Our Identity

Sun Myung Moon
April 1, 1981

We can investigate and evaluate the identity or true self of an individual. On every level, from the individual to the nation and even to the spirit world, this true self ought to be identified and evaluated. But on what should our judgment be based? In evaluating a country, for instance, we look at its past, present and future. In addition, we must consider the laws and morals of the country. Laws change, according to the needs of the time, and it is not unusual for laws to contradict the tradition that a country has been following.

Our Unification Church identity

In evaluating the identity or true self of a religious body, we must consider the above factors as well. But our church has one additional factor surpassing the others: the element of heart. Heart surpasses legal codes or moral standards. To evaluate the identity of the Unification Church, let us begin with its history. Although you may think it is as simple as any other history, actually its history has been compiled in complex ways. It is correct to say that much of it has been made by me, but it is also correct to say that it has been formed by you members and that God as well has played a large role in it. In other words, before you members can say that you made Unification Church history, you have to think first of how God began, how I pioneered the way and finally how you carried it out. Before God can say He made the history of the Unification Church, He also has to think of who carried it out and how -- in other words, what you and I have done.

Our advance should be synchronized. If we have to turn, everyone must move at the same time. We should be in tune with the central figure's actions, so we can act in unity. If we are all united and follow the same steps, then everything that exists in the church no longer belongs only to the whole, but also to each individual. Furthermore, if you unite with historical tradition, then all things of history will belong to you. Jewish tradition provides an example of this: The Jews cherish their heritage, and as a result, the events of Jewish history and the things the Jewish nation has done become meaningful to individual Jews.

I stated that the standard of the Unification Church surpasses that of society in general. If, however, you feel that God is the greatest and Reverend Moon is the best, but that you yourself have not yet reached your maximum, then the Unification Church has not yet become the best. In order for you to become the best, you must try to follow God and Reverend Moon and become like them.

Living within the law protects you

Next, let us consider the true self of the Unification Church from the standpoint of universal law. Americans prize freedom, but you cannot have freedom without order. God has established order and law, but if He does not enforce it or abide by it, then He is no longer free. Thus even He must keep within the laws He created, and then they belong to Him. After God has kept the laws Himself, then He can pass judgment. If there is a universal law, then it must be kept by all members, and then correct judgment for action can be determined. The reason you should do all the things required in the Unification Church is so you can make everything your possession.

By doing what is required, you are protected by your actions, by the other members and even by the entire universe. What's more, if your standard of life and action surpasses that of other people, then they will come to respect you; the laws you observe will protect you when you abide within their parameters. Always think that by fulfilling these requirements you will be protected and cherished by everyone, even the universe. If you are living under the universal law, but an ignorant person accuses you, the bystanders will defend you and judge your accuser. In that way, he will understand his error. In other words, as long as you live within the boundaries of the law, you will be admired wherever you go, even when you arrive in spirit world.

When good and evil collide, one of them must give way -- hopefully the evil side. Though our present age may not recognize righteousness, history eventually shall. Though our generation may not protect truth, history will defend and admire it. Jesus refused to stray from God's law, and historically that law protected him and brought him admiration. As long as you abide within the law, you have the privileges of citizenship and you profit from your country's achievements. If you live according to the moral standard of society, then all the virtues of that society belong to you.

Unification Church life is very challenging and difficult, but still you persevere; when I instruct you to raise your right foot, you try to do so, though it may be difficult. You succeed because you are focused on the future. When you reflect on your efforts to carry out my instructions, can you give yourself a passing grade? Because you know yourself best, each of you should be your own judge.

Our moral guidelines

The most important of all standards is the law of love and heart. It is natural to assume the existence of a law governing something as big as love, giving it content and form. When the knowledgeable person is forced to choose between secular law and the law of love, he will elect the law of love.

Thus we must consider the essence of the Unification Church from the standpoint of morals. Today we are confronted by the same situation faced by Adam's family, because history repeats itself. You engaged members, for example, will wait three years before you can live together. Of course you will want to call each other and hold hands, but you have to control your urges; probably every day you ask yourselves why it is necessary. The answer is this: before you can hold your fiancé's hand, you have to want God to hold your hand. How secure you will be when God, True Parents and finally your fiancé are grasping your hands! If you are attached only to God and True Parents, then you don't even have to hold your fiancé's hand, because he or she is already holding on to all of you. If your fiancé cannot betray God or True Parents, certainly he or she will never betray you; that is the highest security. When the time comes for you to hold your fiancé in your arms, what a grand sensation it will be!

In the realm of heart, do you want an exciting love or just a lukewarm relationship? If you are intoxicated with ardor, what more could you want? This law is uniquely designed to create perfect husbands and wives. How wonderful if you tell your fiancé, "If you have time to call me, then you must have some room to work harder. During these three years, please pour everything into your mission." What a fantastic encouragement!

Lately I heard about one recently-matched brother who was so excited about his wife-to-be that he would even get up in the middle of a meal to go and call her. She is in training, and he waits in the hall for her to get out of lectures.

If they err during these three years, however, they will both be shattered.

This law of love is most rigid, and we cannot be indifferent to it. If you just follow your impulses, your love will be merely mediocre; love must be taken most seriously. In order for your life to have historical meaning, you must follow my example and my instructions. That serves as the basis of all judgment.

In a moral life, there are no loose standards. You must know not only the correct tradition but also why it is correct. The law governing the conduct of love is strict and must not be violated. This is not an Oriental law or a Western law, but transcends race and nationality. When you live by this universal law, you can be proud of it, because then it is yours. Even though people may not know the true standard, when they see you living by it, they can understand it and imitate you. Later on, you will proudly tell your children to follow your example, because it is your law.

Law is the basis on which all of our actions are judged. Do all of you like our standard activities, such as morning prayer service, witnessing, fundraising? We do not do these things because we like them, but because we must. Unless we live this way, our deeds will have no connection with the past or the future. Why do we have to do a seven-day fast, for instance? I want all of you to be independent people, ones who can help others. He who serves others is always welcomed; if you fundraise, witness and do a seven-day fast, then you will become one who can serve others, the one who will survive and be the center of his or her community. If such a person takes a job, he will become the center of the company; whatever he does, he will be the center of it. Eventually, he will become the pivotal point of the world. In that way, God's will can be fulfilled in the world.

Father's efforts for South America

People have doubted my motivations, but I never thought I would become rich by coming to the United States. South American leaders have seen that I am doing something to help the United States, not vice versa, and they reason that if I would come to South America, I would bring them the same resources. Because of their appreciation, if it is more effective for me to work in South America, then we should judge it better to go there. I never go anywhere to be served. I do not want to receive service from South America; rather, I am determined to give service.

A few days before my birthday last year, I asked Col. Pak to go to South America. He said he wanted to stay and attend my birthday celebration and also properly prepare for his trip, but I refused to let him. He did not understand the reason for the rush, but once he arrived he found out. Two days later, accusations about human rights violations began, and Col. Pak's visit became a center of interest. Right after that, Noticias Del Mundo began publication in New York; already it has played an important role in reaching out to the Spanish-speaking people, not only in the United States but in Latin America as well. In one year, countries of South America have begun to recognize the real meaning of my efforts for America and what the United States has been doing to me.

Several South American countries have conducted their own unbiased investigation of me and each concluded that when the United States was persecuting me, it was only repeating what it has been doing to the nations of South America. They felt that I was a true friend who could understand the situation of South America. When they investigated why the Unification Church is so unpopular in the media, they reasoned that the media was wrong. They know what the churches and individuals who oppose me are like and concluded that the opposition was not significant.

This morning I received word about a banquet Col. Pak held in one South American country. Not only did they give him an enthusiastic welcome, but they honestly and openly discussed many matters with him. High officials thanked our members for the seven days of training given them.

The United States government has often been very cold to us, but if South America turns to us, then America will eventually have to follow. If South American countries offer friendship to the United States, she must welcome them.

Indemnity will be necessary, however, but blessing is standing in wait, if the nation can bear the indemnity.

I want to forget what the United States has done to me. Even though the present has been unkind to me, we will eventually win the victory, by our hard work. Then history will give us recognition. Because I have endured persecution and suffering, wherever I go people automatically surround me and I can inspire them to unite with me. Even though the present has been unkind to me, we will eventually win the victory, by our hard work. Then history will give us recognition. Because I have endured persecution and suffering, wherever I go people automatically surround me and I can inspire them to unite with me.

I am always thinking of the whole history of human restoration, considering what would be the best action at this time, for the sake of history. Sometimes people misunderstand my decisions, but this is my only guiding principle.

History will approve of us

In conclusion, although we may have done good things in the past, if we do not continue to live these traditions, our actions will not be connected to history; the only way to link our time with history is to do everything required of us, even what we may dislike. Each individual must come to feel that the historical tradition is his own; the Unification Church will not be just a local movement or the product of a limited time, but have historical and worldwide impact. Each member, then, must feel, "This is my Unification Church. Though God and Reverend Moon are at the head, still this is my Unification Church."

There are two ways of living -- the true way and the false way. We choose this way because True Parents are here and God's ideal is here -- not because it is easy. Our course may not be recognized and approved today, but we know that historically we are right, and generations of the future will approve. Therefore, we cannot compromise. The persecution we receive today cannot last indefinitely.

Whether people approve or disapprove, we will continue. We are reborn on this side; we will live and die here. "Our true self," therefore, is "my true self," and "our identity" becomes "my identity." We live this way so that what used to be "ours" will become "mine." If you can say this way is yours, then the whole will protect you; the same universal law by which you live will shelter you. We must have courage and confidence to remain on the right side; there is no basis for Insecurity. Your confidence should be so absolute that if an army tried to stop you, still you would not change.

We know there will never be another time like ours, just as there has never been such a time in the past. If this most precious time is wasted, will you have a second chance? If you do not carry out your responsibility properly, then I scold you, but you also should check on each other to see that everything is fulfilled. If no one cared about what you did, then you would be most unfortunate people. You may think it would be better to wait to begin until the world welcomes you, but only today can you do what you must do.

You are discovering "our true identity," and by living it you are making it your own and connecting it firmly with history. Thus you will leave the example for the whole world, future generations and the spirit world as well. God has done it, I have done it, and you also must leave this identity behind you. How fantastic and meaningful a life lies ahead of you. You can find nothing more worthy of your devotion.

Our Identity

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
April 1, 1981
Belvedere
Translator - Sang Kil Han

When we speak of someone's "true self," we think in terms of whether he is good or bad. A country also has a personality, and we think also whether the "true self" of that country is good or bad, meaning whether the people of that country are good or bad.

On every level, from the individual to the spirit world, this true self ought to be identified. What is the central element by which we make that judgment? In evaluating America, for instance, we look at the past, present and future. We judge the present generation of a country by looking at its laws. Laws change according to the needs of the time. It is not unusual that sometimes laws contradict the tradition that a country has been following. Another major element to consider is the moral life of a country. These are the categories we look at in looking at a country-its past, present and future, and the moral life and laws in effect at that time.

A religious body is one step ahead in this area. Unification Church, for instance, has one element beyond all that, which is heart. Heart seems to surpass, or be higher than, a legal code or moral standard. As members of Unification Church, we think of "our true selves." As an individual, you think of "I", and as Unification Church we think "we." In that sense, the topic today is Our Identity, or Our True Self.

I mentioned history as one category to consider; who makes the history of Unification Church? You may think it is as simple as any other history, but actually it has been compiled in complex terms. It is true that much of it has been made by Reverend Moon, but it is also true that it has been made by you members, and also that God has played a large role in it. But it is only correct to say that it was made by all three together. Before God can say, "I made the history of Unification Church," He has to think of who carried it out, and how; He has to think of what I did and what you did.

Before you members can say that you made our Church history, you have to think of how God started and how I pioneered the way, and then how you went in a certain direction. All three did not happen at the same time, for there must be a sequence or order. How is that order decided? The logical sequence starts with God, then Reverend Moon, and then yourselves. Of these three, God happens to be invisible; because we cannot see what He did, we have to look at what I did. Those deeds then become the center in thinking of Unification Church history.

If these three are going forward in a synchronized way, then when I lift my right foot, should you lift your left foot? If God is striding along, can I take two steps to His one? No, though it is difficult, I must keep pace with Him. If we must turn, everyone has to turn at the same time; we all have to go in the same direction.

Why do we have to be concerned with what the central figure is doing? So that we can act in unity, instead of being separated. What is good about unity? When we attain unity, "our thing" becomes "my thing;" it doesn't belong to the group, but to every individual as well. This is why we go along with the whole; if we all have unity and follow the same steps then everything that exists in the Church no longer belongs only to the whole but also belongs to each individual.

If you unite with historical tradition, then all things that have occurred in history will belong to you. A clear example is Jewish life. Jews cherish tradition, and as a result, the events of Jewish history and things the Jewish nation have done become meaningful to individual Jews. Though you may not be sure of this, it is likely, isn't it?

This process works the same in the legal and moral areas. Look at yourself and see if this works all the time. As long as you live within the law, you have the privileges of American citizenship. Then you can say that what goes on in America is yours as well as the nation's. If you live according to the moral standard of society, then all the virtues of that society belong to you also. Unification Church life is very challenging and difficult, but you carry on in order that you belong to the Church. When I instruct you to do something, you try to do so, although it may be difficult. You do it because you are focused on the future.

When you think of your past, you have to think whether you have gone along with what I have done, and with what everyone else has done. Can you give yourself a passing grade? Each one of you should be your own judge because you know yourself best. You don't need someone else to judge for you. The encouraging thing is that you have a conscience; people from the secular world who don't know me would think they have passed, but none of you thinks you have passed. At least in that way you are better than they are.

Of all the elements I mentioned, the most important is heart. Is our heart in line with the heart of the whole? What is the true self of Unification Church? It is nice if we can say Unification Church is the best. If it is really the best then thinking deeply of that should inspire you to dance, even if you are being tortured.

Some people would say I think Unification Church is best simply because I am the founder and leader. But we don't consider my opinion; we check what God thinks. If God thinks it is the best, and you and I agree with that, then we can really say it is the best. If you feel that God is the best, and Reverend Moon is best, but that you are not yet the best, then the Unification Church has not yet become the best. In order for you to become the best, you must try to go along with God and Reverend Moon and make yourself the best. You may think this applies to such enthusiastic, nationalistic kinds of people as the Germans and Japanese, but not to intelligent, neutral Americans, right? Does this apply to Americans?

Are you like other Americans, who feel they can do and say anything they want to, any time? Americans feel it is a virtue to say whatever they are thinking, not to hold anything in. Before taking action, Americans will stop and evaluate two different goals, to see whether it is worth their while trying to reach one of them. The best thing, however, would be to reach one goal first, and then look for a better one. If your mind is divided by thinking how to reach two different goals, you will never reach either one.

Sometimes an elementary school child who does well in his subjects will think he is ready for college material. But first he has to finish junior high and high school. He may not be satisfied with his grammar school uniform and will want to have accessories which only older students wear. Even though something may be good, however, if it doesn't fit into the whole, people will laugh when they see it.

You want to keep circumstances from invading the person you love, meaning that you don't want anyone to do something bad to him or her. This is why we need order; without order you cannot control that. Many people today think freedom has no order, but actually you cannot have freedom without order. Freedom is not possible without law.

Maybe you don't care about what your parents say, or about going to school, or about restrictions. but when you think this way then there is no such thing as freedom for you. Is God a God of freedom or restriction? If God has established order and law but He does not enforce or abide by it, He is no longer free. He must keep within the laws He created, and then they belong to Him. After God has kept the law Himself, He can pass judgment and give sentence. If He does not keep the law Himself, then He has nothing to go by in judging.

If there is a law then it must be kept by all members, and then correct judgment for action can be arrived at. Is there some reason why you should do all the things that are required in Unification Church? Yes, so that you can make it all your own possession, not just vaguely "ours." By doing the things that are required, your actions protect you.

When you do what is required, the other Unification Church members will protect you, and the whole universe will protect you. If you do it better than others, everyone will come to respect you. The laws and order that you observe will protect you; that is why you stay within their perimeter. Always think that by doing these things you will be protected and cherished by everyone and by the universe.

Why do you have to observe heavenly law in Unification Church? By doing so, everything that comes under heavenly law will protect and respect you. Then that law belongs to you. If you are living under the law, but someone who is ignorant of it comes to accuse you, everyone else around will accuse that person instead, defending you. When he is attacked that way, that person can understand that he was wrong.

This applies to the rest of Unification Church. When you see that people wrongly accuse me, immediately you stand up to protect and defend me. Then you even admire me for the persecution I go through. You feel that the person being persecuted is better than the one doing the persecuting. Now you know the amazing fact that the activities you have been carrying out will bring you under God's protection. As long as you live within the boundaries of the law, you will be admired wherever you go. This is not true just for a few years, but for every generation. If you have lived under the same law as people in spirit world, they will welcome you, and you will welcome them.

The most important of all laws is the law of love and heart. Don't you imagine that there is a law that governs something as big as love? There must be some content and form which it should have. You don't usually kiss someone's foot, for instance. Anything can be symbolic, of course, but the usual form is to kiss someone's mouth. When Orientals kiss, they do so straight on, but Westerners have such high noses that they have to tilt their heads to kiss each other, and their mouths make an X. The disgusting thing in the West is that the people have no rule of love.

When you violate the rule of a nation, you go to jail. If this is really a free country, why does it have so many prisons, and why are they always full? If you run down the street stark naked, you probably won't be put in jail. There is much homosexuality here, and anyone can become a prostitute.

Should there be jails in society? Can John Hinckley get away with shooting President Reagan by saying that he felt like doing it? Can he insist that he shouldn't be arrested? Jails are built to accommodate people who do not go along with the laws of a nation. Even a school has a room for punishment, and a family has a punishing spot.

