but because of limited time, I would like to make it very brief. Today, I was really inspired by the effort that Senator Orrin Hatch is making as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Constitution. I deeply respect his efforts and I really enjoyed being with him today. Furthermore, I have the great pleasure to be with Rev. Everett Sileven, who is truly a comrade in arms in our common struggle for the sake of religious freedom. At the same time it is my personal and great honor to have such wonderful and distinguished guests, among whom many have pledged to stay for one week with me in prison. We're going to have a great time there together.

It is truly remarkable, when you think of it, that a Korean man, coming from the Orient, without even knowing your language, has become a rallying point of religious freedom in the greatest nation on the face of the earth. I do not believe that any one individual, such as myself, could cause this to happen. It is indeed the providence of God that is moving and making things happen. This occasion has given me incredible, inspiring reaffirmation that God exists, is living, and is active in our world today. For each one of us in this room, no matter what background we come from, we are not here by accident. We're here by the providence of God.

The Survival of America

Today, as surely as I am standing here, I am not worrying about my own well-being or destiny, nor am I worrying about my upcoming prison term. In a way, I am an expert on prisons. I endured for almost three years in what may have been the worst prison in the world. That is not the central issue. The central issue is the survival of America and the role that God bestowed upon me to awaken this nation. I am minding only that one thing, the mission that God gave me. So what should I do? How should I behave? How should I map out my future? I am thinking about these things with only one thing on my mind and that is my God-given mission and the destiny of America.

Encroachment by Secular Humanism

I am also an expert on communism. I learned about communism not through books, but through the bullet -- through experiences. Those lessons penetrated to my bones. I know communists well -- what they are, who they are, what their aims are, and so forth. You Americans may not realize how precious is your heritage and history. For example, your Pilgrim Fathers came to this land, risking their lives to seek the land of freedom where they could worship freely according to the dictates of their consciences. You may not realize how precious those Pilgrims are, as we who come from outside of the United States do.

Today, however, the precious religious freedom in this country is in danger. The red flag is being waved about today's encroachment by secular humanism. Today, we discussed in our hearing that this encroachment is so severe it might even shake the very foundation of this nation. We are coming close to this, the very danger point. I know communist strategies. They have two major points of attack, particularly towards the United States of America. First, the destruction of the family, the most precious system or institution God provided for our human civilization; they are after the death of the family system. Secondly, they want to destroy religious freedom. Without doing that they know they cannot subjugate this country. So these two tactics are their focus today.

I am very grieved, particularly since I came to America, to see how things have been deteriorating every day in the families of America. The problems of broken families, young people running away from home, drugs, and the incredible juvenile crimes, indeed, fit right into the blueprint of a communist takeover of the greatest country in the world. We must realize the ultimate cause, the power, behind all these problems. Our young people, in many cases, are innocent. Our families are innocent, and in many cases we have been manipulated. Were exploited by the foreign power behind this which is absolutely determined to destabilize America, that is, the international conspiracy of communism.

I have lived a full life beyond the age of sixty; I have already lived my life. Most of us here have lived long and enjoyed our lives. But what about our children? What kind of world are we going to give to them? What kind of heritage are we going to pass on to our children? Are they going to have a strong family system, strong moral fiber, a strong God-centered nation and freedom to enjoy as much as we did? This is the central question today. My God-given mission, my number one goal, is to teach the American people, the good American public, about the dangers of communism. God sent me to America to awaken America to the dangers of the encroaching power of communism. That is my primary mission.

My second mission is to revive the fervor of Christianity, to engender the kind of atmosphere where our young people can grow healthy in spirit and body to become strong successors to our generation. This is what I was told by God to do in America. Today, the degradation of the morality of young people is very, very disheartening. And in its small humble way, the Unification Church has given a new vision, a new hope and new value to life so that we have wonderful young people who are centered upon God, centered upon family, centered upon the church. You know we have our own tradition of mass weddings. This one tradition is to uphold and strengthen the family system under God. That is its main purpose.

I Am Proud Of Moonies

The Moonies have been spoken of quite a bit in public in this country and throughout the world. The name has a kind of scornful connotation. But I tell you today that I am proud of Moonies, my people. Those young people are dedicated to God and to America. And no other force of young people would match our young people who are really awakened to this new sense of values and to the dangers of communism. And I'm proud of them. They are trying to be responsible, to rekindle the spirit of family in this country, the spirit of giving in this country, the spirit of patriotism and the love of the world, one world under God.

So I am teaching my people to persevere. I know we have been mistreated, I know we have been misunderstood, I know we have been treated scornfully, but let us persevere, let us be' patient. As the great saints before us were patient when persecuted, let us follow their tradition, to look boldly towards the future with our heads held high. Young people are listening to that message. We gave young people an appreciation of dedication and a spirit of dedication. Working for eight hours a day is nonexistent in the Unification Church. We work 24 hours a day. It is my slogan that unless we work harder than the Communists work for their own cause we will never prevail; we shall never be victorious.

Religious freedom is an issue that is not easy to deal with today. It is a very difficult goal to achieve because even though we have the right President, it doesn't make any difference. Still the media can clobber him and virtually make him nothing. And the bureaucracy is totally entrenched and so powerful that even the President of the United States cannot change certain things if he wants to. In this kind of atmosphere, trying to restore religious freedom is certainly not the easiest thing to do. So God asked me to go the drastic way. That drastic way God is telling me is to go to prison. That will awaken the American people. That might be a shot in the arm so that new hope might come.

Launch One Spectacular Christian Movement

So, today I am thinking very deeply, but I am not thinking of my own well-being. Look at the United States. Some days ago there was some publicity that there are 170 million Christians in this country. Most Americans have some faith in God. With such an enormous power in this land, why can't we mobilize these forces? This is the kind of situation we've come to. This is truly a central problem. Furthermore, a good many of the people in the government are Christian. But then the government has become more and more secular, more opposed to religion. Why is that? We need to launch one spectacular Christian movement, a new, awakening movement starting from the very repentance of me, of Rev. Moon. Why can't we achieve the religious freedom that even God wants us to have? Something must be going wrong in our religious community. Where do we begin? With repentance, repentance. We must repent, then move forward and try to find a new direction.

There is another problem in our religious world today. As you know, communism's goal is to take over the whole planet. Christians and most religious people today think in other-worldly terms. They think, "Well, I may suffer, but if I endure I'll get to my heaven upstairs someday." If we try more and more to escape from our God-given world, I know we cannot win in the confrontation. We may prolong the time before defeat, but the victory of communism would be a sure thing in the days to come. So, I carry the warning to the American public that, once again, we must make a new beginning. We must think of the future and, instead of just thinking of my heaven, my own salvation, we must think of the nation, of the world, of our neighbors, knowing that the interest of God is salvation -- not just the salvation of one person, or one man or woman -- His interest is in the salvation of the entire world.

God gave the nation of the United States of America the great opportunity to create the Kingdom of Christ throughout the world. That opportunity came right after World War II. God gave America, the Christian nation, a free hand to really deal with the world and bring the world to God. But then, without reaping the harvest, America lost the great opportunity to bring the entire world under God, right after World War II.

Another phenomenon I observe in the Christian world today is that, although Christianity has prospered for the last two thousand years, in the last couple of decades, the Christian decline has been incredibly obvious and severe, and the blow to the Judeo-Christian world has been disheartening. What has happened to the Christianity that endured for two thousand years?

I know that there are a great many ministers here and I don't want to bring in many quotes from the Bible, but I would like to cite one verse, and that is John 3:16. The most fundamental cornerstone of the Christian faith is John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son." God did not love just one family, just one individual, one race, one people; God "so loved the world." The target, the goal of God was the world. So where are the Christians today who take this word seriously? The goal of God is world salvation. Why do not I, my church, my denomination, my people, dedicate ourselves to the very goal of God, the salvation of the world? Why do we not strive to serve the world, to bring this world back to God? True Christianity must be thinking that by giving myself as a sacrifice, let us go forth together and save the world; let the spirit of Christ work. Today, how many churches are out there? Even my own denomination, my own church can be a sacrifice, so that in turn the world can live, the world can survive, the world can be redeemed. Who is going to be responsible for the world?

Under One Common Destiny

God needs a champion here on earth. There is no question about it. He's got to have His own agent, His own champion here on earth to do the job. But God is looking for the champion who is saying, "I will be responsible for the sake of the world. Even if I must give my life I'm going to do Your will, which is the salvation of the world," as John 3:16 so clearly stated. We must go beyond denominational barriers. Today the most important realization we can arrive at is that we come under one common destiny, beyond denominations, beyond religious barriers; we come under a common destiny that by uniting under one common Father, who is God, we shall survive and prosper. There is hope.

So for the sake of religious freedom this movement, I am glad to say, is set up beyond the denominational level. The barriers between denominations are not there, the barriers between religions are not there, because we are moving toward unity and harmony under a common purpose. I know you represent respective religious denominations and so do I. And if any denominational leaders, pastors and ministers are thinking in those kinds of sacrificial terms, I know that that denomination, that church, that leader pleases God immensely. The Unification Church is trying to live up to that. In a way, there was no denomination of Jesus Christ, there was no denomination during his lifetime.

You know, I have been criticized as a foolish man by so many people. Many people condemn me -- Korean people, Japanese people, Oriental people, even our Korean government is saying, "Rev. Moon, are you crazy? Why? Why do you give so much to only one place, to the United States? Why do you give your last ounce of energy, your sweat, your labor, every drop of blood for the sake of the United States?, Rev. Moon has an ambition, that by the time he goes to heaven, he would like to be the most indebted person on the face of the earth. I know God will find a way to pay back with ample interest all that I have done in my life for the sake of His work.

I am very happy that I have been given this opportunity. In conclusion I tell you that as long as my life is sustained, I will not give up my fight. I shall go on. Unto my life, nobody will stop my march toward the goal that I have expressed. If you want to really become my friend, let us do it together so that we shall glorify the name of Jesus Christ and the name of God and we shall achieve our true religious freedom. Thank you. God bless you all.

Testimony of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon at the Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Religious Liberty

June 26, 1984

Honorable Chairman, distinguished members of the Senate, ladies and gentlemen:

I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation for inviting me to speak at this Senate hearing on religious freedom. I want to also express my sincere gratitude, Mr. Chairman, for your support in favor of my appeal to the Supreme Court. Your noble deed to uphold the principle of constitutional rights of individuals will be long admired by millions of Americans.

Since the Supreme Court refused to review my case, there has been a very strong protest by many members of the religious community. More than a thousand clergymen -- Jewish, Christian and Islamic -- have pledged to commit one week of their lives in prison with me in the name of religious freedom. It moves me deeply. I salute these champions of religious freedom.

I feel this occasion is very historic. I am not just speaking to the United States Congress. I am speaking to history and before God.

God loves America. America's greatness does not lie in her vast resources, nor in her tremendous prosperity. It lies in the very spirit upon which this nation was founded. That is the spirit of ONE NATION UNDER GOD with LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. However, God's will is not just one nation under God, but ONE WORLD UNDER GOD. We are all brothers and sisters -- one human family. When we recognize God as our Father, this ideal can become a reality.

Without religious freedom, however, God cannot fulfill His ideal. The Pilgrim Fathers understood that if you do not have religious freedom, you have no freedom at all. They risked their very lives to secure freedom of worship.

Now, that freedom of worship is in danger. A dark spirit of atheism and religious intolerance is found in America today, and this time there is not another "New World" to receive us as refugees. We have no choice but to restore America as the land of religious freedom. If not, this nation will perish and the world will perish.

In 1971, God called me to come to America and lead a movement to revive the fervor of Christianity and restore the founding spirit of the nation. God has sent me to America in the role of a doctor, in the role of a fire fighter. He has sent me to bring about a dramatic spiritual awakening. The survival of the entire world depends on America fulfilling her responsibility. America is the last bastion of freedom. For the last 12 years I have given my heart and soul and every drop of sweat and tears for the sake of this nation.

In the process of fulfilling this mission, I have become controversial, and in some quarters, unpopular. And I have been persecuted. However, I am by no means the first religious leader to have experienced persecution.

Many of the major religious figures in the Judeo-Christian tradition have walked this path of suffering through persecution. Today, I am honored to follow the same tradition.

I believe that God's hope is for freedom on the earth, and the greatest threat to freedom today is totalitarianism, particularly in the form of Communism, which systematically opposes freedom of religion. Communism has killed more than 150 million people. I myself suffered nearly to the point of death in a Communist prison camp. Communism is the worst inhumanity in the world today.

Freedom has been retreating for the past decade. In 1975, freedom retreated from Southeast Asia. Millions of people perished. Nation after nation in Africa and Latin America has been Communized. One-and-a-half billion people have fallen under Communist tyranny. Now Central America, the back yard of the United States, is the front line of battle. I know that the enemies of freedom will not stop until they achieve their final goal: the conquest of this very nation, the United States of America.