The person who thinks he can be free to disregard Unification Church regulations cannot be a good Church member. Do you think I would prefer to be opposed or approved of? If I want to be approved of then why don't I change my ways? Though I am persecuted, I am doing things of more value than the person who is persecuting me. I may not be smart, but I do know that I am doing things of more value than other people. Big nations like Russia and America may change their policies, but I never change what I am doing.

When good and evil collide, one of them must give way, and that should be the evil one. Though the present age may not recognize and protect the true one, history will protect and admire it. Jesus was adamant about staying within God's law, and historically that law has protected him and brought him admiration. Is it true that those fighting in Jesus' name always win?

The most important laws are those governing heart and love. When we are confronted by a choice between secular law or the law of love, the wise person will choose the law of love. Because history repeats itself, we are confronted today by the same situation that Adam's family faced.

Here in New York we wear heavy clothes in winter, but in Florida we change into lightweight clothes. The person who would bring a heavy winter coat to Florida is funny. Your friends who don't know that may think you are odd if you don't wear a heavy coat to the airport, but you just turn on the heater in the car and leave your coat behind, knowing it will only be a burden when you get to Florida. The person who thinks only of the present is foolish, not the person who considers the future.

You members who were finally engaged will wait three years before you can live together. Of course you want to call each other and hold hands, but you have to control your urges. Probably every day you ask yourself why you have to do that. The reason is that you want to have God hold your hand first, before you hold your fiancée's hand. How secure you will be if God, who is the biggest being, then True Parents and finally your fiancé are all holding your hands. If you are attached to God and True Parents then you don't even have to hold your fiancé's hand; he is already holding all of you. If your fiancé cannot betray God or True Parents, then certainly he cannot betray you. That is as secure as you can get. When you understand this, you will think I am very smart for making this rule.

When you abide by this law, you can be proud of it because this law is yours. Later you will proudly tell your children to do the same thing, because it is your law and you followed it. When you want to hold your fiancé's hand, but you don't do so because I have said you shouldn't, is it bad for you, or a reason for gratitude?

In the history of marriage was there ever a father who forbade his son or daughter to hold hands, or to call his or her fiancé? Will that be recorded in history or not? If that is recorded, then other people will follow it also. Does that tradition come horizontally, or vertically? From lower to higher, or from higher to lower? Are you higher or lower? Of course those married earlier are above, and those married later are below. Thus, the tradition comes down from True Parents. This is the most secure way to safeguard marriage. By following this, you are guaranteed protection by the Unification Church members and by the whole universe.

Recently one couple had a child and requested me to name him. The father had disunited in some matter in the past, and I was going to refuse his request. But it happened that another couple was also requesting a name for their baby that day, a couple who was working hard. Their paper was handed to me together with the request from the first couple. I thought that here were Cain and Abel requests together, and since they were "united," how could I refuse one of them? This is one example of how you need your contemporaries, or friends.

I know very well what you like and don't like. You are longing to hold hands with your fiancé, but you won't do it. That's the beauty of the whole. You won't call him or her, and that's a big thing also. Now you go crazy just thinking about that person, but when the time comes that you can hold him or her in your arms, what a sensation it will be! Would you rather have that kind of spouse, or have someone whose coming and going doesn't excite you as much?

If your love was so intense and you were so excited that you bit off your fiancé's nose, would that be a crime? Is there any law instructing a judge on how to sentence someone for such a crime? He would have to refer the case to the Senate to enact a new law, and the case would have to wait for legislation. Such a case would become the cherished symbol of real love. A picture of a spouse biting off his wife's nose would be put in books, and hung in people's homes everywhere. But biting off someone's nose doesn't fit the pattern of love, and I will accuse anyone who does that.

Do you want an exciting love, or a lukewarm relationship? As long as it is exciting, what more could you want? We know that the law is designed to create perfect husbands and wives, and without it there would be no hope of having such people. How wonderful it is to say to your fiancé, "If you have the time to call me then you have more room for working harder. During these three years please pour everything you have into your mission." How much more fantastic it is to encourage each other this way.

Is it good or bad for me to tell you not to hold hands with your fiancé? Recently one elder sister told me about a brother who was just matched, and was so excited about his wife-to-be that he would even get up in the middle of a meal to go call her. She is in training, and he waits in the hall for her to get out of lectures. Why does he do such things? If they go wrong during these three years then they will both be shattered. If they kiss and then cannot control themselves, what happens? Why risk that?

This law of love is the most rigid one and we cannot be indifferent to it. Love is the thing we take most seriously. If you think people should do whatever they want, you will have only mediocre love.

That is the historical perspective, but today the law is the element which judges all of our actions. Why do we have to do things like seven day's fasting? We can depend on others all the time, or we can let others depend on us. I want you to be independent people who help others. The person who serves others is always welcomed. You can be either way, but I want you to be the one who is welcomed by others. If you fund raise, witness and do a seven-day fast, then you will become the person who can be of service to others. That is the person who will survive and be the center of his community. If he takes a job, he will become the center of the company. Whatever he does, he will be the center, and then eventually become the center of the world. In that way God's will can be fulfilled in the world.

I never thought that I would get rich by coming to America. South American leaders have seen that I am doing something to help America, not vice versa. They reason that if I come to South America then I would bring the same resources to their countries that I brought here. If because of their appreciation it is more effective for me to work in South America. then we should judge it better to go there. That would be the only logical conclusion.

Each country and community has laws, but we also have to be concerned about the laws of the Unification Church. Do you like the basic things we do-morning prayer service, witnessing, fund raising, and so forth? We don't do these things because we like them, but because we must do them. Without doing them, what we do will remain in only one place and not be connected with the past or the future. Although we may have done good things in the past, if we don't live these traditions then our deeds will not be connected to history. The only way to connect our time with history is by doing all the required things, even though we don't like them.

Each person must come to feel that historical tradition is his own, not just the tradition of history. The Unification Church will not just be local, or the product of a limited time, but will be an historical and worldwide Unification Church. But each member must feel it is his Unification Church. Though Reverend Moon and God are both there, still it must be your Unification Church. Then you can be connected. That's a wise and good thing to do.

Concerning morality today, we see it is commonplace for families to break up. The only way to change this trend is to establish a strong tradition. Though people don't know what is right, when they see you do what is right they can understand, and then copy what you do. In a moral life there are no loose standards. You must know not only the correct tradition, but know why it is correct. There is a strong law governing the conduct of love which must not be violated. The law of love is not Oriental or Western, but is beyond race and nationality. The race problem is an unpleasant one, but we are determined to digest it. How do we prove we have done that? One way is through international marriage. Again, we do that with history in mind, not just today. When we carry out the law of love, it becomes part of our identity, and is what we are.

There are two ways to exist-one is the true way, and the other is the false way. We choose this way because True Parents are here and God's idea is here; we don't choose this way because it is easy. It may not be recognized and approved of today, but we know that historically we are right and people will approve of it in the future. Thus, we cannot compromise. No matter how much persecution we receive today, it cannot last indefinitely and we know we will win.

Whether people approve or disapprove, we will continue on this side. We will work for it and die for it if necessary. We are reborn on this side, will live here, and will die here. "Our true self" is "my true self." "Our identity" becomes "my identity." We live this way so that what used to be "ours" will become "mine." If you can say that this is yours, then the whole will protect you, the law by which you live will protect you. We have to be courageous and confident to remain on the right side; there is nothing to be unsure of. You should be sure that your confidence is absolute, that if an army tried to stop you that you would not change.

I will probably be fishing in Gloucester again this summer, living in fisherman's clothes instead of suits. Even if you are wearing smelly fisherman's clothes, the righteous side is still the same, and it is always going up; you cannot come down lower than where you are now. Though we may find ourselves in the beggar's position, we will never go down, but will go up. I live here in order to leave that right tradition. When young people in the future learn about my experience in jail, it will set their minds on fire. I never minded having to endure prison life, knowing that it would leave a strong tradition for the future.

Even at this moment I am still carrying this out, teaching everyone about this. I have no regret about spending so much time doing so. Many people have lived in the world, and many religious teachers have taught on earth, but you have met me now. We know that historically there will not be another time like this, and that there has never been a time like this before. If this time is wasted away, will you have a second chance in the future? This is the most precious time not just for you, but for history. If you don't carry this out properly then I scold you, and you check on each other to see that you carry it out. But you are fortunate in that; if no one cared about what you did then you would be unfortunate.

Maybe you think it would be better to do this when the world will welcome it and things will be easier. But that will be the time when you can no longer do what you do today.

What you are doing now is finding what "our true identity" is and by living it you make it your own, connecting it firmly with history. Then everything can be left for future generations to follow, for the whole world and spirit world. God has done it, I have done it, and you also must leave this identity behind you. How fantastic and meaningful a life that is. You can find no better thing to do.

Today is the beginning of April. I won't be in America much this month. So far you have been immature and had small thinking, but if today you can say clearly that you know what our identity is, that you are confident in what God and True Parents have established and can live to leave it for the future, raise your hands.

Let us pray.

Prayer

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
March 29, 1981
Belvedere, New York
Translator - Sang Kil Han

Have you ever stopped very long to think about prayer? Prayer is necessary, especially in religious life.

What is so-called blessing and happiness? If we are alone, then we don't need blessing and happiness so much. It must be realized that we must have a proper object before these can have meaning to us. When we are happy we feel good all over, and a happy individual may start dancing around. But always the object plays an essential role in that singing and dancing. If there is no one around you, you wouldn't continue doing that for very long.

There can be many kinds of objects. A person may be overjoyed at the sight of money, for instance. A scholar may rejoice over knowledge that he has access to. Someone who rises to a great power may be happy. These are different objects, but what is the most precious one of all? A person is more valuable as an object than some material thing. There are many kinds of people, and many kinds of activities. Families are essentially similar, for example, but the individuals in them are very different. The character of various countries is different.

We know that what a man says and what he does should not be contradictory. It is not acceptable for him to say one thing and do another. What kind of person will consistently do what he says? The five senses are all different, but when you think, all five senses concentrate on one point. The most desirable person is one whose senses are concentrated on one thing, who talks and acts accordingly. Both hands must move in one direction when you act. The eyes and ears must also be tuned to that direction.

In one lifetime we have a past, present and future. Our words and actions in each of these should all be consistent. In order to ensure doing that, we must have some standard, but what should it be? In pursuing that standard we must always maintain the correct subject and object relationship. If we are subject, we must be a good subject. When we are object to a greater self, we must form the correct relationship.

The desire of all men is to be an object to a greater subject, even to the highest subject there is. If the highest subject is God then we want to be object to God. Then precisely how and where would we become connected to Him? We can be a good object when He plays or speaks, when He works or rests. What does this greater subject value most? Does He value an object most when He is resting, or working, or what?

Inevitably we come to the conclusion that the thing God values most about Himself is love. Of course, God loves His hands, and all things that are part of Himself, but He is looking for something that will be a true object. When we know that God cannot be happy unless He has an object which can return love, then who is this object? Certainly it must be a person, but there are many kinds of people, so which kind is best? Everything will start from a man who is capable of true love.

God's love begins with Himself and with children capable of true love. True children will also love other children, brothers and sisters. Does true love stop with loving just brothers and sisters? No, children will constantly seek the love and comfort of their parents. After loving brothers and sisters and parents, where would they go? They would certainly go to God, and after visiting Him they would embrace their relatives, their clan, and then eventually their nation, extending the activities of love farther and farther.

If we are one with our parents and with God, then everywhere we go we would be welcomed and be in harmony with our environment. Why? Because that is precisely what everyone wants, too-to be true children, to have parents, and to go to the highest subject, God. There is nothing more that mankind wants. That means that the path of love is the same for all men, and no one seeks a different way. This is not true just for today's people; as long as a person is born as a human being, this is basically what he wants.

Do you love yourself? It is not enough to say yes offhandedly. Let us investigate what it means to love oneself. Suppose someone asks why you are so great that you can truly love yourself. If you reply, "I have eyes," the retort will come back, "But everyone has eyes, too." We see much difference in how people love the same thing, with some loving it intensely, and others loving it casually. Perhaps when you are asked if you love yourself, the best answer you can manage is "Sometimes."

If an object can only love himself sometimes, then is he the object which all subjects will want a relationship with? If one cannot love himself, how can we expect others to love him? There are different ways of loving oneself, however. You may be proud of your good looks, but if you look at yourself extensively in the mirror every day, you will soon get tired of seeing your face. When you think about it, loving yourself doesn't mean directly appreciating yourself, but finding your value through some object; by loving the object, you will feel love toward yourself. This is more real.

It is not meaningful to say, "I love myself because of what I am." It is more meaningful to say "I love myself, whom my children love so much, and whom my husband loves so much." Or you can say you love the self whom your parents love, and whom God loves so much. Rather than just loving yourself, you can love the self whom the whole world loves. You can think that you will become the biggest subject by loving the world in return; therefore, you must love yourself the most, in order to be the best object.

Is it more powerful to love yourself for your own sake, or because you are in a position to be a good subject and object in love relationships? Will God say that you are too arrogant? In this context God will indeed support you in loving yourself. Then your loved ones will center on you even more, respecting you for becoming so strong in love. How can you prove whether you are righteous and good? If you are a subject in propagating love, then you can say you are good and great. Then the whole universe will applaud you, wanting you to continue being that way.

Since Unification Church members love me, I feel I can love myself very much. Even God cannot just say He is happy. Because there are children who love God, He is justified in loving Himself. The approval of the universe will echo everywhere, applauding God for having pride in Himself because we love Him.

It's not good enough to love your eyes if you don't know why. If your family and colleagues really like your eyes, however, then you can really feel pride in them. It's not good enough to like a certain suit if you don't know why. If you say that you like it because it does the best job in covering the person whom your family and God love so much, then that is valid pride. It doesn't have to be an expensive, stylish suit for you to love it; even if it is ragged and patched you can be proud of it. Such a suit will inspire sympathy from your loved ones, and it will be a source of more pride for you than new clothes.

If you are working hard in a miserable situation, as long as people know you are doing it to help others and yourself then they will be sympathetic and respect you. Then such a person does not necessarily become unhappy. Without love, things wouldn't necessarily work this way, but there is nothing which love cannot make beautiful.

You have heard of the word "endurance," and you don't necessarily like it. But once you really know that the deepest love is found in that word, then you will all come to like it. Though a husband may not love his wife very much, if she feels that one day she will win his heart and continues to love him, her endurance is most beautiful. How many American women will discover their husband's love through endurance? Are there many children who will experience their parent's love after enduring many years? Are there many such parents who have experienced that? There can be many unpleasant experiences in living together, but if something happens in the name of love, it cannot be unpleasant. Love will cover up everything, and occupy all things.

Have you ever felt the deep happiness that comes after going over pain and hardship, and then receiving the real love of parents and children? That will be the greatest love of all. Do you love Unification Church? How much? Do you just feel love from day to day? Is your love so strong that it can bring the members into I action like a locomotive pulling a train?

Do you love America only when it is doing well, or even when things are not going well? Very few people could continue loving America if it meant going through great pain. Most people say, "Oh yes, I love America, " but they are thinking only of prosperous times and agreeable situations. Anybody can say they love America-it is very rich and advanced technologically, and no one starves here. But America has problems too. There are drug addicts here who are practically vegetables; families are scattered and broken, and people have tears in their hearts. When you are given the task of mending those heartbreaks, can you say you love America?

If a person cares about his country so much that he will continue through painful situations and keep loving it, then his love for that nation will not be forgotten. That is what we can call real love. We see that it is not a simple question to ask whether a person loves America.

What is the true love which penetrates and reaches deeply? Sacrifice is part of the meaning of true love. Sacrifice is always accompanied by endurance, for sacrifice is not finished quickly. Does that sound right? But who likes endurance and sacrifice? If a person doesn't know what sacrifice and endurance will bring him then he won't like them, but if he knows that through them he can reach true love and reach God, he will be willing to accept them. When your parents are old, you can't really say they are beautiful. But when their hands are hard and wrinkled because they had to work hard to provide for you, you feel their hands are the most beautiful of any hands.

True love has the distinct quality of going through sacrifice and endurance. When I see a leader confronting intense difficulty, inside I tell him to persevere. I don't mind seeing him in difficulty because I know that true love is ahead of him. This goes for all the members, so I will push them incessantly. Am I cruel when I do that? Such a person is fearful, but he is doing the right thing.

By Oriental standards I am very handsome, but all my life people have called me names, which is an unpleasant experience. But when I die, those who persecuted me the most will bow down with the most sincerity. I not only talked about this ideal of true love but acted on it, and even more, I pulled thousands of people along to that destination. No one else has ever done this in all history.

When you first joined Unification Church you were elated, but over the years your elation faded as you faced hardship. You may feel you have sacrificed your precious young years and now you have nothing. Perhaps you feel like blaming someone. It doesn't look like I will stop making you work hard any time soon, so maybe you want to pack up and sneak out!

After you work hard in America, I will bring you to South America, where you will work even harder. I will send you to Africa, and even to prison. Then you will confront and digest the Mafia. Knowing that all this still lies ahead, you see that at this point you haven't even graduated from grammar Do you think I can have a peaceful life? I have the job of making you unwilling people ready and willing to undertake such a life. In the beginning this life is exciting, but when you work on higher and higher levels the situations become more difficult. There should come an end to that, though, when you make a breakthrough in suffering. When you get very close to your target, the bulls-eye doesn't stand out very clearly. At the moment when your arrow pierces the bulls-eye, it cannot see anything. When you cannot see anything of your objective, rest assured that you are penetrating through at that moment.

God is not just waiting for men to reach Him, but is working hard on His end also. The focus point will be where God's work meets man's work. Do you have to win over the satanic world? To win you must have a weapon, so what weapon do you need? Without sacrifice and endurance you cannot win. That is the definite formula for winning. Now at least you are sure it is possible to win. If you have a faster way to win without sacrifice and endurance, please show it to me.