I supported Ronald Reagan for president because I hoped that he would do God's will to stop the spread of Communism and truly bring this nation back to God and to her founding spirit. It is disappointing that under this man, who was elected with the tremendous support of the religious community, the state is encroaching more than ever on the affairs of the church. For the first time, ministers are being jailed. Truly, religious freedom is being dealt a devastating blow.

In the last 12 years, I have done everything I could for America. I have had just one goal in mind: to strengthen the moral fiber of America and enlarge her capacity to fulfill God's will.

Through projects such as the International Religious Foundation, the New Ecumenical Research Association and the Conference on God, I have sought to bring theologians of all faiths together to better understand God and one another.

I have worked to bring God's will into the academic world. The International Cultural Foundation sponsors annual conferences on science and absolute values, and brings scholars together in organizations such as the Professors World Peace Academy, Paragon House Publishers, and the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy.

In the area of cultural expression, I have endeavored to reinforce the theme of reverence toward God. In the movie INCHON, for example, I have tried to portray the historical importance of Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur, a great American devoted to God and humanity. It is vital for American young people to have such a hero figure.

Because religious ideals must be expressed in service to humanity, I initiated the International Relief Friendship Foundation and Project Volunteer.

To work toward the liberation of all people from totalitarian ideologies, I established the International Federation for Victory Over Communism, the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles, and CAUSA International.

To set a standard of responsibility in the communications media we founded the World Media Association and News World Communications, which publishes several newspapers. One of these, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, was created to present an alternative view to the nation's capital. This project alone cost our movement over $100 million.

These projects have required a vast amount of financial resources, as well as the hard work and loving sacrifice of fellow church members. Several hundred million dollars have been poured into America, because this nation will decide the destiny of the entire world. These contributions are primarily coming from overseas. In my movement, the United States has been a recipient, not a source of funds. I have acted from the firm belief that if America is lost, everything is lost. There is no other country that God can turn to.

When you understand the scope of my work, can you really believe that I came to America to defraud the United States government of an estimated $25,000 in taxes?

From the very beginning this was not a tax case. It has been an invasion by the government into the internal affairs of religion. They chose the Unification Church because they thought that no one would come to our defense. However, this is where they miscalculated. The religious community of America knows that unless everyone is safe, no one is safe. When one is threatened, all are threatened.

When the government abuses its authority, the consequences are fearsome. It was the Roman state which crucified Jesus Christ. In this country, it was the state which burned "witches," persecuted Roman Catholics, shunned Jews and prolonged black slavery. It was the state which allowed Joseph Smith founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to be killed by a mob in prison. It is the state which is coming after me, and in the process, violating the religious freedom of everyone. We must stop this trend now. If we do not, then who is next?

In the providence of God, the case of Rev. Moon has become a rallying point for religious freedom in the United States. I STAND CONVICTED FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN MY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS AND PRACTICES. I AM TO BE PUNISHED FOR BEING WHO I AM. This has shocked and awakened the conscience of America. Many religious leaders and believers of all faiths have stood up in outrage. They are registering their protests. Most important of all, they are united. Their unity will insure the survival of America.

The greatest confrontation in the world today is not the United States versus the Soviet Union, capitalism versus socialism or even democracy versus Communism. IT IS FAITH IN GOD VERSUS THE DENIAL OF GOD.

The Communist world, based on atheism, has failed to fulfill the human dream. The free world, on the other hand, has become materialistic and forgotten God, and is helpless in the face of the grave world crisis. the world is dark with confusion. A new vision must emerge -- a new world view centered on God. I am teaching that world view, based on God's heart of love. I call it "Godism". I proclaim that this ideal will provide a new solution to the world.

Godism can unite all religious people as well as all people of conscience. This world view will bring unity among enemies and enemy nations. This will bring true freedom of the human spirit. This ideal will usher in the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth.

This world view, a system of thought of high dimension, has led many people to personal experience with God. The effect has been so phenomenal, that in some quarters, it has been blamed as "brainwashing." This is the reason that I have been misunderstood in some established circles and by the media. The Communists, who regard me as their archenemy, have exploited this misunderstanding in their attempt to destroy me.

In spite of difficulties, I am honored to dedicate myself today to the preservation of religious freedom in this country. If I can raise up a beacon warning Americans of the danger which lies ahead, then my sacrifice will serve a great purpose.

The issue today is the very survival of America and the free world. To assure this survival, I am willing to suffer any indignity, to go any distance, to do any labor, and to bear any cross. I am even willing to give my life, if that would ensure that the nation and world would survive and do God's will.

Today, I carry no animosity toward anyone. Jesus Christ showed the tradition of forgiveness when he prayed on the cross for those who crucified him. I am upholding that tradition. I long ago forgave my accusers. I have no hostility toward the United States government.

Instead, I pray for this country. I thank God that He is using me as His instrument to lead the fight for religious freedom and to ignite the spiritual awakening of America in this most crucial hour of human history.

Mr. Chairman, once again, thank you for this opportunity. I would like to conclude by saying God Bless America.

Testimony of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon at the Hearing on Religious Freedom

Subcommittee on the Constitution Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate
Tuesday, June 26, 1984, 9:00 a.m.
Senate Hearing Room
Dirksen Senate Office Building
United States Congress
Washington DC

Honorable Chairman, distinguished members of the Senate, ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation for inviting me to speak at this Senate hearing on religious freedom. I want to also express my sincere gratitude, Mr. Chairman, for your support in favor of my appeal to the Supreme Court. Your noble deed to uphold the principle of constitutional rights of individuals will be long admired by millions of Americans.

Since the Supreme Court refused to review my case, there has been a very strong protest by many members of the religious community. More than a thousand clergymen-Jewish, Christian and Islamic-have pledged to commit one week of their lives in prison with me in the name of religious freedom. It moves me deeply. I salute these champions of religious freedom.

I feel this occasion is very historic. I am not just speaking to the United States Congress. I am speaking to history and before God.

America and Religious Liberty

God loves America. America's greatness does not lie in her vast resources, nor in her tremendous prosperity. It lies in the very spirit upon which this nation was founded. That is the spirit of one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all. However, God's will is not just one nation under God, but one world under God. We are all children of God. White, black, yellow and red are all brothers and sisters-one human family. When we recognize God as our Father, this ideal can become a reality.

Without religious freedom, however, God cannot fulfill His ideal. The Pilgrim Fathers understood that if you do not have religious freedom, you have no freedom at all. They risked their very lives to secure freedom of worship.

Now, that freedom of worship is in danger. A dark spirit of atheism and religious intolerance is found in America today, and this time there is not another "New World" to receive us as refugees. We have no choice but to restore America as the land of religious freedom. If not, this nation will perish and the world will perish.

My Mission in America

In 1971, God called me to come to America and lead a movement to revive the fervor of Christianity and restore the founding spirit of the nation. God has sent me to America in the role of a doctor, in the role of a fire fighter. He has sent me to bring about a dramatic spiritual awakening. The survival of the entire world depends on America fulfilling her responsibility. America is the last bastion of freedom. For the last 12 years I have given my heart and soul and every drop of sweat and tears for the sake of this nation.

In the process of fulfilling this mission, I have become controversial, and in some quarters, unpopular. And I have been persecuted. However, I am by no means the first religious leader to have experienced persecution. Many of the major religious figures in the Judeo-Christian tradition have walked this path of suffering through persecution. Today, I am honored to follow the same tradition.

I believe that God's hope is for freedom on the earth, and the greatest threat to freedom today is totalitarianism, particularly in the form of communism, which systematically opposes freedom of religion. Communism has killed more than 150 million people. Many of these were religious people. I myself suffered nearly to the point of death in a communist prison camp. Communism is the worst inhumanity in the world today.

Freedom has been retreating for the past decade. In 1975, freedom retreated from Southeast Asia. Millions of people perished. Nation after nation in Africa and Latin America has been communized. One-and-a-half billion people have fallen under communist tyranny. Now Central America, the backyard of the United States, is the front line of battle. I know that the enemies of freedom will not stop until they achieve their final goal: the conquest of this very nation, the United States of America.

I supported Ronald Reagan for president because I hoped that he would do God's will to stop the spread of communism and truly bring this nation back to God and to her founding spirit. It is disappointing that under this man, who was elected with the tremendous support of the religious community, the state is encroaching more than ever on the affairs of the church. For the first time, ministers are being jailed. Truly, religious freedom is being dealt a devastating blow.

Twelve Years in America

In the last 12 years, I have done everything I could for America. I have had just one goal in mind: to strengthen the moral fiber of America and enlarge her capacity to fulfill God's will.

Through projects such as the International Religious Foundation, the New Ecumenical Research Association and the Conference on God, I have sought to bring theologians of all faiths together to better understand God and one another.

I have worked to bring God's will into the academic world. The International Cultural Foundation sponsors annual conferences on science and absolute values, and brings scholars together in organizations such as the Professors World Peace Academy, Paragon House Publishers and the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy.

In the area of cultural expression, I have endeavored to reinforce the theme of reverence toward God. In the movie "Inchon," for example, I have tried to portray the historical importance of General Douglas MacArthur, a great American devoted to God and humanity. It is vital for American young people to have such a hero figure.

Because religious ideals must be expressed in service to humanity, I initiated the National Council for the Church and Social Action, the International Relief Friendship Foundation and Project Volunteer.

To work toward the liberation of all people from totalitarian ideologies, I established the International Federation for Victory over Communism, the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles, and CAUSA International.

To set a standard of responsibility in the communications media, we founded the World Media Association and News World Communications, which publishes several newspapers. One of these, The Washington Times, was created to present an alternative view to the nation's capital. This project alone cost our movement over 100 million dollars.

These projects have required a vast amount of financial resources, as well as the hard work and loving sacrifices of fellow church members. Several hundred million dollars have been poured into America, because this nation will decide the destiny of the world. These contributions are primarily coming from overseas. In my movement, the United States has been a recipient, not a source of funds. I have acted from the firm belief that if America is lost, everything is lost. There is no other county that God can turn to.

When you understand the scope of my work, can you really believe that I came to America to defraud the United States government of an estimated $25,000 in taxes?

Governmental Abuse of Authority

From the very beginning this was not a tax case. It has been an invasion by the government into the internal affairs of religion. They chose the Unification Church because they thought that no one would come to our defense. However, this is where they miscalculated. The religious community of America knows that unless everyone is safe, no one is safe. When one is threatened, all are threatened.

When the government abuses its authority, the consequences are fearsome. It was the Roman state which crucified Jesus Christ. In this country, it was the state which burned "witches," persecuted Roman Catholics, shunned Jews and prolonged black slavery. It was the state which allowed Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to be killed by a mob in prison. It is the state which is coming after me, and in the process, violating the religious freedom of everyone. We must stop this trend now. If we do not, then who is next?

In the providence of God, the case of Reverend Moon has become a rallying point for religious freedom in the United States. I stand convicted for no other reason than my religious beliefs and practices. I am to be punished for being who I am. This has shocked and awakened the conscience of America. Many religious leaders and believers of all faiths have stood up in outrage. They are registering their protests. Most important of all, they are united. Their unity will insure the survival of America.

The Greatest Confrontation

The greatest confrontation in the world today is not the United States vs. the Soviet Union, capitalism vs. socialism or even democracy vs. communism. It is faith in God vs. the denial of God.

The communist world, based on atheism, has failed to fulfill the human dream. The free world, on the other hand, has become materialistic and forgotten God, and is helpless in the face of the grave world crisis. The world is dark with confusion. A new vision must emerge-a new worldview centered on God. I am teaching that worldview, based on God's heart of love. I call it "Godism." I proclaim that this ideal will provide a new solution to the world.

Godism can unite all religious people as well as all people of conscience. This worldview will bring unity among enemies and enemy nations. This will bring true freedom of the human spirit. This ideal will usher in the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth

This worldview, a system of thought of high dimension, has led many people to personal experience with God. The effect has been so phenomenal, that in some quarters, it was blamed on "brainwashing." This is the reason that I have been misunderstood in some established circles and by the media. The communists, who regard me as their archenemy, have exploited this misunderstanding in their attempt to destroy me.

In spite of these difficulties, I am honored to dedicate myself today to the preservation of religious freedom in this country. If I can raise up a beacon warning Americans of the danger which lies ahead' then my sacrifice will serve a great purpose.

The issue today is the very survival of America and the free world. To assure this survival, I am willing to suffer any indignity, to go any distance, to do any labor, and to bear any cross. I am even willing to give my life, if that will ensure that the nation and world survive and do God's will.