Since God knew that sacrifice and endurance were the inevitable course for fallen man, He gave religion to mankind in order to teach endurance to every generation. When we say God is love, you should know that it is connected to endurance and sacrifice for the sake of that love. Parent's love is connected with endurance and sacrifice. This is what you want in your parents too. You know that sacrifice is painful to your parents, but you don't mind, and even demand that they go through sacrifice; somehow you know that there is true love waiting beyond that. Fiancées and wives will expect that of their husbands, in order for them to obtain true love. Isn't that what you feel?

There is no way you can superficially say that sacrifice is desirable. Since we know the deeper meaning that true love will come later, we don't mind. If a person says he loves his family, but he avoids sacrifice when it comes, then we have to conclude that his love was not deep.

The wives of the national leaders are here going through training with their husbands. Perhaps they feel that they are old now and don't even own anything after working hard for many years. If one of them says, "My husband, you are a man of faith so you can go, but I simply can't any more," then her love has been a false love, not a true love. That false love will end there, lacking the power to continue toward true love. Is that true?

The West has great manufacturing know-how, but now the Japanese are shortening that lead, and Western industrialists are investigating what makes the Japanese so effective. To their dismay, they found that Japanese work for their wives and children, not themselves, that they don't complain about overtime and long hours and they don't strike. Here in America workers always complain about pay and don't hesitate to strike. Also, the Japanese love their country so much that they are willing to sacrifice their family life for their nation.

If that standard is what makes the Japanese so effective, then the Unification Church will absolutely reach the highest level in the shortest time. There is a genuine motive in Unification Church to care about the world more than about our various countries. Until we reach that goal we won't complain, but take hardship as an inevitable thing. To whom would God give His good fortune? To those whose central concern is the well-being of the world. God would give everything He had and all His love to them. Do you really feel deeply that this is true, or do you just know this is true?

My topic today is prayer. When you sacrifice and endure then no more prayer is necessary, for when you are living that life you are already in contact with God. God has to love the one who suffers and endures most. The prize should be given to such a person. Can anyone be opposed to that? Even prisoners would agree with that.

Do you think I am a good husband to Mother, or not? I am the best in the sense that I push her more than any husband would push his wife. There is nothing individual about our life together at all, for it is lived completely for the whole. I insist on that. I want to hear her encourage me to do more, even when I am exhausted. If she does that then you will come to cherish her and she will come to possess everything.

Prayer is about asking for the power and the lively mind to keep going, even if we have to fast and kneel down. When we don't have the confidence and motive to continue pursuing the goal, then we have to pray to ask for that motive. If we don't have enough power to do what we must do, then we pray to ask God for the power to hang on to His course and will, even at the cost of our lives. Prayer is a promise and proclamation to God that you are going this way, and asking for the power to complete it. Certainly God will listen to that prayer, and urge you to go ahead.

After God sees that you will persevere until you accomplish what you promise, He will think you are trustworthy in His will. If you pray but don't act, however, you and God will become farther and farther apart. When you pray about something and act headlong to do it, trusting that God will help you do that, it will be achieved. Your prayer is not made in meditation, but with sweat, with all your energy. Pray with the utmost confidence that you will go through any barrier. Once you have that determination, persecution will only make you more solid. If your situation becomes even worse after you pray, you must be assured that the day is getting nearer when God will answer your prayer.

In the beginning you didn't think Unification Church life was that difficult, but as it gets more difficult you can think that the day when God can achieve His promise is getting nearer. In the movies and on television there are many scenes of death and desperation. You can feel connected to those situations, feeling that you are in such situations in the dispensation. You always have to assimilate your situation. If you can have the feeling that those scenes in the movies are realistically connected to us, then that is the only way you can be justified in going to see a movie when others are all out fund raising.

When you pray with an intense feeling of doing the will of God, that can be thought of as physically working. This is an entirely different world from the existing world. You can do great big things if you really know that God is working behind you. When a man has to achieve a great task, he can certainly use some extra power, and so we ask for it in prayer. When we establish a subject-object relationship in prayer, doing something for ourselves is actually doing something for the sake of the world. You can ask God to be with you in pursuing something for God and mankind because you feel more strongly about it doing the work, loving God and mankind and therefore loving yourself. We are doing anticommunist work out of love for the world, not retaliation, and so in prayer we say that God must help us.

Sometimes we need stimulation from the situation in order to maintain subject position in love. We are grateful when we have a nice meal, but don't complain when we have poor food. When we have poor food, then we will receive the sympathy of others. Wherever we are, even in prison, we have the determination that we will not change. As long as we are unchanging, God will certainly stay with us.

When we pray for the world, whatever benefit comes to the world also comes back to us. Ultimately, then, we are doing everything for ourselves as well as for the world and God. This has to be realistic to you, for otherwise the ideal and love we have is not really completely your own. You can say you have love, but unless it is real in everyday life, you don't truly have it.

When a person binds himself to subjectivity in the ideal of love, he will go later to the best spirit world. Only if you are living for the greater cause can you say you love yourself; otherwise it will be a false love. If you look at yourself in the mirror and cannot say that you can go any further, then you are no longer a true one. If a person is false, then everything he has done will ultimately be false also. If you feel that you haven't suffered enough in order to graduate from suffering, then talk to yourself. Unless you feel confident all the time, when you get hungry you should blame your own hunger. Then you have to refuse yourself a good meal unless you are firm in your conviction. Unless we really feel that way all the time, we cannot seek to have good food and a good situation. The self who is not in that position but who still seeks pleasant things is then an enemy to the whole.

Each one knows more about himself that anyone else, and knows what level he is on. When you know where you really are, you are ashamed of other people even bringing up your name for praise. But if you always want your name to be mentioned and be praised, something is wrong. As a man, you know whether you are worthy of any woman, and are fearful of being proposed to. Common sense tells us that when everyone is going to receive good things, we should stay back. A person who loves himself without knowing a good reason why is deceiving himself. One should not love himself without knowing why.

Since all of us know that we are not in a position to be loved, if someone says they will love us then we should be apprehensive, knowing we are not worthy of receiving that love. With that realization we have to seek a world contrary to the present world. If God prayed, He would pray for love of the world. God's love, then, will be only preliminary love, not real love. God will save the most precious love for last. I feel that God will give the love of the lesser things first, and then the closer He comes to the center, the more concentrated His love will become. When a person feels he really loves himself, that is the point he and God will become one. Then even though he may not want it, God will come and embrace him.

The prayer we are interested in is the prayer to realize meaningful love. When you accomplish what you pledged you would do, then you come back and pledge something which is even more difficult. If you continue this way, then you will see development in yourself. When you fail to achieve what you promise then you repent and concentrate on doing better.

When you eat, talk to your food and tell it that it must supply you with good energy to fulfill what you pledged in prayer. How righteous it is to have that kind of attitude toward your food and clothing. How righteous it is for all nature to support you in your course. If you ask nature whether it wants you to be an active person who is successful in love, it will unanimously answer yes. The creation isn't concerned with you until you become a true subject of love, but when you want to become a true subject then they will support you. How realistic this feeling is! To ensure that, we pray often.

If you turned on the television in the middle of the night to get stimulation to continue toward love, even if you disturbed me I would not be upset. Even if a neighbor is disturbed, all the spirit world would support you, knowing what your reason is. If you have to make lots of noise in the middle of the night to get stimulation to carry out the will of God, all the neighbors will have to go along with it.

Once you become the subject of love, all those who persecute you will bow down. If for love you spend all the money you have accumulated in your life and it is gone overnight, you won't regret it. If it was spent for any other purpose, however, it would be a source of regret. When I look back on my life, I know that all I did was for the sake of true love. Then all of a sudden I am confident and feel liberated.

When I am joyful, God and all mankind will be joyful with me. When I am sad, everything will be sad also. You have felt that Belvedere feels empty when I am not here; you feel that way because I am pursuing love. That feeling of love resonates in you and spreads. I have not changed, but Americans are changing. Like the changing climate, more and more Americans are coming to like me. The warm weather of the cosmic spring is coming. When the warm weather comes, no one has to tell you to take off your winter clothing. People thought Moonies were the coldest people, who never thought about their own families, but in time they have discovered that Moonies are actually warm.

We pray so that we will fulfill this love. To sustain our effort we need extra stimulation, or someone to remind us and give us a boost. In addition to asking for extra support, there is also a prayer of reporting. When we pray to ask, we are praying to let God know we are determined, while the prayer of reporting is in essence a prayer expressing gratitude. You are thanking God for His support in helping you accomplish your goal. Both kinds of prayer are necessary in daily life. On every level this kind of prayer is necessary.

What will Unification Church pray for? We ask God to love our home church area. You pray to God, telling Him what you are going to do in your area, asking for His support, and then that eight you report and tell Him what happened.

Perhaps you are an editor on the newspaper and hardly have time to do home church. But you regularly eat and go to the bathroom; are those things any more indispensable than home church? You can always shorten the time of going to the bathroom or eating. Save a few minutes by not chatting with people; all that time added up might save an hour, and then you can go to home church. If you don't go to home church, it means you have not established yourself as a subject of love. Then how can you love your spouse or children? If you reverse the correct sequence, it will never work.

Dr. Durst came to see me yesterday and I was happy to see him, but I didn't show it. If instead of visiting me he had attended family members or taken care of some problem, that would be love. If I am not in New York then he should do my part as well as his own. But if he leaves New York and comes to visit me, who will take care of you? If he feels that he must go to the central person to be consoled, everyone else will feel the same way, and the world will become vacant. If by criticizing him I can compensate for the vacancy, I will do it. With different thinking, how different the world would become.

Day or night, rain or shine, we keep going, desperate to find the way to love ourselves, by doing things which will enable others to love us. By living this way and not caring what other people think, you will have no regret, for love will come to visit this way.

This is the way all men should go, for there is no alternative or better way. All men have to go this way, whether they know it or not, but here in Unification Church the Principle helps us carry out this way of life. Without a bridge it would be too difficult to cross from this world to a better one, but Principle is that bridge; it is our ladder to reach the high place where God is. We cross the long bridge and climb the high ladder, and eventually we can go anywhere, even to heaven. That bridge and that ladder are love. Suppose we get exhausted in climbing the ladder. Then we have to hang on and pray, saying, "I must go up. Please give me power to go up. " If you experience the right prayer, God will give you that power.

There is a whole new mystic world in prayer. We pray in order to fulfill love, to tread the way in which we can love ourselves eventually. We work in order to love ourselves, and we have to persevere and sacrifice so that we can love ourselves. If you are persecuted but you fight against it, your bag of love will be ruptured, so instead you persevere.

In light of all this, persevering becomes rather easy. When you go through a day of impossible work, you will find that God embraces you while you are resting, and you might even see your body glowing with light. That is the mystical way of life through prayer. Though it is difficult to endure persecution, live in a prayer life of talking to God and being intoxicated in His love. You need the situation where you can experience God's love dwelling in you. How much God can love you when you are thankful to Him.

When difficulty arises, don't toss and turn by yourself, but pray to God right away. You can say, "I must go the way of love, and if I come to an obstacle, please push me forward. I don't care about myself, but please deliver me to the other side. This is what you want, what mankind wants and what I want. Please, this once give me power and then I will go on my own power. "

Perhaps you couldn't sleep and you woke up early in the morning and began praying. When you finish talking to God and are ready to go out and work, it might be only 5 a.m., so you wait a few more hours until the sun rises. How beautiful a sight it is when you are waiting for the sun to rise, when you can dash out and do the work you promised to God. You don't even have to have breakfast or say hello to anyone.

We will do that from early morning to late at night, not wasting a minute. If there is no visible result that day, you can tell God that you will still continue tomorrow. Then the next day you will try harder and pray harder, and then eventually the result will certainly come. If you retreat, however, result can never come. If you really do not have the knack of prayer, you can never advance. Through the mystic world of prayer you can achieve great things.

Prayer is as necessary as your daily meals; you need food to keep healthy, and you need prayer to stay spiritually healthy. We pray in order to become the subjects of love. All that matters in spirit world is love, and we want to be the true owners of love. Your prayers have been vague so far. Do you have a better idea now how to pray?

Parents want their children to be able to go farther ahead of them, so wherever I go I stay at the rear and let everyone else go ahead. Many Unification Church leaders think they should be the highest. They should be the highest in working, but in receiving rewards and enjoyment they should feel they must be last. Our rule is that when work is needed we work the hardest, but we are the last to receive awards. If we live like that then we can accomplish our work.

This applies to the blessing also. I never asked for a beautiful wife. I was prepared to receive the ugliest wife in the world, but it happens that Mother is very beautiful, and I am grateful. That's the nature of love. Love has a tendency to hide, not to show off. If someone has a precious gift to give, he does so secretly, not in public. Yesterday I saw a man holding a woman very close in a bus and kissing her, and I wondered how long their love would last. There is shallow love and deep love. Anyone can have shallow love, but not everyone knows deep love. The person who is indifferent to the deep love from God will never come close to deep love.

It is reasonable that we have to go through suffering and sacrifice in order to come to deep love. When I am very serious about something, Mother cannot just casually come to me. In deep love it is not unusual that a couple not speak for even one hour. Just looking externally, people might wonder if they love each other. The love which everyone can see is not the most valuable. The love which God will slip into your back pocket when you are not looking is the best.

I can testify about this. Sometimes Mother asks, "You love me, don't you?" and I say yes. If she says, "How much," I reply, "My love is as big as you." In replying that way I am saying that my love is the biggest possible, since I could never say I loved her more than I loved God. There is a proper manner of modesty between husband and wife in the godly world, and we must uphold that law. Can we tell our parents to wait until we finish kissing before they speak to us? I suspect Americans would tell their parents to wait, but instead we must have modesty and orderliness. There is a courtesy as a man and woman to maintain. You must always be aware of it and act within that scope.

I never taught you to love me instead of others. Always I taught you to love God first, and to love the members more than you love me. As long as I do that, I can never be wrong. Then even though the world opposes me, I will not perish. If anyone tries to cut off such a person, the universe will never leave the attacker alone for very long, for his act would threaten the order of the universe. I don't have to deal with my enemies because they will be taken care of by the universe.

In the path of love one has to be audacious and brave. We can be confident that there is no shame at all in this path. That is why we can be powerful. We cannot continue this way of life unless we pursue love. To continue on this path we must pray, so you must remember to lead a prayerful life.

The springtime of the second three seven-year courses is about to begin, and it should be a growing time for us. It is appropriate that you prepare for this season with prayer, to ready yourselves for the upcoming glorious time. Those who promise they will do that, raise your hands.

Let us pray.

Life Of Experience In The Realm Of Heart

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
March 15, 1981
Belvedere
Translator - Sang Kil Han

The literal translation of the topic this morning means "experience in the realm of heart and blood." The closest one can get in meaning to this in English is "experience," but that word does not convey the meaning of elation or deep sorrow. Perhaps the closest translation, then. would be "religious experience" for "experience of heart and blood." This means a life of experience directly connected with tears and sorrow.

How wonderful it would be if we all had one language! Language plays a very important role in connecting the inner world with the outer world. What is the origin of the words we speak? When we trace our ancestry back, we eventually come to God. Why is language necessary? Language is necessary to improve our general situation. There must be some focal point or purpose for speaking, so what word would the words themselves like most? Literature students analyze the words and contents of literary works, and prefer certain writers, but what would the real center of the words be? We can narrow it down to words that have to do with the mind, in making it happy and fulfilled.

What is it that can excite the mind? We find that nothing else but love is adequate to stimulate it. Especially in the Orient, we say that words and deeds must be one; then when words are spoken, they can really excite the mind. The conclusion is that if we speak words that have to do with love, our actions must also center around love.

What does the self like most? If a person takes joy in acting according to love, then we can say he is a person who represents the past, present and future. Then he can move freely everywhere, whether on earth or in spirit world. Where would our five senses like to be? If the center of action is love, our five senses would like to be there.

Who is a fortunate person, and who do we call unfortunate? One common criterion is whether someone has money and doesn't have to work very hard. Another criterion might be whether he has knowledge, or political power. But happiness must have some focal point; most confidently we can say that the focal point is love. This is true not just for people of the 20th century; everyone has come to the same conclusion about this.

If God created man to be this way, what would God be like? Exactly the same. We know it must be true that unless God finds love then He can never be happy. After we consider every angle, we cannot avoid reaching this conclusion. Though God is omnipotent and almighty, without love He cannot be truly happy. Who must come into being for that to happen? That's where His object, or "I" comes in.

When we think of God, we think of spirit world and eternity, of not needing air to breathe and food to eat. There is a nose on your face specifically for you to breathe with. Would God need a nose to do that? If God doesn't need to eat or breathe, imagine God without ears or a nose, and so forth. Then we couldn't speak about God by likening Him to beautiful things which we experience, by saying His eyes are as blue as a lake, for instance or as soft as a doves. Could you come to like a God who didn't have five senses?

We don't think God is great in the same way that we might think someone else is great; when we say God is greater than we are, we mean He is greater in love. Again, the standard of measurement is love. What is the realm of heart? It is the realm into which everything fits. in which everything is included. Shim jung means mind and love, or heart, so wherever our mind is moved, that is the realm of heart.

Does it just take a lot of force and concentration to generate electricity? What does it take? A battery or generator is needed. If you have difficulty understanding the realm of heart, think this way. The circuit is already wired up. and all that is needed is for the switch to be turned so the current can flow.