God Bless America

Today, I carry no animosity towards anyone. Jesus Christ showed the tradition of forgiveness when he prayed on the cross for those who crucified him. I am upholding that tradition. I long ago forgave my accusers. I have no hostility toward the United States government.

Instead, I pray for this country. I thank God that He is using me as His instrument to lead the fight for religious freedom and to ignite the spiritual awakening of America in this most crucial hour of human history.

Mr. Chairman, once again, thank you for this opportunity. I would like to conclude by saying, God bless America.

Thank you.

Testimony of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon at the Hearing on Religious Freedom

June 26, 1984
Washington, D.C.

At the Senate Hearing on Religious Liberty held June 26, 1984, in Washington, D.C., Father was welcomed as an honored guest. From left to right: Senator Orrin Hatch, Rev. Everett Sileven and Father

Honorable Chairman, distinguished members of the Senate, ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation for inviting me to speak at this Senate hearing on religious freedom. I want to also express my sincere gratitude, Mr. Chairman, for your support in favor of my appeal to the Supreme Court. Your noble deed to uphold the principle of constitutional rights of individuals will be long admired by millions of Americans.

Since the Supreme Court refused to review my case, there has been a very strong protest by many members of the religious community. More than a thousand clergymen -- Jewish, Christian and Islamic -- have pledged to commit one week of their lives in prison with me in the name of religious freedom. It moves me deeply. I salute these champions of religious freedom.

I feel this occasion is very historic. I am not just speaking to the United States Congress. I am speaking to history and before God.

America and Religious Liberty

God loves America. America's greatness does not lie in her vast resources, or in her tremendous prosperity. It lies in the very spirit upon which this nation was founded. That is the spirit of one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all. However, God's will is not just one nation under God, but one world under God. We are all brothers and sisters -- one human family. When we recognize God as our Father, this ideal can become a reality.

Without religious freedom, however, God cannot fulfill his ideal. The Pilgrim Fathers understood that if you do not have religious freedom, you have no freedom at all. They risked their very lives to secure freedom of worship.

Now, that freedom of worship is in danger. A dark spirit of atheism and religious intolerance is found in America today, and this time there is not another "New World" to receive us as refugees. We have no choice but to restore America as the land of religious freedom. If not, this nation will perish and the world will perish.

My Mission in America

In 1971, God called me to come to America and lead a movement to revive the fervor of Christianity and restore the founding spirit of the nation. God has sent me to America in the role of a doctor, in the role of a fire fighter. He has sent me to bring about a dramatic spiritual awakening. The survival of the entire world depends on America fulfilling her responsibility. America is the last bastion of freedom. For the last 12 years I have given my heart and soul and every drop of sweat and tears for the sake of this nation.

In the process of fulfilling this mission, I have become controversial, and in some quarters, unpopular. And I have been persecuted. However, I am by no means the first religious leader to have experienced persecution. Many of the major religious figures in the Judeo-Christian tradition have walked this path of suffering through persecution. Today, I am honored to follow the same tradition.

I believe that God's hope is for freedom on the earth, and the greatest threat to freedom today is totalitarianism, particularly in the form of communism, which systematically opposes freedom of religion. Communism has killed more than 150 million people. Many of these were religious people. I myself suffered nearly to the point of death in a communist prison camp. Communism is the worst inhumanity in the world today.

Freedom has been retreating for the past decade. In 1975, freedom retreated from Southeast Asia. Millions of people perished. Nation after nation in Africa and Latin America has been communized. One-and-a-half billion people have fallen under communist tyranny. Now Central America, the backyard of the United States, is the front line of battle. I know that the enemies of freedom will not stop until they achieve their final goal: the conquest of this very nation, the United States of America.

I supported Ronald Reagan for president because I hoped that he would do God's will to stop the spread of communism and truly bring this nation back to God and to her founding spirit. It is disappointing that under this man, who was elected with the tremendous support of the religious community, the state is encroaching more than ever on the affairs of the church. For the first time, ministers are being jailed. Truly, religious freedom is being dealt a devastating blow.

Twelve Years in America

In the last 12 years, I have done everything I could for America. I have had just one goal in mind: to strengthen the moral fiber of America and enlarge her capacity to fulfill God's Will.

Through projects such as the International Religious Foundation, the New Ecumenical Research Association and the Conference on God, I have sought to bring theologians of all faiths together to better understand God and one another.

I have worked to bring God's will into the academic world. The International Cultural Foundation sponsors annual conferences on science and absolute values, and brings scholars together in organizations such as the Professors World Peace Academy, Paragon House Publishers and the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy.

In the area of cultural expression, I have endeavored to reinforce the theme of reverence toward God. In the movie Inchon, for example, I have tried to portray the historical importance of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, a great American devoted to God and humanity. It is vital for American young people to have such a hero figure.

Because religious ideals must be expressed in service to humanity, I initiated the National Council for the Church and Social Action, the International Relief Friendship Foundation and Project Volunteer.

To work toward the liberation of all people from totalitarian ideologies, I established the International Federation for Victory over Communism, the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles, and CAUSA International.

To set a standard of responsibility in the communications media, we founded the World Media Association and News World Communications, which publishes several newspapers. One of these, The Washington Times, was created to present an alternative view to the nation's capital. This project already cost our movement over $100 million.

These projects have required a vast amount of financial resources, as well as the hard work and loving sacrifices of fellow church members. Several hundred million dollars have been poured into America, because this nation will decide the destiny of the world. These contributions are primarily coming from overseas. In my movement, the United States has been a recipient, not a source of funds. I have acted from the firm belief that if America is lost, everything is lost. There is no other country that God can turn to.

When you understand the scope of my work, can you really believe that I came to America to defraud the United States government of an estimated $25,000 in taxes?

Governmental Abuse of Authority

From the very beginning this was not a tax case. It has been an invasion by the government into the internal affairs of religion. They chose the Unification Church because they thought that no one would come to our defense. However, this is where they miscalculated. The religious community of America knows that unless everyone is safe, no one is safe. When one is threatened, all are threatened.

When the government abuses its authority, the consequences are fearsome. It was the Roman state which crucified Jesus Christ. In this country, it was the state which burned "witches," persecuted Roman Catholics, shunned Jews and prolonged black slavery. It was the state which allowed Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to be killed by a mob in prison. It is the state which is coming after me, and in the process, violating the religious freedom of everyone. We must stop this trend now. If we do not, then who is next?

In the providence of God, the case of Rev. Moon has become a rallying point for religious freedom in the United States. I stand convicted for no other reason than my religious beliefs and practices. I am to be punished for being who I am. This has shocked and awakened the conscience of America. Many religious leaders and believers of all faiths have stood up in outrage. They are registering their protests. Most important of all, they are united. Their unity will insure the survival of America.

The Greatest Confrontation

The greatest confrontation in the world today is not the United States versus the Soviet Union, capitalism versus socialism or even democracy versus communism. It is faith in God versus the denial of God.

The communist world, based on atheism, has failed to fulfill the human dream. The free world, on the other hand, has become materialistic and forgotten God, and is helpless in the face of the grave world crisis. The world is dark with confusion. A new vision must emerge -- a new world view centered on God. I am teaching that world view, based on God's heart of love. I call it "Godism." I proclaim that this ideal will provide a new solution to the world.

Godism can unite all religious people as well as all people of conscience. This world view will bring unity among enemies and enemy nations. This will bring true freedom of the human spirit. This ideal will usher in the realization of the Kingdom of God on earth.

This world view, a system of thought of high dimension, has led many people to personal experience with God. The effect has been so phenomenal, that in some quarters, it was blamed on "brainwashing." This is the reason that I have been misunderstood in some established circles and by the media. The communists, who regard me as their archenemy, have exploited this misunderstanding in their attempt to destroy me.

In spite of these difficulties, I am honored to dedicate myself today to the preservation of religious freedom in this country. If I can raise up a beacon warning Americans of the danger which lies ahead, then my sacrifice will serve a great purpose.

The issue today is the very survival of America and the free world. To assure this survival, I am willing to suffer any indignity, to go any distance, to do any labor, and to bear any cross. I am even willing to give my life, if that will ensure that the nation and world survive and do God's will.

God Bless America

Today, I carry no animosity toward anyone. Jesus Christ showed the tradition of forgiveness when he prayed on the cross for those who crucified him. I am upholding that tradition. I long ago forgave my accusers. I have no hostility toward the United States government.

Instead, I pray for this country. I thank God that he is using me as his instrument to lead the fight for religious freedom and to ignite the spiritual awakening of America in this most crucial hour of human history.

Mr. Chairman, once again, thank you for this opportunity. I would like to conclude by saying God bless America.

Thank you.

Father delivers his testimony at the Subcommittee Hearing on Religious Freedom, June 26, 1984.

Questions and Answers

Senator Hatch:

Reverend Moon, thank you for your perspective and your testimony here today. I think it's very important and extremely articulate, and I appreciate you delivering it in English, although I know that Korean is a much more familiar language for you. I do have a few questions that I would like to ask you.

Based on your experience as a religious leader in many different countries, what is your particular view on the relationship between church and state? Should there be an attempt to have an absolute separation between church and government, or is some measure of government involvement desirable in your opinion?

Reverend Moon (Translated by Col. Bo Hi Pak):

Mr. Chairman, you touched upon a very fundamental issue -- separation between church and state. I primarily support the separation between church and state. I'd like to say, however, there must be always some relationship between church and state. Complete separation is neither possible nor desirable. But then we must know the relationship between church and state.

What is the government? Government is like a body, whereas the church is like the spirit of a man. Between the spirit and body, there must be harmonious give and take. However, we must understand which side is subject. The spirit of man is the subject of man, the body is object. Therefore, what is the government? Government is the servant of the people. Who are the people? The people are the children of God. Therefore, those people, children of God, choosing or electing the government to serve the people, therefore the church, the spiritual side of man, should be a controlling factor or an influencing factor or primary factor of man's life. Government is there to support the well-being of the spiritual life of man. For that reason, I really know that the important thing is the understanding of this relationship between church and state.

Nowadays, however, this particular trend has been distorted or reversed. The government is becoming a tyranny, an oppressor of the church. The body is trying to govern the human mind or spirit, which is impossible. This is my very basic understanding of the separation between church and state, Mr. Chairman.

Senator Orrin Hatch questions Father, observed carefully by the media.

Senator Hatch:

Thank you. When you first came to this country, Reverend Moon, what were your first impressions concerning the latitude your church was given in spreading your particular religious viewpoint and, of course, seeking converts? Did you generally feel free to do whatever you wanted to, with regard to your missionary efforts?

Reverend Moon:

Mr. Chairman, when I first came to America in 1971, there was no organized persecution of our religion and its members. We held spiritual revivals in all fifty states, and I was even given 850 or more citations and honorary citizenships by the mayors and the governors of this nation. But then what happened? Things have changed. First, the public, particularly the media, began to perceive my opposition to God-denying communism. For some reason, anticommunism in this country is very unpopular.

At the same time, for some reason, the media did not seem to like my position against communism. I have been known as an archenemy, as I said in my testimony, against communism. And there are forces who are out to destroy me. They have done that in Korea, they have done that in Japan, they sort of imported into this country the same tactics, and the same kind of message such as myths of brainwashing, myths of deprogramming, myths of a KCIA situation. All these rehashed what the Japanese communists perpetuated upon me in their criticism of me.

Under those kind of situations, a very difficult and unfavorable climate has been created. I have been under constant persecution. The "Moonie" is looked at in this country rather scornfully. My young people, my followers in this country, have heroically gone through incredible oppression and suffering. I respect them, I love them, I truly declare them the true heroes of America.

But now, gradually, we're coming out of the dark era, so to speak. However, of course, you know what I'm facing today. Now, more and more, the public is coming to realize the Unification Church is here truly to serve America, patriotically denying any type of totalitarian system or God-denying ideology. I look to the future, and I am going to be a sacrifice for the awakening of this nation to rally around -- as I said, I feel deeply honored. But I want you to understand our Unification path in this country was not an easy one, it was a very difficult one; on the state level, local level and, you know, federal level, I have been mistreated in so many ways. My skin, my religion, have become a target for some reason. You know my destiny today. However, I do not regret it, because this will serve a great purpose for God and for this nation.

Senator Hatch:

Reverend Moon, 1 understand how deeply you feel and your strong feelings about the way your church has been treated from your viewpoint and perspective, by our government, including the IRS, the prosecutors, and of course, the courts. Do you also feel that you have been mistreated by the American people themselves, apart from governmental mistreatment?