The realm of heart is where the electricity of God's love can flow freely and excite everything. [if you stick your fingers into an electrical outlet, you certainly will feel something! The experience of feeling God's electricity in the realm of heart is like such a shock. Do you think it is painful, or ecstatic and joyful? God's electricity can flow anywhere. A strange characteristic of electricity is that if there is a plus somewhere then a minus will appear, as though out of nowhere, and become an object to it. The two don't have to be brought together; if a plus is there, a minus is already there. Then what is God? He is an absolute plus for love. Man is a negative terminal in the electricity of love.

The earth is a good conductor of electricity. If you connect a terminal to the ground, electricity will very quickly travel out from it. God is a subject of love and like electricity travels through all the earth, His love travels through all mankind. If you raise your radio antenna high, it picks up more radio waves. Man also wants to raise his antenna higher to gather the electricity of God's love. Each of you has an antenna, with some of them very high, and others so short that they catch a minimum of electricity. Some radios don't work very well, while others are sensitive. When you have sensitive receivers in the world of love, do you feel good or bad? You feel great because you can pick up all kinds of electricity.

Imagine a radio which can generate its own power, as well as receive signals. If you are such a radio of love, where plus and minus have a reciprocal relationship, then immediately all parts of the realm of heart will be connected. Then you can go anywhere; then there is nothing you don't know because you only have to think and then you know everything. This is why God is called omnipotent and almighty. He can-do everything because He is already connected to all creation. Because man can catch all kinds of waves from Him, God can go everywhere through man.

In love, you come to have the feeling that if you are elated, then the whole universe is elated as well. Wouldn't that power be strong enough to draw God's attention? How wonderful it is! This is why we need heart. Shim jung really refers to the focus and center of heart, the direct contact point with God Himself.

A piece of iron is cold and has no power, but if a magnet is nearby then the iron will be drawn to it. When man is alone, he is like the iron, but when God's heart is nearby, he is very different. A man might be so dull that people wonder why he is living, but if a beautiful woman comes nearby, something really agitates him! The same happens to the woman; she is ready to come into contact. Certainly we need the magnet and electricity of love. Does anyone think he can live without it?

Does the plus part of electricity flow into the minus part, or vice versa? The minus goes to the plus. In the same way, we are meant to live and love for the sake of others-in other words, we are meant to give everything for the plus. Then that circuit of love is completed, and everything you give will come back around again. In that case what you are getting is electricity of love from God Himself. If you empty yourself completely, then something else will fill you, such as God's love. If this doesn't happen then all the balance and harmony of the universe will be broken down. The recent dramatic developments in electronics and communications are just a shadow of what God's world is really like.

If we know the air is filled with radio waves we cannot see, then we can understand how in God's world the air is filled completely with the electricity of love. Once a circuit is complete, electricity can do many things; if today's electronic communication is just a shadow of what God's world is like, then we know that nothing is impossible in God's love. Then it is also clear that a spirit world must exist.

If we experience God's love for a time while we still have a physical body, then in spirit world we will continue in the same intensity of experience. The spirit world is full of the electricity of love. You know that at the flip of a switch all the buildings in New York could be lighted instantly. Heaven comes on earth when all the lights are lit to their brightest, and heaven in spirit world is where all the lights are love, and they are all fully lit.

If your subject of love moves, you don't have to reason or think-you automatically move with it. The air of spirit world is love, and so in spirit world you cannot help wanting to love everyone, wanting to have banquets to invite everyone to. Such a thing can happen instantly, at just the thought of it. What do you eat in spirit world? The food of love. In love, the more you look, the more you want to look. The more you listen, the more you want to listen. You would never tire of it. Dullness and tiredness have no place there. How could you be tired when there is so much excitement? If you are full of happiness, could you sleep if you were told to?

You would want to give much love to others, and thus to present yourself in a beautiful way, so you would want to have big jewels. God has everything. It's not that we need to own these things; when we complete the circuit of love, God gives us what He has. Some people say I am a dreamer, but if I have logic and reason to back up what I say, I am actually a realist. If there is a possibility that I am right, then this is worth trying. With this expectation, we will try and see what happens. There is no question that you are already hooked by my thought!

The truth is that spirit world is full of the electricity of God's love. Though people on earth don't understand that, still their focus is love; somehow they want to have love. That is because, even without knowing it, they want to be in unison with the eternal world. Their actions still come under that dominion.

Sometimes you see me in dreams and visions, don't you? When you turn your radio to a certain frequency, you pick up a signal. If you are on the same frequency as God's love then naturally you pick up a sharp sound or image, just like on television. The simplest way to make that happen is to forget yourself, to become like a pure metal in which the electricity can flow without resistance. Gold is an excellent conductor because it allows electricity to pass without any resistance, so no power is lost. Gold is purified by being melted in such extreme heat that all impurities are burned away. We make ourselves into pure gold by being put in the hot furnace to burn out our impurities.

When a person is continuously doing hard work, he doesn't think about himself any longer. You have reached your objective once you reach a certain point, but you don't know ahead of time where that point is. Thus, many people try, but then decide that they have tried hard enough and can't make it. A person can become famous in the world by working for his own selfish goals, but in a religious life we have more difficulty. Difficulty is only meaningful until you reach a certain point, however; once you go beyond that point, everything is much easier and you don't have to try so hard. We can compare it to gravity: the farther away from earth you go, the less you weigh; once you are completely beyond earth's gravity, you are weightless. Once we are beyond gravity, we can go anywhere, even to where God is.

It makes sense that the fantastic era of space and electronics is developing so extensively now. According to Principle, the Cain-side imitation always comes first, and now that the Abel side age is developing, these technical advances are to be expected. I am the one who started talking about love in terms of outer space and electronics, so I feel I am also the ancestor of these external developments.

My topic is experience of heart, mind and blood. How do we experience things deeply? We must be pure and without resistance, always developing a loving mind. The solution is to be loving, and also trying to open your mind to receive love. Unhappiness is not being able to give and receive love, even though you want to. Happiness is being able to receive love when you want to, and being able to give love when you will. This is how man was originally made and he wouldn't have had to be taught it, but because of the fall man has had to reason this out. You find yourselves having to hear sermons to understand it.

Man is a broken radio with defective circuits. It is as though your eyes were defective and you saw things upside-down. We are trying to make things right-side up, trying to return to the original way so we can reach farther and farther for love, broadening our scope. No one wants to change. It is uncomfortable to assimilate new experiences, but if the price of love is being forced to change then we are willing to try. As a person reams more and more about the value of love, he will do anything to get it. Love is that great.

You might have wondered who brought this most demanding religion into being, and why you don't just have the freedom to disco and be natural in enjoying yourselves. If I had been interested in disco dancing instead of religious life, then I would have become an expert. But ultimately this path of religion is tastier and more enjoyable. Maybe you wonder why you are sitting here, why you are following an Oriental. You must cross a bridge to reach the world of love. and since I happen to have that bridge, it doesn't matter whether I am white, black, or yellow.

You want to cross that bridge to get to the eternal world of God's heart. You have to start by crossing this bridge to reach the side of the heavenly individual, then the family, and so forth. Would you rather cross many bridges, or connect them all and cross over just one bridge? If God's purpose is to bring all mankind into salvation, wouldn't He want to have just one bridge? If you were entrusted with that responsibility, wouldn't you do the same? Home church is that bridge. Crossing the bridge of home church would be regarded as achievement enough for anyone to pass into the heavenly world. Don't you feel like crossing it successfully?

There are sentries in the spirit world who will challenge you when you arrive to enter heaven. If your passport says that you lived for yourself, you will be sent back. If it says you are a Unification Church member who actually joined for your own sake, to advance yourself, then the sentry will say you can't cross over. If you cry for your sake more than for others, if you hear and look at things for yourself, then it is reflected on your passport and you won't qualify.

For whom did you marry? You may not know how to marry for the sake of mankind, so that's why you ask me to match you; you know that even if you have a difficult match, you can say you are living for the sake of the world. When you leave everything to me, you can clearly say that you did not marry for yourself.

What is the most important thing you can do in your lifetime? Marriage is very important in spirit world. If you say that you followed my recommendation in deciding whom to marry because you didn't know what the will of God was, you will have met an important qualification.

No one will say you were dumb for not knowing God's will yourself, and thus having to follow Reverend Moon. You have thought about whether this path is the right way; certainly I might have been wrong, even if you liked me personally. Perhaps it was the teaching about true family and about bringing God into yourself that you heard here for the first time, and that's why you followed. Then you decided it would be better to marry someone Reverend Moon recommended, instead of the particular kind of person you had in mind. If the sentry in spirit world tries to turn you away, you can be angry and insist that you know you haven't been doing these things for your own sake. One thing you can confidently say is that you haven't lived for yourself, but for the sake of the world.

Maybe when you first went fund raising you were so embarrassed that you spoke to the people with your eyes closed, but after awhile you could open your eyes and found it wasn't difficult. If you live this difficult life for your own sake, you might as well stop now. But since it is for the sake of others, you keep on going. When you speak up this way, the guard will let you cross the bridge. Then you can cross back and forth freely whenever you want, and your life will be a prototype for all mankind. You should do just as I have done, following my example. In that light, the most unloving thing would be for me to leave you alone, not telling you what was good or bad.

People who observe you carefully may think they could do your work even better. Cain is usually in the inferior position to Abel, but if he wants to do better than Abel, it isn't necessary that he know everything in order to do so. Why should we go this way instead of the way most people do? Crossing many bridges would take many years, or even a whole lifetime, but crossing one bridge is much shorter. Unless I can create a shorter bridge which enables people to cross over everything at once, there is no real significance to my being here in this world. Have you cried harder for your home church people than for people you are already connected with? If you cry more for them than for your own family and relatives, then you have crossed the bridge in one step.

In home church you are trying to restore everything. This means that there you will find people to raise and restore as parents, as husband or wife, as children, and so forth. Because of the fall you lost everything, but in home church you find everything to restore, including your tribe, country, and world. Everything was lost, so if you don't restore it, you have nothing.

There must be some procedure by which you can show you did it all by yourself. There must be something to show at the gate which testifies that you are qualified to enter the eternal world, proving that you have perfected your family, clan, society, nation, world and universe. It would not be feasible for each person to come for my signature when they finish each level; I want to sign just once for each person, and even for the whole Church. I set the pattern, so whoever follows it will routinely receive my signature.

Where do we experience the realm of heart I have been talking about this morning? Man was created as God's image and object, and all things are created as man's image and object. Therefore, we have to feel that nature, no matter how desolate looking is better than any man-made clothing or possessions. Recently in the West, people have begun to prefer natural materials instead of synthetics. Something of God's original creation is better than the best man-made watch.

You can talk to your food as you prepare it, telling it that by becoming part of you it will be in a better place than it could ever be by remaining where it was. All things want to be elevated closer to God's love, and if you can do that by eating them, they will be glad for you to do so. The water you drink will evaporate as sweat which God will recognize.

You should love other people more than you love any things. Sometimes you see people who cherish their dogs more than other people, but the worst man should be loved more than any creature. How can there be an excuse for spending money freely on a pet, while not giving anything for the sake of mankind? Such a person would be accused in spirit world, for such an act is against the nature of things.

All mankind are a part of God, just like your hair is part of you. Because your hair is part of you, you love it. Surely you love people more than you love your own hair! We live with the thought that through us people will live a bit closer to God, that we can bring them closer to Him. Once we create the arteries and veins of love, God's love will flow everywhere. God is like the nerves that follow where the blood vessels go. Once the blood flows smoothly and strongly a person gains strength and never gets sick.

In the family we learn how to love. In a family there are parents, husband and wife, and also children, forming three loves. Those three loves together are the same as God's love. This is the reason we say the family is the foundation of heaven. The simple conclusion is that we should be able to love people of all colors of skin as we do our own brothers and sisters. Would you hate all people of some race so much that if they went to heaven then you would decide not to go? What would you do if the person you hated most was in front of you in the line to go to heaven? Would you refuse to go to heaven because he would be there?

Because the true family was lost, there has been no training ground to teach everyone about heaven. This is why you are trained in the Unification Church. The result of the fall is that man is separated from God, from Adam and Eve, from children. and even couples are separated among themselves. They are almost enemies to each other. It is in this meaning that Jesus taught that a person's family was that person's own enemy. If we fought our enemies and did away with them. we would be completely alone, so instead Jesus had to teach us to love our enemies. The idea of love is most important. Since everything is like an enemy, what would you have if you did not love them? Thus, loving your enemy is the starting point for finding love. You must be able to love an enemy even before you can love all things.

The girl you are going to love is the daughter of your enemy. Because of the fall, Adam and Eve brought forth children of their enemy. We must equal or surpass the level of love in the outside world; this is essential if we are to bring better families into being. Naturally this is difficult, and because it has been impossible until now, religions have always encouraged celibacy. That cannot continue eternally, however, for then God's will for creation could not be fulfilled. Until the Second Advent comes, it makes more sense to remain single.

The Savior comes as the parent who is in harmony with all lost things, and as a center of love. The Savior comes with a family in which people are not enemies, but are harmonious in the original way. Centering around his love, he can forgive all enemies, thus saving them. To a person seriously following the Messiah, the Messiah is like God Himself, and like Adam, who was the first ancestor and center of God's creation. Even though he is a man, people will even regard the Messiah as Eve herself because she was a first ancestor.

Though a couple loves each other and their children very much, when the Messiah comes they will love him more than they love each other. To connect with him, one must love the Messiah more than anyone else. If the husband gets in the way of the wife loving the Messiah, she must decide between the two. Even then it is better to connect with the Messiah. If a man desperately loves his own country, when the Messiah comes that man must still love the Messiah more. Even if a man would give his life for his race, when he hears that the Messiah has come. that man must love him more than his own people.

The coming of the Messiah is the greatest thing to happen since the creation of the world. He brings the revolutionary movement of true love for the first time on earth, and it is such a priceless opportunity that it is worth giving up everything in order to have it. In the last days there must be a religion strong enough to teach this clearly.

I have spent my whole life setting the example and carrying this out. For this purpose I gave up my family, my children, and even my country. I was accused of being too extreme and taking everything away for love, but for love of whom? For God.

Because of the fall, God lost mankind and all things at one stroke. Restoration of all that will come through one man, at one time. The experience of the realm of heart and love begins with reversing the pattern of worldly love. Loving the Messiah more than anyone else is a painful experience. If you love the central figure of restoration more than anyone you used to love, you will be surprised to find that your love for your other loved ones is even stronger than before.

This principle is true even after you are married and have children. Even after a couple is blessed and has children, I may ask the husband to go work in Africa and leave his family behind. Instead of begging to go along, the family will send him off with encouragement. When you were single, perhaps you didn't have much problem in this area, but now that you are matched, you might want your fiancé to persuade his central figure to let him finish his college education, for instance. Is that principled or not? I look at people with only this principle in mind.

The pattern in this world of hell on earth may look the same, but it springs from a different lineage. The one element that drastically changes everything is this element of love. Giving up everything to love God does not mean you will not love anything else; only after loving God first can you love others as well. When you work according to Principle in home church. the people there will treat you just like you treat me. If you have loved me very much, your home church members will feel the same toward you.

Restoring that tie of love with your home church people is greater than any other achievement or success in life. This principle you are following here applies also to spirit world, and is the broadest heavenly law. When you tour your home church area, you can think that you are doing the same thing God did when He inspected His creation before Adam and Eve fell. In that realm of love Satan has no place. He simply cannot exist there. Only if you live according to satanic law can Satan be there. Four generations-God, True Parents, you and your children be connected, four elements in three orderly stages. Home church is absolutely necessary in order for you to be there. Loving your home church area is the beginning experience of the realm of heart for you. Through that you will ultimately be connected to God and the whole universe, and serve as a bridge to the universe.

Regard yourself as the bridge of God's love to your home church, as the parents to that area, as the brothers and sisters loving that area. Then you are truly experiencing the realm of heart. After you correctly understand the realm of heart, you must broaden and stretch yourself to experience that realm. By loving me, you have already started experiencing the realm of heart: now all you have to do is extend that love to your area and your family. In the beginning you may not know what it will lead to. but as you experience more and more. your heart will be enriched.

In the beginning your home church people won't understand much. but if you continue working with them then a bond of deep love will grow, and if you are away for a while then they will welcome your return with tears. Love is what home church is all about. In love you must embrace everything, not just one race, or one family. Without an object you cannot experience love, so you must create your object; that is your home church area.

If I were away for months or years, do you think you would miss me? Do you think I would miss you? I am the same way. As much as you love your home church, my love will be there to that degree, and God will love you that much or more. God can love you more because your object of love will have broadened, and so God's love for you can also broaden. God's love for you can become greater to the extent that your experience of the realm of heart becomes greater.

How do you go about improving your heart? You are widened as you live more and more for the sake of others. Then God can come closer to you. When people cry and are grateful to you, you feel that same gratitude to God and me. The world then comes close to you very quickly. For you, the realm of heart is your home church area. Love is not one-sided; your people must love you and you must love them. Then you will realize my love and God's love.

When I teach you to live and die for the sake of the world, I know that when you do it you will experience God's broader realm of heart; it is a must if you are to be connected to God and His love. Once you do that here, it is yours forever and ever. Home church is the microcosm of God's creation, a small universe. The individual and family are there, and when you rejoice together. the universe and God will take part in your rejoicing. If you are sorrowful, God and the universe will be sorrowful with you.

Can you create even a small thing like an ant? But you can sew clothes, right? Sometimes you kill an ant without thinking, but how wonderful it is to think that the ant is even more beautiful than your expensive clothes. That ant can teach you love toward all things. God created such a delicate creature as an ant to teach you that kind of delicate love.

A cat has certain characteristics, such as scratching at something that threatens her, and certainly there is that kind of element in love also. God wanted to accent that aspect of love through the cat. You will see much jealousy and even hatred in your home church area, but that is just an expression of love in a wrong direction. It is love, albeit deviated love, so once it is re-directed in the correct way, it will be equally as strong. How good it will be when it is turned around 180 degrees.