Reverend Moon:

When I came to America, I certainly expected certain opposition, because I came to America not for the status quo, but for change centered upon a God-centered world view. However, I do not blame the American people. I believe in American people, I love American people. I rather blame the circumstances between government and media, as having created such an incredible distorted image. As I mentioned, many myths have been created, many untrue stories have been perpetuated. And all these brought the misinformation, or disinformation, to the American public. True information has not been given out to the people. The people rather are victims of ignorance of the truth about our movement, about me. But I do have great Americans who supported me, who understood me. I salute them, Mr. Chairman, upon this occasion.

Senator Hatch:

Thank you, Reverend Moon. I'd like to ask you just one more question. I'd like you to know that I'm fully aware of your ongoing litigation, and will understand if you prefer not to answer until you've had time to consult with your lawyers. But I'd like to know -- just for the record here today -- were you, or were you not, the owner of the Chase Manhattan Bank funds and the stock you were accused of owning in the government's case against you? And if not, then who did that money and stock belong to?

Reverend Moon:

Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask all the good people in this room the common-sense question: If you want to cheat the government and you happen to have cash, would you like to bring it to a Chase Manhattan Bank account, under your name? I don't think so. You would rather go to Switzerland or the Cayman Islands -- anywhere -- if you really want to defraud the government or cheat the government of taxes. This is absolutely untrue, but was perpetuated by the persecution by the government. The government has been trying to find, for a long time, some cause to blame me. They found a cause here.

To make a long story short, I say to you, the money and stock belonged to the church. The donors at that early time, in the pioneering stage of our movement in the United States, asked me to permit my name to be used as an initial account of our church for the international movement, because for them, my name is the embodiment of the church. For that reason, they asked me whether they could use my name. I told them, "Upon your wishes, I will grant that permission." That is what actually happened. In 1976, when our church founded the foundation in this country, we turned over that account into an official corporation known as "The Unification Church International." In other words, the Chase Manhattan Bank account has been transferred, in its entirety, to the account of the Unification Church International. Under that name, that operation is still continuing for the sake of the world.

As you know, I understand according to the legal description, what I have done. It is a common practice in this country that mainline leaders of the religious community, pastors, are doing as a time-honored practice. Furthermore, I understand also -- I hope I'm not wrong -- in the Catholic Church, they always require to have certain property under the leadership's name, a so-called "Corporate Sole." As you can see, what I have done was absolutely normal, absolutely proper, but the government could not find any other reason to come after me, so they used me and prosecuted me, knowing they could win the battle by exploiting my unpopularity with the public in this country. That was precisely what happened, Mr. Chairman.

Father delivers his testimony in English at the Subcommittee Hearing on Religious Freedom, June 26, 1984.

Senator DeConcini:

It concerns me, Reverend Moon, whenever the Internal Revenue Service is involved in enforcing our laws because I have, on many occasions, objected to some of their tactics -- on the other hand, the IRS has also been attributed with many convictions on tax cases from individual Americans who have escaped many other alleged offenses. I wonder, if in your judgment or opinion, you feel that the Internal Revenue here has sought to bring action against you for violating our income tax because of any other actions other than the religious affiliation of your church?

Reverend Moon:

Senator, yes. As you know, the other witnesses so eloquently testified already to the incredible encroachment of the IRS in every phase of human life in this country. But in our case, in the Unification Church case, we are an extraordinary target to them, for some reason. We can see many reasons why they are doing it, but they are doing it. For example, an IRS agent came to our church, staying several months, years -- using our offices, and scrutinizing our church operations. That is only one particular example. There are many other examples of unreasonable treatment by the United States government and the IRS agency. Particularly in my own tax situation, for example, in order to be a very law-abiding citizen, I employed a very important CPA, Price Waterhouse, to be my advisor. I want to be correct, I don't want to make a mistake about this. And I have more than one lawyer advising me.

I faithfully followed a law-abiding and reputable firm's recommendation, and still they go after me, and they got me.

Senator DeConcini:

Did those firms recommend that the accounts be in your name?

Reverend Moon:

Absolutely! Particularly when I came to this country, I did not even understand one word of English at that time. I was, in a way, helpless. I was relying on professionals -- the best professionals available in this country. And I followed every step of the way such as the CPA, the lawyers, and for them, there is absolutely nothing improper in what I am doing.

Senator DeConcini:

Except in the face of the law now. And the conviction of course, subject to appeal. I guess appeal has been had. In fact, your advisors turned out to be wrong -- isn't that correct?

Reverend Moon:

That is the very reason the religious community is protesting against the improper injustice wrought upon us. In other words, under the circumstances through which I became a victim, no one is safe, no one in this country is safe. You just give me your tax return, they have a way to prosecute you tomorrow. This kind of situation.

Senator DeConcini:

I appreciate, Reverend Moon, the great amount of authority and power that the Internal Revenue Service has. But, I also appreciate the American system of justice where we are tried by our peers, by jurors, and you had such a trial, did you not? Let's say that [the IRS] did do something improper. Weren't you protected by the fact that you had your day in court with ample opportunity to refute the charges, to be heard by a jury of peers? And yet they came to the conclusion that indeed there was a violation of the law. It seems to me that there are two different problems here.

One may be [the IRS] picking on someone because they dislike you, which is unfair and shouldn't happen. And yet the other is the criminal justice system that tries people in, I think, probably the most impartial way of any country that I know of. I don't know of a better way, and it seems like we ought to distinguish the two and focus perhaps only on the IRS and not on the criminal justice system. Because if you've been persecuted by the criminal justice system, you've been persecuted by the American people, and you've testified that you don't feel that way, that it's the government arm that has done something wrong to you.

Reverend Moon:

Mr. Senator, I do still have respect for American judicial system, but I have great misgiving about the deed of the government -- not only the IRS, Justice Department, prosecution and so forth. For example, if I understood correctly, I'm sure the constitutional scholars can answer you much better than me, I understood that the jury system in this country is organized for the added protection for the defendant. So I did not want a jury trial. That was a constitutional right I could claim. I wanted to be judged by the law, by good judges, and the government punished me in forcing the jury trial upon me. What kind of justice is that? You know, they really used the Constitution against me instead of protecting me.

Senator DeConcini:

Are you saying that a trial by one single person, a judge, is a more fair trial than a trial by a jury of impartial citizens?

Reverend Moon:

Not in every case, Mr. Senator, but in my case. Because we knew of the conspiracy by some officials to get me. They can only get me by going the route of jury. Exploiting the unpopularity of my mission, perpetuated by misinformation unfortunately. Jesus Christ got the jury trial and he got the verdict.

This is the reason I wanted to be tried by a decent judge.