So far you have not known how to handle what happens in your home church, but in the great big mind of God there is nothing you cannot solve. When you find a reason for things, you will not be disturbed by them. Your home church is like a flower garden which no one has cared for, so you can think that God has made that garden for you, and that it wants to be loved by you. This is not make-believe.

Each person wanted to be loved by God in the original garden of Eden, but because mankind went away from God, no one has received such love. But you come in the original state, knowing how people long for love, and feeling you will love them in the original way God intended. God will not tell you that 24 hours is too long to pray; He wants to be there even longer, so He will welcome even more intense and fervent feeling. You shouldn't discourage your home church people from staying with you late into the night just because you are tired. You should want to hear more and more. A parent wants to listen to the smallest thing his child desires.

The universe is filled with the electricity of God's love. That circuit is already there, so when you feel that love toward your home church, you are repairing the circuit. When you see one small flower, it represents the entire plant kingdom, and through it you can experience heart toward all plants. If you love a pet, it represents loving all animals. Sometimes you will even treat a skunk as royalty among animals.

If a bird chirps in your area, you can realize that he came out to welcome you, and that God feels the same way toward you. If you go to bed very tired but there is a noisy party going on next door, think that people are making all that noise in preparation for welcoming you. If you have a loving mind, you automatically come to interpret things that way.

If you had to make a relationship with everything in creation, having to meet each one of them, it would be impossible. When I set foot in America I felt that I came in order to love this nation more than anyone ever loved it, and that my love for it would be greater than any opposition to me that Satan could stir up. All you need to do is extend that kind of love to your area. Your area is a greenhouse and you are growing everything there first. Other areas can wait.

You should feel that God has been preparing this area for many years for you, that nothing is there accidentally or haphazardly, and that this is the most significant activity in all history. Think of how far history had to come so that finally this area would be waiting for you there, to be connected to True Parents and God. If you think that way then you will have a completely new outlook.

If people blame you for anything, it will be for coming late to them. Keep this kind of thinking, planning how you can thaw out their frozen minds and make them warm and lively people. How good it is if you do that in the name of love! Though you may not own much, and you are continually persecuted because the people are ignorant, how precious that experience will be. Now you are authorized to do in the name of love what no one ever could do, and by doing so you can deepen your heart. How worthwhile an experience that is. You can be proud of it. That is my source of pride, too.

That is the only foundation I have, in spite of the fact that I am famous. All of that does not outweigh the love which I feel for you and you feel for me. That love alone is here to stay eternally, and is the only thing which matters in spirit world. Home church is a perfect area of training for you to experience this. Because the people will not respond right away, you will certainly suffer, but your depth of experience in love will become more profound as you are opposed by many types of people.

Would you like to give this a try? Even though tears will always accompany this kind of experience? It will be a source of regret if you fail to experience this while you are still on earth. The things of love which you touch and hear and see in spirit world will bring pain to you instead of pleasure if you don't experience this on earth.

God and True Parents will be right beside you if you persevere in creating this experience. Would you do that? God bless you.

I Am The Center Of The Whole

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1981
Belvedere
Translator - Sang Kil Han

To speak of the whole is to include everything. Thus "the whole" pertains not only to America, but it encompasses the world and beyond that the entire universe, the vast realm of creation. Since creation is the realm of result, there must be a realm of cause -- the world in which God dwells.

This world we are living in is the world of result, but what did it result from? The human fall. Thus it is far removed from the original world. This fallen world is certainly not the world in which we long to live; it is the culmination of thousands of generations of alien ancestors. Looking back upon history, we find that our ancestry is not what we would have desired.

This is not the world which God planned, but rather the fallen world. Each generation has multiplied the results of the fall; thousands upon thousands of fallen generations have brought the world to its present state. Each segment of history was terrible. When you think deeply about fallen history, can't you feel how shockingly horrible it has been?

Think of mankind's sinful history as a person who fell overboard into deep water and tries desperately to reach the shore. The current is very swift and, not knowing how to swim, mankind has been floundering and thrashing about, screaming for help, praying for someone to come to the rescue. A person in such desperate circumstances doesn't even notice whether the water is clean or dirty, or in which direction the current is flowing. A drowning person doesn't feel free to complain that his mother didn't love him enough, or that his girlfriend wasn't nice enough to him. Under desperate circumstance, such thoughts are out of the question.

What does a drowning person focus on? He only cares about how to get out of the water and save his life. He doesn't worry about food or clothing; none of that matters now. All he desires is for someone to snatch him out of the river, regardless of how they do it. His rescuer might grab him by the hands, feet, hair or nose and he wouldn't mind; even if his foot were snagged by a fishhook, it would be okay as long as he got pulled out. If he is saved, he won't complain about his foot being mutilated. He thinks of nothing except being saved. In such a situation, one experiences the strength of the will to survive.

You could create such an experience any time. You might, for instance, run water into the bathtub and lie face down in it for about 40 seconds, and see what happens. You would probably start out filled with different thoughts and aspirations but 40 seconds later, all you would want is air!

Most people take everything for granted, doing things the same way those in the past have done. They live habitually, doing basic things without question, with little excitement or desperation. But is that the true way of life?

When a person floundering in a rushing river manages to grab onto a passing log, that log makes a huge difference in his life. Or suppose a boat passes by and he is able to climb aboard. Once he is aboard, the only thing separating him from the water is a mere half-inch of wood forming the bottom of the boat. The difference between where he was before and where he is now is a mere half-inch. He is only a half-inch away from death!

That torrent of water represents hell, and that half-inch above the water is heaven. This analogy is no exaggeration. At one time you were fighting for your life but now, a half-inch above the water, you can look down and even enjoy the scene. You can row your boat and sing a song. Hell knows no songs or laughter; it is a desperate world where people think only of getting out. But heaven is a world in which you can enjoy many things.

We can imagine what it would feel like to be caught in a raging torrent. Being sinful is like being in that water, but do people know that they are in dangerous water? Which is more difficult: to struggle for survival in rushing water, or to fight to escape the fallen world and return to the original world? Is the condition of fallen people any less desperate than that of a drowning person? It is actually more critical.

If God's own child fell into the water and was drowning, wouldn't God be desperate to reach down and pick him up? But when Adam fell, did God rescue him or leave him where he was? Actually, God chased Adam out of the garden; so Adam's situation was more serious than someone falling into a river. God even seemed unsympathetic as He drove Adam away. The struggle to return to God is immeasurably more difficult than falling into a river and struggling to reach the shore. Deep within you, you must feel the truth of this statement. Mankind has truly fallen and must sooner or later get out of the water and be saved. You must face that fact. This is no flight of fancy.

Can you respond, "Well, Father, you may think like that, but I don't have to"? Can you presume that it applies only to Koreans but not other nationalities? This truth affects all races and peoples. No matter who you are-rich or poor, great or humble, man or woman-you share the common fate of all humanity. As long as you are an offspring of alien ancestry, what I am saying holds true.

There could be two kinds of people struggling in the water: those who can swim and those who cannot. Someone might say he doesn't intend to learn how to swim until he happens to fall into the water-and then he will quickly learn. That sounds good, but does it work? A beginning swimmer, dressed only in swimming trunks, might paddle awkwardly in the chilly water, and someone looking on might say, "I don't want to go through that!" The observer will be all right as long as he stays on land; but if he ever falls into the water, he will have no alternative but to try to swim. The one who has already learned how to swim will be much better prepared for an emergency. Even struggling in turbulent rapids, he will know the best way to reach land; if he cannot get to the shore right away, he will be able to breathe and stay afloat.

Can someone swim without making any motion? Good swimmers use all parts of their body-arms, legs, hands and even the head. Especially if you fall into rapids, you know that you have to move every part of you in order to get out. A non-swimmer in deep water will flail his arms and thrash about, but it doesn't get him anywhere; it doesn't help him. Which is more reasonable: to put off learning to swim until you find yourself in deep water, or to resolve to learn now, in case you might someday fall overboard? Rather than waiting until you are in desperate straits, you should learn in advance how to swim and practice the proper movements.

As you are learning, would you practice only in warm water? You never know if you will fall into warm or cold water. If you practice swimming in the cold ocean water, for instance, you will be prepared to survive in any kind of water. Swimmers usually train in cold water. If you are going to learn to swim, learn the standard by which swimming ability is evaluated, and then keep working until you reach it.

In Oriental thought, the world is compared to a bitter sea, not a sweet one, and the human situation is like being dropped into the ocean and having to swim to the shore. Ask the average person whether he is desperately seeking to save himself, or whether his condition is generally happy and needs no improvement. Some people are trying to save themselves, but a lot of Americans, for instance, appear to be contented with life; they go dancing, they dine out, and so forth. They are comparable to a group of people on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, relaxing on top of a sand dune. The waves are not hitting them yet, but the more they dance, the more the sand beneath them erodes. That is a description of some Americans today.

Suppose a storm arises. In the ocean, surrounded by nothing but water, where would you go? The people on the sand dune might have a nice large island, but the storm of communism could completely smash their island. Then what awaits the inhabitants?

In the news these days there is much talk about El Salvador and whether America will help it. What does the United States have to do with that tiny country? The Reagan administration is disturbed because the communists are there. Are you Americans confident about the future of your country? No, you cannot feel very reassured.

All mankind is in the water, but one group is trying desperately to get out of the water, by one means or another, and the other group is not even conscious of their situation. Perhaps they are drinking the water and thinking nothing of it. The ones trying to learn to swim are the religious people. There are different styles of swimming: you can float relatively motionless on the water's surface, or you can paddle with lots of motion. Buddhism is like the first style and Christianity is like the second. The Buddhists gaze up at the blue sky of heaven as they are swimming; they cannot see to either side of them. Some people can swim in an almost vertical position in the water; others consider it strange, but still it is swimming. Is it better to stick to one style of swimming, or to learn various strokes? It isn't easy to learn many strokes, so some people prefer to concentrate on only one.

In addition to a variety of styles, there is a variety of places where people can swim. Some swim in a small pool, others in a pond or lake, and still others in the ocean. There is no rule forbidding someone who learned to swim in a pool from swimming in the ocean, or vice versa.

Unification Church members learn to use a variety of swimming styles; also you learn how to swim rapidly. Some of you are thrown into African waters teeming with alligators; there you will swim quickly! If you are dropped into the Arctic Ocean, you will also want to swim rapidly to the shore. You are learning to adapt to different waters and survive under any circumstance.

So is the Unification Church a good place to be? Certainly we can say it is a good place. We want a place that is good not only for ordinary life but also during emergencies. Likewise we want a place that is good not just for emergencies but also for daily life. Is the Unification Church good for both? Now you tell me it is good, but ordinarily you complain about it: you don't like fundraising and witnessing, you would rather not go out in the rain to witness. You don't like it, but at the same time you know it is good! People who observe you from outside the church may understand that you feel it is necessary to do the things you do, but they feel that they don't have to do them. "Maybe Reverend Moon and the Moonies need those activities," they might say, "but I don't" They are like the people who don't care to learn how to swim.

But suppose a huge storm comes, with high winds and heavy flooding. We know that our chance of survival will be much better than those who are unprepared. If the Unification Church is providing the only survival training for the future, then we can clearly call it a wonderful place. Do you like this "wonderful" way? I don't! This wonderful way is very difficult, but we can see how necessary it is.

Once we master the art of swimming, we can be absolutely confident. Nothing can threaten us then, not even the biggest storms with the most enormous waves and severe floods. Because we are expert swimmers, we know we will survive. In other words, if you pass the complete course of the Unification Church, you can survive in any situation you might meet anywhere in the world our topic today is, "I Am the Center of the Whole." The question is whether you are the center of the whole in a good sense, or a bad sense. For someone floundering in deep water, swimming is a good thing; that is what makes good sense. In addition to wanting to be the center of the whole in a good sense, you should want to be the center on a large scale. If you can swim very well, you will be the center of the whole in a very good way.

I started swimming from my home country and continued all the way across the Pacific Ocean. On the way over, I encountered people of every different race blocking my way, like various creatures of the sea. America is like a whale, Japan like a shark. You have to learn how to survive in deep water. Can you survive? The largest sea monster is communism. You have to fight against the monster and win over it.

Can you do these things without knowing how to swim? No, you must learn to swim. You cannot just ignore the danger of communism. Communism is like a storm and you must be prepared for its arrival. You have to know everything about communism: its history, its tactics, its strategy.

Where is the dirtiest, most foul-smelling kind of water? It is in places where free sex is practiced. Alcohol and drug abuse are dreadful, but sexual promiscuity is the worst pollution. The waters of the world's religions, including the Unification Church, are like spring water, clear and pure. Although we are still struggling, at least the water is clean and not toxic.

In this fallen world, the members of the Unification Church are linked to heaven with an invisible rope. If you start to head in the wrong direction, that rope will yank you back toward the right path. If you think about the value of that kind of protection, you don't mind the Unification Church so much, do you? If a hungry whale comes along and tries to swallow you, the heavenly winch can hoist you up and set you down in a different place. Isn't that great? So what kind of place is the Unification Church? One which protects you from the whales and sharks.

Why would heaven do that for you? Heaven takes extra care of you because you are a special kind of seed. Without that precious seed, mankind will not be able to continue in the future. Wanting to preserve you, heaven goes out of its way to help you. With such protection, you can take many risks and have many different adventures. Ordinary people would predict that if you continue doing such things you would soon die. But rather than dying, you prosper. Heaven intervenes on your behalf. Do you understand that? Even though all other people may pass away, God knows that the special seed must be preserved.

All you have to do is tie that rope around your waist and make a little hook in it. You may think that is too much trouble and wonder why you have to do it. You don't need to understand the reason. Just make the hook, and then heaven can drop its rope and pull you up whenever you need it. Even though it may be difficult, our responsibility is to do what we are told and secure the rope around us, with the little hook for heaven. The rest is up to heaven.

Since you do not understand the purpose of this hook, you don't want to go through the difficulties to create it, but I keep urging you to do so. "What for?" you cry, but I chase you out to try harder. Finally you do what you are told, and that is very good.

The other day I heard a report about someone who had left the Unification Church after being a member for three years. He told one of our members that because of the training he had received in the church, he had no problems supporting himself and making money; he was better equipped in whatever he did. He said that after three years of training, he finds that nothing is impossible. We could say that he learned something about how to swim!

Is it easy or difficult to learn how to swim? It is extremely difficult, but we have to keep practicing and pursuing the perfection of this activity. As for any worthwhile goal, you must be persistent and never give up. Keep trying with all your might. Even though it may take a long time-perhaps even the rest of your life-you should make up your mind that you will continue to perfect it.

Before training you, I trained myself. My training was much more difficult than what you are experiencing. If I had not undergone such intense training, I would have run away from the Unification Church faster than anyone. You Unification Church members want to be like me someday, don't you? That is good. However, in order to resemble me, you have to do exactly what I tell you to do. "No. Not that!" you object. "I want to be like you, but I don't want to do all the things you tell me. I want to resemble you automatically, by magic"

One of the national leaders told me, "I am 42 years old, and I am a leader. Now you are asking me to go back to the beginning lessons again?" He thought he had already finished basic training, but I could see that he needed much more. He was still a beginner. Until we die, we must keep on training ourselves.

There are two kinds of seas in life: the bitter one and the sweet one. The sweet sea stands for heaven and the bitter sea for hell. We have to move from the bitter sea to the sweet. To do that, we have to swim against a strong current and overcome sharks and alligators. As you know, Satan waits for you at the point where you try to enter the heavenly sea, at the cross over point. You have to be able to get past him. If you are not properly prepared when you arrive at the junction, you will become frightened and lose confidence. Then Satan will surely stop you.

Knowing that you have received excellent preparation, you Unification Church members can be very confident. Moreover, you have that special belt so if you cannot reach the heavenly side by yourself, somebody else can hook you with a rope and haul you over. I know that you need preparation. Satan himself is waiting at the very gate of heaven hoping to stop you, so you should be well prepared for that confrontation. That is one point where you have to fight and win.

With training and preparation, you will become the champion for all time. To be a permanent champion, you need help from spirit world. That means you must do everything a person possibly can-and more. Then spirit world will be able to help you. Your responsibility is to be well prepared. Runners train for months, even years, in order to compete in a marathon. To gain the victory in a two-hour race, they have to train for thousands upon thousands of hours. We must train just as seriously.

Marathon champions train for many years while you are seeking to become the princes and princesses of heaven; so can you train for just a few years and quit, complaining that the course is too hard? Someone who wants to gain such a distinction without making the necessary efforts has a thief's mentality. To obtain a Ph.D. from a fine school, say Harvard University, you have to go through some 20 years of schooling, including elementary and high school. How tedious that is! Which should be more difficult: getting a Ph.D. from Harvard, or becoming a heavenly prince or princess? How many hundreds of years should you invest in order to achieve your heavenly goal? A lifetime, and even more.

The Unification Church is good, you say, but you don't like the indemnity course. You think everything would be fine if only you didn't have to go through indemnity. But you should realize that indemnity is what makes it possible for you to complete your training for heaven. Because you know how to pay indemnity, you can hope to reach the sweet sea of heaven in less than thousands of years. Only indemnity makes that possible. If you could not pay indemnity, you could not even do home church. Because of indemnity, you can come here and listen to me directly, face-to-face. Without indemnity, that would not be possible.

Try to connect the parts of your body with indemnity. "This is my indemnity nose,' you can say; or "this is my indemnity mouth" Since your mouth is an indemnity mouth, it must like what other mouths don't. Since your feet are indemnity feet, they will take a different direction from other people's feet. Americans usually like to sleep on their stomachs, so you could sleep the opposite way for indemnity.

You may have considered indemnity something to be avoided, but once you understand its true meaning you can feel attracted to it. To take the indemnity route to the 40th floor of the World Mission Center, would you ride the elevator or walk all the way up? To take the indemnity route from Belvedere to the World Mission Center, would you ride in an automobile or run the whole way?

No one has to tell you each time which is the indemnity course; you know it. Will you devote your lifetime to a normal way or to the indemnity way? Do you like the indemnity way? You have changed your opinion about indemnity this morning! The only standard I strive towards is to be the champion of the indemnity course. When you come to a hill, you can say, "To climb this is good training" You can look at everything that way.

The best people in the Unification Church are often the ones most criticized. Likewise, the best work in the church is often considered undesirable because it is all indemnity. Those who have never despised the word indemnity, please raise your hands. The rest of you should apologize to the word "indemnity"! Will you do that today? If indemnity accepts your apology, it will become your foundation and your foothold. You have to understand clearly all the things that we are doing.

God loves the Unification Church and has great hope for it; mankind, too, will love the Unification Church; heaven and earth both cherish the Unification Church. The essence of what they esteem is indemnity. Because we know about indemnity and because we are putting it into practice, heaven and mankind will absolutely love the Unification Church. So you first have to become familiar with the term indemnity and learn to love it.

When you say, "Reverend Moon,' for instance, you are saying my name. The name is not the person himself, but represents the person. Likewise, the term "indemnity" is not indemnity itself, but just the label. But if you don't like the name Reverend Moon, that means you don't like the person either. If you don't feel love for the term indemnity, you do not love indemnity itself. A person who dislikes a name usually dislikes anything attached to the entity it represents. People persecute you when they hear you are a Moonie, for example, because they don't like Reverend Moon.

Our topic today is "I Am the Center of the Whole." What is the center of America, or American people? Is it their vices? The person who most hates the vices of America and most desperately tries to stop evil and bring people to the side of goodness is the center of America. Likewise, the central person is the one who suffers the most. If you want to be the center of America, you should suffer the most for the sake of this country. Along the way, you will face all sorts of trials, perhaps even risking your life. The greatest of all sacrifices is that of one's own life. He who offers his very life for the sake of this country has paid the greatest indemnity, because there is nothing more he can give; he has more scars than anyone. Thus, the center of this country will be the person who loves it at the risk of his life.

Within a family, whoever works the hardest and does the most difficult tasks will be the center of that family, even if he isn't one of the parents. The father may have a lot of money, but if one of the children works the hardest and gives the most, he will be that family's center. Can you disagree with that?

Do you white people agree with me and you black people disagree? No? Can black people become the center of America? Of course, they can. In general, who has suffered more-black Americans or white Americans? Then why aren't the blacks the center now? Although they suffered, their suffering was not for the sake of America but for their own survival. So far, black Americans have not been able to tell white Americans, "I suffered and sacrificed for the sake of this country. Now I will serve you and teach you how to follow my path" No black person has gone to serve a white family with such a viewpoint. When a white family lives in a way that is detrimental to the country, there has never been a black person who came and told them to change for their own sake, as well as for the sake of the country. If black people had been able to do that, they would have been the center of America by now.

Black members of the Unification Church should resolve to use their membership not just for their own salvation but for the sake of America and even the whole world. If they serve the world more than white, Oriental, or Hispanic people, they will soon become the center of the entire world. The principle behind this is unchanging; God will see that it is carried out. If black people work so earnestly for the sake of the world but are still rebuffed by white people, God Himself will intervene and place them in the central position.

Which is more precious-you or the Unification Church? Think about it. Did you assemble and create the Unification Church, or was it already in existence when you joined it? To put it another way, should the Unification Church follow you, or should you follow it? Does God need the Unification Church, or does the church need God? This may seem a simple question and you laugh, but it is critical. The national church leaders have worked very hard for a long time. They must have wondered, "Am I leading the Unification Church, or should I be led by it?" How would you answer such a question? What about those of you who are national leaders? Does the national church lead you, or do you lead it?

Today's topic is "I Am the Center of the Whole," not "We Are the Center of the Whole" Which do you prefer- for the church to lead you or for you to lead the church? The individual leads the church, but who is the true leader? The one who suffers the most. Is it correct to say that? Can you leave out indemnity and still be a true leader? No, you must embody indemnity. At what stage is the Unification Church working-national or worldwide? You can answer with the right words, but do you actually feel that our stage is the world? When you are ready to go to bed, have you ever considered the people on the other side of the world who are just getting up and make a resolution not to be outdone by them?

The southern hemisphere basks in the warmth of summer while the northern hemisphere is shivering in its winter. The eastern hemisphere is bathed by daylight when the west is cloaked in darkness. We are surrounded by opposites. Can you say, "I like only the daytime, not the night"? If there were no night, how could we sleep peacefully? We need darkness to sleep. Do you understand?

Americans like cheeseburgers and hamburgers, while Koreans like kimchee and kochee chang with rice. You should be able to appreciate all kinds of food, not just that of one culture. There is nothing wrong with liking hamburgers but you should also learn to enjoy kimchee and kochee chang. Whatever you happen to be served-whether Eastern or Western food-you should be able to enjoy it.

A Western-centered person would say, "Since I have blue eyes, I want a wife with blue eyes, too" But the world-centered person would say, "Since I have blue eyes, I need a wife with brown eyes-in fact, a wife who is black" Blue eyes are like daylight and black eyes nighttime. Together they represent a complete day. People develop this sort of attitude within the Unification Church. Members ask for a spouse of a different race in order to become world-level people. Their relatives back home sense that something momentous is happening within their family.

Unification Church members are different. We work not merely for the sake of the country but for the whole world. Through such work you are becoming better people. In economic matters, we do not think in terms of a particular country, but of the world economy. For us there are no barriers of nationality. Ordinarily Japanese people, for instance, would not be willing to work in Africa for the sake of the world but Japanese professors will go to Africa to do difficult work there. In the future, the world will be preferred over any one country. That is the logical result of living the universal way.

I can visit and work anywhere because my efforts are for the sake of the world. What about you? Do you suppose I want you to remain in your own country or to travel all over the world and work in many places? You want me to be able to work anywhere in the world, don't you? Where do you think I will go next?

I assemble members from around the world and ask them to work in different countries-not for the benefit of just that nation, but for the world. When our movement bought a factory, it wasn't bought for the sake of the Unification Church but so our church members could work there for the sake of the world, suffering there and earning money for the world. If that money were used for my benefit or for some individual purpose, you could certainly complain but as long as the money is used for the sake of the world, you will not complain.

We are a unique species of people! If you are asked, "Which is your country?" you could say, "My country is the Heavenly Kingdom" Has a heavenly country actually been established on this earth yet? No, it hasn't. Therefore, we are fighting for the independence of the Heavenly Kingdom-a kind of independence army. We should master all kinds of trades and activities so we will be able to do anything. If the enemy attacks us, we must be able to defend ourselves. When there are not enough men to comprise an army, what about women? Would you be willing to continue as a soldier in the independence army for your whole life?

I am the general of the independence army of heaven. That was my attitude in my struggle against the Carter Administration. Whatever country I visit, the leader of that country pays attention to me. When I spent three months in England, I waged a battle with the English government. In Japan I did the same thing. If the free world will accept and welcome me, together we can fight against international communism.

I received a report recently from a person who attended a high-level communist meeting. They discussed the Unification Church and they listed seven ways in which we pose a serious threat to them. The communists feel that they have to protect themselves against the Unification Church. I know communism better than anyone-the strategies they adopt, the way they fight, and so forth. When I talk to you, you learn these things from me. Would you like to be the true heroes of America? Suppose I asked you women to form a women's army, the strongest one in the world; would you do it?

Suppose millions of people were to assemble to hear me speak. Should I talk for two or three hours? No, I would give a lightning-fast speech, for jut a minute or two. I would speak better than General MacArthur!

This army must stay invincible; therefore, you must train in every way. If you are not well-trained, you will get shot. The communist guerrilla forces in El Salvador are comprised of people from around the world: Asians, Cubans, black people, etc. Why can't the entire free world assemble an army to resist them? Why isn't Mr. Reagan appealing to the world and calling for volunteers to defend freedom in El Salvador? Why is he just trying to help El Salvador through the United States? Who in America wants to oppose communism? Only us. Are you confident enough to participate in an army against the communists?

We are the heavenly army yet we are a religious group, not a secular army. However, when the communists attack religious people and try to destroy the churches, should the believers just sit tight, pray to God. and die?

What about US congressmen and senators? Many of them seem to feel that church people should just sit back and let themselves be destroyed. But the Unification Church is different-we do not listen to such advice from anyone. When the communists actually launch a physical attack, we must be able to resist them. Is that wrong thinking? I am a religious leader, but if the time comes when religion is threatened and attacked, I will reach out to awaken leaders and people in all other fields. If they all fail, I will meet the challenge in their place. If the US Department of State or Department of Defense fails to act, then Americans themselves must rise up and accomplish their mission. Only in that way can America survive.

This should be the normal American way of thinking and religious people should be no exception. Is it wrong to think like that? In reality, we must be willing to fight for the sake of the world.

Wherever you go, you must be independent and confident. Even in an enemy country, you should be able to adapt and do well. Well-prepared people do not need to worry about what they may encounter. So you must understand that my thinking extends further into the future than yours, preparing for that eventuality. If you are not getting ready, it is unfortunate. Do you understand?

If we are an army, we will be the strongest one in the world, because in whatever we do, we should strive to excel. If you ever become a government official, you should be the most competent and most enthusiastic. If you are needed as an automobile driver, you should be the best driver; you should be capable of driving for 24 hours without tiring. Someday you may need to reach a certain place by a certain time and if you don't make it, the world itself will be in jeopardy. You would have to be the kind of driver who can stay alert and reach the destination.

Perhaps in a very hot climate where people want just to sit around and sip cold drinks, we must go out and dig foxholes. Someday in a tropical zone we may need to fight against an enemy and dig trenches for protection. Once I went to hunt in the coldest part of Korea, taking many church members along, because I asked myself, "What if we face such a situation in the future?" If you have felt, "As religious people, we have to be soft,' you had better change your thinking quickly. We are the independence force.

God has no country He can call His own. If there were such a country, with the same sovereignty as America, who would go against Reverend Moon and the Unification Church? Since God has never had His own country, religions have been persecuted and good people pushed around. Now, at the finale of fallen history, we are organizing a strong and powerful independence army. You must understand this point.

God's people have had to live like gypsies, moving from place to place with nowhere permanent to settle. Dr. Durst is a scholar but he must become a brand-new kind of scholar: one who can encompass and serve the entire world. The same applies to other national leaders. You should not limit yourselves by thinking you are simply a religious leader, because you are a different kind of religious leader. Now is not the time to settle down, either. Now is the time to man the front line, not to set up your own cozy home.

When General MacArthur retired at the age of 73, he said, "Old soldiers never die!" That is the kind of soldier's spirit we need. Am I an old soldier or a young one? Most people think I look young, but I can show you my white hair.

Should you be weaker or stronger than 1? If someone wanted to evaluate the Unification Church, all he would have to examine is you young people. When you church members are filled with hope, they can say that the Unification Church has great prospects for the future. If they cannot see hope in you, they will conclude that the church will not amount to anything.

We must become the strongest soldiers and army ever formed. Therefore, I will have to train you. You will have to be better than George Washington's troops who were fighting for the independence of America 200 years ago. There have been no other soldiers with a mission like yours. Our heavenly country must never be destroyed; therefore, we must be strong enough to preserve ourselves. That is why I have to train you under the most difficult circumstances, under conditions so impossible that everybody will criticize us. A general has to do that because when he gets old and retires somebody has to be able to follow in his steps. The general needs to be strong in order to ensure the survival of the country.

George Washington's forces were predominantly white men but the heavenly independence force includes all colors of skin. It remains to be seen which of the five colors will produce the bravest soldiers.

It might be assumed that white soldiers need such things as cheese, pickles and Cokes and will work only eight hours a day. Perhaps they need eight hours of sleep before they can rise and fight again. But we are different; we are ready to fight at any time, 24 hours a day. We must be always advancing, never retreating. I want to see you women become generals, too, capable of supporting yourselves without depending upon anybody else. You must be able to confront anyone, including police chief, and negotiate with them, protesting against wrongs. Every one of you women should have that kind of spirit. I want to see a five-star woman general and salute her.

American people must change quickly. If you don't change now, the communists will soon be able to overcome this so-called free country. Do you understand?

Many wars have been fought in history but this one will be the most complicated and unique one. Therefore, I resolved to train the members in the most difficult and unique way. If a regular army requires three years to attain a high standard, we must accomplish it in three months. That is how I think. In whose name will you train? Not in my name, but in the name of God and all humanity.

Is it bad to think that way? I can imagine that in the future people will say, "In Reverend Moon's March 8 speech he said all kinds of things about training for the army. He certainly seems like a dictator. I told you so," I am expecting such talk, but I must say what needs to be said. Even though I know that such remarks will probably stir up more controversy and make me more unpopular, how can I not say them when it is for the sake of God and humanity? However, I am also optimistic that those who hear about this speech will say, "Oh, Reverend Moon has said that kind of things so many times-so what?" It doesn't matter what people are saying; while they are talking, we will prepare.

When we are fully trained, God will be able to trust us absolutely. Looking down at the world, God sees that although there are millions of Christians, His providence remains in jeopardy, and the communist forces are determined to destroy religion itself Would God want to see this enemy stopped by fighting? Would He rather have the American army or some Christian army fight them? Because this is a heavenly war, not a secular war, God prefers that religious people fight communism. If the religious people remain seated quietly, doing nothing, the communists will keep building their strength until one day they will attack us. Knowing that, how can you remain gentle and silent? You should certainly train harder than the communists do.

We are front-line soldiers in the fight against communism and the world knows that. This is why the communists consider the Unification Church and Reverend Moon such a serious threat. They are looking ahead when they recognize that danger. Meanwhile, the free world also calls me a threat but they do so out of short-sightedness and ignorance. If they knew why the communists oppose me, they would immediately realize that I am their best friend. The communists, quite simply, want to destroy the free world.

Why do I make you suffer so much, sometimes to the point of being ridiculous? There must be some reason. Men and women need a far-reaching way of thinking. You need to realize that you must build your own heavenly country here on earth and become its citizens before you go to the spirit world to rest. We need our country. Even if you must go without food or sleep, you can tolerate it when you consider the importance of our work. Something of far greater value awaits us.

The divisions between North and South Korea and between East and West Germany are symbolic of the world situation. A few years ago I predicted that when American morale slackened, the communists would attack in Central America, Mexico and even Canada, using guerrilla warfare-just as they did in Southeast Asia. When the American army withdrew from Vietnam, Americans thought, "Let the Vietnamese handle their situation now and we will take care of ourselves. We will be comfortable from now on" But things did not turn out that way. The Vietnamese could not take care of their situation. Now through El Salvador, the communists have come to the very doorstep of this country, using the same tactics. This time America must not retreat.

To achieve the goal, we need to connect with the Latin American countries, too. The United States should make friends within this region. North America and South America need to be united in order to contain the communist regimes in Central America, sandwiched between the two.

Many South American leaders have asked people from the Unification movement to come and teach their people anti-communism. In Uruguay we will help start a newspaper to guide people away from communism. Uruguay is an important country in South America, with a role similar to that of Switzerland in Europe. What do I have to do with this country? If I did not reach out in this way and train you to be strong soldiers, we could not accomplish our heavenly task.

The Soviets will soon make a big push to influence Western Europe. Therefore our movement has secured a big machine company in West Germany. West Germany's situation is serious; East Germany wants control of the West German machine companies and heavy industry. Who else will protect West German industry? We are compelled to buy such a strategically-located company.

Even though I had been thinking about this for a long time, I could not speak of it publicly. Instigated by the communists, the world has been calling me a dictator and a militarist. But now the worst storm is over. The picture will become clearer and clearer as I explain what I am doing. Do you understand?

We are the independence force. In the course of leading a guerrilla group, the leader often gets arrested. This is why I have frequently been incarcerated in several countries. This will continue until we have our own heavenly country. Our life is constantly threatened because we lack the security of our own country. Under such circumstances, we have had to suffer so much, but finally we will become the actual center of the entire world. This is how I look at our situation.

As much as possible, we will accomplish our task through shedding our tears, sweat and blood-not by arms. Therefore, we must suffer. To shoot somebody is a simple method of dealing with him. How much more difficult it is to shed tears, sweat and blood for others! But that is our challenge.

As I look at each face here I feel a momentary happiness; but I immediately wonder, "When will he run away? How long will she stay? If the enemy were firing shells and bullets at us, would he or she remain and continue marching forward?"

How to guide the country in a rightful manner is the focus of much of my thoughts. The real question is not how to combat America's evils, but how to educate this nation. This is my immediate task. Whenever a war is fought and won, the victors must educate the conquered. By the same token, if we can educate our opponent now and do it well, we can avoid a war.

You are being trained according to the highest standard of history. Thus the world considers this church formidable and fearful. I welcome such a reaction. We are strong, but we are also intelligent. This is our source of pride and our hope for success. Such a strong army will continue to prosper and will develop in every area. As long as our goal remains unaccomplished, our activities must continue.

Where would you like to get married, raise children, and live a happy life: as citizens of the heavenly home country, or as nomads in different lands? The United States offers the best setting for accomplishing our goal; it is the prepared nation in that respect. Many American citizens are descendants of Abel-type people who were chased out of Europe for their religious beliefs. How nice for you to be centrally trained here in America!

Those of you from other countries will always be welcomed back when you return home. You will become the Abel figures in your home countries, with the responsibility to love the Cains there. When Cain comes to understand and love Abel in your homeland, won't that become a heavenly country?