Senator DeConcini:

Mr. Moon, you may make any equations you want to with your outstanding leadership as to Jesus Christ, but I take offense to that. We're not here comparing religions, we are here trying to find out something about the system.

My point is this, that I have read about this case and I have some very deep qualms about the Internal Revenue [Service] as I have had for many years and I realize that the government is run by people, and that people have certain biases. But I find a contradiction here, Reverend Moon, in that you indicate that our jury system is not acceptable to you, that is provided by our Constitution.

I suspect that had that jury system found you not guilty, you would find it very acceptable. And it seems to me that if your complaint here before the Congress is that someone has picked on you and done something that they shouldn't, it ought to be an inquiry into the Justice Department and Internal Revenue service and not blaming a jury. Unless you have some proof to offer here that this jury was tampered with and that indeed there was some violation of the law on behalf of the prosecutor or the investigator as to the individual jurors.

Now I have not yet heard that from you nor have I seen that reported as a result of the covering your trial, and I think it's important that we distinguish whether or not you're really calling into question the fact of a fair jury trial in your case or in our criminal justice system.

Father answers questions submitted to him by Senator Orrin Hatch and Senator Dennis DeConcini.

Reverend Moon:

May I say this to you sir, that prior to the jury trial we conducted a survey by an objective professional company in regards to public opinion. [They inquired] "Maybe you will become a member of the jury for the Reverend Moon case, what would you do?" It turned out that 60% of the people who participated in that survey stated: "I would convict Reverend Moon regardless." Mr. Senator, if you were in my position under those circumstances, would you want a jury trial?

Senator DeConcini:

Well, my answer to that is that I would ask for a different place to have the trial, maybe that was petitioned by your attorneys, I don't know.

Reverend Moon:

I want you to understand that the media really did a thorough job. There's no place I can go that can give me a fair trial.

Senator DeConcini:

If that's the case then I take it that you would set yourself apart from all other citizens based on the publicity and the media presentation of your church and your problem is that it was impossible to have a fair trial in the United States of America. Is that a fair statement?

Reverend Moon:

This is why my option was to be tried by the judge. As I said, I believed in the judicial system of this country. I thought I could have fair trial by the judge. As you know, when I was indicted I was in Korea. I returned to this country to face the trial voluntarily, even though knowing Korea and the United States have no extradition treaty, because I am innocent. I wanted to come to face the trial, I wanted to get a fair trial, I wanted to be vindicated. Those were my • wishes. The reason I am saying this to you because it's not only me. So many people like me and behind me in history, there are many others -- many ethnic groups, many foreigners, many Americans, oppressed Americans, they shall be condemned like me in the future. In this way government can clearly get those innocent people so that I feel our movement must stop injustice once and for all.

Senator DeConcini:

Mr. Chairman, I will cease and I thank the Chairman for his courtesies. I can only say that having been a prosecutor and prosecuted literally dozens of defendants, never once have I won where the jury returned the verdict and the defendant said "yes, I'm guilty. "I think it is most inherent in human nature, to want to defend yourself, and I admire you Reverend Moon for defending yourself. That's part of our system and you have every right to do that and to continue to claim your innocence regardless of any change in the appeal system. But I also have to say for the record that I think there is a contradiction here.

You can't have it both ways; you can't have the freedoms of America when the jury trial turns out the way you want it, and you cannot condemn the whole system when it turns out that it doesn't favor you. It seems to me like your grievance here is more with the Internal Revenue Service, one that I'm very sympathetic with. Many constituents have had problems with the Internal Revenue Service and that's where the complaint should lie, not with our criminal justice system and trial by jury, because, notwithstanding your conviction, the little bit I know about it, you had a fair trial. And unfortunately it didn't turn out that way in your beliefs, and the followers', but there still may be a problem with what underlying investigation and prosecution brought you to the trial and that to me is worthwhile delving into. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator Hatch:

Well, if I could add something to it. I used to defend some of these cases in federal court and I can't ever recall a case when the defendant in his best interest for his own protection, asked for a non-jury trial where the prosecutor came in and demanded a jury trial. Now I am sure there are instances and the prosecution apparently has the right to do it. But one of the constitutional issues that was raised in this case rightly or wrongly, and I think rightly is, whether or not the defendant has the right to make that determination. And I think it is the case of first impression which has basically been denied by the lower court. And certiorari has been denied by the Supreme Court, but it has not resolved that question.

My concerns with your case, Reverend Moon, of course are based on the United States Constitution, specifically the First Amendment. Now, I believe, among other things, that the trial judge should have cautioned and instructed the jury to not, under any circumstances, substitute the lay views of the jury members for the good faith position taken by your own church. I think that was a mistake, I think it was wrong, I think it was legal error. I think it was constitutional error. In fact the judge specifically instructed the jury to disregard religion entirely in this matter. And I don't know...I'm sure he did that. In my reading of the sterile record, I believe that he did that because he was worried about this backlash and this problem that Reverend Moon had with a large majority of the people in America at that particular time and perhaps the prejudices that existed at the time. So he probably did that for the best of purposes.

But in this particular case, whether you were entitled to hold these funds in trust, or these properties in trust, was a major issue and in this particular case you can't divorce that from the consideration of religion. And, I can't blame you for not wanting a jury trial when the polls were showing most people in this country were somewhat prejudiced against you. I don't know that I can blame the prosecutor for demanding a jury trial knowing that fact. But I think it's a significant constitutional issue whether the defendant in a country where the defendant's rights are always paramount over the rights of the prosecution, and that his rights should be solicitously guarded, that he should not have the right to have a trial before a duly nominated and confirmed sitting federal judge.

So those are great issues, and I did not interpret, Senator DeConcini, [Rev. Moon's] comments to mean that he doesn't trust the jury system in this country. I think he does. I think what he was concerned about was whether he could get a fair trial with the attitude that was permeating our media, rightly or wrongly, and our country with regard to his own church. And I think his point is a good point, coming from a minority religion which is now the fifth largest in the United States of America, but in its day was a distinct minority religion. I know that some of our church leaders [the Mormon Church] did not have a very good opportunity for a fair trial and would not have had under those circumstances. So I hope you're not criticizing the criminal justice system of this country or the jury system, in which both Senator DeConcini and I have profound belief. But I do think this in a unique situation that really deserves some constitutional consideration.

Reverend Moon (through Colonel Pak):

Mr. Chairman, Reverend Moon asked me to thank you for your comments, also Senator DeConcini, thank you for your care and concern. And we both thank you..