Every nation is represented here in the United States. Blacks and whites live side by side, whether they like it or not. This is a melting pot arranged by God. The true natives of America are the Indians. The name "Indian" signifies Oriental. The American Indians are cousins of Asian Orientals, so I came like a cousin to this country; but the white people have opposed me. If my American cousins stand against me, they will come to regret it. In the past, the whites destroyed many Indians, and they may be forced to shed their own blood in recompense. If you really think about it, the whites plundered this nation and killed the people of Oriental ancestry. Even now, a good many Indians feel that way.

I came to this country to make peace and resolve the racial problems once and for all. In the course of my work, I have been persecuted by the government. If that is not rectified, the United States will fall prey to communism. Any administration who persecutes me is making a big mistake. If Richard Nixon bad listened to my words and followed my advice, America would not have gone through all this recent turmoil. I also wrote an encouraging letter to President Reagan and told him, "Be strong and bold. Then God will be with you. If you do not, you will encounter extreme difficulties in accomplishing your work"

The communists have never lowered their goals or abandoned their strategies. Soon you will see demonstrations against Mr. Reagan and his new administration worldwide and even in this country. They will all be encouraged by communists.

Just a few days ago, The News World began a serious barrage against The New York Times. You may have thought we used rather strong language in accusing The New York Times of actually helping communism, but that is really their weakness. Those on their staff and their board of directors who are sympathetic to communism will be very sensitive to our attack. The New York Times has enjoyed the giant's position for a long time. Nobody dared to speak out against them-or if they did, it made no difference.

Although I am a religious leader, I am also a spiritual warrior. You are following a fighter, so you will never see the day when we shall all live in a comfortable, easygoing way. Why don't you just pack up and leave? You answer "No,' but that can also be spelled "know" Do you know the truth? Does that mean you are here to stay-forever?

Why do you think I pound on the heads of brothers here on the front row? I am always thinking about how to avoid a physical war, how to go over the hill and accomplish God's will and build His country.

For many days now I have been very serious, and all of spirit world has been focused on my concerns. The spirit world is going out of their way to help our fundraising members who have the same standard of seriousness. Spirit world can work on somebody with large financial assets and motivate him to make a substantial donation. Suppose people formed a committee to stop Reverend Moon, but could they take me to court for what spirit world does to motivate people to make donations?

Nobody becomes the center of the whole by having money. Only through paying indemnity, through caring for others and living with more indemnity will we become the center of the whole. Do you understand? The more one suffers for the sake of God, the closer he will be to the center of God's world. The hardest worker in the company will become its center.

Then are you working and suffering now for your sake, or for the sake of America? As long as you are truly working for America, and as long as Americans survive in this land, you can continue to work without complaint, even though it may take longer than you anticipated. There are many areas in which you can help people.

If our suffering is for the sake of the world, can we protest that it is too much? As long as work remains to be done, you cannot say it is too much and then quit. The only valid complaint is that 24 hours are not enough time to do everything you need to accomplish in a day. You do not achieve restoration by indemnity if you work out of duty or because somebody forces you. Only through joyful and willing efforts can you establish an indemnity condition. If I were standing behind you, pushing you on, it wouldn't fulfill the condition. At some point, you need to become autonomous and work on your own; then you are paying true indemnity.

If you want to be the world's best husband, you must be willing to love the world's ugliest woman and be the best husband to her. That is the best short-cut to becoming a superior husband. If you have a demanding wife who gives you difficulties and makes you work hard, she will eventually acknowledge that you are the best husband in the world because of all the things you did for her. If your wife isn't so demanding, it will take an indefinite time for you to become the world's best husband. So the quickest way to that goal is to marry the world's worst wife and make her the world's best wife!

The same principle applies to other relationships. Why love people who abuse and persecute you? When you treat the worst person with love and help him to become the best person, you become a world champion. That is the shortest path to becoming a success in life. Whoever perseveres through the most difficult trials with a willing and grateful heart, happy to do something for the ultimate goal, will be the truly successful person.

Members enter the Unification Church on their own free will, yet their parents often accuse me of forcing their children to join. I love and care about those persecuting parents and want to help them become our members' best supporters. That will be the shortest cut to my becoming the champion religious leader. Do you think this is true, according to the Principle?

God thinks this way, too. He wants to be able to certify you as the greatest champions of the world in the shortest possible time. He wants to do it in 10 years, not prolong the process for 20, 40, or 60 years. This is why He pushes you through such intense suffering.

I promised God to accomplish the task within the next 20 years. I asked Him to give me every difficulty that I ought to encounter. "Dump it all on me!" I asked Him. I never complained that the load was too heavy or asked Him to spread it out over 30 years.

Without bothering to research the facts, the American news media and the American public immediately pounced on me. They did so because the spirit world pushed them to. Thus God could award me my diploma as fast as possible. Any evil person or activity that the world attacks usually diminishes, but when I was pounced upon, I just grew bigger and bigger! That is also the work of God and that is exactly the method I want to use on you.

God has a smart strategy! By making you suffer, He raises you up to be great people. Also, you can go through this path but Satan never can. Satan wants to persecute you but he can't accept persecution himself. Everyone may oppose me but if there is no fault within me, my persecutors will be the losers in the end. Eventually, the world will be able to see the truth clearly. Rich and poor alike will admit their error and want to repay me for having persecuted me. If Mr. Rockefeller felt that way, I would tell him to use his money for the sake of the world. What would he reply? Even he would say yes.

These are not just words; the spirit world has been working very actively. Whoever treats you unjustly and persecutes you now will weep and repent later.

Through indemnity you can bring the whole world under God. For whom was the world created? For human beings, for men and women. Who is the center of womanhood? She who suffers the most for the sake of the whole. Each of you wants to become an outstanding woman, don't you? Nobody wants to be mediocre; you naturally want to excel. But to want to be the best without making any changes or investing much effort is to have the mind of a thief. To become a superior woman, you need to work harder, serve more, and be kinder than others; that way you will work out more indemnity. Is that easy? No. In fact, you have to pass through much indemnity in order to qualify as the best woman. Do you understand?

To desire to excel is good, but then you must do what is necessary to achieve that desire. The formula for becoming the best woman is to do something no other woman can do. Once you do that, you can hope to become the best. It is impossible to attain that distinction without going through such a course. Furthermore, you will have to embody the men's standard for a superior woman, not just the women's standard. The men's standard may be more difficult but when you accomplish it, all men will testify that you are the best woman. So men, not other women, are the judges of the most outstanding woman.

To become the best person requires accomplishing all the most difficult tasks. To desire the best position without fulfilling that requirement is wrong. Of all the multitudes in spirit world, do you think most people suffered a lot on earth or had a relatively easy life? The majority suffered. To become the center of the whole includes becoming the center of the spirit world. How can you become the center of the people in spirit world if you have endured less than they have? Do you think suffering on earth will continue? How will you be able to console the people who arrive in the spirit world in the future if you haven't endured as much as they have? Unless you suffer and overcome, you cannot teach them about happiness.

God has suffered far more than any human being; otherwise, He would not be qualified to teach suffering people. Parents can educate their children and the children listen because parents have endured more. The teacher who has experienced and suffered a lot is a better-qualified instructor. If a student has endured more suffering than the teacher, the teacher does not know how to guide him. Do you understand?

The world of creation exists for human beings, and it is pleading with us to be used for a good purpose. Even the fallen world will say, "Please apply the law of indemnity and use me through it" Indemnity is necessary everywhere. We must understand clearly what we are living for. The direction in which we are headed is the path of greater indemnity for the sake of the world. This is the path that leads directly to the center of the whole. This is our daily direction. Wherever we go-whether a family, a company, a nation or the world-we must show the example. Our task is to overcome the indemnity on all those levels. Do you understand?

Eventually all the barriers that separate people and all the causes of persecution will crumble. But every time we demolish a wall in order to reach the center, we must suffer. Eventually people will no longer persecute you because they will realize that the law is on your side. Satan understands this and is smart; he will stop opposing you when he sees it is futile. After completing that indemnity, you will go to the center and be able to settle down permanently. If you do not make it all the way to the world level, you will be like a swimmer approaching the shore but unable to climb completely out of the water. You will not reach the connecting point with the spirit world and you will be unable to go to Heaven.

The Unification Church is like a speedboat which will shoot us through the water straight towards our destination. We need a fast boat because we have to go from one end of the world to the other; the whole world is our arena. We need a powerful engine in our relatively small boat because we have to be able to cut through the swiftest currents without being swamped.

Each of you as well needs a powerful internal engine. Eventually, you will become perfectly strong and swift but until then, you have to pay indemnity. Wherever you go you need confidence that you can survive. To endure alone, huddled in a corner is not enough; you should be a happy survivor, surrounded by other people. When you are joyful, heaven and earth are joyful because you are the center of the whole. That is the way I live each day.

We may be going through storms and blizzards now, but they will not last forever. We will surely see a bright and beautiful day. Until that day comes, I am resolved to do my work and not worry. Only he who has endured the fiercest storms can truly appreciate the peaceful sunshine. Those who have enjoyed fair weather all their lives cannot deeply appreciate a beautiful day. For them, one day is the same as another.

When you go to the spirit world and settle there, you will be able to feel true happiness. Because you suffered so much in the past, you will appreciate the value of everything. That is the kind of person I want to train you to be.

Wherever I go, I try to become one with the people. If I am among fishermen, I want to become a good fisherman; when I go to a factory, I want to become a skilled worker. I don't consider myself above the workers just because I am a leader. You need to experience all areas of life.

If you put on nice clothes, you may act like a president or king but if the people are unhappy, you cannot be at Peace. When everybody is contented, you can put on royal robes and rejoice as well. Our task is to make others happy. We are devoting ourselves to this goal.

It is for the world that we are paying indemnity, not just for our own benefit. Whatever has bothered you and whatever you hated doing you took as indemnity, didn't you? But once you deeply understand the truth of indemnity, you realize how precious it is. Regardless of how much you may suffer, indemnity will demand "More, more!" It will even kick you and push to you greater heights. Why does the law of indemnity operate like that, and why do I encourage you to live this way? It is so that one day you can become the center of the whole. This is my sole motivation.

Would you like to be the center of whole? Your answer is clear. God knows it well. I know it well. Thank you very much. God bless you.

Our Standard

Reverend Sun Myung Moon
March 1, 1981
Belvedere
Translator - Bo Hi Pak

When we narrow down "our standard," it becomes "my standard." When we broaden it, it becomes the "world standard." Where do we find our standard-the present, the past, or the future? What should be the central factor in setting up this standard? Money, knowledge or power? Or a person? But there are all kinds of people.

We may say the standard should be based on the mind, but the mind also varies, sometimes being beautiful and other times ugly. Should the standard be based on a school record, or on religion, or on God? In thinking about all this, we have to determine what has value for our lives. In Korean the word for treasure means literally "material treasure." In talking about value we often are referring to material value; usually a treasure is based on material value.

How can we determine a standard of value? First of all, something of value should last a long time, being eternal, unique, and unchanging. Gold, for instance, has unique character, and is not easily changed. These are the qualities of value for material things. Why do people talk about material treasure, but not about a person as a treasure? A person's labor is often sold for $3.50 an hour. How cheap a man is!

If we ask why treasure is spoken of as "treasure material" but not as "treasure people" then we have arrived at a great question. Why haven't people been regarded as treasure? Which does the world like better? People may kill other people to obtain material treasure or territory. This is a real problem today. How many of you think you are less valuable than gold?

A pearl has a harmonized color which is beautiful. Gold and pearls are very soft, while diamonds are very hard. Would you exchange your loved one for gold? Would you give up your loved one's little finger for an equal amount of diamonds? Doesn't it sound like a good deal? If you were offered a diamond as big as your wife or husband, would you trade? Does that mean that men and women are more valuable than gems?

What do you women have that makes you more valuable than diamonds? Is it your sparkling eyes and soft skin? Or are you precious because women eat less than men and cost less to feed? Do you have these three qualities of value? Men and women change; maybe you would be valuable when you were young and lovely, but what about when you are old? Why do you tend to like a warm, embracing person more than one who is aloof and distant? When the weather is warm, people relax, but when the air is cold you automatically try to protect yourself. Warm weather makes people more expansive and relaxed.

Do your favorite things change or not? People are changeable, and particularly women! Changeable women are less liked than more stable women, right? Is that true for men also? The three qualities of value apply to people as well as to material things, so we can say that a changeable person has no everlasting value or uniqueness. We know that man has the two aspects of mind and body; which changes more? More specifically, does your conscience change more than your physical desires? People who advocate the theory of evolution say that there is not much difference between the basic makeup of men and animals. What they are saying is that the desires of the mind are illusory, and therefore, that there is no such thing as an absolute standard of conscience. In other words, they feel we are only made of material, and that there is no such thing as a permanent ideal. If we are only animals then we are no better than any animal, and there is no room for a permanent standard. Therefore, no permanent quality of value can exist.

If man is really descended from monkeys then man is also only an animal. Do monkeys have moral standards or ethics? There is no such thing as keeping one's purity in the monkey world. But man, who seems to be more advanced culturally seems to be becoming more like the monkeys today because men and women all have sex casually with each other.

Moralists today seem to be losing the debate with the evolutionists because they cannot show how men are really different from animals. In order to distinguish men from animals, we would have to create even an imaginary God who could be the embodiment of some absolute standard; otherwise we would have no way to win this battle. God has been neglected by mankind throughout history, but now we have reached a deadlock; without an absolute standard mankind cannot survive.

Power prevails in the animal world, with stronger animals attacking weaker ones. Is that natural in the human world? Do we naturally need some power to protect ourselves? Certainly human conduct needs some moral standards, and to determine those standards we need a fountain; should that be formed by the body or the conscience? The moral quality has to be pursuing some intangible value, such as justice and honesty. The mind works by combining intelligence, heart and will power. Human value must be based on conscience, which should have everlasting qualities, being eternal, unchanging and unique. At the same time, everyone should like and agree on the value of the conscience. The conscience should be needed morning and night, every moment of our lives. That's the kind of standard we have to come up with.

The quality that defines a "treasure person" comes from his conscience and mind, which should be unchanging, eternal and unique. In the Orient, when a person is bad we say he has a bad mind; we never say his body is bad. When you value a person, you value his mind, not his appearance, saying his state of mind or thinking is good. In criminal law, the most important factor is what motivated someone to commit a crime, and motive is intangible. Motivation comes from the mind, and the body reacts to that.

When I asked you whether the mind or body was more changeable, you couldn't answer. Is the conscience pursuing good or evil things? The answer will be the same 1,000 years from now. If I ask people from 10,000 years ago, their answer will be the same. That means the conscience has an unchanging quality, and thus we say that the conscience must be the base of value. Now we can say that man's unique value comes from his conscience.

Why is it that we appreciate the three qualities of value in material things? There must be some corresponding intangible aspect of man which also includes those qualities. We appreciate certain things because we have those qualities within ourselves; that reciprocal relationship is the key for determining value. We can see this same principle in the relationship between God and man.

We are not the universal subject, so we cherish these qualities of value because there is a first cause who initiated this; we are merely in a corresponding position. Evolution tries to deny the power of conscience by saying it is only the product of material. Evolutionists don't accept the idea of a first cause, or God. They say conscience is merely animal instinct which evolved a little higher. Do you feel good to hear that you are merely descendants of monkeys?

Evolutionists have no solutions for human problems today. To distinguish ourselves from the animal world we need to have God; if there is no real God then we must make an imaginary one. Otherwise, there is no solution. For the last ten years I have been spending an incredible amount of money inviting the world's leading scholars to come and think about absolute value, but they don't even want to think about it. Everyone wants to deny there is absolute value, saying there is only relative value; they keep saying they are tired of hearing about absolute value. They are asking me to change the subject of the conference, but I have refused.

I know that, no matter how great these academics are, they cannot find absolute value because it can't be observed in a laboratory or test tube. They are trying to determine things through their physical senses, and they will not recognize anything that doesn't come that way. But the physical senses cannot perceive spiritual reality, or anything beyond the material world, like God. There is no way you can reach conclusions about value and conscience through the analytic method. You have to employ one more sense to perceive the complete reality of the universe.

Today's scientific world is confused about what is reality. Thinkers say we have to conquer reality in order to advance, but here is the confusion-what is reality? Religiously and philosophically there is confusion, and we have to clarify this confusion by setting the standard. We need philosophy and religion, but what do "I" need most of all? An active conscience. To determine true reality, we have to restore our consciences to be true ones. Have people in history every lived with true consciences? The common desire of all men has always been to live with true conscience, but how can this be realized?

One important quality in a moral code is filial piety. We value this, but what is it, and why should we exercise it? Filial piety is loyalty to the unchanging value of the family. The son of filial piety pursues the principle of serving his parents and brothers and sisters even if they do not reciprocate. Conscience dictates that this is the right thing to do. But if you do not recognize the value of conscience, you will not recognize the value of filial piety; you have to have some starting point. Conscience values your parents' welfare more than your own.

On a large scale, a patriot follows the dictates of his conscience by serving his country and caring about its welfare. Again, the common ground is that the conscience dictates the benefit of something higher than yourself. The conscience does not care only for the self first, but pursues something of higher value.

What is a saint, or holy man? He follows the same principle, but obeys his conscience in acting for the sake of mankind, and he recognizes the subject of all-God. In history holy men have always been religious leaders.

Today, materialistic communists say that awareness, or consciousness, is merely a by-product of the material world. So where can they find a moral code? No place. Communism is destructive because that philosophy is based on materialism, and recognizes consciousness only as a by-product. There is no room for a "treasure person" in communism. Because communists don't recognize the spiritual element, life is expendable in their political system, and they freely sacrifice people's lives to attain material. There is no everlasting moral standard in the communist world.

Which is first-consciousness or existence? How do we determine that consciousness came first? An eye is material, of course, whether in man or some animal. Would the first eye know that it would encounter dust, or sunlight? Whoever designed the eye must have had an understanding of all these phenomena. Without knowing there would be light, how could the eye have been designed as it is? If anyone tries to say that the eye came about at random, you can show him his mistake. Is it a random event that the eye has tear ducts to keep the eye clean and moist? It is logical that long before the eye came into being a universal consciousness realized the circumstances and designed the eye accordingly. So we can say that consciousness came first.

In school, many of my acquaintances were communists and we discussed dialectical materialism, so I gave them this example and challenged them to answer me. If the eye came first and created the sun and dust and temperature, then their thinking might be correct, but otherwise their theory must die out. Finally those communists just gave up in confusion, and one of the honest ones admitted that there must be a universal consciousness.

I don't deny the process of evolution in development, but I am saying that there is a creative process going on behind it. In the theory of evolution there are sudden occurrences called mutations, in which something new comes from its parent body. But we have to say that there must have been some energy or willpower that authorized that occurrence. Could evolution itself create a new awareness and make a new design? Absolutely not.

There must be something outside evolution that can supply creative energy. It is true that development occurred between the lowest and the highest stages, but it did not happen automatically. Each stage was the result of a design and input of additional energy. Evolutionists don't want to recognize that. When they recognize that creative energy was put in, then they have to acknowledge a universal consciousness that provided the know-how. When you talk about man's conscience then you have to recognize a universal truth that ties into it. Thus, you have to recognize God.

Does conscience also evolve? Communists want to say so. Unless you recognize the unchanging quality of conscience within yourself, it is contradictory to look for unchanging and unique characteristics within gold, gems and pearls. Unless you have that quality in yourself, you have no reason to seek it elsewhere. You appreciate precious things because you have in yourself the qualities of those things. You cannot compare two things unless you have the capacity to appreciate both.

A constitution is the base of all laws of a nation and it is used as a yardstick for determining what is good and evil. When you make a judgment, you are doing so based on a standard which is within yourself. If you are a person without principles and then you say that something is good or bad, your judgment has no value. Random judgments are based on self-centeredness: a true judgment can only come from a basic law or principle within yourself. It is the mind which has unchanging qualities, while the body always changes. The mind should have a permanent foundation.

The body will follow the direction dictated by your five senses, and they are always changing direction. If your eyes see a lovely flower, your body will walk over to it, for instance. But your mind is not bound by the five senses; it can refuse to obey, and give other directions to your body instead. The mind is trying to bring the body to the place where all the senses can be contented. If the mind favored only the eyes then the other four senses would complain; the mind thinks of all five senses.

The mind decides how to respond to the desires of each sense, but the mind can only make these decisions based on some principle. Actually we can thank God that we have a conscience as a command post for the body. Before now you only felt it bothered you and limited your activities, but after listening to me this morning you can thank your conscience.

The American way of life is pragmatic, so Americans look for comfortable and convenient things in life. To people who want to go to the disco or enjoy sex, the conscience seems to be an obstacle. When your body eats, it wants delicious food, and prefers to have delicious pleasures always. Why does the conscience put the brake on what the body desires? Habits and customs are hard to change, no matter how logical it is to I change them. Addiction to drugs and alcohol, which poison the body, are hard to cure, but how can you cure the sex addiction? Have you ever thought about that?

We have to base our lives on a firm foundation of principle; if we don't have that then we have to create one. Without standards or principles, we will see only destruction around us. If no principles bind parents and children or husband and wife, the family will fall apart. The mind wants a principled life, but the body pursues all kinds of addictions. The friction caused by that contradiction is a terrible burden. People feel sorry for a mentally ill person, but once a person's mind or conscience becomes sick, it is even harder to restore. Religion deals with that world.

A grasshopper doesn't plan for the winter, but enjoys the warm weather and thinks he has a sweet life. Spring and summer always come to an end, however. The important point is that we must arrive at a standard of law and principle which is followed by everyone in our homes, society, nation and world. Such a standard should be based in your conscience. That standard should be acceptable to everyone and still be unchanging, eternal and unique. We conclude that the conscience provides such a standard.

Everyone likes material treasure, but would material things like just anyone? If treasure could speak, it would say that it likes anyone who has a higher standard than it does. You feel this is true because you yourself are like that. You like something that is higher and nobler than yourself. So also do material things.

A diamond likes someone who is harder, and shines more brightly than it does. Gold with its deep color represents peace, and wants to be loved by someone more deeply golden and peace loving than itself. A pearl will respect and love someone with a more harmonious color than itself. Would a diamond like some unworthy person who just grabbed it, or would it prefer to be possessed by someone with a moral ethic? A diamond has a preference, and would like to resist the thief who reaches out to snatch it. If a diamond has consciousness then this should be the case. That's how we would react.

One person never thinks about whether he is worthy to possess the diamond, while the better person considers whether he is really entitled to it. If you have this nature, then even the diamond would have that inclination. This is elementary, but necessary education. America's problem is that it doesn't really know the power and existence of the world of conscience.

How large is the conscience? There are four billion people in the world today, so there are four billion different kinds of conscience. If we include people in the spirit world then there are billions more. Is there room for still more? It is difficult to conceive how there could be no time or space, so I'll give you an example.

If one day you do the work of ten, will your conscience say the next day, "Just do the work of nine"? There is no such conscience. Instead, it will tell you to do even more work next time. If you give ten people ten dollars, will your conscience permit you to give nine people ten dollars the next day and keep ten for yourself? No; it will tell you to give money to eleven people instead. The conscience is never fully satisfied.

Even if you contained the whole planet earth in your conscience, it would still want to reach out farther and possess the whole galaxy. Even if it had the whole universe, it would still want to have God. Your journey wouldn't end until you owned the heart of God and had His love. That's how the conscience works. Trying to set a standard for this extraordinary kind of conscience is not easy. Who made the conscience so big? God did if He had nothing to put into it then He would run away. He is responsible, after all.

What does God have that can fill the conscience? God knows you like diamonds. If God is almighty then would He be satisfied to make a lot of diamonds to fill everyone's conscience bag? Why not? God can make diamonds and gold, but there is something that God cannot control at will: that is true love, which is activated only in a reciprocal relationship with an object. Without an object, love cannot be activated.

If you have love, can you show it to me? Man's love is activated only when he finds a partner; when you are sitting by yourself your love is not activated. God has been sitting all by

Himself, so can He enjoy His love, slapping His side and laughing? God has been lonely just like you would be. If He has even a small piece of chalk and can laugh with enjoyment at it, then it would make a little better sense. No matter how much potential love God has, by Himself God cannot feel its excitement. Always an object is needed to activate love through give and take. Is this true for women? With a man to relate to, the give and take vibration can begin; how about woman-to woman?

Even God needs an ideal object. Why did God create the whole universe? For the perfection of His object. God is gigantic, and He needs an equivalent object who can stand side-by-side with Him, so He created man with a conscience as big as God's conscience. When man completely fills his conscience and he starts to laugh, then God can respond, and the whole universe will laugh together with them. That is God's design.

Nothing else except love can fill that conscience, however. Love alone can excite God. In love God is an enormous plus and man is an enormous minus, and when they join a giant spark will flash. How much power would that generate? The entire universe will be jolted by the shock. God and men and women will all be totally intoxicated and melted by the power of that love. All the creation will be affected, from the one-celled amoebae to insects to the galaxies.

You might say, "We are here on earth and God is far away. How can we make a spark with God?" Is there any distance when we speak of electricity? God's electricity travels faster than electricity that we know on earth. When God is totally happy and intoxicated in love then all mankind can respond that they too are happy, and then the entire creation will echo around the world, "We too are happy."

I like the word "too." The cross bar on the "t" represents the horizontal absolute; the vertical line represents you-you are a pillar of love. The "oo" means everything is OK. Americans say OK; the O means perfection, and K comes from "keep." So OK means that you keep perfection, that everything is going well. You didn't know I had a definition for this!

Conscience is OK, but it is centered on what? Life? That is good. On knowledge? That is nice too. On power? But these are not the central things. What is it that everyone likes and can participate in? One substance alone has that universal character-love. When the cornerstone of existence is conscience that is based on true love, or true love that is based on conscience, then everything will be in the right place. That is the standard. Would that be only a temporal standard? No, it would be eternal, unique and unchanging.

The essentiality of love is always the same, but the components are different from person to person, depending on where love appears. Each individual is a truth body with unique characteristics, but they all share a common essentiality in God. Thus, each individual contains unique love with a common essentiality, like the cells in a body. Each person is a cell of love. Each individual's love has uniqueness which cannot be duplicated by anyone else, yet also it is unchanging and eternal.

If you have true universal love within you then you have become a standard man or woman of the universe. We come to the conclusion that we need the standard of conscience which is true love. With that alone can we digest the world and bring it into our consciences. We can even bring God in with invisible true love. As long as you have that true love, you can turn in any direction. That world of true love also transcends time and space.

With that standard of true love all five senses will cooperate instead of repelling each other, for they do so out of happiness, not duty. All five senses should function in the intoxication of love. Even if you use all kinds of uncomplimentary adjectives in describing someone, as long as you speak from love there is no disharmony between you. At any time of day, whether you are young or old, you welcome that love. What quality can create such a permanent interest and intoxication? Only true love.

This is not a daydream, but something real. I searched in all directions and in all philosophies, but I couldn't find the answer there, so I had to find it on my own. I knew very well what path I had started on, so it didn't matter how America or the government criticized me. I know myself better than our critics do, and I just go where I am destined to go. For that reason I can be bold and strong. Unless we have the standard of true love and conscience, we have no way to reach the true ideal world; we could not even glimpse that world without it. If there were no real, true love, we would have to make something up to take its place.

The Principle explains about the dual of God, how the subject and object create a circuit, and how the energy of that give and take can bring the perfection of creation. Everything has dual aspects of mind and body, and in order to be persons of conscience and true love, we must first unite mind and body. There are only two directions to go in-the heavenly way or the secular way. That means each person is in between heaven and earth. The mind is in the center, with the physical world on one side and the heavenly world on the other, so the mind is a buffer between the visible and invisible worlds.

Conscience and spirit are two different things, but conscience sometimes looks like spirit, and vice versa. The foremost part of conscience is spirit, but they are a continuation of each other. When you follow your conscience deeper and deeper, you inevitably make a deeper spiritual connection. When God visits, He will land in the foremost position of your conscience. Therefore, the only place to search for God is deep in your conscience.

Today many people seem to be psychic and have supernatural powers, but they don't know the basic truth. In observing these phenomena, most people overlook the reasons behind them. Those who study psychic phenomena today don't know why it happens. When you go all the way in pursuing the standard of conscience, you will connect with spirit world. Whenever you make some turn in spirit world, God is always in the position of axis.

Love is the central factor around which the whole thing will turn. Not only the spirit world but also the physical world is meant to turn centered on love. The body should be centered on love and harmonized with all things of creation. Love is the central factor which can harmonize all creation. Thus, when man becomes a being of love he is the supreme creation of God. Without that love man is no different from an animal or plant.

The center of the two worlds is the same love and same God, making a gigantic turn together. They are centered upon true love and upon you. Man can ask for nothing more; there is nothing greater or higher. At that point man is totally fulfilled; then your conscience is totally filled and you feel complete satisfaction and happiness. Then you can maneuver as a unique, everlasting and unchanging entity in the universe, on your eternal journey. Amen!

With this as a standard you have a goal to accomplish, and when you reach that universal goal you will shout out "Amen!" I am introducing you to the taste of true love, so even if the entire world comes against us, nothing can stop you once you taste that love. If people are even willing to die for their secular love affairs, how much more would people be willing to give everything for heavenly love? When someone pinches you, you say, "Ouch," but when heavenly love hooks you, you say "Ouch love! " When you are traveling with the love of God, you can be accepted anywhere, even in Hell.

We are front-line soldiers in the war to restore true love to the world. There are all kinds of commotion when the world sees these flag bearers marching forward, and people accuse me of taking their children or their husbands or wives. People around the world have accused me of being a love thief.

"Our standard" is true love and conscience. "My standard" is also true love and conscience. In order to make it the "world standard" we have to give to the world by serving all mankind-eating, fund raising, witnessing, marrying and having children-everything for the sake of the world. We want to reach the nation and world quickly in order to achieve the standard of God.

In centering upon this standard, everything-whether family, nation, world or universe-is consummated by following the one goal. This is the beauty of it. This is truly a supreme ideology. Can you find any other preacher teaching this love? I am not just speaking about it, but living it, and you too can become

deeper and deeper. When your spiritual state nears mine, then I will appear in your dreams and give revelations. It is the law of love that when you pursue this goal, God will definitely intervene in your life. This is our permanent, supreme standard. It has been victorious in the past, will conquer the present, and will be victorious in the future. It will bring permanent: eternal happiness. That is the goal. Have you lived that way?

Totally empty yourself and be filled with this new command. When you listen to the voice of your mind, tears of joy and liberation will overflow. At that moment you will feel that universal love has touched you. Just as you like to touch beautiful flowers or butterflies, when you become lovable the universal love will want to touch you. When you are united with that love, you can give it to all things.

When I teach you here at Belvedere, I am always thinking that I speak to you so that you can reach the same goal. My fervent desire in teaching you is for you to become intoxicated in that deep love also. When I am away you feel that Belvedere is empty, but when I walk in, the room feels full. Why is that? It is because I am a messenger of this love. Your privilege is to come and be ignited. It is completely possible. You want to be sons and daughters of the True Parents, becoming children of true filial piety, then true patriots, and then true saints.

I view the family as formation stage, the nation as growth stage, and the world as perfection stage. In order to be accepted by the heavenly world it is not good enough to be only a child of filial piety or a patriot. You must be a saint, a child of God. Religious leaders have taught various moral codes, but they have not dwelt on love. But I am teaching sainthood based on love, and teaching a way to achieve it. This is the first such group in the world.

We are known, therefore, as the love race. In that race all five colors of skin are assembled. We live together and feel as close to other races as we do to our own race. Your brothers and sisters are like your clothes. When you are with black people, you can feel you are wearing a tuxedo. When you are with white people you can feel you have white clothes, and with yellow people as though you wear spring flowers.

In order for a white object to stand out, it must be placed against a dark background, so we can say that its brilliance and value comes from the background. If whites don't like black people, then they shouldn't wear black clothes. In our world we transcend these race problems and we want to marry interracially to create greater beauty. We want to live with that standard forever. Whoever wants to live that standard, raise your hand.

God bless you.

I Want You to Grow to Be a Saint

Sun Myung Moon
February 22, 1981
Excerpt
God's Will and the World
The Providence and the Individual, Past and Present
(Unofficial Translation)

Sun Myung Moon and Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy February 1973

What is the Providence? The Providence emerged to fulfill the purpose of the whole. You emerged in history to be a part of this Providence. This Providence is the purpose behind you, each one of you. You are born in this world as a fruit of history; and you are a public being. Your parents took care of you to bring you up. You are indebted first to your parents. Don't you feel grateful to your parents? For the sake of the world and posterity, children are given to you. Although many people do not know about this, parents should be thinking they are bringing up their children as representatives of the universe.

Therefore, parents must raise their children with their utmost affection and love. However, people do not know that the position of parents is a public position where they must truly love their children. Even it is unknown to the world, it is a universal truth. Parents bring you up in the center of their family with true love so that you become a filial son or daughter. Then, your parents try to send you forth, to become an important citizen of your nation. Your parents say, "All right, do something important for the country. Become a patriot." You haven't heard this in America, right?

You have been serving at the level of a child of filial piety or a patriot. But, I want you to grow to be a saint. For that purpose, I should give all of you this training; and then I should send you all out to the world. This is logical conclusion.

The public-minded person speaks from public-mindedness; he sees, hears, thinks and does everything in life, like eating, wearing clothes and sleeping, from the public-minded standpoint. The public-mindedness means having a heart of loving all in life. 

The Providence and the Individual, Past and Present

Sun Myung Moon
February 22, 1981
Excerpt
God's Will and the World

What if my attitude had been to avoid a harder mission? What if I said, "God, give me an easier job. Make my burden lighter." If that was my aspiration, I would have been suspended from my job a long time ago. However, I always thought, "This is only the beginning. I have not even begun to fight. I must begin right now." This has been my attitude. Do you follow me? From this perspective, I want to train and discipline you. I want you to become victors who can survive and withstand any challenges in the world. That is the standard I am asking you to meet. Actually today your standard is lower than mine. How many of you could survive being put in one of the catacombs of Rome? How many of you could endure the pressure and danger of those first-century days? How many of you would survive in such circumstances? If the first century Christians could persevere amidst those ordeals and be strong -- even we can survive.

You know God, right? Do you know God loves Rev. Moon? Why? God loves me not only because of my philosophy and way of life; God sees that I have the power and the capability to bring the billions of people around the world into the same conviction, the same direction, and the same goal beyond racial barriers. In other words, I am the kind of man God needs here on the earth. God sees that I have the power to multiply myself.

Then, what will Rev. Moon do [for the future generations]? Even after his death, both my physical sons and daughters and the members of the Unification movement will continue to expand throughout the world. God will take pleasure in seeing all of you develop into the representatives of the first-born Rev. Moon and True Parents.

As you develop, you will inherit the true tradition of the relationship between true parents and true children. That is an eternal relationship. This is our tradition. You must set the tradition, then education, and then act on what you have learned -- the implementation of the education. By doing these, you will be blessed: first, tradition; then, education; and finally, action.

My goal is for each one of you to achieve greater things than me. Go ahead of me. Don't just duplicate me; become superior to me in content. My succeeding generations will become superior to me. Many people think, "Only Father can do this job. We can't do it." That's wrong! You could do even better than me, because you have so much support from God. The same God supporting me is supporting you. And you have additional support -- my support, True Parents' support, and the Unification Church's support. You are in an infinitely better position.